Chapter 135: Clones

The Supreme Sovereign, Liana, was never one to just talk without action. Liana leaned in, burying her face into her junior brother’s neck.

Pontifex Valerius had already turned to stone, but the scene unfolding before her left her entirely paralyzed.

She recalled a creature from ancient bestiaries... the Strigoi.

They would embrace their prey, immobilize them with illusions, and sink their fangs into their victim’s neck. High-rank Strigoi could flawlessly mimic humans, aside from an aversion to sunlight.

*It has to be a Strigoi! A high-rank one at that!* Otherwise, the Pontifex could not believe the fearsome Abyssal Sword Sovereign would be so entirely defenseless.

*A Strigoi disguised as the Sovereign is devouring him! Is no one going to do anything about this?!*

*Thud!*

The food box slipped from the Pontifex’s hands and crashed onto the glacial ice.

She lifted her head in a daze, staring at the Pontifex. She found the woman unfamiliar. There was no such acolyte in the Lunar Sanctum.

Then she glanced at Theo... the junior brother who was somehow dating her, the domineering Sovereign.

Right. How could the Lunar Sanctum have a male disciple?

*Snap—*

The dream began merging with reality as a ray of true sunlight pierced through from beyond, dissolving all illusions.

The Lunar Sanctum, perpetually shrouded in frost, finally thawed.

"Haah... haah..."

At dawn, Liana awoke with a soft gasp. Blinking her bleary eyes, she looked out the window to find the capital sky bright.

She rested the back of her hand against her forehead, shielding herself from the intrusive warmth, and fell into a momentary daze.

What had she dreamed of last night?

Ah, yes. Using the Dream Weaver technique, she had tried to return to the Lunar Sanctum to contact Aurelia.

But just before entering the dream, that damned system had appeared out of nowhere and played a high-definition montage ripped from Theo’s degenerate imagination.

Those images were impossible to forget! Naturally, they broke the divine connection she had meticulously constructed...

"So..." Liana’s thoughts drifted back to the dream, her delicate, fair feet curling slightly beneath the blankets.

Had she really dreamed of a scene straight out of *The Tyrannical Empress Falls for Me*?! People do not dream of things they have never seen.

But who could blame her? She had witnessed Theo conceptualizing that very comic book, and the setting just happened to bear an uncanny resemblance to her Lunar Sanctum!

And... worse yet, the Pontifex had seen it too.

Meanwhile, next door.

"Progress today is about the same as yesterday." Theo stretched as he got up, rubbing his temples. "Just fifty-five more Archon formations, and my *Diamond Crucible Form* will reach a new tier."

Exhaustion weighed heavily on him. Pulling all-nighters to grind bosses in the *Abyssal Forge* would make anyone feel like a burnt-out laborer.

"At this rate, I still will not have gathered enough Imperial Mandate to challenge the Great Dao Forms." Theo checked his system.

His accumulation of investment points from the southern border was slowing down.

After some thought, Theo figured out the reason. Faith required maintenance...

His Abyssal Venerable persona had manifested once and vanished. Over time, his image would naturally fade from the hearts of the southern citizens. T

"The Empire is vast. How am I supposed to manage the Syndicate’s logistics all alone?" Theo rubbed his temples in frustration.

He could use Shadow-Clones, but his cultivation could not sustain thousands of them at once.

How many strands of hair would he have to pluck daily?

"I will go bald..." Theo shuddered at the horrifying thought.

He headed to the kitchen to prepare a simple breakfast: spiced flatbread and some Elysian Strawberries.

Elysian Strawberries were sweet and sour, and had the added benefit of relieving mental fatigue.

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw Liana sitting at the table, her gaze distant as she stared blankly ahead.

The Pontifex, meanwhile, was tilting her head at a forty-five-degree angle, lost in an existential crisis.

"Have some fruit in the morning," Theo set the Elysian Strawberries on the table.

Then he scratched his neck. Why was it even itchier today?

"Pfft—!" The Pontifex had just picked up a strawberry when she saw Theo scratching his neck. She forcefully spat out her water.

"This is an Elysian Strawberry," Theo explained. "Tastes amazing—sweet, sour, just like me."

"I... I do not really like fruit," the Pontifex stammered, wiping her mouth.

And so, a bewildering breakfast began.

Sharp-eyed Theo noticed that Liana had let her hair down. The black, silky strands fluttered in the morning breeze, repeatedly brushing against her lips.

So, he nonchalantly remarked: "Liana, your hair is loose. Let me help you tie it..."

Liana’s serene silver eyes trembled fiercely. "I... I can do it myself..."

"Your hands are shivering. Are you cold?" Theo picked up her silver hairpin, twirled it around the ends of her hair, and effortlessly tied it up into a regal bun.

Witnessing this, the Pontifex choked so hard on her spiced milk that she nearly passed out, despite being an Exarch of the Seventh Realm.

"What is wrong with you?" Theo asked curiously.

"Last night, I was just... wandering around," the Pontifex averted her eyes.

"Where?"

"In a dream. Then, uh, accidentally I wandered into Liana’s dream bubble."

Liana’s heart clenched. So the Pontifex in the dream was not a hallucination!

Theo’s interest was piqued. With a grin, he asked, "What was she dreaming about? Not another nightmare about the Abyss, was it?"

"No, quite the opposite... She dreamed of you." The Pontifex glanced at Liana, then at Theo, and nodded solemnly.

"It is nothing. Just a very ordinary dream," Liana said expressionlessly, though her slender fingers gripping her silver fork curled tighter involuntarily.

"What kind of dream?" Theo pressed, his curiosity burning.

"She... you..."

The fork broke cleanly in half. Despite being at the Exarch Realm, the Pontifex felt a sudden, lethal chill run down her neck.

"...Well, she tied you up and gave you a thorough beating. You could not even fight back," the Pontifex lied flawlessly.

A colossal question mark popped up above Theo’s head.

This was way off from what he had imagined.

Why would Liana suddenly decide to teach him a lesson?

And besides, he was the Abyssal Sword Sovereign!

He was ranked higher than her on the Imperial Vanguard list!

How could he possibly be helpless against her?!