Chapter 543: I’m About to Start My Scheme.

Scene after scene blossomed like snowflakes, only to vanish shortly afterward.

“What a tragic story.”

At this moment, Lin Fan had only one thought: this Despair Marquis had truly suffered a miserable fate, and the plot itself was rather sorrowful.

Such a pure love ultimately turned out like this. Although it was between a child and an adult, love knows no boundaries.

Just as Lin Fan’s eyes revealed a trace of sadness, he was suddenly drawn to a scene ahead.

In that pitch-black space, a figure was crouched there, its large buttocks swaying left and right, wriggling nervously.

“No, no…”

The voice was hoarse, as if the person had experienced something terrifying, causing their mind to collapse and ultimately lose themselves.

At first, Lin Fan didn’t know who it was, but the moment he saw the face, he burst into laughter—clearly delighted.

“Gu Xiao!”

Lin Fan never expected his luck to be this good—actually encountering Gu Xiao. At this moment, Gu Xiao’s face was filled with despair, clearly immersed in the Despair Marquis’s domain of despair.

“Hey, kid,” Lin Fan called out to Gu Xiao a few times, but Gu Xiao seemed to hear nothing, continuing to scream in fear. His once fierce eyes were now dull and lifeless, his consciousness completely devoured by the domain of despair.

Lin Fan had originally been thinking about how to kill Gu Xiao, but seeing the current situation, there was no need to think further—there was no reason not to just kill him directly.

Approaching Gu Xiao, Lin Fan gave his raised backside a few kicks, but there was still no reaction.

This delighted Lin Fan even more.

“How should I maximize this waste’s value? And it must be absolutely foolproof,” Lin Fan mused, stroking his chin. Suddenly, inspiration struck, and he had a plan.

“Thunder Domination King, come out.”

“Master.” The bald Thunder Domination King instantly appeared before Lin Fan, respectfully greeting him. When he saw Gu Xiao, however, a gleam of ravenous hunger flickered in the Domination King’s otherwise innocent eyes.

“Train him well,” Lin Fan said, already having a complete plan in mind.

Lin Fan had put in considerable effort to create the greatest impact in front of the countless beings of the Great Thousand World. There was no way he would let Gu Xiao die so easily.

“Understood.” The Thunder Domination King said excitedly, then, glancing at Gu Xiao, licked his lips in a way that sent chills down one’s spine.

Lin Fan felt completely at ease entrusting Gu Xiao to the Thunder Domination King. With him around, there would be no issues whatsoever.

Under such merciless training, all things in the world would eventually bow before the whip of the Thunder Domination King.

…

“Huh? Where did the Despair Marquis go?” Lin Fan looked around at the surroundings, searching for the Despair Marquis’s trail.

To leave this domain of despair, one must find the Despair Marquis.

At that moment, a faint, broken voice drifted from afar. Lin Fan didn’t hesitate at all and immediately soared toward the sound.

That voice belonged to the Despair Marquis.

Following the sound, Lin Fan soon found the Despair Marquis.

At this moment, the Despair Marquis was kneeling there, cradling Long Xuan in his arms. His despairing expression was pitiful to behold.

“Long Xuan, don’t leave me…” the Despair Marquis murmured like a soulless corpse, his eyes dim and devoid of their previous coldness. At this moment, he seemed more like a pitiful soul who had lost everything.

“Who…” At the moment Lin Fan appeared, the Despair Marquis raised his despair-filled face and looked at Lin Fan.

When Lin Fan met the Despair Marquis’s gaze, his heart jolted violently, but he forced himself to remain calm. Now was no time to panic.

Besides, Lin Fan knew the Despair Marquis’s current strength was beyond his capabilities. However, recalling those previous scenes, Lin Fan had already formed a plan in his mind.

Whether it would work or not, he had to try.

“You once saw me,” Lin Fan said.

“You are that human,” the Despair Marquis recalled, then lowered his head, gazing at Long Xuan.

“That’s right, I am that human. Do you really not want to leave him? I can help you,” Lin Fan said.

“It’s impossible, impossible. I am controlled by the Supreme. No one can help me. No one at all,” the Despair Marquis muttered, shaking his head numbly, then his expression suddenly changed, as if his mind had become violently unstable.

“Right, how could another person be allowed here? You must all die. All of you must die!” The Despair Marquis’s previously calm face suddenly turned hideous, roaring furiously at Lin Fan.

Seeing the sudden outburst from the Despair Marquis, Lin Fan’s heart tightened, sensing danger, and quickly spoke again.

“You won’t know unless you try. Perhaps you don’t really want to be with Long Xuan. You’re just unwilling to give up everything you currently possess,” Lin Fan said.

“Silence! What does a human like you understand?” The Despair Marquis glared at Lin Fan with bloodshot eyes, as if he would mercilessly kill Lin Fan the moment he dared to speak another word.

“I understand. I understand everything. If you don’t want to lose Long Xuan forever, then you must trust me. Otherwise, if you wait any longer, even if you kill everyone, he won’t return, and you will never see him again,” Lin Fan said.

At this moment, Lin Fan recalled every clichéd TV drama he had ever seen, eventually finding only this approach.

Any villainous boss, if they have someone they care about, won’t be a mindless killer.

Especially at the moment when the person they care about leaves, the desire to hold on will reach its peak. If the person they care about could stay with them forever, they would be willing to do anything.

Lin Fan was now taking a gamble, but judging from the Despair Marquis’s current expression, he knew this method had a very high chance of success.

The Despair Marquis looked at Lin Fan, saying nothing, just silently staring.

“Heaven and Earth Cauldron, come out.”

In an instant, the system treasure “Heaven and Earth Cauldron” appeared within this domain of despair.

“This is a supreme treasure capable of refining everything under heaven. If you and Long Xuan enter it, I can refine you both into spirit artifacts, allowing you to coexist forever, inseparable. Even the Supreme’s control from ancient clans cannot interfere,” Lin Fan explained.

“Forever inseparable, forever free from suffering, forever escaping the Supreme’s control,” the Despair Marquis murmured expressionlessly, staring at the “Heaven and Earth Cauldron.”

“Haha.” At that moment, the Despair Marquis stood up, directly lifting Long Xuan into his frail arms.

“Long Xuan is dead. I wanted to join him, but even the right to commit suicide was taken from me. No matter what you intend to do, even if it means death, as long as I’m with Long Xuan, what do I have to fear? What use are endless power and infinite lands when not even a single strand of his hair compares to them? He came for me. I know he didn’t abandon me. I cursed him, insulted him, just wanting him to leave me, to escape the Supreme’s terrifying control. Unfortunately, though he understood, he never left me…”

Holding Long Xuan tightly, the Despair Marquis walked step by step toward the “Heaven and Earth Cauldron,” his black fur coat draped over his thin frame, weighed down by infinite despair.

At that moment, standing at the mouth of the “Heaven and Earth Cauldron,” the Despair Marquis turned his head to look at Lin Fan one last time, then without hesitation, leapt inside.

“Don’t worry. Whatever I, your young master, promises, I have never broken,” Lin Fan thought inwardly.

At that moment, Lin Fan cast the “Feitian” into the “Heaven and Earth Cauldron.”

“Supreme Art of Refining—Dual Spirit Artifacts, Synchronized Souls, Refinement Begin!”

At that moment, the “Heaven and Earth Cauldron” violently trembled.

Inside the “Heaven and Earth Cauldron,” the Despair Marquis gently laid Long Xuan down, then slowly lay beside him, holding Long Xuan’s hand, closing his eyes. On that face that had remained unchanged for ten thousand years, he now wore the brightest smile in a thousand years.