The Supreme Sovereign Returns

"You disgusting mute!"

"We put a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and you go running off to some prostitute! Neve Ashford must've been blind to fall for you. You actually went out and cheated on her!"

A loud crack split the air as a sharp slap landed across Cassian Reed's face. The stinging pain jolted his consciousness back into focus, dragging him up from the depths of confusion.

Hadn't his soul been destroyed? So why did his cheek burn, and why did the pain feel so terribly real?

This was Earth, a thousand years in the past. He'd been reborn.

The moment Cassian opened his eyes, shock rippled through him, cold and absolute.

He had once been a husband who married into her family, enduring eight years of humiliation on Earth before being cast out of the Ashford family. For two years after that, he'd wandered, homeless and despised. Everyone thought him a mute, a waste of space, human garbage.

Yet no matter how the world cursed him, trampled him, humiliated him, Cassian had borne it all in silence.

One breath of the Pure Breath, ten years without a single word spoken.

In the end, he had achieved ascension. A wisp of the Pure Breath left behind by his master had drawn him into the Ascendant Realm, where over the course of a millennium he had risen to become a peerless Sovereign. His cultivation level had even surpassed that of his master, Orin Vale.

But during the Millennium Thunder Trial, he had been betrayed by the sworn brother he trusted most and the woman he loved. In that final, agonizing moment, caught between the thunder's wrath and a treacherous strike from behind, his soul had been obliterated. Soul destruction, absolute and irrevocable.

A legendary Sovereign, extinguished in an instant.

And yet here he was, reborn a thousand years earlier on Earth.

"Ha ha ha, Cassian, let me tell you a secret before you die. That old fool Orin wasn't killed by the demon clans. It was us! My bonded partner and I did it together!"

"He found out about our affair. He had to die, just like you. Soul destruction, clean and final! Farewell, ha ha ha..."

"Selene Vane. Dorian Thorne. You pair of cheating bastards!"

The memory of that gaunt, weathered face rose in Cassian's mind. The old man who had given him everything. Grief welled up, sharp and bitter, and with it came a surge of hatred so fierce it threatened to consume him.

"I will return. I'll tear you both apart, piece by piece. The High Sovereign of the Moon, the High Sovereign of the Path... nothing but worthless trash pretending at greatness!"

His inner fury roared, a storm barely contained.

"Oh, you dare glare at me?"

Another loud crack echoed through the room, a second slap snapping across his face and yanking Cassian fully back into the present. He blinked, disoriented, and realized he was standing naked in a hotel room. Before him stood his mother-in-law, Bernice Grady, her face twisted in fury and caked in makeup. In the corner, a young woman wrapped in a towel sat huddled and sobbing, trembling violently.

Cassian opened his mouth to speak, then froze. Inside, nestled at the root of his breath, was a thread of impossibly pure energy. The Pure Breath. It was still there, slowly condensing, growing stronger with every moment he remained silent.

As long as he didn't speak, it would continue to accumulate. In two years, perhaps less, it would transform into true celestial essence and guide him back to the Ascendant Realm.

Understanding crashed over him like a wave. This was the day of the setup. The day they framed him.

In his previous life, Cassian had married into her family and endured eight years in the Ashford family. Then one day, Bernice Grady and Damon Grady, the second young master of the Grady family, had conspired to frame him. They accused him of cheating, of hiring a prostitute, of being shameless and vile.

His wife, Neve, had been devastated. She'd divorced him. He'd been thrown out and left to wander the streets for two more years, beaten and spat upon wherever he went.

But through it all, for ten entire years, he had never spoken a single word. No matter how humiliating, how agonizing, how unjust, he had never defended himself.

Cassian glanced at Bernice and frowned slightly, but said nothing.

"You worthless piece of trash, you dare frown at me? I'll beat you to death!" Bernice raised her hand to slap him again.

A flicker of cold killing intent flashed through Cassian's eyes. His hand shot out, catching her wrist mid-swing. With a single smooth motion, he yanked her forward and shoved her back. Bernice stumbled a good six feet before crashing to the floor, landing hard on her backside.

"You little bastard! How dare you fight back! Young Mr. Grady, he pushed me! Get in here and beat him!" Bernice shrieked toward the door, her voice shrill with shock and rage.

"Aunt Grady, are you alright?"

A man stepped through the doorway. His face was gaunt and pale, the look of someone who'd spent too many nights drinking and indulging. He helped Bernice to her feet with exaggerated care, then turned his gaze toward Cassian, eyes narrowing.

"Well, well. Didn't expect a worthless mute like you to actually lay hands on your elders." Damon Grady's voice dripped with mock disbelief. "You make a mistake and show no remorse, and now you show no respect for your elders. That's beyond forgiveness."

He tilted his head toward the doorway. "Go on. Teach him a lesson."

Two large men stepped out from behind Damon and moved toward Cassian. Bernice glared at him from behind them, her face smeared with white powder and rouge until she looked grotesque, like some twisted caricature.

"Spit on him! Beat him to death for daring to push me!"

Cassian watched the two men approach, and a cold gleam flickered in his eyes. In the Ascendant Realm, he had been known as Sovereign Cassian. He had slain countless demons, cut down legions of monsters. Legends were written in his wake.

Even without his cultivation level, he would not be bullied by a pair of hired thugs.

"Kid, just cover your head and we'll go easy on you," one of the men said with a grin as they closed in.

Cassian sidestepped the first attack with ease. His hands shot out, seizing one man's arm. With a sharp twist and a sickening crack, he wrenched the joint backward.

"Ahhh!"

The man's scream tore through the room as he collapsed to the floor, clutching his mangled arm. Sweat poured down his face, his body rigid with agony.

Cassian didn't spare him another glance. He pivoted smoothly, clamping down on the second man's shoulder and locking him in place. Then he drove his fist straight into the man's chest, targeting the pressure point at the center of the chest with surgical precision.

A dull thud answered the blow, and the man didn't even have time to cry out. His breath caught in his throat, his eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

"You... you've really grown bold, haven't you, hitting people like that!" Bernice stammered, her voice cracking. The moment Cassian's cold gaze swung toward her, her expression shifted from smug satisfaction to pale, trembling fury.

"You mute bastard, you actually hit my men! You're finished! You're dead!" Damon jabbed a finger toward Cassian's face, his voice venomous, though a flicker of fear passed through his eyes. His two bodyguards weren't world-class fighters, sure, but they shouldn't have been taken down so easily by some washed-up mute.

Cassian's hand flashed out again, and a sharp slap landed across Damon's face, splitting the corner of his mouth and drawing blood. Cassian said nothing, just stared at him, eyes cold and unblinking.

"You... you... you've lost your mind!"

"Ahhh!"

Bernice let out a shriek and bolted for the door. The woman they'd hired to frame Cassian scrambled to her feet and fled as well, still clutching her towel.

Damon stared at Cassian, his face a mask of shock and rage. He'd never imagined this worthless mute would actually dare to strike him. But the aura radiating from Cassian was so intense, so suffocating, that Damon found himself frozen in place, unable to retaliate. All he could do was glare.

"I don't believe you've got the guts to kill me! But if you don't finish me off right now, you're the one who's dead!"

The words ignited something dark and vicious inside Cassian. His hand shot out toward Damon's throat.

"Stop!"

"Cassian, have you lost your mind?!"

A familiar voice rang out, sharp with confusion and anger.

It was Neve.

The sound of her voice hit him like a physical blow. Cassian's hand froze in midair. The flood of rage and grief over his master's death, over the betrayal that had destroyed him, all of it receded slightly, clarity rushing back in.

This was Earth. He couldn't kill anyone here.

Standing in the doorway was a breathtakingly beautiful woman. Cassian's gaze traveled upward from a pair of sharp black heels, along slender legs sheathed in black stockings, their perfect curves enough to quicken any man's pulse. Her delicate, flawless face was covered in a layer of frost, her expression frozen in disbelief as she stared at him.