The inner court teachers who’d challenged Juxi had their companions standing behind them, whispering nonstop, their minds clearly a little dazed.

“Yeah, yeah, even Yuanhui from the elite class probably isn’t his match. I wonder if Her Highness the princess can even…”

“Shut up!!!”

The nearby students swarmed the guy who’d just mentioned the princess and pinned him to the ground. Even the teachers who’d just lost forgot their humiliation for a moment and snapped at the disciple who’d brought up the princess.

“When you get back, copy the Heart Sutra a hundred times. You’re grounded for a week!”

Early next morning, in the imperial palace...

Already in the transition stage of Nine Hearts, Yuanhui once again unleashed the Falling Star Slash that Wuxian had taught him. He planned to grind down his own bones to stabilize his realm, trying to fuse his Chi with the still-unformed star core.

He flexed his hands and feet, testing them. Yuanhui felt his strength had grown quite a bit, and all five senses had sharpened a lot too. But the Chi in his body still had no different reaction toward the Falling Star greatsword. It seemed this breakthrough hadn’t given him any extra energy to feed it, so it hadn’t grown stronger at all.

“Mm.”

He took a deep breath. With his eyes closed like this, Yuanhui actually felt the whole world become much brighter.

If he’d stayed a regular disciple of the branch family, he never would’ve imagined he could break through again and again in such a short time.

He had never even imagined he’d one day defeat a true Boundless‑realm powerhouse—let alone the palace’s grand chamberlain!

“Killing that Ghost Lord will definitely draw the attention of the Wu clan’s upper ranks, maybe even Wu Yanze himself. The Immortal Emperor will send people to investigate too. If we’re not careful this time, we might expose ourselves and end up hunted without end.”

While lecturing him, Wuxian urged Yuanhui to finish packing. He wrapped the Falling Star greatsword, which they’d used in battle, with bandages, then made Yuanhui dress up like some random frivolous rich kid. The sealed greatsword went back inside his wristband, and they slowly walked out of the vicinity of the Wu clan compound.

“Hehe, little brother Yuanhui, where are you heading? Leaving without even saying a proper goodbye to your big sister?”

“Oh, if it isn’t Sister Tong’er. You came too suddenly, I really…”

“Don’t mess around with me. Here!”

Before Yuanhui could keep playing dumb, Tong’er clapped her hands lightly. Prince Luo followed right behind her, scratching his head with a goofy smile.

“Hahaha, Your Highness saw through your disguise technique. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve seen such a brilliant—”

“Ahem!!”

Tong’er shot him a vicious glare, and he finally shut up.

“Your disguise was long exposed. I already know at least some of what you’ve been doing in the palace lately!”

“You know everything?!”

Yuanhui’s heart lurched hard at that. Had everything been exposed already? Even the Ghost Lord’s death…

“Brother Yuanhui, if you want to know what’s going on with the Wu clan, you’ll have to talk to my imperial father in person. But right now, you don’t even have the chance to stand before him. Even so… you still want to keep going?”

“…”

…

The Wu clan’s branch family was in Repair-Emperor City’s eastside. The Capital lay to the west of the Central Plains. The two were thousands of miles apart.

Yuanhui walked slowly with a yoke of firewood on his shoulder, an old torn bamboo hat on his head. His long hair covered most of his face, so most people couldn’t see what he really looked like.

The road was packed, vendors shouting nonstop. Dressed as a woodcutter, he moved with difficulty through the tide of people.

“Move it! Useless trash, when I said move faster, I didn’t mean lie in the middle of the street!”

“Get up already! If you don’t finish moving it by noon, forget about eating!”

Angry roars came from up ahead. Yuanhui halted, lifted his hat a bit, and saw a few sturdy young men in Wu clan Liuyi Guard uniforms whipping several servants who were carrying sacks on their backs.

He hurriedly pulled the hat down and walked close to the roadside. Running into these lackeys of the Immortal Emperor here meant a real chance of being recognized.

The Liuyi Guard with the whip had a vicious face. His mouth was just as merciless as his hands—the whip never stopped, lashing over and over on the servants’ backs. The common folks nearby all stayed well away.

When the servants, bent under their sacks, trudged past Yuanhui, a single figure in that group made his pupils contract.

“Grand Elder Wu Zesheng?!”

The servant in front carrying the sacks was actually the branch family’s Grand Elder, Wu Zesheng!

Veins bulged on Yuanhui’s forearms. He glanced around. Just these three Liuyi Guards—no other attendants of the Immortal Emperor.

“Hey, I know exactly what you’re thinking. Don’t lose your head!”

“It’s fine. I’ll just treat it as a test of my recent training.”

“Hey… sigh, if you’re going… fine. Those three look like they’re only mid‑stage Nine Hearts. Their strength’s clearly nowhere near yours now.”

“Heh, don’t worry, teacher. I won’t kill them.”

An idea flashed through Yuanhui’s mind. Seeing that the group was about to cut through a narrow alley as a shortcut back to the palace, he quietly tailed them.

Looked like these guys were about to pay dearly for slacking off today. Yuanhui followed at an unhurried pace.

Once they entered the cramped alleyway, Yuanhui tightened his grip on the carrying pole. He pretended to slip underfoot and burst off the wall, “accidentally” stumbling toward the three Liuyi Guards.

“What the hell, you dare block our way? Do you even know who we—”

The leader spotted the ragged ‘woodcutter’ outfit Yuanhui was wearing, and, seeing he didn’t even seem to notice them, dropped his guard completely. He swung his whip, planning to send this idiot flying.

Right as the whip was about to crack down on Yuanhui’s head, everything flipped.

Under everyone’s stunned gaze, Yuanhui snatched the whip with one hand, chopped down with the edge of his other hand, and knocked the man out cold on the spot.

The other two shouted in panic, hearts leaping as they opened their mouths to call for help. But Yuanhui blurred like a ghost, appearing behind them in an instant, and fired off two rapid kicks. Both of them were sent flying into the wall and slumped down unconscious.

Three measly mid‑stage Nine Hearts? There was no way they could be his match.

He’d taken down all three Liuyi Guards as smoothly as flowing water, leaving Wu Zesheng and the other two servants dumbfounded. Who was this?

“Grand Elder, you’ve suffered.”

Yuanhui let out a quiet breath and took off his hat. He swept his hair back, revealing his true face.

Wu Zesheng stared. That familiar face made tears streak down his dirty cheeks.

“Young Master! It’s really you?!”

Yuanhui stepped forward and patted Wu Zesheng on the shoulder, his voice trembling with excitement.

“Grand Elder, you’ve really suffered. So many things happened lately and dragged you into this mess. It’s all my fault.”

“Don’t say that, Young Master!”

Wu Zesheng wiped his tears and shook his head firmly.

“I’m fine. As long as you’re alive, it doesn’t matter how much I suffer.”

For a second, Yuanhui almost let his emotions get the better of him. So the Grand Elder wasn’t as clueless as he’d always seemed. He glanced at the other two servants, who were already scared witless and bolting in panic, then asked:

“Grand Elder, those two aren’t from the main clan, are they?”

“They’re not. They’re outer‑sect disciples who got punished over some incident. Speaking of which, Young Master, how did you survive? I heard you escaped into Sky‑Snow Mountain that day, and then a few days ago, there was news that two peak grand cultivators fought there and caused a massive avalanche. The whole mountaintop got sheared clean off!”

“What?”

“Yeah. Nobody’s come out since.”

“Mm… don’t worry. Father’s fine.”

“Huh? How do you know that, Young Master?” Wu Zesheng asked eagerly.

Yuanhui glanced deeply at the thin, haggard Grand Elder and decided not to push him further yet.

“We’ll talk about that later. Let’s get out of here first. I’ll find you a place to hide so no one can find you.”

“H‑hide… hide?”

That stunned Wu Zesheng. Ever since the branch family had been declared traitors, after the academy brothers got hit first, the whole clan had been demoted to servants. They did chores day and night, with no time to cultivate. Even if they squeezed in training during breaks, their realm still hadn’t moved an inch.

Listening to Wu Zesheng pour out his misery as a servant, Yuanhui’s hatred for the person behind all this burned to the bone.

“Damn it, who the hell is targeting the Wu clan like this? Hmph. The day I have the power, I’ll make that sneaky bastard pay.”

Yuanhui clenched his fist so tight it shook, then slammed it into the wall.

With a dull boom, his punch went straight through the wall. Luckily, no one was nearby, or someone would’ve called the city guards for sure.

Wu Zesheng, sitting by the side, stared in shock. He pointed at the hole in the wall, then at Yuanhui’s uninjured hand, speechless.

“Y‑Young Master! When did you become this strong? This… you’re at least mid‑stage Nine Hearts now, aren’t you?”

Hearing that, Yuanhui smiled slightly.

“I’m in the Boundless transition stage. I’ve just stepped into it, but I think I’ll become a true Boundless soon enough.”

“B‑Boundless!!!”

Wu Zesheng had wandered the continent for many years. Even though he himself had been stuck at the Nine Hearts bottleneck, he’d always longed for that realm so close to being an immortal.

“They say people at the Boundless realm live several times longer than normal. And you… you actually…”

“Hehe, I just got lucky, that’s all.”

“You’re incredible,” Wu Zesheng said, looking at Yuanhui with open envy.

Back in the clan, he’d never thought much of Yuanhui’s status. But now, even among the main bloodline disciples, Yuanhui was standing head and shoulders above the rest—that was the only way he could’ve gotten so much help… At least, that’s what Wu Zesheng must be thinking.

“Heh, you flatter me, Grand Elder. I only put in a bit more effort in cultivation than most.”

As he spoke, Yuanhui took out two bottles of pills from his bracelet and handed them over.

“Grand Elder, these two bottles of healing pills are for you. They’ll help your body recover faster.”

Wu Zesheng clutched the pills, too moved to speak.

“Young Master… *sob*… rest assured. I’ll dedicate the rest of my life to you, even if it means turning against the main clan itself!”