By dawn the next day, news rippled through the Heavenly Ascent Sect: the Master of Giant Spirit Peak had been carried out of Majestic Peak by his own disciples.
Even the masters of the other five spirit peaks went still, like statues in a storm. Du Fei Yu was fifth-stage Golden Core; he shouldn’t enter upright and leave on a stretcher.
Shen Zhankuang, Master of War God Peak, carved out time to visit his sworn brother. He asked like rain on stone, yet Du Fei Yu kept his mouth sealed.
“Enough,” Du Fei Yu grimaced on his bed, pain biting like cold iron. “Don’t ask. Hear me: the women on Majestic Peak are uncanny. Best keep clear.”
He had been floored by the System yesterday; today the wounds throbbed like hot coals. Ningyi’s method was a mystery, and he couldn’t even rise.
“Uncanny or not, they’re just women, right? Du, you didn’t fear Sai Tongmeng of Soaring Swallow Peak. How can Majestic Peak’s girls make you retreat?”
Shen saw his friend looking beaten, panda eyes bruised like ink stains. The image clashed with the fearless brother he remembered.
“You don’t know. Sai Tongmeng is just fiery. Azure An is different. I don’t even have words—she’s unnervingly strange.”
“Before the Wildbeast Wasteland opens, I won’t tangle with any of them. If you’re not afraid of sparks, go. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Azure An is really that eerie?”
“As true as daylight.”
Shen watched those bruised eyes and felt his lips twitch, thoughts clouding like stormwater. After a pause, he rose. “I’ll heed you. I’ll avoid Azure An for now.”
“Good.”
Meanwhile, Boundless Peak.
Many disciples knelt trembling behind a yellow-robed elder whose face hung dark like thunderclouds. The room was hushed; on the bed, Zhao Zhan lay unconscious.
His cherished disciple—he never even scolded him hard—now battered like a broken drum. The elder’s heart ached; anger burned like a wildfire.
“Speak! Who did this to Zhan’er?”
His voice cracked like thunder in a sealed hall. Low-ranked disciples went pale; a few bled at the lips, their Dao-hearts jarred.
“Third Elder, the injuries were all inflicted by Azure An, Master of Majestic Peak.”
Tianqi Yu, nearest to the elder, dutifully offered names, and added the tale of the duel set by a wager days ago. The elder’s fury climbed like a storm wind.
By the end, even the air wavered under his unconscious pressure, restless like a caged beast. He had been gone two months; now the sky itself felt changed. Did Majestic Peak’s disciples still respect law?
If not for the Sect Master’s decree—elders must not intervene in disciple disputes—he would have stormed Majestic Peak to discipline those lawless brats.
Li Qian, kneeling nearby, seized the moment and stepped forward. “Third Elder, Majestic Peak’s disciples destroyed our Spirit-Gathering Flowers. They injured our peak’s disciples and your personal disciple.”
“This can’t be swallowed. If we let it slide, Majestic Peak will grow even more reckless. Please uphold justice for Boundless Peak.”
“Please uphold justice for Boundless Peak!”
The chorus rose like surf. The Third Elder stood by his student’s bed, his expression shifting like a changing sky. After a long breath, he waved them back.
“We’ll speak after Zhan’er wakes.”
“Withdraw. Tianqi Yu and Li Qian, stay.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want revenge. Sect rules were iron; he couldn’t move personally. If the Sect Master heard, it would turn ugly. The disciples would have to handle it.
“Your orders, Elder?”
Once the others left, Tianqi Yu and Li Qian stood humbly at his sides, like sparrows before a hawk.
“In less than a century’s turn, the Wildbeast Wasteland opens. Our sect’s peaks will join other sects’ youths to seek fortune there.”
“It’s peril within peril. Many beasts are above Golden Core. If someone meets ‘an accident’ on the road, it’s understandable. You two catch my drift.”
His gaze flickered like a blade’s glint; the meaning was clear as noon sun.
Tianqi Yu was a clever man reborn; he understood. The elder couldn’t strike, so he wanted them to do it. But why work for free?
“Elder, as you said, the Wildbeast Wasteland is lethal. Above Golden Core, we only have Peak Master Zhao. I fear we’ll be busy surviving, not fit for heavy tasks.”
He had just risen in power; cultivation demanded costly pills and artifacts. If there was profit, blood work could be done.
The elder chuckled, low as embers. “I knew you’d say that. Take these two bottles; they suit your current cultivation.”
“As for the rest—claim it after the Wasteland task is done.”
His sleeve flicked, and two jade bottles, rich with medicinal fragrance, drifted before Tianqi Yu and Li Qian. “One holds nine Nine-Turn Sunrise Pills; the other holds one Dragon Saliva Pill.”
“They’ll raise you one sub-stage below Golden Core. Use them well. Don’t disappoint me. Dismissed.”
“Thank you, Elder.”
Tianqi Yu shot Li Qian a look. Li Qian understood, pocketed the pills with solemn care, then hurried out alongside Tianqi Yu.
“Hey, Brother Tianqi, wait! What did the elder mean back there? I didn’t catch it at all.”
On the path down the peak, Li Qian still felt fogged, like walking in mist. The elder’s aura had been so heavy he could barely stand.
“You want to know?” Tianqi Yu slanted him a glance, one brow lifting like a drawn bow.
Li Qian nodded, but Tianqi Yu kept silent. Li Qian took the hint, pulled out the fresh pills, and offered them up. “Please accept these, Brother Tianqi.”
“This isn’t proper,” Tianqi Yu said, feigning reluctance, voice smooth as oil.
“What’s improper? You’re gifted. With these, you’ll reach Golden Core sooner or later. Just don’t forget me then.”
“Brother Qian, you flatter me. You just want the elder’s meaning, right? Lean in, I’ll tell you.”
“…”
While Tianqi Yu laid it out in whispers, back on Majestic Peak, Nana Toki opened her eyes after a full day of cultivation and exhaled a muddy breath.
Frustration first, then thought. This body’s talent for Spirit Energy was awful, like a dry well. Compared to training internal arts, Spirit Energy crawled.
Should I switch to pure internal arts?
With pills, cultivation could still climb. For a body cultivator like Nana Toki, Spirit Energy wasn’t crucial. At equal rank, body cultivators crush spirit cultivators.
Of course, only if both stand at the same stage.
“Looks like staying cooped up in the Heavenly Ascent Sect is no plan. If I want speed, I need to roam.”
She started sketching future steps, like routes on a map.
She wanted to leave now—put distance from the Protagonist Lord—take Blue Magpie out to wander and maybe trigger that missing hidden quest.
But the Wildbeast Wasteland opens soon, once in a century. In the original story, only disciples of secular sects could enter. To get in, she had to keep her Heavenly Ascent identity.
The body Tianqi Yu had seized was a mess, riddled with hidden ailments. To heal them all, she’d need rare treasure to refine inner pills.
The Wildbeast Wasteland held many such oddities. Since Tianqi Yu had dared frame her little sister, his persona was already cracking. Returning the favor was only fair.
Heh. Let’s see who plays harder.
She hadn’t forgotten how Tianqi Yu framed Blue Magpie.
