Regressed Master: Raising The Son Of Heaven Isn’t Easy (Xianxia/Progression)

When Wang Yang came to be, he could hear some familiar and unfamiliar voices beyond his closed eyes.


"Is he… ok?" Xu Qiang's labored voice came through first.


"He seems fine. No poison or heavy internal damage. A healing pill should be enough for him." Another soft, regal voice gave him the answer. A voice he didn't know, but the steps soon moved away, and a new set of steps came near.


"He is out of danger, so you can continue with the trial." Li Muchen's voice made his eyes open wide.


Unlike the comfort of a soft bed, they had laid him down on the hot sand with only a cloth as a barrier. A few disciples walked in the vicinity, but none came too close. Soon, they all left.


"You woke up early." Muchen noticed Wang Yang first.


"Master… you saved me." Wang Yang said.


"No, you saved yourself." Muchen shook his head.


"…Has the trial ended already?" Wang Yang asked.


"It hasn't. Why?" Muchen sat down on a nearby rock.


"How? I was inside there for two months! Cough!" Wang Yang broke into a coughing fit. His throat turned scratchy, and his body ached all over.


"Drink this first." Muchen handed him a gourd. Water from a special spring and a healing pill mixed into it for easy consumption.


"Thank you…" Wang Yang gulped the water in one go.


"You said you were there for two months, right?" Wang Yang nodded at Muchen's question.


"Only 16 hours passed outside while you stayed trapped in an area with distorted space and time. And, you made some progress as well." Muchen didn't know why Wang Yang took longer than last time, but he had achieved more things than last time because of that.


He is on the verge of a breakthrough to the 8th layer of Qi Refining. But I didn't think that he'd be able to form a bond with the sword this early. Wang Yang had found the same sword last time, but it took a few years before he could form a bond with it. However, he has already achieved that this time.


"Only 16 hours… I thought that…" Wang Yang clenched his hands. His mind raced with all the negative thoughts that piled up inside him in solitude. If he wasn't lucky, he would've died. Facing that such a possibility could've come to pass, his face turned solemn.


"Whatever you faced in there, you have overcome it on your own." Muchen placed a hand on Wang Yang's back. "Don't dwell on it, learn from it so you can do better if a similar situation arises."


"…Ok. But I also have a question." Receiving Muchen's nod, Wang Yang continued. "If I train more in such a place…"


"Perish the thought. Even if only 16 hours have passed outside, you have indeed aged 2 months. You were already lucky enough to survive when the formation collapsed." The sword Wang Yang pulled from the altar held the sealed area together. Once he took it out, the formation broke, and the area reappeared in the physical world.


"I won't ask for details…" Cold sweat covered Wang Yang's face.


"You should get some rest now. Don't worry about the trial." Muchen chuckled at the sudden look of horror on his disciple's face.


"Sorry…" Wang Yang clenched his hand, but before he could speak a flick landed on his forehead. "Yaaww!"


"What are you sorry for?" Muchen smirked. "You'll place first in the trial."


"Master… I don't think it's a good idea to rig sect trials." Wang Yang rubbed his forehead with a pained look.


"This brat… do you want a few more?" Muchen branded his finger threateningly.


"Sorry, sorry…" Wang Yang slid back covering his head.


"You'll place first because you found the most valuable treasure in the trial." Muchen sighed, pointing at the silver sword lying beside his disciple. "That's my Master's first sword, Serenity."


"W-Wait! Master's Master, then…" Wang Yang looked at the sword, then at Muchen, then back at the sword. The now ordinary-looking silver sword turned out to have a larger history.


"Yes. You found the Sect Master's sword." Muchen shook his head at his dumbfounded expression. "My Master started the treasure hunting trials for me and my fellow disciples. We trained our quick thinking, trap detection, resourcefulness, tracking, time management, and teamwork while hunting for treasures hidden in the valley. That's why we continue the tradition and give the disciples the same chances to develop."


"Could no one find this sword?" Wang Yang asked, his eyes glued to the sword.


"We found every other treasure but this one. Almost like our Master didn't want us to find it." Muchen's Master had stuck the sword in a space sealed by a formation that distorted space and time. Above all, it changed location with no entry or exit points. It felt a bit too harsh for a test, but he understood the reason behind it later.


"Well, now that you have found that sword, which is still counted as a hidden treasure. You have won the trial, no one can deny that." Muchen concluded.


"Oh, ok." Wang Yang nodded. If he won, he won. There wasn't much he could do after that.


"Master, are brother Xu and others, ok?" He asked at last. If he had gotten caught in a mishap, something could've happened to one of them, too.


"They are all fine. They reported what went wrong with you first and helped search for you the whole time." Muchen reassured him with a pat on the shoulder. "You have good friends."


"Hmm… Master… Well, I…" Wang Yang looked at the ground, going over his words before multiple times before he could make a convincing reason.


"Here, take this." But Muchen handed him a pill. "It's a tier six Complete recovery pill, should be enough to bring you back to your best condition."


"…Isn't this expensive?" To a disciple like him, a pill like this would cost an arm and a leg.


"Depends on what you put it up against." Muchen winked.


"I understand, Master." Wang Yang ate the pill and rushed off with his sword. He stopped for a moment and looked back. But shook his head and continued in the sandy desert.


"Isn't it wonderful to be young?" Muchen said.


Only the howling wind answered back. All the senior disciples that joined the search for Wang Yang had left for their posts. Wang Yang left to catch up with Xu Qiang and his group. So, only Muchen and the entrance of the previously sealed cave remained there.


"Let's stop pretending, shall we?" This time, Muchen looked at the entrance of the cave.


"32 sensing formations, 45 tracking formations, 76 restraining formations, and 108 sealing formations." The voice of a juvenile girl echoed around Muchen, however it soon gained maturity and robustness of an old man. "You are certainly well prepared."


One word came from the left, another from the right. Elusive like the wind, this voice stayed ever changing. In both form and place.


"I have to show at least this much to respect a legend." Muchen smiled.


The formation held by the sword Wang Yang pulled, sealed a certain creature in that place. That's the reason Muchen's master had the area change places, and even if the sword was included in the treasures, it wasn't meant to be found. It contained something that shouldn't see the light of day. He knew because he had faced that thing in battle, the creature that destroyed his sect and killed his junior brother, Li Xianquan.


"Is this how you humans show respect? You aren't even here." The voice of a mature woman huffed.


"I apologize, there were some constraints on my part. So, the puppet was all I could send." Muchen, or the puppet he controlled from the Sky Garden to set things up, smiled.


"The nerve you have…" The voice turned gruff like a sailor's. "So different, yet so similarly irritable like that one."


"Are you talking about my Master?"


"Who else if not the one that sealed me here for a thousand years?" The voice lowered into the depths of hell.


"Well, you destroyed three countries in the middle continent, what else was my Master supposed to do?" Muchen sighed.


"You know nothing about the truth. Not you, not your master." The voice turned serene like a bard's.


"Are you talking about the Beast tribe genocide or their dealings with Demonic sects?" Muchen asked.


"You… How do you know?" The voice changed back to that of a young girl. "They erased all that from history."


"Is that important?" Muchen sat down on the rock. "The way you exacted your revenge was wrong. To reach one guilty, you killed a thousand innocent."


"You know well." The voice of a young man answered.


"I am not trying to condemn you or anything. I wanted to have a proper conversation with you." Muchen said.


"What? Did you know me or something?" The voice asked.


"Something like that." The memory Muchen had wasn't good. He only remembered a mindless beast that his Master pitied. By the time he had slain, he wanted to know more about the real person behind that veil of madness.


That's why he didn't stop Wang Yang from participating in the trial. He wanted him to reach the distorted space and lift the formation. All that so he could finally have a conversation with this person, so he could finally understand how this person was before rage and murder consumed them, before this creature turned into a puppet for the Demonic Sects.


"…What do you want from me?" The voice calmed down along with the wind.


"A partnership," Muchen said.


"Partnership? You? A cultivator of the righteous path? Don't you know who my enemy is?" The seductive voice of a mermaid scoffed.


"Tao sect." Muchen knew them well. The largest sect of the Righteous Path, and also its biggest betrayer. "The enemy of an enemy is a friend, no? But, if you want me to swear upon my cultivation, I can do that too."


"To think a madman like you is roaming around, looks like a lot has happened since I was sealed." The voice chuckled. "Alright, I'll give you a chance."


"Good. The first step of my plan is very easy." A graceful smile hung on Muchen's lips. "You have to become my cultivation pet."


"…"


"I am being serious." Muchen shrugged at the silence.


Although it sounded somewhat grandiose, a cultivation pet wasn't much different from a normal pet. Aside from the fact that it could help in cultivation. And, it must obey its master, or get disciplined. If having a conversation with the creature was Muchen's personal reason, then this was the real intention.


"…You must be out of your mind, human!" The voice howled to the sky. Along with her, the wind. A dust storm rose in an instant. It tore a hillside into bits with the dunes of sand displaced over seconds. Now, it moved towards Muchen.


But he remained unperturbed on his rocky cushion.


"Being sealed for a thousand years has taken its toll." One snap of his finger and the storm collapsed on itself. "All your illusions and deception are nothing more than party tricks at the moment."


The air peeled away. Howling winds and trembling earth, all flew like feathers in wind. Muchen faced the little, white furball at the entrance to the cave. A white fox with three red dots on the forehead. The yellow eyes and white fur stood out in the desolate desert. However, the most striking part about the fox, was the absence of the tails.


"You…" It protested with a growl as feeble as its appearance.


"Join me and complete your revenge, or die in vain after enduring a thousand years. The choice is yours." Muchen's eyes held no light.


"I was wrong… You aren't like your master at all. You are tainted…" She gritted her teeth. "Tainted by evil."


"Good and Evil… they are both sides of the same coin. If pursuing my revenge makes me evil, then I'll accept that." Footsteps neared, and Muchen's voice doubled. Another figure appeared from the shadow of the hill. "After the dust settles, I'll pay for my sins in full."


The real Muchen stepped into the light, he stored the puppet in his storage ring, and stared down the tailless fox.


"So, do we have terms?" He asked.
...
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Three days passed since the incident with Wang Yang and the Sect trial proceeded without other issues. The Peak Masters, Elders, and senior disciples watched the promising candidates in the Heaven Rending valley so that nothing out of order transpires.


However, a storm brewed up on the higher platform of Sky Garden.


"She's so cute~!" Hua Mei cuddled the doll-sized tailless fox in her small arms.


The feeling of the soft, white fur felt heavenly against her face. Even the usual drunk Liu Zhi partook in the petting session with sparkling eyes. There weren't many things aside from booze that could catch her eye.


"Brother, where did you get this kid?" Huang Bai, the only other Peak Master with pets, asked.


Muchen ignored the accusing red eyes of the fox and answered. "I found her in the valley the other day."


"And you just took her in?" Xianquan tilted his head.


"Well, this one is kind of special." Muchen smiled.


Xianquan's eyes peered at the fox and spied no tail on her. A smile spread to his lips, too. "I suppose she is."


"I think it is in her behaviour. Normal fox beasts are cunning beasts." Liu Zhi said. "They cozy up to cultivators, especially the female ones, cause they don't have strong fighting power. But this one's averse to touch."


Save me, you damned human brat! I don't wanna be treated like a house cat! The fox roared in Muchen's head.


"Probably because she wasn't with others of her kind." Muchen smiled through the bombardment of curses ringing in his head. "There are no packs of fox beasts in the valley, so she must've been born from nature."


"It's always fascinating how closely you have studied Qi beasts." Huang Bai said.


"Know the enemy and yourself, and you needn't worry about a thousand battles." Muchen quoted a line from the famous general. Before fighting cultivators, he fought beasts. But he wasn't strong enough to end things in one go, so he studied them the best he could.


"Uncle, what is her name?" Hua Mei asked, pointing at the fox.


"Yae. That's her name." Muchen said.


"I don't recognize that word. Is it from a language of the lost continent?" Xianquan asked.


"Something like that." Muchen used a language from Earth. It meant multi-layered, a name fitting his and fox's current situation.


"First disciples and now a pet… Brother is becoming a bit too normal these days." Liu Zhi said, her eyes squinted.


"Things just lined up, I suppose." Muchen shrugged at the gazes of suspicion and focused on the screens before him.


It displayed the current top ten of the trial. Seven disciples belonged to Lotus Peak and Tiger Peak. The specialization in formations for the former and the focus on combat for the latter helped their disciples stand firmly against the beasts and the concealing mechanisms for the treasures.


Using their strengths, these young cultivators found good Earth rank low to mid-level treasures left by the elders of the peaks and secured their place on the rankings. However, things changed in the top three.


"Lie Feng found Peak Master Zhao's training sword. His formation-breaking skills are well practiced too." Xianquan said.


"His combat skills are also a step above most disciples. But there is a bit of aggression in his steps; I suppose that comes with his young age." Huang Bai pointed at the moment the young boy stabbed through a Foundation Establishment realm sparrow, the size of a cherry, with accuracy.


"Still, it feels like a funeral down there." Liu Zhi pointed at the table for Sky Peak's elders and chuckled. "Especially Elder Ling. You can hear his teeth grinding from here."


"If it were any other year, Lie Feng would've placed first." Huang Bai said, her eyes at the first two on the list. "But he met two people who outclassed him. One in skill and the other in luck."


Sun Lingling cut through a herd of mid-rank Foundation Establishment realm wolves like taking a walk. The helping team that came out, thinking that she'd need protection, ended up standing there like statues on red sand in the wake of a massacre.


"Her sword skills are sharper than I expected. And to think she can already use sword qi." Xianquan said as Sun Lingling killed a beast at the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm.


"That's the level of growth I'd expect from someone learning from Senior Brother Li. It's not just talent; her hard work also shines through in every strike she lands." Huang Bai added.


"It's like I am watching Brother Li hunt." Liu Zhi turned to Muchen, "You sure she isn't your secret daughter or something? I think many elders will entertain that thought," and pointed at the whispers going around the table.


"Stop the bad guesses, smooth brain." Muchen pulled his smug junior sister's ear.


"Aiya, I was just joking." Liu Zhi slipped and hid behind Huang Bai.


"The bigger surprise is the kid Wang Yang," Huang Bai said.


Without a word, they all looked at the young kid engaging with a giant snake beast with his group. However, their eyes only followed the silver sword in the boy's hand.


"To think he found the sword we failed to." Xianquan sighed.


"I still remember how many days we wasted trying to look for that thing." Huang Bai smiled.


"We turned the outer and inner area of the Heaven Rending Valley on its head and still didn't get it. I think Brother Hua still uses it as a motivation for the disciples of his peak, so they'd learn about formations." Liu Zhi chuckled. "Now, the sword has finally found its new owner."


That sword had a lot of meaning for each of them. Their Master's first and favorite sword. A sword symbolic of their master's presence. And it meant the most to Li Muchen, but he couldn't get it either. His Master didn't want to leave it behind for him, and he finally understood what purpose it served.


"I suppose he was destined to get it." Muchen had long accepted that he couldn't fill his master's shoes. It wasn't his place.


"The first place is decided. Not even a miracle can overturn it." Li Xianquan looked at the calm Muchen. "You've won, Brother."


The list represented the distance well. It floated in front of every elder's face, staring them down and reminding them of the words that almost made them laugh on the first day.


4th Zhang Jun, Lotus Peak. Treasure found: Myriad Mirror (Earth Grade, High Rank)


3rd. Lie Feng, Sky Peak. Treasure found: Miric Steel Sword (Heaven Grade, Low Rank)


2nd. Sun Lingling, Plum Peak. Treasure found: Volcanic Blood Saber (Heaven Grade, High Rank)


1st. Wang Yang, Plum Peak. Treasure found: Serenity (Divine Grade, High Rank)


They had to accept the sudden turn of events. Not one could raise a complaint, since Muchen never left the place to help his disciple when the problem happened. Everything the young boy achieved was his merit. No one could deny that. So, no one could deny the confidence Muchen had in his disciples.


"I'll be doing closed-door cultivation for the week, so have Elder Ling give out the prizes for the disciples," Muchen said.


"You don't hold your punches once they fly, huh?" Liu Zhi chuckled.


"It'll be foolish to only show the blade and not use it, right, brother?" Xianquan understood his senior brother the best out of the junior disciples.


"Indeed." Muchen took Yae from Hua Mei and smiled. "You don't take out the weapon to scare people, after all."


Bidding them farewell, Muchen left the Sky Garden and headed for his residence on Plum Peak. The usual cold didn't feel as gloomy as it once did to him. Before, he couldn't do a lot during winter because of his constitution, but he didn't have that problem now. His body rejected the chilling yin qi and maintained a healthy balance.


"You should've helped me sooner, damn it!" Yae growled.


"You could've just jumped out of her hands." He shrugged.


"So I blow my cover? Real genius advice." She scowled.


"Just bear with it then," Muchen said, moving the bed in a small guest room of the eastern wing.


"Are we finally starting it?" Yae asked, a pinch of irritation in her voice. He didn't tell her what he was doing the past few days.


"It takes time to set things up." Muchen opened a trap door under the bed. "But the pay-off is worth it."


He walked down the dark stairs as the bed covered the trapdoor with the concealing mechanism. After a quick descent, he pushed the double iron doors, as heavy as a herd of elephants, open. The hinges creaked to reveal a well-lit, cube-like space with white tiles that covered the floor, walls, and ceiling.


One could build an entire pagoda here, but the place didn't have a speck of dust. The white tiles had nexuses of inscriptions. They spread across the floor like snakes and climbed the walls like vines, leaving no corner untouched. With the ceiling covered in ancient language and mathematical structures, the entire formation came together around the two circles on the ceiling. The first was big enough to fit a bull, and the other twice as big.


"Stone Monkey tribe's Heaven and Earth Formation…" Yae muttered, mesmerized by the sight but also unnerved. "How come a human knows the secret they guarded till the end of their lives?"


"The heavens love me too much." Muchen smiled.


"Fine, don't answer me." Yae rolled her eyes.


Muchen didn't feel like it was a lie. As an earthling reincarnated into this world and then allowed to regress once. It raised many questions in his head. But the most important one was…


Why me? Muchen knew he wouldn't get a direct answer, and he still didn't get one. The heavens must have a reason for giving him these chances. But it didn't matter anymore.


No matter what the heavens want from me. I know what I have to do.


"Come on, it's about time we get started for real," Muchen said.


He jumped to the ceiling and planted his feet in the bigger circle. With qi running through his shoes, he could stick to the ceiling without worry. Yae landed in the smaller circle, facing Muchen.


Why is he using the Heaven and Earth Formation? Yae thought, unable to get a read on Muchen. He may have pushed her into the corner to make a contract, but she did it with the benefits in mind.


Li Muchen, even if annoying, had his uses for her. His position in a major, righteous sect was the perfect cover for her revenge. His talents weren't bad either, an average Joe she could use. That's what made the use of Heaven and Earth formation this way a weird move.


Stone monkeys, as named, were born from stones and were one of the first lifeforms formed by nature's will. However, their unnatural way of birth created limitations. Unlike the creatures created by Goddess Nuwa, they didn't have a spiritual root. They were born stronger than usual, but others could surpass them over time with cultivation. Thus, they faced enslavement and almost went extinct.


However, a monkey was born in their midst with the heaven's blessing. A monkey much stronger than his peers. He broke the chains of slavery and saved his people, ruling over them. But he wasn't satisfied with that. So, he left on a journey to get a spiritual root and find a way to cultivate. That's how the Heaven and Earth formation came to be.


A formation that linked Heaven (Nuwa's creation) to Earth (Nature's creations/stone monkeys). Using this formation, stone monkeys would link with other beings who had a spiritual root and cultivate by mutual consent. A very simple, yet complex structure.


That's exactly why Yae couldn't understand standing in the Earth circle. Why would he want her to connect to his spiritual root? She expected the opposite to happen since her spiritual root should be of a higher grade between theirs, but Muchen had other plans.


"The divine root in heaven conceives and the spring breaks forth." Muchen started the incantation. The words left his mouth and materialized in the air. "As the heart's nature is cultivated, the Great Way arises…"


A red light pulsed through the inscriptions and gathered around the two circles. The qi moved in massive quantities. Like a torrential wave aiming to swallow the world. Yae's heart beat rose as red light surrounded her.


Consumed. Overwhelmed. Distraught.


She trembled in place, facing a shadow in that red world. A shadow that roped her in. However, it vanished like smoke soon after.


Yae stood in the middle of a well-kept garden full of spirit cherry trees with a lone plum tree. The wind ruffled her white fur with the crimson petals. However, she focused on Muchen.


Dressed in pure white, he stood before the pond, waiting for her. She walked over, her small paws feeling the heat with each step. After a few more steps, she came face to face with the lotus. A lotus darker than darkness itself. The red mist hanging over the pond was familiar to the one that surrounded her before.


A chill washed over her body. "What do you want from me?" she asked.


"Finally dropping the act?" He said.


"…" The normally irritable and easily angered Yae held her tongue.


"You just have to do what you do best." Muchen met the eyes of the tailless fox and demanded. "Deception."
...

I am sure you all have a lot of questions, so let's just say that my health has been more unstable than a chair with two legs. I just got sick of waiting till I recover fully and started writing last week, starting RR release now. Since I am still going to work with this health, might as well write too.

If you are interested in getting fast updates regarding update schedules and other works, do join the Discord server I've created to keep in contact with the readers and share news fast enough. There are also two chapters for my next work there, so if you all could give me some criticism on them, I would be eternally grateful. I need the help cause i am not good enough at writing and need to redo chapters till they are good enough.


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Since his regression, Muchen handled most things with practiced ease. Whether teaching his disciples, planning for the future, laying traps for his enemies, or developing the sect—he was proficient in all.


However, the only thing he struggled with was cultivation—the most important aspect, in his opinion.


Before regression, his cultivation progressed slowly. After regression, the speed became a problem for a different reason: it exceeded what his body could handle.


Thus, Muchen devised a plan to trap a beast that could help him with this conundrum. Now, that very beast stared at him with dubious eyes upon hearing his plan.


"You want me to deceive your spiritual root?" she asked, still unable to believe what Muchen was asking.


"Yes. My body can't handle the speed of cultivation," he restated.


"How the hell can your body not keep up with your spiritual root?" Yae's whiskers twitched. "You... what have you done for power?"


The only reason Muchen's body wouldn't keep up with a spiritual root was if it hadn't originally belonged to him. Most methods to acquire spiritual roots came from the demonic path, often involving ripping a cultivator's soul from their body, leaving them in a vegetative state.


"It's nothing as bad as you're thinking," Muchen said, pointing at the black lotus. "One day, I woke up, and my spiritual root had changed to this."


"And I'm Goddess Nuwa. Your point?" Anger bled into Yae's voice.


"Look, you walk the Dao of Deception," Muchen said, his tone calm. "I'm sure you can tell the difference between a lie and the truth. I haven't harmed anyone to get this spiritual root. It was there when I woke up, and I'm still trying to figure out how and why."


Yae stared at the ground and closed her eyes. "...I understand." She couldn't sense any deception, but she had a feeling he didn't give her the full story.


"Much appreciated." Muchen placed her on his shoulder and walked toward the black lotus. "Your job is to trick the spiritual root into thinking it's running at full capacity. I'll lower its defenses so you won't need to exert too much."


"You trust me enough to leave your spiritual root defenseless?" Yae's eyebrow shot up.


"It's not trust," Muchen said. "I know you won't do anything cowardly like that."


"What gives you that confidence? Like you said, I follow the Dao of Deception," Yae replied. "I've only survived this long because of cowardly acts."


"No." Muchen held Yae in his hands and brought her in front of him. "You've survived because you want revenge for what happened to your people."


"To achieve that, you'll need good backing—insider information on righteous sects and cover from demonic sects until you're strong enough. I'm the ideal pawn. One that's willing to cooperate, so there's no need for extra steps that'll put you in danger."


"You're willing to be a pawn in my revenge?" Yae asked.


"I scratch your back, you scratch mine," Muchen smiled. "Besides, we have a common enemy."


I have other ways to make her cooperate, but no need to walk the harder path just for the sake of it, Muchen thought.


"Your words are sweet, no doubt," Yae said. "But you must have safeguards if I try something, right?"


"Naturally," Muchen nodded. "You'll die in a second if you try to take over my body. It might damage me, but it's a risk I'm willing to take."


"Too bad. I could tame all the female cultivators with that beautiful mug of yours, many men too I bet." Yae clicked her tongue.


"I'm a man heavily sought after," Muchen said, without a hint of denial.


"Heh. Maybe you aren't that irritating after all," Yae chuckled.


"Right back at you," Muchen replied.


Yae jumped out of his hands. She walked on water and touched the black lotus with her front paws. "This spiritual root is incredible," she said. "At this stage, I can probably suppress it for about two hours a day."


"That's enough for now." Muchen sat down in front of the lotus.


The land rumbled, and mist cloaked the surrounding city on the lake. His spiritual root gathered Qi, its black petals more luscious than a starry night.


Three marks on Yae's forehead glowed crimson, and her eyes turned yellow. A stream of golden words flowed from her tiny body, wrapping around the black lotus like vines. The words absorbed the Qi the lotus tried to gather and glowed brighter. Threads of gold seeped into the petals, pulling more Qi.


The lotus, once an avalanche, became a manageable snowball.


"What output level do you want? Earth Grade, High Rank?" Yae asked, guessing based on what she sensed of his former spiritual root.


"Heaven Grade, High Rank," Muchen said. He didn't intend to play small.


"You think you can handle the Qi flow of a Heaven Grade spiritual root?"


"Certain," Muchen replied.


He had handled worse before. With a strengthened body thanks to the Heaven's Pond, his current tolerance and absorption rate should suffice.


"Well, it's your body," Yae shrugged. "But about the leftover Qi..."


"You can absorb it," he agreed. "Consider it your reward."


"As it should be." Yae turned back to the lotus.


Feeling the torrential rush of Qi, she understood why he'd placed her in the Earth Circle.


His consolidation can't keep up with the lotus' absorption rate. But using the Heaven and Earth Formation and lowering the spiritual root's defenses, he allows me to deceive the root and divert a major portion of the Qi flow away from his body. And if I absorb it while cultivating myself, my recovery will speed up.


Yae began circulating the Qi into her Dantian. Her once-barren core filled—one drop at a time.


It's no doubt a Divine Grade spiritual root, maybe a high rank based on its absorption rate. Yae smirked as she bulldozed through the Qi Gathering stages.


"Not bad," she said, glancing at Muchen's closed eyes. His words echoed in her ears.


You scratch my back, I scratch yours.


"Not bad at all."


What she didn't know was that Muchen had used his cultivation technique to reduce the black lotus' absorption rate to 25%.


***


For the first time since his regression, Muchen felt tranquil while cultivating. To him, cultivation was more than just absorbing Qi. It was a sacred time to shed worldly burdens and immerse in the mysteries of the Dao.


He enjoyed that peace—free from gossip, expectations, and desire. While cultivating, he could focus his entire being and embrace progress, no matter how small.


His new spiritual root had turned that serenity into pain. But with Yae's help, he had reclaimed his sanctuary.


There's a minor discomfort... but it's manageable. The Heaven's Pond had strengthened him, and Yae's precise control over her Dao made the process smoother.


Now, he didn't have to worry about dying from implosion.


His mind raced as Qi flowed through his veins and meridians. In the Golden Core realm, cultivators had to refine their organs. But Muchen had learned they could go further.


Qi Gathering strengthened skin and muscles. Foundation Building tempered bones and tendons. Golden Core refined organs and blood vessels. Together, they formed a complete study of the body. To truly understand the body, one had to study its building blocks:


Cells.


I must imprint the layout of my body onto my soul, like a blueprint, for regeneration. While most cultivators did this unconsciously, doing it consciously brought immense benefits—faster healing, greater control, and sharper senses.


Most didn't encounter the concept of cells until the Form Synthesis realm. Only five cultivators had reached that realm in this era, all recluses.


But as an Earthling and regressor who had once crossed Form Synthesis, Muchen knew one could lay these foundations as early as Qi Gathering.


He wanted the younger cultivators in his sect to benefit from this knowledge. He had even written a book about it—but timing its release was the key to avoiding suspicion.


For now, he worked on completing his body's blueprint and healing existing damage to avoid future issues. His Dantian filled slowly, but that wasn't the goal. He needed the blueprint ready before Nascent Soul if he wanted to maximize the Sword Silk stage.


The saying of complete understanding of body and sword isn't a joke by any means, Muchen thought, chuckling.


By the end of the two hours, he had moved a step closer to the 8th refinement of Golden Core.


"Not bad, brat." Yae's proud, powerful voice echoed as he opened his eyes.


"You could reach the Nascent Soul realm by year's end," she said, licking the single, fluffy tail that had just emerged.


"I have to reach it before two months," Muchen replied, checking his body.


"You're a greedy kid," Yae said.


"Is that a compliment?" Muchen smiled.


"Of course it is." Yae smirked, sharp canines on display. "I can hold out another hour if I push it."


"Then what are we waiting for?" Muchen asked.


Eager to reach the next level, the pair dove headfirst into cultivation once more.


...



If you are interested in getting fast updates regarding update schedules and other works, do join the Discord server I've created to keep in contact with the readers and share news fast enough. There are also two chapters for my next work there, so if you all could give me some criticism on them, I would be eternally grateful. I need the help cause i am not good enough at writing and need to redo chapters till they are good enough.


Here's the invite link. I hope to see you there soon: Discord


If you have any questions for me, you can ping me on Discord anytime, and I will contact you ASAP.

Want to read chapters early or support the novel directly?
Check out my Patreon
You'll get advance chapters, exclusive content, and help keep this story going strong!

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next chapter!

In the outskirts of Heaven Rending Valley's outer area, a short boy with dark brown hair ran away from a herd of red-eyed buffalo. These muscular, four-legged creatures charged after him, salivating.


Haomu grunted, feeling the hot breath of the foundation building level beast on his neck. The buffalo herd numbered about a hundred and fifty, a good chunk in the foundation establishment realm. These beasts had settled around a small oasis in this arid land, their numbers and thick hide putting them high in the food chain.


Haomu thought he should find some treasures in their home.


Since he proposed the idea…


"Why did I have to draw the short stick!!" Haomu stumbled behind a giant boulder, rolling once before sprinting off.


A narrow valley of crumbling rocks welcomed him with open arms. It had a short horizontal length, but a steep vertical face on three sides. A rope dangled barely in his reach at the end of the valley—another cruel joke made by the tall, annoying guy at the valley's ledge.


"Grab onto it fast, unless you wanna get skewered." Xu Qiang said.


"You damn ape!" Fearing the two-meter-long horns of the merciless beasts rushing in, Haomu grabbed the rope and ran up the steep wall.


"I was about to pull you up. Why ruin the fun?" Xu Qiang asked.


"If I waited for you, I'd be their side dish by now." Haomu snarled.


"You two…" Huajun sighed, finished a complex set of hand seals. "I have sealed up the valley's mouth with a wall, but it can only last about 30 minutes."


Since the number of the beasts exceeded what they could handle, the group devised a plan to trap them in the nearby valley. With Haomu picked to draw the beasts in, Huajun used his earth element spiritual root to close the valley's entrance with a 3-meter-thick stone wall.


The buffaloes couldn't run up the valley walls. The decaying rocks couldn't support their weight and sent them rolling down into their fellow beasts, so they turned their horns towards the wall, grinding against it.


"Let's keep them busy." Xu Qiang said, his eyes meeting with their timidest member.


"O-Ok." Yesu took a deep breath and extended his hand forward. "Illusory Bow."


Upon his words, a long bow made of dark green wood materialized. A single vine with lush leaves wrapped around the perfect, curved bow acted as a string. Yesu pulled on the string, and a green arrow formed.


With longer arms, Yesu could pull the bow a lot more than an average person. The arrow made from his qi flew like a hawk towards the distracted buffaloes.


Even people with poor aim would struggle to miss a shot with a packed crowd like that, but Yesu had another move.


"S-Scatter!" The qi arrow split into eight smaller arrows and struck six buffaloes.


Although it did minimal damage to the thick hide of these creatures, the tiny punctures that drew lines of blood gathered their attention. And, after two more arrows, the buffaloes had forgotten about the wall that kept them in the valley. Their sole purpose now was to reach the annoying archer up above.


"Your spiritual root is awesome, dude." Xu Qiang said, his eyes gleaming at the green bow. "A special weapon only you can use. Ain't that just perfect?"


"I-It's nothing." Yesu scratched his head. This bow got him a special pass to start as an inner disciple right away, a special spiritual root.


"Why are you like that? If I had a spiritual root like that, I'd keep it out all the time." Xu Qiang said.


"This damned muscle brain. Did you forget how draining it is for Yesu to do that?" Haomu said.


"I-It's ok," Yesu said. He could only maintain the bow for about an hour a day. "I think Brother Xu was eating at the time I told about it."


"It's not ok," Haomu grunted.


"…Tell you what, I know a few people that can hook you up with a nice spare bow." Xu Qiang hadn't seen the guy use another weapon either.


But Yesu only showed a wry smile at the suggestion.


"I can't use any other weapon," Yesu said. "I-It's a common restriction for spiritual roots of my type, but it is stronger in my case. I can't even hold a training bow because of it."


"Oh…" Xu Qinag thought he could've given Yesu an excellent weapon as a gift to make up for his lack of attention, but he didn't expect the restriction to be that heavy.


"It's not a big problem, though. My bow is special," Yesu smiled. His green long bow turned into a white war bow, changing the range and power of the weapon.


"That seems helpful." Huajun marveled, wondering what other bows Yesu could conjure up. "You can quickly switch between different types of bows, like ones with different elements?"


"I am not sure yet," Yesu said, his face brightening a little.


However, Xu Qiang could only scratch his face while Haomu glared from the side.


"…What's with the atmosphere here?" Wang Yang asked upon his sudden arrival.


"W-Wait! Why are you already back?" Haomu asked, his eyes going over the dry clothes of his teammate. "Did you even dive in the lake?"


The division of tasks was simple. Haomu lured the buffaloes into the valley, Huajun sealed them in, Yesu kept the beasts occupied with his bow, and Xu Qiang would become the second bait if the buffaloes breached the rock wall.


That left Wang Yang with the job to hunt for the treasures.


Their initial hypothesis was that if someone wanted to make the treasure hunt hard, they'd hide the thing in the depths of the lake. Even if small, it should've taken a good thirty minutes for Wang Yang to search the lake floor loosely once. However, he came back in two minutes, bone dry at that.


An awkward laugh escaped Wang Yang's lips. "I found the treasure under a rock near the lake."


He showed the Earth Grade Low Rank dagger to them. Wang Yang recounted the process of how he discovered the thing and it left the team wide eyed.


"Let me get this straight. You didn't want to get your uniform wet, so you took it off and were planning to hide it under a nearby rock. And you found the dagger under a concealed formation there?" Huajun pinched his nose bridge. "Am I hearing this right?"


"Yeah." Wang Yang nodded.


"Why would you hide your uniform under a rock?" Haomu asked.


"When I was playing in the river this one time, a monkey took off with my clothes…" Wang Yang's face turned red remembering the walk back home that day.


"W-Why didn't you store it in your storage ring, Brother Wang?" Yesu said.


"That's not the point here…" Haomu grabbed his head. "Brother Wang, your uniform is from the Silk Pagoda. It's an artifact. It won't get wet and cleans itself. You didn't even have to take it off."


"But that led Brother Wang to the treasure." Huajun tried to wrap his head around the situation, too. However, he could only shake his head.


This ice blue dagger with a straight blade would count as the second Earth Grade treasure. The previous one took Xu Qiang and Yesu two days of sifting through dunes of burning sand while others cleared off the scorpions. Now, Wang Yang came back before ten minutes had passed, and the guy had previously found a handful of Mortal Grade treasures on his own.


"So, I have been washing it for no reason?" Wang Yang's eyes had a look of betrayal.


"…"


No one knew what to say at that point.


"…Well, we have our treasure. Let's make a run for the base." Xu Qiang said, wrapping up the incident.


The group agreed after noticing how aggressive the herd of buffaloes became. They reached the entrance of Heaven Rending valley in three hours. The closer they got to the gate, the more chaotic the surroundings became.


Their fellow disciples, covered in sand and blood, came back in droves as the trial came to a close.


"Healer! We have a stage two emergency!"


"The injured who can walk head east. Do not crowd the emergency tent!"


"Hey, you! Don't slee—!"


Many had scratches, while some were missing limbs. The majority of the disciples had bloody bandages wrapped around their torn uniforms, but only a few looked down. The excitement only grew among the disciples who came back without a single injury, their hands with all sorts of trinkets and cold weapons.


Wang Yang saw many severely injured disciples hurried into the green tents with the Osmanthus crest. The senior disciples worked overtime to save them. He could hear their passionate efforts from outside. Everyone who entered came out without injuries. They hugged their crying allies and laughed like nothing happened.


Wang Yang noticed Lie Feng near one of these tents, bandages wrapped around his right hand and bare chest, his eyes closed shut. But he didn't go forward to inquire. The boy trembled; his jaw squeezed tight.


With a wide announcement, the senior disciples gathered the top thirty disciples of the trial at Sky Garden. Wang Yang said goodbye to his team and took a floating platform to a wide, hovering mass in the sky.


Surrounded by a variety of flora nine hundred meters high in the sky, the disciples waited in front of an opulent stage erected near the white pagoda, their hearts pounding at the mountain of gifts.


Wang Yang saw a few distinguished old men standing at the right corner of the stage, their sharp eyes washing over the crowd. However, he spotted a few familiar faces on the left side, sparking excitement in his heart.


"Greetings, young ones. My name is Elder Ling. And I will now begin the prize distribution for this trial." The seemingly jovial old man said, drawing everyone's attention.


He first cleared out the ones that ranked from 30th place to 10th in about 10 minutes. Most of them were female disciples who accepted the prizes from Muchen with teary eyes. A simple congratulation was followed by another elder in a black uniform handing the prize to the happy disciples. Xu Qiang's group also got the small prizes after ranking from 27th to 24th.


Although they found two Earth-grade treasures. They had to split the merit as a team. However, they had performed better than they expected.


"The ones in the top 10 are all people who went hunting alone," Haomu muttered.


Elder Ling passed through the ranks with a genial smile. After Zhang Jun walked off stage with a smirk, Lie Feng walked up the stairs under thunderous applause, his eyes, however, didn't look up from the ground. The elders and disciples from Sky Peak seemed overjoyed at the treasure the young disciple found. However, Lie Feng had no change in his expression; he received his prize and walked away without a word.


Useless kid. How can you lose to a simpleton after everything I've done to guide you to that treasure? Elder Ling clenched his hand, hidden in the sleeve, but didn't let it show on his face.


When he heard that Li Muchen's disciples would take part in the sect trial, he prepared to bury them all under the weight of their incompetence. He set up the clash at Jade Pavilion, imprinted the idea of discord in Lie Feng's mind, and even subconsciously guided him to get Zhao Jun's treasure in the trial. However, the kid still lost and came in third place.


I thought he might stand a chance against Sun Lingling in a luck-based trial. Elder Ling handed the prize to the indifferent Lingling, who vanished off the stage as quickly as her arrival, not even waiting for him to say another word.


Alas… an average kid outclassed him. He clicked his tongue while facing Wang Yang. Still, he got the sect master's sword… An insignificant punk is once again getting in my way. Only Elder Ling knew his facial muscles worked overtime to stop the scowl from appearing on his face.


"Here you go, Disciple Wang." Elder Ling smiled, handing over a small spatial ring that had all the prizes. Even if he had lost, he had an image to maintain. "Your performance pleasantly surprised me, even more so than others. No one expected someone of humble start-"


However, before he could finish, Wang Yang spoke up. "Thank you for your praise, elder. I have something urgent to do, so excuse me." The young man bowed to show respect and rushed off stage even faster than Sun Lingling.


"…" In the frigid air of the stage, Elder Ling ground his teeth, fighting to maintain that smile.


The disciples and elders present had a lot to say, but they held their breaths. They could feel a storm approaching.


Before rushing off a few days ago, Muchen had left some words for Elder Ling.


I haven't decided what to ask of you since your assets are so vast. Don't worry, though, I won't ask you to do anything that'll put you in trouble. Wouldn't want to ruin your retirement. Muchen passed the message along through an elder and didn't bother to show himself afterwards.


To everyone, Elder Ling, who had originally mocked both Muchen and Wang Yang subtly, now faced the same. However, none of them could say it out loud, unlike Liu Zhi. Her drunken outbursts of laughter reached the stage from the main pavilion of Sky Garden.


Good. Very good. Elder Ling crushed the sound artifact, made of meteorite iron, into dust. Both Disciple and the Master, you better not forget this!


However, unlike his conclusion of this being an intentional disrespect, Wang Yang ran away for a simple reason. He spotted his favorite senior. The one he missed the most during Hua Mei's grueling training.


On the right side of the stage, two women in purple silk robes stayed hidden away from the disciples' curious eyes. They didn't look far apart in age and had very similar, humble clothing, yet they had a distinct air about them.


"Senior Gu, you didn't leave for your sect?" Wang Yang approached the young woman with a gentle smile, Gu Yingyue.


"I left for some tasks. However, Senior Li was gracious enough to invite me so I could watch your performance. I have to say, you have grown tremendously." Yingyue smiled and glanced at the woman with a frigid air around her. "Our esteemed Senior Qian also thought so."


"Uh… Ah!" It took Wang Yang a moment to notice the women glaring daggers at him over Yingyue's shoulder. "Senior Qian Yun, it is an honor." He cupped his hand in respect and fear.


"This brat finally noticed me, huh?" Qian Yun scoffed. "You performed better than I expected."


"I'll do better next time." Wang Yang laughed with enthusiasm.


"Whatever…" Qian Yun said.


She observed Gu Yingyue and Wang Yang exchanging joyful words along the way. Her frown only deepened as they laughed and conversed, went through topics like cultivation and swordplay to food and mundane tasks.


She wasn't angry at the pair of enthusiastic kids in front of her, but on words that kept ringing in her head.


If you are thinking of using my sect as bait, I won't forgive you. She had said those words to Muchen when they agreed to strike the Demonic Sects during her last visit.


Worry not. The bait's prepared, and it's not your sect. After this answer, he told her to wait a month for further information.


Three days ago, Muchen contacted her. The message he sent had soured her mood to no end.


The bait is me.


Qian Yun pinched her nose bridge with an unpleasant taste in her mouth.


What is that bastard up to this time?
...
If you are interested in getting fast updates regarding update schedules and other works, do join the Discord server I've created to keep in contact with the readers and share news fast enough. There are also two chapters for my next work there, so if you all could give me some criticism on them, I would be eternally grateful. I need the help cause i am not good enough at writing and need to redo chapters till they are good enough.


Here's the invite link. I hope to see you there soon: Discord


If you have any questions for me, you can ping me on Discord anytime, and I will contact you ASAP.

Want to read chapters early or support the novel directly?
Check out my Patreon
You'll get advance chapters, exclusive content, and help keep this story going strong!

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next chapter!

Following Wang Yang's short stunt on the stage, uncertainties and wild rumors spread around the sect. Muchen, in the deathly calm of the underground, finished his daily cultivation and planned for his next move.


After a few days of cultivation, he had made some headway in adapting to the fast Qi absorption and reached the cusp of the 7th refinement of the Golden Core realm. The speed, even if knocked down several stages, harmed his body if continued for long.


However, he planned to mitigate them with medicine until he achieved his goal.


It's a long road, that's why I can only be reckless once. To build a pagoda that reached heaven, one needed a solid foundation.


He had solidified his cultivation a lot more than before; however, he couldn't take it slow if he wanted to deal with Gu Changge effectively. The longer he took to deal with him, the harder it'd be.


"Where are you going now?" Yae asked, grooming her fur.


"I have an important appointment," Muchen said, wiping the sweat off his body with a cold towel.


"You're going like that?" Yae stared at the deep red and purple bruises on his body.


"They'll heal by the time I reach the location." Muchen's recovery speed already saw a substantial increase; the pain was an afterthought.


Upon reaching the estate, he changed into a new set of robes and entered the main wing after taking another medicinal pill. Yae turned into a little ball and went to sleep on his bed. Not even the world's end would rouse her.


He found the prepared guest room and entered, as silent as an assassin. Inside, he had prepared a feast for the exceptional results his disciples had achieved, but they weren't in sight. In their place, another shadowy figure loomed over the low table with her raccoon-like hands.


His lips turned into a crescent moon when Qian Yun stared at him, dazed. Her mouth – filled with red bean mochi – dropped a little, and the two in her hands dropped to the table. He didn't say a word and walked out.


Qian Yun chased Muchen out to the veranda in a stupor. He stood there, snickering in the calm wind.


"Just speak." Qian Yun's brow furrowed.


"How about I leave that for others?" He folded his arms. "The almighty genius Qian Yun stealing food from her junior's celebration party? I am sure many would like to say something."


"It's not about that!" Qian Yun's eyes became sharper. "Why are you the bait?"


"Don't change the subject n—"


"Explain." She cut him off.


"Is that why you are here and not doing what I asked for?" Muchen leaned against the wall. "Care about me that much, do you?"


"Care about you? My foot!" Qian Yun stomped forward. "I don't want to be involved in a plan that gets Azure Sky Sect's prodigal Peak Master killed, okay?"


"Why are we assuming I'd die?" He tilted his head.


"Because that would make my day."


"But you can't let me die?"


"Unfortunately." Disappointment dripped off her scrunched face. "So, you better explain your plan."


Muchen shook his head and sat on the nearby chair. "The bait isn't Li Muchen…" He invited her to sit and slide a portrait on the red tea table.


Qian Yun stared at the annoying mug of a white-haired man sporting a slanted smile, a smile mirroring the one on Muchen's face.


She only hated one person more than Li Muchen.


"Bian Que." She held her head; the two people she hated the most were the same person. "How does this persona of yours come into play?"


"Gu Changge will, without a doubt, target Bian Que," Muchen said.


"And why are you so sure of that?" She leaned on the table, her gloved hand supporting her radiant face.


"Because he is an ambitious coward." Muchen placed his hands on the table and leaned forward, too. "He knows when to bend the knee, but he never forgets who made him do that."


"This time, Bian Que not only thwarted his plan of inciting discord between Azure Sky Sect and Purple Cloud Sect. He also killed one of the Demonic Sect's hidden aces, who was working with Gu Changge." He continued.


"What hidden aces?" Qian Yun straightened up.


"You'll know in about—" Muchen took out a golden pocket watch from his sleeve and looked at the tiniest of the three white needles. "—five seconds."


"What the he—!" Before she could speak, Qian Yun's sect token buzzed.


One look at the name, and her brow furrowed.


"Speak, Zhi Rou," Qian Yun answered.


Lady Qian, I have news on the Demonic Sects. Zhi Rou's bland voice sliced through the calm veranda. The bounty on Shu Huang has been claimed.


"What?!" Qian Yun didn't expect to hear that name again.


A fellow genius from the same generation. It had caused an uproar when word of him joining the Demonic Sect came out. His own master had placed a bounty on him, yet no one had seen hide nor hair of him all these years. Now, suddenly someone was claiming his bounty?


"When and who?" Qian Yun glanced at Li Muchen. The timing seemed too convenient.


It happened five minutes ago at the Assassin Guild's Xingzhou branch. Bian Que walked in with Shu Huang's head and placed it on the reception desk. They are in the middle of processing it. He is in a private room, probably having tea and some snacks from Golden Hat, Zhi Rou said. Must be nice.


"…Thank you for letting me know. I'll handle your payment later." Qian Yun pinched the bridge of her nose.


It's my job, Lady Qian.


The call disconnected. Qian Yun stared at Muchen hard enough to burn a hole through him.


"How?" she asked after a solid minute of silence.


How could Li Muchen sit in front of her and collect the bounty at the assassin guild, all the way in Purple Cloud's territory, at the same time?


"My method isn't important." Muchen leaned on his chair, a faint smile hanging on his lips. "You should be asking why I did this."


Qian Yun stumbled over her question for a moment. She cleared her mind and gathered the information in front of her. After compiling it in order, she looked at it from a different perspective. The perspective of those uninvolved.


"You want to use me to separate yourself from Bian Que completely?" she asked.


"I just need your word to get some sharp-minded people off my back," Muchen said, pointing at her from across the table. "After all, who wouldn't trust the words of the headstrong, pragmatic, and righteous genius, Qian Yun?"


"If you keep subtly dissing me like this, I'll tell everyone that you are Bian Que." She slammed the table with her fist.


"You won't."


"What makes you so confident?"


"I know you won't." He smiled.


"Damn it!" Qian Yun gritted her teeth.


If Muchen's analysis was correct, the Demonic Sects and Gu Changge would set their eyes on Bian Que for Shu Huang's murder after this incident. Revealing that Bian Que was Muchen would not only muddy the water, but it would endanger their plan to get back at the Demonic Sects.


Qian Yun hated to admit it, but they needed someone like Li Muchen to deal with Gu Changge. The plans he had drawn until now were enough proof.


"Back to the point. I am sure Gu Changge got chewed out enough to make Fairy Candy jealous. He won't forget this grudge. The only way he has to re-solidify his position with the Demonic sects is to kill Bian Que as soon as he can." Muchen laid out the puzzle he had prepared. "All we have to do is strike when he sinks his teeth into the delicious bait we've hung in front of him."


"If he is a coward, as you said, I am sure he'll come prepared for ambushes."


"You can leave that to me. Your task is to gather enough forces to overwhelm the Demonic Sects."


"What a simple task that is," she grumbled.


"This is a proper division of tasks, I assure you." Muchen stood up and stretched. "Also, I found something about your disciple this morning."


"You did?" Qian Yun's chair flew back, and her hands slammed on the table, leaving deep imprints.


Qian Yun had done everything in her power to find the whereabouts of her disciple when she found her disciple's sect token and uniform in the hands of a demonic cultivator. However, the long search had yet to yield many concrete results.


"…Someone spotted her last week in Jinzhou. She shouldn't have gone too far from there." Muchen already knew of this incident. It had caused quite the stir inside the Purple Cloud Sect.


While Qian Yun searched for her disciple frantically, that shameless girl enjoyed the pretty flowers in Jinzhou's red-light district. Muchen remembered teasing Qian Yun over the next decades over this incident, and it would cause her to erupt in anger without fail.


"Butler Ji… Yeah, I have a task for you. Yes, it is regarding Jiao'er…" Qian Yun deftly communicated with the Qian family's special task team and dispatched them to retrieve her disciple.


Li Muchen knew the attachment Qian Yun had towards her disciple, especially after what had happened with the previous one. Before regression, he had seen how frantically she had searched for Lang Jiao, even forsaking her duties for the sect and facing disciplinary actions later.


So, he wanted to relieve her burdens this time around.


At least this can repay a little of the favor you did for me. It was Muchen's way of repaying the kindness he received in this cutthroat world.


After giving her orders, Qian Yun picked up the fallen chair and sat down, heaving a long sigh. She looked at Muchen's neutral expression, his lips almost edging to a smile.


"I am not gonna thank you, you know?" she blurted, crossing her arms in defiance.


"I didn't expect any." Muchen adjusted his sleeves with a chuckle. "Now that the pressing matters are done, would you care for some tea? I recently got my hands on some quality leaves."


"…" Qian Yun gawked, almost forgetting to breathe.


"I have some snacks too, the spicy fried dough that you stole from me before. I remember you liked it quite a lot," Muchen added.


Qian Yun looked at the bright blue sky and fell into deep thought. She even rubbed her eyes a few times before looking at Muchen. After straining her brain to the limits, she uttered a question.


"Have I already told you how creepy you've become?"


"Get out." Veins popped on Muchen's white forehead.


"No!!! My Spicy dough sticks!!" Qian Yun screamed, without an ounce of the dignity one would expect from a future matriarch.


Muchen gave her the snacks, sending her away to Peach Peak. He had to get Qian Yun out of his hair before she asked more questions, so he resorted to such tactics.


The plan to lure out Gu Changge, he told her half of it. Gu Changge wouldn't let Bian Que go; however, Muchen wanted his opponent to have the least number of forces before making his move. Otherwise, that rat would simply hide while using the lives of his subordinates.


Even if Bian Que was the one who thwarted his plan, Gu Changge wouldn't stop at just targeting him. A person as ambitious as he will take revenge not only on Bian Que but also on the major sects that avoided his schemes. Muchen had long guided Gu Changge's moves to the path he wanted. Now he wanted to reap it all. Because he lost a talent that the Demonic Sects cultivated for many years, the only way to make up for it is to kill the talented disciples from the major sects and put on a show for his masters.


The upcoming Eastern Martial Meet set the perfect stage for that.


Now that two of his plans have failed in succession, he'll need to make a bigger move to turn his losses into a positive. Muchen poured hot water into a white ceramic teapot. Even someone as cautious as he will have to take risks to overhaul his situation.


Because of the century-long peace and the major sect's dominance on the continent, the Sects have grown complacent. Over the years, the number of strong cultivators who bothered to lead the disciples down to Qingliu Mountain had diminished by 90%. Sometimes only elders at the peak of Golden Core would attend from most sects.


As someone familiar with the lax attitude of the major sects, Gu Changge would target the Eastern Martial Meet where the future of the Eastern Continent gathered. This was the script Li Muchen had written for him.


If I told Qian Yun that the Eastern Martial Meet would face an attack, she would've flipped out. As brazen and disrespectful as she was, Qian Yun had a pure, caring heart.


Muchen, of course, wouldn't forsake the young disciples at the meet either. Unlike Bian Que, the function of the young disciples was to take forces away from Gu Changge, nothing more. While Gu Changge's forces ran after the delicious bait, the disciples, he planned to strike the man in the shadows.


However, he needed more help to pull this off, from two people specifically. The first had an extensive network that spanned the entire continent, and the second had unrivaled strength in her realm.


Muchen had contacted the first one as Qian Yun left.


I know she is dying for an answer right about now. He had thrown out enough bait. Now, he had to reel the lines in.
...
If you are interested in receiving fast updates on schedules and other works, please join the Discord server I've created to stay in touch with readers and share information quickly. There are also two chapters for my next work there, so if you all could give me some criticism on them, I would be eternally grateful. I need the help cause i am not good enough at writing and need to redo chapters till they are good enough.


Here's the invite link. I hope to see you there soon: Discord


If you have any questions for me, you can ping me on Discord anytime, and I will contact you ASAP.

Want to read chapters early or support the novel directly?
Check out my Patreon
You'll get advance chapters, exclusive content, and help keep this story going strong!

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next chapter!

After exiting Tiger Peak, Wang Yang and Gu Yingyue walked towards the outer sect. They planned to meet Wu Kexin and then gather back at Plum Peak with Sun Lingling and Hua Mei for a simple feast.


"You've improved a lot from before, Junior Wang," Yingyue said. "You're slashing a breath faster, and you've started to develop a sense of range."


"It was beaten into me." Wang Yang flashed an awkward smile.


"Beaten into you?" Yingyue tilted her head.


"Yeah… literally." He scratched his head.


"You say the funniest things."


"Well, I didn't mean to." Wang Yang could only laugh, recalling the thunderous punches he received from Hua Mei.


Talking with Senior Gu calms me down. The awkwardness he expected while talking about his unusual training wasn't there. The company made the difference.


Even if the following topics seemed mundane, he had fun talking with Yingyue. The two continued onwards in that pleasant mood, impervious to the onlookers. Until a roadblock appeared.


"I hate to interrupt your little date. I really do." A woman with luscious, flowy hair spoke with an almost mocking smirk.


"Now, would you be so kind as to give me some of your time, little ones?" Gu Fe asked, her sharp eyes locking onto Wang Yang and Gu Yingyue. "I need some answers."


Before they could respond, the older, more charismatic woman had guided them to a gazebo in Chrysanthemum Peak. The nature at the peak stayed untamed. Vines draped over the roof and flower petals invaded the cushiony seats.


"You've been here twice in a month," Gu Fe looked at Yingyue, "yet you didn't come by to see your senior? Did I offend you, perhaps?"


"…Vice Peak Master Gu… It's nothing like that." Put on the spot, Yingyue stumbled.


Gu Fe was a direct descendant of the Purple Cloud Sect's Gu family, her elder, in fact.


"Don't worry, I understand your plight." Gu Fe smiled, gesturing at the seats with her eyes. "Don't mind me and make yourselves comfortable."


"There's tea too?" Wang Yang muttered, his eyes lingering on the ceremonious teapot. The rustic pot had fine, black calligraphy wrapping around it like a snake.


"It may not be a high-quality tea, but my skills won't let you down." Gu Fe poured the steaming tea into black teacups with trained precision; not one drop more in any of the three cups.


Unlike Yingyue's fidgeting hands, Wang Yang took a sip of the tea without a shred of worry. The rich, smooth liquid danced on his tongue with fervor. He recognized the tea leaves, a staple among the common people of the continent, Pu'er Tea.


The tea he remembered, brewed by the temple priests, had an average taste because of the average tea leaves. However, the tea in front of him was elevated many leagues above it. Given that the taste of the tea didn't fluctuate with the tea leaf quality, it all came down to the brewer's skills.


"I don't even need to ask if you like it or not. It's written on your face." Gu Fe took a seat opposite the two, her hands on the table between them. "I like people like that."


"O-Oh… Thanks?" Faced with the enigmatic smile of the woman, Wang Yang could only rub the back of his neck. He didn't dare look Gu Fe in the eye for more than a moment. Those almost darkened pupils made him shift in his chair.


Noticing that, Gu Yingyue broke the silence.


"…Vice Peak Master Gu. Is there something you want from me?"


"It's not so much as I want something from you. It's just that, there's this string of incidents that have troubled me recently…" Gu Fe leaned her chin on her hands and smiled, "…and I think you can give me an answer."


"…If it's something I can answer, I will," Yingyue said.


"How very prudent of you." Gu Fe smiled. "You see, I think the Purple Cloud Sect is about to launch a secret offensive on the demonic sects."


"Are they?" Yingyue asked, her hand clenching beneath the table.


"Their movements have been rather erratic since the attack on our sect's caravan." Gu Fe continued. "Even if they came out unscathed from the demonic sect's schemes, thanks to our lovely Peak Master Li, their flow of goods has shifted drastically."


"I do not know such matters," Yingyue stated.


"Well, since it is my job, I know a bit too much. Purple Cloud Sect's usual trades are for high-quality goods, items of opulence in food, and comfort to make up for their lack of crop farmers and artisans." Gu Fe, however, pressed on. "However, after three incidents in the past three months, their flow of cash has become more veiled. The usual channels are working normally, but the hidden ones have shown their proper colors."


"…What incidents?" Yingyue barely held herself together.


"Well, I am uncertain what caused the first incident; beyond that, the head of household affairs, Steward Han, died around that time." Gu Fe placed her teacup upside down on the marble table. "The second incident, attempted assassination on Gu Jun, general of the Gu family's army, followed shortly after."


How does she know that? Yingyue gulped. Her master had placed a gag order on these incidents, not to mention the use of secret routes for supplies.


How could Gu Fe, all the way here in Azure Sky Sect, figure this all out? Especially after how cautious the Gu family was with these incidents.


Noticing the hint of panic in Yingyue's eyes, Gu Fe's red lips tilted upwards in a menacing smirk.


"My oh my. You can't break down so easily, dear." Her long, red nails drumming against the white birch table. "I haven't even mentioned the attack on the Commanding Officer of Gu Family's assassins, Zhi Rou, your maternal aunt."


"H…How do you…?" Yingyue's eyes widened.


"Come on, darling, you are asking a magician to reveal their tricks." Gu Fe pushed the polished wooden chair with her heels and walked around the table. Her gaze was steady like a predator stalking her prey. "But I won't mind divulging, granted you do the same."


Yingyue wanted to move. But long, slender fingers snaked up her hands. A sweet, enticing scent wafted over her shoulder. Gu Fe stood behind her, her smile visible from the teacup in Yingyue's hand.


"The targets, the methods, and the executions. These incidents are something I wanted to get involved in because a certain individual left enough inciting clues for me." With each word, Gu Fe closed in on Yingyue. "But you see, each clue leads to a dead end, and this particular individual likes to play with my feelings. Though I don't hate it that much."


Gu Fe had poked around this chain of events from the attack on Azure Sky Sect's caravan. Li Muchen's sudden involvement piqued her interest, followed by Bian Que's unannounced visit. She planned to find more about the incident via Azure Sky Sect's entourage, en route to receive compensation from Purple Cloud Sect for their help in resolving the misunderstanding with Frozen Flower Holyland.


I am the prime pick for such events, but the Grand Elder chose someone as timid as Long Lingxin. Gu Fe knew only two people in the sect who could change Li Xianquan's decision. One of them wasn't around, and the other had just resurfaced in the sect.


After confirming the return of Zhi Rou and Gu Yingyue with Li Muchen, shortly followed by Qian Yun's presence, Gu Fe felt something big stirring beneath the surface. So, she dug deep and followed her instincts. However, she needed someone involved to get to the root of it all because of constant sabotage.


Gu Fe noticed the tremble in Yingyue's shoulder; the young woman looked at the boy that had come with her. His head lay flat against the table, with eyes wide and lifeless.


"He is just taking a nap to give us some privacy." Gu Fe said.


"Now, sweetie." She leaned in, whispered in Yingyue's right ear with her low, alluring voice similar to a mermaid that dragged sailors into the abyss. "Won't you tell your lovely senior the truth?"


Yingyue's eyes shut down. She found herself unable to move, speak, or even think. Like a python had wrapped around her body, choking the life out of her.


Ding~!


However, Gu Fe's token rang. A melodious note from the zither she had allocated to one special person. Her hands retreated from Yingyue's shoulders.


"It looks like the big man is ready to talk," Gu Fe smirked, reading the name of the person who sent her the message.


With the intimidating force gone, Yingyue gasped for air. Gu Fe's attention had shifted. Her heels clacked against the stone path, moving away from them. However, she stopped about twenty steps away.


"Sweetie, put the sword training on hold and refine your poker face." Gu Fe advised, her voice as gentle as a mother, like the pressure from before was an illusion. "The people out there aren't as kind as me; take it from an experienced senior."


With the gust of cold air, Gu Fe vanished like fresh snow on a sunny day. However, Yingyue couldn't move. Even after five minutes when Wang Yang stirred awake, she stayed rooted in the chair.


"What happened? Senior Gu?"


Wang Yang's concerned words didn't reach Yingyue. Cold sweat ran down her face and body, soaking her silk robes. Her eyes remained wide open, too terrified to even blink.


"S-She's…" However, her quivering lips could only form one sentence. "…She's just like h-him."


"What?"


Wang Yang had no way of knowing, and Yingyue was in no shape to explain.


The icy hands that touched her shoulders reminded her of the shadow, a shadow that has chased her since childhood. The shadow that killed her parents and wrapped his cold, unfeeling fingers around her neck that faithful night.


Unlike what she expected, that shadow still haunted her.


The shadow of Gu Changge still fed on her fear.


***


On the eastern veranda of Plum Peak, an area with a high diversity of spirit flowers and trees, Li Muchen arranged some tea and snacks on the small tea table. Butterflies danced with the steam of hot water, and birds chirped on the window to accompany the rare sunny day in the freezing winter.


He had finished brewing the five finest tea leaves he had, a special blend of tea for his guest. And right on cue, a knock came from the main entrance. The gates opened, registering the familiar qi. The heels clacked in the distance, approaching at a measured pace.


"Is that Dang Hao blend?" Gu Fe said, taking in the fragrance from the teapot as she arrived. She turned to Muchen and sported her usual smile. "You prepared my favorite tea, Peak Master Li. Aren't you a romantic?"


"I heard from the grapevine that you enjoyed it, so I tried," Li Muchen said, maintaining a smile of his own. "Don't be too harsh on me if it's not good."


"You already get full points for trying." Gu Fe chuckled, helping herself to a cup. "This is delightful." She chimed after a sip.


"You're too kind," Muchen said.


"And you aren't, Peak Master Li." She closed in on him. "You've left me hot and heavy for months. I almost did something terrible, you know?"


"It couldn't be helped." Li Muchen cleared his throat.


"Everyone has their secrets, I understand." Gu Fe nodded. Arms crossed below the ample bosom. "And, as the fish that was hooked first, I have nothing to complain about."


"So, am I finally allowed to know the big plan you've created with the Gu family and Bian Que?" she asked with upturned eyes.


"Looks like I won't have to explain a lot."


"Of course, I pay special attention to Peak Master Li's activities."


"That makes me somewhat worried." He said.


"Don't. It comes from a place of love and respect." Gu Fe winked before her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "So, who is your target?"


Gu Fe had gone over the targets in her head. To her, the Demonic Sect cultivators that have laid low for the years kicked up this incident. And these set of Demonic cultivators had an obsession with the Gu family, showing an increased aggression and deviousness in their methods.


So, it wasn't a wonder to her that the target required Li Muchen, Qian Yun, Bian Que, and the Gu family together to crush them. Her heart thumped in excitement, a sense of exhilaration she hadn't felt in a century.


Finally, Li Muchen parted his lips to give her the answer she so desperately sought.


"The target is your father, Gu Changge."
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From her birth, Gu Fe had heard about how great her father was. A benevolent and kind man who helped those weaker than him and spent his days outside of the family's luxury estate to save the poor and unfortunate. She had heard it from the maids, butlers, elders, and most of all, from her mother.


However, when she first met him at four years of age, darkness was all she saw within him—an endless darkness suppressed behind a fake smile.


A darkness that swallowed her mother whole right in front of her.


By the time she had a grip on her life, Gu Changge was kneeling on the execution platform. Bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair, not an ounce of his former dignity and regalness. She remembered that bitter day vividly. Even more so because that man smiled, looking at her.


It wasn't the fake and pretentious smile he showed her before, but a smile of relief that he didn't have to hide his ugliness.


Gu Fe still remembered that smile whenever she had good days as a reminder, a reminder that her work wasn't done.


"You don't seem too shocked hearing he is alive," Muchen said and took a seat opposite the calm Gu Fe.


"I knew he was." Gu Fe admitted, the day of execution still replayed in her head. "I spent three decades to find that bastard's empty grave."


"You still want revenge on him?" Muchen leaned on the chair. "You already got him executed once."


"It was through the Family Matriarch." Gu Fe was the one who alerted the family about Gu Changge's plan to devour Gu Yingyue, for her talents, and had him caught in the act. However, she didn't feel satisfied, not in the least.


"I want to twist his neck with my own hands." Gu Fe had made that her life's purpose.


The immense hatred she has for her father hasn't changed. Muchen sighed. Everything about Gu Fe had changed because of what her father did.


She left the Gu Family on bad terms, joined the Azure Sky Sect and climbed the ranks, established her network across the continent, and gathered immense funds and resources to realize her plans. She did all that in the past fifty years with the aim of revenge.


Muchen learned a lot about Gu Fe's life when he had a drink with her before regression. At that time, he didn't know that she was about to execute her plans against Gu Changge the next day.


Even if she died, she paralyzed Gu Changge from the waist down and wiped out three Demonic Sects under his control. Muchen thought of the smile Gu Fe had when he last saw her. A peaceful smile, unlike the calculating one she had now. Like she already knew her ending.


"So, my dearest Peak Master Li, do you really want to target him?" Gu Fe moved next to Muchen. "If you are doing it to woo me, there is no need."


"Partially." Muchen had gotten used to her half-serious, half-flirtatious comments in his last run.


"My oh my, I am certainly flattered." Gu Fe leaned into her chair. "But I am afraid I can't share this, even if it's you."


"It won't be easy to do this alone," Muchen said. "He'll only grow stronger with the demonic technique he has."


"I know. My only option is to kill him quickly. He is slippery like an eel after all. But that is my problem to deal with." Gu Fe placed her teacup on the table and stood up.


Gu Fe had stopped expecting help from others for a long time now. From the time her mother died, she had done everything in her power to alert the Gu Family, but no one believed her. The elders, even the patriarch, her grandfather, wouldn't take her seriously because Gu Changge's image had become that perfect.


Which family would try to go against one of their patriarch candidates with little to no evidence?


But even after she had them catch him in the act, it was too late. She knew the Gu Family would only become a burden, so she left and found a new place.


The family declared me a traitor when I tried to tell them he might be alive still. They couldn't even bear to look at me, the spawn of their greatest shame. Now that the blade has reached their neck, they react. Gu Fe looked at Muchen.


The swiftness and completeness of the plan laid out had to be his handiwork, and he was only stringing along the Gu Family for his purpose. Even if she knew that working with him would boost the chances of her success, Gu Fe couldn't agree. Not at this moment, at least.


But there is a way to make her agree. Muchen stood up.


Gu Fe was a merchant by trade and nature. She has had an interest in business since young, and a keen eye that could find profit even in the darkest annals. So, all Muchen had to do was to pitch an offer she couldn't refuse.


She was about to leave when Muchen grabbed her hand. He only had one chance, so he wanted to make it worthwhile. Because if she didn't see the potential in his plan, she wouldn't even bother coming over to talk.


"My My, Peak Master Li, you have been getting a bit too forward these days. Can't say I dislike it." Gu Fe could break free of his grasp, but she walked closer to him. Close enough for their nose to touch.


He would usually step back. However, Muchen remained unaffected by her tricks.


"Will killing him be enough?" He asked. "Will it rid you of all the years of hatred built inside you?"


Muchen already knew the answer, and he knew that Gu Fe knew too, but he had to ask. He had to bring this to her attention. Killing Gu Changge wouldn't resolve anything for Gu Fe. She hated him to the point of making his death her life's purpose, but achieving that goal with a sacrifice wouldn't amount to anything. It would only incur a loss.


Even if she kills him and lives, she would only feel empty. Muchen had been through this himself.


He had killed Gu Changge with his hands, choked the life out of him, but it didn't satisfy him. Emptiness and regret filled that burning rage in his heart. All he felt was sorrow for the lives lost. Gu Changge's death changed nothing about those who died at his hands.


At the end, regrets and long-term injuries were all he had.


That's why simple revenge won't work for someone like Gu Fe. Someone who had a greater emphasis on profit and loss.


He looked into her eyes and gauged the hidden anger behind those silent, gem-like eyes. The viciousness dripped nonstop from the moment he asked the question. So, all he had to do was verbalize the feelings she had suppressed to kill Gu Changge.


"Don't you want to crush his pride? Strip him of his dignity and show him that no matter what he does, even after using Demonic cultivation technique to boost his power and talent, that he is nothing more than a sniveling, worthless piece of shit?" He asked.


Her pupils dilated a millimeter, but went back to the usual calm. However, she noticed Muchen's sharp gaze had captured that momentary slip.


"Well…" Gu Fe sighed before laughing. "I thought I was the only one keeping a close eye on people."


"One doesn't have to keep a close eye on people for obvious things," Muchen said, sure of his observations. "Simple revenge won't satisfy you. Not after dedicating your whole life to it. You need something more, you deserve more."


He regretted not asking her more the day they shared a drink. Muchen had his hands full because Wang Yang had caused an incident on Dragon Isles and went missing with the Pheonix Saintess. But if he had only asked one question that day, maybe things could've ended differently for Gu Fe. Maybe she would've lived longer and had a fulfilling life.


It was the regret he had after killing Gu Changge.


Now, he had the chance to do that.


"You don't have to worry about Gu Changge slipping away this time." He faced her shrewd gaze and spoke with conviction. "I'll make it worthwhile."


He's been different since the caravan attack. A bit more direct… A bit more aggressive… However, this side of him is even more intriguing… She looked at Muchen, her eyes flashed for another moment, scanning his entire body.


Instead of his beautiful, picturesque face, she saw a white blank in the shape of his face. Even after a few breaths, it didn't change, it remained as calm as a lake. That was her sign.


"Gu Fe…" Muchen's hand still clutched her soft, slender wrist. "…give me this one chance."


"If you ask like that… I have no choice but to agree." Gu Fe looked at him with upturned eyes.


"What are you…" Before Muchen could finish, he heard porcelain plates clatter behind him.


He picked up the two female disciples, Ming Chyou and Hao Chang, from the Peach Peak a bit too late. All his attention was on convincing Gu Fe when the two entered the residence. He remembered Huang Bai speaking of sending a few dishes for the feast.


"W…We apologize, Peak Master Li, Vice Peak Master Gu…" Chiyou bowed repeatedly.


She wanted to pull back the wild Hao Chang, who entered without knocking, and somehow ended up overhearing a secret conversation.


"Oh my god…" Hao Chang covered her mouth, uninterested in the rules and plates she had broken. Her doe-like eyes shone at the gossip, "Peak Master Li confessed, didn't he?" she whispered.


Muchen's lips pressed into a hard line. His eyes turned to the culprit of the matter, Gu Fe. No matter how focused he was on her, he would know if a cultivator came this close to him in his residence, unless someone messed with his senses.


People will suspect things if we meet often for no reason. She winked at him with an impish smile.


We could've thought of a better reason, at least. Muchen answered telepathically.


You just set up the perfect mood for it with your intense gaze and words. Your title of Lady Killer isn't unwarranted. Gu Fe giggled.


Muchen didn't know if he should feel relieved that she had agreed, or dismayed that she had tricked him so soon after the alliance.


"Let us talk more over dinner." Gu Fe, however, flew away like a butterfly. Full of splendor and beauty.


"They are about to have dinner later… hey, isn't that just in that novel?!" Hao Change muttered, too invested in the apparent love story painted before her eyes.


"Shut up, Chang." Chyou wanted to disintegrate out of shame and envy.


This is going to be annoying to deal with. Muchen noticed the shining eyes of the sect's famous gossiper, Hao Chang, and sighed.


However, the annoyance was dwarfed in front of the benefits. Now that Gu Fe had agreed to join in, he had a critical card in his hand to deal with Gu Changge. Even this misunderstanding that Gu Fe had created would indirectly help him secure the second card he needed.


Muchen helped Hao Chang and Ming Chyou clean up the mess, sending them away without a word. Now that he had most of his cards on the table, it was time to make his second contact with Gu Changge.


He sat down on his bed, his eyes locked on the red dot floating over a map. Fu Yuzhe had just arrived at Gu Changge's new hideout.


Time to reel the fishes in.
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Fu Yuzhe hadn't returned to the Azure Sky Sect since Muchen caught him. The young man had to roam around to different cities, going coast to coast, to gather information and give out commissions to clans and sects proficient in information gathering on the man's behalf.


Li Muchen didn't want to bring him back because Zhao Jun would make a move if he did. After the last incident, the haughty man had his eyes on Fu Yuzhe and would stop at nothing to get information out of him if he appeared in the sect. Even if away on his personal matters, the Sky's Sword's influence in the sect wasn't anything to scoff at.


That's why Muchen had him out of the sect, away from the eyes of spies from the demonic sects and Zhao Jun's loyalists.


Currently, the young man treaded through a shallow undergrowth, minding rocky pitfalls disguised by coarse sand and the year's first snow. Snow was all that covered the lands of Jinxiu plains for the past millennia. This land once used to be green with grass and meadows, millions of humans and animals traveled from all over the continent to enjoy the lively trade cities that dotted this vast piece of land.


However, not a single strand of life grew here after the Major Sects leveled the place. In a great battle, the thousands of cultivators eradicated the cesspool of demonic cults that grew like moss beneath the city. The rivers of blood and mountains of flesh cursed the land itself. Making it impossible for it to bear even an iota of life.


Gu Changge had summoned Fu Yuzhe here because he repurposed a secret base in the ruins of Corpse King's Manor. Yuzhe traveled a vast distance to the north in the arid land, entering a forest of rocky, eroded pillars that seemed to reach the clouds. The musty, pungent smell had him cover his nose as the eerie silence gave him the chills. All of their previous encounters happened in Fu Yuzhe's house, where he held his younger sister hostage.


However, the hideout had changed along with the abrupt summons. The suddenness of the situation left Yuzhe's teeth clattering.


He didn't notice it, did he? Did another one of his spies find something out? I-Is my sister safe? Yuzhe's fear grew with each step, sending chills much more intense than the waist-high snow through his bones.


After he passed a thousand pillars and walked over a frozen black stream, Yuzhe found the enormous iron double door hidden away in a mountain cleft.


Unlike the usual goons, he met eyes with the two fierce men covered in fur and leather, their entire bodies wrapped in green bandages. Their gray, foggy pupils stood out in the black sclera, the only visible part of the creatures. The shaggy hair and beard smelled every bit as rotten as he imagined.


A man on the right, one with maggots crawling in his sparse hair, handed Yuzhe a black blindfold, and the woman on the left closed the cold shackles on his arms.


A pungent scent rooted in the piece of cloth assaulted his nose, but he held on and wrapped it around his eyes. Although dirty and smelly, the cloth was an artifact that blocked his spiritual sense.


Yuzhe was as helpless as a normal human with a blindfold. He had his strength, but steel chains locked his qi; he had no way to defend himself. He flinched at the slimy, cold flesh grabbing his hand. Yanked forward, he heard the iron door creak open, wailing like ghosts.


Snow vanished as he treaded on an uneven floor, a warmth soaking into his body from the silk shoes. The hand in front pulled him, no matter if he stumbled over the holes and bumps along the way, almost taking him around in circles for a good hour before they stopped in a certain cavern.


Stench of rot subsided as his guide left him and walked away, pushing him through an open door. Yuzhe stumbled a little but found his footing on the smooth flooring, wiping his forearm off the sticky liquid, unsure if he could take off the blindfold or not. Just then, a hand snaked around his shoulder.


It was the touch of the man he hated.


"Long time no see, Brother Fu…" Gu Changge chimed, but his enthusiasm soon died down. "Ugh, have you been too busy to wash?"


He looked Yuzhe up and down. No matter how unwell he seemed, his black clothes seemed of fine silk, and his hair was orderly with a wooden essence. However, the rotten stench persisted with a mix of floral perfume.


"It is from the jiangshi who guided me," Yuzhe said, going over the script he got before coming here and the information he pieced together so far.


"How perceptive of you, Brother Fu." Gu Changge forgot about the smell and circled Yuzhe. He worked together with his associate demonic cultivators and bought corpse soldiers for himself. He had kept human contact to zero ever since moving to this base, unless the person was of great importance to his plan.


A fast heartbeat, sweat trickling down his forehead, clenched fists, and a shaky voice. He could feel the fear radiating off Fu Yuzhe. It pleased him very much.


"So, do you have what I asked for?" Changge asked, taking a seat in that empty but cold cavern.


"Yes, we know who will lead the disciples from each major sect for the Eastern Martial Meet, aside from Frozen Flower Holyland." Yuzhe conjured a scroll from his storage ring and handed it over. Muchen had given him answers to questions Gu Changge would likely ask in advance.


How Muchen predicted this? He didn't know.


However, his primary job was something else. It was to lead the conversation in a certain direction.


"Those bitches always like to be mysterious." Changge clicked his tongue. He never had pleasant memories of the people from Frozen Flower Holyland.


His eyes slid over the names, some he scoffed at, while at others he smiled.


The scroll had the names of the elders who would lead teams from their respective sects for the Eastern Martial Meet and their cultivation levels. The information belonged to the Azure Sky Sect's information vault, so it had credibility, along with the information Changge gathered from his network.


"The person with the highest cultivation is in the middle of the Golden Core Realm. Haha, this bunch of trash." Gu Changge couldn't contain his laughter. The righteous sects had shown such an enormous gap because of their complacency. However, one name caught his attention in the nameless rabble.


"Li Muchen? He is attending?" His brow furrowed a bit as he tried to recall the information he had on him. He had heard of the name once or twice during his time in the orthodox faction. More than that, he was a top priority target given to him.


The man had a unique reputation because of a few feats he pulled off in his younger days, but overall, he was only below average. The only noteworthy thing he could remember about Muchen was his travels across the continents for sword training before he became the first Peak Master of Azure Sky Sect, the third highest seat of authority in Azure Sky Sect after the Sect Leader and Grand Elder.


Gu Changge never put the man in his eyes because of his mediocre talents. The guy was a well-known recluse who rarely saw the limelight. But this news was good for him; the tortoise was finally leaving his shell.


"He is the ugly duckling of Azure Sky Sect's upper echelon…" Gu Changge flipped through the information with a cocksure smirk. "I heard he only got the Peak Master position because his Master insisted? I bet most of the sect hate his guts."


Why wouldn't they? Anyone would get pissed if someone weaker than them jumped ranks based on connections alone. The cultivation society was one where the bigger fist ruled. In such a world, Muchen had no hands. He was stuck in the third realm of Gold Core even after 250 years. If it wasn't for his status, he wouldn't even be a mid-level elder in the Major Sects, let alone a Peak Master.


Gu Changge knew how famous each disciple of Sky Mending Saint was, each more talented than the last, aside from Li Muchen, of course. With overwhelming talent came confidence, and with that, friction between talented people to see who would stand at the peak.


Li Muchen, even if the first disciple, wouldn't exert much of a presence in front of his talented juniors. Since he got an easy road to a position of power, the others were bound to hate it.


"Everyone in the sect respects him from what I have seen." However, Yuzhe gave the opposite answer. Starting the script handed to him.


"They do?" Gu Changge's smirk dropped.


"Aside from a minority of elders, everyone from the Peak Masters to the servants who sweep the roads holds him in high regard. Everyone from the Major Sects knows it." Yuzhe said, unsure of what the purpose of this was, but he dared not deviate.


"Wait… you are telling me those aren't just fake rumors the sect spread to sugarcoat suppressing Li Muchen into seclusion?" Changge tossed the scroll; his eyes narrowed.


"They are real. The Peak Masters hold him in high respect and even ask his advice, especially the Grand Elder, who Peak Master Li raised as his little brother." The more he spoke, the more confused Yuzhe became.


Why was Li Muchen giving this information away? Even if people knew that Li Muchen and Li Xianquan were like brothers despite no blood ties, the former even giving his surname to the latter, what was the point of painting this picture in front of his enemy?


However, Yuzhe couldn't notice the red in Gu Changge's eyes. Each line of how many respected the man was sent blades right through him.


"Ridiculous…" Changge muttered, massaging his temple. "How can a pathetic little bastard like that be…"


No one knew this yet, but there were people Gu Changge hated more than those who outclassed him in cultivation talent.


People who had lesser talents than him, but did better than him. Those were the people he couldn't stand the most.


Li Muchen was the prime example of that. He had bottom-of-the-barrel cultivation talent for the Major Sects. However, he received the position of Peak Master, equivalent to a major family patriarch in the Purple Cloud Sect, with everyone's respect and acknowledgement in the truest sense. Muchen knew the notions Gu Changge had of him, so he used that against him.


What Changge ignored was that Li Muchen was the first disciple of the Sky Mending Saint and Azure Sky Sect. Seventy percent of current elders in the sect started as disciples and learned under him. He was also present or had a hand in the recruitment of the other thirty percent.


If the current disciples, elders, and Peak Masters were the building blocks of Azure Sky Sect, then Li Muchen was the foundation of the sect alongside the Sky Mending Saint. That's how big his presence was, but the man had kept himself hidden because of it.


But Li Muchen knew Gu Changge more than Gu Changge knew himself. It was thanks to mind games and plots that the two had designed to rope the other party in. A deadly game the two shared over a century.


"A fucking lucky bastard…" Gu Changge's eyes turned red, his aura flaring. He abhorred such an existence the most. "His disciples are also joining the Martial Meet, right?"


"They are. They won first and second place in the new disciple trials." Yuzhe added.


"First and second place, huh? Seems like they have a bright future." Gu Changge chuckled, twirling his dark crimson token in his hand. "It'd be a pity if something happened to them, wouldn't it?"


"…" Yuzhe's lips pressed into a hard line. Sweat trickled down his forehead as footsteps neared.


"This is usual business, Brother Fu. If something happens to the kids. They have their incompetent master to blame." Changge said.


"…Indeed." A knot formed in Yuzhe's stomach. He couldn't understand anything. Why would Li Muchen do this?


But he didn't have to wait long to get the answer.


"Brother Fu, I can rely on you, right?" Gu Changge asked. The weight of the aura alone was crushing the young boy.


"I'll try to fulfill any orders," Yuzhe answered, fighting back his turning stomach.


"I knew you'd always be on my side," Changge smirked. "The task isn't too hard, so it won't put you in any real danger."


The other spies in Azure Sky Sect have either stopped responding or been silenced. He is the only one who is doing his tasks right now. Although Gu Changge had his reservations, he couldn't afford to be picky in the current situation.


He had something to prove. Above all, he had to make up for the losses. And he could never see someone like Fu Yuzhe defy him.


I have his lifeline in my hands. Fu Yuzhe was his only choice till he found more useful pawns. So, he planned to squeeze every ounce of use from him.


"Get me in contact with someone in Azure Sky Sect who hates Li Muchen to the core. Their rank doesn't matter." Gu Changge said.


"I think…… I might know someone who fits the bill." Yuzhe swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke the lines given to him. "Elder Ling of Sky Peak. They recently had a dispute because of Peak Master Li's second disciple."


"Aren't you a well-prepared guy, Brother Fu? I'll keep your hard work in mind." Changge said, guiding Yuzhe to the cavern entrance. "I hope you continue to show the same enthusiasm at the next task."


After Fu Yuzhe left with the corpse, Gu Changge slouched in his chair, drinking wine from a porcelain cup. He looked at the jagged roof of the cavern without murals in disdain; however, his lips curved up in a smile. This sudden meeting netted him a lot of information he didn't expect.


The Elder Ling Yuzhe mentioned knew Gu Changge as well as he knew him. The cunning old fox had quite a few deals with him over the years, but he never gave away his hidden ambition. Thanks to Yuzhe, it all unraveled like a roll of silk.


Li Muchen was a priority target he planned to take down after the Eastern Martial Meet; now he sat at the top of the list. His death would not only shake Azure Sky Sect's Foundation but also help Gu Changge set up a pawn in the sect's upper echelon. All this while clearing the important task given to him by the leaders of the Demonic Cultivators. It all fell right into his lap.


It's nothing personal, but at this Eastern Martial Meet, I am going to tear you and your disciples apart, Li Muchen. A grimy smirk splayed his face as thousands of cloudy red eyes dotted the darkness behind his chair.


Everything was in place for him. All he needed to do was wait for the perfect time to pounce.
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When the blindfold unfurled, Yuzhe found himself at the cleft. The enormous iron door that he had entered before vanished along with the guards. Even if he tapped at the eroded rock face or used spiritual sight, all attested it to be a normal cleft.


However, not even 200 steps from the cleft, a series of words formed before him using his qi.


Cavern number 367.


"Son of a…" Yuzhe ate his words and traveled back to Azure Sky Sect, fearing that the man would hear him.


Even with an extensive map, it took him a day to navigate the complex set of tunnels running beneath the sect. He could only curse in his mind and walk through this ant-hive-like structure until he reached his destination.


This cavern differed from the past ones. It had a small house and a stream of clear water. There wasn't an earthy, moldy smell wafting around here. Muchen, standing by the stream, didn't turn to him and started his usual questions.


Yuzhe had met Changge a lot more than he would've liked in the past month under the guise of direct reports, as instructed and predicted by Muchen. His controller deemed it important as he marked the alternative meeting place in his notebook with intense focus.


He hasn't gone back to Rat's Nest yet. Do I need to put more pressure on him? No, that could be counterproductive. He will go there on his own. I'll have him walk into that place on his own feet so he doesn't get alarmed. Muchen finished noting down the new information and cross-referenced it with the data he had. Things moved down the determined paths thanks to machinations.


"Will it be okay?" Yuzhe, fidgeting until now, asked. "Me monitoring Wu Kexin?"


"What is the problem with it? I've talked with her and her Master. She won't make it hard for the little spies around the place, so you can all match your stories. It'll solidify your position in Gu Changge's camp." Muchen looked up from the book in his hand and met the confused eyes of the youth.


"He is about to contact Elder Ling…" Yuzhe clenched his fist. A wave of unpleasant memories passed by, making him swallow the words.


"What of it?" Muchen, however, stayed unfazed.


"Don't you know what that'll do? Elder Ling is corrupt. If you let this happen, th-"


"Then what?" Muchen cut his words short. "They will scheme against the sect? What do you think they were doing this entire time you fed them information? Do you have any idea how much blood is on your hands?"


"It was for m-"


"Yes, you did it for your sister." Muchen cut him off once again. "So, don't think, just do what you are told." He turned around, facing the stream. "You should be used to it by now."


Yuzhe opened his mouth, but no words came out. He felt winded, even more so, angrier. He walked away with a bitter taste in his mouth, remembering each of the tasks he had done for Gu Changge and what came of it.


After he vanished into the dark tunnel, Muchen stored his notebook and turned to his right.


"What do you think?" He asked to the gray boulder beside him.


"Of your wonderful performance? I have nothing but praise. I would've believed your anger was real if not for my eyes." Gu Fe's words echoed as the veil of mist lifted to reveal her.


"The boy's mental state. How was it?" He moved the topic along.


Muchen had asked her to observe this exchange with Fu Yuzhe as they had reached a critical point in their plans, and he didn't want any unexpected variables. Thanks to her special eyes, Gu Fe excelled in reading people's mental states. A bloodline talent she inherited from her mother.


"He fears you greatly, but also hates you." Gu Fe said.


"That'll do for now." Muchen nodded. "However, there should be more."


"Guilt… a lot of it is bogging the boy down. But that's not what you are looking for, right?" Gu Fe asked, taking a seat on the rock without a care for her royal purple robes.


"Guilt is useless if it doesn't stop you from making the same mistakes," Muchen said.


Gu Fe found herself intrigued as the plot woven by Muchen came together, one string at a time.


He put it all on the line—his disciples, his sect, his connections, his reputation, and even himself—for the sake of completing a plan. Such dedication to the task showcased his willingness to go beyond what normal people would for his goal. A trait Gu Fe liked more than anything.


"So, what's the next move?" She asked, a delightful smile on her lips.


Muchen mirrored that smile. "In the meantime, I need you to pick off the Demonic sect's spies from Purple Cloud Sect and put more pressure on the ones in our sect, kill them a week before Eastern Martial Meet by picking one off at a time to make it natural."


"If we do that, Xiao Fu will be the only one who can provide Gu Changge with information." Gu Fe mulled over it. "That's a risky move."


"It would've been, but Gu Changge is desperate for results. You've seen how much of a pushover Fu Yuzhe is. He is the perfect prey for people like Gu Changge," Muchen explained. "He already has Yuzhe's weakness in his hands. So, he'll have to rely on the fear he has built in the boy's psyche to control him."


"Like you want to?"


"No. I do not have enough time to build fear in him." Muchen crossed his arms. "But I plan on using something much worse."


"What is that?" Gu Fe leaned in, eyes gleaming at the hidden side of Azure Sky Sect's beloved Peak Master Li.


"Guilt, of course," Muchen answered.


"As expected of you." Gu Fe almost broke into laughter.


"How do you plan on keeping the disciples safe?" She had learned the full plan to help with setting things up.


Although she found the idea practical, it had its risks.


"I'll have to call in a few favors. So, I plan to wipe the slate clean." Muchen said. He knew the risks; that's why he prepared for them.


"Why are you targeting my father?" Gu Fe wanted to understand what misgivings Muchen had about Gu Changge.


It couldn't be over something as simple as the Caravan attack. That was but an excuse. Nothing else popped into her mind that could put the two at odds. So what was it? That question has dominated her thoughts since she found out about his involvement.


She stood up from the rock, swiping the dust off her buttocks. "Is it out of hate? Revenge?" Gu Fe sauntered over. "A burning sense of justice, perhaps?"


Muchen smiled. Hate? Of course, he hated Gu Changge. The word hate wasn't enough to do it justice. However, he had gotten his revenge for what that guy did. Inadequate as it may have been, he had closed that chapter. And the last thing he could harbor in this world was a sense of justice. He had only one reason to target Gu Changge this time.


"Miss Gu, what is the quickest way to silence a rebellious group?" He asked.


"The quickest way would be to make an example out of their ray of hop… I see." A grin formed on Gu Fe's red lips.


Each eye of hers reflected a different side: white/good for the right and black/evil for the left. Most people had one inherent side that was the underlying reason for their lifelong choices. Gu Fe could peer into this hidden side of people. A side they didn't know about themselves until they hit rock bottom.


Most people, and cultivators at large, had a clear side. Either white or black. Momentary decisions could change the disposition based on the situation, but they had one side at rest. However, Muchen was different.


Even at rest, he lived on the border between good and evil. A being that could tread both paths at the same time without crossing the line. Gu Fe found charming since their first meeting.


If he makes an example out of Gu Changge, the demonic sects that are trying to rise behind him would go back to silence. Even if they try to wrestle for control later, the Sect Alliance will force them to an end. And he plans to eradicate the demonic sects of the continent like that. Sky Mending Saint had pushed the demonic sects into hiding. Now, the disciple wanted to put an end to it.


She chuckled at the realization that it wasn't a simple act of revenge or disdain. He wanted to crush the bugs that were trying to crawl out of the ground.


Muchen had meticulously planned Gu Changge's downfall to send a message to his backers. Even she was a piece on the board he had prepared. However, it didn't bother her. He gave her a front-row seat for the demise of the person she hated most.


Unlike her five-decade-long preparation, Muchen had connections and experience spanning over two and a half centuries.


"Very well, I shall wait for that moment dearly." Gu Fe smiled, her eyes focused on the letter Muchen wanted her to send to the Southern Continent.


***


After the incident on Chrysanthemum Peak with Gu Fe, Li Muchen's disciples had to cut the celebratory feast short because of Yingyue's condition.


Sun Lingling didn't mind if the feast happened or not. She went back to training. Wang Yang and Wu Kexin were more focused on tending to Yingyue until Qian Yun arrived and took her away.


In the end, only Hua Mei enjoyed the dishes, walking away with a hymn of satisfaction.


"And, to pay for that meal, I am here to give you two extra training till the departure day for E.M.M." Hua Mei came blasting at sunrise.


"I don't think we need the help!" Wang Yang had to face the punches before he could wash his face. The only thing that shook off his drowsiness was cold, hard strikes to his organs.


"I am in your care again, Senior Hua." Sun Lingling had cultivated through the night again and stayed out of the little demon's range, ready for another practice session.


"You are getting used to this speed," Hua Mei smiled, the back of her fist connecting with Wang Yang's forearm.


She used the physical abilities of a cultivator in the 2nd stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. Because of the extra power she had from her strong base level, this level should overwhelm Sun Lingling and Wang Yang.


However, Sun Lingling had learned her lesson about attack range. She had become adept at keeping her distance through trial and error. Wang Yang, too, could block her attack or dodge them sometimes; he acted as the shield for his senior, who did the attacks. But his success rate was 10%. Much higher than Hua Mei liked.


"Let us kick it up a notch." She grinned, ignoring the cold sweat on Wang Yang, who had to take the full brunt of it all.


"Why do you target my face this much?!" Wang Yang shed tears at the dinner table. Only the hot noodles could numb the pain he went through.


"Because you are lacking." Hua Mei did like picking on him, but Wang Yang indeed lacked combat experience compared to Sun Lingling.


While Wang Yang had black eyes like a panda and a busted lip, Sun Lingling only had small, purple bruises on her right hand and left leg. Hua Mei didn't target him alone; he couldn't adjust to the new speed in time like his senior sister and ended up with more hits.


Before, he would've ended up with a few broken bones, but he only got surface-level injuries today. Maybe I can increase the intensity a bit more. Hua Mei found the situation intriguing, and as a first-time teacher, she didn't know restrain.


"What happened, Junior Wang?" Sun Lingling asked the shivering Wang Yang; he had stopped in his tracks while pouring tea.


"I don't have a good feeling." He glanced at the grinning Hua Mei from the kitchen.


However, the previously laughing kid now broke out in cold sweats, giving him a scare. She jumped from her stool, sending it flying like the jade bowl she ate from. Her eyes filled with unbridled panic, which they had never seen before.


"Run, you two!" she shouted, leaping towards the window like a cat.


Before they could react or assess the situation, the air in the room came to a halt. The tumbling chair, rolling bowl, spilled red broth, flapping curtains, and the three humans all froze in their tracks.


What is this? Sun Lingling felt the wind squeezed out of her lungs.


Incredible pressure crushed them, like a mountain. She moved her eyes and noticed the woman standing in front of Hua Mei.


A crimson qipao hugged her body, a dragon embroidered with golden thread wrapped around the woman's figure; a jade hairpin held her long, white hair together in a bun. In that stopped world, she alone moved, her heels clacking on the wooden floor.


Her eyes, greener than the purest of jade, locked onto Hua Mei in a menacing glare.


"So, this is where you were, you little rascal." She said, folding the red fan emblazoned with a fierce tiger.


Who is she? Sun Lingling hadn't seen this woman before, but she reached for Hua Mei like second nature, linked with the gaudy way of restraining them, and covert movements.


An assassin! I have to contact Master.


Sun Lingling tried to move, but even her breath had stopped at that moment. Movement was out of the question. Meanwhile, the woman in red grabbed Hua Mei by the ear, leaving the kid helpless.


"W-Wait! S-Stop Mom, owwww!" Hua Mei's helpless cries bounced off the silent walls.


Sun Lingling and Wang Yang looked at each other, one more confused than the other.


M…Mom?


Neither of them expected the lady of Tiger Peak, Hua Mingzhu, would burst in like this.
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An awkward hour had passed since Hua Mingzhu entered the main estate of Plum Peak. She sat in a chair at the dining table, the red-eared Hua Mei beside her, with eyes darting all over like a mouse confronting a cat.

Sun Lingling and Wang Yang sat across the table and watched the little demon get her punishment in ear pulls and light smacks on the shoulder.

"I apologize for my rough methods." Her crystal-clear voice broke the silence; her voice sounded plain yet pleasant to the ear. "I have to be hard-handed because of this slippery rascal here." She pinched Hua Mei's cheek.

"Mom, please, you are embarrassing me…" Hua Mei's protests quieted down after a not-so-subtle glare from her mother.

"What choice do I have when I find that you've been skipping your lectures and training for the past month? Why don't you tell me what I ought to do with you, hmm?" When Mingzhu entered closed-door cultivation, Hua Mei got a free pass to do whatever. The little girl learned how to run away from the woman best known in the art of escape, her mother. So, Mingzhu's methods had to be overbearing to catch her.

Receiving no answer from her defiant daughter, she continued. "It's good that you aren't causing too much trouble and just playing over at your uncle's place. But you ought to attend your training and have meals prepared at the estate. They are important for your growth." Her eyes narrowed when she noticed Hua Mei glaring at Wang Yang.

"Am I making myself clear, Mei Mei?" Her voice dropped to a threateningly low tone.

"Y-Yes, Mom." Hua Mei sat up straight like a soldier at attention. Even her father feared that commanding tone, let alone her.

I have never seen her like this. Wang Yang saw firsthand how scared Hua Mei could be of someone. A complete 180 from her usual brazenness.

The little demon he feared had turned into a quivering mouse in front of her mother. Of course, she warned him not to laugh, gesturing that she would slice his neck if he even dared to joke about it. But Wang Yang wasn't that dumb. He planned to laugh at her in secret whenever she gave him a hard time to ease the pain of her punches.

"With that dealt with… You two are the disciples Li Muchen chose himself?" Mingzhu's eyes swept over Wang Yang and Sun Lingling. "I have to say I am a bit disappointed, especially with you." She singled out the former.

"W-What did I do?" Wang Yang asked.

"For starters, I can list about 200 mistakes since I arrived," Mingzhu said.

"2-200?!" Wang Yang almost fell off the birch stool.

"Indeed, but if I summarize them, it all comes down to a lack of vigilance, inexperience, and naivety. Not exactly qualities of a great talent," Mingzhu said, her cold eyes examining every inch of the two disciples.

"Unlike Sun Lingling over there, you weren't fast enough to react when I arrived. However, you were the first to let go of your suspicion the moment I identified myself." She pointed at Sun Lingling with her eyes again. "That kid over there still holds her sword near, while you didn't even take it out. Your guard is so low that I could kill you with chopsticks even if I were in the same cultivation realm as you."

"Well…" Wang Yang scratched his head, "I saw Senior Hua's reaction and thought she would definitely recognize her mother."

"Hmmm… you seem a bit slow in gathering information, too; that's the lack of experience I talked about." However, Mingzhu didn't take that response well. She continued, tugging on Hua Mei's cheek. "This kid here has followed housemaids three times, thinking it was me. She is as unreliable as they come when identifying people."

"It's not my fault that you disguise yourself, Mom, ouch! That hurts!" Hua Mei winced at the twist of her mother's fingers.

"I have to, so you know how to find me. What if someone is impersonating me? Worse yet, wearing my skin to deceive you?" Mingzhu pulled her hand away. "I want you to be safe and alert in such situations, that's why I want to train you well. Yet here you are frolicking around instead of going to lectures."

The air in the room seemed to have turned somber. Hua Mei pouted, unable to give a retort to her worried mother, while Wang Yang and Sun Lingling watched from across the table, unsure if they should be listening to this.

However, a gust of wind entered the room through the open window. The cool wind washed away the awkward air and brought hope to Hua Mei's face.

"Still so hard on the young ones, aren't you, Sister-in-law?" Li Muchen leaned against the pillar with a smile. "Why don't you let them off this once?"

"Hearing you say to let people off is concerning." Mingzhu didn't even look back, but stood up with a scoff. "I suppose getting disciples has changed you, Li Muchen."

"Well, people change, don't they?" Muchen said, gesturing at the kids to go away.

Hua Mei was the first to slip away, blowing her uncle some kisses and words of gratitude. Sun Lingling and Wang Yang also left promptly. Now, only Muchen and Mingzhu remained in the room.

"People do change with time. I am the prime example of that." Mingzhu looked over her shoulder, "But I haven't seen a case where the person becomes a puppet made of metal after four months."

"…" Muchen smiled in the quiet room.

"Looks like it still isn't enough to fool a Peak Nascent Soul Realm expert." The voice came from the window. A veil of silk lifted, revealing Muchen resting on the windowsill.

Muchen wanted to test the limits of what realm he can use the current version of the puppet on. Yae removed her invisibility and jumped on him from the puppet.

"A puppet and a fox beast. You are up to no good again." Mingzhu shook her head in displeasure.

"I am just helping Chen Zhipeng test stuff out," Muchen said.

"You expect me to believe you are doing this out of the goodness of your heart? I'd believe a Demonic cultivator becoming a Buddha over that." Mingzhu had known him for that long, longer than she liked to admit.

She looked at the fox perched on his shoulder, the little furball licked itself clean like a normal house cat. However, something deep stirred in its clear eyes. It wasn't like any normal tamed demonic beasts. It had a hint of intelligence, a sharp sense of reason that it tried to veil under the mannerisms of a beast.

This one is sharp. Yae alerted Muchen.

That's why I need her help. He smiled at the inquisitive gaze that dug into him. This woman in front of him would help get the second power he needed. In a way, she was the only way to get in touch with them discreetly.

"Are you up-to-date on the recent happenings?" Muchen asked.

"Do you think I've lost my touch after becoming a mother?" She asked, pouring herself a cup of tea.

"You've been in secluded cultivation for six months now." Muchen shrugged.

"I came out at sunrise. That's enough time to familiarize myself with your shenanigans." She added dryly. "Planning to get three major sects together against the Demonic cultivators using the Eastern Martial Meet, you have certainly outdone yourself this time."

"The Purple Cloud Sect and our sect have real reason to retaliate, but where is the third sect you talk of?"

"Don't act coy with me. The very reason you are having this useless chatter with me is to involve the Frozen Flower Sect." Mingzhu scoffed.

Even she read the reports over three times to make sure there weren't any mistakes in her eyes. The way Muchen had set things up had a big hole; he handled the personnel through the Purple Cloud sect, information through the Azure Sky Sect, but there was a hole in the plan still. A hole that only another Major sect could fill. He never had any plans of getting involved with the Temple, so only one major sect remained.

"You need a strong deterrent at the Eastern Martial Meet. The Frozen Flower Sect is the only force left that can protect an area against a large force with their special formations." Mingzhu concluded.

However, her conclusion was off by a mile. "I don't need the entire Frozen Flower Sect," he said, "I only need you to contact one person."

"You only want to call Princess Han?" Mingzhu's hand stopped. "I thought you wanted her to be an intermediary with the Frozen Flower Sect and acquire their cooperation?"

"No, she alone will be enough." Muchen smiled.

Involving the entire Frozen Flower Sect would cost a lot more than he planned to give up. And, the sect itself rarely took part in the happenings of the martial society. They liked to live by themselves, not bothering with the power struggle or flattery that ran rampant outside. Even then, they had become a Major Sect because of their long history and powerful leaders who carried the legacy over a millennium.

Muchen only needed Han Yue, the next sect leader of the sect, for this plan. The one unmatched in her realm.

The top echelon of the Demonic Cultivators aren't interested in the happenings of the Eastern Continent right now. Muchen wanted to make full use of that situation.

Those high-ranking monsters had no reason to intervene or even watch the Eastern Martial Meet themselves. Because doing so would net them no benefits. In simpler words, there wasn't a fish big enough for them to jump into the waters.

The stronger the cultivator, the higher they'd aim. Just like a human doesn't bother to stop and see what the ants were doing, they wouldn't come over to kill the young disciples and weak elders who would gather for the Eastern Martial Meet. They would only focus on the things that are a threat to them at that moment. That's why they were using another's knife to kill.

This is how the underdogs thrive. And it is the exact reason Wang Yang is such a dangerous existence; he is the ultimate underdog that only emerges when he has enough power. Muchen had seen Wang Yang grow at an abnormal pace because of his luck, and by the time the higher-ranking cultivators noticed him as a threat, he reached a level where he could fight back against them.

If this world was a novel, then Wang Yang is the protagonist who goes through the weak-to-strong progression. He enters every fight as an underdog and comes out victorious. Muchen always thought that while teaching him, because he ticked all the boxes for a cultivation protagonist. He had the talent to soar unnoticed, luck to get opportunities, and blessed with connections most would only dream of by simply taking a stroll on a sunny day.

But Muchen's recent actions had stirred the pot, and his current actions were also out of the ordinary. Thus, he wanted to do things without attracting any attention so that the surface looked calm for the unaware prey that would come in. The moment they do, the predator under that calm water would have its feast.

"There is one thing I don't understand," Mingzhu said, rapping the varnished table with her index finger. "Don't you have an artifact to contact Princess Han yourself? Why are you going through me?"

"Well…" Muchen looked away, almost embarrassed.

"My my…" Mingzhu didn't miss that change in his eyes. "They say that if given long enough, even the devil can develop a conscience."

Muchen scratched his head, unable to retort. It had been a century since he last contacted Han Yue, even though she had given him a personal artifact that stabilized the overflowing yin qi in his body, which doubled as a communication device. It would feel weird to contact her out of nowhere for a favor, at least that's how normal people would think.

Muchen, on the other hand, was as shameless as they came.

"You are embarrassed, or so you want me to think," Mingzhu smirked, resting her chin on her hand. "As the next sect leader, all of her actions are monitored by the elders, especially her contact with the outside world. And on the list of people not to let her get close to, your name is at the top. Your attempt to contact her would be interrupted, so your plan will fall through. That's why you got me here by keeping Mei Mei engaged with your disciples, isn't that right?"

"I am not proud of that." Muchen sighed. "Why do those elders even hate me that much? It's not like I did anything to them, at least I don't remember it."

"Well, you almost took away their greatest treasure. Of course, they'd be wary of you," Mingzhu said.

"Stop slandering me. I did no such thing." Muchen said.

"Now I see where my husband got his cluelessness from." She shook her head. "Anyway, you want me to pass your message along, right?"

"Yes." Muchen's expression shifted to seriousness. "To make up for it, I have the payment ready."

He placed a book with a light green cover. It had freckles of blue and white with a crimson thread binding the pristine white paper. The title, written in bold and strong strokes, read, Baking for Dummies Part 3.

"This one covers confections Mei Mei likes, including the cake I made for her last birthday." He added.

"At least you aren't an idiot when it comes to this." Mingzhu swiped the book with a satisfied nod. "I have received the payment. I shall complete this job within three business days."

"There is one more thing, Sister-in-law," Muchen said, pointing to the west wall. "Can you let Mei Mei be here till we leave for the Eastern Martial Meet. I'll see to it that she completes her cultivation lessons."

"Hm…" Mingzhu looked at the training ground beyond the west wall.

There, Mei Mei had spars with Muchen's disciples; however, she laughed and joked around, enjoying the process she normally saw as a chore to get over with. Mingzhu had been observing the changes in her daughter since this morning. It wasn't grand, but still noticeable to a mother.

"You better not let her slack off." Mingzhu stood up.

"I won',." Muchen said.

She nodded and, after another look at the training ground, vanished in thin air. In one burst, she had escaped Muchen's spiritual sense's range, reaching the outermost edge of the Plum Peak.

"They called her the silent storm for a reason." He stood up with a smile.

Now, he had most things in order and wanted to focus on the last thing before the Eastern Martial Meet.

"Ah, Master…" Wang Yang jumped to his feet when Muchen landed on the practice ground, followed but the vibrant leaves.

Sun Lingling and Mei Mei stopped sparring and gathered in front of him.

"Wang Yang and Sun Lingling, you two are now ready to learn Martial techniques. So, I will give you the ones best suited for you now." He said.

It was time to strengthen his disciples to the next level.

....
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