"I want to buy the Azure Sword Sect, Sect Leader!"
The voice echoed through the entire recruitment ground, reaching every corner where disciples were being tested. The Sect Master and the elders on the high platform heard it clearly. So did all the other families and children who had come to take the tests.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then, like a stone dropped into still water, shock rippled outward. Thousands of eyes turned toward the young man standing alone by the glowing blue orb. Murmurs exploded across the ground.
"Did he just say... buy the sect?"
"Is he insane?"
"Who is this madman?"
Wang Ping felt it before he saw it , a terrifying killing intent that pressed down upon him like the weight of a mountain. It felt as though his skin was being peeled away layer by layer, his bones crushed into fine powder. Cold sweat poured down his face, soaking his robes.
His heart nearly stopped.
"System! Where is the invincible field you said you gave me?! Why isn't it working? What the hell is going on?! Don't tell me you scammed me?!"
[Ding! Host, the system is not scamming you.]
[It's just that you haven't turned on the Invincible Field.]
Wang Ping: "______"
A long, silent pause hung in his mind.
"Fuck you, you bastard! Couldn't you have told me that earlier?! Were you waiting for the elders and the Sect Leader to tear me apart before saying something?!"
[Ding! Host, please do not curse the system. This system has its own pride, you know. And this was the host's mistake, not this system's mistake. How can you curse someone else for your own error?]
Wang Ping stared at the system's message, utterly speechless at its shamelessness. He took a deep breath, swallowed his anger, and sighed.
"Fine. Just... turn it on. Quickly."
[Ding! The Invincible Field has been activated.]
The moment the field activated, Wang Ping felt an indescribable change wash over him. The crushing killing intent vanished as if it had never existed. The invisible pressure that had been squeezing the life out of him simply... ceased.
He breathed a long, deep sigh of relief which was like a drowning man finally breaking the surface.
"My life is saved..."
He no longer felt fear. No longer felt those terrifying illusions clawing at his mind. He understood clearly now that this was the power of the Invincible Field the system had given him. And with that understanding, his confidence swelled a hundredfold.
Wang Ping lifted his chin. He looked directly into the eyes of the Sect Master seated high above on the platform and his gaze was no longer that of a nervous young orphan.
It was the gaze of someone who feared nothing.
"Hey, old man," Wang Ping said, his voice cold and domineering, carrying across the silent ground like a blade drawn from its sheath. "Do you really think that child's play of yours would work on this seat?"
He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in.
"Listen well with those old ears of yours. Yours Truly has come here today to give you and your sect a precious opportunity which is the opportunity to serve me. Do you understand just how precious that is?"
Silence.
Then, chaos.
The crowd erupted into frantic whispers. Every person looked at Wang Ping with a different expression...some with disbelief, some with horror, some with morbid curiosity. The people standing nearest to him immediately scrambled backward, creating a wide empty circle around him as if he carried a plague that might get them killed alongside him.
A few among the crowd, however, looked at him with something almost like admiration. Such boldness. Such audacity. To speak to the Sect Master of the Azure Sword Sect-a cultivator whose power could shake mountains...like that?
But despite their different reactions, one thought united them all, echoing silently in every mind:
This boy is clearly seeking death.
At that moment, the steward standing directly in front of Wang Ping could hold back no longer. His face twisted with fury, veins bulging on his forehead. He had been humiliated by this mere child's words, tge words spoken in front of the entire sect.
"JUNIOR! YOU ARE COURTING DEATH! HOW DARE YOU?!"
The steward's hand shot to his sword. In a flash of cold steel, he drew his blade and lunged forward. To most of the onlookers, his movement was invisible a blur too fast for mortal eyes to track.
But Wang Ping stood perfectly still within his Invincible Field. He felt no fear. He didn't flinch. He didn't move an inch.
He simply looked at the attacking steward and spoke one word.
"Kneel."
Boom!
The steward, mid-lunge with his sword raised high and killing intent blazing in his eyes, suddenly stopped as if struck by an invisible hammer. His body trembled violently. Then, against every fiber of his will, his knees buckled and slammed into the ground.
Thud.
The steward knelt.
His sword clattered to the stone floor beside him.
Silence returned to the Azure Sword Sect which was deeper, heavier, and more terrifying than ever before.