Several days later. Daoning Gate.
Su He drifted back to consciousness to the faint, soothing scent of calming incense.
The back of her neck ached terribly — even the slightest movement sent a stabbing pain straight through to her skull.
She forced her eyes open. Above her hung a familiar gauze canopy, and on the ceiling beam swayed the soft glow of a lapis lazuli palace lantern.
She was in the side hall of Daoning Gate's alchemy chamber.
Memory came rushing back like a tide. The entrance to the disciple market. That man — handsome face, nonsense pouring out of his mouth — that ear-splitting shout of "Rogue cultivators!" And that wooden sword, moving faster than eyes could follow...
"Awake?"
A cool, authoritative voice cut through the last of the fog in Su He's mind.
She went rigid. Her instinct was to scramble up and bow — but a low groan from beside her stopped her short.
Li Miao.
Su He turned her head. Her junior sister was curled up on the other daybed, both hands pressed to her stomach, clearly still suffering the psychological and physical aftermath of that single, devastating inch-force strike.
Seated directly before them both, upright in a grand armchair, was a middle-aged woman of striking beauty dressed in a deep teal robe of elaborate make. She held a cup of spirit tea in both hands, the curling steam half-obscuring her face.
The presiding Elder of Daoning Gate. Their own teacher and master. Elder Liu.
"Disciple... pays her respects, Master."
Elder Liu let out a slow sigh. "No sword wounds. No traces of spell-arts. All blunt impact."
"Tell me — what manner of expert did you run into?"
Li Miao was timid on her best days, and right now Elder Liu's presence bore down on her like a physical weight. Her stomach still throbbed. Her mind went completely blank.
She sputtered and stammered for a long moment, eyes drifting everywhere but forward, utterly unable to meet her master's gaze.
"M-Master, actually... the thing is... we..."
She couldn't get it out.
What was she supposed to say? Master, we went to corner a First Realm Fourth Layer cultivator, and before we could even finish talking, he blitzed us both with a wooden sword?
Too humiliating.
Elder Liu's brow furrowed. Her gaze shifted to Su He, who was at least marginally more composed.
"Su He. You speak."
Su He knelt on the floor, cold sweat trickling down her spine.
Tell the truth?
Absolutely not.
Getting reverse-stomped by someone at the First Realm Fourth Layer — how was she ever supposed to show her face in Daoning Gate again? Those senior and junior sisters who already had it out for her would turn this into a punchline and retell it over tea for the next hundred years.
She needed a story. Fast.
The images from that moment flashed through her mind at speed.
Gu Chengming... wooden sword... ambush...
Who else was there?
Right!
That young man who had been hovering at Gu Chengming's side the whole time!
A light came into Su He's eyes.
She remembered him — his name was Jiang Lu. He hadn't looked particularly sharp, but the spiritual energy radiating off him was unmistakably that of the First Realm Seventh Layer.
If she said they'd lost to a First Realm Seventh Layer cultivator — and in a situation where the enemy had the numbers advantage and had struck without warning...
That changed everything.
This wasn't incompetence. This was being outnumbered and ambushed. This was being played dirty!
Su He bit down and arranged her face into a suitably pained, reluctant expression.
"Today, this disciple and junior sister were strolling through the disciple market when we happened upon that Gu Chengming. With the recent rumors circulating about Senior Sister You, this disciple thought to approach and ask a few questions — to seek justice on Senior Sister You's behalf."
"But... but that Gu Chengming proved utterly unreasonable. His words were flippant and disrespectful — and worse, it turned out he had already laid an ambush!"
Here she stole a glance at Elder Liu's expression. Seeing the elder's brow tightening, Su He gathered her nerve and pressed on.
"He had an outer-gate disciple with him — someone called Jiang Lu. This person's cultivation has already reached the First Realm Seventh Layer!"
"The two of them joined forces and attacked without warning. This disciple was caught off guard, and so we..."
Beside her, Li Miao blinked, momentarily thrown.
If you set aside the process and looked only at the outcome and the people involved, Senior Sister's account wasn't technically wrong.
Jiang Lu had been there. Jiang Lu really was at the First Realm Seventh Layer. They really had been knocked unconscious.
As for exactly whose hand had actually done the hitting... did that matter?
Jiang Lu had been on the scene. By all reasonable rounding, that made him an accomplice.
CRACK.
A sharp sound rang out.
Elder Liu's teacup came down on the table with a force that split it clean apart. Fine celadon shattered into four pieces; scalding tea flooded across the surface.
A wave of tremendous spiritual pressure flooded the side hall instantly, heavy enough to knock the breath from both girls' lungs.
"Outrageous!"
Elder Liu shot to her feet. "Outer-gate disciples! First Realm Seventh Layer! Two grown men joining hands to ambush two women, and striking this viciously!"
The more Elder Liu turned it over, the angrier she became.
In her view, this had stopped being a simple scuffle between disciples. This was a direct slap to Daoning Gate's face.
If her disciples had been defeated fair and square, she, Elder Liu, was not a sore loser — inferior skill meant going back to train. Simple as that.
But an ambush? With a higher cultivation level on top of it?
What kind of ability was that supposed to be?!
Elder Liu let out a cold snort and swept her wide sleeve through the air. A gentle current of spiritual energy rose from the ground and lifted both kneeling girls to their feet.
"Come!"
Su He started. A sudden premonition of dread bloomed in her chest. "M-Master... where are we going?"
"Where are we going?"
Elder Liu's brows angled sharp as blades, a cold light flashing in her eyes. "To Huiyuan Gate, to demand an explanation, obviously!"
"I want to see for myself who gave them the nerve — to beat my Daoning Gate disciples half-senseless in broad daylight, in front of everyone!"
Su He and Li Miao went blank with horror.
This was not the script.
The way they had imagined it: Master would hear them out, scold them roundly for "sloppy cultivation," and then confine them to quarters to reflect on their failings — with a firm instruction to train harder and win the score back themselves, in their own time.
After all, this was just a squabble between disciples. An Elder getting personally involved would only make them look small.
"Um... Master..."
Su He panicked. The cold sweat came down all at once.
If Elder Liu actually went to confront Gu Chengming and Jiang Lu in person...
"Master! There's really no need!"
Su He lunged forward and grabbed Elder Liu's sleeve.
"Actually... it really wasn't that big a deal! This disciple just needs to rest up a bit, there's no reason to trouble Master to personally..."
"Not that big a deal?"
Elder Liu fixed her with a look of profound disappointment. "You were beaten unconscious and it's 'not that big a deal'? Where is your backbone? Where is your Dao-heart?"
"How have I raised you? When someone wrongs you, you wrong them back! If you can't win alone, you come find your Master!"
"If you swallow this today, what will they think of you tomorrow?"
"But..."
"Not another word!" Elder Liu was in full fury and had no patience for argument. "This is not your decision to make!"
She gave them no further chance to refuse.
Her sleeve swept outward. A tide of irresistible spiritual energy coiled around both Su He and Li Miao and locked them in place.
"Move!"
With a sharp command, Elder Liu's feet carried her forward like a gale. She swept out of the alchemy hall in a furious rush — trailing two disciples who wore the identical expression of people who had nothing left to live for.
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉