Teng Chi sat cross-legged within his exclusive cultivation cave carved high into the Spirit Vein Peak. He was attempting to enter deep meditation, but the silence of the atmosphere was constantly broken by the memory of the slap. His elegant hand, encased in a mediative posture moments ago, clenched into a fist. Su Yueru. The sight of her crystalline eyes filled with pure fury replayed in his mind, fueling a cold, simmering rage that was proving impossible to transmute into cultivation Qi.
A recent memory flashed through his thoughts, after the wedding ceremony, he had given a small, unremarkable jade slip to an Inner Sect disciple—a nervous young man at the Second Stage of Qi Refinement. Teng Chi's instruction had been simple and ominous, if the mortal groom, Lin Ming, displayed anything unusual, anything at all that defied his crippling reality, the disciple was to break the slip instantly.
....
Down in the inner courtyard, the terrified disciple who had just been forced to his knees by Lin Ming's spiritual pressure coughed up a final mouthful of blood onto the stone floor. He remembered Teng Chi's cold eyes and his specific command. Unusual. What could be more unusual than a mortal cripple suddenly exhibiting a Sixth Stage Qi Refinement aura? It defied every known principle. With trembling fingers, the disciple crushed the jade slip.
Back in the cave, the broken fragments of Teng Chi's warning slip flared with a tiny spark of light before dissolving into dust. So soon? Teng Chi thought, instantly rising. What possible incident could warrant this? Lin Ming had just married the sect's Fairy; the man was a harmless mortal, barely an inconvenience. Had he dared to hurt Su Yueru? Impossible. Su Yueru was at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, barely any core disciple could scarcely injure her, let alone a man with no spiritual energy.
Brushing away these thoughts, Teng Chi mounted his flying sword and shot out of the cave in a streak of light, heading toward the commotion in the Inner Court section. As he drew closer, he began to feel the unfamiliar spiritual aura, potent yet unrefined. "Peak Qi Refinement, at least," he mused. "Perhaps an Inner Court disciple finally broke through to the peak of the realm."
But as he landed, his eyes focused on the single figure standing amidst the kneeling and recovering disciples, and his heart turned to ice. He couldn't mistake that face—the face of the upstart mortal who had usurped what Teng Chi considered his own.
So, he can cultivate, Teng Chi thought, his mind racing. Has he been suppressing his cultivation all this time, merely masquerading as a mortal? The idea was quickly dismissed as foolish; no one at the Qi Refinement stage could suppress their cultivation so perfectly, especially not a talentless nobody. Whatever the cause, the deception was an insult to his intelligence and, far worse, a direct threat to his claim on Su Yueru.
Teng Chi's patience evaporated. He instantly released his own aura—the crushing pressure of an Early Stage Golden Core cultivator. The superior spiritual force slammed down, immediately overwhelming Lin Ming's weaker Sixth Stage Qi Refinement aura. Everyone in the courtyard, including the disciples who had previously resisted Lin Ming, instantly crumpled to their knees, their bones groaning under the immense weight.
"Lin Ming! You dare to court death so early!" Teng Chi roared, his voice amplified by Qi, shaking the ancient pillars of the courtyard.
He descended from his sword, the edge of his Golden Core aura receding slightly, allowing the disciples to struggle back to their feet. Lin Ming, however, remained where he was. Despite the pain, a slow, infuriating smirk stretched across his face. Lin Ming remembered Teng Chi's stare from the wedding—the pure, unadulterated jealousy. He couldn't mistake that stare; it was the look of jealousy. Lin Ming understood jealousy very well, as he himself had once been jealous of his cousin at a young age when they awakened spiritual roots and he did not. Lin Ming's current intention was born out of a pure mischievousness and eagerness to provoke Teng Chi.
Then, with a slight, mocking bow, Lin Ming spoke, "Junior greets Senior. If Senior wishes to see wife Su, she is not around, as she had a most pleasured night yesterday."
The courtyard exploded into shocked whispers. Disciples muttered frantically, their eyes darting between the Lin Ming and the enraged Core Disciple, Teng Chi.
"He said—he took her chastity?"
"The Fairy… with that mortal?"
"Wait, if he broke through, could it be the rumored Dual Cultivation Technique? Having sex with a Profound Ice Root genius like Fairy Su would certainly awaken a dormant root!"
The mutters reached Teng Chi's ears, especially the insidious suggestion of dual cultivation. The implications—that Lin Ming had shared intimacy with Su Yueru, that he had taken her purity, that he might even have inherited her talent through a pleasured technique—drove Teng Chi past the point of reason. His mind dissolved into jealous fury.
"You despicable vermin!" Teng Chi shrieked, his face contorted. He shot into the sky, his Qi surging violently. With a raised hand, a massive bell of translucent spiritual energy appeared in the air and rang out with an ear splitting, destructive sound. Teng Chi released the full, raw force of his aura, engulfing the courtyard. Once again, every disciple was forced onto their knees, their bodies pressed flat against the stone.
Lin Ming gasped, his new tempered body buckling. Blood erupted from his mouth as the Golden Core pressure nearly crushed his him. Yet, through the curtain of pain, he maintained that arrogant smirk.
That smirk was the final trigger.
"Just die already!" Teng Chi screamed, descending his hand with lethal intent.
The spiritual bell plummeted, aiming to crush Lin Ming into paste. It was inches from impact when, in a flash of blinding spiritual light, a figure instantly materialized beside Lin Ming.
.....
Before all that, in a secluded cultivation chamber on the Inner Peak, Elder Mu had just finished stabilizing his breakthrough to the Early Stage of Nascent Soul, increasing his lifespan by a thousand years. He had sensed Lin Ming's weak Qi Refinement aura earlier and dismissed it as one of the inner disciples experiencing a breakthrough, but the sudden, powerful discharge of Teng Chi's Golden Core aura was impossible to ignore. Teng Chi? Releasing such power in the Inner Courtyard? Does he wish to murder someone?
Elder Mu used the instant teleportation ability granted by his new realm, appearing in the courtyard just as the massive bell was about to terminate Lin Ming. Without pause, Elder Mu simply waved a hand.
The crushing bell hit an invisible wall of pure, transcendent power, cracking immediately before shattering into thousands of harmless spiritual fragments.
The residual force of the Nascent Soul movement slammed into Teng Chi, who staggered several steps back in the air, falling heavily to his knees. The power of the Nascent Soul realm was an ocean compared to the Golden Core's, a fundamental, unbridgeable disparity.
With a face contorted in ugly fury and disappointment, Elder Mu shouted down at the kneeling Teng Chi.
"You wish to kill Lin Ming? Where is the harmony in that?!"