If you go through a breakthrough without showing off, isn't that breakthrough wasted

"Master!"

Zhao Feng knelt on the ground, bowing deeply to Lin Yan in supreme reverence.

If the people of Qingyun City saw this, their jaws would drop.

That was a Golden Core Patriarch!

To actually perform such a grand salute!

Not only that, but to address him as "Master"?

"Master! This old servant, Zhao Feng, kowtows in gratitude for your life-saving grace!"

"For this immense kindness, even if my body is smashed to pieces, I could hardly repay a ten-thousandth of it! From this day forward, this old servant's life belongs to you, Master! If you tell me to live, I will live; if you tell me to die, I will die! I will absolutely not have the slightest disloyalty!"

[Ding! Outer Sect Disciple Zhao Feng has broken through to the Golden Core Realm. Reward: Outer Sect Disciple Trait Extraction Opportunity *1, Sect Points +200]

[Ding! Detected a massive increase in Outer Sect Disciple Zhao Feng's favorability. Loyalty +20%. Current loyalty: 78%]

Lin Yan raised his eyebrows.

He reached the Golden Core Realm just like that?

Good heavens, no wonder his loyalty suddenly skyrocketed by 20 percent.

He glanced at Zhao Feng kneeling on the ground, his tone flat.

"Alright, get up."

Zhao Feng stood up in response, standing respectfully to the side with his arms hanging down and his back straight, like an old butler.

Lin Yan looked at him and smiled.

"Why are you standing there like a statue?"

Zhao Feng blanked out, not understanding.

"You've broken through, don't you want to get revenge? Otherwise, wouldn't your breakthrough be for nothing?"

Zhao Feng's eyes turned red, and his lips trembled.

"Master... this old servant wants revenge! I dream of it!"

"But that Earth Blade Sect, and the Heavenly Sword Sect, have powerful forces behind them. This old servant is worried... worried about bringing trouble to the sect."

Lin Yan stroked his chin and suddenly asked.

"Do the Heavenly Sword Sect and Earth Blade Sect have spirit veins?"

Zhao Feng was taken aback and quickly answered, "To answer Master, as far as this old servant knows, the Heavenly Sword Sect has a small low-grade spirit vein, and the Earth Blade Sect is the same."

Lin Yan leaned back in his rocking chair, tapping his fingers on the armrest, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

"Then what are you waiting for? Go get your revenge."

Zhao Feng instantly understood.

He bowed deeply, his voice trembling.

"This old servant... obeys!"

After saying that, he turned around, pushed off the ground with his feet, and shot into the sky, speeding toward Qingyun City!

...

Qingyun City.

Earth Blade Sect Branch.

Wu Shan sat in a grand armchair, holding a cup of tea, slowly blowing the floating tea leaves.

He had been in a good mood these past few days. Whenever he thought of Zhao Feng, his old rival who had suppressed him for over a decade, now begging at the city gates with broken arms and legs, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Eating pickled vegetables and boiling tofu..."

"Elder!"

"Damn it, who is it?"

"Elder, this is bad. The city guards sent news saying... saying that Zhao Feng at the city gate was taken away by someone!" A disciple pushed the door open and rushed in, speaking in a panic.

"What?"

Wu Shan's hand holding the tea paused.

"Taken away? By whom?"

"A young man in a white shirt, in his early twenties. The city guards said that the man grabbed Zhao Feng's hand, and the two of them vanished into thin air!"

The disciple hastily recounted everything the city guards had said in detail, finally adding, "The city guards said that Zhao Feng kept calling that young man 'Senior' and said he was willing to work like a horse or an ox for him. They suspect that the person is very likely a Golden Core Patriarch!"

"A Golden Core Patriarch?"

Wu Shan instantly broke out in a cold sweat down his back.

"Could it be that person on Qingyun Mountain?"

The city guards might not be clear, but hearing the disciple's account, Wu Shan could guess that the person was likely the one on Qingyun Mountain.

He paced back and forth in the hall, his expression shifting continuously.

Finally, he let out a long sigh and waved his hand. "Forget it, let him go."

Even if he had ten times the courage, Wu Shan wouldn't dare go to Qingyun Mountain to snatch someone back.

"Anyway, I've vented most of my anger. Zhao Feng's dantian was shattered by my own hands, and his limbs are broken. Even if he was taken away by that person, he's just a cripple who can serve tea and pour water. He can't make any big waves."

But just as his voice fell...

"Boom!!"

A deafening explosion came from the direction of Qingyun Mountain, and the entire Qingyun City trembled slightly.

Wu Shan's expression changed drastically. He rushed out of the hall and looked up at the sky.

In the distance, dark clouds gathered in the sky, lightning snakes rolled, and a cyan thunder tribulation as thick as a bowl was tearing through the clouds, striking down fiercely!

"Thunder tribulation... It's a Golden Core thunder tribulation!"

"Who is undergoing tribulation?"

"Elder, that... that seems to be the direction of Qingyun Mountain?"

"Qingyun Mountain?"

Wu Shan cried out in alarm, his eyes wide and round, the blood draining completely from his face.

Qingyun Mountain... thunder tribulation...

An ominous premonition surfaced in Wu Shan's heart.

Impossible!

Absolutely impossible!

But before he could recover from his shock, a piercingly sharp golden sword light had already torn across the sky, speeding toward the direction of the Earth Blade Sect branch!

The majestic pressure of a Golden Core cultivator swept over the entire Qingyun City like Mount Tai pressing down.

Pedestrians on the street fell to their knees, shivering. Cultivators from various sects all changed their expressions and looked toward the source of the sword light.

"A Golden Core Patriarch! It's a Golden Core Patriarch!"

"When did a Golden Core Patriarch come to Qingyun City?"

Just as the whole city was shaken, a fierce shout filled with venomous resentment and savage joy resounded through the city like a thunderclap:

"Wu Shan! Come out and accept your death! I, Zhao Feng, have returned!!"

The sword light descended, and Zhao Feng stood on his flying sword, hovering above the roof of the Earth Blade Sect branch.

He was still wearing those tattered beggar's clothes, but the Golden Core pressure emanating from him made all the disciples of the Earth Blade Sect completely unable to lift their heads.

Wu Shan collapsed at the entrance of the hall, his face ashen, his whole body shaking like a sieve.

He couldn't believe that Zhao Feng, who had been beaten into a cripple by his own hands and thrown at the city gates to suffer endless humiliation, had turned into a Golden Core Patriarch in the blink of an eye!

Was it really the doing of that person on Qingyun Mountain?

If he had known this would happen, he would have been willing to erect a monument and build a tomb for an ant!

Let alone observing mourning for seven days, he would have been willing to observe mourning for seven years!

Wu Shan's intestines turned green with regret.

But now, whatever he said was too late.

Zhao Feng leaped down from the roof in one step, walked up to Wu Shan, and looked down at him from above, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

Wu Shan scrambled over, hugging Zhao Feng's leg: "Brother Zhao! I was wrong! I am not human! I was possessed by a ghost! Please spare me! I am willing to work like a horse and an ox for you! Please spare my life!"

"Hahaha!"

Zhao Feng threw his head back and laughed loudly, his laughter full of mockery: "Brother Wu, you have no grace at all!"

"Back then, you and I were known as the Twin Heroes of Qingyun, how high-spirited were we? Now, looking at you wagging your tail and begging for mercy, it truly makes me ashamed to be associated with you!"

He kicked Wu Shan away, his tone icy: "Don't worry, I won't kill you."

Wu Shan's eyes lit up, thinking there was a way out.

But Zhao Feng's next words plunged him into an icy abyss:

"Everything I experienced, I will make you experience it completely."

Before his voice faded, Zhao Feng struck out with his palm, landing lightly on Wu Shan's dantian.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, Wu Shan's dantian instantly shattered, and decades of painstaking cultivation were lost in a single day.

Immediately after, there were four crisp cracking sounds. Zhao Feng ruthlessly broke his four limbs.

Wu Shan let out a heart-tearing, lung-splitting scream, collapsing on the ground like a puddle of mud, exactly the same as Zhao Feng had been back then.

After dealing with Wu Shan, Zhao Feng turned around, stepped onto his flying sword, and sped straight towards the Heavenly Sword Sect branch.

"Li Mo! Get out here and accept your death!"

Inside the Heavenly Sword Sect branch, Li Mo had long heard the commotion and was scared out of his wits.

He braced himself and walked out, squeezing a smile onto his face that was uglier than crying. Cupping his hands, he said, "Brother Zhao! Long time no see! Congratulations on breaking through to the Golden Core realm. Your elegance surpasses even the past!"

"Save your hypocritical pleasantries."

Zhao Feng snorted coldly, his eyes icy as he looked at him. "Don't think I don't know that you were the one who gave orders to those guards at the city gate!"

Regardless of everything, Zhao Feng was once an outer sect elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Yet, when he was thrown to the city gate to be a beggar, the sect turned a blind eye. Li Mo's shadow was behind all of this.

Both of them had been outer sect elders of the Heavenly Sword Sect, engaging in open and secret struggles for over a decade.

When Zhao Feng was expelled from the sect this time, Li Mo not only kicked him while he was down and stole his position as the general manager of Qingyun City's affairs, but he also specifically ordered the guards to double their humiliation of Zhao Feng.

"A misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding, Brother Zhao!"

Li Mo hastily waved his hands, saying anxiously, "I told them to take good care of you! I was afraid you would freeze or starve! I absolutely had no other intentions!"

"Cut the crap."

Zhao Feng couldn't be bothered to waste any more breath on him. "You can go be a beggar at the city gate too. It'll be perfect for keeping Wu Shan company."

Before his voice had even faded, Zhao Feng similarly crippled his dantian with a single palm strike, broke his limbs, and dragged him away like a dead dog, tossing him at the South City Gate.

At the South City Gate, when Scarface saw Zhao Feng walking over carrying Wu Shan and Li Mo, his legs gave out. With a thud, he fell to his knees, so terrified that he wet himself.

In less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the beggar he had kicked and spat on countless times had actually become a supreme Golden Core ancestor!

If Zhao Feng wasn't still wearing those tattered beggar's clothes, he would absolutely think he was dreaming.

Zhao Feng walked up to him and looked at him coldly.

The soldier, Scarface, kowtowed like pounding garlic, bleeding from his forehead. "Spare my life, Ancestor! Spare my life, Ancestor! This lowly one had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai! I beg the Ancestor to spare my life!"

"Just now, which foot kicked me?" Zhao Feng's voice held no trace of warmth.

Scarface tremblingly extended his right foot.

"T-this one..."

Zhao Feng snorted coldly. "Will you do it yourself, or should I help you?"

Scarface turned deathly pale. Do it himself? Break his own leg?

He couldn't do it!

"Spare my life, Ancestor! This lowly one... this lowly one knows his mistakes... I beg the Ancestor to forgive me this once..."

Zhao Feng remained expressionless. "Since you refuse to be decent, I will help you be decent."

With a casual wave of his hand, a sharp burst of sword qi flashed past.

"Ahhh!!"

Scarface let out a bloodcurdling scream as both of his legs were cleanly severed from the knees.

Blood instantly dyed the bluestone pavement red.

Scarface wailed loudly, simultaneously filled with immense regret. If he had acted himself, he might have been able to keep one leg, but now both were completely gone!

Zhao Feng's gaze swept over the other soldiers. They had long since knelt all over the ground, not even daring to lift their heads.

"Keep an eye on these men."

Zhao Feng pointed at Wu Shan, Li Mo, and Scarface who was rolling on the ground.

"From now on, they will beg right here. Without my orders, no one is allowed to take them away."

"Y-yes... yes..." The soldiers kowtowed frantically.

Zhao Feng turned around, took two steps, and stopped again.

"Oh, right."

He took out a few copper coins from his robes and tossed them in front of Wu Shan.

Clink, clank. The copper coins rolled a few times on the ground.

"Brother Wu, a reward for you..."