A World of Difference

After bringing the corpses of the Green-Eyed Wind Wolf and Li Mo back to the sect and reporting to the deacon, the mission's reward was quickly distributed.

Wang Hu took the initiative to give the majority of the spirit stones and contribution points to Ye Xuan. Ye Xuan did not decline; it was what he deserved.

"Senior Brother Ye, we have no way to repay your great kindness today." Wang Hu bowed solemnly to Ye Xuan. "If you ever have any tasks for me in the future, just say the word, and I, Wang Hu, will not hesitate!"

"Me too!" Liu Feiyan chimed in from the side. Her sparkling eyes looked at Ye Xuan, full of a young girl's admiration and shyness. "Senior Brother Ye, I wonder... I wonder if I could exchange sound transmission talisman marks with you? In the future... if there are suitable missions, we would still like to team up with you."

Looking at the young girl's pure face filled with expectation, Ye Xuan's heart stirred slightly.

Driven by some inexplicable impulse, he nodded and exchanged sound transmission talisman marks with Liu Feiyan.

After doing all this, he didn't say anything more. He turned around and walked toward the shantytown.

Behind him, Liu Feiyan stared at his lonely yet straight back, unable to look away for a long time.

However, at the very moment Ye Xuan turned to leave and brushed past Liu Feiyan...

An icy feeling, carrying a strong possessiveness that was incredibly familiar to him, flashed by like a maggot in his bones.

The feeling of being watched.

Ye Xuan's footsteps paused slightly.

His heart sank heavily.

He didn't look back, just continued walking forward expressionlessly. But inside his sleeves, his hands were tightly clenched into fists.

She... saw it.

The next day.

A piece of news, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, sent ripples through the handyman and outer sect disciples.

The female disciple who went on the mission with them yesterday, Liu Feiyan, was found dead in a stinking ditch on the back mountain of the shantytown.

When Ye Xuan heard this news, he was in his small hut, taking inventory of his newly acquired spirit stones and planning his next steps in cultivation.

His movements stopped.

The air in the room seemed to freeze instantly.

After a long time, he slowly stood up and walked expressionlessly toward the scene of the incident.

A crowd had already gathered there, and the sect's law enforcement disciples were maintaining order.

Ye Xuan pushed through the crowd and walked in.

He saw it.

In that foul-smelling black ditch filled with floating garbage, the already cold corpse of a young girl lay quietly.

It was none other than Liu Feiyan.

She was still wearing the same clothes that had been torn in battle yesterday. On her face lingered an expression of terror and disbelief.

Her eyes were wide open, as if right before her death, she had seen the most terrifying and incomprehensible thing.

There were no obvious wounds on her body.

The law enforcement disciples' preliminary examination concluded that her divine soul had been instantly shattered by a surge of dark, cold power.

Clean and efficient, without leaving a single trace.

Ye Xuan watched quietly. There was no expression on his ordinary face. No anger, no sorrow, not even a trace of surprise. He was as calm as if he were looking at a stone by the roadside.

The surrounding disciples pointed and gossiped about him.

"Look, that's him! He was the one who went on the mission with Liu Feiyan yesterday!"

"I heard Liu Feiyan even had feelings for him and took the initiative to exchange sound transmission talismans..."

"Tsk tsk, such a tragic fate for a beauty. Is this Ye Xuan a jinx? Why is it that anyone involved with him ends up badly? Zhang Kuang died, Li Mo died, and now Liu Feiyan is dead too."

"Keep your voice down! Do you have a death wish?"

Ye Xuan turned a deaf ear to these discussions.

He stood beside this cold corpse for a full incense stick's worth of time.

Then, he turned around, pushed through the crowd, and walked away silently.

From beginning to end, he didn't utter a single word.

Returning to his dark little hut, he closed the door, leaned his back against the cold wooden panels, and slowly slid down to the floor.

The sunlight outside could no longer shine into this corner.

He raised his hand and looked at his palm.

It still seemed to hold the young girl's parting gaze, full of hope and admiration.

A vibrant life, full of longing for the future.

A girl who had died simply because she expressed goodwill toward him, simply because she wanted to be his friend.

Just like that... gone.

Ye Xuan's body began to tremble violently and uncontrollably.

But he made no sound.

He only bit his lip desperately, biting until it bled profusely, yet he felt no pain at all.

A surge of fury, even more violent and icy than the one at the martial arts arena last time, burned and expanded madly within his chest!

This fury almost burst his sanity, making him want to go mad, to roar, to recklessly charge up Lengyue Peak and fight that woman to the death!

Without a doubt.

She absolutely did it.

Xia Lengyue!

In this world, other than her, there was no second person who would use such a cruel and childish method to declare her sick sovereignty!

She couldn't even be bothered to hide it!

She just wanted to use this most direct, bloodiest way to warn Ye Xuan, to warn anyone who attempted to get close to him...

Anyone who dared to covet her possession would face only one outcome: death!

Ye Xuan slowly closed his eyes.

A drop of scalding liquid, carrying the scent of blood, slid down from the corner of his eye.

It was not a tear.

It was blood, evaporated by extreme anger and killing intent.

"Xia... Leng... yue..."

He squeezed out this name through gritted teeth, word by word.

Every single word carried an endless chill sufficient to freeze the soul.

After a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes.

All the fury, killing intent, and pain in his eyes completely withdrew, transforming back into a bottomless, deathly calm.

He slowly stood up, walked to the bed, and sat cross-legged.

He took out all the spirit stones from his storage bag and began to cultivate madly.

He knew that anger could not solve any problems.

He knew that with his current strength, charging up Ziyun Peak would be no different from throwing his life away.

The only thing he could do was endure.

Like a venomous snake lurking in the deepest darkness, he would retract all his fangs, bury all his hatred and murderous intent deep within his heart, and then, using every possible method and by any means necessary, accumulate power.

Until one day, he possessed the strength to bite clean through his prey's throat in a single snap!

"This blood debt..."

Ye Xuan looked at the glaring sunlight outside the window, his voice hoarse yet exceptionally firm.

"I have remembered it."

From this day on, Ye Xuan went completely mad.

He severed his last trace of warm connection with this world.

He no longer spoke to anyone, begrudging even a single exchange of glances. He reduced his presence to the absolute minimum.

He slept for only two hours a day.

All of his remaining time was divided into two parts in a nearly masochistic, crazy manner: cultivation, and practicing the sword.

The spiritual energy in the shantytown was pitifully thin.

Ye Xuan was like a stranded whale, trying with all his might to extract the pathetic amount of moisture necessary to sustain life from the dry air.

He planned the use of his twenty-seven low-grade spirit stones to the absolute limit.

Every day, he only allowed himself to consume one.

When holding a spirit stone, as the pure spiritual energy surged through his palms into his meridians, he would recklessly drive the Five Elements Chaos Sutra, pushing the cultivation method to the absolute limit his meridians could bear!

The sensation was like countless tiny knives repeatedly slicing and tearing at his meridians.

Every circulation cycle was accompanied by heart-tearing, lung-splitting agony. Veins bulged on his forehead, and cold sweat flowed down like a stream, soaking the wooden boards beneath him.

Yet, he did not utter a single sound.

He even enjoyed this pain.

Because whenever the severe pain struck, Liu Feiyan's tragically deceased face, with her eyes wide open, would surface in his mind.

This pain reminded him of just how weak he was.

This pain spurred him on, reminding him that he absolutely could not stop!

When the energy of a spirit stone was completely squeezed dry and turned to ash, he would immediately stop cultivating, pick up that Green Peak Sword, and walk to the forgotten clearing behind his small hut.

Then, he began to practice his swordplay.

He did not practice any flashy techniques.

He merely repeated the three most basic movements: draw the sword, thrust, and sheathe.

Once, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times!

He gathered the pitifully small amount of Five Elements Chaos spiritual energy in his dantian, accumulated through his self-torturous methods, condensed it into the finest thread, and attached it to the tip of his sword.

What he pursued was not power, but ultimate precision, ultimate control, and the ultimate concealment of killing intent.

His sword no longer possessed the stunning five-colored radiance it had on the martial arts arena.

His sword grew faster and faster, quieter and quieter.

So fast that in the end, only a blurred afterimage remained.

So quiet that in the end, even the sound of it piercing the air became almost inaudible.

Every thrust of his sword struck the exact same spot.

Day after day.

When the spiritual energy in his dantian was depleted to the very last thread, he would stop, return to his room, sit cross-legged, and begin using the clumsiest, slowest method to absorb the incredibly thin, almost negligible free spiritual energy from the air, restoring his strength drop by drop.

This process was long and filled with despair.

But he endured it gladly.

Because this allowed him to stay fully awake and clear-headed at all times.

Clear-headed enough to realize that without resources and without backing, he could barely move a single step.

Clear-headed enough to remember just how unforgettable this helplessness of being at the mercy of others truly was.

He dared not interact with any women anymore.

No, it should be said that he dared not interact with anyone anymore.

He completely turned himself into an isolated island.

He was afraid.

He feared that if he showed even the slightest bit of goodwill to anyone, it would attract that woman's attention and bring total annihilation upon them.

Liu Feiyan's death was like the most vicious brand.

He could not let anyone else die because of him.

Just as Ye Xuan was like a wounded lone wolf, silently licking his wounds in his lair and frantically sharpening his fangs and claws.

A piece of news capable of shaking the entire Azure Cloud Sect exploded like a thunderclap from Lengyue Peak!

Clang! Clang! Clang! ...

Nine melodious and mighty bell tolls echoed throughout the entire mountain gate of the Azure Cloud Sect!

This was the highest standard of ceremonial bell in the sect!

It would only be struck when the sect encountered a joyous event of monumental proportions, or faced a catastrophic disaster!

All disciples, whether cultivating or executing missions, stopped what they were doing and looked toward the direction of the bell tolls with astonishment—the Main Peak Hall!

What happened? Why did the nine ceremonial bells toll?

Could it be... a Supreme Elder has broken through?

No! Look! In the direction of Lengyue Peak!

Countless disciples looked up at the peak belonging to Xia Lengyue, which was shrouded in clouds and mist all year round.

They saw that above Lengyue Peak, a massive, multicolored vortex of spiritual energy had gathered at some unknown time!

All the heaven and earth spiritual energy within a hundred miles of the entire Azure Cloud Sect seemed to have received an emperor's summons, turning into visible torrents that frantically poured backward into the center of that vortex!

This scene was like a heavenly river pouring down, spectacular to the extreme!

An indescribable, vast, and majestic pressure far exceeding the Qi Condensation realm slowly spread out from the top of Lengyue Peak.

Under this pressure, all Qi Condensation realm disciples felt their hearts palpitate and found it hard to breathe. Some with lower cultivation even went weak in the knees and knelt directly on the ground!

This... this is... Foundation Establishment! It's the phenomenon of Foundation Establishment!

An experienced Inner Sect Elder looked at the anomaly in the sky and let out a trembling exclamation of disbelief!

Heavens! Martial Niece Xia... she... she reached Foundation Establishment!

As soon as these words came out, the entire sect was in an uproar!

Foundation Establishment!

Xia Lengyue had been in the sect for a full three months at most!

Three months to break through all the way from a mortal to the perfect ninth level of Qi Condensation, and then successfully reach Foundation Establishment in one fell swoop?!

What kind of concept was this?!

This could no longer be described with the word genius! This was monstrous! It was a myth!

Over the thousands of years since the founding of the Azure Cloud Sect, the fastest Foundation Establishment record was set three hundred years ago by a Heaven Spirit Root patriarch, taking... one year!

Sect Master's Decree!

Just as everyone was shocked beyond measure by this miraculous scene, the Sect Master's majestic and endlessly joyous voice spread to every corner of the sect through the sound amplification array!

Personal disciple Xia Lengyue possesses peerless aptitude and has successfully broken through to the Foundation Establishment realm today! This is an unprecedented blessing for our Azure Cloud Sect in a thousand years! Pass down my decree: the sect shall celebrate for three days! All disciples will receive double their monthly resource allowance!

The entire Azure Cloud Sect completely boiled over!

Senior Sister Xia is mighty!

May Senior Sister Xia enjoy eternal immortal fortune and a lifespan equal to heaven!

Countless disciples looked toward Lengyue Peak with an almost pilgrimage-like, fanatical gaze, letting out cheers like a tsunami.

Even several Supreme Elders who had been in seclusion for years and no longer cared about worldly affairs were alarmed by this earth-shattering phenomenon. They broke out of their seclusion one after another, swept their divine sense toward Lengyue Peak, and let out bursts of amazement and sighs.

Heaven blesses our Azure Cloud! Heaven blesses our Azure Cloud!

The entire sect was immersed in a sea of revelry and joy.

In the shantytown, inside the darkest and most dilapidated small wooden hut.

Ye Xuan sat cross-legged.

When the nine bell tolls sounded, he opened his eyes.

When the terrifying spiritual energy vortex began frantically extracting the world's energy, he clearly felt the already thin spiritual energy around him being instantly drained completely, becoming like the air of the mortal world, devoid of even the slightest trace of spiritual energy.

He heard the Sect Master's decree and the deafening cheers outside the window.

But the expression on his face did not change in the slightest.

He merely raised his head, his gaze piercing through the dilapidated roof, looking toward the direction of Lengyue Peak.

In the depths of his eyes, there was no shock, no envy, and certainly no jealousy.

There was only a cold, bone-piercing mockery.

Foundation Establishment?

He muttered to himself in a low voice, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold smile full of disdain.

"What a... grand spectacle."

Others might not know, but how could he not?

With Xia Lengyue's true cultivation base being at least at the Body Integration Realm, or perhaps even higher, did she still need to establish her foundation?

This so-called breakthrough was nothing more than a meticulously planned, incredibly grand theatrical performance put on for the entire Azure Cloud Sect, and especially for him!

She hadn't broken through to Foundation Establishment at all.

Rather, she had suppressed her cultivation from an unfathomably high realm, or to put it another way, she had revealed only a tiny fraction of it, perfectly stopping at the early Foundation Establishment stage.

The difficulty of doing this was ten thousand times harder than a Qi Condensation cultivator genuinely breaking through to Foundation Establishment!

What kind of terrifying, microscopic level of control over one's own power was required to pull off such a deception, fooling everyone, even making the Supreme Elders of the sect believe it was real?

"Hmph, Supreme Elders?"

The cold sneer in Ye Xuan's heart grew even stronger.

The strongest Supreme Elder of the Azure Cloud Sect was merely at the late Nascent Soul stage.

In front of a true behemoth like Xia Lengyue, such a cultivation level could not even be considered an ant.

How could a frog at the bottom of a well ever glimpse the true form of a divine dragon of the nine heavens?

What was her purpose in putting on this act?

Ye Xuan could figure it out with his toes.

It was nothing more than to demonstrate her unparalleled value to the higher-ups of the sect, thereby gaining a higher status and more privileges.

But more importantly, it was a show of force directed at him!

She was using a condescending, flaunting posture to silently tell him:

"Look, this is my power. I can effortlessly reach heights that you mere mortals could never achieve in a lifetime."

"What you pursue, what you desire, is nothing but a toy easily within my grasp."

"Having left me, you are still worrying about a few low-grade spirit stones, still struggling bitterly in the thin air. Meanwhile, I am already standing above the clouds, enjoying the worship of the masses."

"Ye Xuan, do you regret it?"

"Come back to my side. As long as you return, you can have all of this too."

Ye Xuan could almost see Xia Lengyue standing at the peak of Cold Moon Peak at this very moment, looking down at him struggling in the mud with a gaze of pity and triumph.

"Truly... disgusting."

Ye Xuan withdrew his gaze and slowly closed his eyes.

He was not intimidated by this astonishing momentum, nor did he waver in the slightest.

On the contrary, his Dao heart became more resolute at this moment than ever before.

Because he knew better than anyone else what all this power and glory that Xia Lengyue displayed was built upon.

It was built upon the sacrifice of that foolish husband from her past life.

Everything she had now was obtained by stepping on the bones of that man!

And yet, she was using this blood-stained legacy to show off to him, to tempt him, and to force him into submission!

"Xia Lengyue..."

Ye Xuan clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms, and blood slowly dripped down through the gaps between his fingers.

"One day..."

"I will make you spit out everything you have swallowed, with interest!"

He no longer paid attention to the revelry outside, nor did he care about the drained spiritual energy.

He simply calmed his mind and began to deduce the sword intent of the Grand Luo Limitless Sword Qi in his head, over and over again.

The boundless radiant light outside formed the starkest contrast with the endless darkness of his tiny room.

He was completely out of tune with the entire world.

And he gladly accepted it.