Inner Region of the Clear Waters Mountains

  The mist on the mountain slopes of the Clear Waters Mountains had not dissipated. The sunlight struggled to pierce through the fog, but its iy was weak, giving the slope a grayish, ghostly hue.

  Two groups of cultivators were positioned around a cave, locked in a silent standoff. The atmosphere was heavy with tension, and the cold, assessing gazes from both sides made it clear that the situation could explode at any moment.

  Then, a figure emerged from the cave.

  A young cultivator of imposing stature, dressed in a turquoise robe over a white coat, stepped out from the darkness. A bck mask covered the upper part of his face, leaving only his mouth visible, where a faint, carefree smile rested—like a calm breeze before a storm.

  His face ale, with a slightly sickly appearance, but that did not diminish his beauty. On the trary, his calm expression and fident pave him a mysterious aura—both distant and unattainable.

  He held a rge sword, its bde embedded in the ground beside him, as if he had no hurry to use it. But his eyes… those who mao see them felt a chill. They were cold and pierg, as if gazing at others knowing they could not reach him.

  The entire pressure in the enviro shifted toward him.

  — "Boy, why were you in there? Did you take the Blue Mist Dew?" — asked a burly man, the leader of one of the groups. He wore a white uniform with the symbol of a sword cutting through a cloud on his chest. His voice carried a threat, as did the intense spiritual pressure he unleashed upon the young man. However, his eyes were fixed on the young man's swleaming with greed. He assessed the boy's cultivation level and grew fident.

  — "You'd better be ho, or you'll die. And while you're at it, leave that sword for me."

  The iions were clear. He not only wahe Blue Mist Dew but also the bde the young man held.

  Before the masked youth could respond, the other leader—a man in robes embroidered with herb patterns—intervened.

  — "Young man, hand over the Blue Mist Dew, and I guarahat you'll leave here alive."

  His voice was more polite, yet it still carried dession. However, uhe swordsman, his caution was evident. He was not oo uimate the young man so easily.

  Among the disciples of his sect, one of them—Lu Zhe a chill run down his spine.

  "The aura he emits is at the first level of Primary in, but something isn't right..."

  Both groups hesitated to attack, as they were also wary of each other.

  The masked youth raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly. His voice, though pleasant and melodious, carried a carefree tohat irritated those present:

  — "Are you done? I leave now? I'd rather not have to kill anyone."

  He lifted an eyebrow and maintaihat same faint smile, as if he were dealing with a bunch of petunt children.

  Those words only made the two groups even angrier.

  They, who were at least at the sed level of Primary in and inner disciples of powerful sects, were being looked down upon by a mere first-level practitioner?

  "Idiots..." — Lu Zheng growled mentally.

  "Do you not think? Why is he alone in this inner region of the Clear Waters Mountains, pletely unbothered? And he dared to enter a pce where there should not only be a Blue Phantom Spider but also its den—a mid-level Primary Beast equivalent to the sixth level of Primary in?"

  His unease grew stronger.

  "You were too scared to enter just moments ago, and now you dare to speak like this? Is your fiden the distant bag of your sects? Or in the protective measures you carry? They better be good..."

  But those pampered nobles always dematery, evehey were about to stick their heads into a dragon's mouth.

  The leader of the Celestial Sword Sect, Tai, narrowed his eyes. Though spoiled, he was not stupid.

  He took a step forward and decred, his voice dripping with menace:

  — "Boy, hand over the Blue Mist Dew and the sword, or you will die."

  The masked youth's smile remained unged.

  But his eyes grew even colder.

  — "How about we join forces, Brother Zhai? I'll take the sword, and you have the Dew," Tai suggested to the other leader, attempting to form an alliance. He was wary, so he decided to pull the roup into dealing with the boy together. He did not believe they couldn't handle him with their power, artifacts, and talismans bined.

  — "Agreed," Zhai said. Though some members of both groups resented being ignored, none dared to show it. Instead, they turheir frustration and aoward the young man.

  — "Be careful not to damage the sword or the ste pouch, or you'll be dead," Tai warned, while Zhai nodded in agreement.

  And so, they ordered several of their men to attack the young man while they stood bad observed.

  Five cultivators were the first to strike. Three from the Celestial Sword Seleashed sword attacks, while two from the Spiritual Herb Valley jured spirit vio restrain him.

  The masked youth sighed.

  — "I'd rather not kill, but if you insist..."

  With a siion, he pulled his sword from the ground, and in an instant, the vines were torn apart like paper.

  The bdes came at him, and he raised his sword in defense.

  BOOOOM!

  The impact sent him sliding backward, leaving deep grooves in the ground. But his sword remained intact.

  Tai's eyes gleamed. "A heavy, long sword... ons like this are rare!" His greed grew, overtaking his caution.

  — "Everyotack at once!"

  Zhai tried to stop them. Something was wrong. The young man was still smiling—calm, almost gentle—and that sent a chill down his spine. A bad omen. He should have acted, should have trusted his instincts. But he hesitated.

  And he paid dearly for it…

  The remaining cultivators charged. A whirlwind of elemental attacks filled the air: fiery bdes sshed through space, roots and vines emerged from the ground to ensnare him, spears of earth shot toward him, while swleamed in a frenzy of lethal strikes.

  The young man remaiill until the st moment.

  His lips moved slightly.

  — "You should be smarter."

  Suddenly, an intense wave of heat erupted from his sword.

  He raised it, and with a single swing, a golden fme burst forth. The mist in the area dissipated instantly.

  VUUUUUSH!

  The temperature skyrocketed. The air wavered from the suffog heat. Before the fmes even reached them, the cultivators felt their clothes catch fire and their skin sear with deep burns, their blood boiling, cooking their ans from within.

  The smartest among them tried to defend themselves with talismans, ons, teiques.

  But noed fast enough.

  Regret, fear, despair, pain. Those were the st emotions on their faces.

  Their screams died before they could echo.

  The fmes devoured them like a raging inferno. A blinding fsh illumihe slope, and when the light faded...

  Only ashes remained.

  The nearby vegetation had been reduced to charcoal and dust.

  The masked youth walked among the remains of the cultivators, their bodies crumbling into ashes. His breath was slightly heavier, but that gentle smile still lingered on his lips.

  On the ground, one of the leaders g to life, his body charred, barely able to move.

  Zhai, who had been farther from the attad had hesitated, mao activate a defealisman at the st moment, barely surviving. Now, he crawled, trying to escape, his burned flesh reeking of scorched meat.

  His eyes met the young man's. A—regret for hesitating, for joining the fight, for his greed—along with utter despair, ed him.

  He knew he would die. But he didn't want to. He wouldn't accept it.

  He tried to open his mouth to beg for his life, to offer treasures, vows—anything.

  But all that came out were guttural noises.

  — "Everyone must face the sequences of their as. If I had obeyed, would you have truly spared me? Maybe you'd let me live. But you didn't have to aone of you would have let me leave alive."

  Zhai desperately tried to deny it—to say he would have spared him…

  The young man's swleamed.

  With a strike, Zhai's head rolled to the ground.

  To erase all traces, the youth once again unleashed his golden fmes, redug the corpse to ashes in mere seds.

  Theuroward the cave.

  Without looking back, he spoke softly:— "You e out."

  Then, after a few moments of silence, a subtle sound came from the cave.

  Hesitant footsteps, almost inaudible.

  A figure emerged from the darkness—Lu Zheng.

  He was still alive. But not because of bravery or lu battle.

  He survived because he ran.

  The moment he sensed something was wrong, his instincts screamed at him, and he followed his gut without hesitation. That was his gift: knowing when to flee. For years, this ability had kept him alive, and this time was no different.

  The other two leaders and their groups had been obliterated in minutes—no, in seds.

  But now that the fight was over and he had been found, he knew hiding any longer was useless. If he stayed, his fate would be the same as the others.

  The masked young man had already shown that he didn't leave loose ends.

  Lu Zheng swallowed hard.

  — "Very clever…" — the masked young man's voice was low and calm, but there was something in his tohat made Lu Zheng shudder.

  "…but now tell me, why should I keep you alive?"

  Lu Zheng's heart pounded.

  That question was not rhetorical.

  His survival depended on the answer he would give in the few seds.

  Every instinct within him screamed that aation would mean instah.

  His body moved before his mind could anize his thoughts.

  He dropped to his k once, his breathing ragged, cold sweat running down his back.

  — "I, Lu Zheng, dedicate my life to being your servant! I will not betray you, deceive you, or reveal your identity. If I ever break this oath, may my soul scatter in an instant!"

  Cursing his misfortu being forced to follow this group of damned aors, he cursed them in his mind hundreds of times.

  — "I accept. And you'd better be useful." — the masked young man spoke, accepting the pledge of loyalty.

  Lu Zhe a wave of relief wash over him.

  He was still alive.

  To prove he was worth keeping, Lu Zheng immediately began to speak.

  He told everything he knew about the two leaders who had died.

  Then, the masked young man took out a small jade the size of a palm and a unication talisman and hahem to him.

  — "Alright. You go bad act as if nothing happened."

  Lu Zheng's eyes widened.

  Was he really going to let him leave?

  — "Take this list and gather whatever items you . I also need detailed information on each of them. tact me if you find anything relevant. If I need you, I will reayself."

  Lu Zheng's mind worked rapidly.

  This wasn't just a and. It was a test.

  If he failed this task, he would likely be dead the ime they met.

  Without hesitatioook the jade and the talisman, bowed deeply, and walked away without looking back. But he had fotten to ask his new master's name.

  The masked young man watched as Lu Zheng disappeared into the distance.

  As soon as he was far enough, his expression ged drastically.

  Suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

  His body began to tremble.

  His skin temperature rose rapidly, as if he were being roasted from the i.

  The pain was unbearable. Even for someone who had lived his whole life in pain.

  His face, alale, turned red, almost feverish. An intense heat radiated from his body, dist the air around him as if he were about to burst into fmes.

  He quickly reached into his ste ring and pulled out a jade bottle the size of his wrist, filled with a bright blue liquid.

  Blue Mist Dew.

  Without wasting time, he uncorked it and drank half the bottle.

  Immediately, a bluish mist seeped from his body.

  The temperature began tradually.

  The pain started to subside.

  But the effect wasn't perma.

  'If that bunch of fools hadn't been so careless and uimated me, I could have won, but I wouldn't have been able to kill them all—and I'd be even more injured.' — he cluded, recalling the battle. He was gravely wounded and needed healing before that erupted and killed him.

  'There must be something useful here.' — he thought.

  And so, he ventured deeper…

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