Mo Xuan clenched his fists.One long breath—the kind drawn by someone reaching for something not easily found."I offered you something good, Grand Healer." His voice came out trying to reclaim the steadiness it had before, but not quite managing it—there was a tremor at the edges of his words. "And you dare try to take my throne?!" The clenched fists tightened further. "I won't allow it!"Inside his head, something was turning.This man was clearly a powerful cultivator—there was no other explanation for someone healing two thousand people in under half a day. But powerful didn't mean unbeatable. And more importantly—this man was a healer. It was impossible for someone to be exceptional at two disciplines at once. If he was extraordinary in medicine, logic dictated he had to be poor in combat. That was always how it worked.And Mo Xuan—Peak Soul Realm, having spent years honing that single thing and nothing else—had very good odds of beating him.But another question surfaced.What i

"I know I have no right to ask for forgiveness. I know what I've done can't be erased with words. But I—I don't want to die, Grand Healer. I'm still young, I still have so much I want to do, I still—"His eyes flicked to Caelan's feet.Same position as before. Unchanged.And on Caelan's face—a cold expression that hadn't moved, that had been looking the same way since Mo Xuan started kneeling, giving no sign that his attention was anywhere else.But no one could truly pay attention to everything at once. Mo Xuan was certain of that. There had to be a moment when Caelan's guard opened.Mo Xuan began counting.One.Two.Three—Now!His hand moved to his back.In one motion—faster than he'd moved in a very long time, pouring every drop of Peak Soul Realm spiritual energy into it all at once—the sword came out of its scabbard.Dark red aura surged from hilt to blade, filling the sword's entire length until the gleam of that spiritual energy burned brighter than the village firelight aroun

Caelan looked at Mo Xuan lying on the ground.The man was still alive, still breathing, but not the way someone breathes freely. Both arms couldn't move. The pain that came from that was horrific. And his dantian was empty. What remained was a body without strength that couldn't go anywhere even if the brain inside it was still ordering him to run.Caelan shifted his gaze to the crowd around him."Is there anyone among you who has a grievance against him?"His voice came out without any judging tone. Just a statement that already knew the likely answer before it was given."Settle it today. Here."Silence.People looked at each other. Not because they had no answer to that question, but because they weren't used to being given permission to answer it. Like a door that had been locked too long, that didn't open immediately even when the key was lifted because the body hadn't yet trusted that this was truly allowed.Then came footsteps.One person moving forward.The red-haired woman.S

The Blood River Sect sat atop the hill in full opulence, as if it had never needed to consider who lived beneath it.Its outer walls were similar in scale to the Spirit Lantern Sect—but that was where the similarities ended. The pavilions were lined with tiles that were still new, columns repainted not too long ago, small gardens between the buildings that clearly had someone assigned to tend them every day. Lanterns hung along evenly paved walkways, their light never left to die out.Grand, by small sect standards.Excessive, by any reasonable measure.Caelan walked in with Rex at his side, passing through a gate opened by guards who didn't know whether to welcome them or brace for something worse. Behind them, the group that had been with Mo Xuan—seven Spirit Realm guards, the three women from the carriage, and the three Soul Realm cultivators who had been unconscious but were now awake—entered in silence.Caelan looked at the building in front of him.Lotus Village sat at the foot

After everything that had happened throughout the day, Caelan decided to rest in Mo Xuan's room.And as he'd expected, given Mo Xuan's nature, the room was not a room that fit any reasonable definition of reasonable.The bed at its center was large enough to fit four people comfortably—with a black wooden frame carved at every post, a canopy of dark red fabric hanging from above, and a mattress that, when Caelan pressed it with one hand, felt like something that shouldn't exist in the same category as an ordinary mattress.On the right side was a dark wood vanity with a gold-framed mirror, covered in bottles of perfume and cream in numbers Caelan had never seen in one place before. On the left, a bookshelf—but not books on cultivation or strategy or anything useful. This was a collection of art scrolls filled with obscene illustrations. A genuinely disgusting hobby.The hanging lanterns on the ceiling used crystals instead of ordinary candles, casting a warm yellow light that never fl