"The transport trucks are sitting idle at the provincial borders." Su Qinghan dropped a stack of tablets onto the stone table.Ye Tian sat on a carved wooden bench in the secluded eastern courtyard of the academy. He poured boiling water over a handful of dried tea leaves resting inside a cast iron kettle. The fragrant steam rose into the crisp morning air and mingled with the scent of wet stone."Patriarch Dai issued a quiet embargo at midnight." Qinghan paced across the cobblestones. "He controls the refrigerated logistics network for the entire eastern seaboard. He ordered his drivers to stall all shipments bound for Bai Century Hospital and my private clinics.""He mourns the shattered pride of his son." Ye Tian set the iron kettle down."He is holding critical medical supplies hostage to exact his revenge." Qinghan stopped pacing and looked at him. "He sent a private courier to my office an hour ago. He offered to release the trucks under one specific condition. He demands the ac

"They poison your kin because they fear your potential." Ye Tian stood in the center of the training courtyard of the Cloud Step Sect.He stared at the five senior disciples kneeling before him. Their skin bore the grey pallor of decay, yet the toxic residue began to bleed out of their pores as he directed the flow of his internal energy. He maintained the golden seal against his own collarbone, forcing his heart to bear the rhythm of a high-pressure engine while he cleansed the men.He withdrew his palm, and the last traces of the black miasma hissed into the air before vanishing. The five disciples slumped forward, gasping for oxygen as life returned to their limbs. Master Feng stood at the edge of the pavilion, his face etched with disbelief at the display of pure sovereign energy."How did you drain the corruption?" Master Feng walked forward, his boots crunching on the gravel. "That toxin belongs to the Blood Lotus. It liquefies the meridians of even the strongest practitioners.

"Do not let the theory peasant walk away." Han Lin stepped to the edge of the elevated platform and leveled an accusing finger at the retreating pair. "He memorized a few textbook formulas and weaponized a junior proxy to mock the true academic hierarchy. He is a fraud."The morning sun beat down on the quiet courtyard. Lin Xi just ignited the obsidian testing stele with a blinding blue frost. She tied the historic resonance record of the Tier Two Academy Prodigy. The elite scholars stood frozen in stunned disbelief while their Head Disciple lost his grip on reality."You claim her success is a fluke." Ye Tian did not turn around. He kept his hands resting in the pockets of his grey uniform. "The monolith measured her foundation. The stone does not lie. She earned her place in the upcoming tournament.""The stone evaluates whoever touches it." Han Lin marched down the wooden steps. His silk robes billowed behind him. His face burned with a humiliating flush. "You hide behind a girl be

"Take these tracking dials and do not return to the campus until she stops breathing." Han Lin pressed a compass into the palm of a loyal enforcer. "Drive her toward the feral root snares in the third sector. Make the execution look like a tragic environmental accident."The towering fourth year disciple nodded and slipped the brass instrument into his tunic. Five other elite scholars gathered in the shadow of the administration building. They inspected the edges of their curved hunting blades while casting venomous glances toward the tree line. The pristine fog of the restricted botanical zone rolled across the manicured academy lawn like a creeping tide.Han Lin smoothed the lapels of his white silk uniform. His aristocratic pride still bled from the humiliation he suffered at the testing platform. He refused to let a junior girl wielding a volatile frost anomaly upstage his historic silver resonance."She relies on the vagrant to dictate her every move." Han Lin whispered to his de

"Pull the driver out of the cab and slit his throat." The scarred gang leader tapped the rusted blade of his machete against the glass window. "The Han Patriarch bought the main roads but our shadow masters want the back alleys sealed."The outskirts of Jiangbei remained a desolate industrial wasteland during the early morning hours. An abandoned concrete highway served as the only unmonitored artery leading into the commercial district. A heavy armored transport truck sat idle on the cracked asphalt. Five heavily armed street thugs surrounded the vehicle. They wore dark leather jackets and carried assorted butchery tools. A foul grey aura of corrupted street level Qi radiated from their skin.The truck driver gripped his steering wheel. His knuckles turned white under the intense strain. He tasted bitter bile in the back of his throat. A cold sweat soaked the collar of his delivery uniform.My hands will not stop shaking. The driver struggled to unlock his seatbelt mechanism. They ar