Rejected By The Sect, Claimed By The Immortal Jade

Chapter 2:The Root That Doesn't Belong To You

Qi Condensation Level 3!

The four words hit the Outer Court like a thunderclap.

Liu Ruyan's hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes were wide, full of disbelief. Yesterday he couldn't even gather a wisp of Qi. She had personally seen him fail the spirit test seven days ago.

Impossible. This was impossible.

Liu Hao was still clutching his chest. The pain was gone as fast as it came, but a cold sweat soaked his back. What was that? For a second, his dantian — his proud, heavenly-grade Golden Crow Root that Elder Mo had given him felt like it was going to tear itself out of his body.

"Level 3? You... you hid your cultivation!" Liu Hao roared to cover his panic. "Trash like you must have stolen a forbidden pill!"

Ye Fan didn't answer him. He was listening to the voice inside his head.

"Boy, don't be stupid," Lingxiao sneered inside his sea of consciousness. "If you reveal everything now, Mo Qianji will come down and kill you before you even reach Foundation. That old dog has been watching you for three years. He is already on his way."

Ye Fan's heart turned cold. He could feel it , a powerful, chilling divine sense sweeping over from the Inner Sect's highest peak. Elder Mo's.

He forced his aura down. The golden-black vortex around his new root dimmed instantly. He coughed up a mouthful of black blood — the price of using the root for the first time. One year of his life, gone.

He swayed and fell to one knee, acting weak.

"Stolen pill?" He looked up at Liu Hao, his face pale, playing the part. "Yes... I found one... in the Beast Forest yesterday. I was going to give it to Ruyan..."

The lie was clumsy, but greed is blinding. Liu Hao's eyes lit up.

A pill that could make a cripple jump to Level 3 overnight? That was at least a Profound-Grade pill!

"Hand it over! All the treasures found by outer disciples belong to the sect!" Liu Hao lunged, grabbing Ye Fan's collar.

This was the chance Ye Fan had been waiting for.

As Liu Hao's hand touched him, Ye Fan's new Devouring Root pulsed once.

Swallow.

Liu Hao felt his spiritual Qi leak ,just a tiny thread, less than 1% , directly into Ye Fan's palm. No one saw it. No one felt it except the two of them.

Liu Hao stumbled back, his face pale. "You... what did you do to me?!"

Ye Fan wiped the blood from his mouth and stood up, still acting like a weakling who had gotten lucky.

"I did nothing, Senior Brother Liu. Perhaps your own root is unstable? After all..." He looked directly into Liu Hao's eyes and lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear. "...a root that was dug out of someone else's chest will never truly belong to you, will it?"

Liu Hao's pupils shrank to pinpoints. Pure terror.

He knew. He knew!

"YOU ARE LOOKING FOR DEATH!"

Liu Hao roared and threw a punch. Qi Condensation Level 7 — his full power, aimed at Ye Fan's dantian to cripple him permanently.

If that punch landed, even a normal Level 3 would be ruined.

But Ye Fan was not a normal Level 3.

He didn't dodge.

He raised his right hand, opened his palm, and whispered the first forbidden art Lingxiao had taught him.

"Heaven-Swallowing Palm."

There was no light. No sound. Liu Hao's furious fist stopped one inch from Ye Fan's palm, as if it had hit an invisible swamp. His spiritual Qi was being devoured at a terrifying speed.

"Arghhh!"

Liu Hao screamed as he was blasted backwards ten meters, crashing into the woodshed, smashing it to pieces. His right arm hung limp, his meridians temporarily sealed.

Silence.

Absolute silence in the Outer Court. Dozens of outer disciples stared, their mouths open.

Liu Hao — the genius who was about to enter the Inner Court  was defeated by a trash using one hand?

Liu Ruyan was trembling. She looked at Ye Fan, then at Liu Hao on the ground, then at Ye Fan again. Calculation flashed in her eyes.

She made her choice. She ran not to Liu Hao, but to Ye Fan.

"Ye Fan! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" She grabbed his arm, her eyes red with fake tears. "I... I was forced! Elder Mo forced me to break the engagement! I never stopped loving you!"

Ye Fan looked at the woman who had poisoned his rice yesterday. If he hadn't awakened, he might have believed her.

Now, he saw the small sachet of white powder hidden in her sleeve. Root-Sealing Powder.

His heart was ice.

He gently pulled his arm away.

"Ruyan, don't touch me. Your new fiancé is on the ground. Go help him."

His coldness made her freeze.

At that moment, a heavy, majestic voice came from the sky.

"What is all this noise in the Outer Court?"

An old man in purple robes descended from a flying sword. Elder Mo Qianji. The Grand Elder. The man who raised Ye Fan. The man who massacred his clan.

He looked kind, with a white beard and a caring smile. But Ye Fan could now see the faint blood Qi hidden under his kind aura — the blood of his family.

Elder Mo's eyes swept over the broken jade on the ground. For a split second, greed and shock flashed in his eyes, then disappeared.

"Ye Fan, my child," he said warmly, helping Ye Fan up. "I heard you had a conflict. Are you hurt?"

His hand was on Ye Fan's wrist, supposedly checking his pulse. In reality, his divine sense was stabbing violently into Ye Fan's dantian, trying to see his new root.

Ye Fan felt Lingxiao move inside his jade.

"Little trick."

The Devouring Root instantly disguised itself as a broken, cracked mortal root again. Elder Mo's probe found nothing but trash.

Elder Mo frowned, disappointed.

"Strange... your Qi is chaotic. You must have taken a demonic pill. Come, come to my Medicine Pavilion. Grandpa will help you purify it."

Purify it. Meaning, take him away and dig out his secret.

Ye Fan knew if he went, he would never come out.

Before he could answer, another cold, clear voice cut through the air.

"Elder Mo, isn't it against sect rules to take an outer disciple to the Inner Court without the Sect Master's permission?"

Everyone turned.

Standing on the roof of the woodshed was a girl in white as snow, holding a sword. Her face was like ice, but her eyes were fixed on Ye Fan — worried.

Su Qingxue. The number one fairy of the Outer Court. The only person who never bullied him.

And in her shadow, hiding behind a pillar, Ye Fan saw a tiny, thin figure with messy hair — a little mute maid in kitchen clothes, staring at him with huge, tear-filled eyes.

His blood froze.

Ling'er.

His sister. Alive.

Elder Mo's eyes also followed his gaze and landed on the little mute maid. His kind smile slowly, slowly disappeared.

"So," Elder Mo whispered, only loud enough for Ye Fan to hear, his hand tightening on Ye Fan's wrist like an iron clamp. "That little rat survived after all. Good. Then I can use her blood to finally open that jade."

He looked at Ye Fan and smiled.

"Ye Fan, you will come with me now. Or that little girl dies tonight."