THE CRIPPLED SON-IN-LAW UNLOCKED IMMORTAL CULTIVATION

Chapter 8: The Gathering of Judgment

By the time I entered the Zhao family hall, the elders had already taken their seats, and Zhao Ming was telling everyone that my survival had insulted the family.

He stopped when he saw me, his mouth twisting into a familiar sneer. “Look at him. He survived the ancestral ritual, yet he still looks like the same useless cripple.”

I ignored him and walked to the place reserved for me near the back. For three years, the Zhao family had made sure I understood where I belonged. Today, I had no intention of giving them a reason to discover how much had changed.

Grandfather Zhao sat at the head of the hall, watching me with a calm expression that concealed nothing of his suspicion. Two guards stood behind him, their hands resting near their weapons. He had not gathered the family to discuss my health. He wanted to know whether the man who had survived the sacrifice had become dangerous.

“The ritual failed,” he announced. “Ryan survived, and until we understand why, this matter remains unresolved.”

Several elders nodded. Zhao Ming leaned back in his chair, looking pleased with himself.

“We should stop wasting time,” he said. “His spiritual roots are broken. Whatever happened was luck.”

I met his eyes. “Then you have nothing to worry about.”

His smile faded slightly, and a few relatives turned toward me. They were accustomed to my silence, not my willingness to answer.

Grandfather Zhao raised his hand. “We will settle this with an assessment. If nothing has changed, the result will prove it. If something has changed, we will find out.”

An elder named Zhao Qian carried a bronze bowl to the center of the hall. A crystal needle hung above its surface, suspended by a thin metal frame. The instrument could measure the spiritual energy flowing through a cultivator's body.

I had seen similar devices before. Under normal circumstances, the test would have been simple. My spiritual roots were damaged, and the instrument should confirm what everyone already believed.

The problem was the power hidden beneath that weakness.

“Place your hand above the bowl,” Zhao Qian instructed. “Keep still and let the instrument read your energy.”

I obeyed, controlling my breathing as the needle began to move. Beneath my skin, the primordial energy stirred. It seemed to recognize the instrument as a threat, and a faint pressure gathered behind my ribs.

I remembered the exercise I had practiced the previous night. Instead of drawing energy toward myself, I focused on sensing its movement and guiding the current away from the bowl.

The needle trembled.

Zhao Qian frowned and adjusted the frame. For one brief moment, the crystal glimmered before settling near the bottom of the scale.

“His spiritual roots remain damaged,” the elder announced. “There is no meaningful recovery.”

A few relatives laughed quietly. Zhao Ming looked delighted, as though the result had confirmed everything he wanted to believe.

“Then we can end this foolish investigation,” he said. “He is still the same man we have always known.”

I withdrew my hand, concealing my relief. The test had not exposed me, but Grandfather Zhao was studying my face rather than the instrument.

“Luck might explain one event,” he said. “It cannot answer every question.”

He turned toward Zhao Qian. “Test his physical reactions.”

The elder hesitated, but Zhao Ming rose before he could respond.

“Let me handle it,” he offered. “I know how much punishment he can take.”

“You know how much he used to take,” I replied. “That is different.”

His expression hardened, and the elders watched us with renewed interest. Grandfather Zhao gave a small nod, allowing the test to proceed.

Zhao Ming stepped in front of me. He had enough cultivation to cause serious harm, even if he used only a fraction of his strength. The test was designed to give him an excuse to strike me while making my response look suspicious.

If I stood still, I would be injured. If I moved too quickly, the family would know I was hiding something.

He raised his hand and sent a controlled burst of force toward my chest.

I watched his shoulder tighten before the energy reached his arm. At the last moment, I shifted sideways and turned just enough for the strike to brush my sleeve. His momentum carried him forward, and he stumbled against the table before catching himself.

The hall fell silent.

I had barely moved, yet Zhao Ming had missed a target he expected to stand helplessly before him.

His face reddened. “You moved!”

“I thought I was supposed to avoid the strike.”

“You knew what I was going to do.”

“I watched you,” I said. “You should try it sometime.”

A few relatives hid their smiles. Zhao Ming looked ready to attack again, but Grandfather Zhao's stare stopped him.

For one satisfying moment, I enjoyed seeing him embarrassed. The feeling stirred the primordial energy inside me, and I sensed how easily my resentment could become something stronger.

I pushed it down. One small victory was not worth losing control.

Grandfather Zhao rose. “The assessment is inconclusive. His spiritual roots remain damaged, but his reactions have changed. Ryan will remain under observation and will not leave the estate without permission.”

The order was another restriction disguised as a reasonable precaution. I had expected nothing less.

An older woman sitting beside the elders spoke up. “If he is concealing something, we should question him more thoroughly. His survival has already brought shame upon this family, and now he behaves as though he deserves respect.”

Crystal stepped forward from the entrance.

“He has done nothing here except follow your orders,” she said. Her voice was steady, though her clasped hands betrayed her tension. “You brought him to the altar, tested him, and now you want to punish him because you dislike the answers.”

The woman stared at her. “Remember whose family you belong to.”

“I remember,” Crystal replied. “That is why I know what we did to him.”

Her words silenced the room. Zhao Ming muttered that she had forgotten her loyalty, but Crystal refused to look away from the elders.

I watched her carefully. She had known about the sacrifice and had remained silent when I needed her most. One public challenge could not erase that choice, but it was the first time I had seen her openly resist the family instead of hiding behind fear.

Grandfather Zhao's expression hardened. “You are speaking beyond your place.”

“Then give me a place where I can speak honestly.”

For several seconds, neither moved. Finally, he turned away.

“This discussion is over.”

The gathering broke apart, but the tension remained. Relatives passed me without speaking, while Zhao Ming brushed close enough to make his anger clear.

“This isn't finished,” he whispered.

“I know,” I replied. “You keep telling me.”

He walked away without answering.

A guard ordered me to remain in the hall. When the last elder had left, Grandfather Zhao motioned for the others to wait outside. The doors closed, leaving us alone.

“You have become difficult to read,” he said. “Three days ago, you would have accepted Zhao Ming's strike without complaint. Today, you avoided it with almost no movement. Explain that.”

“I was afraid of being hurt, so I watched him and moved.”

“That is all?”

“That is all I can prove.”

His eyes narrowed. “You survived a ritual that should have killed you. The western grounds were disturbed, and now your reactions have changed. Do you expect me to believe these events are unrelated?”

“My spiritual roots are still damaged. Your own instrument confirmed it.”

“It did not explain the needle's movement.”

“Perhaps the instrument needs repairing.”

His expression barely changed, but I knew the answer had reached him. Grandfather Zhao was accustomed to people offering excuses or begging for mercy. He was less comfortable with someone who refused to surrender simply because he demanded it.

“You think a calm face will protect you,” he said.

“No. I think giving you a story you cannot prove would make things worse.”

He studied me before opening a drawer and removing a sealed order bearing the Zhao family crest.

“Tomorrow, you will accompany a small group to inspect a cultivation property on the eastern outskirts. The place has reported an unexplained disturbance. Follow the team's instructions and prove you can still be useful.”

The assignment sounded harmless, but I knew better than to trust anything arranged by Grandfather Zhao. He was sending me beyond the estate, where an accident could be blamed on the disturbance and my reactions could be tested without the whole family watching.

“Why send me?” I asked.

“Because I want to know whether surviving the ritual has made you more than a burden.”

I accepted the order. Refusing would strengthen his suspicions, while accepting it gave me a chance to understand the danger before it closed around me.

As I turned toward the door, the primordial entity stirred with enough force to make my wrist ache beneath my sleeve.

“Do not enter that property without understanding what waits below it,” it warned.

I kept my expression unchanged. “What is there?”

For once, the entity did not answer immediately. Its silence made the warning more unsettling than any threat it could have offered.

“The energy beneath that place is familiar,” it finally said.

“Familiar to you?”

“To us.”

My fingers tightened around the sealed order.

“If it has sensed your awakening,” the entity continued, “it may already be waiting for you.”

I stared at the Zhao crest pressed into the red wax. Grandfather Zhao believed he had found another way to test me, but he had no idea what he was sending me toward. For the first time since my awakening, I wondered whether the next danger had been waiting for me long before I was born.