"Exactly, exactly! Senior Brother Xiong is right. We’re all fellow disciples of the same Sect. We should get along peacefully and pursue the Great Dao together."

Gan Guangde seized the opportunity to de-escalate, desperately pulling on Bai Zichen’s sleeve. He truly hadn’t expected this Senior Brother Bai, who had joined the Sect only a few months before him, to be so fiercely resolute.

After a few insulting words, he immediately challenged the other party to a life-and-death match.

Alas, he, Gan Guangde, had a family back home depending on him to bring them glory. He wouldn’t dare to do something so hot-blooded, let alone even think about it.

The only reason he had won first place in the tournament was due to his age advantage and deep reserves of Magical Power, and he’d also gotten lucky, profiting from someone else’s fight.

In the semifinals, Mo Changfei and Tan Qin had fought a fierce, spectacular battle, each using their signature techniques.

Tan Qin had scraped by with a difficult victory to enter the finals, but she was injured. She could only muster fifty percent of her true strength, at most. This allowed Gan Guangde, with his solid command of Five Elements Magic, to wear her down over three long hours and narrowly claim the title.

"Hmph. I won’t stoop to your level today. We’ll settle this in the future!"

Mo Changfei flicked his sleeve and stormed off to the other end of the long table.

Xiong Baishan gave a cupped-fist salute to both of them before following Mo Changfei to strike up a conversation.

Bai Zichen’s gaze was icy cold. It lingered on the necks of both Xiong Baishan and Mo Changfei for a moment before he slowly looked away.

His reaction hadn’t been a momentary fit of rage. He had truly intended to kill Mo Changfei, and that included Xiong Baishan, who had appeared so keen to defuse the situation.

If Mo Changfei had dared to step into the arena, Bai Zichen had already resolved to make sure he never stepped out.

To be framed for the crime of poisoning... if they had succeeded, it would have been a catastrophic accusation. The only fate awaiting Bai Zichen would have been to have his Cultivation crippled and be expelled from the Sect.

Even if they failed, being dragged into the Law Enforcement Hall for a months-long investigation—even if he was ultimately cleared—would have ruined his reputation within the Sect and hindered his future Cultivation.

This enmity was nothing less than a feud over obstructing one’s path to the Great Dao.

For a Cultivator, of all the hatreds in the world, obstructing one’s path to the Great Dao was the absolute worst.

’It’d be for the best if he comes looking for trouble. I’ll cut him down with a single stroke and be done with it... It would save me from his constant racket. Even if it’s an act, it gets annoying when he does it so often.’

Bai Zichen had a faint feeling that Mo Changfei wasn’t as heavily influenced by his Fire Phoenix Bloodline as the rumors suggested.

Some of his arrogant, thoughtless actions seemed far too deliberate.

...

"What a spineless coward!"

Tan Qin’s features were average, but her eyes held a sharp glint. With her bold, spirited presence, she stood out quite prominently among the other female Inner Sect Disciples.

"I already thought he was vulgar during the tournament, but I didn’t realize he was all bark and no bite. He came here looking for a fight, but when someone fought back and challenged him to a life-and-death match, he didn’t even have the guts to accept."

During the Sect’s tournament, Mo Changfei had relied on several powerful Magical Artifacts to push Tan Qin onto the back foot. He had been just a step away from victory.

Fortunately, Tan Qin was not from a poor family. One of her relatives was a prominent Elder in the Sect, so she had plenty of Treasures of her own.

She had to risk severe injury and use two of her life-saving trump cards just to defeat Mo Changfei.

But because of that, the first-place title in the tournament had slipped through her fingers.

"That Bai Zichen is clever, though. He backed Mo Changfei into a corner with a single sentence. Whether he was confident of victory or not, by immediately making it about life and death, he made sure anyone would flinch."

"True. Junior Brother Bai is from the Ink Bamboo Bai Family, so his personal wealth can’t compare to Mo Changfei’s. He’d definitely be at a disadvantage in an arena Combat. But since the Sect Leader personally chose him to be an Inner Sect Disciple, he must have some outstanding qualities. In a year or two, he won’t have to fear a direct confrontation with Mo Changfei."

Chen Wei nodded. Compared to the other two, she had a much better impression of Bai Zichen.

’But the next time I see him,’ she thought, ’I’ll have to remind this Junior Brother Bai that he can’t always act so recklessly.’

’In the Cultivation Realm, Cultivation is ultimately what matters most. You managed to bluff Mo Changfei this time, scaring him away from a life-and-death match.’

’But next time you run into some brazen fool who calls your bluff, your cleverness will be your own undoing.’

"Wait, his Cultivation... it’s not right!"

The female Inner Sect Disciple to Tan Qin’s left wasn’t a peerless beauty, but she had a quiet, gentle disposition. She had secretly altered her standard-issue Daoist Robe in a few places, revealing a slender, graceful figure.

At that moment, her eyes were squeezed shut, the rims turning red as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Senior Sister Zhao, what’s wrong?"

Tan Qin quickly steadied her. She had been perfectly fine just a moment ago; what had happened so suddenly?

"You know I practice the Clear Spirit Eye Technique. At the Great Success stage, it can Break Illusions and see through Arrays... I’m only at the foundational level right now, but no Qi Refining Cultivator should be able to hide any secrets from my eyes."

Zhao Yaqing’s eyes began to feel a little better, and she spoke with a tremor of lingering fear in her voice.

"I was intrigued by your conversation, so I decided to take a look at Bai Zichen’s Cultivation to see how far behind Mo Changfei he really was, and if it was just as Senior Sister Chen said... But when I did, his entire body was shrouded in a golden light so blinding I felt like I’d gone blind from just a single glance!"

"But that one glance was enough for me to be certain. That Bai Zichen... he’s no Mid-Stage Qi Refining. He’s clearly at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer!"

"And he either has a Treasure protecting his body or he’s practicing some special Cultivation Technique. Otherwise, my Clear Spirit Eye Technique should have just failed at worst. There’s no way it would have caused a backlash like this..."

Zhao Yaqing’s talent for Cultivation was only average, but her eyesight was far superior to that of an ordinary person. She was quickly discovered to have the foundational requirements to practice a Pupil Technique.

While the Clear Spirit Eye Technique had no direct application in Combat, it could perceive qi, break through illusions, and see through any mist or falsehood with a single glance.

Ever since she started learning it, her Clear Spirit Eye Technique had never once failed against a Qi Refining Cultivator, which was why Zhao Yaqing had been so bold as to try.

"What? Qi Refining Seventh Layer!"

Tan Qin slapped her thigh and shot to her feet, as if she’d just heard the most outlandish story imaginable.

"Senior Sister Zhao, are you sure you didn’t see it wrong? From this far away, it’s possible you made a mistake."

"That’s right, Yaqing... I’ve seen Junior Brother Bai’s file. He couldn’t have been at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer for long when he joined the Sect. We all live on Five Finger Peak; there’s no way the Spiritual Qi in his Cave Mansion is that much more abundant. How could he have reached Late-Stage Qi Refining so quickly?"

Chen Wei looked bewildered, finding it equally hard to believe.

After she was granted an audience with a Core Formation Ancestor, the Sect had bestowed a large number of Elixirs upon her.

Even with all that help, she had been stuck at the threshold of Late-Stage Qi Refining for two full years.

Zhao Yaqing’s eyes were red and swollen, but she could now open them enough to see. She shook her head with a wry smile. "When has my Clear Spirit Eye Technique ever been wrong? Either I can’t see anything at all, or what I see is the truth. I can’t believe it either, that our Junior Brother is already in Late-Stage Qi Refining. What kind of monstrous Cultivation speed is that? No wonder the Sect Leader made an exception to bring him into the Inner Sect."

Chen Wei and Tan Qin looked at each other in stunned silence. This was awkward. Just moments ago, they were worried about Bai Zichen, but it turned out he truly had the confidence to defeat Mo Changfei all along.

"I thought Senior Brother Bai was just bluffing to scare Mo Changfei off... but if Senior Brother Bai is at Late-Stage Qi Refining, then his challenge to a life-and-death match wasn’t a bluff at all. He meant it!"

As Tan Qin spoke, she looked up at Chen Wei, her eyes filled with utter shock.

Not far away, Bai Zichen shook his head. He had just felt a hidden gaze on him, one that felt like it was peeling back his clothes to stare right through him, leaving him with the unsettling feeling of being completely exposed.

Thankfully, the sensation lasted only for an instant before the gaze vanished.

As the party grew more lively with toasts and chatter, Chen Wei, as the organizer and central figure of the gathering, was urged by the crowd to go on stage and say a few words.

As she spoke, she found her gaze repeatedly drifting toward Bai Zichen. She still hadn’t recovered from the shock of learning his true Cultivation was at the Late-Stage Qi Refining Realm.

After a few brief, perfunctory sentences, she finished her speech.