"Fellow Daoist, could there be some misunderstanding between us?"
Jiao Zihua immediately backed down, trying to de-escalate.
Even though he was a personal disciple of the Tianyi Sect, he wasn't confident he could fight someone a realm above him.
Fu Dalu's late-stage Golden Core cultivation was obvious at a glance—solid and unquestionable.
Besides, Buddhist cultivation techniques were known for being notoriously difficult. But once mastered, they ranked among the most powerful within the same realm.
Jiao Zihua wasn't blind. He could tell that Fu Dalu's Buddhist arts were deeply cultivated. Since there was no real grudge between them, he definitely didn't want to risk a fight to the death with this unfamiliar monk.
"I am of the Buddhist sect. Since I happened to pass by Lingyan Island and witnessed this injustice… naturally, I had to help this elder fellow cultivator."
Fu Dalu softly chanted a Buddhist verse. Golden light burst from his body, pure and radiant like a true master monk.
There was no trace of a Six Desires Sect bandit about him. Not a hint of banditry in his presence.
"Who is this person?"
Zhao Jiangwu looked baffled.
Unlike the other Zhao Clan Golden Core cultivators, he had been keeping an eye on Wei Tu during the fight with Jiao Zihua, just in case Wei Tu suddenly stepped in and things got out of hand.
Because of that, Zhao Jiangwu clearly saw Fu Dalu speak to Wei Tu before stepping forward to uphold "justice."
Which meant… Fu Dalu's intervention was closely tied to Wei Tu.
"Fellow Daoist Wei, this Buddhist master is…?"
Zhao Jiangwu asked directly.
The Qixue Zhao Clan was not the Shengya Zhao Clan. They had no leverage against Jiao Zihua. If things got out of control, they'd be the ones paying the price.
"His name is Fu Dalu. He's the eldest son of the Fu Clan in Peach Immortal City, Liao Prefecture. He's known for his sense of justice."
Wei Tu replied after a short pause, briefly describing Fu Dalu's background and personality.
Sensing Zhao Jiangwu's unease, he added, "Young Master Fu is a Buddhist cultivator. He abhors killing. He won't go too far with Jiao Zihua…"
But—
Before Wei Tu could finish, Fu Dalu's next words on the battlefield made his earlier reassurance feel… a little shaky.
"Jiao brat, hand over your storage pouch. If you do, I'll remember Heaven's mercy and spare your life."
Fu Dalu's tone was dominating and aggressive.
Everyone watching was stunned.
They instantly saw Fu Dalu in a different light.
So this monk hadn't come to uphold justice at all. He saw an opportunity and came to play the part of a rogue cultivator.
Wei Tu, on the other hand, wasn't surprised in the slightest.
A few months ago in Peach Immortal City, Fu Dalu had acted the same way toward him—arrogant and overbearing. If Wei Tu hadn't shown strength comparable to a peak-stage Golden Core and crushed him back then…
This guy might've already dragged him off to some shady workshop by force.
Now, facing Jiao Zihua—a target who seemed to have no real backing—Fu Dalu was the only late-stage Golden Core cultivator present. This kind of behavior was nothing out of the ordinary.
And this was exactly what Wei Tu wanted. Or more accurately… something he allowed to happen.
If he didn't want to draw too much attention and provoke envy, then someone flashier needed to take the spotlight.
Fu Dalu was the perfect scapegoat to absorb all the hate.
Of course, this wasn't part of some grand scheme—it was just Wei Tu going with the flow.
…
As Fu Dalu's words fell, Jiao Zihua's face stiffened.
He forced a smile and clasped his hands in a respectful salute. "Fellow Daoist, my surname is Jiao. Please show some mercy."
When he said "Jiao," he deliberately stressed the word, afraid Fu Dalu might miss it.
Jiao—as in the Tianyi Sect's Jiao Clan.
One of the Nascent Soul aristocratic families of the Xiao Kingdom, on par with the Shengya Zhao Clan.
Jiao Zihua didn't believe that even someone as domineering as Fu Dalu would dare disrespect the Tianyi Jiao Clan.
"And isn't this place called Zhao too?"
Fu Dalu sneered, clearly unimpressed.
He could tell the difference between a branch clan and the real lineage.
Your level determines your opponents.
Jiao Zihua's level was low. The fact that he'd come to Lingyan Island to make trouble showed he probably wasn't from the Jiao Clan's main family.
Besides, Fu Dalu wasn't without support.
Ji Zhang, the leader of the Six Desires Sect, was a personal disciple of the Tianyi Sect's sect master.
His status was on par with a Dao Child of Shengya Mountain.
With Ji Zhang backing him, Fu Dalu feared no major sect in the Xiao Kingdom—except the Tianyi Sect.
Hearing those words, Jiao Zihua felt his face burn with shame. But because of the scandal surrounding him, he couldn't exactly explain why—why someone from the core Jiao Clan of the Tianyi Sect would show up here of all places.
"Bold bald donkey! Take this!"
The next second, Jiao Zihua roared and unleashed a wave of radiance from his body as if ready to go all out in a deadly clash.
But right after throwing out his magic sword, he suddenly turned into a streak of light and fled southwest.
He didn't have home-field advantage on Lingyan Island. While he could rely on the Qixue Zhao Clan's fear of him to stir trouble, vent his resentment, and demand compensation, everything changed with Fu Dalu's arrival.
Fu Dalu's origins were unclear, his strength alarming, and he didn't know Jiao Zihua's real identity. Fighting him would be nothing but a waste of effort.
"Cut off the tail to survive? Petty trick!"
Seeing this, Fu Dalu sneered. He muttered, "Golden Light Escape," and shot after him at a speed far beyond Jiao Zihua's.
Within a few breaths, he had closed the distance.
As he drew close, Fu Dalu formed a glowing golden palm etched with Buddhist symbols and hurled it toward Jiao Zihua.
"Not good!" Jiao Zihua's face turned pale. He could feel death in that radiant hand.
This divine technique also carried spatial suppression.
Right now, he couldn't even use spatial tools like Minor Shift Talismans to escape.
As the golden hand tightened, Jiao Zihua quickly pulled out a life-saving talisman and activated a protective barrier to barely hold it off.
A crystal-blue shield of talisman force sprang up and blocked the golden palm, keeping it from crushing further.
But this moment of delay gave Fu Dalu enough time to catch up.
"Master, I—I was in the wrong for barging onto Lingyan Island… Here, this storage pouch is yours. Take it as an apology gift!"
Faced with danger, Jiao Zihua didn't hesitate. Gritting his teeth, he tore the pouch from his waist and tossed it to Fu Dalu.
Worldly goods were small things—life mattered more.
Jiao Zihua understood that well.
"Just one storage pouch, Jiao brat?"
Fu Dalu frowned, sounding dissatisfied.
Normally, Golden Core cultivators carried at least two storage pouches: an external one and an internal one.
The outer pouch held generic items—nothing valuable. The inner one held the truly precious stuff.
"Master, I really only have one pouch on me. Nothing else."
Jiao Zihua made one last attempt to hold on to his belongings.
Until the final moment, he wouldn't give up what he had spent years accumulating.
"That pouch was your apology to me. What about compensation for the old fellow I stepped in for? Jiao brat, are you trying to play a trick and escape consequences?"
Fu Dalu's voice turned sharp.
Hearing that, Jiao Zihua sighed and, reluctantly, pulled another small pouch from his robes and tossed it over.
With two pouches now in hand, Fu Dalu looked pleased. But he didn't release the golden palm yet. He kept staring at Jiao Zihua, eyes narrowing.
'This guy definitely hates me now. He won't let this go. I can't leave him alive.'
Fu Dalu's killing intent rose.
But with Wei Tu and the many Zhao Clan Golden Core cultivators present, he couldn't go too far.
In this moment, he regretted his usual greed. If he hadn't pushed so hard, he wouldn't be in this awkward spot—kill and cause trouble, or let him go and leave a grudge.
"Young Master Fu, please show mercy. Fellow Daoist Jiao simply made a foolish mistake..."
At that moment, Zhao Jiangwu and the other Zhao Clan Golden Core cultivators rushed over to plead for Jiao Zihua.
During the fight, Zhao Jiangwu had already explained who Jiao Zihua was to the others.
Of course, he kept the key detail to himself—he didn't tell them what exactly caused the conflict between Jiao Zihua and the Qixue Zhao Clan.
Once they knew who Jiao Zihua was, none of them wanted to see a core member of the Tianyi Jiao Clan die on Lingyan Island.
After all—
Fu Dalu could just walk away afterward.
But they'd be the ones left to face the Jiao Clan's wrath.
Even if the Shengya Zhao Clan could protect their lives, they'd definitely have to offer compensation—and probably a painful amount of it.
That much was easy to predict.
"Let him go..."
Fu Dalu found himself cornered and unsure what to do.
If he let Jiao Zihua go, he'd gain a new enemy.
Even if he wasn't afraid of Jiao Zihua himself, it didn't mean the other cultivators of the Fu Clan in Liao Prefecture wouldn't be.
But… if he didn't let him go, he wasn't confident he could handle all the Zhao Clan Golden Core cultivators on Lingyan Island working together.
"Damn it, why'd I have to run my mouth? Why'd I push him for that second pouch?"
Fu Dalu couldn't help but curse himself inside.
He blamed everything on his bandit instincts—never realizing it was Wei Tu who had deliberately misled him into underestimating Jiao Zihua's background from the very beginning.
If Jiao Zihua were really just a no-name Golden Core cultivator from a weak family, there's no way all these Zhao Clan elders would be pleading on his behalf right now and blocking Fu Dalu from finishing the job.
On the other side, Wei Tu stayed hidden, following Zhao Jiangwu's earlier instructions not to interfere directly.
…
Under mounting pressure from the Zhao Clan cultivators, Fu Dalu finally made his choice.
He released the golden palm and let Jiao Zihua flee.
"Young Master Fu truly lives up to the name of a virtuous monk…"
The Zhao elders quickly chimed in with praise, acting as though they'd forgotten all about Fu Dalu's extortion just moments earlier.
"Not at all, not at all…" Fu Dalu was furious inside, but on the surface he kept up a calm and carefree smile.
Before long—
Roughly half an hour later.
In Haizhou, within the Tianyi Sect.
Jiao Zihua, after pushing himself to the limit with a blood-escape technique, finally limped back to the Jiao Clan's territory.
Compared to when he had left the sect, his face was now pale and bloodless. His whole body looked shriveled and sickly, as though he had just come out of a serious illness.
"My son, what happened to you?"
A plump noblewoman rushed in from outside. When she saw Jiao Zihua like this, her eyes filled with both heartache and barely contained hatred.
"Was it the Zhao Clan?"
"I'll go beg your father right now to demand justice for you! That pathetic little clan dares lay a hand on you?!"
She bit down on her lip in fury.
If it had been the Shengya Zhao Clan, they could tolerate it—for the sake of peace between the two families. They could swallow that insult.
But the Qixue Zhao Clan? What right did they have to touch someone like Jiao Zihua—the direct heir of the Jiao Clan?
"It wasn't the Qixue Zhao Clan…"
Jiao Zihua shook his head.
He was clear about who had helped him. The Qixue Zhao Clan had gone to great lengths to keep him safe.
As for Fu Dalu stepping in to "uphold justice" for Zhao Jiangwu…
Jiao Zihua didn't buy it for a second. That was just a flimsy excuse for robbery. If it hadn't been Zhao Jiangwu, it would've been Liu Jiangwu or Li Jiangwu.
"It was Wei Tu?"
The noblewoman asked softly.
The Jiao Clan and the Shengya Zhao Clan had been tied by marriage for generations. Many Jiao clan members even lived on Shengya Mountain's Shendu Island.
So, even with the Shengya Zhao Clan's gag order, the duel on Shendu Island couldn't be kept from the Jiao Clan.
"If it really was Wei Tu…"
She hesitated.
It was obvious by now that the Shengya Zhao Clan was protecting Wei Tu with everything they had. She wouldn't dare risk dragging their Jiao Clan into trouble with Nascent Soul elder Zhao Yuyue.
Besides, with Wei Tu's current power, even her husband, Jiao Boqing, might not have the upper hand in a fight. He could even die.
All for a grudge? Not worth it.
"It was a bald monk!"
Right then, Jiao Zihua's hatred toward Fu Dalu far outweighed what he felt for Wei Tu.
Or maybe it was because he'd never dared to go up against Wei Tu in the first place.
Even in his arrogance, Jiao Zihua didn't believe he could beat Situ Yang, the Dao Child of Shengya Mountain.
Of course, if he had known the unfamiliar male cultivator watching on Lingyan Island had actually been Wei Tu, he might've felt differently.
But the Jiao Clan's intel only had records of Wei Tu's disguised appearance as "Fang Hanliang"—not his real face.
"A bald monk?"
Hearing that, the noblewoman breathed a sigh of relief.
She quickly asked Jiao Zihua for a detailed description of the monk's appearance and cultivation.
"Mother will find out for you!"
Gripping the sketch of Fu Dalu's face, her expression cold, she headed straight to the Jiao Clan's intelligence pavilion.
Less than half a day later—
Jiao Zihua learned Fu Dalu's identity.
"Fu Dalu! If I don't avenge this, I swear I'm not human!" he growled through clenched teeth, vowing to himself.