An autumn wind, carrying fallen leaves, blew with a desolate chill. In the center of the training grounds, before a massive stone testing monument, gathered the younger generation of the Ye family. Yet the atmosphere was colder than the autumn wind.
"Next, Ye Chen!"
The voice of the Third Elder in charge of the testing was flat, even carrying a trace of barely perceptible weariness.
The crowd automatically parted, and a youth in faded, threadbare clothes walked out silently. His frame was slightly thin, his face delicate, but a knot of unshakeable melancholy was etched between his brows. Deep within his eyes lay a trace of weariness and iciness that belied his age.
"Tch... Him again."
"Three years. Stuck at Body Refining Third Layer every year. A real disgrace to the family."
"Hmph! If it weren't for the fact his father died fighting for the family, a useless piece of trash like him should have been kicked out of the main compound long ago and sent to the mines!"
"Tsk tsk, have you forgotten? Three years ago, he was Qingyun City's number one genius! Reached the Qi Condensation Realm at fifteen! Unstoppable! Even the City Lord favored him!"
"Genius? Ha! Ancient history! Ever since that humiliation of being publicly dumped by the Su family three years ago, he collapsed! His cultivation didn't advance, it regressed! He became a complete joke!"
"I heard Miss Su Qingxue is now an inner disciple of the Yunlan Sect! Her cultivation is unfathomable, her future limitless. And look at him... Tsk tsk. Worlds apart!"
The sharp, mocking comments pierced Ye Chen's ears like poisonous needles. He seemed oblivious, walking calmly to the testing monument. He took a deep breath, mobilized the pitifully thin Qi within his dantian, and punched!
Thud!
The monument's surface flickered faintly, revealing three dim characters: **Body Refining Third Layer.
A brief silence was followed by even more unrestrained laughter.
"Hahaha! Just as expected!"
"Body Refining Third Layer! Even my seven-year-old cousin is stronger!"
"Ye Chen, why don't you stop wasting the family's resources and just get lost!"
The Third Elder recorded impassively and waved his hand. "Ye Chen, Body Refining Third Layer. Failed. Next."
Ye Chen retracted his fist, his knuckles white from the force. Head bowed, he silently turned to leave this place of utter humiliation.
"Hold it!"
A haughty voice rang out. The crowd parted again as a youth in luxurious brocade robes, holding a folding fan, sauntered forward, his face openly contemptuous. It was Ye Hong, grandson of the Great Elder and the current leader of the Ye family's younger generation.
"Cousin Ye Chen, why the hurry to leave?" Ye Hong blocked Ye Chen's path with his fan, his smile thin and mocking. "Three years, cousin. Your cultivation truly is 'as solid as Mount Tai.' It pains me to see it. Well, the family tournament is next month. According to the rules, anyone failing the test three years in a row loses their status as a main compound disciple and gets sent to the remote industries for hard labor."
He paused deliberately, savoring the subtle change on Ye Chen's face. "For the sake of brotherhood, I'll give you a chance. Kneel. Kowtow three times to me. Admit you are the disgrace of the Ye Family, a useless piece of trash. Then voluntarily apply to go to the Blackstone Mine. I'll plead with Grandfather to spare you some suffering. How about it?" Ye Hong's voice dripped with condescension and mockery.
Instantly, cheers of agreement and jeers erupted around them.
The pressure reached its breaking point!
Ye Chen slowly raised his head. Those eyes, perpetually still, now seemed like a frozen, ten-thousand-year abyss suddenly thawing, shooting out two piercingly cold beams of light that stabbed directly at Ye Hong!
"Who did you call useless?" Ye Chen's voice wasn't loud, but it rasped like metal on metal, cutting clearly through to every ear.
Ye Hong felt an inexplicable chill in his heart from that gaze, followed by furious humiliation. "You! Ye Chen! Body Refining Third Layer trash! If that's not useless, what is? Do you still think you're the genius from three years ago? Wake up! You are the Ye Family's biggest—"
Crack—!!!
A sharp, crisp sound of a slap exploded like thunder over the training grounds!
The rest of Ye Hong's words were slapped back into his throat. He spun through the air like a ragdoll, propelled by an irresistible force, completing a full 360-degree rotation before crashing heavily to the ground with a *thud*!
Half his face swelled instantly, five distinct finger marks glowing livid purple. His lip split, blood and several teeth spraying out.
A slap! Utterly unexpected!
The entire training ground plunged into dead silence!
You could hear a pin drop!
Everyone's eyes widened, jaws slack, as if collectively choked. The expressions of those who had been laughing and mocking moments before froze into masks of utter shock and disbelief.
Ye Hong... Ye Hong at the Fifth Layer of Qi Condensation! The current leader of the Ye family's younger generation! Had... had just been slapped flying by Ye Chen at Body Refining Third Layer? Like swatting a fly?!
Impossible! An illusion! It had to be an illusion!
The Third Elder shot to his feet, his old eyes blazing as he stared at Ye Chen. "You... what did you do?!"
Ye Chen shook his wrist as if flicking off a bothersome fly. He didn't even glance at the twitching, terrified wreck on the ground. His calm gaze swept over the petrified Ye family youths.
Everyone his eyes touched instinctively took a step back, hearts pounding as if stared down by a ferocious beast.
A corner of Ye Chen's mouth lifted into an icy, utterly contemptuous curve. His voice, still not loud, rang out with perfect clarity in the deathly silent training ground:
"Body Refining Third Layer?"
"Trash?"
"Useless?"
With each word, the pressure radiating from him intensified. An invisible, mountain-like weight spread outwards from him like a tide! Several Body Refining disciples standing close turned deathly pale, legs trembling, almost collapsing to their knees!
"Who told you..." Ye Chen's voice cut through the pressure, "I was still at Body Refining Third Layer?"
As the words fell, the dormant power within Ye Chen's dantian erupted like a tsunami! An aura far stronger, purer, and more domineering than the Fifth Layer of Qi Condensation—like a slumbering dragon awakening—exploded forth!
Boom—!
A powerful gale-force wind surged outwards from him, whipping robes and kicking up dust!
"Qi Condensation Realm... Seventh Layer?! No! This aura... it's stronger than the Seventh Layer!" The Third Elder cried out involuntarily, his aged face filled with terror, his voice cracking with shock!
Suppression! Naked, overwhelming cultivation suppression!
Silence! A deeper, more profound silence!
All mockery, disdain, and schadenfreude had transformed into sheer terror and absurdity.
Qi Condensation Seventh Layer?! Even stronger?!
How was this possible?! Just a month ago, he was only Body Refining Third Layer! This... this defied all reason!
Ye Chen's gaze finally settled on the mud-like figure of Ye Hong on the ground, eyes filled with horror and utter collapse. The look was one of regarding a speck of dust.
"Ye Hong," Ye Chen's voice was cold steel, "just now, who did you say was useless?"
Ye Hong trembled violently. Meeting Ye Chen's fathomless, indifferent, icy eyes, overwhelming terror seized him. A warm wetness spread in his trousers—he had pissed himself on the spot! His lips quivered, unable to form a single word, only endless regret and fear.
Ye Chen snorted with disdain, no longer sparing him a glance, as if even looking was contaminating. He turned and walked straight towards the training ground exit.
Wherever he passed, the crowd parted like the Red Sea before an invisible force, heads bowed, not daring to breathe loudly. Those who had mocked him the loudest now wished they could bury their heads in the sand.
Reaching the edge, Ye Chen paused slightly. Without turning back, his icy voice rang out once more:
"Tell the Great Elder, and all those waiting to see Ye Chen become a laughingstock."
"What I lost, I will reclaim with my own hands."
"What was owed to me, I will collect back a hundredfold with interest."
"At next month's tournament... wait with your necks clean."
With that, he didn't linger. His figure disappeared through the training ground exit. He left behind only a field of stunned silence, a sea of dropped jaws, and the lingering, oppressive terror in the air... mixed with the stench of urine.