All eyes snapped to Li Yao. Wang Jin stared at him with a mixture of fury and confusion. The inner sect disciples looked amused.
The leader, whom the others called Brother Kang, smirked. "Oh? And what could a piece of outer sector trash like you possibly have that would interest me?"
Li Yao didn't look at Kang. His gaze was fixed on Wang Jin, a silent, intense communication passing between them. In that moment, the hierarchy of master and servant fell away, replaced by the raw calculus of survival.
"Not me," Li Yao said, his voice still calm. "Him." He gestured to Wang Jin. "Young Master Wang is on the verge of a breakthrough to Core Formation. But his foundation is unstable. A condition of the Celestial Sun meridian cluster, aggravated by pill toxins. He will fail. Catastrophically."
Wang Jin's face went from flushed to sheet-white. "You—! How dare you!"
Brother Kang's smirk vanished, replaced by sharp interest. He could sense the truth in Wang Jin's panicked reaction. "Go on."
"I am... was... his family's servant. I have a... sensitivity to such things," Li Yao continued, weaving truth and lie seamlessly. "I know the exact recipe his family's alchemist uses for his Spirit-Gathering Pills. I also know the one ingredient, a rare herb, that could counteract the accumulating toxicity and stabilize his foundation, allowing for a successful breakthrough." He paused, letting the weight of the statement hang in the air. "That information is worth far more than some Silver-Moon Moss. It's worth the future loyalty of a Core Formation expert from a wealthy city family."
It was a breathtaking gambit. He was selling a solution to a problem only he knew the full extent of. He was making Wang Jin's weakness into a currency, and in doing so, was potentially saving all their lives.
Brother Kang's eyes gleamed with avarice. He wasn't just a bully; he was a schemer. He saw it immediately. Having a city guard captain's son, a future Core Formation expert, indebted to him was a long-term investment with immense dividends. The moss was a pittance in comparison.
"You lying dog!" Wang Jin screamed, his aura flaring uncontrollably. "I'll kill you!"
"Silence!" Kang's voice cracked like a whip, his Core Formation pressure slamming down on Wang Jin, forcing him to his knees. He looked back at Li Yao. "The herb. Name it."
Li Yao met his gaze squarely. "The Ghost-Fern. It grows in a shadowed alcove thirty paces to your left. There are three mature plants. You may take two. We keep one, and all our moss. And you grant us safe passage back."
Kang stared at him for a long, tense moment, then threw his head back and laughed. "A servant with the eyes of a hawk and the guts of a demon! Very well! The deal is struck." He gestured to one of his lackeys, who quickly located and harvested the Ghost-Fern, leaving one plant behind as agreed.
He pocketed the two ferns, then looked at Wang Jin, still kneeling in the dirt. "You should be thanking your servant, Young Master. He may have just saved your life. I'll be in touch about that... recipe." With a final mocking laugh, he and his men melted back into the forest.
The clearing was silent, save for the heavy breathing of the outer sect disciples. The threat was gone. They had their moss. They had their lives.
And Wang Jin had a humiliation deeper than any beating.
He slowly climbed to his feet, his body trembling with a rage so profound it was cold. He didn't look at Lin or Bao. He didn't look at Mei, who was watching Li Yao with a new, deep wariness. His eyes were only for Li Yao.
"You," he whispered, the word dripping with venom. "You exposed me. You sold my weakness like a common merchant."
"You were about to get us all beaten and robbed," Mei stated flatly, sheathing her daggers. "He got us out of it."
"He revealed a secret that was not his to tell!" Wang Jin shot back.
"It is a secret that would have killed you," Li Yao replied, his voice finally losing its calm, edged with a cold fury of his own. "You are so obsessed with your pride that you would rather die than face a flaw. Your path leads to a coffin, Wang Jin. I just offered you a detour. Whether you take it is your choice."
He walked over and harvested the single remaining Ghost-Fern, storing it carefully in a jade box he had prepared. It was the key to everything.
The journey back was made in absolute silence. The tension was a physical wall between them. They handed in their moss at the sect, receiving a curt nod from the mission overseer. They had passed.
Back in the disciple quarters, Wang Jin cornered Li Yao just outside his room.
"This isn't over," he hissed. "You have made an enemy for life. I will break you. I will see you crawling in the dirt where you belong."
Li Yao looked at him, not with fear, but with a pity that was more insulting than any hatred. "You still don't understand, do you? I'm not your enemy, Wang Jin. I'm your only chance. Brother Kang will come for that recipe. He will want to control you. The only one who knows the true formula to neutralize the pill toxicity, the one that actually works, is me. You can try to break me. Or you can accept that the world is not as simple as you believed, and learn."
He turned and entered his room, leaving Wang Jin standing alone in the hallway, his fists clenched so tight his nails drew blood from his palms. The victory felt like ashes. He had the fern, the key ingredient for the elixir that could both save Wang Jin and make him dependent on Li Yao's knowledge. He had survived the forest and the ambush. He had even earned a sliver of respect from Mei.
But he had also forged a hatred that was now personal, deep, and infinitely more dangerous. He had pulled a thread in the tapestry of power, and the entire weave was beginning to shift around him. The slow, steady ascent continued, but the path was now strewn with the landmines of pride and vengeance.