On the shattered arena of Thundercrest Sect, Murong Zi exhaled slowly.
Behind her, the lotus on her back dimmed. A dark-rainbow bloom, half-real and half-Dao, slowly closed its petals, withdrawing from its most extreme state. The suffocating pressure blanketing the mountain eased as grandmist-laced lotus intent sank back into her meridians. The thunderclouds that had been howling over Thundercrest's main peak seemed to remember how to breathe again.
The mountain groaned.
A jagged crack ran from the center of the arena to the edge of the cliff, like a scar left behind by a celestial beast's claw. The protective formation lines around the arena were shattered in a hundred places. Lightning patterns that had once been perfect—pride of Thundercrest's grandmasters—now flickered like dying embers.
Above the mountain, Thundercrest's Thunder Soul hung crooked in the air.
What had once been a majestic mass of thunder light—like a condensed thunder sea—now bore a deep, ugly fracture through its core. Brilliant violet-blue radiance had dimmed to a sickly gray. Thunder that should have roared like dragons now only hissed, like rain on cold stone.
Murong Zi tilted her head back and looked at it.
"Tch," she murmured, voice lazy, eyes bright. "I thought a fourth-grade sect's Sect Master would be a bit more… durable."
Across the arena, Thundercrest disciples flinched as if lightning had struck them again.
Many of them were still kneeling, half-conscious, their robes scorched, their true essence in chaos from the aftershocks of that single spear strike. Some clutched their chests where thunder-light backlash had rampaged through their meridians. Others didn't dare move, afraid any twitch would draw the gaze of that Houtian girl who had just sent their Sect Master flying.
Murong Zi's boots crunched on cracked tiles as she turned away from the center of the arena.
At the edge, Na Yi and Na Shui waited for her.
Na Yi's lips were curved in a faint smile, eyes steady and deep like compressed earth. Na Shui grinned openly, wild delight still dancing in her gaze; her energy hadn't fully calmed, flickering around her like faint waves of scarlet heat.
Beside them stood Bai Jingyun, white robes unruffled, sword at her waist. Her long hair swayed softly, aura quiet as a calm lake; only the slight focus in her eyes hinted at the killing intent she had been ready to unleash if Murong Zi had stumbled.
Qin Xingxuan stood a half-step ahead, spear planted lightly at her side. Her face was tranquil, like a jade statue, but the hand resting on her spear shaft trembled ever so slightly from the leftover rush of adrenaline.
Murong Zi's spear rested on her shoulder as she walked toward them.
Her steps were loose and easy, as if she had just finished a comfortable warm-up instead of clashing head-on with the Sect Master of a thunder-attribute fourth-grade sect.
Na Shui whistled low.
"It didn't look boring from here," she laughed, voice husky, eyes sparkling. "You almost broke their entire mountain with one spear."
Na Yi's lips curved a little more.
"Thundercrest Sect will be dreaming of lotuses and phoenix flames for a long time," she said, tone mild, words sharp.
Murong Zi reached them, spun her spear once with a casual flick, and slid it into the harness on her back. Then, without the slightest hesitation, she slung an arm around each of the Na sisters' shoulders and dragged them close, pressing their heads together.
"See?" she said, eyes crescent-shaped, mischief overflowing. "I told you it would be boring if they only had this much."
The Na sisters didn't bother resisting.
Na Shui threw an arm around Murong Zi's waist in return, grin turning feral. Na Yi only shook her head, but the warmth in her eyes betrayed her affection.
Qin Xingxuan stepped forward.
"Murong Zi," Qin Xingxuan said quietly.
Her eyes met Murong Zi's. Spearwoman to spearwoman, no masks between them.
"You were too ruthless."
Murong Zi blinked once.
Then she grinned, unabashed.
"What? Jealous?"
Qin Xingxuan's lips twitched despite herself. She lightly exhaled, the chill of her spear intent dissolving.
"…No," she said at last, shaking her head. "Just… you could have stopped once he lost the ability to fight."
Murong Zi's brows lifted.
"In front of all these people?" she asked, glancing around. "If I stopped halfway, that old thunder fossil would've climbed back up and barked about 'face' until his beard fell off."
Na Shui snorted loudly.
"That's true."
Bai Jingyun finally spoke.
"Ruthless?" she repeated softly.
Her tone was gentle, but her words carried a steady weight that forced everyone nearby to listen.
"From the moment we stepped onto this path by his side… this is normal."
Her gaze swept across the arena, over the cracked Thunder Soul overhead, over the countless Thundercrest disciples staring at them with a mix of fear, humiliation, and resentment.
"If we cannot even suppress a fourth-grade sect's Sect Master," Bai Jingyun continued, "how are we supposed to stand next to him in the future?"
Her eyes drifted toward the distant South Sea.
Wind carried the faint scent of salt and the echo of waves from beyond the mountain range.
"By his side is not a place for mediocrity."
The mountain seemed to fall even quieter at those words.
Murong Zi's grin softened, losing a bit of its wild edge.
"Exactly," she said, her voice lower now. "If we hide our strength and let these people bark at us, what are we cultivating for?"
Na Yi's fingers curled once at her side, silently agreeing.
Qin Xingxuan's hand tightened on her spear. Some of the tremor faded, replaced by a sharper resolve.
Behind them, the Divine Phoenix Island elders finally stirred.
These elders now found themselves standing behind five Houtian girls whose combined pressure had just cracked a thunder-attribute Thunder Soul.
"Girls," one of the elders said softly. Her voice was complicated—pride, fear, disbelief all tangled together. "We should leave."
She looked around at Thundercrest's disciples: ashen faces, trembling knees, eyes full of unwillingness that had nowhere to go.
She looked at Lei Jingtian, half-sitting, half-sprawled at the far end of the arena, leaning against a shattered stone pillar. His upper robe was torn open, chest stained with blood, thunder true essence in complete chaos. Thunder light flickered weakly around him, failing to form even a basic protective field.
She looked at Lei Mubai and Zhou Lie, who were being hastily surrounded by Thundercrest healers—Lei Mubai's halberd arm limp, bones shattered; Zhou Lie's Thunder Soul aura faint and unstable, his status as Chosen hanging by a thread.
No one moved to stop Divine Phoenix Island's group.
Not a single person dared step forward.
Thundercrest Sect, which had once looked at Divine Phoenix Island as a peer—and in some corners, a lesser partner they could pressure—now watched in stunned, suffocating silence as five phoenix-embroidered figures turned their backs on the arena and walked away.
Furthermore, even if someone wanted to stop them, nobody had the strength.
Even Lei Jingtian, their seemingly invincible Sect Master, had been sent flying by a single spear from Murong Zi.
What about the other girls?
What about the Divine Phoenix elders who had accompanied them, whose true depths had never even been revealed?
Doing anything now would not be courage.
It would be suicide.
Murong Zi led the way toward the flight platform at the edge of the mountain.
Halfway there, she slowed.
She stopped at the very edge of the arena, where shattered tiles crumbled into a long crack splitting the mountain. The wind from the South Sea rushed up from below, carrying damp mist and the faint growl of distant thunder.
She turned back.
Her gaze swept over the ruined arena, the fractured formation lines, the Thundercrest disciples unable to meet her eyes.
"Remember this well," she said.
Her voice was light, almost playful, but every word cut like a spear.
"Divine Phoenix Island didn't come here to beg for alliances."
Her eyes lifted to Lei Jingtian, whose face flushed red with shame and rage beneath his wounds.
"We came to remind you…"
Her gaze slid over Lei Jingtian, Lei Mubai, Zhou Lie, then beyond them, to the grand elders hiding further back, to the younger disciples huddled behind protective formations.
"…that the world has changed."
Her words fell like a clap of thunder.
A fresh crack spiderwebbed through a broken stone pillar as Thundercrest disciples' hearts clenched, their qi and blood surging chaotically.
Then Murong Zi smiled again, bright as a flame.
"It'll be fun when the rumors spread," she added, turning slightly to look at the girls beside her. Mischief flared in her eyes. "I can't wait to hear how the Five Element Region retells the story of 'Thundercrest Sect's Sect Master being sent flying by a Houtian girl'."
Qin Xingxuan exhaled helplessly, unable to stop the corner of her lips from twitching.
"Your words will cause more storms than your spear," she said.
"That's the point," Murong Zi replied cheerfully.
No one blocked their path as they rose into the air.
Phoenix robes flared in the wind. Fire and lotus, spear and sword, fist and dragon-scale—five silhouettes shot upward, each trailing a different Law aura, yet all faintly marked by the same lotus shadow Ren Ming had carved into their foundations.
Divine Phoenix elders followed behind them, keeping a respectful distance… and for the first time, that distance came from genuine caution as much as courtesy.
From below, Thundercrest's mountain seemed smaller than it ever had.
The thunder that had once made the Five Element Region tremble had been stolen from it.
Rumors did not walk that day.
They flew.
Before Murong Zi and the others had even fully left Thundercrest Sect's territory, jade slips were already lighting up along trade routes, in branch halls, in information pavilions hidden in bustling markets.
In a roadside tavern halfway between Thundercrest and Sunfire Sect, a merchant slammed his cup down, eyes wide.
"You just came from the Five Element Region?" someone asked him eagerly.
"Yes," the man said, still sounding half-stunned. "Just three days ago I was delivering spirit ore to Thundercrest's outer mine. Today I pass a relay station, and every jade slip is buzzing."
"What happened?"
"At Thundercrest Sect—Thundercrest!" The merchant leaned forward, lowering his voice for effect. "Divine Phoenix Island's women…"
"What about them?" someone scoffed from a nearby table. "Divine Phoenix Island's women are famous for their beauty, but their strength compared to others..."
"You'll choke on those words," the merchant snapped. "A Houtian girl—no, several!—came to their gate. The one called Murong Zi… she defeated Thundercrest's Chosen, Zhou Lie, with one spear. His Thunder Soul nearly shattered!"
The whole tavern went quiet.
"That's already insane," someone muttered. "But that can't be all. You wouldn't have that look on your face for just that…"
The merchant swallowed and nodded.
"That's not all," he said hoarsely. "Limitless Lei Mubai—"
A few listeners sucked in cold breaths at the name.
"They say he can face Xiantian experts despite being Houtian," one man muttered. "Thundercrest's most terrifying junior…"
"He was also crushed," the merchant continued. "One spear. They say his bones nearly shattered. And then—"
"There's more!?" someone blurted out.
The merchant's fingers trembled slightly around his cup.
"Sovereign Lei himself came out."
"Lei Jingtian?" An elder in the corner finally raised his head, eyes sharp. "The Sect Master of Thundercrest Sect?"
"Yes." The merchant nodded quickly. "Late Revolving Core. Thunder Light Sword. He wanted to 'discipline' her. He used a full-power strike, thunder covering half the arena. She… she didn't dodge."
"So she died?" someone asked, unable to stop the words.
"…She sent him flying," the merchant whispered.
Silence fell.
The kind of silence where even the crackle of firewood felt too loud.
"No one is going to believe that," a skeptic said at last. His tone was mocking, but his face was pale.
"But they have to," the merchant replied. "Because the cracks on Thundercrest's Thunder Soul… are real. Their main formation dimmed. Their disciples are walking around like their ancestors' graves were dug up."
Across the Five Element Region, similar scenes played out.
In Sunfire Sect's great hall, elders listened to the reports with faces growing heavier by the breath.
They remembered Murong Zi's earlier visit—one spear thrust that had compressed their proud Sunfire Laws, scattering their refined flames like ashes. At the time, they had comforted themselves: It's just a prodigy. A monstrous junior, nothing more.
Now, hearing that the same Murong Zi had sent Lei Jingtian flying with one strike…
"At that time, we thought it was only a prodigy," a core elder muttered, fingers tightening on his chair. "Now… this…"
"And she is not alone," another elder said grimly. "Behind her are Na Yi and Na Shui—fists that shake earth and twist the path of elements. Bai Jingyun's sword… that child's sword intent is already beyond many of our Revolving Core elders. Qin Xingxuan's spear pierced our own sect's flame formations as if she were poking holes in paper…"
A heavy silence followed.
"Divine Phoenix Island…" one elder whispered. "What kind of monsters is that 'Guest' raising under their roof?"
Far to the north, at Arctic Ice Palace, a woman in icy blue robes sat cross-legged on a snow jade platform.
The chief disciple of Arctic Ice Palace, Bai Aoxuan, had once been undefeated in ice-attribute duels across the Five Element Region. She had believed her comprehension of ice Laws close to perfection—until the day a quiet swordswoman from Divine Phoenix Island visited.
Bai Jingyun's sword had cut through her ice like spring sunlight cutting through morning frost.
Now, receiving a jade slip detailing Thundercrest's humiliation, the ice Palace's chief disciple slowly opened her eyes. Frost swirled around her, then wavered, trembling, as if reflecting the turmoil in her heart.
"Murong Zi, Na Yi, Na Shui, Qin Xingxuan, Bai Jingyun…" she murmured.
She pictured Murong Zi's carefree smile as she carried her spear over her shoulder.
She imagined that same spear sending a late Revolving Core sect master flying.
Her heart shook.
"Divine Phoenix Island…" she whispered. "Just what kind of path are they walking now?"
At Deep Earth Sect, elders gathered in their underground council hall.
They remembered Na Yi's fists hammering their earth fields, Heaven-Piercing Elemental Canon footwork bending space and ripping through earth essence as if it were fragile clay. At the time, they had thought it a freak clash of Laws, an unfortunate matchup… nothing more.
Now, hearing that her sister-in-arms had shattered Thundercrest's Thunder Soul and injured Lei Jingtian in one blow, the elders of Deep Earth Sect felt a heavy stone settle on their chests.
Storm Valley's wind towers shook.
Verdant Wood Sect's ancient trees rustled uneasily.
Golden Bell Mountain's metal bells—usually steady and majestic—rang with a faint, chaotic tremor as news arrived.
Everywhere Murong Zi and the others had gone in recent weeks, the stories of their visits fused with Thundercrest's humiliation.
In taverns and tea houses, in sect halls and caravans, one name began to be spoken with a mixture of awe and fear:
Divine Phoenix Island.
And behind that name, another shadow loomed larger and larger in everyone's minds.
Ren Ming.
Those who had seen the projection of Acacia Peak's destruction; those who had heard how he had crushed the Seven Profound Valleys' elders and bent their highest peaks… all of them now matched that impossible man with the monstrous women walking calmly at his side.
Within the Seven Profound Valleys' main council hall, the air was heavy enough to drown in.
High above, on the central seat, the Valley Master sat with his eyes narrowed, fingers tapping slowly on the armrest. Below him, Sovereigns and elders of various valleys lined either side, their faces dark.
"The martial meeting," someone finally said, voice hoarse. "In two months…"
The upcoming martial meeting, once intended as an internal grand gathering—with some invitations sent to nearby powers to boost face—had already swollen into something else entirely.
Jade slips from the Five Element Region piled on the table in front of the Valley Master.
Each one told the same story in different words:
Divine Phoenix Island's Houtian juniors… suppressing Revolving Core.
A Houtian girl… sending a late Revolving Core sect master flying.
If these reports had come from a single source, they could have been dismissed as exaggeration. But they came from Thundercrest Sect's own elders, from informants in Sunfire Sect and Deep Earth Sect, from wandering masters with no reason to lie.
The Valley Master's fingers stopped.
Around him, some elders clenched their fists in anger.
Others… felt only dread.
"What can our disciples do against that?" a Sovereign muttered. His voice trembled despite himself. "Murong Zi's spear. Qin Xingxuan's piercing thrust. Bai Jingyun's calm pressure. The Na sisters' fists like storm and earth combined. If they appear at our martial meeting in two months…"
Another elder's face turned deathly pale.
"If our best are crushed the way Thundercrest was crushed," he said slowly, "we will not just lose face. Our status… our authority over the kingdoms under us…"
He didn't finish.
He didn't need to.
In countless smaller kingdoms and sects, young talents listened to the spreading stories with wide eyes.
"Houtian juniors who can suppress Revolving Core…"
"An Houtian girl sending a late Revolving Core Sect Master flying…"
"If we go to that martial meeting…"
Half of them burned with fighting spirit, hot blood surging.
I will challenge them. Even if I lose, that kind of clash… I can't miss it.
The other half swallowed nervously.
Maybe… I should 'enter seclusion' for a while.
Maybe it was better to feign sickness than step onto a stage where monsters walked.
The South Sea's waters churned under the weight of unspoken fears.
Storms gathered beyond the horizon.
...
Thundercrest Sect – Inner Thunder Hall
The main thunder hall was quiet.
Too quiet.
Normally, this hall was the beating heart of Thundercrest Sect. Thunder formations roared day and night, lightning arcs danced overhead, and the Thunder Soul's glow washed everything in majesty. Disciples entered here with reverence, feeling proud to be bathed in their sect's origin thunder.
Today, the thunder hall felt like a sick giant's chest.
Thunder formations that should have crackled with lightning now only hissed faintly. Their intricate patterns were dim, as if the thunder within had been drained away. Every few breaths, a stray spark crawled along a formation line, then sputtered out, unable to complete its circuit.
The air smelled of medicine, charred blood, and scorched true essence.
At the center of the hall, beneath an opening in the ceiling that revealed a sliver of sky and the cracked Thunder Soul floating above, a jade bed glowed softly.
Lei Jingtian sat cross-legged on it, upper body bare.
His chest was wrapped in layers of medicinal bandages inscribed with healing runes. Faint thunder light pulsed under the bandages, clashing with the medicinal glow in small, pained sparks. Ugly bruises and burn marks covered his torso, veins darkened by thunder backlash.
Every breath he took made the muscles around his ribs twitch, pain flickering through his eyes.
But the rage there burned far, far brighter.
Across from him stood a man in Vermillion Bird robes—Mu Chihuo, Great Elder of Divine Phoenix Island's Vermillion Bird Faction.
His expression was dark, eyes complicated. Flames flickered in his pupils, dimly reflecting the fractured Thunder Soul overhead.
Beside him, another figure lounged with the easy arrogance of someone long accustomed to having others bow.
He wore black robes trimmed with dark red, the fabric embroidered with faint, demonic patterns that seemed to shift when one wasn't looking. His features were pale and sharply handsome, lips curled in a faint, mocking smile. Even though he had suppressed it out of basic courtesy, a demonic aura still clung to him like a shadow, thick and oppressive.
A South Sea Demon Region emissary.
Not some random outer elder, but a core figure of the Xuan Faction—someone who could take direct orders from Xuan Wuji.
Lei Jingtian broke the silence first.
"…So," he said slowly, voice hoarse from suppressed fury. "You have seen it with your own eyes."
His words were directed at Mu Chihuo, but his gaze slid to the South Sea emissary as well.
Mu Chihuo's fingers flexed at his side.
He had watched from the shadows, hidden by Divine Phoenix Island's elders, when Murong Zi's spear collided with Lei Jingtian's Thunder Light Sword.
At that moment, for the first time in many years, the fire in his heart had… stuttered.
He had wanted to doubt his own senses.
He could not.
"Those girls…" Mu Chihuo said at last, each word steeped in a slow chill. "They are no longer juniors we can measure with common sense."
He thought of Ren Ming walking into Divine Phoenix Island's council hall, of the Heavenly Demon Lotus patterns carved into their grand protective arrays and training fields. He remembered Phoenix disciples whose foundations had been reshaped overnight—Revolving Core juniors who suddenly fought across major realms, Mu Qianyu's flames that no longer resembled the Divine Phoenix bloodline he knew, but something older and more terrifying.
Now, seeing that path extend beyond their island into the Five Element Region…
Even his greed felt cold.
The South Sea emissary smiled faintly.
"Elder Mu," he said smoothly, tone light, eyes sharp. "You sent word that Divine Phoenix Island was growing… troublesome. After today, this seat must agree."
He turned his attention fully to Lei Jingtian.
"And you, Sect Master Lei. To think that a Houtian junior could injure you to this degree…"
Thunder essence trembled in Lei Jingtian's meridians.
His fingers curled against the jade bed, nails biting into his palm.
"This old man is not so fragile," he snapped. "She caught me off-guard with a strange martial intent and foreign Laws. Once my injuries recover, if we fight again—"
"If you fight again," the emissary interrupted mildly, "and lose again…"
He smiled, a soft curve of lips that somehow made the thunder in the hall feel colder.
"…Thundercrest Sect will no longer have any face left to stand on."
Lei Jingtian's face flushed dark red.
But he could not refute it.
In his mind, the scene replayed again, as vivid as if it were still happening.
His hands trembled.
"This old man will remember her," he said, voice low and poisonous. "Murong Zi."
His eyes narrowed, pupils flickering with thunder light.
"And the name of that Guest…"
He spit the word out as if it were filth.
"Ren Ming."
Mu Chihuo's eyes flickered at that name.
It carried too many heavy images.
A man walking alone into the Seven Profound Valleys, leaving behind broken peaks and kneeling Sovereigns. A man who had turned Divine Phoenix Island's grand array into a canvas, carving lotus lines into its bones as if rearranging the furniture of his courtyard. A man who had conjured a Sun Bird with fire Laws that made their ancestral phoenix flames bow.
If we offend him lightly, he'll overturn our little pond, Mu Chihuo thought bitterly. If we offend him deeply…
"A hidden dragon in a shallow pool," he murmured aloud. "If we offend him lightly, he will overturn our little pond. If we offend him deeply…"
He didn't finish.
The South Sea emissary chuckled softly.
"Divine Phoenix Island was already a thorn in our South Sea Demon Region's side," he said. "We had planned to grind them down slowly—through marriage alliances, political pressure, and eventually war—to bring them under our heel."
He looked up at the cracked Thunder Soul hovering beyond the opening in the ceiling.
"But this 'Ren Ming' has accelerated matters."
A cold, demonic light surfaced in his eyes.
"The art he imprinted on them. The Dao he walks. If we allow it to grow unchecked, the South Sea Demon Region may one day have to face a Divine Phoenix Island whose Life Destruction experts can crush our Life Destruction elders like children."
Lei Jingtian's heart clenched painfully.
He had felt it.
In Murong Zi's spear that had shattered his Thunder Light Sword, he had sensed a Dao that did not belong to the Sky Spill Continent.
A Heaven that suppressed other heavens—even in such a small application.
"What do you propose?" he asked harshly. "If we cannot suppress them by strength…"
The emissary's smile widened.
"By strength, no," he agreed. "For now."
He clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace slowly across the hall, boots clicking softly on stone inscribed with thunder runes.
"But the world is not simply a battlefield of fists," he continued. "It is a board of pieces."
His gaze moved between Lei Jingtian and Mu Chihuo.
"The martial meeting in two months," he said. "It will gather all the powers under the South Horizon Region… and some from beyond. Divine Phoenix Island will certainly send their best. This 'Ren Ming'… with his temperament, he will not be able to resist stepping onto that stage."
He smiled, eyes turning cold.
"At that time, we will not need to defeat him face-to-face."
Mu Chihuo's eyes narrowed.
"…You want to use the world against him."
"Exactly," the emissary said softly.
He raised one finger.
"If a man stands above the crowd, the crowd will either kneel… or drag him down. We will prepare… opportunities."
He waved his hand, as if scattering seeds across a field.
"Rumors," he said. "About his origin. About his connection to foreign Daos, to devils from beyond this world. We will whisper that his Dao will twist the Law of Sky Spill Continent itself, that the calamities to come will be because of him. We will make those who already fear change see him as the source of disaster."
His gaze flickered with amusement.
"Yin-Yang Profound Palace. Great Zen Temple. Righteous sects who pride themselves on maintaining order," he continued. "They already look at Divine Phoenix Island's recent changes with unease. If we suggest that Ren Ming's path will overturn the Laws they rely on, will they sit still?"
Lei Jingtian's breathing grew heavier.
"We will also fan the flames below," the emissary went on. "The Seven Profound Valleys' elders. The Five Element Region's sects. Thundercrest Sect, of course, will have its own… grievances."
Mu Chihuo grimaced.
"The Seven Profound Valleys already hate him," he muttered. "But they fear him more."
"Fear is good," the emissary replied lightly. "Fear makes people reach for knives in the dark. We will promise them help. Promise that if they dare to strike at the martial meeting, the South Sea Demon Region will stand behind them."
Mu Chihuo's tone turned cold.
"Divine Phoenix Island will not sit and watch as their Guest is attacked," he said.
"Of course not," the emissary said. "That is why we must choose our moment well."
He tapped a finger against his arm.
"Perhaps a righteous crisis," he mused. "Perhaps a 'mistake' by some lesser sect disciple that forces Ren Ming to act, turning all righteous hearts against him. Perhaps some small sect whose junior offends Divine Phoenix Island, and Ren Ming kills them too cleanly. With the right push, such a matter can become a banner: Look, this foreign Dao devours our world's future."
He smiled thinly.
"The details can be refined. But one thing is clear."
He lifted his gaze to the cracked Thunder Soul.
"We cannot allow Divine Phoenix Island to become the core of a new Heaven in the South Sea. If we let Ren Ming's lotus root itself into the bones of this region… then forget the South Sea Demon Region's ambitions." He glanced at Lei Jingtian. "Even Thundercrest Sect's status will be like a candle before the sun."
Lei Jingtian's hands trembled.
He was already walking the demonic path's road—cooperating with the South Sea Demon Region, trading away pieces of Thundercrest's future for strength today. His pride screamed against bowing even more to outsiders.
But his battered bones remembered Murong Zi's spear.
His cracked Thunder Soul remembered.
Slowly, he nodded.
"This old man does not care if Ren Ming is righteous or demonic," he said harshly. "He injured me. He humiliated my sect."
His eyes burned with lightning.
"If we must borrow your South Sea Demon Region's strength to cut him down, then so be it."
Mu Chihuo hesitated.
Ren Ming's gentle smile flashed through his mind—the way the young man had guided Mu Qianyu's flame, had lazily rearranged Divine Phoenix Island's foundations as if adjusting a garden path. The way he spoke to Phoenix elders like equals, never once caring about their status.
He thought of his own ambitions—the Vermillion Bird Faction's throne, his desire to stand above Mu Yuhuang someday, to carve his name into Divine Phoenix Island's history as its greatest elder.
Fear and greed wrestled in his chest.
In the end, greed won.
"…Divine Phoenix Island has indeed changed beyond recognition," he said slowly. "If we allow this Guest to keep acting as he pleases, even this Mu Chihuo's future… will be decided by him."
His eyes hardened.
He looked straight at the emissary.
"What do you need me to do?"
The emissary's smile deepened, like a serpent finally tightening its coils.
"Be our eyes within Divine Phoenix Island," he said. "Send us every change. Their preparations for the martial meeting. Their line-up. Any new arts that Ren Ming spreads to them. When the time comes, you will have a choice."
His gaze turned razor-sharp, demonic intent flickering beneath his calm expression.
"Stand with them… or stand with us."
Mu Chihuo's fingers clenched at his side.
He thought of Ren Ming's calm eyes, of that faintly amused voice that never rose in anger even as he shattered other sects' foundations. He thought of Murong Zi and the others laughing as they walked off Thundercrest's arena, leaving behind a cracked Thunder Soul.
If I stand with him, Mu Chihuo thought, my future will be under his shadow. If I stand against him… and he wins…
His heart beat faster.
Lei Jingtian closed his eyes briefly, feeling the thunder in his veins roll like a storm trying to break free of a cage.
Two months.
In the Five Element Region, in the South Horizon Region, in the countless kingdoms under the Seven Profound Valleys, that span of time began to feel less like "two months" and more like a world-shaking thunderclap holding its breath.