Daoist Tianqi stumbled into Three Lives Temple's jade-inlaid hall, his robes caked in mud and dignity. The acolytes averted their eyes as he crawled toward the High Altar, where Abbot Three Lives sat enthroned upon a lotus of frozen mercury.
"Master... they mocked us..." Tianqi's words dissolved into theatrical sobs.
The Abbot's mercury throne rippled. "Speak. Clearly."
Between exaggerated winces, Tianqi spun his tale—omitting his initial arrogance, magnifying the beating, and painting Zhao Rui as a demonic overlord feasting on Three Lives' honor. "...And they swore to raze our temple! Reduce its stones to gravel!"
Abbot Three Lives' jade prayer beads shattered. "Insolent worms!" The hall's incense braziers flared crimson as his qi roiled. "Summon the Eight Trigrams Battalion! We march on—"
"Wait!" Tianqi clutched the hem of his master's robe. "The Shi Clan's protectors... one's a Unity Stage beast! The human... his aura was... void. Like a blade sheathed in shadow."
The Abbot's rage crystallized into cold calculation. Unity Stage cultivators didn't materialize from ether. Either Tianqi exaggerated... or the Shi Clan had tapped forces beyond Three Lives' sight.
"Send word to the True Monarch Grotto," the Abbot commanded a trembling novice. "Inform Patriarch Hua Yang his... investment faces complications."
Two days later, Shanghai's neon glow couldn't pierce the Shi Compound's gloom.
Yun Fang stared at the LCD screen replaying disaster footage: mountainsides sloughing like rotten flesh, emergency lights blinking beneath mudslides. The chyron screamed SHI MINING COLLAPSE: 400 TRAPPED.
"Impossible," she whispered. "We installed spirit-reinforced pylons..."
Zhao Rui's chopsticks hovered over mapo tofu. "Convenient timing."
Dun Che sniffed the TV. "Smells like bull demon shit."
The accusation hung unspoken—Three Lives Temple's retaliation wore bureaucratic gloves.
Yun Fang's phone rang. A haggard voice emerged: "Lady Yun... it's Leng Xin. The mine manager. I'm... I'm alive."
Zhao Rui's fingers brushed hers, transferring calm through qi. "Put him on speaker."
"Three days before the collapse," Leng Xin rasped, "Daoists came. Said they were safety inspectors. They... altered the feng shui arrays. Redirected earth dragon veins..."
Dun Che's claws unsheathed. "Three Lives' rats!"
"Worse." The manager's voice dropped. "Their leader... wore Hua Yang's crest."
Yun Fang's teacup shattered.
The True Monarch himself had orchestrated this. Not mere retaliation—this was annihilation.