Chen Jinshu forced down the urge to confront him head-on, her breathing shallow as she weighed the risk of a public altercation. She was alone out here in a distant prefecture, with no backing to rely on and no sect brothers nearby to stand at her side. Every move had to be cautious in this unfamiliar environment, where even a minor dispute could spiral out of control. It's never wise to make powerful enemies lightly, especially on someone else's turf where the local disciples held all the influence.
Her expression paused for a heartbeat, her eyes clouding with a momentary hesitation before they turned neutral and distant. There was no point arguing any further with a disciple who clearly refused to listen.
"Since that's the case, I will take my leave."
With that, she turned and walked away toward the more crowded sections of the street, her steps steady and unhurried, without the slightest trace of panic in her gait.
Yet that restraint only became proof of guilt and cowardice in the young cultivator's eyes. He watched her back, his lip curling into a sneer of triumph as he mistook her caution for weakness.
His name was Liu Qingyuan. Among the outer disciples of the Medicine King Valley, he had connections and influence that usually let him get his way, and he had long been used to throwing his weight around with the visitors and merchants. How could he tolerate an unknown foreign female cultivator daring to covet the valley's secret arts in public, then calmly walking away after being scolded like a child?
To him, that was a slap to his face, a challenge to his perceived authority in this market.
"Stop right there!" Liu Qingyuan barked, a flash of malice crossing his eyes as he stepped forward to block her path.
"Did I say you could leave? That beast bird of yours dared to offend me just now and clash with a disciple of the Medicine King Valley, and you think you can just walk away? Stay where you are!"
He snapped his right hand into a complex seal, his lips moving as he was chanting rapidly under his breath.
Thin vines, no thicker than strands of hair and glowing with an ominous dark green sheen, burst from the cracks in the bluestone beneath her feet. They snaked out of the shadows, their surfaces slick with spiritual power.
They shot out like lightning, carrying a cold, binding force that dampened the surrounding air, and they instantly coiled around her ankles.
"Locking Spirit Vine." Chen Jinshu's brows knitted in displeasure, her expression turning cold as she felt the vines tighten against her skin.
She had planned to avoid trouble, leave for now, and return in a few days after finding a proper recommendation or a senior contact to enter the inner market. She never expected him to be this brazen in the middle of a busy thoroughfare.
Or had the Medicine King Valley already grown arrogant enough to attack people at will, regardless of the consequences?
This thing was vicious. It specialized in breaking through protective spiritual light and draining the target's energy. Once its barbs pierced the body, it not only restrained movement but slowly devoured a cultivator's spiritual power, leaving them helpless and depleted.
The next instant, an icy pain stabbed into her ankle as the first barb sought her skin.
Xiao Yin screeched in fury from her shoulder, its wings ruffling as it was asking when she would strike back against the insult.
She spun around sharply, her robes snapping with the sudden movement.
Even a clay figure had its temper, let alone a Golden Core cultivator who had survived the trials of the alliance.
Her gaze turned utterly cold, like ice over a deep pond. "It's rude to take without giving back."
Boom.
A vast and overwhelming Golden Core pressure erupted from her body like mountains crashing down on the street.
The entire long street felt as if an invisible giant hand had slammed it flat, the air itself groaning under the weight of her spiritual essence.
The Locking Spirit Vines shattered inch by inch the moment that pressure descended, turning to ash and scattering in the wind.
Liu Qingyuan felt an irresistible force smash into his chest, as if he had been struck head-on by an unseen giant hammer.
Pfft.
A mouthful of blood sprayed out from his mouth, staining his pale green robes red.
His knees buckled instantly. He collapsed onto the cold bluestone with a heavy thud, his body trembling violently like a sack of mud. The arrogance and malice on his face were completely washed away in an instant, leaving only terror and disbelief, his complexion turning an ashen white.
The spiritual power in his body felt frozen solid, nearly unable to circulate through his damaged meridians. Even lifting a finger was beyond his capability at that moment. He could only gape like a dying fish on dry land, gasping hoarsely for breath.
In an instant, all the noise, the hawking, and the chatter of the market vanished without a trace, replaced by a suffocating silence.
Countless gazes locked onto her, the shoppers and merchants standing frozen in place as they realized the situation.
"Jīn-Jīndān Zhēnrén!"
Someone whispered it in a trembling voice that was filled with fear.
Behind the fallen youth, the Foundation Establishment manager was shaking even harder than his charge. A dark, wet stain spread rapidly across his pants, and a strong stench of urine filled the air. He collapsed to the ground, scrambling backward on his hands and knees, wishing he could disappear into the bluestone itself to escape her gaze.
Kneeling there, with terror battering his mind, Liu Qingyuan struggled with what little strength he had left in his failing body. He yanked a warm green jade bead from his waist and crushed it with a frantic squeeze of his fingers.
The bead shattered, and a faint glimmer of light flashed and vanished into the sky above the market.
"Who dares run wild in my Medicine King Valley market and injure my disciple!"
A furious shout arrived with equally immense Core Formation pressure, crashing in from the inner valley like a tidal wave hitting the shore.
A green arc of light tore through the air and slammed down in the center of the street, stopping right in front of the collapsed Liu Qingyuan.
As the light faded, a middle-aged cultivator in the dark green elder robes of the Medicine King Valley was revealed to the crowd.
He had a fair face and three long whiskers, giving him the look of an immortal sage, yet now his expression was grim and fraught with anger. His sharp eyes, like a hawk's, locked onto Chen Jinshu as spiritual power surged around him in visible ripples, his robes fluttering without any wind.
The powerful aura of mid Golden Core spread without restraint, colliding violently with the pressure she had released. A dull boom echoed through the air from the impact of their spiritual domains.
Invisible shockwaves rippled outward, overturning nearby stalls and scattering precious spiritual plants across the ground like litter.
The crowd cried out and retreated in waves, clearing a wide space in moments to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
"Martial Uncle Liu, save me! This demon woman... she... she attacked me for no reason! She forced her way into the inner market forbidden area. I stopped her according to the rules, and she lashed out! Martial Uncle, please judge fairly!"
Liu Qingchen's gaze swept over the glaring bloodstains on the disciple's chest and his miserable state, his expression darkening further.
"Daoyou, the Medicine King Valley stands on courtesy, but we won't tolerate outsiders bullying us. You injured my disciple and disrupted our market order. If you don't give an explanation today, don't blame Liu Qingchen for showing no mercy."
As he spoke, an even heavier pressure, like a solid mountain falling from the sky, bore down on her.
Faced with this aggressive suppression and the twisted accusation from the boy on the ground, the last trace of calm vanished from her eyes.
Her gaze narrowed coldly, killing intent surging within her as she tightened her grip.
With a flick of her wrist, a blood-jade colored Dragonbone Whip appeared in her hand, glowing with an ominous light.
"An explanation?" Chen Jinshu's voice was icy, edged with mockery.
Only now did she truly understand how skilled the Medicine King Valley was at biting back when they were in the wrong.
"Why does Elder Liu not first ask that so-called rule-abiding good nephew behind you?
Ask him why I struck him.
Ask him why the Locking Spirit Vine was wrapped around my ankle.
And ask him this."
Her voice rose sharply, her lips curving slightly with disdain as she looked at the elder.
"How exactly did this Zhēnrén force her way into the inner market forbidden area, or was it simply because Liu Qingyuan didn't like the look of a foreigner?"
She finished her sentence and cast a deep, scornful glance at him.
Liu Qingchen's momentum faltered abruptly, the green light around him flickering.
He was no fool. Her furious questioning, coupled with his nephew's usual tyrannical behavior in the market, came together instantly in his mind.
He whirled around, staring hard at Liu Qingyuan's bloodless face, his voice trembling with barely restrained rage.
"Qingyuan. Is what she said true?"
"I... I... Martial Uncle... I..."
Liu Qingyuan was so frightened by Liu Qingchen's gaze that his words fell apart.
Under the deathly stare of one Core Formation Zhēnrén and the towering fury of another, his final mental defense collapsed.
"It was me!" he wailed, tears streaming down his face as his body shook like it was falling apart.
"I saw she was a foreigner, a lone female cultivator, and she dared to ignore me. I felt upset! I just wanted to teach her a lesson, to let her know the rules of Medicine King Valley! I didn't know she was a Jīndān Zhēnrén!"