Mu Liang's voice quivered, yet burned with fury and shame.
"Lord... it was the Nine Heavens Immortal Hall. I was returning to the sect after collecting all the resources from our outposts... when I was ambushed."
Elder Jin's eyes darkened. His expression turned grim.
"Nine Heavens Immortal Hall...?"
The name alone carried weight — a storm behind silk.
The Nine Heavens Immortal Sect was not just a cultivation force — it was a continental power, rooted deep in the ancient empires of the Jueyin Continent. Rumored to descend from a fallen celestial dynasty, they wielded forbidden techniques, obscure sigils, and influence that reached into noble clans and royal courts alike.
They were cultivators. They were politicians. They were shadows behind thrones.
Mu Liang's voice was hoarse with pain and despair, his remaining eye glassy with rage.
"On the way... I encountered a man in black. His face was masked. I couldn't identify him, but his cultivation — he was Mystic Core Formation realm at least."
"He tried to ambush me. We fought."
Mu Liang coughed, spitting blood onto the golden floor. His voice thickened with helplessness.
"His sigils... they weren't ordinary. They carried the mark of Nine Heavens Immortal Hall."
"But I started to overpower him. When the tide turned, he retreated... I chased him."
"I fell into his trap."
His hands clenched, trembling in rage.
Elder Jin gave a slow nod, jaw tight. "Continue."
"He led me into a ridge... where sigils were waiting."
"The moment he stepped onto the mountainside, hidden formations activated. Chains of qi snapped out of the air — I tried to resist, but these weren't normal chains. They... sealed more than half of my essence flow."
"I couldn't fight back. He used some unknown method and stole everything — my astral pouch, the entire harvest was inside."
Mu Liang's voice turned bitter. His breathing was rapid.
"But when the chains weakened, that bastard lowered his guard to check other pouches I'd hidden... I struck him."
"I injured him heavily. But I didn't expect his counter... a rank 4 Fire Blade Sigil — it destroyed my eye and leg."
"I ran. I ran and hid, bleeding... healing however I could."
Unable to hold himself upright any longer, Mu Liang collapsed at Elder Jin's feet, tears streaming down his scorched cheeks.
"Lord... this servant has failed you."
"Please... forgive me..."
His cries echoed off the polished walls of the Goldscale Pavilion.
For a long breath, Elder Jin said nothing. Then, slowly, his stern expression softened. He exhaled.
"It's alright. There is no use in crying. It wasn't your fault."
"Don't blame yourself. It was our bad luck... we'll make those Nine Heaven Immortal scoundrels repay tenfold."
He knelt down beside Mu Liang and placed a hand gently over the boy's bloody shoulder. His eyes, for a moment, glinted with unexpected warmth.
With a deep breath, Elder Jin circulated qi into his Essence Core. A soft glow surged from his palm, illuminating a complex sigil array that shimmered into the air.
Ancient script whirled around his hand like a celestial wheel, spinning in arcs of glowing silver.
"Let me heal you first."
"Lord, this..."
"No worries," Elder Jin said firmly. "You are a disciple of our sect. If we don't protect our own... then who will?"
Mu Liang sobbed openly.
"Lord…"
The sigil dissolved into Elder Jin's palm and transformed into written runes. His hand glowed a warm, gentle green light.
The bleeding in Mu Liang's leg ceased. Slowly, flesh began to knit itself back together, bone reforming, sinews reattaching, until a fully restored limb emerged — unmarred by battle.
A few breaths passed.
Mu Liang bowed weakly, trembling.
"Many thanks, Lord... to think you'd use such a high-grade healing sigil on someone like me... This servant will never forget your kindness."
"No need for thanks. Only your arm remains — let me fix that as well."
He extended his palm again, inching toward Mu Liang's mangled arm.
But this time... his eyes changed.
A cold light flashed through them.
Suddenly—
"AAAHHHHHHH!"
Mu Liang screamed in agony.
The guards recoiled several steps back, stunned.
His left arm was torn off from the shoulder in a single ruthless motion — blood spurting like a fountain.
Elder Jin stood up, expression warped in fury. He threw the severed arm directly into Mu Liang's face.
"L-Lord... why?" One of the guards gasped, face pale.
Just moments ago, Elder Jin had been calmly healing him. A benevolent elder. A pillar of the sect.
Now — he was a butcher.
His face twisted with rage. Veins pulsed across his forehead. His aura exploded outward, and the entire Goldscale Pavilion shook, as if struck by an earthquake.
"Who do you think I am?!"
His voice boomed like thunder. Even the spirit jade shelves rattled.
The two guards dropped to their knees, faces pressed to the ground, struggling to breathe beneath the suffocating pressure.
Jin Linhao eyes spewed fire and roared loudly
"You think you can blind me with this pathetic lie?! Throw dust in my eyes with a story of masked men and celestial sects?!"
"If you really encountered the Nine Heaven Immortal Sect, do you think you would still be alive to telling this tale to me?
"With your meagre ability would you able to survive them?"
Mu Liang coughed blood, eyes wide with fear. Panic set in.
This was the moment he dreaded.
He had been caught.
He struggled to kneel despite the pain, lowering his head.
"Lord, I'm telling the truth! I swear upon my cultivation! Please, have mercy!"
The guards were pale with shock. Mu Liang's cries echoed again.
"Lord, calm down — please! Goldscale Pavilion won't withstand another outburst!"
Elder Jin stood still for a long moment. Then, his aura began to recede. He exhaled sharply, as if drawing poison from his chest.
"Fine."
Mu Liang's shoulders slumped in relief.
"I'll believe you..."
But then Elder Jin's voice turned razor-sharp.
"After you pass my test."
His Essence Core pulsed again.
A new sigil ignited, more brutal than the last.
He stepped forward and raised his hand.
"AAAHHHHH!!"
Another scream echoed through the Pavilion.
Flames burst from Elder Jin's palm, licking across Mu Liang's body.
His skin blackened, the scent of burnt flesh filled the air.
Elder Jin's voice was calm now — but cold as winter.
"Where did you hide the resources?"
"Tell me."
"Or burn."
"Lord... please... forgive me..."
Mu Liang's charred voice was barely audible through the pain, broken by sobs and burning lungs.
Elder Jin Qianhao let out a snort.
With a mere thought, the flames in his palm surged — orange turning to deep crimson. The heat intensified, roaring into a burning tempest that licked at Mu Liang's skin. His flesh hissed. His hair curled into smoke. The scent of burnt skin filled the room.
"AAAAHHHH!! I'll tell you, Lord — please stop! I'll tell you!!"
At last, the pain shattered what fragments of resistance Mu Liang had left. His words tumbled out between screams.
Elder Jin stopped the fire.
The room fell into smoldering silence.
Mu Liang's body was a ruin. His skin was blackened and cracked, parts of it sloughing off to expose raw flesh beneath. His robes were incinerated — nothing remained but scorched threads clinging to blistered skin. He looked less like a man and more like a twisted husk.
"I... I hid it..." he rasped. "At the outskirts of Gray Pine Forest... on the eastern side."
"I've told the truth... please... have mercy…"
His ruined hands fumbled toward Elder Jin's feet. With desperate strength, he clutched the elder's shoes, pressing his face against the golden floor.
"It is... my honor... to be shown mercy by Lord Jin Qianhao…"
Elder Jin stared down at the crawling figure before him.
He nodded, slowly.
"Yes. You have suffered enough."
Mu Liang's burned face lit up with faint, fragile hope.
"You deserve mercy..."
There was a pause.
Elder Jin smiled.
But it was a smile without warmth.
"...Mercy with a quick death."
Mu Liang blinked, stunned. The words didn't register immediately. He raised his head in confusion, lips parting in disbelief.
A moment later—
Swoosh.
Thump.
His head rolled across the polished floor, still wide-eyed with shock. Blood pooled in silence.
Elder Jin watched the severed head with disdain. With a flick of his fingers, black flames ignited around it — flames that didn't scorch or flicker with heat, but instead devoured. Mu Liang's head faded into ashes, burned out of existence — body, bone, and soul alike.
"To think even trash like him dares to deceive me. Dream on."
He turned to the stunned guards.
"Send word to Wei Shang. Tell him to come to the Goldscale Pavilion immediately."
"These rats... they multiply every year. We'll need tighter nets."
Elder Jin's voice was grim, cold, and final. His robe sleeves fluttered as he turned, the earlier warmth utterly gone, like a mirage vanishing in desert heat.
He shot a glance toward the half-kneeling guards, his eyes narrowing.
"What are you gawking at?"
"Clean it up."
"And scram."
Both guards flinched like struck dogs.
"Y-yes, Lord!"
They scrambled into motion, hastily dragging the corpse away, wiping blood from the floor with trembling hands.
But just as silence returned to the hall —
A soft, melodious voice echoed from the corridor beyond. It was warm, sweet, and gentle, utterly out of place amidst the lingering scent of blood and fire.
"Father~ as usual, you're angry again."
"You must take care of your health. At least for this daughter's sake."
In an instant, Elder Jin's furious expression melted away. Like a storm giving way to spring sun, his face lit up with joy.
The corpse? Forgotten.
The blood? Irrelevant.
"Jin Linhua! My darling daughter — you came back early?"