Inside the Nine Heaven Sword Sect.
"AHHHH!"
The scream echoed through the high, vaulted ceilings of the sect hall.
"So," a voice like grinding ice cut through the air. "Not only did you fail to retrieve the artifact, but you allowed yourself to be beaten into this pathetic state?"
Mo Xuan knelt on the cold stone floor, his silk robes now nothing but blood-stained rags. His body trembled, not just from his wounds, but from the suffocating aura filling the room.
"They will pay!" Mo Xuan whisper, his teeth bared in a snarl. "Those backwater bastards... I'll burn that village to the ground!"
Suddenly, the air grew heavy, massive, invisible weight crashed down on the three of them like a falling mountain. Mo Xuan's face slammed into the stone, his bones groaning under the pressure.
"I-I'm sorry... Senior Brother Su Qingmei," Xuan gasped, the words forced out through blood-flecked teeth.
"Sorry?" Su Qingmei stood at the head of the hall, his expression calm, almost bored. His voice was gentle, which only made his contempt feel more terrifying. "Now I truly understand why outer disciples are considered trash. I sent you to hunt a single girl. You lost the artifact because she threw it into a bush, but you were only able to finish her off.
"Senior Brother, please!" Bai Lu cried out, he forehead pressed to the floor. "It wasn't Brother Xuan's fault! The village... it wasn't normal!"
They scrambled to explain the treasures they had seen, the weapons, the medicine, the sheer density of the Qi.
"Spirit-grade artifacts and pills? In a peasant village?" Su Qingmei's brow furrowed. The greed in his own eyes flickered for a second before turning cold again. "It still makes no sense. Xuan, you are in the middle stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. To suggest you lost to 'ordinary' villagers is an insult to the Sect."
Xuan's sweat hit the stone floor in heavy drops. He Sun spoke up, his voice trembling as he flashed back to the events of two days ago.
"Senior Brother... if you saw what happened in that shop... you would understand."
Two Days Earlier — Qinghe Village
"We aren't paying for anything," Mo Xuan whispered, his eyes gleaming with a dark, manic hunger.
Bai Lu blinked."What?"
"Look around you!" Xuan hissed. "These people have no guards, no walls, and no backing. Why waste jade stones when we can simply take it all?"
A cruel smile spread across Bai Lu and He Sun's faces. "Brother Xuan is brilliant!"
They split up like wolves entering a pen. Bai Lu stormed into the artifact smithy, his killing intent leaking out in jagged waves. He Sun headed for the apothecary, eyeing the rows of healing brews.
Mo Xuan, however, walked toward a small, unassuming shop with the sign: Doctor Lu Cheng.
Inside, the air smelled of dried herbs and ancient dust. Lu Cheng sat behind a counter, calmly scribbling in a ledger.
"Mortal-grade... forty left. Spirit-grade... twenty. Earth-grade... only ten." The doctor sighed, tapping his quill. "If I could just get my hands on higher-quality stalks from the forest, I could finally attempt a Heaven-grade batch. But Moving into Stage Three of the forest is still dangerous for now..."
The door creaked open. A sharp, poisonous killing intent pierced the quiet room.
Lu Cheng didn't flinch. He looked up, his eyes clear and peaceful. "Junior," he said softly, "what brings you to my door?"
Mo Xuan's pupils shrank. He tried to probe the man's cultivation, but his spiritual sense hit a wall of absolute nothingness. I can't feel his base? he thought. He must be a mortal. A lucky mortal with a shop full of gold.
Lu Cheng stood up. "I sell pills of all grades. Mortal-grade is a thousand jade stones. Spirit is fifteen hundred. Earth-grade starts at two thousand. Simple prices for simple people."
Xuan's face twisted. "Two thousand? For a single pill? This is robbery!"
Why should I even negotiate?Xuan thought, his hand drifting to his hilt. I'll take his stock and leave his head on the counter.
He stepped forward, and suddenly felt a pressure so immense he thought his heart would stop. It felt like the entire world was pressing down on his soul. Then, as quickly as it came, it vanished.
"...What was that?" Xuan whispered, his legs shaking.
"So," Lu Cheng asked, his voice still terrifyingly calm. "Which pill do you want?"
Xuan snapped. The fear turned into a blind, desperate rage. "ENOUGH!"
He drew his sword in a blur, the cold steel pressed against Lu Cheng's throat. "Give me every pill in this shop. I don't have time for your games, old man."
Lu Cheng's eyes turned to flint. "If you have no money," he said, his voice dropping an octave, "then leave my shop. Now."
"I said give them to me!"
"You will regret this," Lu Cheng warned.
Xuan didn't wait for another word. He twisted his wrist and slashed. Blood sprayed across the wooden cabinets, staining the white porcelain pill bottles.
Mo Xuan threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing through the quiet shop. "Hahahaha! I knew it! Just a mortal! Nothing but a weak, pathetic mortal!