"It's tiring," Long Shenyin said. "Mere mortals climb onto clouds and mistake height for heaven."
Mei Qingxue's breath caught softly.
Shen Lanyue looked toward Long Shenyin with a grave expression.
Ning Huang stared.
Long Shenyin's gaze landed on Long Shenyu.
"You are 7th layer Origin Core. I am 6th layer Origin Core. Together, even trashy 4th layer Sage Rulers can be handled. And you're sitting here letting Sky Lord insects bark above your head?"
The room died.
Mei Qingxue already knew the siblings were monstrous. She had seen too much to think otherwise. Still, hearing Long Shenyin call a 4th layer Sage Ruler "trashy" made her chest tighten.
Shen Lanyue understood the cultivation gap better than most. She knew what Sky Lord meant. She knew what Sage Ruler meant. Sage Qi was not merely denser energy. It was truth given shape. Authority carried through technique. A Sage Ruler's attack did not only strike flesh; it imposed understanding on the battlefield.
And Long Shenyin spoke of them as though they were inconvenient weeds.
Ning Huang felt as if the world had cracked in the wrong direction.
In Heaven's Edict, Sage Rulers were high figures. Even early Sage Rulers could decide the fate of cities and families. A 4th layer Sage Ruler was not an opponent to discuss casually. It was a figure whose arrival could change a regional balance.
Long Shenyu only laughed.
"So impatient. Your beastly side is finally in a good mood?"
Long Shenyin's eyes narrowed.
"Call me beast again and I'll test whether your face heals as fast as your mouth."
"You always say that."
"You always deserve worse."
Mei Qingxue looked between them, unsure whether to be frightened or helplessly amused.
Shen Lanyue quietly decided that the siblings were both insane.
Ning Huang said nothing.
Long Shenyin turned and stepped toward the window.
The air in front of her split.
She flew out first, spear angled across her back, black hair sweeping behind her like a banner of war.
Long Shenyu rose.
Before leaving, he reached out and drew Mei Qingxue into his Qi.
She gasped as her feet left the floor.
"Young Master—"
"You should watch."
"Watch?"
"See how overinflated their egos are."
Shen Lanyue sighed, but followed.
Ning Huang hesitated for one breath.
Fear pulled at her.
So did something else.
If she went out, she would stand under Heaven's Edict's gaze. Her closeness to Long Shenyu would no longer be rumor, no longer report, no longer something hidden inside inn walls.
It would become fact.
A fact with consequences.
Long Shenyu glanced back.
He did not speak. He did not urge her. He only looked at her as if the choice had already been made and he was waiting for her to catch up with herself.
Ning Huang's jaw tightened.
Then she flew after him.
Above River Ridge City, five figures rose into the sky.
The whole city saw them.
Long Shenyin stood slightly ahead, spear over one shoulder, her face full of contempt.
Long Shenyu hovered beside her, one arm around Mei Qingxue, his robe untouched by the storm winds. Shen Lanyue appeared to his other side, cold Qi gathering quietly around her sword. Ning Huang came last, lightning faintly alive beneath her skin, her posture straight, her expression severe.
Opposite them stood four figures.
Lu Jiangheng was there.
His wounds had been treated. Verdant Edge medicine had restored his meridians, stabilized his aura, and closed the visible damage. But medicine could not treat humiliation. It had settled behind his eyes, sharp and poisonous.
He smiled too much when he saw Long Shenyu.
"There you are."
His voice carried across the city.
"No inn. No shadows. No confusion. Let's see how long your arrogance lasts when you can't hide behind that sword."
Long Shenyu did not look at him.
Not even once.
His gaze passed over Lu Jiangheng as though the man were a bird perched on a distant roof, then settled on the darker-robed cultivator beside him.
Luo Zhenmu.
The Verdant Edge inner deacon wore deep green robes edged with thin silver sword patterns. He was not explosive like Lu Jiangheng. He did not need to be. His aura was cold, upright, and polished, like a sword that had been sharpened for years and never drawn in anger without drawing blood.
His sword remained at his waist.
Yet the wind around him was already cut into thin lines.
Long Shenyu looked at him and smiled faintly.
"A mere 4th layer Sky Lord. Very confident for being so weak."
Lu Jiangheng's smile froze.
Luo Zhenmu's eyes darkened.
Below, the cultivators of River Ridge felt their scalps go numb.
A 4th layer Sky Lord.
In River Ridge, that was a mountain. An existence far above most local ancestors. In a Lower Domain city, such a person could overturn a family with one sentence and flatten a street with one casual sword strike.
And Long Shenyu had called him weak.
Zhao Chuan laughed.
It was a rough, heavy sound, like iron grinding against stone.
"He has a sharp mouth."
He stood slightly higher than Luo Zhenmu. Broad-shouldered, square-faced, and wrapped in a pressure that seemed to make the clouds around him shudder. Black thunder gauntlets covered his hands, each knuckle marked with tiny lightning runes.
Beside him was Lei Yunhe.
Lean, grey-eyed, composed.
A wrapped thunder-spear lay across his back. Unlike Zhao Chuan, he did not look eager to crush something. His aura spread slowly, carefully, like a storm held behind palace doors. That restraint made him more dangerous.
Both were 6th layer Sky Lords.
To River Ridge, they might as well have been heavenly envoys.
In the Qin Family estate, the elders gathered in the front hall and stared at the sky through open formation screens.
Qin Roujian stood at the front, face tense.
Around him, Qin elders watched with strained anticipation. Some were pale. Others could not hide the relief in their eyes.
One elder whispered, "They came together?"
Another breathed, "Verdant Edge and Heaven's Edict at the same time. That boy is finished."
Qin Roujian did not answer.
His instincts were not as comfortable as theirs.
He remembered the Blood-Echo Jade. He remembered Qin Duanhai's aura collapsing in seconds. He remembered the spear pressure that had swallowed a half-step Sky Lord like a candle dropped into a lake.
Long Shenyin's killings were too clean.
Too fast.
Too wrong.
But even Qin Roujian could not imagine Long Shenyu openly resisting two 6th layer Sky Lords from Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace. There were limits to madness. There were gaps that no talent could cross.
He forced his hand to relax.
"Do not move. Do not cheer. Do not expose our role. Let the Noble Domain powers handle this."
Behind a pillar, Qin Xuelan watched the sky.
Her cold face was still, but her eyes carried a question no one else wanted to touch.
"And if they fail?"
The hall went silent.
An elder snapped, "Impossible."
Qin Xuelan looked toward the distant inn.
She did not reply.
Above the city, Luo Zhenmu stepped forward.
His voice rolled down like a sword striking a bronze bell.
"Long Shenyu. You injured a disciple of Verdant Edge, allowed your people to murder River Ridge cultivators, and hid behind confusion. Kneel, and explain yourself."
His gaze hardened.
"If your explanation satisfies me, I will leave your corpse whole."
The words struck the city like falling metal.
Many cultivators lowered their heads instinctively. Some looked toward Long Shenyu, expecting anger, fear, bargaining—anything.
Long Shenyu only tilted his head slightly.
Lu Jiangheng's expression twisted with satisfaction.
He wanted fear.
He wanted that lazy smile broken.
He wanted Long Shenyu to understand that injuring him had not been courage. It had been ignorance. Now his senior brother had arrived. Now Heaven's Edict had arrived. Now the sky itself belonged to his side.
But Long Shenyu still did not look at him.
Luo Zhenmu frowned. "Long Shenyu, you will answer for Verdant Edge first."
Before Long Shenyu could speak, Zhao Chuan waved one hand.
"This Verdant Edge conflict is a farce."
Luo Zhenmu's expression turned ugly.
Lu Jiangheng looked at Zhao Chuan in disbelief.
Zhao Chuan did not care.
To Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace, Verdant Edge Sword Sect was not an equal. Courtesy could be given, but it was not owed. Especially not here, in a Lower Domain city where even the strongest local families trembled beneath their shadows.
Zhao Chuan pointed at Long Shenyu.
"You and War Heiress Ning will return with us. You should feel honored. The Heaven's Verdict Prince has taken special interest in this matter. If you behave, perhaps you will keep your cultivation."
The name landed heavily.
Heaven's Verdict Prince.
Ning Huang's hands went cold.
Long Shenyu felt the change immediately.
Not through words. Through the air. Through the faint tightening of her fingers. Through the way her lightning, usually proud and sharp, suddenly drew inward like a blade returning to its sheath.
His eyes shifted.
Not to Zhao Chuan.
To Ning Huang's hand.
"That prince bothers you?"
Ning Huang's jaw tightened.
"He is one of Heaven's Edict's highest heirs. His talent, status, and authority are not something I can ignore."
"That wasn't what I asked."
She fell silent.
The silence answered him better than words.
Long Shenyu looked back at Zhao Chuan.
"Why should she return?"
Zhao Chuan's brows rose.
As if the question itself were offensive.
Lei Yunhe answered instead.
"Because she is Ning Huang. The youngest War Heiress of Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace. Her future, status, and origin are not matters you understand."
His tone was calm. Almost reasonable.
"She has been outside too long. Remaining beside you has already created rumors. If this continues, it will affect her standing, her cultivation path, and the palace's arrangements."
The words were not shouted.
That made them worse.
Zhao Chuan's arrogance could be resisted. Luo Zhenmu's threat could be dismissed. Lu Jiangheng's hatred was too obvious to matter.
But Lei Yunhe spoke like a man stating weather, law, and consequence.
And in Ning Huang's world, every word was true.
She was not a wandering cultivator. She was not free in the simple sense. Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace had raised her, armed her, taught her, displayed her, and invested in her. A war-heiress was not merely a disciple. She was a political asset, a military symbol, an inheritance vessel.
Her choices had weight.
Her absence had consequences.
Her closeness to Long Shenyu could be interpreted as betrayal, weakness, contamination, or leverage.
For a moment, the reality of her background pressed down harder than Zhao Chuan's aura.
Ning Huang stood very still.
Long Shenyu watched her expression change.
Then he laughed.
It was not loud.
But it cut through the sky.
A few people below looked up despite the pressure crushing their shoulders.
Zhao Chuan's face darkened.
Lei Yunhe's eyes narrowed.
Long Shenyu's voice was calm.
"A mere half-step Emperor sect speaks as if it owns heaven."
The city went silent.
Not quiet.
Silent.
Even the thunder seemed to pause.
Luo Zhenmu stared at him.
Lu Jiangheng's lips parted slightly.
He hated Long Shenyu. He wanted him dead. But even he felt a chill at those words.
A mere half-step Emperor sect.
Who in the Lower Domains could say such a thing?
Who in the Noble Domains would dare say it lightly?
Heaven's Edict Thunder Palace was not the strongest power on the Ninefold Origin Star. Everyone knew that. The Divine Central Domains housed true monsters. Emperor-level hegemonies. Great Emperor ancestors. Ancient inheritances whose names could make Noble Domain sect masters lower their voices.
But in this region, Heaven's Edict was a sky.
And Long Shenyu had called that sky "mere."
Zhao Chuan stepped forward.
"Frog at the bottom of a well."
Black-blue lightning crawled across his gauntlets.
"You think injuring a 2nd Layer Sky Lord makes you a figure? You think hiding some weapon trick lets you look down on Heaven's Edict?"
His aura rose.
"Kneel."
The command fell.
Sixth layer Sky Lord pressure descended like a mountain wrapped in thunder.
The clouds above River Ridge twisted into a blue-white spiral. Lightning gathered sparked all around Zhao Chuan.
Already, the city groaned.
Roof tiles cracked. Formation lamps burst one after another. The river running through the lower district trembled, its surface shivering beneath the pressure. Cultivators below Origin Core collapsed instantly. Origin Core elders gritted their teeth and bent at the waist. Even several hidden Sky Lords watching from private halls felt their breathing turn rough.
In the Qin Family, elders smiled in relief.
One whispered, "Now it ends."
The pressure slammed down fully.
And nothing happened.
Long Shenyu remained where he was.
His robe did not flutter. His shoulders did not lower. His smile did not fade.
Mei Qingxue, held within his Qi, blinked in confusion. Shen Lanyue's eyes sharpened. Ning Huang's breath caught.
For a heartbeat, even they did not understand.
Then Mei Qingxue felt it.
A layer of Long Shenyu's Qi surrounded them.
Not thick. Not showy. It did not blaze like fire or roar like thunder. It simply existed, calm and absolute, cutting Zhao Chuan's pressure away before it could touch them.
The thunder above screamed.
Long Shenyu's Qi remained quiet.
It was like watching waves crash against a black cliff and realizing the cliff had not noticed the sea.
Shen Lanyue's fingers loosened slightly around her sword hilt.
Ning Huang stared at Long Shenyu from the side.
She knew Zhao Chuan's pressure. She knew the weight of Heaven's Edict arts. Their suppression was not ordinary aura. It targeted breath, meridian rhythm, will, and instinct. Even if one resisted physically, the body would hesitate. Even if the body endured, the soul would feel command.
But beside Long Shenyu, there was none of it.
No weight.
No command.
No heavenly verdict.
Only his arm's warmth earlier, his careless smile, and a calm field of Qi that made Heaven's Edict's pressure feel strangely distant.
Below, confusion spread through the city.
"Why isn't he kneeling?"
"Did the pressure miss?"
"Impossible. I can barely breathe from here…"
"He's protecting the women too?"
In the Qin hall, the elder who had said it would end stared upward with his mouth half-open.
Qin Roujian's face turned colder.
Qin Xuelan did not speak.
Her question remained in the air.
And if they fail?
Above River Ridge, Zhao Chuan's expression changed.
Not much at first.
Only a twitch at the corner of his eye.
Then Long Shenyin's voice cut through everything.
"Shenyu, shut the hell up and kill these ants already."