The Prodigies War

With no outlet for their anger, resentment within the Tianwu Sect increasingly turned toward Supreme Elder Qing Feng. Many believed he was the true culprit, the root cause of the calamity that had befallen Supreme Elder Qing Heng.

In private, criticism and condemnation spread quietly through the sect, most of it directly at Supreme Elder Qing Feng. Lin Xun paid it no mind. He did not care. Right now, his only priority was to keep a low profile, endure in silence and continue building his cultivation in the shadows.

However, just three days after Qing Heng returned wounded, something unexpected happened. Tian Ruojing, supreme elder of the Tianling Sect, arrived at the Tianwu Sect alone.

At the Hundred Sects Grand Assembly, it was Tian Ruojing who gravely injured Qing Heng, igniting fury throughout the Tianwu Sect.

Now, she had come to the sect in person? For what purpose? To flaunt her power? Or to press her advantage and exact further retaliation?

Whatever her intentions, her status was no longer what it once was. Even if resentment burned within him, Sect Leader Fu Yunzi had no choice but to personally step forward to receive her. However, when he learned the true reason for her visit, he was stunned for a moment. She had come to see Supreme Elder Qing Feng!

Scripture Pavilion.

When Lin Xun heard that Tian Ruojing was waiting for him in the reception hall, one of his brows lifted slightly. What does this woman want?

After a brief moment of thought, he rose and walked toward the hall without hesitation. He wanted to see for himself what exactly the woman who had nearly destroyed Qing Feng wanted.

......

Reception Hall.

Tian Ruojing sat alone. She wore a snow-white gown, her dark hair cascading down her back like a waterfall of ink. Her features were exquisite, and her skin was luminous as jade. Beneath slender brows, her eyes shone bright as stars. Even seated casually, she seemed like a fairy descended to the mortal world, radiating an air of elegance that set her apart from everyone else.

When Lin Xun stepped into the hall and laid eyes on her for the first time, a strange turbulence rose in his chest. An inexplicable surge of longing and bitterness welled up within him. Then, for a fleeting instant, his gaze shifted. Those emotions did not belong to him. They were Qing Feng’s lingering instincts!

The next second, Lin Xun suppressed them completely and strode into the hall. Tian Ruojing’s eyes fell upon him at once. They were utterly indifferent and not the slightest ripple disturbed their surface. It was the look of someone gazing down upon something insignificant. Like a sovereign glancing at an ant crawling at her feet.

Lin Xun sat down opposite her. “Why did you come to see me?”

Seeing the faint arrogance and superiority etched between her brows, he could not help but laugh inwardly. In the Eternal True Realm, even Immortals had lowered their heads before him, let alone a supreme Emperor Ancestor.

He had fought his way across the Sea of ​​Fate and stepped into the All-Wonder Dominion. There, even Immeasurable Dao Lords of the Eternal Path could only bow down before him. Now, a mere supreme Emperor Ancestor dared to put on airs in his presence. How utterly ridiculous!

Tian Ruojing’s brows drew together faintly, a flicker of surprise passing through her eyes. She had not expected Qing Feng to speak to her in such a tone.

“Is it because I damaged your senior brother’s dao foundation,” she asked, “that you now bear hostility toward me?”

Lin Xun leaned back slightly. “You didn’t come here today to rekindle old vows and become a couple with me, did you?”

A flicker of cold light passed through Tian Ruojing’s eyes. “Become a couple?” She scoffed. “In this world, only you, Qing Feng, could cling to such foolish fantasies.”

Her voice grew even colder. “From the moment your dao foundation was shattered, you and I ceased to belong to the same world. That much should have been obvious. Yet you refused to accept reality and all these years, you’ve clung stubbornly to illusions. I truly don’t understand.”

Lin Xun’s brows slowly drew together. Before he could say anything, Tian Ruojing’s eyes gleamed with open mockery. “The bright moon in heaven does not mingle with the dust upon earth. This is something everyone understands. Everyone...except you.”

Her lips curved faintly. “Look at what you’ve accomplished all these years. Look at your reputation in the cultivation world. Tell me...how pitiful can one man be?”

Strangely, the calmer Qing Feng appeared, the more irritation welled up within Tian Ruojing. To her surprise, even such blatant ridicule failed to provoke him. He showed no sign of anger, remaining as composed as when he first entered the hall.

“Just as they all say,” Tian Ruojing continued coldly, “you don’t care how tarnished your name becomes. You have no sense of shame whatsoever. I truly cannot understand what meaning there is in the existence of someone like you.”

“Are you finished?” Lin Xun asked lightly. His calm, unruffled demeanor made something tighten in Tian Ruojing’s chest. At the same time, a flicker of confusion crossed her mind.

Hasn’t he loved me all these years? Why is he so detached now?

“Since you’re here,” Lin Xun continued evenly, “I have a few things I’d like to ask you as well.”

At this, Tian Ruojing’s expression turned cold. It was as if she had already guessed his intention. “If you intend to bring up that so-called promise of marriage back then, I advise you not to. Asking will only invite further humiliation.”

Lin Xun met her gaze calmly. “I only want to know one thing. Even if you no longer wished to honor it...why didn’t you give me a clear answer? Why let me cling to a sliver of hope and wait all these years?”

Tian Ruojing let out a faint, amused laugh. “Qing Feng, who else could be as foolish as you? Anyone with a shred of sense would have understood that my refusal to see you was already rejection.”

Lin Xun shook his head slowly. “No, you’re afraid.”

“Afraid? Of what?” Tian Ruojing’s expression flickered within surprise.

Lin Xun’s gaze sharpened. “You were afraid I would reveal the truth...that I saved your life in the secret realm...that you once promised to marry me. If that became known, it would deal a serious blow to your reputation. After all, my dao foundation was shattered because I saved you.”

Tian Ruojing’s pupils contracted.

Lin Xun continued calmly, “So you didn’t dare sever ties with me outright. You chose to drag it out for as long as possible to let time blur the truth. So that one day, if I ever spoke of what happened back then, the world would dismiss it as the bitter delusion of a disgraced man. After all, in their eyes, I am a laughingstock. And you, Tian Ruojing, are already a supreme elder of the Tianling Sect. Who would choose to believe me over you?”

Tian Ruojing stared at Lin Xun for a long moment, her gaze flickering with surprise. “It seems you’re not entirely a fool after all. Then why have you acted like one all these years?”

Lin Xun’s voice remained steady. “What you call foolishness, I once called devotion. I once called it love.”

He paused. “But now...I see clearly.”

A trace of anger surfaced in Tian Ruojing’s beautiful eyes. “So what if you’ve come to your senses? With your current cultivation, do you truly think you can take revenge on me? As I said before, even if you awaken, you are still nothing but trash. In this lifetime, you will likely never advance beyond the Cyclic Derivation Stage.”

Her chin lifted slightly. “But I am different. In ten years, I will enter the Immortal Pavilion and prepare to step onto the Immortal Path. When that day comes, you and I are destined to never cross paths again!”

Her tone was cold and detached, making no attempt to conceal her contempt for Qing Feng.

Lin Xun glanced at her. “Let’s speak plainly.”

Tian Ruojing nodded. “Very well, since you’ve finally come to understand your own inadequacy, I will be direct.”

Her voice turned cold. “From this day forward, if I hear even a single rumor circulating outside that harms my reputation, then the Tianwu Sect will no longer have any reason to exist. I trust you understand the gravity of that consequence.”

Lin Xun asked in response, “If you’re so concerned, why not simply kill me now?”

Tian Ruojing’s eyes swept over him, cold and sharp. “You saved my life once. How could I kill you? No, I won’t let you die. I want you alive. I want you to watch as I ascend the Immortal Path step by step and stand at the very pinnacle of the Dao Derivation Zone.”

Lin Xun let out a soft laugh and tapped his chest. “So that’s it. The fact that I saved your life back then has become a knot in your heart. In that case, all these years, you’ve become my inner demon, and I’ve been your inner obstruction.”

Seeing the calm smile on Qing Feng’s face, a sudden surge of killing intent rose within Tian Ruojing. In the end, she forcibly suppressed it.

“Qing Feng, I’ve said what I came to say.” Her voice turned cold. “Just look at your senior brother Qing Heng’s fate. You should understand that, if I wished for it, wiping out the entire Tianwu Sect would not be difficult.”

With that, she turned and walked away without another glance. Lin Xun watched her departing figure, then rose to leave as well.

Before he could step out of the hall, Sect Leader Fu Yunzi hurried forward. “Martial Uncle...what did she want?”

Lin Xun answered lightly, “She advised me to abandon any lingering fantasies and never have any improper thoughts toward her again.”

Fu Yunzi blinked. “That’s all?”

Lin Xun smiled faintly. “How could someone of her stature possibly marry a ‘disgrace to the sect’ like me?”

Fu Yunzi let out a low grunt, at a loss for words. After a moment’s hesitation, he lowered his voice. “Martial Uncle, Tian Ruojing is no longer who she once was. In ten years, she will become an elder of the Immortal Pavilion. You...must not cling stubbornly to the past.”

“Rest assured,” Lin Xun said calmly, “I won’t.”

With that, he turned and left.

Fu Yunzi stood there, puzzled. For some reason his martial uncle had felt different today.

“Could it be...he has finally let go? If so, that would be a blessing...” Fu Yunzi murmured.

Tian Ruojing was someone the Tianwu Sect simply could not afford to offend now. Even though she had grievously damaged Qing Heng’s dao foundation, they had no choice but to swallow the resentment. This was the cruelty of reality.

......

The Tianling Sect.

Back in her own residence, Tian Ruojing found it impossible to calm her mind.

“How could Qing Feng possibly have seen through the knot in my heart?” Her brows furrowed.

You are my inner demon, and I am your inner obstruction. As those words echoed again and again in her mind, a surge of killing intent rose uncontrollably within her.

Yes. Qing Feng was the karmic obstruction in her heart. The reason was simple. He had once saved her life. In that moment of desperation, she had been deeply moved and so she promised to remain by his side for the rest of her life.

Later...she regretted it. She did not believe she had done anything wrong. After all, she had never asked him to save her!

As the years passed, as her cultivation advanced and her horizons broadened, her ambitions changed. She longed for a partner of towering strength, someone she could admire. Not a crippled cultivator whose dao foundation had been irreparably damaged.

For years, she deliberately pushed the matter aside, refusing to think about it. Unfortunately when she reached the pinnacle of the Supreme Emperor Ancestor Stage and began preparing to seek the Immortal Path, that long-forgotten ‘life-saving grace’ resurfaced.

Only then did she realize it had become a karmic obstruction in her heart. That was why she had gone to see him. She had intended to sever this karmic obstruction completely.

But now...

After meeting him, she realized that instead of resolving the issue, her state of mind had sunk deeper and deeper into that karmic obstruction.

“Qing Feng...you’re truly a curse upon others!” An indescribable fury surged within her chest

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