Li Jie stood perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the cloaked figure perched atop the Ancestor's Tree.
Six centuries of cultivation had taught him many things, but perhaps the most important lesson was this: when faced with sothing impossible, the first step was to accept that it was, in fact, possible.
And what he saw before him was very, very impossible.
The figure made no threatening moves, no dramatic gestures. They simply... existed, their presence alone enough to make the air feel thick and heavy. Their blood-red eyes glead from beneath their hood, fixed on Li Jie with an intensity that made his centuries of cultivation feel like a child's first steps.
Li Jie extended his spiritual sense carefully, probing the space around the figure. He knew what he would find – or rather, what he wouldn't find – but old habits died hard. As expected, there was nothing. Not even a whisper of rouqi.
Only those of significantly higher cultivation could completely mask their energy from those below them. It was a simple matter of control – like how Li Jie himself could beco completely undetectable to Tier 1 cultivators when he wished. But to be completely invisible to soone at his level, half a step into Tier 3..., and that wasn't even the worst of it, there was the flying.
Li Jie's eyes narrowed as he rembered how the figure had descended down from the heavens. Flight wasn't just a matter of having enough power – it required a fundantal understanding of how to manipulate the world's energy fields, how to weave rouqi into patterns that could defy gravity itself. An understanding one wouldn't be able to gain in the lower tiers.
Even Tier 4 cultivators couldn't achieve true flight. They could leap incredible distances, could even glide for short periods, but sustained flight? That required Tier 5 cultivation at minimum. And no one had reached that level since...
"Impossible," he whispered, the word escaping before he could stop it.
The last confird Tier 5 cultivator had died over four hundred years ago. Li Jie rembered it clearly – he'd been a young elder then, barely two centuries old, when news spread that Master Yuan of the White Horn Sect had failed to maintain his cultivation level. The great master had chosen to end his own life rather than suffer the indignity of falling back to a lower tier.
Since then, it was almost impossible to even breakthrough to Tier 3. The idea that soone could not only reach Tier 5 but maintain it in these energy-starved tis was...
"What in all the hells did you do, Zhou Shentong?" Li Jie cursed internally. "What could you possibly have done to draw out sothing like this?"
Drawing the attention of a higher-tier Rouqin was bad enough – they were typically territorial and quick to anger. But one with red eyes suggested sothing worse, much worse - demonic Rouqin.
If Li Jie didn't know better, he'd think that Zhou brat had deliberately tried to get their sect destroyed.
His thoughts were interrupted by hurried footsteps. The elder who had tried to speak with him earlier was approaching again, apparently having gathered the courage to press his urgency.
"Sect Master," the elder began, his voice tight with barely contained agitation, "about Elder Zhou Shentong's death."
Li Jie kept his eyes fixed on the cloaked figure as he listened. He didn't dare look away, not even for a mont.
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"He was killed by the young master of the Han family," the elder went on. "Our scouts confird it. The boy sohow managed to..."
Li Jie's mind raced as he processed this information. Han Renyi? That barely-Tier-1 cultivator had killed Zhou Shentong? But then... why was this being here? What was the connection?
"The Han boy destroyed Elder Zhou Shentong's private chamber," the elder was saying, "Used so kind of unknown technique to..."
Li Jie made a subtle gesture with his left hand – three fingers spread, then closed into a fist. It was a secret signal, one every elder knew.
The elder's words died in his throat as he finally noticed what Li Jie was staring at. The old elder's face went pale as the blood drained from it, his eyes widening as he registered the impossible figure standing on top of the Ancestor's Tree.
To his credit, Elder Chen didn't make a sound. He simply backed away slowly. The cloaked figure showed no reaction to his departure, which Li Jie chose to take as a good sign. At least they weren't here to slaughter everyone indiscriminately.
Yet, Li Jie couldn't shake the feeling of his own mortality, sothing he hadn't experienced in centuries. It was a peculiar sensation – the acute awareness that his next breath might be his last, that all his cultivation and power might an nothing against what stood before him.
Strangely, a part of him almost welcod it. He'd forgotten this feeling, the sharp edge of uncertainty that made every mont more vivid, more real.
"How long has it been," he wondered, "since I've felt truly alive? Since I've faced sothing that made question whether I'd see another sunrise?"
The thought should have terrified him. Instead, he found himself suppressing a smile. Perhaps this was what he'd been missing in his endless pursuit of advancent – the simple thrill of facing the unknown.
Still, he wasn't quite ready to die just yet. And the being hadn't killed him imdiately, which ant there might be room for discussion. Taking a deep breath, Li Jie gathered his courage.
"May this one ask what brings such an... honored guest to our humble sect?"
The figure remained silent for so long that Li Jie began to wonder if they would respond at all. When they did speak, their voice was strange – neither male nor female, young nor old, but sohow all of these at once.
"I see that news of the junior's death has reached you..."
Li Jie held back a sigh. So, this was about Zhou Shentong after all. But why would soone of this level care about a re Tier 2 cultivator?
"Yes, honored one."
"Then you know it was my disciple who killed him."
Li Jie carefully kept his expression neutral, though his mind was racing. Han Renyi was this being's disciple?
"What happens between juniors," the figure continued, "should stay between juniors. The involvent of seniors would be... unfortunate."
The words were spoken casually, but Li Jie felt their weight. This wasn't just a statent – it was a warning. Stay out of it, or else.
If he was interpreting this correctly, the being wasn't here to destroy the sect. They were here to prevent escalation, to ensure the death of a single elder didn't spiral into a larger conflict.
It made sense, in a way.
The death of a disciple or elder usually led to retaliation, which led to counter-retaliation, until entire sects were drawn into decades-long blood feuds. Li Jie had seen it happen more tis than he cared to count. The world's history was written in such cycles of violence.
But if both sides agreed to treat it as a matter between juniors...
"Zhou Shentong was..." Li Jie chose his words carefully, "prone to creating problems. His death, while regrettable, was not entirely unexpected. One might even say he invited his fate through his actions."
Was that a slight nod from the figure? Li Jie pressed on, encouraged.
"Our sect has no wish to escalate matters that have already reached their natural conclusion."
The figure seed pleased by this response, their posture relaxing slightly. Li Jie allowed himself to hope that perhaps they would all survive this night after all.
The sect could weather the loss of one elder, especially one as troubleso as Zhou Shentong. Yes, there would be political ramifications, but those could be managed. The important thing was—
The world exploded.
There was no other way to describe it. One mont everything was calm, the next an overwhelming pressure descended on the compound like the hand of an angry god.
Li Jie's knees buckled under the weight of it, and he heard screams in the distance as weaker cultivators collapsed entirely.
A voice like thunder shook the very foundations of the sect:
"YOU DARE KILL MY GRANDSON?"
Li Jie's blood ran cold as he recognized that voice.
The Seventh Ancestor.
The most powerful mber of their sect, who hadn't erged from seclusion in over four centuries.
Who had specifically ordered that his bloodline be protected at all costs.
Who had just discovered his grandson's death.
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