When Mu Lingqing's pressure fell on me, every disciple in the square went pale.
Several Inner Sect Disciples nearby instinctively stepped back. One even reached for his sword.
They knew Mu Lingqing's cultivation all too well. She was a Reception Envoy under the Sixth Elder of Taiheng Dao Domain's sixty-four peaks, a late-stage Tower-Ascending Realm cultivator who could go wherever she pleased in the Four Domains. Even someone at the same level would have been driven back three steps by her pressure, let alone a companion from a lower domain.
But I did not retreat.
Not a single step.
Her pressure settled on my shoulders as though it had fallen into empty space.
The wind parted around me. The hem of my robe did not stir, and not a speck of dust rose from the jade tiles beneath my feet.
Mu Lingqing's expression changed.
She stared at me for two breaths, then abruptly intensified the pressure.
Her late-stage Tower-Ascending Realm aura surged out at full force. The disciples in the square could no longer withstand it. Some groaned and dropped to one knee; others scrambled backward.
Yu Ningsui stood beside me, teeth clenched and body trembling slightly, but she did not move an inch.
I glanced at her and gently laid a hand on her shoulder.
The pressure bearing down on Yu Ningsui seemed to be brushed aside. She relaxed so suddenly that she nearly stumbled, but I caught her and steadied her.
The strange looks from every disciple around us made Mu Lingqing lose face at once. "You impudent junior! You dare challenge this Reception Envoy?"
"Elder Mu, I'm only her Guardian Daoist. There's no need to test me," I said evenly.
Ordinarily, I would have slapped her to death already. But while I could leave whenever I wished,