Half a day later, by the Withered Orchid Waterfall in Chongming Sect's Inner Sect.
In a secluded courtyard built beside the water, Zheng Jingshan, clad in brocade robes and a jade crown, looked every inch the refined gentleman as he instructed several junior disciples from his pulse in their cultivation techniques.
His voice was measured and eloquent, his manner unhurried. He gave off an air of effortless confidence and propriety that made people want to trust him without even thinking.
Watching him, the junior disciples grew all the more reverent. Their admiration showed naturally on their faces. "If only I could be like Senior Brother Zheng someday!"
Zheng Jingshan noticed and gave a faint, private smirk. Without drawing attention to himself, he adjusted his posture, looking even more like a man of distinction.
But at that very moment, the courtyard gate in the distance was suddenly kicked open!
"Zheng Jingshan, get out here and die!" The brothers in the courtyard were startled. Before they could recover, a rough-looking man in a loose green robe strode inside, eyes shining brightly. He swept a glance over the courtyard, then hurled a punch straight at Zheng Jingshan.
His fist tore through the air, carrying strange whispers in its wake. Before it had even reached its target, the junior disciples in the courtyard were already dizzy. Without realizing it, they moved to block Zheng Jingshan's path of escape.
"Miao Chengyang, how dare you?!" Zheng Jingshan was shocked. Caught off guard, and facing an opponent at Foundation Establishment Late Stage, his first instinct was to avoid the attack. But Miao Chengyang had already mastered the Heart Demon Fist to a small degree. The moment he made his move, he took control of several junior disciples at Foundation Establishment Early Stage, forcing them to block Zheng Jingshan's way.
If Zheng Jingshan retreated now, he would inevitably injure his junior brothers.
As Pulse Master of his lineage, and having deliberately cultivated these junior brothers into trusted aides in recent days, he could not simply abandon them. He forced spiritual power through his body. A surge of azure light welled around him as bronze-colored patterns rapidly surfaced on his arms, face, and neck. In an instant, he activated the Azure Ghost Battle Body.
With his Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivation, the power of this battle body was naturally nothing like that of Zhou Yi, who had been at Qi Refining Layer 4 when Pei Ling faced him. Two horns sprouted from Zheng Jingshan's head, and the exposed muscles of his body gleamed with a metallic sheen. He looked incomparably powerful!
Miao Chengyang only sneered. Suddenly, his fist became a claw. His fingernails shot longer, and a spot of icy blue light shone at each fingertip. With a casual swipe, he tore Zheng Jingshan's Azure Ghost Battle Body open, leaving his flesh mangled.
"Miao Chengyang! Have you gone mad?!" Zheng Jingshan endured the pain and finally found the chance to summon a weapon from his Storage Pouch. With a blood-red saber in hand, he at least had something to rely on. He glared at Miao Chengyang. "We made ourselves clear in front of the senior brothers and sisters of the Upper Three Meridians that day. From then on, we'd keep to our own side of the river. You've attacked the Jiansang lineage for no reason today. Do you think nothing of the senior brothers and sisters of the Upper Three Meridians?!"
"I wouldn't dare show disrespect to the senior brothers and sisters of the Upper Three Meridians." Miao Chengyang glanced at the wound on his chest and did not press his advantage, but his voice was icy. "But you couldn't beat me in the Inner Sect, so you resorted to underhanded tricks and sent someone to kill my younger brother in the Outer Sect. Cheng An was my only brother by the same mother! This hatred cannot be reconciled! I'd have a case even if this went before the senior brothers and sisters of the Upper Three Meridians—or even Li True Disciple!!!"
Zheng Jingshan stared at him in disbelief. "Hold on! What kind of madness is this? When did I ever send someone to kill your brother in the Outer Sect? I don't even know where your brother is in the Outer Sect!"
Miao Chengyang let out a cold laugh. "Zheng Jingshan! You may have risen to power by murdering your father, but we of the Sacred Sect care only about strength, not methods. I never even mocked you over it. Now you dare to do something and refuse to own up to it. It's truly despicable. I thought that although you were temporarily behind in cultivation, you were at least a worthy rival I'd fought all the way from the Outer Sect. Now I see you're not even fit to be called one!"
"If I'd done it, I'd own up to it!" Zheng Jingshan nearly spat blood as he shouted, "You fool, you hear one rumor and believe it, never even realizing who's using you as a blade!"
"Dare you say you haven't been thinking about getting back at me lately?" Miao Chengyang said coldly. "How many people heard you say it with their own ears? And you still dare deny it!"
"Me..." Zheng Jingshan was furious. He had only said it in anger. After all, he had truly suffered a loss; if he did not even utter a few harsh words, how could he keep his followers' spirits up?
With several junior brothers present, he could not say that outright. He only shouted grimly, "You're clearly just looking for trouble!"
"So what?!" Miao Chengyang had seen the evidence Li Ping's concubine had provided. How many people at Zhan Chen Platform had personally witnessed Pei Ling disembark from the Xuan Gu Ling Yin Boat? How could that have been fabricated? And later, when Pei Hong Nian brought that clan brother into the sect, he had repeatedly called him Senior Brother Zheng.
Now Zheng Jingshan was flatly denying it. How could Miao Chengyang believe him?
He could only think Zheng Jingshan was vile and shameless, utterly contemptible.
He could not be bothered to argue the details. Taking a step forward, he pointed at Zheng Jingshan's brow.
The Inner Sect's Thirteen Meridians were divided into the Upper Three Meridians, the Middle Five Pulse, and the Lower Five Meridians. Both Miao Chengyang and Zheng Jingshan belonged to the Lower Five Meridians. But Miao Chengyang was first among its five Pulse Masters, while Zheng Jingshan was dead last. They had fought from the Outer Sect all the way into the Inner Sect, and even after Zheng Jingshan had murdered his father to cultivate, he had still lost to Miao Chengyang.
Now, even with his weapon in hand, Zheng Jingshan's blood-red saber missed its mark again and again as he struck more than a dozen times. Miao Chengyang's whole figure flickered through the courtyard like a dream, like lightning, half-real and half-illusory. His hands gradually turned icy blue, and each time they touched Zheng Jingshan's body, they left a wound deep enough to show bone.
"Ghostly Escape!" Zheng Jingshan's face turned ugly. Ghostly Escape was one of the top escape techniques kept in the Inner Sect's Hall of Many Laws. It was said that when combined with several other top escape techniques, it could form the sect's signature Five Ghost Heavenly Net Escape! It was reputed to reach from the Azure Firmament above to the netherworld below, with nowhere beyond its reach!
Cultivating it alone was already extremely difficult, and it was exorbitantly expensive. He had never even considered buying it, yet Miao Chengyang had not only bought it but mastered it, too.
The moment Zheng Jingshan's attention wavered, his arm filled with sharp pain. Miao Chengyang had suddenly slipped past the edge of his blade and closed in, then brutally snapped the hand holding it. Next, Zheng Jingshan could do nothing to resist as Miao Chengyang's Heart Demon Fist struck him squarely in the face. His head rang. His will blurred for an instant, and then he seemed to see several scantily clad demonesses dancing close against him...
Zheng Jingshan was not a man who lusted after women, but at that moment, he could not bring himself back to his senses. He kept his guard up in his heart, yet his eyes remained fixed on them—until, a moment later, the demonesses suddenly vanished. Dazed and reeling, he was helped to his feet by several people, only to discover that there was not a single part of his body that did not hurt!
He instinctively touched his face. His hand came away covered in blood.
The junior brothers who had just been so reverent toward him huddled together like quails, glancing at one another without daring to speak.
"...Go, go report this to the Deacon Hall." Zheng Jingshan's face was livid. He knew he had thoroughly disgraced himself today. After coughing twice and spitting out a mouthful of blood, he ordered through clenched teeth, "Tell them the Pulse Master of the Zhaochuan Pulse came to my door and openly provoked me. Ask the Deacon Hall to come deal with this at once!"
The junior brothers looked at one another. In the end, they pushed the youngest forward. He said timidly, "Senior Brother, when Pulse Master Miao left, he said he'd go to the Deacon Hall and pay the fee right away. He told you not to worry about it."
At that, Zheng Jingshan nearly spat up another mouthful of blood.
He clutched his chest for a moment, held back his fury, and asked, "What else did he say?"
"..." The junior brother glanced at him before answering gingerly. "He also said that if it weren't for Fairy Li, he would have killed you today to avenge his younger brother! Even if he doesn't kill you now, he'll... he'll come over from time to time to 'spar' with you!"
Zheng Jingshan: "..."
Who the hell was setting him up?!!!
Before you continue