Cultivate! Cultivate!

Indoors.

Qin Jue sat cross-legged on the bed. The appearance of Su Jin and Shen Zhiqiu had stirred no ripples in his heart.

He had killed Shen Yutang. So what?

In his eyes, the Shen Family was merely a stumbling block on his path of martial cultivation. If they were foolish enough to get in his way, he would simply kick them aside. For now, his entire mind was focused on the cultivation he was about to begin.

He took the three jade bottles from his robes and gently pulled out the stoppers.

At once, a dense, milky-white spiritual energy poured from the bottle mouths, filling the entire room. It was so pure that it held not a trace of impurity. A single breath made his whole body feel refreshed, and even the depths of his bones seemed to quiver with longing.

Fifty-year-old Stone Bell Milk!

This was a true Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure. Every drop contained an immense essence of the earth, making it exceptionally effective for tempering bones.

Qin Jue drew a breath, his eyes burning with eagerness.

He was currently at the Hundred Refinements Fourth Layer, with his Jade Bone just beginning to form. Though the Earth Vein Stone Marrow had rebuilt his foundation, his body's potential was still far from fully developed. The fourth revolution of the Nine Revolutions Viscera Refining Secret Record, Marrow Rebirth, was all about breaking down and rebuilding—tempering the bones to their limits to produce even stronger marrow and blood.

"These three bottles of Stone Bell Milk should be enough to take my Jade Bone to the next level—maybe even break through to the Hundred Refinements Fifth Layer!"

Qin Jue didn't hesitate. He tipped back his head and downed a bottle of Stone Bell Milk.

Night deepened over Skywind Martial City, at the Shen Family estate.

Candles flickered in the council hall. Several white-haired elders sat along either side, their faces dark. In the seat of honor sat a middle-aged man in brocade and finery, his features somewhat resembling Shen Yutang's. His face was ashen, and the pair of jade spheres he had been turning in his hand had already been crushed to powder.

He was Shen Wan, current head of the Shen Family.

"Bang!"

Shen Wan slammed a hand down on the table. The sturdy redwood table split apart, sending splinters flying.

"This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"

"Some discarded branch-family nobody from the Qin Family dared to kill the Shen Family's prized heir! If word gets out, how will the Shen Family ever hold its place in Skywind Martial City?!"

Shen Zhiqiu knelt below them, already weeping uncontrollably. "Father! You have to avenge my brother! Qin Jue is far too arrogant—he doesn't take the Shen Family seriously at all!"

"Enough!"

The Great Elder, seated on the left, barked sternly. His aura was steady; he was clearly a peak Hundred Refinements Eighth Layer expert.

"What sort of behavior is all this sobbing and wailing?" The Great Elder glared at Shen Zhiqiu, then turned to Shen Wan. "Patriarch, this boy is vicious, and he's growing at an astonishing pace. In just a few days, he advanced from the Hundred Refinements Third Layer to the Jade Bone Realm. He's also exceptionally skilled at fighting above his level. If you let him keep growing..."

"He has to die!" Shen Wan ground his teeth, murder in his eyes. "I've already looked into it. At Silver Moon Bay, this brat not only killed Yutang, he also wounded Meng Kuang, the Ning Family's Attendant. He must be hiding some secret!"

"Then what are we waiting for? I'll go to the Academy and kill him myself!" Another elder, hot-tempered, sprang to his feet.

"Sit down!" Shen Wan roared.

He drew a breath, forcing himself to calm down. As head of the family, he couldn't let anger cloud his judgment.

"This is Skywind Martial City. Although Qingcang Academy doesn't interfere in its disciples' private fights outside the Academy, if we storm into the dormitories and kill one of them, we'll be slapping the Academy in the face! Then forget revenge—the entire Shen Family would be buried with us!"

The elder sat down with a resentful look. "Then what do we do? Just watch that brat get away with it?"

"If we can't do it openly, then we'll do it in the shadows."

Shen Wan's voice was cold as he said, "Academy disciples still have to take assignments and go out on trials. As long as he dares step outside the Academy... hmph!"

He turned to the black-clad subordinate beside him and ordered in a cold voice, "Pass down the order. Have our people keep Qin Jue under close watch! The moment he leaves the Academy, bring me his head at any cost! Remember, make it clean. Leave no evidence!"

"Yes!" The black-clad subordinate accepted the order and left.

After dealing with that, Shen Wan rubbed his brow wearily. His gaze fell on Shen Zhiqiu, still kneeling on the floor, and his expression grew complicated.

Shen Yutang was dead. The most outstanding heir of the Shen Family's younger generation was gone. It was a heavy blow to the family. To preserve their standing, they had to find a new source of support.

"Zhiqiu, get up."

Shen Zhiqiu rose, sobbing. "Father..."

"Stop crying." Shen Wan looked at her. "Tomorrow, you're coming with me to the Ning Family."

"The Ning Family?" Shen Zhiqiu stared at him in confusion. "Why?"

"Yutang may be dead, but the path he laid out for you while he was alive is still there. Ning Yuanzhi, the Ning Family's branch-family young master, has always had an interest in you. He may be a branch-family member, but his father currently oversees several important mines for the Ning Family and wields considerable influence."

"I've decided... to arrange your marriage."

Shen Zhiqiu jerked her head up, her face deathly pale. "Father?! Ning Yuanzhi, that wastrel? His reputation is awful... He spends all his time in the pleasure quarters. I won't marry him!"

"You don't get to decide."

Shen Wan cut her off coldly. "Yutang is dead, and the Shen Family desperately needs the Ning Family's support! Only a marriage alliance can bind our families together. Then, forget one Qin Jue—even if there were ten of him, the Ning Family would help us crush them!"

"What does this little sacrifice matter, when it's for Yutang's revenge and the family's future?"

Shen Wan waved a hand. "Go and prepare. It's settled. There's no point saying more."

Shen Zhiqiu stood rooted in place, staring at her father's cold face. She felt a chill spread through her whole body.

She suddenly remembered what Su Jin had said: Rely on the strong, and you'll go farther.

So this was the price of relying on the strong?

Before the family's interests, the so-called family affection and favor were so fragile.

She opened her mouth to protest, but not a sound came out. In the end, all she could do was bow dazedly and stagger out of the council hall.

As he watched his daughter leave, Shen Wan's eyes showed no emotion. He turned to gaze out at the pitch-black night.

"In this dog-eat-dog world, if you want to survive, if you want to climb higher, someone has to make sacrifices. Yutang is dead, but the future of the Shen Family still depends on those of us who are alive—on fighting for it! Seizing it!"

At that moment, Qin Jue knew nothing of this—or rather, even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.

In the quiet chamber, his entire body was red, the veins beneath his skin bulging like earthworms.

The medicinal power of the fifty-year-old Stone Bell Milk kept spreading through his body, like fire dragons surging wildly through his internal organs.

His bones, meanwhile, were undergoing a transformation. Faint golden lines began to appear across the surface of his once-lustrous white bones—a sign that his Jade Bone was being tempered to a higher level.

"Strength..."

Qin Jue continuously circulated the Nine Revolutions Viscera Refining Secret Record, guiding the violent medicinal power as it battered his organs' limits again and again.

In this world, everything but the sword in his hand and the strength in his body was an illusion.