Seventh Place

When Lei Ba was taken away by the elder of Seventh Peak, he looked as though his parents had died.

The fist imprint on his chest was deep enough to expose bone. The cracks in his golden core were difficult to heal, and his cultivation had fallen from the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm back to the initial stage. Even if he recovered in the future, he would never return to his peak.

More fatal still, his True Disciple status had been stripped away. That meant he would have to move out of Thunder Peak, with its rich Spiritual Energy, losing his generous monthly resource allocation and the attendants who had once swarmed around him.

"Qin Yuan... Qin Yuan..." Lei Ba's eyes were filled with venom, but even more than that, there was a fear that had seeped into his bones.

That punch had shattered not only his breastbone and golden core, but also his pride as Seventh Peak's chosen prodigy.

In the square, Wang Lin, Zhang Hai, and Li Mo sat sprawled on the ground, their faces ashen.

They watched Lei Ba being taken away, watched Qin Yuan's retreating back as he turned and left, then looked at the mocking gazes cast by the surrounding disciples. Regret washed over their minds like a rising tide.

"We... we were wrong..." Wang Lin muttered.

"What's the use of saying that now?" Zhang Hai gave a bitter laugh. "Senior Brother Qin won't want us anymore. Lei Ba is finished too. We... we have nothing left."

Li Mo simply burst into tears. "If I'd known... if I'd known, I never should have coveted those few spirit crystals..."

Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret in this world.

Before the True Disciple stone stele, the gathered disciples had yet to disperse.

On the stele, the words "Sixteenth Place: Qin Yuan, Fifth Peak True Disciple, middle stage Golden Core Realm" seemed to possess some strange magic, firmly drawing everyone's eyes.

"Three days..." a disciple muttered. "It had only been three days since the True Disciple Tournament. From twenty-seventh to sixteenth, from the initial stage of the Golden Core Realm to the middle stage... this cultivation speed is simply inconceivable."

"Did you notice? Senior Brother Qin still used that same punch to defeat Lei Ba. Simple and straightforward, plain and unadorned, yet impossible to block."

"Lei Ba's Heavenly Thunder Incantation was a Mysterious Grade Low Rank technique! Even late-stage Golden Core cultivators wouldn't dare take it head-on! Yet Senior Brother Qin crushed it casually in his hand..."

"A monster... this is a true monster..."

Amid the discussions, Wen Ruofeng and Jian Wuhen quietly departed.

After returning to Wenyuan Peak, where Wen Ruofeng resided, the two sat facing each other in a quiet chamber, speechless for a long while.

"Senior Brother Jian, what do you think now?" Wen Ruofeng asked, waving his folding fan as he broke the silence.

Jian Wuhen held his sword, his gaze complicated. "Earlier, I said it had nothing to do with me. Now... I'm afraid that may not be the case."

Wen Ruofeng smiled bitterly. "Yes. Qin Yuan's rise is unstoppable. Lei Ba may be rash, but his strength isn't weak. To defeat him with one punch, Qin Yuan's true combat strength has likely already approached the late stage of the Golden Core Realm."

"Not approached." Jian Wuhen spoke slowly. "He has already reached it."

After a pause, he added, "I could sense that he hadn't used his full strength in that punch."

Wen Ruofeng's folding fan halted in his hand. "You mean..."

"He still had strength to spare." A trace of wariness flashed through Jian Wuhen's eyes. "And the timing of his breakthrough into the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm was too convenient."

The two exchanged a glance and saw the gravity in each other's eyes.

Qin Yuan had spent only one day on Blazing Peak before breaking through to the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm. Had he accumulated enough beforehand, or did he possess some secret they knew nothing about?

Either way, it meant that this youth, who had entered the True Disciple ranks less than three days ago, already possessed the strength to threaten veteran True Disciples like them.

"It seems we need to choose our side again," Wen Ruofeng sighed.

Within Elder Li's quiet chamber on Seventh Peak, the atmosphere was so oppressive it was suffocating.

Elder Li's face was livid. Wen Ruofeng and Jian Wuhen stood before him.

"You two..." He stared at them, his voice icy. "Lei Ba lost. Are you very happy about that?"

Wen Ruofeng bowed. "Please quell your anger, Elder. Senior Brother Lei's defeat was truly unexpected. Who could have imagined that Qin Yuan would break through to the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm in a single day? This was not a loss due to lack of fighting ability."

"Not due to lack of fighting ability?" Elder Li sneered. "Then what was it? Has the fortune of my Seventh Peak run dry? Or have you True Disciples all turned into spineless weaklings?"

Jian Wuhen raised his eyes and said calmly, "If Elder thinks we are spineless weaklings, you may replace us."

"You!" Elder Li was enraged, but upon seeing Jian Wuhen's indifferent gaze, he ultimately forced down his anger.

Jian Wuhen was ranked eleventh among the True Disciples. His strength was unfathomable, and his position within Seventh Peak was anything but ordinary. Even as an elder, Elder Li could not easily offend him.

"Enough." Elder Li waved a hand and took a deep breath. "Let us set Lei Ba's matter aside for now. But Qin Yuan must be suppressed. Otherwise, my Seventh Peak will no longer have a place in the True Disciple ranks."

Wen Ruofeng frowned. "Elder, Qin Yuan is now at the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm, and his strength is not weak. If we strike again, what if..."

"There is no what if." Elder Li interrupted him. "This time, I am not sending you."

Wen Ruofeng and Jian Wuhen were both stunned.

"Seventh Place, Duan Tianlang," Elder Li said slowly. "That madman from Eighth Peak who takes money to do jobs."

Their pupils contracted.

Duan Tianlang, ranked seventh among the True Disciples, was a high-stage Golden Core cultivator from Eighth Peak. He had a perverse temperament and acted without any bottom line. So long as he was paid enough spirit crystals, he would take on any dirty job. Among the True Disciples, he was a ruthless figure everyone avoided like the plague.

"Elder wants to hire Duan Tianlang?" Wen Ruofeng hesitated. "The price will likely be considerable."

"No matter how great the price, it must be paid." A vicious glint flashed through Elder Li's eyes. "Qin Yuan's growth is too fast. If we do not strangle him now, he will surely become a grave threat in the future."

He looked at the two of them. "Go to Duan Tianlang and deliver the message. The terms... let him name them himself."

Wen Ruofeng and Jian Wuhen exchanged a glance, both seeing the helplessness in the other's eyes.

"Elder," Wen Ruofeng made one final attempt to persuade him, "to use someone like Duan Tianlang merely to suppress Qin Yuan, isn't that somewhat..."

"Somewhat?" Elder Li slammed his hand on the table. "What do you know?! Fifth Peak has lain dormant for a hundred years, and now it has produced a Qin Yuan. If he gains a firm foothold, Fifth Peak will surely rise! When that time comes, my Seventh Peak's resources and status will all be threatened! This is not a personal grudge. It is a struggle between two peaks!"

He stared at them and asked, word by word, "Are you going or not?"

Wen Ruofeng fell silent for a moment before finally bowing. "...Understood."

Jian Wuhen said nothing. He merely turned and left.

Within the main hall of Blazing Peak,

Qin Yuan sat cross-legged within the Spirit Gathering Array. Before him floated the system panel:

[One Day, Twenty Years of Cultivation System]

[Current Level: 2 (3478/5000)]

[Cultivation Storage: 0/60 years]

[Today's cultivation has not been collected]

After defeating Lei Ba, he obtained a portion of Lei Ba's resources—as the victor of a challenge, he had the right to seize thirty percent of the loser's possessions. Lei Ba had plundered quite a few good things during his years among the True Disciples. Although most had already been used up, what remained was still considerable.