The Mu Family's Provocation, an Invisible Hand in the Shadows

The turmoil of the Fire Energy Hunting Competition had yet to subside, and tension and vigilance still hung over the depths of the Inner Academy's dense forest. Carrying the Storage Ring that held his Fire Energy Talismans, Xiao Yan wandered through the trees with apparent nonchalance, though every step actually followed the safest route. His emperor realm soul shone like a beacon, illuminating every rustle around him and leaving any lurking malice nowhere to hide.

He was heading toward the "safe zone" designated by the Inner Academy. Under the rules, attacks were forbidden there, making it an ideal place for a brief rest. Yet just as he emerged from a thick bamboo grove, a hostile shout rang out from the clearing ahead.

"Stop!"

Three figures blocked Xiao Yan's path, all dressed as senior students of the Inner Academy. A ring of silver thread edged the crimson badges on their chests, marking them as a team with a respectable record in the hunting competition. Their leader was a sinister-looking young man with arrogance etched between his brows. His eyes swept over Xiao Yan as though appraising a piece of merchandise.

Mu Chen? Xiao Yan's thoughts stirred, and his spiritual power instantly locked onto the man. He was a member of a collateral branch of the Inner Academy's Mu Family, a Nine-Star Dou Shi with some reputation among the senior students. His disposition, however, was overbearing in the extreme, and he particularly looked down on newcomers.

More importantly, Xiao Yan sensed a trace of a familiar aura from him. It faintly resonated with the Soul Hall Jade Pendant worn at the waist of the Wolf Fang team captain who had been buried in the avalanche. Clearly, Mu Chen also had some murky connection to the Soul Hall.

"I hear you picked up a windfall near the mountain ravine earlier?" Mu Chen folded his arms, his tone probing. "Everyone in the Wolf Fang team died in that avalanche. Did you take their Fire Energy Talismans?"

The two lackeys behind him joined in the jeering. "Mu Chen's asking you a question! Have you gone mute? Hand over the Fire Energy Talismans, and we might spare you a beating!"

Xiao Yan put on just the right amount of "terror," shrinking back slightly as his voice took on a timid quaver. "I... I was only passing through. I don't know anything. That avalanche was so huge, I was lucky just to survive..."

"Passing through?" Mu Chen sneered and stepped forward, bearing down on him with the pressure of a Nine-Star Dou Shi. "Who in the Inner Academy doesn't know that the Wolf Fang team's territory is near that ravine? You showed up there, and you still dare claim you were just passing through? I think you're trying to pocket those Fire Energy Talismans!"

His intentions were plain as day: either seize Xiao Yan's Fire Energy Talismans or use the opportunity to crush a newcomer and establish his authority. The Mu Family had made plenty of enemies within the Inner Academy. Using the hunting competition to eliminate potential threats was one of their customary tactics.

Xiao Yan sneered inwardly, but outwardly grew even more "flustered," both hands tightly shielding the Storage Ring at his waist. "I really didn't... I worked so hard to seize those Fire Energy Talismans myself..."

"Refuse the toast, and you'll drink the penalty!" A vicious glint flashed through Mu Chen's eyes. "Since you won't hand them over, don't blame me for getting rough!"

Before his words had faded, he moved. His hand curled into a claw and shot toward Xiao Yan's wrist with a fierce rush of wind. The grab looked simple, but it contained the Mu Family's exclusive Dou Technique, Entangling Shadow Hand. Once it caught its target, Dou Qi would coil around the opponent like vines, rendering them immobile.

Xiao Yan turned sideways in "haste," stumbling as though cowed by Mu Chen's presence, his movements utterly clumsy. Yet amid this seemingly panicked evasion, his toe "inadvertently" struck an unremarkable pebble.

The pebble flew through the air in a shallow arc and landed precisely beside the foot of one of Mu Chen's lackeys. The lackey was staring intently at Xiao Yan and paid no attention to the ground. He stepped squarely onto the pebble, instantly lost his balance, and crashed toward Mu Chen with a startled cry.

"Idiot!" The collision knocked Mu Chen askew, causing his supposedly certain grab to miss. Fury blazed inside him, and he swung his hand back, slapping the lackey across the back.

Smack!

The lackey screamed and flew backward, crashing into a nearby tree trunk and coughing up blood.

The sudden turn of events left the other lackey stunned, while Mu Chen's distraction exposed a momentary opening.

Xiao Yan seized the opportunity and "staggered" backward, waving the Heavy Xuan Ruler in his hands in a "panic." His movements seemed entirely without method, yet the ruler precisely blocked the path of Mu Chen's renewed attack.

Clang!

Mu Chen's palm struck the Heavy Xuan Ruler, and a strange force surged through it, jolting his arm numb. He was startled. This newcomer's strength is so much greater than it looks?

In that instant of distraction, Xiao Yan's "foot slipped." He toppled sideways and happened to collide with an old tree nearby. Its trunk shook violently, sending several withered leaves fluttering down from the branches. One landed right on Mu Chen's neck.

Mu Chen instinctively reached up to brush it away. At that very moment, a cold glint flashed in Xiao Yan's eyes.

Unnoticed spiritual power pierced Mu Chen's sea of consciousness like the sharpest blade. It did not injure his soul origin, however, merely disrupting the circulation of his Dou Qi with pinpoint precision.

"Urgh!"

A sharp pain tore through Mu Chen's dantian. His Dou Qi rampaged like a wild horse freed of its reins, and his body instantly went rigid. Horror spread across his face. He had no idea why this was happening so suddenly.

Taking advantage of the opening, Xiao Yan abruptly "exerted himself." The Heavy Xuan Ruler swept outward with a howl of wind, seemingly aimed at Mu Chen. In reality, its tip skimmed past the hem of his clothes and smashed heavily into the ground beside him.

Boom!

The blow gouged a shallow pit in the ground. Flying stone fragments struck the knee of the lackey who was still standing there in a daze.

"Aagh!" The lackey screamed and collapsed, clutching his knee.

Within a few short breaths, one of Mu Chen's lackeys had been knocked away injured and the other had fallen. Only Mu Chen remained standing, but his chaotic Dou Qi left him unable to move.

Xiao Yan panted heavily, his face filled with "lingering fright." The hand holding the Heavy Xuan Ruler trembled slightly. "You... stay back! I... I really didn't mean to!"

Mu Chen was both shocked and furious. He could feel the Dou Qi inside him growing increasingly chaotic, as though it might explode at any moment. He stared fixedly at Xiao Yan, certain that something was wrong. Yet the newcomer before him was clearly only a Peak Dou Master. How could he possibly have reduced Mu Chen to this state?

"You did something!" Mu Chen gritted his teeth and tried to mobilize his Dou Qi, fighting through the intense pain in his dantian.

Just then, footsteps sounded in the distance. Several Inner Academy instructors wearing enforcement badges arrived on patrol.

"What happened here?" The leading instructor frowned, his expression darkening at the scene before him.

Panic stirred in Mu Chen's heart. He knew the Inner Academy's enforcement team took an especially dim view of private fighting, particularly deliberate bullying of newcomers during the hunting competition. If they caught him at fault, punishment was inevitable.

"Instructor! It was him!" Mu Chen hurriedly pointed at Xiao Yan. "This newcomer stole other students' Fire Energy Talismans and attacked people!"

Xiao Yan immediately adopted an aggrieved expression, dropped the Heavy Xuan Ruler to the ground, and bowed to the instructor with his hands clasped. "Please judge fairly, Instructor! They blocked my path first and tried to steal my Fire Energy Talismans. I was only defending myself... They seem to have injured themselves by accident..."

The enforcement instructor looked at the two men on the ground. One had an injury on his back, clearly inflicted by his companion. The other clutched his knee, with scattered stone fragments around him; that did indeed look like an accident. As for Mu Chen, his face was flushed and his aura disordered. He did not look as though someone had injured him. Instead, it resembled... the onset of cultivation deviation?

"Mu Chen, what's wrong with your aura?" the instructor asked sternly.

Only then did Mu Chen realize how terrible his condition was. He tried to speak, but the pain in his dantian grew so fierce that he could no longer utter a word.

"It seems something went wrong with his cultivation. Forcing himself to attack caused his Dou Qi to flow backward." Another instructor stepped forward to examine him and reached a conclusion. "Competition is permitted in the hunting competition, but malicious injury is forbidden. Mu Chen, as a senior student, you blocked someone's path to rob him and even injured your own companion. Come back with us to receive your punishment!"

Two enforcement students stepped forward, hoisted the immobile Mu Chen between them, and carried him away. Mu Chen glared at Xiao Yan, his eyes brimming with resentment and venom, but could only let himself be dragged off. His two injured lackeys were taken away as well, neither forgetting to shoot Xiao Yan a vicious glare before leaving.

Xiao Yan watched their retreating figures. The "grievance" on his face instantly vanished, replaced by utter calm.

Everything that had just happened was an "accident" he had meticulously designed: kicking the pebble to make the lackey collide with Mu Chen, shaking the tree trunk to distract him, and finally using spiritual power to disrupt the circulation of his Dou Qi with precision, creating the illusion of cultivation deviation. The entire sequence flowed like drifting clouds and running water, leaving no trace of deliberate interference.

He had eliminated a Soul Hall informant without exposing himself, and had even earned the label of "victim." This was precisely the way the [Absolute Concealment System] required him to act.

"The Mu Family..." Xiao Yan picked up the Heavy Xuan Ruler and patted the dust off it. "It seems the waters of the Inner Academy run even deeper than I imagined."

He could sense that the Mu Family backing Mu Chen was far more than an ordinary faction within the Inner Academy. Their connection to the Soul Hall, along with their methods of secretly arranging pieces within the academy, warranted a thorough investigation.

"But one step at a time." A cold curve lifted the corner of Xiao Yan's mouth. "Now that I'm here, there's no reason to let these rats hiding in the shadows keep stirring up trouble."

He turned and headed toward the safe zone. His steps seemed casual, but each landed on a crucial point of the chessboard. The Fire Energy Hunting Competition was only the beginning. Next, he would cast a larger net within Jia Nan Academy, ferret out every hidden threat, and utterly erase them through the most "accidental" means.

Deep in the forest, wind slipped through the gaps between the leaves, stirring a rustle that seemed to whisper of death's approaching footsteps. And the sovereign walking through those shadows steadily advanced, reducing every obstacle to dust upon the chessboard.