The news of Sa Juan’s 2-star aptitude spread like wildfire across every corner of Tetra Blessing City. Even though she was a woman with a Seed Core, the majority of the city's residents felt an overwhelming sense of pride and joy. Of course, there were some who were envious and uneasy, especially the two other clans.
Last night, within the Sa Clan's territory, celebrations had gone on non-stop. Lights remained on throughout the night, and the air was filled with noise from banquets and festivities.
An emergency council had also taken place, and luckily for Sa Huiqing, he'd managed to keep onto his Elder position. The Sa Clan's once weakening prestige had now risen to the heavens.
Meanwhile, in the courtyard of the influential Gou family, two twin young girls, no older than ten, clung desperately to a man's legs, tears streaming down their faces.
"Please don’t leave us, big brother. We beg you…" Sa Ruiba cried.
"I promise I won’t bother you about going out anymore. Just don’t go…" sobbed Sa Huin, her voice breaking as she pleaded.
Their faces were pallid, their bodies weak and skinny. It was obvious that they were terribly ill.
Their appearance made Sa Wen's heart ache. He looked down at them with love and affection. "I’ve already told you. I’m not going anywhere," he said gently, hoping to soothe their fears.
"Stop lying to us! Why are you carrying a backpack then?"
"You wouldn't have taken this much clothes if you're just…"
If only there was a cure… he thought, a sigh of helplessness escaping his lips.
Sa Wen sank to his knees, gently stroking his sisters' hair with his large hands. "I’m not going anywhere. How could I leave you behind? I’m just heading back to the Cultivation Academy," he explained.
"But why do you look like you’re never coming back?" Ruiba sniffled Sa Ruiba, one of his sisters, while Sa Huin continued to sob uncontrollably.
"Because, my beautiful flower, the first-year classes in the inner circle are mandatory," Sa Wen said softly. "And cultivation takes a lot of time and effort. Or do you want your brother to stay weak and become a joke among his friends?"
"Why don’t you just cultivate at home? Dad’s got plenty of those force apples," Sa Huin asked with confusion.
Sa Wen gave her a loving smile and wiped away her tears with his thumb. "Because I don’t want to be stuck here forever. I want to earn that Academy certificate and explore the world. Remember when you said you wanted to see it too?"
"Are you going to take us with you?"
"Of course! How could I leave you behind? Just don’t tell Father, alright? He won’t be too… thrilled."
The girls finally giggled, brushing away their tears with their small, fragile hands.
This brought warmth to Sa Wen's heart.
"When you come back, don’t forget the pink candies," Sa Huin said with bright eyes.
"And lots of them," Sa Ruiba added with a serious expression.
Sa Wen hugged them both carefully, afraid he might hurt them. "I love you so much," he whispered.
Even though Sa Ruiba and Sa Huin weren’t his biological sisters, Sa Wen had always treated them as if they were. From the moment they entered his house, they became family, and he would do anything for them.
Just as he was about to let a tear fall a mocking voice interrupted. "Are you seriously going to cry?"
Sa Wen blinked back the tear. "In your dreams."
A lean man in his sixties stepped out of a room, a cigarette in one hand and a small tea cup in the other. Unlike Sa Wen, he had a big gray mustache and no beard. It was Sa Wen’s father, Sa Gou Song.
Sa Song gave the little girls a look, and they immediately bowed. "Dad," they said in unison, then scurried off into one of the side rooms, clearly frightened.
Sa Wen frowned slightly. "Why are they so terrified of you, Father?"
His old man took a slow puff from his cigarette as he approached. "Try giving them medicine every day, and you'll see."
Sa Song’s teeth were yellowed, and the skin around his mouth had darkened. Cigarette effects. Sa Wen had often tried to talk him out of it, but his father’s stubbornness was as solid as a rock.
"Can you take them back to the hospital in the city? They might—"
"I already did."
"When?" Sa Wen asked, unconvinced.
"Just last week.When do you think I asked Doctor Xun for her daughter, Ta Chen, to marry you?" Sa Song said, blowing out another puff of smoke. "Wait—has she responded yet?" he asked, suddenly recalling.
Sa Wen ignored the question. "I think we should take them to a bigger city. You might—"
"I’ve already spoken to the City Lord before he left for Ancient Blade City if he can find a doctor who knows more about their illness," Sa Song interrupted with a frustrated sigh. "You think I would let them suffer if there was a cure. They’re my daughters too." He paused to take another drag from his cigarette. "Whatever those colored-eyed kidnappers did to them... it’s incurable."
Sa Wen could feel an uncontrollable rage surging within him. He could still vividly recall that rainy day when his father, covered in wounds and blood, had brought Sa Ruiba and Sa Huin home for the first time.
His father had told him then that he him he'd saved them from the hand of a powerful kidnapper, and that he'd found them in this condition.
Who would want to kidnap innocent little girls? What had they done to them to end up in this condition? What was their sick purpose?
Seeing the anger twisting Sa Wen’s face, Sa Song stepped closer, his expression softening with concern. "Hey, don’t get involved in this. You’ve just opened your Sea Core. Focus on your cultivation and advancing in rank."
Sa Wen took a deep breath, calming his anger. My father is right, he thought. I’m still too weak—I haven't even opened his meridians. I just need to trust the Investigation and Justice Office to handle this and find the demons responsible.
Just as Sa Wen was about to say something else, his father grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "Don't worry. Nobody's going to lay a finger on them as long as I’m around."
Despite the terrible smell of cigarette smoke, a strange calm washed over Sa Wen. This was all he needed to hear before leaving with a lighter heart.
"Go cultivate hard and stay alive. I know you don’t want to be stuck in the clan. Just do what’s best for you, and don’t let the clan hold you back. Make us proud, that’s all we ask."
Sa Wen felt a bit embarrassed. "I’ll do my bes—"
"Don’t cry again," Sa Song said with a sarcastic smirk, taking another drag from his cigarette.
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With Sa Song being all big, bearded, and bald, it was hard to believe that the two hugging each other were father and son.
"Alright, go," Sa Song said, giving him an encouraging nod.
Sa Wen picked up his backpack and walked away, heading toward the Cultivation Academy.
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Tetra Blessing City was shaped like a circle, centered around a majestic mountain that housed both the cultivation academy and the city lord's mansion. This mountain was the best place in the city for cultivation because it had a stronger world's force, thanks to the White Garden perched atop it.
The further one moved away from the White Garden, the weaker the world's force became.
The city was split into three zones. The flourishing zone, closest to the mountain and a portion at its base, was where the territories of the three major clans and the cursed area were located. The world's force was strong there, though not as intense as that found on the mountain.
Then came the central zone, where the wealthy families and influential merchants resided. Finally, there was the large outer zone that was inhabited by the common cultivators.
In a fancy house in the central zone of the city, a young woman sat, hurriedly putting on her blue lotus shoes.
"Ugh, those shoes again," sighed a woman in her forties, leaning by the door, a helpless look on her face. "They're too long. If you keep wearing them, no one will marry you."
In the Xi Empire, small feet were a sign of beauty. From a young age, women endured tight, uncomfortable shoes to keep their feet small.
"Perfect," Tan Chen said with a smirk. “That’s exactly what I want.”
Her mother, Doctor Xun, whose face was covered in thick makeup in an attempt to hide the traces of her old age, shook her head in exasperation. "Why are you going to the academy in such a rush?" she asked.
“The outer competition,” Tan Chen said, leaping to her feet and walking hastily towards the door. “I’m already late! They might have finished by now!”
"Why are you—" Doctor Xun stopped, her eyes narrowing with amusement. "Is it Sa Min again?"
Tan Chen paused, shooting her mother a sharp, irritated look before hurrying out.
"Doctor Xun couldn’t understand her daughter's obsession with Sa Min. Especially now that he had turned out to be as ordinary as the common people. Why did she hate him so much?
“Is he your type?” Doctor Xun teased, following her out into the courtyard, laughing. "Is that why you are interested in him?"
Tan Chen whirled around, her face flushed with anger, as though her dignity had been insulted. “Not in a million years! Not until the Four Great Walls crumble and the sun goes out for good, and c—”
“—and cultivators start pooping force apples,” Doctor Xun finished her daughter’s usual line, laughing even harder.
With an indignant huff, Ta Chen turned around and stormed off.
Once she left the house, Doctor Xun’s smile vanished. Her gaze drifted to the four massive black walls on the horizon—the Great Walls. Though they were incredibly far away, they loomed clearly, stretching endlessly into the sky with no end in sight, enclosing the Eastern Plane like a giant box.
"I don't know about pooping force apples, but I have a feeling that one day, those walls will fall."
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It was evening, and the sun still had some time before it completely turned off, still emitting some light.
In the first year of the inner circle at the cultivation academy, there were only 15 seats available, reserved for those with a 2-star aptitude or higher, along with two guaranteed spots for each of the three major clans. The remaining seats would be determined through an outer competition.
The Sa Clan’s two seats were occupied by Sa Juan and Sa Wen. The Duo Clan, having only one member with a 2-star aptitude this year, had the right to assign the other seat to one of their 1-star aptitude members.
The same applied to the Lin Clan, who didn't have anyone with a 2-star aptitude this year.
Besides Ta Chen from outside the clans who had achieved 2-star aptitude, only 8 seats remained for the outer disciples to compete for.
And since most of the outer disciples hadn't opened their Essence Core, the fights were done with kung fu, swords, daggers, and any other weapon they could use.
Powercubes were not allowed.
In the outer circle arena, where the competition was happening, a heavy silence engulfed the air.
Everyone—the outer disciples, the inner disciples supervising, and all the spectators—stood in silence, watching in shock, anger, and disbelief at what was unfolding.
On the stage, a young man collapsed to his knees, his mouth moving as he desperately tried to surrender, but no sound came out.
Blood gushed down from his shoulders where his arms had been chopped off.
And then…
A young man came standing behind him. Tears streamed down his face, his eyes wide with desperation, silently begging the crowd to intervene. He could feel it—death, so close, breathing down his neck. He didn't want to die. He never thought he would die.
The overwhelming terror had paralyzed him.
Why in the three heavens had he provoked this demon?
Sa Min gripped the man’s chin, tilting his head up with one hand while pressing the cold edge of a dagger against his throat with the other.
One of the inner disciples overseeing the competition shouted from the sidelines, "That’s enough! There's no need to kill—"
With a sharp thwack, Sa Min began beheading the man while looking into his terrified eyes.
Blood spraying onto the floor like a fountain.
This was how Sa Min liked to do it. Killing people. He loved watching their eyes as the life drained away, savoring the moment they realized just how foolish they'd been. The thing they’d tried so desperately to deny… was real.
Sa Min took his time with it; it had been sixteen years since he last felt this satisfying rush.
When the man’s body finally went limp, Sa Min put his dagger back behind his belt and rifled through the corpse's pockets. It didn’t take long to find a pouch of force apples.
With a casual flick, he let the lifeless body fall to the ground and strolled down from the bloodstained arena, completely indifferent to the furious, disgusted glares that followed him.
“Husband, husband!”
A woman came running past him to the stage, tears streaming down her face.
Sa Min ignored her and went straight to the supervisors seated behind a table.
He gave a respectful nod. "Senior Xie Jin, may I have the seal for the inner circle?" he addressed one of them.
Sa Min had spent five years at the cultivation academy, and he naturally knew many inner disciples.
Frowning, Xie Jin eyed him in silence for some moments. "Why didn't you stop when I called out? Why did you kill him like that when he posed no threat to you?" he said, a trace of anger in his voice.
Because I… could, Sa Min thought, though that wasn’t the only reason.
The young man he had beheaded was the same one who had threatened him yesterday at the store in the Sa Clan. The fool had tried to pick on him again today.
Not just him—ever since word spread that Sa Min had only 1-star aptitude, those who once fawned over him now jeered in his face, even provoking him.
But Sa Min wasn’t going to let these nuisances continue, and the man he had beheaded was a perfect opportunity—he had no background and no ties to any cultivator at the academy or the clan who could avenge him or cause trouble for Sa Min later.
His wife was the only close person he had, and she was merely a 1st-transformation Beyond Mortal cultivator with no aptitude.
It had been a great opportunity to make a point that he wasn’t someone who would tolerate being bullied.
Of course, Sa Min had no intention of sharing his thoughts with Xie Jin. “He didn’t surrender,” he simply replied.
And he wasn’t lying. Had the man given up, like the previous five opponents he’d faced, he would have let him go. Why would he drag himself into some trouble just to kill some random person?
Xie Jin’s frown deepened. “He was trying to surrender; you didn’t have to do that.”
Sa Min shrugged nonchalantly. “But he didn’t. The rules are the rules. Are you going to give me that seal, or should I go take it from the dean?”
Xie Jin grimaced and turned to his partner, who sat beside him.
His partner nodded; he didn't seem bothered like Xie Jin. "Give it to him. He didn't break any rules."
Xie Jin turned back to Sa Min and tossed the seal away. “Fucking demon,” he muttered under his breath. “People like you shouldn’t even be in the academy.”
Unbothered by his words, Sa Min calmly picked up the seal, then wasted no time as he strolled away.
…
Later that night, Sa Min gathered his force apples, cauldron, and various cultivation materials from the outer circle and made his way up the mountain to his new room in the inner circle.