Tanpitana Tnak, Outer Elder of Kartpa Valley, master of the merciless fist, was not a happy man. Admittedly, it was not an unusual state of mood for him, a fact that the outer disciples had learned repeatedly.

He never had any problem taking his frustrations out of them while he trained them. Of course, a few people complained about being too rough, but he didn't care. Who cared if a few outer disciples had been injured or died.

None of them were as important as a Golden Core cultivator. What if he killed a few of them. It wasn't like they were lacking in itinerant cultivators with weak Immortal Roots.

Today was different. As he walked toward the gold-inlaid marble corridors, he didn't have the option of being dismissive, even though the cultivator he was about to meet was merely a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

He might be an Elder, but ultimately, he was an Outer Sect Elder, and even against Inner Sect disciples, let alone a Core Disciple … one with a high chance of leading the sect in the future. He stood in front of the door, bowed, and waited, not even daring to knock on the door, waiting for an invitation.

"Kowtow, dog!" the voice reached from inside, along with the pressure that a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the peak could bear. It hit Tanpitana hard, making him hit the floor hard as his gaze turned dark for a moment.

As a Golden Core cultivator, it was easy for him to counter the pressure. All he needed was to touch the crystallized Qi that was his golden core, and he would be safe. Major cultivation represented an unbreakable barrier when it came to raw power. Rare, once-in-a-century geniuses might break that — like that mad swordsman who wreaked havoc, who luckily went and disappeared into the Great Battlefield, hopefully forever — but even they only achieved it with superior weapons and expertise.

No one could use their Qi to pressure cultivators of a higher realm.

Unfortunately, Tanpitana didn't dare to reach his Golden Core and obediently accepted his punishment. From the time he had decided to be his follower, he tried to defend himself once … his punishment was still a part of his nightmares.

He had chosen a cruel master, but it wasn't like he had a choice. The other, more palatable candidates had too many Inner Sect Elders to choose from to pay attention to an Outer Sect Elder like him.

There was no escaping the indignity.

He kowtowed in front of the door for a day, all the while, making sure to keep a somber and fawning expression on his face. Finally, after a day, the door opened. "Crawl," an order came. He followed, until he was in front of his merciless master, not daring to look up. "Explain how your so-called amazing plan failed before it even started, you pathetic dog! It's a mere mortal city, not even the capital, but you failed to take over!"

Tanpitana didn't need to fake his shivers. After all, he was right. His great plan failed before it even started.

Everything seemed so simple at the beginning. He had been lucky enough to discover the signs of a sleeping spiritual vein. Technically, it was a few outer disciples discovered, but since they were stupid enough to discuss it in their sect residence rather than reporting to the sect master for a reward, Tantipana dealt with them — permanently — before offering it to his master.

A new spiritual vein, regardless of its grade, would be enough for his master to make incredible progress.

The only problem, the Zaim kingdom was under the control of Entsa Pavilion, the only sect that could resist them, even with their most recent troubles. Worse, the spiritual vein was under Markas, an unremarkable city that was ruled by an ordained city lord.

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Even he wasn't arrogant enough to openly kill an ordained city lord. The matters of the battlefield were not something their sect could deal with.

So, he came up with a genius plan. He slowly instigated the local instructors of three Martial Arts schools. Tiger Fist was easy, as it was already under their control. A few Connate Realm artists could have dealt with the situation easily … but it would also point back to their sect.

He arranged a few bribes, arranged a few deaths, and soon, local chapters of Demon Claw and Dragon Saber schools were willing to support the coup as well. Since Demon Claw's background was equal to Kartpa Valley, and Dragon Claw had an even bigger backing, the situation would be muddled enough.

Once that was done, Tanpitana planned to instigate a civil war in the Zaim kingdom to cover things up. Ironically, that would have been even easier. Verdant Family was already going through a messy internal fight, with one of their pawns even sent to a mere mortal as a bride.

Kill her in a manner that couldn't be covered up, blame the King, and the Verdant family would throw enough of a fit to overshadow the death of an ordained city lord. It was supposed to be simple…

Then, things started to go wrong. First, that bastard city lord revealed he possessed an array plate. It wasn't particularly valuable. Even that Inner Disciple from Entsa Pavilion took it down with one hit. Unfortunately, Martial Artists were useless pathetic worms, and couldn't take down a barrier like that forever.

That was the first hitch, forcing him to intervene directly, using the excuse of the ban against cultivators intervening in mortal battles. It was a difficult technicality, one that he wouldn't dare to use against Entsa Pavilion if it wasn't for their recent troubles. Still, it was the limit of what he could do directly.

Not just because of Entsa pavilion, but also to avoid his rivals from suspecting him. Still, at that time, he thought that everything was resolved, the rebellious forces far stronger than the city lord.

Who knew that a pathetic local martial artist was hiding her cultivation all along.

He wanted to torture and kill every mortal in the city. How dare those mortals resist the plans of a cultivator. Unfortunately, that was not an option, not with the hidden spiritual vein.

Worse, he didn't have many mortal agents that he could mobilize to handle the situation discreetly — who knew they would actually be useful one day. And, any attempt to suddenly develop some would alert his rivals in the sect.

So, he took a risk, and partially awakened the spiritual vein. He had hoped that the resulting monsters would erase Markas from the map, and no one would suspect him. Unfortunately, he miscalculated again, as Entsa Pavilion decided to support the city with their apothecaries despite the problems they were facing.

Luckily, he didn't mention that particular fact to his master, or he would have been suffering even more problems. As far as he knew, it was just a natural flare from the spiritual vein that triggered the beast wave.

Luckily, he didn't need to intervene much to trigger a reaction from the Tiger Fist. It was pure luck that the martial artist Entsa Pavilion decided to support had a grudge against Tiger Fist school. By selectively killing and crippling their martial artists, they ensured a revenge.

All he needed was to poke slightly to make that strike excessive. Martial artists might be pathetic ants, but a hundred Connate realm martial artists were enough to devastate multiple mortal kingdoms. They would probably do so now that they were mobilized, but Tanpitana didn't care about what happened to mortals.

He only cared about his own cultivation.

"Tell me that you have a plan," he ordered.

"Yes, master," Tanpitana answered, still bowing. "I have -" he started explaining, only to be interrupted by a kick to his face. He could have resisted the blow with his Qi, but once again, he didn't dare to. On the contrary, he deliberately weakened himself, and his chin caved in.

"I didn't tell you to explain it. Go away, and you're not allowed to cure your broken bones before your plan succeeds. Humiliation will teach you well!"

"Yes, master," he said, though it came out garbling with his broken chin.

If he had a more reasonable master, he would have explained that walking around with a broken chin would be too suspicious, and would prevent him from intervening in case of another unexpected variable.

But, he would never dare to correct his master. Instead, he decided to go closed-door cultivation to avoid the suspicions of his rivals. His plan was good enough, and a year behind closed doors shouldn't matter.

And, if it failed again, he could always come out and kill everyone, using a momentary cultivation deviation as an excuse. It was not ideal, as killing that many mortals would earn him a punishment. But, the biggest punishment would receive was a hundred years in the Great Battlefield, which was an acceptable alternative to disappointing his mercurial master…

The alliance wouldn't care about mortal kingdoms as long as he left the tomb underneath the capital intact.

Only a year … then, one way or another, it would end.