Feng Ning felt the ambient Qi surrounding the secluded courtyard stir, pushed and pulled forth by a tyrannical master. Her stomach churned, moved by some primal sensation of dread buried within her soul that was disgusted at the blatant blasphemy against the laws of heaven and earth. The Qi swirled around the courtyard in a whirlpool, commanded so violently that all its aspects were blended into one chaotic power.

Through the mask of the raging storm, Feng Ning caught glimpses of the power behind this most absurd method of cultivation. It was Li Hui, calmly commanding the chaos as though the power of the elements were merely a toy. It was as dangerous as it was revolutionary, an entirely new method of cultivation that defied reason. Cultivation was a practice of harmonizing with the aspects of natural energies born from the environment. It was about siphoning off a small part of the enormous pool of natural energy that permeated and powered the natural world.

Li Hui's cultivation method and martial technique were different. Rather than harmonizing with the world, he sought to oppose it, and then to use the energy from the backlash as his own. Li Hui actually dared to use the retribution of the heavens and the earth for his own ends! It was madness! Feng Ning didn't even know how it was possible.

The air froze and boiled in turn as aspects of Qi were torn apart smashed back together. The flow was changing. Li Hui was shifting his control to isolate *something* but it was becoming too dangerous for her to try to figure out what. She had to retreat. The chaotic Qi was building a resonance with her core. If she stayed this close any longer she would suffer a backlash.

The Qi roiled as it was torn apart and concentrated into discrete discs of an unknown essence. The power being unleashed now was absurd, if she were to enter the courtyard now the waves of the storm would sweep away her own core.

Boom

A ripple in the fabric fo the world surged over her.

A breakthrough? She wondered. The sensation was no different from that of a tribulation. But judging Li Hui's method was not so simple. How could she say if it was a breakthrough or just Li Hui redoubling his efforts?

Boom Boom

Feng Ning stumbled, falling on her knees for a moment to catch her breath. The energy in her dantian was rapidly being sapped away to the surroundings. How was this possible? A grandmaster's formation enclosed Li Hui's courtyard to keep such energies contained. Just how arrogant was Li Hui to meddle with such overwhelming power? She was a core formation cultivator! How could she be nearly forced unconscious just by this pressure?

Feng Ning was forced to retreat. Luckily the grandmaster's containment formation seemed to still be working. It took only a few steps to escape.

Boom Boom Boom

Three more waves crashed over her. Each more powerful than the last. Was this Li Hui's own power? Or had he faced a divine tribulation? The pressure was simply too extraordinary for her to believe. At this rate, it wouldn't be long until the violent storm surging out of Li Hui's seclusion caught an elder's attention! A storm of lighting was cracking around the outer walls of Li Hui's private courtyard!

Boom

Feng Ning fell unconscious.

---

When Feng Ning woke up, the beacon of commanding stability once at the center of the courtyard was gone. The storm was gone. The air was still. The ambient Qi was in harmony. Feng Ning stood still. The sun had just passed its zenith.

The signs were obvious. Now she was certain. Li Hui must have lost control. His arrogance had brought him the wrath of a divine tribulation and now he was dead.

Feng Ning rushed back to her private residence and latched the door. Her mind was racing. Li Hui's death would bring the elders' attention, and they would have questions. Questions like which servants had the strength to harm Li Hui. Her cultivation would be discovered, and the rest was easy to imagine.

Feng Ning pried up the floorboard, pulling out her most prized possession: a storage ring. In a frenzy, she tore through her room, gathering everything of value and storing it in the ring. In less than ten minutes the room looked no more decorated or personalized than a common tavern room.

Knock knock

She froze. She could sense anyone coming to her door long before they arrived. Who could it be to get past her senses? Or was she so focused on packing that she didn't notice?

"Sister Feng Ning, may I come in?"

The voice was Long Ju.

Feng Ning cursed the woman in her mind. Long Ju was not so simple, she was sure of it. Probably. She'd overheard the bickering of Yuan Su. The woman wouldn't even take the most ludicrous of bribes. Feng Ning didn't trust that. People who only looked out for themselves were far more predictable.

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"I will be right out sister Long Ju, what is the matter?"

"I have matters of urgent importance for Li Hui. Meng Yijun answered me at the door and told me to come see you."

Me!? Feng Ning screamed in her mind. Did Meng Yijun see what happened? What was the meaning? Wei Mei was the usual charge for the manor. She was Li Hui's favorite after all.

Feng Ning squeezed outside through as narrow a gap through the doorway as she could manage without looking suspicious. Long Ju was gazing the other direction at the courtyard. Feng Ning breathed a sigh of relief.

"What is the matter?" Feng Ning asked.

Long Ju flicked her wrist and in an instant a scroll appeared in the air and dropped into her hands.

"Li Hui's eyes only." Long Ju said as she handed over the scroll. "There's a mind flaying seal on it, so be careful not to accidentally open it yourself."

Feng Ning was stunned! Mind Flaying seals were the domain of the Divine Realm! Only a sect Elder could have crafted this! And even then with extreme effort!

The matter of the letter couldn't possibly be simple. A mind flaying seal would corrupt the very soul of any person not meant to open it.

Was this a test of some kind? The timing was too strange! Did an elder suspect Li Hui had been possessed by a demonic power? Or was this a message for her? Did someone know she had been secretly reading Li Hui's letters? Or maybe this was a gift, a tool given by an elder for Li Hui to eliminate someone within his household without the controversy of doing the dirty work himself? And why did Long Ju reveal this information? Feng Ning could detect the seal, but she wasn't an ordinary servant. Did that mean Long Ju couldn't detect her cultivation? Or was it a mind game?

Feng Ning's mind raced for answers, but there were too many possibilities. The timing was just too strange.

"Well then, that's all my business here. Oh, and by the way, there are two people at the manor door. Yuan Su and some peasant boy he brought."

"I see."

She said, but Feng Ning didn't see at all! Yuan Su!? That man who always snuck into Li Hui's residence under the cover of night? The man she suspected was some secret agent for Li Hui? That Yuan Su? What was he doing here in daylight? And why did he bring a peasant boy with him? What did he know? Was the boy meant to be a sacrifice for the mind flaying seal?

Whatever the reason for his visit, it wasn't good for her. She couldn't escape while he was here, and if it came to it, she wasn't sure she couldn't beat him in a fight. Even if he was still in the body tempering realm, which she doubted, her practice of cultivation was a secret, she had no martial technique and no fighting experience.

What could she do then? If Yuan Su was to try to meet with Li Hui then she would undoubtedly become a suspect in his demise. And she couldn't deny him access either, otherwise he would simply sneak in. She had to keep an eye on him and get him out of the sect. There was only one possibility she could think of to accomplish that.

"Greetings to sister Feng Ning."

"Yuan Su. Aren't you supposed to be on guard duty?"

"Ahem. I am on duty. This one came with a token from Master Li Hui. His name is Mo Chen."

Feng Ning looked at the boy and cocked an eyebrow. Li Hui never took in any male servants unless it was against his will. There had been a few of those. Though they were less servants and more experiments for teaching his cultivation methods. Feng Ning had secretly read the letters. They came as a directive from the elders. It was thought that Li Hui's cultivation method could quickly bolster the sect's forces in the lower ranks, filling a gap caused by their strict recruitment. That program hadn't gone well. All the subjects ended up either crippled or dead from Qi backlash.

"You say Li Hui's token..."

"Ah. Well, the token is technically Master Tan Ru's." Yuan Su pulled it out and showed it to her. "But Li Hui gave it to the boy on the master's behalf."

"Right." Feng Ning could see clearly that the token was inscribed with the name Mo Shun, but she decided not to mention it. "I will have Sister Wei Mei arrange for his accommodations. As for you, I require a private conversation."

Feng Ning flagged down Meng Yijun to take care of the boy and pulled Yuan Su aside in front of the courtyard.

"Li Hui has a mission for us." She whispered.

"A mission?" Yuan Su asked. "What are you talking about?"

"You remember your trip to Starfall city and your dealings with the gemstone merchant?"

"What? How do you?-"

"Li Hui wants the merchant's eldest daughter."

"What? What are you talking about? I don't understand."

"He expects her unique Yin physique will help him to solidify his breakthrough."

"Hold on a second Feng Ning. I don't understand where any of this is coming from."

"Very well. I'll show you." Feng Ning channeled Qi through her meridians, assembling the unique internal formation for the martial heart palm strike. Though she had never practiced it on a person, she had studied the Martial Hearth Technique Manual and grasped the theory behind it.

Feng Ning's open palm landed squarely on Yuan Su's sternum. The unsuspecting man was sent flying, landing on his back several steps away. Feng Ning did not fare much better. Her execution had been imperfect, causing a backlash in her forearm, and she had forgotten to anchor herself properly, leaving her legs shaking. She quickly calmed her nerves and cycled her Qi. She had to keep up appearances.

"Did you think Li Hui only took pretty peasant ladies into his manor?" She called out to Yuan Su. "I'm an agent of Li Hui's, like you, and as you felt, I'm in the core formation stage."

Yuan Su coughed several times as he struggled back to his feet. "There are easier ways to get your point across you know. Why does everyone think a show of force is the only way to make a point?"

BOOM

The courtyard wall exploded sending Yuan Su and Feng Ning were flying through the air amongst an explosive cloud of debris. Feng Ning, still cycling her Qi and using it to anchor herself to the ground was quick to return to the earth and avoid the worst of the debris. Yuan Su, meanwhile, exercised his whirling tiger defensive formations to generate a tight cyclone of Sword Qi around his body to pulverize the incoming projectiles. The rapid deployment required him to use up an enormous amount of his Qi leaving him panting on the ground with only a sliver left.

Feng Ning groaned. Her ears were ringing and shallow cuts covered all the right side of her body which had been facing the courtyard wall. The backlash from her poor execution of the Martial Heart Palm Strike had already left her in a sorry state, but now she barely had the strength to stand.

Feng Ning cycled her Qi, preparing herself to flee from whatever entity attacked the manor. A silhouette calmly walked towards her through the cloud of dust, and as it settled the figure became clear. It was Li Hui!