Wan Lihan could no longer tolerate the supervisor's blatant tyranny, his hyper-calculating mind already laying the groundwork for a lethal retaliation. Yet, survival demanded he maintain his submissive cover.
On the morning of the second day, Lihan woke up early, aggressively devouring his food. The surrounding outer recruits watched him with heavy eyes, their faces filled with deep pity. Lihan merely let out a cold, internal smirk. He wrapped thick linen bandages tightly around his raw, bloody palms, walked out of the courtyard, and sprinted back down to the roaring river. He hauled the two wooden buckets up the thousands of stone steps all day and all night. By the time darkness fully blanketed the peak, his core cultivation had secretly broken through from the 4th Layer to the 5th Layer of the 15-Layer Qi Cleansing Realm from the sheer intensity of the labor, pulling the pond's volume to the exact halfway mark.
Supervisor Meng stood at the edge of the stone basin, looking at Lihan with a mocking smirk. "What are you staring at, brat? Keep moving."
A dark, boiling fury sparked inside Lihan's chest, but he kept his face an expressionless mask. At the 5th Layer, his raw strength still wasn't enough to openly overpower a seasoned 14th Layer master. Returning to the quarters with his hands completely giving out, Fe Tian, Rou Zhou, and Chu Tang immediately rushed to his side. They carefully re-bandaged his bleeding palms, forced him to swallow a basic healing pill, and guarded the room while they all fell into a heavy sleep.
Morning came like a flash. It was Day 4. Lihan ate rapidly, his mind locking onto a single, desperate thought: I need to fill this pond today.
He sprinted down to the river, diving back into the grueling routine. Mid-way through his third ascent, a sudden, violent vibration rattled his chest. The dense physical repetition combined with the lingering properties of the healing pill forced his core channels to violently expand. Boom.
The bottleneck shattered. In a spectacular surge of energy, Wan Lihan successfully broke through to the 6th Layer of the Qi Cleansing Realm.
He stood on the stone step for two hours, nourishing the new, dense energy until his entire physical frame felt as light as a feather. When he lifted the two buckets again, the weight had completely vanished. Moving with blinding speed, he sprinted up and down the mountain ridges until the moon rose, successfully filling the 50-ton storage pond to the absolute brim. Completely exhausted, Lihan dropped his tools. The pond is full, he calculated coldly. Now, it's time to execute the plan.
As he crept back toward the residential pavilion, the sound of violent shouting caught his attention. Peering from behind a massive rock at the top of the ridge, Lihan saw Supervisor Meng violently assaulting Fe Tian, trying to force the young disciple to take a lethal 5th Level contract.
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Fe Tian couldn't handle the injustice any longer. With a roar of rage, he lunged forward, swinging his fists to attack the supervisor. But the disparity in their realms was far too wide; Supervisor Meng casually deflected the blows, preparing to drive a lethal palm strike into Fe Tian's chest.
Lihan didn't hesitate. He vaulted over the boulder, descending like a hunting falcon as he launched a surprise physical strike directly against the supervisor. Supervisor Meng reacted instantly, drawing his sword to parry the ambush. Fe Tian seized the opening, picking up a heavy wooden stick from the yard to fight back alongside Lihan.
The two teenagers engaged the 14th Layer master in a frantic, close-range melee. The air hummed with loose Qi as blades clashed, until Supervisor Meng unleashed a devastating sweep, violently throwing Fe Tian backward into the dirt.
Left alone in a life-or-death duel, Lihan reached into his black robes, drawing his stolen mid tier grade sword. He had secretly coated the steel in the toxic juices of his poison maker kit earlier that morning. With a blindingly fast, low-angle stance, Lihan ducked beneath the master's guard and struck, running the tainted edge directly across Supervisor Meng’s forearm.
The rogue toxins acted instantly. The dark poison flooded the supervisor's veins, paralyzing his core pathways and forcing the old man to stumble backward, his sword slipping from his numb fingers.
Lihan lowered his blade, his said dropping into a freezing whisper. "That is enough bullying."
"Vermin!" Supervisor Meng shrieked in a manic frenzy. Driven by the fear of death, he gathered every single drop of his remaining 14th Layer Qi, launching a desperate, suicidal counter-strike that nearly shattered Lihan's defense and threatened to pierce his throat.
Thud.
Blood sprayed across the grass. Fe Tian had sprinted back into the clearing, driving his weapon with absolute, desperate force directly through the back of Supervisor Meng’s skull, killing the old tyrant instantly.
Silence fell over the bloody courtyard. Fe Tian, breathing heavily, reached down to grab Lihan's hand, pulling his exhausted roommate back to his feet.
Lihan wiped the sweat from his brow, looking at the corpse with a deep frown. "Fe Tian... you will be permanently kicked out and executed by the sect if they find out. Why did you kill him?"
Fe Tian spat on the dirt, his eyes fierce. "He bullies us every single day without a single drop of reason. He would have killed you tonight anyway. Don't worry about it, Lihan. Go back to the room and rest. I am going to hide his body in the deep wilderness."
Driven by pure physical exhaustion, Lihan returned to his cot and fell into an immediate, dreamless sleep.
The next morning, a booming voice violently shattered the peace of the courtyard. An Inner Disciple stood outside the pavilion doors, his face tight with authority.
"Where is your supervisor?!"
The outer students shuffled out, their faces pale as they lied in unison. "We don't know, Senior. We haven't seen him since yesterday."
Lihan stood in the ranks, his calculating mind scanning the yard. Where is Brother Fe Tian? he thought flatly. Beside him, Rou Zhou whispered frantically under his breath, "Lihan... did you see Fe Tian this morning?"
"No," Lihan lied smoothly.
Suddenly, a loud commotion erupted at the gate. Senior Disciple Zi Fang marched into the pavilion, his expression darker than stone as he addressed the inner guards. "Supervisor Meng's mangled remains have just been discovered in the lower thickets. He was murdered. Seal the perimeter immediately and scan the core cultivation of every single outer student in this yard!"