The descent from the western training steps should have been easier than climbing them.
It was not.
Luo Yanhe’s legs had survived three thousand spiritually reinforced steps, a mountain-suppressing formation and Shen Yan Ting’s medical philosophy, only to discover that an emergency required speed.
His damaged meridians protested each sharp movement, while his master descended ahead of him without appearing to touch half the stones beneath his feet.
Chao Lun Hui had spent the morning learning that cultivation rehabilitation did not believe in mercy.
He was now learning that sect emergencies did not believe in lifts.
The lower mountain path was already crowded when they arrived.
Disciples moved into defensive positions along both sides of the road.
Sword formations opened above the rooftops, their silver lines crossing through the fading dawn, while guards carried injured disciples away from the outer gate.
Despite the alarm, Azure Cloud Sect did not dissolve into panic.
Orders travelled clearly.
Defensive groups formed around the youngest disciples.
Healers moved towards the damaged formations instead of away from them.
A cultivation sect revealed far more during one crisis than it did through a hundred ceremonial speeches.
Shen Yan Ting continued towards the mountain gate, his white robes sweeping behind him.
He was only ten years older than Luo Yanhe, yet every disciple they passed moved according to his presence as though the sect’s discipline had taken human form.
Luo Yanhe remained behind him as ordered.
Approximately.
The outer barrier shimmered above the mountain gate, its usual golden surface broken by an opening large enough for a person to cross.
Several formation lines flickered around the gap, but the surrounding spiritual energy was strangely orderly.
Chao Lun Hui slowed.
The original novel had described Azure Cloud Sect’s barrier as nearly impossible to break.
Even a Nascent Soul cultivator would need considerable time and enough spiritual power to announce the attempt across several mountains.
The scene before him did not resemble destruction.
It resembled a door that had been opened and then badly closed by someone hoping nobody would notice.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting did not stop walking, though his attention shifted towards him.
Shen Yan Ting : “Speak.”
Luo Yanhe studied the barrier again.
The lines nearest the opening had folded back into their original channels instead of exploding outwards.
Luo Yanhe : “The outer barrier was not destroyed.”
Two nearby disciples turned towards him.
One carried a drawn sword.
The other had been reinforcing a smaller defence formation and now stared as though Luo Yanhe had offered a suspiciously convenient explanation.
Shen Yan Ting slowed.
Shen Yan Ting : “What did you see?”
Luo Yanhe pointed towards the upper-left formation line, where a faint curve of spiritual light was returning to its proper position.
Luo Yanhe : “The barrier was opened.”
The disciples exchanged a look.
Their concern changed direction with uncomfortable speed.
Chao Lun Hui could almost hear the questions they did not speak.
Why did Luo Yanhe understand the barrier?
Had the forbidden technique given him access?
Had he known the attack was coming?
Several days ago, those questions would have existed only as background reactions in a novel.
Standing beneath their suspicion made them considerably less decorative.
Shen Yan Ting looked towards the disciples.
Shen Yan Ting : “Hold your positions.”
The instruction redirected them without accusing or defending anyone.
The disciples bowed and returned their attention to the gate, although their caution did not disappear.
Shen Yan Ting then turned to Luo Yanhe.
Shen Yan Ting : “Explain.”
Chao Lun Hui knew enough from the novel to recognise the barrier’s broad structure, but the detail came from somewhere else.
His eyes followed the spiritual current before he consciously understood what he was tracing.
Luo Yanhe : “A forceful breach would have scattered the outer lines and left chaotic residue across the mountain.”
He indicated the opening.
Luo Yanhe : “These lines were redirected.
The barrier recognised a valid passage, opened long enough for someone to cross and then attempted to restore itself.”
A disciple stationed behind them frowned.
Disciple : “Someone inside the sect helped the intruder?”
The question carried more fear than accusation.
Internal betrayal could turn every locked chamber and guarded formation into a decoration.
Shen Yan Ting examined the spiritual traces.
Shen Yan Ting : “A reasonable conclusion.”
Luo Yanhe glanced at him.
A compliment from Shen Yan Ting before breakfast was rare enough to deserve preservation in the ancestral records.
Shen Yan Ting’s gaze remained on the barrier.
Shen Yan Ting : “It is also incomplete.”
Naturally, Luo Yanhe should have known that praise from his master would arrive with an attached correction.
Luo Yanhe : “Which part has offended Master?”
Shen Yan Ting finally looked at him.
His pure golden eyes carried the patience of a man accustomed to finding faults faster than other people produced them.
Shen Yan Ting : “The intruder did not require ordinary assistance.”
Luo Yanhe lowered his hand.
Luo Yanhe : “Then how did he enter?”
Shen Yan Ting turned towards the open formation.
Shen Yan Ting : “He was invited.”
The words spread through the defensive line with greater effect than a shouted warning.
Several disciples tightened their grip on their swords.
Formation masters looked towards one another, each apparently reconsidering how many people could issue an invitation through a barrier that had protected the sect for centuries.
Chao Lun Hui stared at the opening.
A barrier capable of refusing powerful enemies had politely admitted an unauthorised guest.
Ancient cultivation security had apparently perfected ceremony before common sense.
He did not ask who had issued the invitation.
Shen Yan Ting’s expression made it clear that no answer would be offered yet.
A cold laugh travelled through the mountains.
The sound carried spiritual energy.
It crossed the gate, shook the lanterns beneath the tiled roofs and pressed against every cultivator standing along the path.
Unknown Cultivator : “Hiding behind formations after all these years, Shen Yan Ting?”
Several weaker disciples lost their footing.
Defensive formations brightened as elders reinforced them from deeper within the sect.
A dark-robed man appeared above the mountain gate.
His robes moved against the wind, and a sharp aura surrounded him like drawn steel.
The strength of his cultivation was difficult to determine because he made no attempt to display its limits.
He stood within the wounded barrier as though Azure Cloud Sect’s protection had been built for his entrance.
His eyes fixed upon Shen Yan Ting.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting shifted half a step forwards, placing himself between Luo and the gate before answering.
Luo Yanhe : “Who is he?”
Shen Yan Ting’s expression cooled.
His posture changed by less than an inch, but the disciples nearest him immediately drew farther from the centre of the path.
Shen Yan Ting : “An old enemy.”
The unknown cultivator laughed again, though no amusement reached his face.
Unknown Cultivator : “Old enemy?”
His gaze travelled over Shen Yan Ting’s white robes, golden-red crown and the disciples gathered behind him.
Unknown Cultivator : “After abandoning everyone who followed you, you still allow them to call you Immortal Master?”
Confusion moved through the defensive line.
Shen Yan Ting did not deny the accusation.
He did not explain it either.
His spiritual energy spread quietly across the ground, reinforcing the formations beneath the disciples’ feet.
The silence carried recognition, but Chao Lun Hui could not tell what part of the accusation belonged to truth.
The novel had presented Shen Yan Ting as distant, disciplined and almost entirely separate from personal conflict.
It had never mentioned abandoned followers or an enemy permitted through Azure Cloud Sect’s barrier.
The dark-robed man’s attention shifted.
His eyes found Luo Yanhe.
The change was immediate.
His hostility sharpened into recognition, and his mouth settled into an expression that suggested Luo Yanhe’s presence confirmed something unpleasant.
Unknown Cultivator : “Luo Yanhe.”
Chao Lun Hui’s breath paused.
Nobody had introduced him.
The man did not pronounce the name as though recognising a famous disciple.
There was no question in it, no uncertainty and no need to compare his face with a description.
He knew Luo Yanhe.
Unknown Cultivator : “You are still standing behind him.”
The words referred to a history Chao Lun Hui did not possess.
Reading Luo Yanhe’s story had taught him about the villain’s future enemies.
It had not taught him how those enemies looked at him before he became a villain.
The stranger above the gate was not reacting to a written role.
He was looking at someone he believed he had already met.
Being mistaken for Luo Yanhe required acting.
Being recognised as Luo Yanhe required memories Chao Lun Hui could not invent.
Shen Yan Ting : “Stay back.”
The order cut through his thoughts.
Luo Yanhe moved immediately.
He took one step backwards.
Shen Yan Ting looked over his shoulder.
Shen Yan Ting : “One step?”
Luo Yanhe maintained an expression of respectful innocence.
Luo Yanhe : “One step is still moving back.”
A disciple on the right lowered his head as a laugh threatened to escape.
The disciple beside him remained entirely serious, possibly because Luo Yanhe’s previous reputation had not included accepting public laughter with grace.
Shen Yan Ting’s gaze returned to the single space separating them.
Shen Yan Ting : “You are troublesome.”
Luo Yanhe folded his hands.
Luo Yanhe : “Many people have said that.”
Shen Yan Ting faced the enemy again.
Shen Yan Ting : “I believe them.”
The first disciple’s shoulders shook once.
He immediately disguised the movement by adjusting his sword grip.
The unknown cultivator stared down at them.
Unknown Cultivator : “Are you two having a conversation during my attack?”
Neither master nor disciple answered quickly enough.
The man’s expression hardened.
Unknown Cultivator : “Enough.”
Spiritual pressure crashed down the mountain.
The defensive line bent beneath it.
Stone cracked along the gate, sword formations screamed against the force and several disciples were driven to one knee.
Chao Lun Hui did not have time to decide how a cultivator should respond.
Luo Yanhe’s body had already moved.
His right foot slid behind the left.
His injured side turned away from the incoming pressure.
Spiritual energy curved around the damaged meridians and folded protectively over his core.
His hand reached towards a weapon he was not carrying.
Then his body placed itself precisely behind Shen Yan Ting’s right shoulder, close enough to remain inside his defensive radius without obstructing the path of his sword.
Chao Lun Hui recognised none of the decisions.
The position felt practised.
Worse, it felt correct.
Shen Yan Ting’s eyes flicked towards him for the length of a breath.
He noticed the stance, the protected meridians and the position Luo had chosen without instruction.
Then Shen raised one hand.
There was no incantation.
The wave of hostile energy stopped.
It hung across the mountain path like a dark tide trapped behind invisible glass.
Every fragment of pressure that had threatened the disciples became motionless beneath Shen Yan Ting’s control.
He closed his fingers.
The attack dispersed without touching the people behind him.
The unknown cultivator’s expression changed.
Unknown Cultivator : “You have not weakened.”
Shen Yan Ting lowered his hand.
His pure golden eyes remained calm, and even the edge of his white sleeve had not moved.
Shen Yan Ting : “No.”
The broken formations gathered around him, their scattered light responding to his spiritual command.
Shen Yan Ting : “I have become patient.”
The mountain gate erupted in sword light.
The unknown cultivator struck first.
Shen Yan Ting’s blade answered with a clean arc of gold, meeting the attack above the defensive line.
Formation seals awakened across the ground, and the sky filled with crossing spiritual currents.
Luo Yanhe watched from the exact position his body had chosen.
The novel had described Shen Yan Ting as powerful.
That description now felt insultingly incomplete.
His strength did not come from releasing more energy than his opponent.
Every thread of power moved with purpose.
He protected the sect, contained the enemy and preserved the surrounding formations within the same exchange.
The written story had reduced him to a role because it had never understood the man.
It had done the same to Luo Yanhe.
Above the gate, the dark-robed intruder moved through Shen Yan Ting’s sword light while continuing to watch Luo as though waiting for him to remember.
Chao Lun Hui knew Luo Yanhe’s future better than his past.
The enemy knew a Luo Yanhe whom Chao Lun Hui had never met.
As the next collision shook Azure Cloud Sect, that missing history became more dangerous than the battle unfolding before him.
The chapter has now been updated to the latest revised version.
I truly appreciate everyone who waited and continued supporting this story while I worked on improving it.
I hope this updated version gives you a smoother and more enjoyable reading experience.
Thank you for staying with me.
Happy reading!