In the dense forest leading from the Empress's Imperial Palace to the Red King Palace, three corpses lay scattered across the ground, draped over tree trunks, and slumped against small mounds of earth.

Severed limbs.

Ruptured internal organs.

Blood pooling across the ground, staining the soil a deep crimson.

And six wide, unblinking eyes, staring in the grievance of a restless death.

.......

Every detail spoke of the sheer peril and brutality of the battle that had just transpired.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Shortly after Chu Chen's departure, three figures descended from the nine heavens, riding flying swords with an ethereal, untethered grace.

To channel Spiritual Qi into a flying sword and travel via Sword Riding...

This was a feat reserved solely for cultivators who had broken through to the Sea Cleaving Realm. In other words, these three possessed cultivation bases at the Sea Cleaving Realm or higher.

Without resorting to his hidden trump cards, the current Chu Chen would be absolutely no match for them.

"Senior Brother Lin Xun, Li Long and his two guards are all dead. No survivors."

"Severed at the waist, throats sealed with a single strike. This kid's methods are truly vicious."

"They are fellow disciples of the same sect. How could he be so ruthless? It's outrageous! Utterly deranged!"

.......

The leading Senior Brother, Lin Xun, clad in a light blue long robe, stared at the scattered corpses. His brows furrowed tightly as he covered his nose and mouth, his face twisting in sheer disgust.

"Enough. Pack up these... these body parts and bring them back."

"Leave the rest for Senior Brother Zhao Kongyang to handle. Their task is complete anyway. Dying just saves us the trouble of finishing them off ourselves."

With that said, Lin Xun turned around. Clasping his hands behind his back, he gazed in the direction Chu Chen had vanished, a meaningful smirk curling his lips.

Chu Chen, oh, Chu Chen. On the path of cultivation, talent and resources alone are far from enough.

You must also rely on your background, leverage your connections, and navigate the endless scheming and deceit...

This world is far more wicked and dark than you could ever imagine.

An innocent man courts disaster by possessing a treasure. You should understand this principle!

Now that Senior Brother Zhao Kongyang has his eyes on you, if you don't die, who will?!

Hearing this, the two disciples fell silent.

Suppressing their nausea, they channeled their Spiritual Qi to gather the scattered body parts and organs before flying together toward the depths of the Red King Palace.

......

After dispatching Li Long and his two lackeys, Chu Chen had long anticipated that a mastermind was pulling the strings, and that someone would soon arrive to collect the bodies.

The true mastermind would then use these corpses as evidence, citing sect rules and precepts to openly launch an attack against him.

Yet, Chu Chen did not set an ambush in the dense forest. He had no desire to turn passivity into initiative.

After all, he had only been cultivating for a single night. Even after breaking through ten realms in a row, he was still only at the tenth level of the Qi Gathering Realm.

For a monstrous genius like him, invincibility within the same realm was standard, and fighting across realms was the norm.

Even if he encountered an Essence Condensation Realm cultivator, Chu Chen could fight above his level and forcefully suppress them.

But if he faced cultivators at the Sea Cleaving Realm, Heaven Opening Realm, or even the Spirit Communication Realm, he would be no match for them without resorting to his life-saving trump cards.

Therefore, it did not matter who was targeting him.

These people would inevitably jump out to cause trouble anyway. He might as well let the matter escalate until it reached the point of no return, and then suppress them all with the overwhelming force of an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

Humming a light tune, Chu Chen headed straight for another towering mountain near Red King Mountain.

Looking up, his vision was filled with ancient, sky-reaching trees and dense bamboo groves. He was instantly struck by the sight.

The mountain was majestic and imposing, piercing the clouds like a pillar of jade thrusting straight into the azure heavens.

Swirling mist wreathed the peak, forming a vast, boundless sea of clouds.

Hidden within the mist, several magnificent palaces crouched upon the summit like desolate ancient beasts, resembling immortal islands in a fairyland-mysterious and expansive.

Stepping onto the mountain path, he followed the winding stone steps that coiled like a swimming dragon. After only a few paces, he encountered a waterfall cascading from the summit, feeding a babbling brook that rippled with clear, azure waves.

"What a blessed grotto-heaven. That old fellow truly treats me well."

Chu Chen ascended the steps, feeling the rich Spiritual Qi radiating throughout the mountain. His mind cleared, his spirit lifted, and his pace unconsciously quickened.

This mountain peak was the Dao Field his master, Qi Lao'er, had established for him. Within the entire Central Palace of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace, over the past several millennia, the only person permitted to claim an entire mountain as a Dao Field-aside from the Central Palace Master, Qi Lao'er himself-was Chu Chen!

After about half an hour, Chu Chen leaped forward, directly alighting upon the summit.

Looking around, the entire mountaintop appeared to have been sheared flat by the single sword strike of some supreme mighty figure. Aside from an incredibly spacious Daoist plaza, four or five palaces were elegantly scattered and hidden among the trees.

As the red sun rose, its warm rays gilded the mountain in a layer of gold, outlining the palaces, waterfalls, immortal cranes, and spirit deer into a breathtakingly beautiful painting.

"Hurry up, hurry up! All of you, get moving!"

"Before the master arrives at our mountain, you all better look sharp!"

"Sweep the grounds clean, lock up the spirit beasts, and wipe the windowsills until they are spotless! Whoever drops the ball, don't blame me for beating you to death with a stick!"

......

Chu Chen followed the voice and saw a pot-bellied old steward lounging in a grand armchair. He held a leather whip in one hand, berating the servants before him, while using the other to pour wine from a flask down his throat.

Below the platform, hundreds of servants hunched over, shrinking their heads back, as silent as winter cicadas.

Right at that moment, a group of armed guards escorted a young girl forward, shoving her before the old steward. Her clothes were in tatters, and her body was covered in bloody whip marks.

"Uncle Fu, this woman is incredibly stubborn. She refuses to wash up and wait in your room."

"We brothers already gave her a harsh punishment and broke two whips on her. But she... when we weren't paying attention, she actually took a knife and slashed her own face, disfiguring herself."

"She simply refuses to yield. She even said that since you killed her parents, she won't let you off even as a ghost, and that she would rather die than serve you."

.......

The guard's voice was loud. The old steward in the armchair and the hundreds of servants below heard every word clearly. The atmosphere instantly turned suffocatingly oppressive.

"Courting death!!"

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The old steward shot up from his armchair and lashed out with his leather whip. The strikes rained down upon the woman, tearing her skin and flesh open in an instant.

The leather whip in his hand was no ordinary object; it was a Dharma Treasure. Although it was only of the lowest grade-a Qi Gathering level Dharma Treasure-its power was not to be underestimated.

Striking human flesh, it felt like the bite of a venomous snake baring its fangs.

"For me to take a fancy to you is a blessing you've cultivated over several lifetimes!"

"You are a lowly servant, destined to serve for generations. Now, as long as you marry me as a concubine, you can shed your slave status. And yet you dare to refuse?"

"Your lowly father and consumptive mother deserved to die! How dare they rush up and try to bite me? Killing them was letting them off easy. I should have skinned them alive, pulled out their tendons, and turned them into human swine!"

......

The old steward cursed as he lashed her. The woman was beaten until she collapsed to the ground, barely breathing, devoid of even the strength to speak. Yet, her bloodshot eyes remained fixed on the old steward, burning with a boundless hatred that would not rest even in death.

"You still dare to glare at me? You still dare to glare at me?!"

The old steward was so infuriated he scratched at his ears and cheeks, panting heavily as he swung the whip with even greater ferocity.

By the time the whipping ceased, the woman was gasping weakly, exhaling more than she inhaled. It was clear she would not survive.

The old steward was also exhausted, dripping with sweat and heaving for breath.

"Men, take this... this wretched bitch to the back mountain and feed her to the dogs."

Pulling out a silk handkerchief to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, the old steward casually waved at a few guards and instructed:

"Listen closely, all of you. The master of this mountain peak is arriving soon. If anyone leaks a word of this, I'll skin them alive!!"

"Yes!!"

The guards immediately moved, lifting the dying woman to carry her toward the back mountain.

Although the old steward was making vicious threats, he wasn't the least bit worried about Chu Chen finding out.

It was quite simple.

In the eyes of cultivators capable of moving mountains and draining seas, were the lives of mere mortals even considered lives?

Of course not!!

To mighty figures, these lowly mortals were not even worth as much as a spirit beast, a chunk of ore, or a single stalk of Spirit Grass.

Not to mention, although this woman once had a pretty face, her picturesque features had been slashed by a dagger and utterly disfigured.

And he, Qian Bao, was the head steward after all, possessing a cultivation base at the tenth level of the Qi Gathering Realm.

"Wait!!"

Watching the guards carry the woman past him, Chu Chen sighed inwardly and reached out to stop them.

Gazing at the woman's scarred face and hollow eyes, Chu Chen brushed his Storage Ring, retrieving a top-grade healing Pill. He bent down, gently parted her lips, and fed it to her.

"If you still wish to avenge your parents, you must fight to survive, rather than merely resenting the injustice of this world..."

Leaving those words behind, Chu Chen straightened up. With his head held high, he strode toward the old steward, Qian Bao, who was seated in the grand armchair.

"Brat, who are you?"

"How dare you interfere in my, Qian Bao's, affairs? Are you courting death?"

The old steward flew into a rage, leaping up from his armchair. He backhanded his whip toward Chu Chen, cursing furiously:

"Let me tell you, it doesn't matter if you're an outer disciple, an inner disciple, or a true disciple of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace! It's useless!"

"Our master is the Pro-disciple of the Central Palace Master, Qi Lao'er! He is-"

Bang!!

Before the old steward could finish his sentence, Chu Chen suddenly accelerated, delivering a vicious kick squarely to his fat, pig-like face, sending him flying four or five meters away.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Before the old steward could even scramble up from the ground, Chu Chen drew his longsword. His figure blurred as he launched a relentless assault, unleashing a torrential storm of sword techniques.

Although both were at the tenth level of the Qi Gathering Realm, the old steward couldn't withstand a single move from Chu Chen, let alone escape from right under his nose.

Chu Chen flicked his longsword, instantly severing the old steward's tendons in his hands and feet. Then, with a sweeping wave of his hand, he snatched the longswords from the four guards who had rushed forward.

Under the terrified gazes of the crowd, the four longswords pierced through the old steward's hands and feet, pinning his bloated, massive body to the cliff face. It was a gruesome sight.

The old steward, who had been so majestic and in control of life and death just a moment ago, was now coughing up mouthfuls of blood, screaming hoarsely:

"My... my master is a Pro-disciple! When my master arrives, he will definitely... definitely..."

It all happened far too fast. Before the guard squad could even step forward to intervene, the battle was already over.

Swish!

Chu Chen leaped onto the high platform and seated himself in the grand armchair. Facing the hundreds of guards advancing with drawn blades, he opened his hand, revealing a token resting in his palm.

"My name is Chu Chen! I am a Pro-disciple of the Divine Flame Imperial Palace! I am the disciple of the Central Palace Master, Qi Lao'er! I am the master of this peak!!"

"Anyone who dares to advance with a drawn blade and commit insubordination shall be killed without mercy!!"

Rustle-

The moment those words echoed out, the hundreds of guards who had just surrounded him, along with the hundreds of servants below, dropped to their knees with a heavy thud. They buried their heads in the dirt, their bodies trembling violently.

Looking out, a massive, dense crowd knelt in subtask. Across the entire mountain peak, not a single person remained standing!

Pinned to the stone wall by the swords, the old steward Qian Bao stared with wide, bulging eyes, his face turning the color of dead ash.

Swish!!

Chu Chen waved his hand, and the longsword in his grasp transformed into a streak of light, flying over ten meters away to embed itself half a meter in front of the disfigured woman.

"Kill him, and you will be Chu Chen's personal maidservant!"

"You will be the new steward of this mountain peak!!"

......