Chen gently set his mother's feet down, careful not to disturb her rest. He rose from the bed quietly and stepped out of the room—
and immediately stopped.
Something felt wrong.
A wave of negative energy brushed against his senses like icy fingers. His eyes darkened, scanning every corner of the house. Nothing moved. Nothing looked out of place.
And yet… something was tainting the air.
He walked slowly, senses sharp as blades. Then he saw it—
a small idol placed near the corner of the hallway. He frowned.
He had never seen this in the house before.
He crouched and inspected it closely. Shadowy threads of negative energy seeped from the carving, invisible to ordinary eyes but unmistakable to someone at the Soul Purification Realm.
Chen's expression hardened.
He placed his palm on the idol and channeled a surge of dark qi into it. The corrupt aura evaporated instantly, like smoke dissolving under a storm.
Someone put this here… but who?
His mother never bought idols, and she disliked clutter. This definitely wasn't hers.
Still, he set the matter aside for now. He returned to his room, finding Xiang sleeping peacefully, her expression relaxed for the first time in days. The moment he saw her, the tension in his chest loosened.
He slid into bed, wrapped an arm around her gently, and held her close.
For the first time in a long while, Chen fell asleep with a sense of calm.
---
The Next Morning
The moment Chen stepped onto the college campus, whispers floated through the air.
A major competition had been announced.
Ten different colleges had registered. Rewards were said to be exceptional, though the first prize was kept secret. But that wasn't what caught Chen's attention.
The battles would be held at Rainy Mountain.
The name alone made his heart thrum with excitement.
He remembered reading about it in an ancient text—a rare flower bloomed there once every few years. Anyone who consumed it would double their cultivation speed.
Not just that.
Rainy Mountain overflowed with spiritual energy. Herbs, treasures, and natural resources grew wild there. For cultivators, it was a paradise.
But it was also government-controlled, opened only once every ten years for students.
This was a chance of a lifetime.
Chen immediately registered for the competition—not for glory, but for the mountain.
As he walked through the lobby, steps steady with purpose, a sharp voice pierced the air.
"Hey, loser Chen!"
The entire hallway turned silent.
Students stared in disbelief. Loser?
Who would dare call him that now?
Chen's jaw tightened. His gaze turned icy the moment he saw the speaker.
Ye Haoran.
His stepbrother.
His nightmare.
The person who had destroyed his life more thoroughly than anyone else.
If anyone had bullied him, humiliated him, broken him—it was Haoran.
Haoran strutted up to him, laughing mockingly.
"I heard some rumors about you. Big achievements, they said. I didn't believe it. So I came to see for myself. And here you are… actually standing tall."
He suddenly dropped the smile, eyes hardening.
"The Ye Family told you not to cultivate. So tell me—how dare you disobey their orders?"
Chen didn't even flinch.
His voice was cold, flat, emotionless.
"I'm not part of the Ye Family. I follow no one's orders."
Haoran froze, stunned. He had expected the old Chen—weak, begging, pathetic.
Not this one.
Chen walked past him without a second look.
But Haoran grabbed his collar roughly.
"You dog. How dare you reject the family's command?"
The next moment—
Crack—!
Chen's fist collided with Haoran's face with ruthless speed.
Haoran flew back, slamming into the wall hard enough to leave cracks.
Gasps filled the hallway.
Everyone stared at Chen—
the boy who used to be bullied, beaten, humiliated—
now standing like a silent storm, eyes dark and unreadable.