Dao of Submission — Principle Twelve
The most dangerous trump card should be placed in the most visible position—because every true hunter knows to let others see the cold edge of the blade first, before deciding how to use it.
After seeing Wang Duobao off, Jiang Muchen did not return to his room immediately.
He stood in the courtyard for a long time.
Sunlight filtered through the branches of the old locust tree, scattering patches of light across the ground. The shadows shifted slowly, like sand slipping through an hourglass.
Eventually, he walked to the well.
He drew up a bucket of the coldest water he could find.
Then he poured it straight over his head.
Water soaked through his rough outer-sect robe instantly, clinging tightly to his body. The chill was bone-deep.
Jiang Muchen shivered.
But his mind became razor-sharp.
Inside his room, he knelt beside the bed and pulled out an old camphorwood chest.
When he lifted the lid, a cloud of dust rose into the beam of sunlight coming through the window.
Inside the chest were no spirit stones.
No artifacts.
Only a pile of objects that looked like worthless junk.
A half-burned turtle shell.
Several torn fragments of beast-hide maps.
A corroded bronze key so rusted it barely showed its original color.
More than a dozen faded sachets.
And several oddly shaped pieces of ore.
All of it looked like trash.
Things Jiang Muchen had casually picked up in places like Blackwind Cave, Azure Nether Herb Valley, and during the previous secret realm expeditions.
Wang Duobao had once laughed at him for collecting rocks like a scavenger.
Shen Lingxue had glanced at them curiously once or twice.
But no one understood.
In Jiang Muchen's eyes, these objects were something entirely different.
He picked up the bronze key.
It was crudely forged, ancient in style. The surface was covered in thick green corrosion.
Yet the teeth of the key were strangely smooth.
Polished by years—perhaps centuries—of use.
Two ancient characters were carved into the handle.
They had almost been completely erased by rust. Jiang Muchen had spent three months carefully clearing the corrosion with spiritual energy every night before finally recognizing them.
Infernal Prison.
The characters seemed like flames sealed inside bronze.
He had found the key beside the broken remains of the Heaven-Burning Halberd within the Infernal Core.
The shattered halberd had been embedded in obsidian formed from hardened lava.
The key lay hidden in the shadow of the blade.
Almost as if someone had deliberately placed it there.
Next, Jiang Muchen picked up the turtle shell fragment.
The edges were cut cleanly—as though it had once been split perfectly in half.
The surface was covered in dense star-map markings.
But the chart was incomplete.
Exactly half of it was missing.
He had excavated it from a frozen cavern deep within the Frozen Illusion Realm, trapped inside ten-thousand-year profound ice.
It had taken him two hours of careful strikes with his jade flute to break through the ice.
Jiang Muchen wrapped both items carefully in a clean cloth and tucked them inside his robe.
Then he changed into a freshly washed outer disciple uniform.
It was faded white but spotless.
He adjusted his hair in the reflection of a water basin.
A simple wooden hairpin held it in place.
His face was young.
Almost boyish.
But the eyes staring back from the water did not belong to a seventeen-year-old.
When he pushed open the courtyard gate, Zhou Xiaohuan was outside hanging freshly washed clothes.
"Brother Chen, where are you going?"
"To Thunderpeak," Jiang Muchen said without turning back.
"I'm meeting Senior Brother Chen Xuanfeng."
The wet clothes slipped from Zhou Xiaohuan's hands and splashed back into the basin.
Water scattered everywhere.
Chen Xuanfeng.
Inner Sect core disciple of Thunderpeak.
Late Foundation Establishment.
Only one step away from forming a Golden Core.
More importantly—
He was part of Xiao Chen's faction.
"Brother Chen…" Zhou Xiaohuan's voice trembled.
"It's fine."
Jiang Muchen waved his hand casually as he disappeared down the mountain path.
Thunderpeak ranked third among the seven Inner Sect peaks.
It was famous for cultivators who practiced both lightning and fire techniques.
The entire mountain glowed faintly red.
The air crackled with tiny currents of electricity.
Occasionally, purple lightning snakes flashed through the clouds around the mountain slopes.
Chen Xuanfeng's courtyard was halfway up the mountain.
A private residence surrounded by walls built from crimson fire-rock.
Strange glowing vines crawled along the walls.
At night, the place would probably look like it was burning.
When Jiang Muchen arrived, the courtyard gate was open.
Inside, loud voices echoed.
An argument.
"Senior Brother Chen! Are you trying to fall out with Senior Brother Xiao?!" a hoarse voice roared.
"Those ten outer-sect slots were decided by Senior Brother Xiao three months ago! If you suddenly replace them now, how am I supposed to explain that?!"
"Explain?" Chen Xuanfeng's voice was cold as tempered iron.
"Junior Brother Li, have you forgotten something?"
"The command token for this expedition is in my hands."
"The final list is decided by me."
"Not Xiao Chen."
"Even if his father is the Deputy Pavilion Master, rules are still rules."
"But Senior Brother Xiao—"
"No 'but'."
Chen Xuanfeng cut him off sharply.
"Either follow my list."
"Or find someone else to lead the expedition."
"I'd like to see who among you dares enter the lava lake without me."
"And who dares enter the earthfire caverns."
At the gate, Jiang Muchen paused.
He raised his hand and knocked gently.
Thud. Thud.
The sound echoed against the fire-rock doorway.
The argument stopped instantly.
Moments later, a burly man with a brutal face stormed out.
He nearly collided with Jiang Muchen.
The man glared viciously at him but said nothing, stomping down the mountain path while muttering curses.
Jiang Muchen glanced at the jade badge hanging at the man's waist.
Enforcement Hall.
Li Batian.
One of Xiao Chen's most loyal dogs.
"Come in."
Chen Xuanfeng's voice drifted from inside.
Emotionless.
Jiang Muchen stepped across the threshold.
The courtyard was larger than it looked from outside.
The ground was paved with black basalt.
At the center stood a small lightning-attraction formation.
A spear wrapped in purple lightning was planted in the formation core.
Chen Xuanfeng sat beside a stone table.
He looked around thirty.
His face was sharp and stern.
A thin scar ran from his eyebrow to his cheekbone beside his right eye.
He wore the crimson robes of an Inner Sect core disciple.
The lightning patterns on his sleeves were embroidered with actual lightning-struck wood fibers, faintly glowing purple.
The aura around him was overwhelming.
Late Foundation Establishment.
Half a step from the Golden Core.
Jiang Muchen stopped three paces from the table and bowed.
"Outer Sect disciple Jiang Muchen greets Senior Brother Chen."
Chen Xuanfeng didn't tell him to sit.
He didn't even look up.
Instead, he poured himself a cup of tea.
The tea was crimson red.
Steam rose from it.
The fragrance carried a faint scorching sensation.
"Jiang Muchen," Chen Xuanfeng said calmly.
"I hear you've climbed quite high lately."
"Even the Frost Palace seems interested in you."
"Impressive."
The words sounded like praise.
The tone did not.
Jiang Muchen bowed deeper.
"I only had the fortune of helping Elder Murong with a small matter."
"A small matter?"
Chen Xuanfeng snorted and finally looked up.
"Do you know what it means for her to send a Frost Soul Letter asking me to 'take care' of you?"
"That's not something achieved through small favors."
He tossed a pale blue letter onto the stone table.
The paper was thin as cicada wings.
Cold to the touch.
Frost Soul Paper.
Fireproof.
Waterproof.
Blade-resistant.
At the bottom corner was a delicate seal.
An Ice Phoenix carrying a lotus.
Murong Xueli's personal mark.
Meaning this wasn't polite courtesy.
It was a formal favor.
Jiang Muchen looked at the letter.
Something hard inside his chest softened slightly.
"Elder Murong overestimates me," he said quietly.
Chen Xuanfeng stared at him for a long moment.
Then he asked suddenly,
"Do you know who that man earlier was?"
"Junior Brother Li Batian. Enforcement Hall deputy steward. One of Senior Brother Xiao Chen's right-hand men."
"Right-hand man?"
Chen Xuanfeng laughed coldly.
"He's just a dog."
"Xiao Chen gave him five outer-sect slots for the Infernal Core expedition."
"Guess who he planned to send."
Jiang Muchen remained silent.
"Every single one of them is a spoiled Xiao clan brat," Chen Xuanfeng said angrily.
"Or another useless tail-wagger like him."
"When they enter the secret realm, their first priority won't be resources."
"They'll be watching everyone else."
"Especially me."
"I've led thirteen secret realm expeditions."
"I hate parasites like that more than anything."
Chen Xuanfeng stood and walked toward Jiang Muchen.
His pressure pressed down like a mountain.
"Murong Xueli's letter gives you an audience."
"But a letter alone isn't enough."
"You must prove…"
"You're worth more than those parasites."
Jiang Muchen slowly straightened.
He took out the cloth bundle from his robe and placed it on the table.
When the cloth unfolded, the rusted key and turtle shell were revealed.
Chen Xuanfeng's pupils shrank instantly.
His breathing stopped for a moment.
"…What is this?"
"I found it beside the broken Heaven-Burning Halberd in the Infernal Core," Jiang Muchen said calmly.
"The characters on the handle read 'Infernal Prison.'"
"I believe it may be the key to a hidden location inside the Infernal Core."
Chen Xuanfeng slowly reached out.
His fingers hovered above the key before touching it.
As he picked it up, his breathing grew heavier.
"And this?"
"The turtle shell records a star chart."
"After researching ancient records, I discovered something interesting."
He paused.
"It marks the orbit of the Flame Emperor Palace."
"Three thousand years ago."
Silence filled the courtyard.
"The Flame Emperor Palace…" Chen Xuanfeng murmured.
Jiang Muchen spoke softly.
"According to my calculations…"
"The palace lies three hundred meters beneath the lava lake."
"There is an earthfire vein there."
"Every night at midnight, the fire vein calms for half an incense stick's time."
"That's the only entrance window."
Chen Xuanfeng's hand trembled.
The key nearly slipped from his fingers.
The Flame Emperor Palace.
The legendary cultivation palace of the ancient Fire Emperor.
Rumored to contain the complete Heaven-Burning Art.
And countless fire-element treasures.
For three thousand years, countless cultivators had died searching for it.
And now—
The key and star map fragment lay in his palm.
Chen Xuanfeng stared at Jiang Muchen.
"…Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I need your support," Jiang Muchen said calmly.
"Xiao Chen will try to kill me in the secret realm."
"Alone, I won't survive."
"So you want to trade this secret for my protection?"
"No."
Jiang Muchen shook his head.
"I want a fair chance for me and my companions."
"If we find the palace, you take seventy percent."
"I only ask for thirty."
Chen Xuanfeng fell silent.
Finally, he asked quietly,
"Are you not afraid I'll take the key… and sell you to Xiao Chen?"
"I am."
Jiang Muchen nodded.
"But I believe you're smart."
"A living guide is worth more than a dead one."
"And besides…"
He paused slightly.
"The other half of the star map…"
"Only I know where it is."
Chen Xuanfeng stared at him.
For a long time.
Then suddenly—
He laughed loudly.
A real laugh.
The lightning spear in the formation vibrated from the echo.
"Good!"
"Excellent!"
"I like dealing with smart people!"
"The Infernal Core expedition has ten outer-sect slots."
"I'll give you three."
"Your people are under my protection."
Three slots.
One more than Jiang Muchen expected.
"Thank you, Senior Brother."
Chen Xuanfeng's gaze sharpened suddenly.
"The Flame Emperor Palace secret—"
"Only you and I know."
"If word leaks…"
"I understand," Jiang Muchen said.
"I'll be the first one dead."
Chen Xuanfeng nodded.
"Seven days."
"Morning assembly at the mountain gate."
"Bring your people."
When Jiang Muchen left the courtyard, the sun was setting behind Thunderpeak.
The mountain glowed blood red.
His steps were steady.
But his back was soaked with cold sweat.
The Flame Emperor Palace was his final trump card.
Was it worth playing it now?
Yes.
Because he needed time.
Time to grow stronger.
Time to weave his web.
Before Xiao Chen realized what he was doing.
As he walked, Jiang Muchen touched something else hidden in his robe.
A blue scale.
Frozen together with the turtle shell in the ice cavern.
A scale from the guardian beast of the Iceheart Jade Lotus.
And he already knew where the lotus was.
Two trump cards.
He had played one.
One remained.
That was enough.
When he returned to the courtyard, night had fallen.
Wang Duobao rushed over excitedly.
Jiang Muchen placed three crimson tokens on the stone table.
"Infernal Core expedition."
"Three slots."
"You and Lu Hanshan come with me."
"Senior Sister Shen, Zhou Xiaohuan, Zheng Xiaoqi—"
"You go to the Frozen Illusion Realm."
Silence fell across the courtyard.
"Brother Chen…" Wang Duobao swallowed nervously.
"Coldmoon from Iceheart Peak will be leading that side… and she doesn't get along with Elder Murong."
"Exactly," Jiang Muchen said calmly.
"That's why we're going."
He looked at Shen Lingxue.
"Make her owe us a favor."
"The bigger the better."
Shen Lingxue nodded slowly.
Night fully descended.
Jiang Muchen sat alone in the courtyard.
The rusted key pressed against his chest beneath his robe.
Like a heart.
Already beginning to beat.
Dao of Submission — Maxim Twelve
When you hand someone the only key…
make sure you leave a hidden thorn inside the lock—
because that thorn is the real key only you can remove.