Chapter Forty-One: Encountering the Enemy

Early the next morning, Lin Yanghao found that the clothes he had washed the day before were still wet. He could only smile wryly and continue wearing his old garments. As usual, after finishing his daily chores, Lin Yanghao planned to return to his thatched hut and resume his cultivation.

“Lin Yanghao!”

He had barely taken a few steps when someone called his name from behind. Turning around, he was met with a face he despised—Steward Cao. Though Lin Yanghao would have preferred not to see him, he had no choice but to respond.

“Steward Cao, is there something you need?”

“You appear untidy within the sect. From now on, your daily chores will be doubled!” Steward Cao replied harshly.

Anger flashed in Lin Yanghao’s eyes. His hands itched to strike the steward, and he struggled to suppress the urge. Yet after some reflection, reason triumphed over impulse.

“No, I can’t lose my temper. If I hit him, it’s exactly what he wants—a pretext to expel me from the sect. So it’s just double the chores. I’ll do it. When I advance in cultivation, I’ll make him pay dearly,” Lin Yanghao thought, his heart burning with fury.

“A man beneath the eaves cannot but bow his head.” With no other choice, Lin Yanghao accepted the punishment and continued up the mountain.

“Zhang Heng, that brat is right over there. Come on, let’s go teach him a lesson.”

Lin Yanghao was chopping firewood when two figures suddenly appeared nearby.

These two were the ones Wang Shaohui had sent to deal with Lin Yanghao: one named Zhang Heng, the other Li Xuan.

As Lin Yanghao chopped wood, he suddenly felt a chill along his back. Turning, he saw the two men rushing toward him. Lin Yanghao was startled—who had he provoked to deserve this? Why did people keep trying to harm him? He had just arrived and hadn’t offended anyone, save for a family in Mortal City, but he doubted they could command cultivators to do their bidding. So he quickly ruled out the Wang family, and no matter how he pondered, he found no answer.

“Kid! Don’t even think about walking away from here unscathed today!” Li Xuan sneered.

“Are you not afraid the sect will punish you for this?” Lin Yanghao retorted. In his understanding, sects always forbid disciples from fighting each other.

“Hahaha! What a joke, Lin Yanghao. Don’t you know the sect allows fighting among disciples to spur cultivation? Only inner disciples are forbidden from fighting outer disciples. We’re all outer disciples—of course we can fight!” Zhang Heng taunted, his contempt obvious.

Lin Yanghao was stunned. He hadn’t expected the Seven Luminaries Sect to permit such battles. The two before him clearly meant to kill him, but he felt no fear. Since Feng Shihan’s death, his heart had died as well. The saying, “If one is fed, the whole family is not hungry,” from Earth, suited him perfectly now.

Knowing he couldn’t avoid a fight today, Lin Yanghao decided to strike first. He threw a punch at one of them.

Zhang Heng dodged Lin Yanghao’s attack with a swift movement, then mocked him, “Lin Yanghao, stop embarrassing yourself with these crude mortal techniques! Show your true strength, or you’ll die miserably!”

Lin Yanghao was furious—no one had ever spoken to him like this. He summoned all his spiritual power and launched another full-force attack at Zhang Heng, but once again Zhang Heng evaded easily, while Li Xuan watched from the sidelines, amused.

Alarmed, Lin Yanghao realized he was no match for them, unable to even retaliate. Suddenly, he recalled seeing these two during the entrance test—they were among the group that accompanied the white-haired elder. Could they have been sent by Steward Cao to deal with him?

Distracted by this thought, Lin Yanghao was struck by several heavy blows from Zhang Heng and collapsed to the ground, his qi and blood in turmoil, struggling to breathe. The force of Zhang Heng’s punches was evident.

“Cough, cough~.”

After Zhang Heng’s barrage, Lin Yanghao took a while to recover. Fury blazed within him, and he rose to attack Zhang Heng again, his moves fiercer than before, summoning every ounce of strength he possessed. He refused to believe his opponent would escape death this time. Though Zhang Heng had spent years in the Seven Luminaries Sect, mastering spiritual power and techniques far beyond Lin Yanghao’s own, they were both at the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage. Lin Yanghao believed that no matter how skilled Zhang Heng was, he could not escape the bounds of their shared realm.

“Damn! The kid really has some skill. A new disciple with such strength!” Under Lin Yanghao’s full assault, Zhang Heng was nearly knocked over, his hand touching the ground before he quickly recovered.

Zhang Heng’s surprise was understandable. He had spent years in the Seven Luminaries Sect, consuming countless pills, including two Foundation Establishment Pills. Though he had failed to establish his foundation each time, his strength had risen, making him arguably the strongest below the Foundation Establishment stage.

In the Seven Luminaries Sect, every outer disciple could take the Foundation Establishment Pill up to three times. Fail three times, and you would be expelled from the sect.

Of course, not just anyone could take the Foundation Establishment Pill. In the Seven Luminaries Sect, the pill was acquired by completing sect missions, which earned sect contribution points. Even after all his years in the sect, Zhang Heng had only managed to accumulate two low-grade Foundation Establishment Pills.

Low-grade pills were all he could afford. As for middle-grade and high-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, even the contribution points from a hundred low-grade pills might not suffice to exchange for a single middle-grade one. High-grade pills couldn’t be exchanged for contribution points alone. There were very few alchemists capable of refining high-grade Foundation Establishment Pills in the entire Spirit Realm. In a large sect like Seven Luminaries, having one or two middle-grade alchemists was already considered fortunate, so high-grade pills were extremely rare throughout the sect.