Chapter 17
The night air above the Inner City was heavy, thick with suppressed spiritual pressure and unspoken rules.
Ye Liyun moved like a shadow across the tiled roofs, his breath shallow, his senses stretched to their limits. Every step was calculated, every pause deliberate. This was not the Outer City, where chaos reigned and bloodshed was cheap. This was the Inner City—territory ruled by elders, clans, and cultivators who could decide life and death with a flick of their fingers.
The Emperor's presence lingered in his mind, calm but vigilant.
The ledger must be inside the Elder's private study, the Emperor said. Documents of that importance are never left with servants.
Ye Liyun slipped through the final window without a sound.
The study was exactly as expected—spacious, refined, and oppressive. Spirit lamps illuminated shelves of jade slips and cultivation manuals. A faint incense burned in the corner, its fragrance sharp enough to keep the mind alert. This was a place of authority, not comfort.
His eyes locked onto the lacquered desk at the center of the room.
There.
A thick ledger lay half-hidden beneath a stack of documents, its cover marked with the insignia of the City Treasury.
Ye Liyun crossed the room in three silent steps and snatched it up. The moment his fingers closed around the ledger, a chill ran down his spine.
Then—
BOOM.
The door slammed open.
"You are a fool, Stygian rat!"
The voice thundered through the room like a physical force. The spirit lamps flickered violently as a crushing pressure descended.
Ye Liyun turned.
Elder Kuai stood in the doorway.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed in dark elder robes embroidered with silver formation lines. His eyes burned with cold fury, his aura fully unleashed. The spiritual pressure alone made the air tremble.
A Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
"You thought I wouldn't notice?" Elder Kuai sneered, stepping inside. "I have been waiting for you."
The Emperor's voice exploded in Ye Liyun's mind.
Liyun! He's too strong! This is a Foundation Establishment master! You must run—now!
Ye Liyun didn't respond.
He tightened his grip on the ledger.
Running was impossible. The pressure alone told him that Elder Kuai could close the distance in a breath. Turning his back would be suicide.
If he was going to die—
He would die fighting.
Ye Liyun drew his spiritual sword, pouring every ounce of his Mid-Stage Qi Condensation cultivation into it. The blade hummed violently, vibrating with unstable energy.
He lunged.
The sword carved a brilliant arc of Qi toward the Elder.
Elder Kuai didn't even draw a weapon.
He raised one hand and waved it casually.
A massive surge of Foundation Establishment Qi erupted outward like a tidal wave.
CRASH!
The attack swallowed Ye Liyun whole.
His vision went white as his body was hurled across the study. He slammed into the far wall with a sickening crack, stone exploding outward. The breath was ripped from his lungs as pain tore through his spine and ribs.
Ye Liyun slid to the floor, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
"Pathetic," Elder Kuai said, walking forward unhurriedly. "A Mid-Stage Qi Condensation rat dares to challenge me?"
Ye Liyun struggled to rise. His limbs trembled violently. Every breath felt like fire.
The Elder raised his hand again.
This time, Qi condensed into a razor-sharp spiritual blade.
"You will die here," Elder Kuai said calmly.
The blade shot forward.
Ye Liyun barely rolled aside. The attack sliced through his shoulder instead, carving a deep gash that sprayed blood across the floor. Agony exploded through his body, nearly driving him unconscious.
He collapsed to one knee.
He knew the truth now.
He had seconds left.
Liyun! the Emperor shouted. You are finished if this continues! Listen to me carefully—his soul… it's unstable!
Ye Liyun's heart pounded.
What?
I sense fractures in his Sea of Consciousness, the Emperor continued urgently. He must have relied on forbidden techniques, political tools, and external resources for decades. His body is strong—but his soul is neglected.
Elder Kuai took another step closer, eyes filled with contempt.
"Beg," he said. "I might make your death painless."
Ye Liyun laughed weakly, blood dripping from his chin.
Beg?
Never.
Liyun, the Emperor said grimly. There is only one chance. A soul attack. If it fails—you die.
Ye Liyun closed his eyes.
He had sworn never to rely on forbidden power again.
But oaths meant nothing to the dead.
He ignored the screaming pain in his body and turned inward. Past the shattered meridians. Past the exhausted Qi. He reached for something deeper—something fragile and raw.
His nascent soul.
The world seemed to fade.
Elder Kuai frowned.
"What is this?"
Ye Liyun's eyes snapped open.
Now.
He released everything.
A focused Mental Thrust shot forward, invisible and silent, bypassing flesh and Qi entirely. It plunged directly into Elder Kuai's Sea of Consciousness.
The Elder scoffed.
"A soul attack? From a rat—?"
Then his expression shattered.
Inside his Sea of Consciousness, Ye Liyun felt it instantly.
Cracks.
The space was brittle, unstable, riddled with fractures—like rotten wood painted gold. The moment Ye Liyun's soul touched it, the structure began to collapse.
Elder Kuai screamed.
Not aloud.
Internally.
His powerful body froze mid-step. His eyes bulged as terror replaced arrogance. Years of neglected cultivation, shortcuts, and forbidden enhancements came crashing down at once.
The Mental Thrust tore through his consciousness.
The Elder collapsed.
His body hit the floor with a dull thud, eyes glazing over, mouth hanging open. He still breathed—but his soul was shattered beyond repair.
A living corpse.
Ye Liyun fell onto his back, gasping for air.
He had won.
But victory tasted like blood.
His vision blurred. His head throbbed violently, his soul screaming in exhaustion.
You did it, the Emperor said, relief evident in his voice. But you must leave. The disturbance was too great. The City Guard will come.
As if to confirm the words, faint alarm bells echoed somewhere in the distance.
Ye Liyun forced himself upright, every movement agony. He clutched the ledger to his chest.
He had what he came for.
Now he just had to survive the escape.
Somewhere beyond the study walls, the Inner City began to stir.