Chapter 239: Disciplinary Elder
"Hahahahahaha!"
Jin Aoshi's laughter rang out freely, unrestrained. "Well said! I truly underestimated you, Su Tianhao. That's the spirit a real man should have."
He laughed again—unbridled, satisfied. "I accept. Let's go register at once."
The two guards exchanged a glance and turned to Su Tianhao with visible disappointment.
The surrounding disciples watched in disbelief. They couldn't understand why Su Tianhao had so readily shot himself in the foot.
What they didn't know was that Jin Aoshi had just walked into a trap.
One month was enough time—given his talent, to close the gap between himself and a 5th Level Martial Core expert was relatively easy. And by setting the match within his own Peak, he could end Jin Aoshi and make an example of him without interference from Jadeclaw Peak elders.
'Laugh now,' Su Tianhao thought coldly, watching him. 'Enjoy this feeling for one month. Because it's going to be your last.'
Without realizing it, the memories now fully restored to him—good, dark, much of it very dark—were already quietly reshaping who he was becoming.
"Come," Jin Aoshi said, pulling him from his thoughts. "We go to the Jadeclaw Peak first."
"Alright."
He started walking with his hands clasped behind his back, unhurried.
"Hmph." Jin Aoshi's voice dropped to a murmur behind him, carrying a cold edge. "How ignorant. Once you set foot in the Jadeclaw Peak, there's no turning back." A pause. "It just so happens that Elder Gu Lie has been looking for a reason to deal with you."
---
The walk to the Jadeclaw Peak was short and uneventful.
Jin Aoshi took a specific stairway through the valley—one that led directly to the Jadeclaw Disciplinary Elder's hall. Su Tianhao followed without a word, his expression unreadable. Behind them, a cluster of disciples had tagged along, drawn by the prospect of watching something significant unfold in real time.
The Jadeclaw Peak was a stark contrast to the Silverblade Peak from the moment they entered. Barely any disciples moved through its pathways. The atmosphere was solemn and heavy—the ground uneven, littered with stones and boulders. The buildings visible in the distance were constructed from rough stone scarred by decades of weather, carrying a primitive, martial character that had nothing in common with the more refined and cultivated feel of the Silverblade Peak. There was no attempt at elegance here. Only endurance.
"This way."
Jin Aoshi's tone had shifted—harder, more clipped now that he was on home ground. He gestured toward a wide path stripped of all vegetation, nothing but rock and dust leading toward a dark silhouette half-consumed by the natural mist that permeated the Mistveil Mountains.
"That's where our Disciplinary Elder resides," he said, pointing.
Without waiting for a response or a signal, Su Tianhao stepped forward into the mist. It parted around him and swallowed him whole as he disappeared into the distance.
"Tch." Jin Aoshi's tongue clicked with sharp annoyance. He stared into the mist, fists clenching at his sides, his eyes darkening.
"One month," he said quietly. "You have exactly one month before everything falls apart."
He followed.
Behind them, the disciples from the Silverblade Peak hesitated at the threshold. Setting foot uninvited in another Peak's territory—especially with a Disciplinary Elder present—was a different calculation entirely. A few driven by genuine curiosity pressed forward anyway, moving carefully, maintaining enough distance to avoid drawing attention.
---
The Disciplinary Elder's hall was a vast structure of old timber—built to last generations rather than impress anyone. Black wood beams, thick as pillars, crossed overhead and disappeared into shadow. The floor had been worn smooth by decades of disciples kneeling on it. No decorations lined the walls—only a row of iron braziers that cast everything in deep, uneven red. At the far end, a dais rose three steps above the floor, a single wide desk of dark wood positioned at its center with case files stacked like a wall between the elder and whoever stood below. The space was old-fashioned and deliberate—wide enough to hold a hundred silent, sweating disciples without ever feeling crowded.
Two towering guards flanked the open entrance, armored in the same fashion as those stationed at the Mission Hall—though these wore an additional insignia on their chest plates. The Jadeclaw Peak's insignia. A distinction the Mission Hall guards had not carried.
One of them stepped forward with strides that rattled the loose stones underfoot. "State your—"
A voice arrived from inside before he could finish.
"Let them enter."
Su Tianhao's attention moved immediately toward the sound. Seated at the raised dais was a figure in daoist robes—features obscured by distance and shadow, yet carrying a quality that pulled at something at the edge of his recognition. A familiarity he couldn't place.
Jin Aoshi's lips curved. He gestured toward the entrance with a practiced, elegant bow—the gracious host welcoming a guest. The wolf leading a sheep through a gate it had already locked.
Su Tianhao's golden eyes caught it clearly. He could read the shape of what Jin Aoshi was thinking without difficulty. The deception was genuinely poor— poorer, even, than Ye Wenjie's had been.
He clasped his hands behind his back and stepped forward. His presence moved ahead of him like something vast and unhurried—deep, restrained, carrying the particular weight of something that had existed long before this hallway and would exist long after it. The guards shifted without being told, opening a clean path to the entrance.
The veins at Jin Aoshi's temple surfaced again.
Everything was proceeding as he had wanted. But not as he had imagined. He had expected to feel dominant here—on his own ground, in his own territory. Instead he was a passenger in another man's current, being carried—dominance entirely in his opponent's hand.
He drew a slow breath. Released it. His shoulders settled.
"Su Tianhao..." The name left his lips in a careful whisper, carrying an edge of wariness that hadn't been present before.
He stepped inside.