“……” In the dim room, Ye Lan stared at the dishes on the table without a word. Every trace of her earlier expression had drained away, leaving only a coldness that wouldn't lift.

She had raised these very things at the council of the eight peaks just now.

Not even a day had passed, and someone had already set foot in this little courtyard again.

As a chill rose in Ye Lan's eyes, the candle shadows in the room suddenly stopped flickering and froze on the walls. The whole courtyard turned insubstantial, as if cut off from heaven and earth.

The great tree in the courtyard was thick with leaves, and their rustling stopped dead.

The shadows of the leaves on the ground slowly took the shape of swords.

In the space of a breath, the two old men behind Liu Ruifeng were soaked in cold sweat, feeling as if needles were pricking their backs, their slack faces trembling beyond their control.

By contrast—

Liu Ruifeng, younger and weaker than either of them, was perfectly calm in the face of this eerie change. Deep in his eyes was an excitement so intense it was almost feverish.

Right now he wanted Ye Lan to strike more than anyone.

His father was watching this place. His life would never be in danger; at worst he'd be badly hurt.

His martial uncles might still feel some guilt, which was why none of them would speak up and join hands to strip that bitch of her peak master's seat.

But if she attacked a junior brother of another peak for no reason—and that junior brother happened to be the only one who could refine kalpa pills… Tch. Turning on her own kind, harming Grandmaster's great Dao over a private grudge—all of Shenxu Mountain would have no room for her!

At that thought, Liu Ruifeng's breathing grew heavier.

Half his life for a peak master's seat. What a bargain!

Just then, the candle flame on the table suddenly went back to normal, and the sword-shadows covering the courtyard shrank swiftly back into leaves and branches.