The Supreme-Grade Heavenly Cloud Pill melted the moment it touched Yan Shuo's tongue. It didn't taste bitter like regular medicinal pills; it tasted like sweet spring water and crackling lightning.
Instantly, a massive ocean of pure, refined spiritual energy exploded within his stomach.
For a normal cultivator, absorbing a Supreme-Grade pill was a dangerous, agonizing process. The energy was so dense that it felt like swallowing a wild, thrashing dragon. A genius would need to sit in secluded meditation for a week, sweating blood, gritting their teeth, and praying their meridians didn't burst under the pressure.
Yan Shuo just closed his eyes and leaned back in his bamboo chair.
Heavenly Cycle Art, he thought casually.
His veteran soul took the reins. To him, this "thrashing dragon" of energy was nothing more than a gentle stream. He guided the massive wave of Qi perfectly through his newly repaired meridians, funneling it all directly into his dantian.
Inside his spiritual center, the dense, gaseous Qi of the ninth level began to spin. Faster and faster, creating a miniature vortex. Under Yan Shuo's flawless control, the vortex compressed the gas until, finally, a single, glowing drop of golden liquid formed at the very bottom of his dantian.
Drip.
The sound echoed in his mind, loud and clear.
That single drop of liquid Qi was the hallmark of the Foundation Establishment Realm. His body greedily absorbed the rest of the pill's energy, converting more and more gas into liquid, until a shallow golden puddle rested securely in his core.
He didn't sweat. He didn't cough up impurities. He didn't even mess up his hair. The whole process took exactly twelve minutes.
Yan Shuo slowly opened his eyes. The world looked sharper, clearer, and far more vibrant. He could hear a leaf falling from a tree a mile away. He could feel the exact flow of the wind. He was no longer a frail mortal; he had firmly stepped onto the true path of cultivation.
"Husband is absolutely incredible," a soft, breathless voice whispered right next to his ear.
Yan Shuo blinked. Tantai Zhi was kneeling beside him, her golden eyes wide and practically sparkling with stars. She was holding a silk handkerchief, gently dabbing at his forehead, even though he hadn't broken a single drop of sweat.
"Twelve minutes," she murmured, her voice filled with a terrifying level of awe. "A flawless, perfect foundation in twelve minutes. Not a single ripple of wasted Qi. Even the legendary immortals of the upper realms would weep in shame if they saw your talent."
Yan Shuo chuckled, catching her hand and kissing her knuckles. "It was all thanks to the pill you brought me, Wife. Without such a perfect catalyst, it would have been messy."
Tantai Zhi's face flushed a deep, beautiful red. "If Husband likes them so much, I will go to the Alchemy Pavilion right now and force the grandmasters to forge a hundred more. I will lock them in the furnaces if they refuse."
"No need, no need," Yan Shuo said quickly, patting her shoulder. The image of his beautiful wife casually tossing old men into a fire was funny, but he didn't actually want to deal with the paperwork. "One is enough to stabilize my foundation. Now, I think I'll just sit here and enjoy the breeze."
He closed his eyes again, looking like a lazy cat soaking in the sun. He had his cultivation back on track, a luxurious estate, and a wife who could flatten mountains. Life was perfect.
---
Meanwhile, on the Inner Sect's Number One Peak, life was about to get very ugly.
Ye Chen stood in the center of the white jade training courtyard. He wore tailored, silver-lined robes that fluttered perfectly in the wind. He was tall, undeniably handsome, and carried a longsword that hummed with a sharp, piercing aura.
He moved like flowing water, executing the sect's most advanced sword techniques. Every time his blade slashed through the air, it left a faint afterimage of frost.
"Wow! Senior Brother Ye is so amazing!"
"His sword aura has already reached the large success stage! He's definitely the number one genius of our generation!"
"I heard he is going to break through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment today! When the Righteous Alliance tournament starts next month, he will easily take the top spot!"
A crowd of beautiful junior martial sisters clapped and cheered from the sidelines, their faces flushed with admiration.
Ye Chen sheathed his sword with a sharp, satisfying click. He didn't look at the junior sisters, keeping his chin tilted up in a display of cool, aloof arrogance. Internally, however, he was smiling widely.
He was the chosen one. The pride of the Azure Sword Sect. He possessed a rare Frost Vein physique, and the Sect Master himself had promised to nurture him into a future powerhouse.
Today was the most important day of his life. For five years, the sect had been gathering rare spiritual herbs to forge a single Supreme-Grade Heavenly Cloud Pill. It was meant exclusively for him. With that pill, he would wash away the last tiny impurities in his body and rocket straight to the late stages of Foundation Establishment.
He turned toward the path leading up the mountain, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Sect Master's envoy. He had already bathed in spring water, fasted for three days, and prepared his meditation room to receive the holy treasure.
A figure in gray robes rushed up the jade steps, panting heavily. It was Elder Li.
Ye Chen stepped forward, clasping his hands in a polite, elegant bow. "Elder Li. You have worked hard. Is the Sect Master ready to bestow the Heavenly Cloud Pill upon me? I am fully prepared to enter closed-door seclusion."
Elder Li stopped at the top of the stairs. He looked pale, sweaty, and completely exhausted. He didn't smile back at the sect's golden boy.
"Ye Chen," Elder Li said, his voice cracking slightly. "I... I have bad news. The Heavenly Cloud Pill is gone."
Ye Chen froze. His elegant posture stiffened. The cheering junior sisters on the sidelines immediately fell silent.
"Gone?" Ye Chen frowned, a hint of dark irritation leaking into his voice. "What do you mean, gone? Did the furnace explode during the final extraction? Did the Alchemist make a mistake? I warned them to be careful!"
"No, the pill was forged perfectly," Elder Li swallowed hard, wiping sweat from his brow. "It's just... the Sect Master gave it away."
Ye Chen's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "Gave it away?! To who?! I am the Number One Disciple! I am the only one with a physique capable of handling a Supreme-Grade pill without dying! Who else in this entire sect deserves it more than me?!"
Elder Li looked around nervously, lowering his voice as if terrified the wind itself might hear him. "The Saintess. The Saintess Tantai Zhi came to the Main Hall and demanded it."
Ye Chen's anger hit a brick wall. The Saintess?
He swallowed his fury, forcing his expression to remain calm. The Saintess was a legendary figure. She was at the absolute peak of the mortal realm. If she needed the pill for some profound, heaven-defying breakthrough, then Ye Chen couldn't complain. To complain would be a death sentence.
"I... I see," Ye Chen said, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. "If Saintess Tantai requires it for her own cultivation, then this junior naturally dares not object. I will simply wait another five years."
Elder Li let out a miserable, pained laugh. "Ye Chen, you don't understand. The Saintess didn't take it for herself. She took it for her... for her husband."
Ye Chen blinked. "Her husband? The Saintess has a husband?"
"Yes," Elder Li whispered, his face twisting in disgust. "She bound her soul to an outer sect disciple this morning. And she fed your Supreme-Grade Heavenly Cloud Pill to him like it was a cheap candy."
Ye Chen's brain short-circuited. He stepped forward, grabbing Elder Li by the shoulders. "An outer sect disciple?! Who?! Which hidden master has been living in the outer sect?!"
"It's not a hidden master," Elder Li groaned. "It's Yan Shuo."
The name echoed in Ye Chen's mind. Yan Shuo. Yan Shuo.
Suddenly, a memory clicked into place. Yesterday afternoon, one of Ye Chen's lackeys had returned to report that they had beaten a useless, fifteen-year-old piece of garbage to death and thrown him in the back mountains because the kid had spilled tea on the lackey's boots.
The kid's name was Yan Shuo. The boy with shattered meridians. The famous trash of the sect.
The color completely drained from Ye Chen's face, instantly replaced by a deep, boiling, violently red fury.
"Yan Shuo?" Ye Chen roared, his voice echoing across the peak, terrifying the junior sisters. "That crippled dog?! That useless piece of garbage?! He ate MY pill?!"
"Ye Chen, lower your voice!" Elder Li panicked, trying to shush him. "The Saintess is extremely protective of him! She nearly killed the Sect Master this morning over a single disrespectful word!"
"I don't care!" Ye Chen shouted, his Frost Vein physique erupting. Cold, freezing Qi blasted outward, cracking the jade tiles beneath his feet. "He is a fraud! He is a fifteen-year-old cripple! He must have used some vile, demonic trick to confuse the Saintess's mind! A Supreme-Grade pill fed to a trash body with broken meridians is a complete waste of heavenly resources! He probably exploded the moment he swallowed it!"
"He didn't explode," Elder Li said miserably. "The Saintess healed his meridians last night. He is living in the Grand Elder's estate on the Cloudsoaring Peak."
Ye Chen's eyes were bloodshot. His pride, his future, his grand moment of glory—all stolen by the most pathetic insect in the entire sect. It was the ultimate humiliation. His mind, clouded by years of absolute arrogance and endless praise, refused to accept reality.
He didn't care about the rumors of her power. In his mind, Yan Shuo was a cunning rat who had somehow poisoned or enchanted the holy, pure Saintess. If Ye Chen could just expose this fraud, the Saintess would realize the truth, kill Yan Shuo, and reward Ye Chen for saving her.
Yes. That made perfect sense.
"I am going to the Cloudsoaring Peak," Ye Chen snarled, drawing his sword. The blade hissed with freezing anger.
"Ye Chen, no! Are you insane?!" Elder Li grabbed his arm. "She will kill you!"
"I am the Number One Disciple of the Azure Sword Sect!" Ye Chen declared loudly, shaking off the elder's hand. He looked at the junior sisters, puffing out his chest to look righteous and heroic. "I will not stand by and let a demonic trickster manipulate our noble Saintess! I will go there, drag that piece of trash out by his hair, and expose his true colors to the world!"
Before Elder Li could stop him again, Ye Chen summoned his flying sword, stepped onto it, and shot into the sky like a silver meteor, heading straight for Yan Shuo's peaceful retirement home.
Elder Li stood in the courtyard, watching the golden boy fly away.
The elder slowly sighed, pulling a communication talisman from his robes.
"Sect Master?" Elder Li muttered into the glowing paper. "Yes, it's me. Can you ask the carpenters to build a coffin? Yes, a nice one. Ye Chen just lost his mind."