It was not dawn yet, but the atmosphere in a particular area of the sect was rather lively. People rushed out in the streets, asking different questions.

“What happened? Why has any army mobilised this early? Is it an enemy attack?”

“Not so sure about that. The higher-ups would have resounded the alarm by now, no?”

“Hey, look at that banner! Aren’t those officials from House Yu? And the man in front, isn’t he the House Master?”

“Wow! You’re right! For the leader to take action himself, something big must have occurred?!”

“I wonder who is brave enough to offend House Yu at this time and age? There is a clear boundary between courage and stupidity!”

The army seemed unaffected by these speculations as it pressed onwards with a spectacular fashion, creating quite the commotion.

Leading the army of elites, there were five neatly dressed cultivators, their bodily attitudes radiating out an indirect message of dominance. The team was composed of two women and three men, the youngest being a middle-aged man.

One step ahead of them, there was a short man with a small rounded belly. He wore a golden robe with countless jewellery coiled up against his hands. He was half bald, and his face was a little elongated from the front. If his son looked similar to a fish, then this man’s appearance could be compared to a little dolphin.

“Master, why are we walking instead of flying?” The oldest man tried to make himself sound as polite as possible.

“Isn’t it obvious? What do you want us to do, fly and alerting the enemy?! Use your damn brain for once!” Master Yu snorted.

The old man let out a soft sigh. “But we have five foundation realm experts. Even if he has an essence, what can an insect do to us five? Once we encircle him, there will be no chance for him to escape—

“Are you going to question my each and every move? Shut that stinky mouth of yours and follow my commands!”

It was then that another cultivator came rushing forward, carefully making sure that there were no visible defects with his courteous bow.

“Master Yu. This is to report that our stealth squad has surrounded the villa. We can also confirm that our target is trapped in there and unaware of our presence.”

Master Yu seemed delighted. “Nicely done, beautiful. There goes away my biggest worry! March on everyone, I’m eager to meet the person who dared to offend our house!”

The old man’s eyes suddenly shone. “Master, does this mean that we can now fly?”

“No. It is much cooler and impactful if walk in the streets. Look at the crowd drooling at us with awe; everyone, keep on marching!”

The army took its time as it moved through the various roads. It was only after the sun had risen that the targeted location became visible.

At that very moment, Jack was holding his head in pain, seemingly awakening from a hallucination. His muscles felt unresponsive as he tried to stand onto his feet. When he did, his feet couldn’t stop shaking from fatigue.

He suddenly appeared to recall something weird… something about him transforming into a fatty and annihilating all opposition. “Ah? Did I lose my consciousness?”

He pondered for a bit, but soon his worries turned into relief once he noticed that his body had returned to normality. He even thought that all that transpired before was just a dream. However, a quick glance at the rubble in his vicinity brought him back to reality.

It was then that several cultivators rushed in.

Some acrobatically jumped the walls, while others created a human dome in the sky. There were even some who climbed out from below and others who were completely covered with black clothing. The numerous cultivators danced in perfect harmony, extending their auras and locking Jack in his position.

Six shades then followed through the main gate, the leading figure naturally being Master Yu.

“This is the animal that injured my dearest child? I have to admit that you’ve got some guts!”

Jack couldn’t believe his own eyes. He didn’t have high expectations for House Yu in the first place, but he never would have thought that they would act so blatant. It was also quite obvious that they weren’t here to deliver the promised pills.

He indeed had anticipated such a scenario and even planned to go into hiding. Alas, he lost consciousness before he could do that. The worst possible scenario was now playing right in front of him.

Jack did his usual inner swearing while also praying for a miracle. However, even if the Creature and Dai Jun came, could they really defeat such a considerable force? Given that the situation seemed beyond hopeless, Jack went along with plan B.

“Hah? So you are the father of that idiot? What, did the little shrimp call for his daddy’s aid? Hah, such a coward.”

“Die!” The middle-aged man had already unsheathed half of his sword but was stopped by a simple hand gesture from Master Yu.

“Wow! Can you people be even more shameless than this? Your son personally stole away my area, and even made fun of me behind my back! Now that I reclaimed back what is rightfully mine, you mobilise an entire army against a cultivator of the 3rd Qi Seeking Realm. If word had to spread, wouldn’t you all become the laughing stock of the entire sect?”

Lines appeared on Master’s Yu forehead. “Rights? A brat like you dares to talk about rights in front of House Yu? If you want to teach us about laws and morals, you first need to make sure that you have the necessary strength to back yourself up! In this world, it is the strong who dictates the rules! You’ve offended someone you shouldn’t have offended! People, eliminate him!”

Some cultivators immediately rushed forward, seemingly in competition for who shall deal the fatal blow and earn the merits. But before they could lay their hands on Jack, a thunderous voice raptured from the sky, forcing everyone to a halt.

“You’re right. Where might is, the right is. But since when House Yu can consider itself mighty?”

Everyone turned their heads upwards in astonishment. From the clouds, two silhouettes came into vision.

The first to touch the ground was a bald man with a medium-sized beard; mostly black coloured but with the occasional white. He had no weapons on him, and his appearance was quite ordinary.

Landing behind him, there was a young female, her inner sect disciple robe perfectly fitted against her body. Her serpent-looking eyes had already scanned over each and everyone present twice. She then nonchalantly waved her green hair on her side. “Master, there is no need for you to dirty your hands with such filth.”

Her arrogant tone was evidently a direct slap to everyone present, and several expressions turned ugly. They much wanted to voice their disdain, but in the end, all they could do was tremble with fear.

“You’ve been training in Dragon Valley for one year; haven’t you had enough already, eh? Stay back for the time being.”

The bald man advanced towards Master Yu, who had already dropped on his knees, his trembling intensifying. “Such a joyous occasion! How could our house not notice the noble’s one arrival? If we knew that you were coming back today, we would have prepared many gifts for the esteemed elder— ”

“Esteemed your mother! Explain this bullshit before I knock some sense into each and every one of you! And don’t test my patience. I happen to be in a bad mood already, and I was searching for some punching bags to relief my anger!”

Master Yu almost shed tears as he pointed in a direction. “Gr-Grand Elder, all this happened because of that man! He physically abused my dear child…”

He stopped midway when he noticed the scalp of the Grand Elder turn bright red. In fact, the Grand Elder could barely manage to suppress his anger as he turned his attention towards Jack for the first time. “And you brat, who might you be? Which house do you hail?”

Jack felt overwhelmed by the terrifying aura, which wasn’t any less than the Patriarch’s.

“Greetings senior. This lowly one is named Jack, just a newly recruited disciple of the sect. As for what happened here, this area was given to me by the sect, and House Yu forcefully stole it from me. I reprimanded his son, and now they sent out an entire army to annihilate me.”

The Grand Elder was good at observing and quite the calculative person. He immediately realised that there was a battle here recently, but Jack’s strength didn’t match the possible cause on first glance. When he tried piercing through Jack’s mental defences for answers, he glowered when his invasion was blocked by some kind of spiritual barrier.

“Interesting, interesting… You’ve told me your life's story, but you still haven’t explained why you, a 3rd Qi seeking Realm Cultivator, own an inner sect disciple medallion?!”

Everyone was staring at Jack for a reply. Even the ever-cold beauty couldn’t help but express slight surprise as she made additional observations. However, the one who replied was instead Master Yu.

“Esteemed Elder, it was around eight months ago… a mere mortal was appointed as an inner sect disciple... it brought great shame on our sect... even our neighbours are laughing at us…”

“Shut up!” The Grand Elder roar shook the entire area. “An entire house going rampant destroying stuff, and a 3rd Qi Seeking Realm Cultivator possessing a medallion. Give me half a reason why I shouldn’t turn everything upside down today? And what the hell are Elders Shui and Tian doing? Those two good for nothing are really testing my patience!”

He had already shortened his sleaves and snapped his muscles when a fresh voice was heard.

“Aw man, always as wild as a boar; no wonder you lost your hair before your prime. I just happened to refine a new batch of calming pills, made exquisitely from Mandragora seeds. I’ll give you a corporate discount if you want some.”

The Grand Elder furrowed his brow. If it were someone else who dared to spout such nonsense, he would have already killed him.

Dai Jun kept leisurely walking without a care for the world. “Welcome back, Grand Elder. Mind a few words?”

“Go ahead, but watch your tone. Even if it is you, I will not promise that I will not kill you if you test my patience.”

Dai Jun remained tranquil as he whispered something inside Grand Elder’s ear.

The Grand Elder kept frowning for a moment. After a while, he seemed to have calmed down, arousing everyone curiosities.

“Hey you, the one with the weird name. In three days, I will be personally testing your potential. You keeping that medallion or not will depend on your abilities.”

“As for you, Master Yu. This area belongs to Dai Jun. So… why are you still here? Want to fight me?”

Master Yu swallowed a gulp of saliva before ordering his army to turn around. The sounds of footsteps echoed in the distance as they retreated, returning the calmness of the villa.

“Let’s depart. These stupid people have delayed me enough already.” The Grand Elder left without any ceremony, his disciple following behind him like a shadow.

Jack sighed a moment later. “Guess I need to offer you my thanks again.”

Dai Jun remained oblivious to Jack’s words as he observed the villa. It was in a complete mess and repairing it wasn’t going to be easy.

“3rd Qi seeking Realm after eight months… the Azure Realm was a difficult test for you, but you came out of it stronger than I anticipated.”

Dai Jun then turned around and began distancing himself from Jack. “Rest in your Pagoda for the time being. You’ve got an important decision to make in three days. Hopefully, you will make the right choice. Everything will be explained then.”

Jack blinked his eyes. “What? Hey! Already leaving? What if they come back?!”

Dai Jun waved his right hand, his image slowly fading in the distance. “Relax, relax. I and the possessed creature have already met; the entire situation is within our control. As for House Yu, they are in for an ugly surprise.”