33: Chapter 33 A Summoning from the Sect Master

With Li Changfeng's indignant departure, the farce on the square finally came to an end.

But the news of Su Yun initiating a Life-and-Death Battle against Li Changfeng was like a category twelve hurricane.

It instantly swept through the entire Mysterious Maiden Sect, causing an unprecedented sensation.

The first reaction of everyone who heard the news was: Lin Chen has gone mad!

A Disciple who had just entered the Inner Sect, even if he had some fortuitous encounters in the Secret Realm, would at most be at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

He actually dared to challenge an Elder of the Law Enforcement Hall, who had long been famous and possessed a cultivation as high as the Late Nascent Soul Stage?

This wasn't just striking a stone with an egg; it was smashing an egg against an iron plate, and with a running start at that!

For a time, all sorts of rumors spread within the Sect.

Some said Su Yun was overestimating himself and had his head turned by victory.

Some said Su Yun was a real man; although he was certainly doomed, his courage was admirable.

More people were gloating, waiting to see how Su Yun would be brutally killed by Li Changfeng on the Dao Discussion Platform in a month's time.

As for Su Yun, the person involved, he acted as if nothing had happened.

Amidst the complex gazes of the Disciples, he swaggered back to Xiuyun Peak with Lin Rou and Liu Yuqin.

...

Xiuyun Peak, Tingtao Pavilion.

As soon as they entered, Lin Rou could no longer contain herself; she threw off Su Yun's hand and stomped her feet in anxiety.

"Su Yun! What on earth were you thinking? How could you be so impulsive?!"

Her eyes were red, and her voice carried a hint of sobbing.

"That is Li Changfeng! The Late Nascent Soul Stage! Even if I were to face him, I wouldn't be certain of victory! You... aren't you just going to your death?"

"He's right, Junior Brother Lin Chen."

Liu Yuqin also joined in the persuasion, her cold face full of anxiety.

"I know your strength has increased greatly, but the gap in Realms is not so easily bridged. If you go and plead with the Sect Master now, there might still be room for reversal."

Looking at the two stunning beauties who were so worried about him, Su Yun felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

Immediately, he stepped forward, took them both into his arms again, and comforted them softly.

"Alright, alright, I know you mean well for me. But I, Lin Chen, never do anything I'm not certain of."

"Do you really have so little faith in me?"

"This isn't a matter of faith!" Lin Rou punched him in the chest in anger. "This is common sense! Do you understand? Common sense!"

"Common sense is meant to be broken." Su Yun scraped her nose, a mysterious smile appearing on his face. "Three months is enough time."

He was already at the Early Golden Core Stage; as long as he had enough resources, he was confident he could raise his cultivation to the Late Golden Core Stage, or even Great Perfection, within a month!

By then, combined with his trump card, the "Dharma Body Manifestation," he would dare to take on not just one Li Changfeng, but even two!

Seeing Su Yun's confident look, although Lin Rou and Liu Yuqin were still full of worry, their anxious emotions inexplicably calmed down a lot.

This man always seemed to be able to create miracles.

Just then, as if remembering something, Lin Rou's expression changed, and she stared sharply at Su Yun, asking,

"By the way, Su Yun, tell the truth, what exactly did you do in the Secret Realm?"

"Why do I feel like you've... become stronger again?"

She had wanted to ask earlier, but had been distracted by the matter with Li Changfeng and forgot.

Now that she had calmed down, she felt more and more that something was off with Su Yun.

That aura, though restrained, occasionally leaked a trace that was more than ten times more powerful than it had been at the entrance of the Secret Realm!

Liu Yuqin also realized this, her beautiful eyes fixed intently on Su Yun.

"Uh..." Su Yun rubbed his nose, knowing he couldn't hide it anymore.

He chuckled and no longer concealed his cultivation.

Boom!

A powerful aura belonging to the Early Golden Core Stage suddenly erupted!

The Spiritual Qi within the entire Tingtao Pavilion began to boil!

"Gol... Golden Core Stage?!"

Lin Rou and Liu Yuqin exclaimed at the same time, their beautiful eyes wide and their mouths agape.

They simply couldn't believe their eyes!

A month ago, Su Yun was only at the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection!

Now, he had... he had already formed his Golden Core?!

Was this cultivation speed achieved on a rocket?

No, even a rocket wouldn't be this fast!

"How... how did you do it?" Lin Rou asked with a trembling voice, feeling her worldview had been hit like never before.

"Naturally, I relied on this." Su Yun shook the jade bottle in his hand, the golden marrow cleansing spiritual liquid inside shimmering with an enticing light under the sun.

"I drank all of the marrow cleansing spiritual liquid, and then I accidentally broke through."

Su Yun spoke nonchalantly, but to the two women, it was like a clap of thunder.

He drank all of the marrow cleansing spiritual liquid?

That was an amount sufficient for over a dozen Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivators to cleanse their marrow and improve their skeletal foundations!

He drank it all by himself?

And he didn't explode?

What on earth was this man's body made of?

"No wonder... no wonder you could cripple Li Xuanyi in one move." Liu Yuqin murmured to herself, her gaze toward Su Yun becoming increasingly infatuated.

It turned out he wasn't being arrogant; he truly had the strength.

"Now, do you still think I'll lose in a month?" Su Yun looked at them with a smile.

The two women glanced at each other, both seeing a trace of shock and... wild joy in each other's eyes.

Early Golden Core Stage against Late Nascent Soul Stage was still like a fairy tale.

However, with Su Yun's Prodigy-like cultivation speed and abnormal combat power, it seemed... not entirely impossible?

Just then, an untimely voice interrupted the trio's intimacy.

"Disciple Chu Ying... and the accompanying Disciples, request an audience with Revered Master and Senior Brother Lin Chen."

Outside the door, Chu Ying's voice was trembling violently, and the suppressed sobbing of several female Disciples could even be heard faintly.

"Hmph, they still have the face to come back?"

Lin Rou's eyebrows shot up, and the tenderness she had while leaning in Su Yun's arms instantly vanished, replaced by the majesty and coldness of a Peak Revered Master.

"Tell them to crawl in here!"

On the way back, she had already heard Su Yun's nonchalant account of everything that happened in the Secret Realm.

When she learned that these ungrateful things had actually handed over Su Yun's whereabouts and opportunities just to curry favor with Li Xuanyi, the anger in her heart was almost uncontrollable.

If it hadn't been for the need to comfort Su Yun and deal with Li Changfeng earlier, she would have cleared the house right there on the square!

The door was pushed open, and Chu Ying walked in at the front with a pale face, followed by the female Disciples who had gone to the Secret Realm with her.

As soon as they entered, everyone knelt on the ground with a thud, not even daring to look Lin Rou in the eye.

"Revered Master... this Disciple knows her mistake..." As soon as Chu Ying spoke, her tears began to fall.

"Knows her mistake?"

Lin Rou sneered and slammed the mahogany table beside her, making the teacups rattle.

"I sent you to the Secret Realm to protect Xiao Chen, but instead, you turned against your own and helped an outsider like Li Xuanyi to oppress your own fellow Disciple? Chu Ying, who gave you the audacity to hand over the marrow cleansing spiritual liquid to the people of the Law Enforcement Hall?!"

The terrifying pressure of the Nascent Soul Stage instantly enveloped the room; the female Disciples behind Chu Ying couldn't withstand it and were instantly scared out of their wits.

"Peak Revered Master, have mercy! It had nothing to do with us!"

One female Disciple shrieked, pointing at Chu Ying and bowing her head frantically.

"It was all Chu Ying! She was possessed, insisting that Li Xuanyi was the chosen one. She wanted to curry favor with him, so she forced us not to intervene!"

"Yes! It was all her idea alone!"

Another Disciple also hurriedly kicked her while she was down, crying out.

"We tried to persuade her in the Secret Realm, but she relied on being the lead Disciple and wouldn't listen at all! She said Senior Brother Lin Chen was just a useless person with connections and that no one would care if he died in the Secret Realm... Peak Revered Master, we are innocent!"

Chu Ying snapped her head around, looking incredulously at the Junior Sisters who used to flatter her, and said through gritted teeth,

"You... back then, you clearly looked down on Lin Chen as well and said Senior Brother Li was handsome and elegant. How can you push it all onto me now?!"

"You're lying! It was clearly you who acted willfully!"

"Chu Ying, don't think you can drag us down with you! It was your own heart that was crooked!"

For a moment, the usually quiet Tingtao Pavilion was in chaos.

The female Disciples, who usually prided themselves on being aloof, were like shrews in a wet market, exposing each other's faults. Accusations and pleas for mercy rose one after another, making for an ugly scene.

"Enough!"

Lin Rou shouted, her eyes full of disgust. What she hated most was this kind of treacherous and spineless behavior.

"Chu Ying, as the leader, was jealous of talent, colluded with outsiders, and betrayed the Sect. Her crime is punishable by death!"

Lin Rou's voice was cold as frost.

"As for the rest, for standing by and doing nothing, and for abandoning righteousness for profit, you shall be punished with the same crime!"

"Revered Master, have mercy! Revered Master, please don't!" Chu Ying's face turned deathly pale when she heard the words "punished with the same crime."

Lin Rou ignored their pleas entirely and waved her jade hand, sending out several sharp gusts of wind.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

After several muffled sounds, shrill screams rang out in the room.

Bloody mists exploded from the Dantians of Chu Ying and the others simultaneously. Their spiritual power dissipated instantly, and their once rosy faces became as grey as a dead person's.

"Cultivation stripped, sent to the Servant Peak, and never allowed to leave the mountain for life." Lin Rou said coldly, without even looking at them, "Get out!"

Several Disciples had already fainted from the pain, but Chu Ying, though her Dantian was shattered, held on with her last breath, staring fixedly at the floor.

There was no longer any affection or fear in her eyes; instead, there was an extreme coldness and madness.

Lin Rou... Lin Chen... you destroyed my Dao Foundation and cut off my future... if I don't avenge this, I, Chu Ying, swear I am not human!

Chu Ying was dragged out like a dead dog, the bloodstains on the floor particularly eye-catching.

Watching this ruthless scene, Su Yun raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

In the world of cultivation, mercy often meant greater hidden dangers.

Just then, a Transmission Talisman flew through the barrier and landed in front of him.

It was a transmission from the Sect Master, Leng Hanshuang.

"Lin Chen, come to the Inner Hall of Hanpo Peak to see me."

The voice was as cold as ever, but Su Yun keenly captured a trace of... complex emotion hidden beneath it.

The corner of Su Yun's mouth curled into a playful arc.

It seemed this ice mountain Sect Master had finally "woken up."

"Xiao Chen, the Sect Master is looking for you?" The expressions of Lin Rou and Liu Yuqin changed simultaneously.

Their hearts leapt into their throats.

What was meant to come has finally arrived.