"Uncle Ye," Lin Muxue continued, her voice dripping ice. "I am a disciple of the Dao Academy. Ye Fan? A branch-lineage bastard. Crippled. Trash. He is firefly dust to my moon. Binding me to such filth is an insult. I see him as a stray dog. Surely, Uncle Ye, you wouldn't force me to leash myself to vermin?"
Ye Qingtian and the elders flushed crimson. "Naturally," he managed, voice tight. "His inadequacy voids the pact. Sign the annulment, Ye Fan."
Every eye in the Grand Hall pinned Ye Fan. The Ye elders burned with communal shame. The Lin delegation radiated smug contempt.
Ye Fan took the proffered document. His gaze, cold as winter stone, locked onto Lin Muxue.
"Lin Muxue. Age seventeen. Qi Refining Level Eight." His voice cut the heavy silence. "Last year... I was Qi Refining Level Nine."
RRIIIP.
The parchment shredded in his hands. Scraps fluttered like dead leaves. "What right does trash like you have... to scorn ME?"
Shock rippled through the hall. Ye Qingtian gaped. The elders stiffened. Even the Lin contingent froze, unprepared for this defiance. Lin Muxue's perfect composure cracked. Fury flashed in her eyes, replaced by deeper disdain.
"Pathetic." She sneered, reclaiming her seat with icy grace. "Tearing paper won't bind you to me, cripple. Had you accepted your place with dignity, I might have spared you pity. Boasting of past, meaningless glories? You are a joke."
His raw cultivation had surpassed hers once. But the Dao Academy valued more than mere levels. Her pride was armor-plated.
"Only the strong may renounce the weak, Lin Muxue." Ye Fan's voice was flat steel. "You are not yet strong enough."
"Strong? YOU?" Her laugh was a brittle chime. "Look at yourself! A broken vessel!" She dismissed him, turning her gaze away. Her presence here was mere formality, a courtesy to the dead. His consent meant nothing.
The Lin delegation departed swiftly, leaving only the seething Ye clan and Ye Fan standing alone in the charged silence.
"Ye Fan." Ye Qingtian's voice was arctic. "Today's shame stains the entire Ye name. And it is YOUR doing. Get out. You are banished from this clan. NOW."
Ye Fan met the Patriarch's glare. No plea. No protest. He turned and walked out.
The Courtyard. Exile.
Back in his sparse chamber, Ye Fan reached for the sword hanging on the bare wall. The Voidstep Sword. Its obsidian blade drank the light, the hilt cool and familiar under his calloused palm.
Memory surged – bitter and sharp.
His past life. Roaming the vast expanse of Tianwu Continent, utterly alone. This sword, his father Ye Songyuan's final legacy, his sole companion. Lost later amidst chaos and bloodshed.
His past life's zenith. The revelation. This blade was no mere weapon. It was the Key to the Ethereal Immortal Palace. And it had fallen into the hands of Nie Yun – the Dao Academy's unrivaled prodigy.
Nie Yun had claimed the Palace's inheritance. Soared. Shattered the void. Ascended to immortality.
His inheritance. Stolen. A legacy meant for him. He'd hunted for decades, finally confronting Nie Yun... only to flee broken and bleeding.
This life. Never again. His fingers tightened on the scabbard. What is mine... will REMAIN mine.
He slung the sword across his back. His eyes fell upon a small object resting on his worn bedframe – a Seven-Colored Starstone.
A fragment of purest memory. Found long ago in the Skybeast Mountains. A tiny, wounded beast he'd nursed back to health. Its parting gift. For an entire previous lifetime, its purpose had eluded him. A beautiful enigma.
He tucked the warm stone into a pouch at his belt.
Searing heat.
The Starstone ignited against his skin! His Dantian jolted. Vital energy surged through his meridians along an alien, complex path!
Brilliance erupted within him! Mystical runes, ancient and luminous, blazed behind his eyes! The Starstone dissolved, its essence flowing into his Dantian, fusing with the radiant runes.
A floodgate burst open in his mind. The Celestial Emperor Record unfurled its first page. Vast, incomprehensible knowledge poured into his soul.
Half an hour passed. When Ye Fan opened his eyes, they blazed with primal, ecstatic revelation.
The knowledge was a cultivation scripture.
Life God Art(Physique-Forging Combat Art)!
An Unparalleled Body Tempering Technique!
The human body harbors six Stellar Apertures of Talent. Upon reaching the Core Formation Realm in cultivation, one awakens their innate gift—known as the Spirit-Aegis Talent on the Tianwu Continent.
Within each of the six Stellar Apertures lie ten distinct talents. Yet barring prodigies blessed by heaven, most cultivators can only unlock the lowest-tier Stellar Gate, attaining the most basic Mortal-grade Spirit Aura Talents.
Life God Art was different. It offered a path to force open all six Stellar Apertures! Mastery meant potentially unlocking the legendary, world-shattering Chaos-grade Talent(Chaotic Tier, Exists beyond the seven-tier hierarchy)!
He fought the overwhelming urge to sit and cultivate now. He had lingered too long. His mother waited.
He grabbed a small sack, stuffing in a few flasks of strong wine, and strode out, the Voidstep Sword a comforting weight.
The Courtyard. Humiliation.
Su Xi clutched a worn bundle to her chest, trembling before Ye Linglong and a squad of stern Ye guards. "Elder Sister Linglong..." her voice was barely a whisper. "I took nothing of the Ye's. Only my son's things... and a few keepsakes of my husband's... Why bar our way?"
Ye Linglong's face was carved from ice. "Everything you possess belongs to the Ye Clan!" Her brother was dead on this ground. Ye Fan would pay. "You are cast out. Filth takes nothing."
"These are mementos!" Su Xi's voice gained a sliver of steel, invoking Ye Songyuan. "Brought back from his travels! Not Ye property! Is the mighty Ye Clan reduced to robbing the exiled?"
"HOW DARE YOU!" Ye Linglong's shriek was venomous. "The Ye fed you parasites for years! Clothed your worthless hides! Letting you leave wearing rags is charity!" She stepped closer, radiating malice. "Look what your son has done! Publicly scorned! Repudiated like offal! Soon the whole capital will laugh at us! The Ye name... a JOKE!"
"But... my son lost his cultivation SAVING YOU!" Su Xi's courage flared, fueled by maternal fury. "The Lin girl shames him... and the Ye blame HIM? Is this Ye justice?"
CRACK!
Ye Linglong's palm snapped across Su Xi's face. The frail woman stumbled, sprawling onto the dusty stones. A crimson fingerprint bloomed on her cheek. Tears of pain and utter humiliation welled.
"SILENCE!" Ye Linglong towered over her. "Your son was WEAK! He failed his duty AND crippled himself! My father's mercy alone spares his wretched life! Speak again, hag... and I'll cripple YOU too!"
Su Xi shrank back. Years of fearful survival as a widow in this viper's nest choked her defiance. Only the defense of her son and husband's memory had given her voice. Now, terror reclaimed her.
"My son..." she whispered, tears tracing lines in the dust on her face, "...was Qi Refining Level Nine... a top talent among the Ye youth..."
"STILL DEFIANT?!" Ye Linglong's eyes blazed. "Guards! Silence this bitch's tongue! SLAP HER UNTIL SHE CAN'T WHISPER!"
Two guards stepped forward, faces impassive, hands raised.
A voice, colder than the deepest abyss, froze them mid-stride:
"TOUCH HER... AND DIE."
Ye Fan stood at the courtyard gate. The Voidstep Sword gleamed darkly on his back. His eyes held the promise of annihilation.