When Shen Han understood why the Martial Arts Alliance had demanded that other sects bear the responsibility for their failure in the recent crackdown on the demonic path, he realized what was truly happening.
In the past, there had never been any talk of such accountability.
Demanding responsibility this time meant one thing: they believed the other sects had no future.
There were simply too many sects under heaven.
From the Alliance's perspective, the resources of the world were limited. To leave those resources in the hands of these sects—to be used for cultivation by people with no talent whatsoever—was nothing short of a waste of the world's resources.
Instead of letting these good-for-nothings consume those pills, it would be far better to funnel all those resources straight into the Martial Arts Alliance.
Thus, the Martial Arts Alliance Leader had begun his formal suppression.
And this was only the first time.
In the future, this Martial Arts Alliance Leader would surely use every means at his disposal to suppress other sects, stripping them of their assets for his own use.
His methods were fundamentally no different from those of the demonic path, except that the Martial Arts Alliance Leader would frame everything around the goal of fighting that path, dressing up all his actions in a cloak of righteousness.
His power was simply too formidable; no one dared to cross him!
Shen Han was not the only one who knew this.
With just a little careful thought, anyone could piece together the entire sequence of events.
Yet Zhao Wenlin did not know.
Or perhaps he did know, but chose to defy the heavens anyway. By what right were other sects forbidden to cultivate?
It was a classic, head-on collision with the Martial Arts Alliance!
Since the Alliance could not openly crush dissent on the surface, they had no qualms about doing it in the shadows, utterly destroying these so-called talents without a shred of mercy.
Was the world short of talented individuals?
Not at all.
What the world lacked was obedient talent. Every single talent had to follow the Martial Arts Alliance Leader's commands like a dog.
Every talent had to become a domestic hound of the Martial Arts Alliance; only then would they be qualified to cultivate!
***
On an open plaza in the center of the Isolated Island.
The sky was overcast.
As Li Qiu watched Zhao Wenlin standing there with his sword drawn against him, his heart swelled with immense joy.
"Hahahaha, this stupid hound in front of me walked right into the trap."
"To stick his neck out for someone with zero cultivation aptitude—he's truly an idiot."
"I originally thought I'd need to waste some time, but now it won't even be necessary."
Li Qiu had clearly received orders from the Martial Arts Alliance.
And he was more than happy to carry them out.
He looked at Zhao Wenlin. "It seems you really think you're strong?"
"Then I might as well lay my cards on the table. We should be about the same age."
"I have already reached the Innate Fourth Tier Great Perfection, Qi Condensation Great Perfection!"
"And you? With all your righteousness, have you made the breakthrough?"
"Hahahaha!"
Upon hearing that Li Qiu had reached the Innate Fourth Tier Great Perfection, the onlookers drew in sharp breaths of cold air one after another.
Innate Fourth Tier Great Perfection—this was the Qi Condensation Realm!
That meant his Qi Sea had officially undergone a qualitative transformation, officially producing True Essence!
Once True Essence was formed, a cultivator's strength would become terrifyingly formidable!
Though the Innate Third Tier and Innate Fourth Tier were separated by only one stage, the actual difference was vast!
Before Zhao Wenlin could even speak, Li Qiu burst out laughing again.
"If I'm not mistaken!"
"Your strength is nothing more than the Innate Third Tier Great Perfection, and you're still hoping to break through to the fourth tier?"
"And you, with your Innate Third Tier Great Perfection, expect to fight me at the Innate Fourth Tier Great Perfection? Just who do you think you are looking down on?"
"So don't go thinking you're all that strong, and don't think you're anything special."
"Being magnanimous, and since we both hail from sects—"
"I'll give you a chance."
"Kneel down and kowtow to me three loud times."
"Confess that you're trash, and say that you'll never dare do it again. Then, I'll spare you."
He laughed wildly.
The people all around now looked at Zhao Wenlin with an overwhelming amount of pity.
Was Zhao Wenlin strong?
He was strong.
But compared to the person before him, he simply couldn't measure up.
The Innate Third Tier could never defeat the Innate Fourth Tier; the gap was terrifyingly huge!
And this Li Qiu really was a ruthless character.
To actually demand that Zhao Wenlin kneel right here and declare himself trash!
That would directly shatter the opponent's Dao heart, and once a Dao heart was broken, how could one ever cultivate again?
Yet Zhao Wenlin merely smiled naturally. "Enough talk, let's see what you can do with your hands!"
Gripping his sword tightly, he suddenly whipped it upward, directly unleashing a signature peerless technique of Tiance Manor.
"First form of the Heavenly Cloud Sword Technique!"
The swordplay moved like a roaming dragon.
The instant the tips of Zhao Wenlin's toes touched the ground, he had already surged forward, carrying his sword straight ahead.
Li Qiu gave a disdainful sneer.
"Displaying slight skill before an expert!"
He didn't bother using any techniques at all! The True Essence within his body surged mightily through his frame!
He snatched a saber from his waist and slashed it out in a flash, the sharp blade driving ruthlessly toward Zhao Wenlin!
In the space of a heartbeat, it knocked Zhao Wenlin's sword flying!
Zhao Wenlin's defenses were instantly blown wide open!
This was an absolute crushing of sheer power, leaving no chance whatsoever for him to recover.
Li Qiu delivered a backhanded palm strike squarely onto Zhao Wenlin's chest.
A loud thud echoed out.
Zhao Wenlin's sturdy frame was driven backward several steps in succession, the true qi inside his body shattered into pieces!
Before he could forcefully mobilize his true qi again, it was already too late!
True qi and True Essence—though separated by only a single word, the actual difference was like heaven and earth!
Furthermore, Li Qiu's follow-up was vicious.
He bared his fangs as he looked at Zhao Wenlin, whose face was pale and grim.
"Don't blame me for crippling your cultivation."
"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for opposing the Martial Arts Alliance!"
"Prepare to become a cripple."
"Thank you!"
Li Qiu's palm transformed into a fist, the True Essence contained within it forming a faint barrier.
Leveraging the momentum, he took a step forward, intent on completely destroying Zhao Wenlin's cultivation.
Yet Zhao Wenlin showed not a shred of fear.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the dull expressions in the eyes of the onlookers, feeling nothing more than a pang of bitterness.
***
"So young and yet so vicious. There'll be no stopping him in the future."
Sitting by the riverbank angling for fish, Shen Han slowly opened his eyes.
Originally, he had intended to let Zhao Wenlin suffer a minor setback so he would calm down a bit in the future.
But looking at it now, this foolish boy Zhao Wenlin really possessed a reckless stubbornness.
Lost in thought, Shen Han flicked his wrist holding the fishing rod slightly, and a single droplet of water leaped into the air from the rod.
The droplet was imbued with pure True Essence in the truest sense of the word.
Dark golden in its entirety, it moved with terrifying speed, hurtling toward the woods in an instant.
The woods behind them blurred past in the blink of an eye, until, at the very last critical fraction of a second, it slammed violently into Li Qiu's fist.
Breaking a point to shatter a surface, shattering the surface to break the whole.
The moment Li Qiu's fist struck Zhao Wenlin's body, his entire person was sent flying like a discarded sack of rags.
He blasted backward over thirty zhang, tumbling through the air dozens of times.
With a loud crash, rolling and scrambling while bouncing continuously, he slammed into a thatched hut, instantly plunging into unconsciousness.
Having finished all this, Shen Han calmly resumed his fishing.
To others, Li Qiu might be at the Innate Fourth Tier Great Perfection, but Shen Han was already at the Innate Sixth Tier Great Perfection.
In short, the Innate Great Perfection.
Moreover, his Innate Sixth Tier was a genuine Innate Sixth Tier—a form of absolute, overwhelming suppressive power.
If he hadn't been too lazy to kill the fellow, a single droplet of water would have been enough to utterly annihilate him.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the entire scene sat in stunned silence.
The sect disciples stared at Li Qiu, who had been sent flying and now lay unconscious like a dead dog.
How could any of them know what had just happened?
They didn't understand!
They couldn't understand it at all!
As far as they were concerned, Li Qiu was clearly about to strike Zhao Wenlin directly.
Zhao Wenlin was bound to lose, bound to suffer terribly.
Yet the battle had turned in the blink of an eye.
The proud young man who had been quite formidable just moments before now lay like a dead dog in the thatch, coughing up mouthfuls of blood.
Looking further at his completely twisted arm and his mangled, flesh-torn fist—
Who on earth could make sense of what had just happened?
Was Zhao Wenlin really this strong?!
This stubborn blockhead from Tiance Manor was actually this powerful?!