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Chapter 4: Quelling Suspicion

That palm strike expelled the wisp of soul consciousness from within Xia Chenyu’s body.

The moment the soul dissipated, the Celestial Eye System captured a critical piece of information about the intruder: a high-dimensional lifeform from the Dimensional Administration Bureau.

This stunned An Ran. He quickly began communicating with the headquarters system internally.

But the reactions of those around him soon pulled him back to reality.

“Junior Brother, what are you doing…” Lu Xiuyuan bent down to examine Xia Chenyu. After confirming he was unharmed, he questioned An Ran.

An Ran thought for a moment and explained, “He forcefully overexerted his spiritual root. I sealed his Tai Chong meridian to prevent further damage.”

This wasn’t a lie. The reason this child could briefly reach the Golden Core stage was due to the release of long-sealed spiritual power and the extraction of primordial spiritual energy stored in his meridians.

Besides postnatal cultivation, cultivators possess innate spiritual energy to protect their spiritual roots. The amount varies depending on one’s spiritual aptitude. Because Xia Chenyu had a Heaven-grade spiritual root, he was able to temporarily leap in power.

But such a method is highly risky and can severely damage the spiritual meridians.

Was this kid really so eager to enter the Tongtian Tower?

Some disciples from the Xuanyue Sect were unconvinced and shouted, “How can anyone leap from mid Foundation Establishment to Golden Core just by overdrawing their spiritual root? I don’t buy it!”

“Yeah! Sounds like cheating to me!”

The commotion grew louder.

The Xuanyue Sect leader’s face darkened upon seeing his personal disciple lose to a mere 14-year-old. However, he couldn’t say anything openly and allowed his disciples to rant.

Xu Wenmin jeered sarcastically, “Can’t handle losing? Claiming cheating just because you lost? So many Immortal Elders are present—go ahead and show us how he cheated.”

The disciples from Lingxiao Palace were instantly emboldened and started arguing back.

Seeing the rising tension, the Disciplinary Hall’s head shouted, “Silence!”

The command, imbued with spiritual energy, rendered the crowd immediately quiet.

During the chaos, An Ran had continued attempting communication with headquarters but received a dead-end result—no trace of the intruder. Disheartened, he returned to focus and noticed everyone was now staring at him.

Startled, he said, “Let your sect leader and the two elders examine him to quell the doubts.”

Since the wisp of soul consciousness had already been expelled, even a Great Luo Golden Immortal wouldn’t detect anything now. As much as he wanted to suppress this kid, An Ran couldn’t afford to tarnish Lingxiao Palace’s reputation.

The Xuanyue Sect leader twitched slightly but forced a smile. “No need. As the disciple of Immortal Master Lingyun, his conduct is surely upright. Cheating isn’t even a consideration.”

“That’s not right,” Yan Qinghong raised his voice. “To dispel doubts, we must investigate thoroughly.”

At this moment, an elder stepped forward and respectfully bowed to the three Immortal Masters. “Allow me.”

“Elder Bai, please,” An Ran gestured, stepping aside.

Elder Bai bent over Xia Chenyu, his palm glowing as spiritual energy flickered while he scanned the boy.

Moments later, his brow raised slightly, and he stood up. “A top-grade Heaven spiritual root—Immortal Master, you’ve taken on quite the disciple.”

Then he addressed the crowd, “I found nothing unusual. I’m just surprised at the resilience of this child’s spiritual meridians. Despite overexertion, he’s come out unscathed.”

“Really?” Another elder stepped forward out of curiosity and examined him as well.

“Indeed. His meridians are deeply rooted.” He glanced at An Ran and asked, “What kind of cultivation method did you teach him? Could you share it with us?”

An Ran sighed inwardly. The very technique meant to suppress Xia Chenyu’s cultivation had now strengthened his foundation. Who could he even complain to?

He forced a smile and said, “It’s nothing special—just a steady, gradual cultivation method.”

As neither elder found anything wrong, murmurs began to spread in the crowd.

“Did Immortal Master Lingyun plan this? Letting this kid, who could burst into Golden Core strength, defeat Senior Brother Xiu just to win all three matches?”

“Such clever scheming…”

Xia Chenyu slowly regained consciousness amidst the chatter.

Meanwhile, disciples from Lingyun Peak whispered among themselves.

“Master is brilliant.”

“Right? And here I thought he didn’t care for fame or recognition.”

An Ran overheard this and glared fiercely at them. “Nonsense!”

He really didn’t want this kid to win, okay?!

Before he could dwell further on it, he caught Xia Chenyu gazing at him with admiration.

“Master! I—”

“Enough!” An Ran didn’t want to hear a word. He just wanted to fix this chaos.

He bowed toward the Xuanyue Sect elders. “Though there was no cheating, winning by overexerting one’s spiritual root is still unsportsmanlike. I concede this match on my disciple’s behalf.”

The crowd gasped.

“Junior Brother, why?” Yan Qinghong was puzzled.

Lu Xiuyuan also advised, “Even if we didn’t expect him to win, since he did, just accept it. Why give it up?”

Before he could finish, the Xuanyue Sect leader said, “Our sect isn’t petty. There’s no need for such words, Immortal Master Lingyun. My disciple lost—fair and square.”

Xu Wenyan, believing he had regained the opportunity to enter Tongtian Tower, panicked when he heard his master surrendering it. “Master!”

“Silence!”

The Xuanyue Sect fell into chaos, while the disciples from Lingyun Peak also murmured.

An Ran couldn’t stand the bickering anymore and braced himself for more of Xia Chenyu’s disappointment. But the boy, instead of being angry, was still looking at him with admiration.

He was stunned. I just gave up the opportunity you fought so hard for, why aren’t you upset?

Before he could make sense of it, Elder Bai spoke up: “Since neither side will budge, why not let the Disciplinary Hall decide?”

Everyone turned toward the head of the Disciplinary Hall. Cornered, he looked toward the three Immortal Masters and the Xuanyue Sect leader.

After a long pause, he finally stammered, “Let’s… call it a draw.”

“A draw?!”

The crowd erupted again.

“What does that mean? Can both still enter the Tongtian Tower?” Xu Wenyan asked anxiously.

“Of course… both can enter,” the head confirmed. This was always a face-saving arrangement. The last two rounds were less competitive anyway. They couldn’t let Xuanyue Sect walk away empty-handed.

Though it seemed like a win-win, An Ran’s face darkened.

His plan was ruined again. He had half a mind to blast the Hall head away.

Even conceding didn’t work? What next—lock Xia Chenyu up?

It was too late to fix things now. With no other options, An Ran glanced at Xia Chenyu, who looked thrilled.

He shook his head and noticed the Xuanyue Sect leader glaring at him darkly.

It made sense. Normally, the two sects would pit evenly matched disciples. Xu Wenyan should’ve knocked out Lingxiao Palace’s strongest, and then someone else would eliminate Xia Chenyu. That would secure two of the three spots, with one left to contest.

But now, thanks to this mess, even a drawn spot felt like a pity handout to them.

An Ran wanted to facepalm. Offending allies was never his intention—this was a major misfire.

After the commotion, the remaining matches went as expected.

As soon as the competition ended, An Ran left. Social niceties were left to his two senior brothers. He just wanted peace.

But upon returning to Crane Dream Hall, he found he’d been followed.

“Master…”

An Ran stopped, turned, and sighed. “Say what you want to say.”

“Is Master angry with this disciple?”

An Ran was caught off guard. Aren’t you supposed to ask why I gave you a Golden Core opponent, knocked you out, or made you concede?

“Why would I be angry?”

Xia Chenyu looked down, voice timid. “I… overexerted my spiritual root and damaged my meridians… I went against Master’s intentions.”

What intentions? Suppressing you?

But An Ran didn’t want to explain. He only wanted to focus on investigating the mastermind behind all this. He casually brushed it off. “It’s fine. I’m not angry. Go on.”

But Xia Chenyu didn’t leave. “Today I finally understand how important a solid foundation is. Without Master’s efforts, my meridians couldn’t have withstood that power, and I would’ve been gravely injured—let alone win.”

“Master also sealed my meridians in time and protected my core…”

An Ran couldn’t take any more gratitude and raised his hand to stop him. “You’re famous now. Go celebrate with the others. I have important matters.”

Xia Chenyu clearly wanted to say more, but seeing An Ran’s distant expression, he reluctantly left.

Watching the boy’s back, the Celestial Eye System issued a warning: Key individual’s deviation from timeline has reached 10%.

An Ran felt nothing but despair. At this rate, the deviation would only grow. If it hit 100%, the mission would fail.

Failure meant no points. Not that it mattered—An Ran had more than enough as a top agent.

But more importantly, failure meant his rating would drop, and that was something this perfectionist couldn’t accept.

Just thinking about it was enough to make him miserable.

He had to do something—fast.

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