As Yin Jian lunged at me, the world seemed to slow down. My golden eyes, now sharpened by the Eye of Insight, tracked the orange glow of his palm as it cut through the air, leaving a trail of shimmering heat.
{Ding!}
{Mission Generated: Family Discipline.}
{Objective: Defeat Yin Jian and prove that 'Trash' can bite.}
{Reward: 10 System Points, 1x High-Mortal Rank Martial Arts Manual.}
'Ten points and a technique? Consider it done.'
Yin Jian's palm thrust forward, aiming for my chest. It was a move designed to shatter ribs and scorch lungs. "Die, you piece of shit!" he bellowed.
I didn't retreat. Instead, I stepped into his guard, leaning my torso just enough to let his flaming hand whistle past my ear. The heat was intense, singeing a few strands of my silver hair, but I ignored it.
I drove my elbow upward, aiming directly for his right shoulder—his weakness that System has highlighted.
CRACK.
"ARGH!" Yin Jian let out a strangled cry as my elbow connected with the joint. Since my Qi was refined by the Star-King breathing technique, it was fifty times denser than his, and even though I was only at the 3rd Stage, my strike hit with the weight of a falling star.
"You—how?!" Yin Jian snarled, stumbling back. His right arm hung limp, but his rage was only mounting. He channeled his Blazing Sun Qi into his left hand, the orange glow turning a violent red. "I'll kill you! I'll burn you to ashes!"
He swung wildly, unleashing a flurry of Burning Serpent Palms. Each strike sent waves of heat through the courtyard, blackening the weeds. I moved like a ghost, parrying his strikes with the back of my hands. Every time our skin met, his heat tried to invade my meridians, but my Chaos Meridian simply opened its metaphorical maw and swallowed the fire whole.
'Delicious' I thought, feeling his own energy being repurposed to fuel my movements.
However, the gap in cultivation levels began to show. My 3rd-stage body was screaming under the pressure of his 6th-stage brute force. A stray clip from his knuckles grazed my shoulder, tearing through my thin robe and searing my skin. I gritted my teeth, the pain only sharpening my focus.
"Is that all?" I mocked, ducking under his next swing. "For a 'superior,' you're awfully clumsy."
"SHUT UP!"
Yin Jian overextended, putting all his weight into a final, desperate overhead strike. This was the moment. His footing was unstable, his right side was exposed, and his Qi was completely unraveled.
I lunged forward, not with a palm, but with two fingers stiffened like a spear. I channeled every drop of my dense starlight Qi into my fingertips and struck the pressure point just below his sternum—the center of his Qi flow.
BOOM!
The collision sent a small shockwave through the dirt. Yin Jian's red aura flickered before dying instantly. His eyes bulged, his mouth hanging open in a silent scream as the heavy Star Qi disrupted his entire cultivation path.
I followed up with a sweeping kick to his ankles. With his balance already compromised, he flipped into the air and crashed face-first into the stone pavement, landing right next to the splintered remains of my door.
Silence returned to the Desolate Courtyard.
The two servants stood frozen, their faces pale as ghosts. They looked at their "unbeatable" master groveling in the dirt, then at me—the boy who was supposed to be a corpse by sunrise.
"Young Master Jian!" one of them finally shrieked, rushing forward to help him.
Yin Jian coughed up a spray of blood, his face a mask of agony and disbelief. "My...my cultivation...it's suppressed...what did you do to me?!"
I walked toward him, my footsteps heavy and measured. I looked down at him, my golden eyes cold and indifferent.
"I did nothing but return the 'discipline' you've given me for years," I said, my voice echoing in the quiet courtyard. "Go back to our mother, Jian. Tell Matriarch Yin Mei that the 'stain' on the family name has finally been washed clean."
{Ding!}
{Mission Accomplished: Family Discipline.}
{Rewards: 10 System Points received. High-Mortal Rank Manual 'Flash Step' received.}
I turned my back on them, not even glancing at the servants as they scrambled to pick up the broken Fourth Young Master.
"Next time you come here," I added over my shoulder, "come with an army. Because a pampered dog like you will never be enough to stop me."
As they hurried out of the courtyard in a panicked retreat, I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me. My muscles were trembling, and the burn on my shoulder stung like hell. I was still weak. But as I looked at the new manual in my mental inventory, a cold, dark satisfaction filled my soul.
The hierarchy of the Yin family had just been put on notice. And I was only getting started.
--
The atmosphere within the Main Court of the Yin Estate was suffocating. Pillars of carved obsidian, entwined with silver serpents, rose toward a ceiling painted with the constellations of the Eastern Continent. At the far end, seated upon the Silver Serpent Throne, was Matriarch Yin Mei.
She sat perfectly still, her silver hair cascading over robes of imperial violet. Her eyes, cold and sharp like frozen daggers, remained fixed on the center of the hall where a disheveled figure knelt.
"Repeat that once more," Yin Mei commanded. Her voice was low, yet it vibrated with the power of her Eternal Grade Veins, causing the air in the hall to hum.
Yin Jian trembled, his forehead pressed against the cold marble floor. His right arm was bound in blood-stained bandages, and his face was a map of bruises and shame.
"Mother...I...I went to the Desolate Courtyard to...to discipline him. But Yin Shen...he fought back. He suppressed my Qi and broke my shoulder. He...he is no longer a cripple!"
A sharp, melodic peal of laughter rang out from the side of the throne.
Yin Hua, the Second Young Miss, stood leaning against a pillar, idly examining her crimson-painted fingernails. Her beauty was undeniable, but her smile held the venom of a cobra.
"Oh, Jian-er, stop it." Yin Hua mocked, her voice dripping with amusement. "It is one thing to be lazy with your cultivation, but to make up such a ridiculous fairy tale to cover your incompetence? Losing to that 'thing'? The disappointment who couldn't even awaken a Low Grade Vein?"
"I am not lying, Second Sister!" Yin Jian hissed, looking up with bloodshot eyes. "He was different! His aura...it was like standing before a monster!"
"A monster?" Yin Hua stepped forward, her silk robes rustling. "He has been a waste of our family's resources for nineteen years. If you lost to him, it simply means you are even more of a failure than he is. Perhaps we should send you to the Desolate Courtyard and give him your seat."
Yin Jian's face paled further, his teeth gritting in silent fury.
Throughout the bickering, Yin Mei remained stoic. Not a single muscle in her face twitched, but internally, a flicker of genuine surprise stirred. She knew Yin Jian was arrogant, but he wasn't a liar—not about something that brought him this much humiliation. If Yin Shen had truly defeated a 6th Stage Body Tempering practitioner, it meant the natural laws she had lived by for decades had been disrupted.
"Enough," Yin Mei said. The single word silenced the hall instantly. "If Yin Shen has indeed awakened his veins this late, it is a matter for the family to—"
CLANG.
The heavy bronze doors of the Main Court swung open with a violent force. The guards at the entrance didn't even have time to raise their halberds before a man strode in, his presence so overbearing that the candles lining the walls flickered and died.
He was dressed in the charcoal-gray robes of the Family Council, a heavy iron sword strapped to his back. His face bore a striking resemblance to the Matriarch, though his features were weathered by years of battle.
"It seems I've returned to quite the comedy," the man boomed.
"Uncle Feng!" Yin Hua's mocking demeanor vanished, replaced by a respectful bow. Even Yin Xue, the silent Third Sister who had been brooding in the shadows, stood up and lowered her head.
Elder Yin Feng, the Sixth Elder of the Yin Family and Yin Mei's younger brother, ignored the children and walked straight to the foot of the throne.
"Sister," Feng said, his voice dropping to a serious tone. "I heard the boy's report on my way in. If the 'Trash' of our family has truly wounded a direct descendant, the Elders will not sit idly by. We have a reputation to maintain before the other four families."
Yin Mei looked at her brother, her gaze unreadable. "What are you suggesting, Feng?"
"The Blood Awakening Ceremony is in three days," Elder Feng stated, his eyes flashing with a cold light. "Every member of the direct lineage must attend to test the strength and grade of their veins before the public. If Yin Shen has truly found a way to cultivate, let him prove it on the testing stone. If he is still trash... he will be executed for the crime of striking a superior. And if he has power..."
Feng glanced at the trembling Yin Jian. "...then he must be 're-educated' to know his place in your hierarchy."
Yin Mei closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them, her decision final.
"Send the order," she decreed. "Yin Shen is to be brought to the Awakening Ceremony in three days. If he refuses, drag him there in chains."
--