Chapter 60 - The Sacred Oath
She glanced around the courtyard. It was nowhere near as grand or heavily arrayed as the Vermilion Flame Peak inner circles she now walked, but it possessed a quiet, clean serenity that she had not expected from a declining outer peak.
"I did not know you had joined an outer peak," she said, calmly handling the awkwardness of the encounter. "How are you?"
"Master was kind and took me as a disciple," Wang Tian replied politely. He picked up the box she had set down, checked the seal on the manifest, and looked at her. "Is the manifest complete, or does it need a signature?"
"It needs a signature." She handed him the paper without stepping closer. He signed it and handed it back, remaining where he stood.
Zhang Yuexin looked at him, trying to assess his situation. Their marriage was already annulled, finalized a couple of months ago. There was no bond left between them, only the lingering shadow of the past.
She smoothed her red sleeve, her gaze shifting to the practice sword in his hand. "Lin Fan and I were childhood friends. But I know better now. I have no good impression of him anymore, and our paths have diverged long ago."
Wang Tian stood silently, holding his practice sword, listening without interruption.
"I want to pursue my aspirations," she continued, her voice filled with self-assurance. "I will not be bound by the mortal shackles of marriages and families. I have the potential to reach heights beyond this, and I intend to do so. I am already an inner disciple, and I have a path I intend to follow."
As she spoke, she internally reviewed her own progress. She was already practicing a lower mystic rank cultivation technique, and she had officially become a junior alchemist. Whether it was Lin Fan or Wang Tian, she was already way ahead of them. Neither of them could even come close to her now.
Yet, as she looked at the silent courtyard, she felt a brief sting of curiosity. How did this mere outer peak stand out in the Grand Sect Tournament? She knew they shouldn’t have had any chance of winning, but that girl Lin Yao from this peak had actually tied with the Sect Master’s personal disciple.
Her thoughts drifted, glancing toward the central hall.
’It must have been a stroke of luck. Just having the skills of those cold flames without foundation will not sustain over time. I am already moving at a pace she would not recognize, and I will definitely surpass her in a couple of years.’
Wang Tian listened politely, remaining silent. He did not attempt to debate her.
"The annulment was my family’s decision," she added, coming finally to what she had truly wanted to say. "I never had any intention of marrying you. What happened to you — Lin Fan, the injury, all of it — was not something I caused, and it was not something I could have prevented. I am sorry it happened, but it was not my fault."
She spoke with a quiet dominance, holding the center of the conversation while Wang Tian simply waited.
Footsteps crossed the inner courtyard. Lin Yao appeared from the far doorway, her expression giving away nothing.
Having heard plenty about this woman from her junior brother, Lin Yao did not hold a single shred of good impression toward her. As the senior sister of White Lotus Peak, she stepped forward, her posture cold. A heavy, chilling pressure — the aura of a cultivator at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm — silently settled over her. It was not a direct attack, but it was dense and sharp enough to make the air in the courtyard turn cold, pressing down on Zhang Yuexin’s shoulders and making her breath hitch in discomfort.
Lin Yao glanced once at Zhang Yuexin, her eyes cool and detached, before turning her gaze to Wang Tian.
"The box," she said to him. Not to Zhang Yuexin.
"Here." Zhang Yuexin stepped forward and held it out, her movements slightly stiffened under the weight of the pressure. Lin Yao took it with both hands, checked the seal without opening it, and tucked it under her arm.
The heavy aura receded, leaving only the quiet wind. Zhang Yuexin smoothed her red sleeve, trying to hide a slight tremor in her fingers. There was a small pause.
"I hope all misunderstandings between us are resolved now," she said.
She did not wait for a reply. She stepped back through the gate, rose on her sword, and flew away without looking down.
Wang Tian watched the red sleeve disappear above the treeline. Then he turned back to the courtyard.
Lin Yao said nothing. She set the box inside the doorway, walked back out, and called the next form. "Start from the beginning."
Wang Tian raised the practice sword and began again.
He did not think about the incident ever again.
***
Two more weeks passed.
On the last evening of the month, Su Ming and Bai Qingxian gathered in the private study. The surgical blueprint was spread across the full width of the desk — three scrolls pinned flat with small stones, covered in precise anatomical notations and Qi pathway diagrams.
Bai Qingxian pressed two fingers to the third scroll, her eyes tracking the flowing lines of Qi paths. Suddenly, she stopped. Her shoulders tensed, her gaze locking onto the center of the diagram. She looked up at Su Ming, her eyes narrowing in realization.
"The third stage," she said, her voice level but sharp. "It is incomplete. The pathways are mapped, but the bridge that must anchor the shattered meridians — is completely missing. You kept this step hidden intentionally, didn’t you?"
Su Ming looked at the diagram for a moment, then met her gaze with a calm expression. "I did."
"Why?" she demanded. "Without this step, the surgery is impossible. You cannot guide the needles blindly through a collapsed sea of Qi."
"I will complete it," Su Ming said. "I will need you to trust me on this. I cannot explain this to you. Just trust me on this."
She studied him, her eyes searching his face, but he did not elaborate.
In truth, Su Ming had spent the last two weeks recalculating the limits of his own body. He had initially believed a Nascent Soul breakthrough was mandatory to handle the massive Qi depletion and focus required to bridge the shattered foundation. However, reaching the Nascent Soul realm would take more time, and with all the preparations for Wang Tian already complete, he did not want to delay the procedure any longer.
Instead of waiting for a breakthrough, he had pushed his existing Peak Golden Core cultivation base to its absolute limits. To compensate for the massive Qi consumption during the surgery, he had procured a stockpile of mystic-grade spirit replenishing pills, which would allow him to rapidly restore his spiritual Qi if he faced exhaustion.
He knew that while an ordinary Golden Core cultivator would certainly fail, his unique cultivation foundation gave him a distinct edge. With his excellent Qi control and the support of the pills, he was confident he could sustain the procedure. It was a dangerous gamble, but he was sure he could carry it out. And it was a secret he had to keep to himself.
After a long pause, she looked at him steadily. "Before any surgery conducted under my supervision proceeds, I would like you to take the Medicine Valley’s Sacred Oath. Sworn upon your Dao Heart. It is a vow that as a physician, you will never willingly harm or kill a patient under your care. If you break it, your Dao Heart will fracture, halting your path of cultivation forever. Are you willing?"
Su Ming met her steady gaze. For a cultivator, swearing on the Dao Heart was the ultimate commitment. Yet, he did not hesitate.
"I am willing. Tell me the phrasing."
She recited the words of the Sacred Physician’s Oath, slow and solemn. Su Ming repeated them, each sentence echoing in the quiet study. As the final word left his lips, a faint resonance rippled through his cultivation foundation—the subtle, binding weight of a vow anchored directly to his Dao Heart. It was done.
Bai Qingxian watched him for a quiet moment, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly. She seemed to hesitate, as if struggling to reconcile her deep respect for the medical path with his raw, unorthodox talent.
"I am reluctant to even call you a physician," she said, her voice quiet but firm. "Your understanding is far too narrow. But if you promise me that once this surgery is over, you will study medicine and build a proper foundation... then for now, I will consider you almost one."
Su Ming smiled faintly, bowing his head in a rare gesture of deference. "I promise."
They worked through the remaining details until late. Bai Qingxian left for the night, and Su Ming stayed at the desk.
He sat with the two swords resting beside the open surgical blueprint. The remaining ten needle sets were in their case on the shelf. The surgical ingredients Zhang Yuexin had delivered were sorted and stored in sealed jars in the cabinet below. The Life-Stabilizing Elixir sat complete in its jade bottle, sealed with a wax cork. Everything was in place.
The Spirit Piercing Needle Technique had reached Perfection. He had not noticed the exact moment it crossed over. One day it had simply been there, fully his, requiring nothing.
The next day, the meridian reconstruction would begin.
Su Ming did not think about whether he would succeed or not. He was sure he would and no force was going to stop him.
He thought instead about the glory days ahead.
He closed the blueprint, straightened the needle case on the shelf, and put out the lamp.