Chapter 41: Peak Master of the White Lotus Peak
The Peak Masters looked at her determined expression, some sighing in disappointment, others shaking their heads at her stubbornness. They slowly retreated, returning to the grand gallery with lingering glances.
Lin Yao walked past the staring crowd and returned to the side gallery. She stopped before Su Ming, bowing her head. "Master, I could not defeat her completely."
She looked sad.
Su Ming smiled, his eyes warm as he reached out, handing her some high-quality spirit replenishing pills. "You did well. Now sit and rest."
Lin Yao finally smiled, the coldness in her eyes melting away as she sat down, closing her eyes to recover her Qi.
But as the tournament concluded and the crowd began to disperse, a low shadow fell over the gallery. From the grand gallery, a group of Tiger Peak elders stepped forward, their faces dark and hostile as they looked down at the White Lotus Peak section.
***
Lu Feng, the thirty-nine-year-old direct disciple of Tiger Peak, stepped forward from the grand seating gallery. He leaped onto his steel sword and flew down to the ruined central platform, landing with an arrogant stance, his late Foundation Establishment Qi pulsing aggressively to draw the attention of the surrounding crowd.
"Sect Master, Peak Masters!" Lu Feng’s voice, amplified by Qi, echoed across the silent valley. "I raise a formal challenge against the standing of White Lotus Peak! It is not a disciple’s fault when the master is a fraud. Su Ming is a handyman who got lucky, holding a Peak Master title without the cultivation to match. Furthermore, Lin Yao used a sinister, demonic technique in this match. Those black flames are unnatural and are spreading a dark, cold corruption. Only a fraud master would lead a disciple down such a sinister path to cheat!"
The crowd murmured, their eyes shifting between Lin Yao and the White Lotus Peak master’s seat.
Lin Yao’s face hardened. Her eyes flared with cold anger, and her hand gripped her sword hilt as she took a step forward, intending to descend and fight Lu Feng, the very man who had directed Tiger Peak’s underlings to loot White Lotus Peak’s resources for months, to defend her master’s honor.
Before she could leap, a heavy, cold aura descended from the grand gallery.
Li Heng, the Peak Master of Tiger Peak, floated down, his Core Formation Qi levitating him slowly to land beside his disciple. He sneered, looking up toward the White Lotus gallery. "Stand aside, Disciple Lu. Acting Peak Master Su, if you have the qualifications to lead a peak, step down and show us. Or does the master of the desolate White Lotus Peak lack even the courage to face us, hiding behind a young girl?"
Beside Lin Yao, Su Ming sat calmly, taking a slow sip of his tea. He reached out a hand, gently blocking her path. "Stand down, Disciple Yao. We, the White Lotus Peak, do not let our disciples fight our battles. And I do not like to waste my breath on underlings."
He set his teacup down, the soft *clink* of porcelain sounding clearly in the quiet. He stood up, his warm, polite mask replaced by a cold, indifferent calm.
Su Ming stepped forward to the edge of the White Lotus gallery. Instead of using a flying sword or mount, he stepped directly into the empty air. He drifted down toward the central platform, gliding smoothly and silently through the sky before landing ten paces in front of Li Heng.
A wave of shocked whispers immediately rippled through the disciple galleries.
"Wait... did he just walk on air? Is Peak Master Su already at the Core Formation Realm? Can he float?"
"No! That’s not floating!" a senior core disciple yelled, his eyes wide. "Core Formation cultivators can only levitate or float in place. They can’t cross distances like that without a flying sword or a mount! Look at him - he is flying freely through the sky. That is true, unassisted flight! Only Golden Core experts can fly!"
The crowd gasped in disbelief. The desolate White Lotus Peak Master was actually a Golden Core expert?
Tiger Peak master Li Heng stood frozen for a split-second, his face shifting from shock to dark denial. He sneered, his own peak Core Formation Qi pulsing violently. "A Golden Core? You? Impossible! You were a mere Qi Condensation waste months ago! You must be using some hidden artifact to trick us! Hand over the artifact and show your true face, you fraud!"
With a roar, Li Heng drew his heavy steel blade. The weapon flashed with thick, yellow earth-qi as he swung it downward in a split-second strike, intending to cleave Su Ming’s "flight trick" apart and expose his true strength.
Su Ming remained completely unmoved. As the heavy steel blade came down, he did not draw a weapon. He simply raised his right hand, his palm starting to glow with a blinding crimson-red light.
"Since Peak Master Li wishes to experience different kinds of flames," Su Ming said quietly, his voice carrying an unyielding weight, "I shall oblige."
He thrust his palm forward. He did not use his usual soothing fire; instead, he channeled a massive wave of extreme, violent Yang Qi. It was a chaotic, explosive heat that instantly superheated the air, turning it dry and crackling.
*Clash!*
The collision was instantaneous. Su Ming’s unarmed palm struck the incoming steel blade directly.
The moment they met, Li Heng’s face contorted in sheer terror. The heavy earth-qi coating his blade melted like wax under fire. The extreme Yang flame erupted from Su Ming’s palm, the sheer explosive force of the heat instantly shattering the steel blade into melted fragments. At the same time, deep within the strike, a subconscious leak of the ancient Dragon’s Will erupted. It was a suffocating, majestic pressure that felt heavier than the sky, completely overwhelming Li Heng’s senses and crushing his defense.
*BOOM!*
The explosion of the crimson flame Qi blew Li Heng backward like a broken doll. He crashed through the white stone floor of the central platform, creating a massive crater, and rolled several times before stopping. He lay there, coughing up a mouthful of blood, his right arm trembling and completely scorched by the violent heat.
The entire valley fell into a dead, terrified silence.
Lu Feng stood frozen in absolute terror, his face pale and his knees trembling. The master he had revered, a peak Core Formation expert, had been defeated in a single, unarmed strike by the man he had ridiculed.
The Peak Masters in the grand gallery stood up, their expressions filled with shock. The brief, ancient aura Su Ming had leaked had vanished in a millisecond, but to Nascent Soul experts and the Inner Peak masters and above, it had felt like the brief awakening of a dormant primeval beast.
Deep within the mountain wastes, in a hidden, misty cave, a pair of ancient eyes slowly opened. A silent, amused chuckle echoed through the stone walls.
"What an interesting kid. Hiding such a skill in our sect..."
Su Ming stood on the shattered platform, his hands resting behind his back. The golden-red flame had already vanished, leaving his aura calm and unremarkable once more.
"If Tiger Peak wants to check my peak’s qualifications, I am happy to accompany you to the Enforcement Hall," Su Ming said, his voice quiet but carrying to every corner of the valley. "But if you challenge my standing again, it will not end with a broken arm."
Sect Master Jun Tianya stepped forward from his throne, his voice carrying absolute authority.
"Enough."
"Disciple Lin Yao’s flame is a cold flame, not a demonic art, and Peak Master Su’s flight was a pure, unassisted show of Golden Core strength."
"Slandering a Peak Master and his disciple, and disrupting the tournament are grave offenses."
"Enforcers, take Li Heng down for recovery. Furthermore, arrest Tiger Peak’s direct disciple, Lu Feng, who directed the resource looting of White Lotus Peak, and launch a thorough investigation into their unauthorized resource diversions under Tiger Peak."
Several Golden Qilin Peak enforcers stepped down, dragging the groaning Li Heng and the paralyzed Lu Feng away.
Jun Tianya looked down at Su Ming, his voice echoing with absolute authority across the mountains. "By my authority as the Sect Master of the Heavenly Cloud Sect, I officially confirm Disciple Su Ming as the Peak Master of White Lotus Peak. All resource allocations, territories, and historical rights of the peak are hereby restored in full, effective immediately."
Su Ming bowed slightly, his hands cupped. "Thank you, Sect Master."
He turned back toward the seating gallery, but before he walked, he raised his hand toward the sky.
A massive surge of pure, white Qi shot upward into the clouds. Above the grand valley, the Qi condensed into a grand, glowing White Lotus Qi Symbol—a massive white flower breathing pure spiritual mist that illuminated the entire mountain range.
The aura and presence radiating from the symbol were in no way beneath those of the nine grand inner peaks. As the blinding white light pierced the sky, a heavy, silent pressure settled over the valley, making more than a few elders wonder if this long-forgotten outer peak was openly declaring a challenge to the nine grand peaks themselves. It was the official claim of a Peak Master, declaring to the world that White Lotus Peak had officially returned.
Lin Yao looked up at the glowing symbol, her eyes bright.
As the tournament concluded and the crowd began to disperse, a deacon of the Heavenly Dao Hall quietly approached Su Ming’s gallery section. He bowed deeply, handing Su Ming a sealed jade envelope.
"Peak Master Su," the deacon whispered. "A private letter from the Sect Master. He requests your presence, alongside your disciple Lin Yao, at the Heavenly Dao Hall after the tournament concludes. As the joint winner of the Group Two tournament, she has earned the right to select any weapon, technique, or item of Mystic Rank from the sect treasury as her reward. Furthermore, the Sect Master wishes to meet with you in private."
Su Ming accepted the letter, a quiet, knowing look in his eyes. He nodded toward Lin Yao. "Tell the Sect Master we will be there."