The intruder lurking behind the bamboo forest the previous night turned out to be nothing more than a passing two-tailed spiritual marten. Even so, the incident served as a stark reminder for Ye Tian to exercise far greater caution. In the Immortal Realm, power was the supreme law, and a mortal servant mastering divine techniques without permission would be branded a rebel and summarily executed.

The next morning, a new assignment awaited Ye Tian. Overseer Zhao ordered him to fetch water from the Sacred Water Well located on the slopes of the Outer Peak. This holy water was used to brew tea for the elders and irrigate low-grade spiritual herbs.

Carrying two massive wooden buckets slung over his shoulders, Ye Tian walked at an easy pace. The weight of the two buckets filled with water could easily reach a hundred kilograms, yet thanks to the Mortal Body Cultivation technique continuously refining his physique, the load felt as light as carrying two bags of cotton.

When he arrived at the well area, the scene was bustling. The Sacred Water Well was encircled by a fence of white jade, with wisps of pure spiritual energy rising softly from its surface. A number of outer disciples queued up, while several mortal servants drew water under their watchful eyes.

Ye Tian obediently lined up at the very back of the queue. When his turn arrived, he stepped forward calmly, set his buckets down, and began scooping up the crystal-clear water, which exhaled a subtle fragrance.

However, just as Ye Tian filled his first bucket to the brim, a foot clad in a gray silk shoe slammed violently into it.

CRASH!

The wooden bucket tipped over, splashing the precious holy water across the marble floor.

Ye Tian held his breath. Slowly looking up, he found a young man in outer disciple robes standing before him, his face twisted in arrogance. A jade sword—a symbol of his status—hung at his waist. His name was Gao Lu, an outer disciple notorious for his cruelty and relentless bullying of the servants.

"Hey, mortal trash," Gao Lu scoffed, his eyes narrowing with deep contempt. "Who gave a pest like you permission to touch this Sacred Water with those filthy, worn-out hands?"

Ye Tian clenched his fists, struggling to remain calm. "Overseer Zhao ordered me to, Senior. This water is meant for the Elders' Hall."

"Overseer Zhao? He's just a servant dog with a slightly higher rank than yours!" Gao Lu sneered. His gaze then suddenly fell upon the tattered hemp bag tied to Ye Tian’s waist—the bag holding the half-ration of rice from the mortal realm.

Gao Lu mistook the pouch for a cheap spatial storage bag where servants hid smuggled goods. "Wait... what are you hiding at your waist? Ah, I see! You intend to steal this Sacred Water inside your pouch to sell outside the sect, don't you?!"

"I am not stealing," Ye Tian replied, his voice turning cold. "This is merely a personal belonging."

"You dare talk back?!" Gao Lu barked. "The penalty for stealing the sect's sacred water is having both hands severed! Guards, seize him!"

Two other outer disciples—Gao Lu's lackeys—stepped forward immediately, sneering maliciously as they reached out to grab Ye Tian’s shoulders. The other mortal servants around the well could only bow their heads in terror; none dared speak up in Ye Tian’s defense. They knew that defying an outer disciple was equivalent to suicide.

Seeing the two disciples approach with intimidating auras, Ye Tian knew words were useless. If he let them touch the hemp bag, the secret of his sister's rice would be exposed, putting his life in immediate danger.

You forced my hand, Ye Tian thought.

His dark eyes flashed with lethal sharpness.

As the first disciple’s hand was about to grasp his shoulder, Ye Tian shifted his left foot slightly backward—an evasive maneuver adapted from the refined Wind-Guiding Art. His movement was so rapid and fluid that the disciple's hand caught nothing but thin air.

"Huh?" The disciple froze in confusion.

Before he could process what had happened, Ye Tian channeled a stream of his remaining Ascension energy into his palm. Utilizing the sect's basic palm strike—stripped of all its mechanical flaws—Ye Tian slammed his palm straight into the disciple’s chest.

THUD!

The outer disciple’s body shot backward five meters, cracking the white jade fence before crashing onto the ground. Clutching his chest in agony, he fainted on the spot, foaming at the mouth.

"What?!" The second disciple gasped in shock.

Ye Tian gave him no quarter. Capitalizing on his momentum, he spun on his heel and unleashed a razor-precise low sweep toward the second disciple's legs. The sheer speed of the kick cut through the air with a loud WHOOSH.

CRACK!

The second disciple fell hard, his head bouncing off the stone floor, sending his vision spinning in dazed confusion. In just two swift moves, two outer disciples with actual cultivation foundations had been laid low by a mortal woodchopper!

The area surrounding the Sacred Water Well fell into a suffocating silence. Everyone witnessing the event gaped in absolute disbelief, their jaws practically hitting the ground. A human without a spiritual root had just floored two cultivators with his bare hands? It defied all logic!

Gao Lu’s face flushed red with humiliation and fury. "You bastard! You dare use black magic to attack sect disciples?! Die!"

Gao Lu unsheathed his jade sword. The blade was instantly wrapped in a sharp, light-green wind aura. Leaping toward Ye Tian, he swung his sword at full speed, intending to sever Ye Tian's neck.

Seeing the flash of the incoming blade, Ye Tian did not panic. To his eyes, now enhanced by pure celestial energy, Gao Lu’s sword trajectory appeared sluggish and riddled with blind spots.

Ye Tian did not retreat. Instead, he lunged forward, stepping straight inside the strike zone of Gao Lu's blade. With terrifying precision, Ye Tian’s right hand moved like lightning, clamping onto Gao Lu’s sword wrist.

SNAP!

"AAAGHH!" Gao Lu shrieked hysterically as he felt his wrist bones dislocate under Ye Tian’s vice-like grip. The jade sword slipped from his fingers, clattering onto the stone floor.

Before Gao Lu could pull back, Ye Tian drove a brutal knee strike directly into his abdomen.

BANG!

Gao Lu was lifted off the ground, his body curling like a shrimp before being thrown several meters through the air, crashing squarely into the spilled puddle of sacred water. He gasped for air, his face pale as death, staring up at Ye Tian with eyes flooded with overwhelming horror.

Ye Tian stood tall in the middle of the courtyard, his breathing perfectly steady, his tattered clothes fluttering gently in the breeze. He looked down at Gao Lu with an icy gaze. "I did not steal the sacred water. And don't ever touch my belongings again."

Ye Tian’s absolute victory over three outer disciples spread like wildfire. The crowd around the well erupted into hushed, terrified whispers, as if gazing upon a monster in human skin.

Yet, amid the turmoil, the temperature around the Sacred Water Well plummeted toward freezing point. An aura pressure ten times terrifying than Gao Lu’s descended abruptly from the sky, locking down Ye Tian’s body until he could barely draw breath.

From behind the clouds above, a middle-aged man clad in deep blue robes—a Discipline Elder of the Outer Peak—descended with an expression of intense rage. Standing beside the Elder was a breathtaking woman in a white gown, a figure deeply familiar to Ye Tian.

Lady Mei.

Lady Mei’s cold eyes locked onto Ye Tian standing at the center of the carnage. For the very first time, a flicker of shock and profound suspicion flashed within her clear, luminous eyes.

"Who dares cause chaos and injure my disciples here?!" the Elder’s voice boomed with heavy killing intent, while Lady Mei began stepping forward toward Ye Tian, her suffocating aura causing the ground beneath his feet to crack.