The mountain wind howled like a starving beast. In the shadow of Jinlong Peak, the heart of the Golden Balance Sect, Yi Zhen moved like a whisper of death.
His robes were dyed in forest ash. His hands were clenched with cold fury.
> "You tried to erase me. Again. Now watch what I erase."
The sect's golden towers shimmered in the moonlight, carved with radiant inscriptions and protection talismans. The aura here was dense and orderly—structured like law. Perfect balance. Yi Zhen hated it.
As he crossed the outer barrier, he felt resistance—not physical, but spiritual. A wall built not of stone, but of centuries of hierarchy. He stepped through anyway.
He wasn't here for disciples.
He was here for judgment.
---
Yi Zhen struck like a plague wind. The outer elders never saw him coming. Rotten Qi flowed through the gardens, corrupting everything it touched—statues shattered, protective arrays sparked and failed, and talismans burned black. Screams echoed across the sect.
Within moments, the Elder Bell rang—an ancient sound that hadn't tolled in over a century.
Three figures descended from the sky.
---
Elder One: Magistrate Yunli
Dao of Absolute Weight — every word, every gesture, carried cosmic heaviness.
He landed with a stomp that crushed the soil into iron. His beard glowed gold; his eyes burned with judgment.
> "Yi Zhen, your crimes—"
Yi Zhen didn't wait. He leapt, hands weaving through corrupted seals.
> "You talk too slow."
His fist struck Yunli's chest—but it felt like punching a mountain. His bones cracked on impact. Yunli didn't flinch.
> "Your sin is light," Yunli said. "I am the scale."
He slammed both palms down, and the ground reversed. Gravity turned sideways, smashing Yi Zhen into a temple wall.
---
Elder Two: Mistress Zhu Lan
Dao of Blossoming Truths — every illusion was peeled, every falsehood laid bare.
Zhu Lan floated like falling petals. Her robe shifted colors with her breath. Her eyes shimmered, never blinking.
> "So much pain in your heart. Let me free it."
Her voice became a blade. Memories exploded in Yi Zhen's mind—his mother's bloodied fingers, the cold laughter of his old sect, the scent of betrayal.
He dropped to one knee, vomiting Qi.
> "This is your truth," she whispered.
> "This is my curse," he growled, forming a sigil mid-spasm. "And curses bite."
His Rot Sigil burst, sending corrupted memory spiraling around her—but she didn't resist. She reflected it.
His own pain stabbed into him again. Deeper.
---
Elder Three: Wei Zong
Dao of Divided Time — every second was his servant, every instant a blade.
He didn't speak.
He just appeared.
One moment, Yi Zhen was on one side of the courtyard. The next, Wei Zong stood behind him, slicing open his side with an invisible edge.
Yi Zhen turned—but saw his own blood spraying before the pain arrived.
> "Time…" he whispered. "You cut time."
Wei Zong raised a single hand. His palm split into five mirrored versions, each representing a different moment. Before, now, later.
> "You're not ready," he said, voice emotionless.
---
Yi Zhen screamed. Not in fear, but in defiance.
He activated the Black Root Domain—corrupted trees burst from the stone, warping everything they touched. But the elders overpowered it in seconds. They broke through the domain with raw spiritual pressure.
Yi Zhen fought. Hard.
He baited Yunli's gravity with misdirects. He blinded Zhu Lan with fragmented thoughts. He used time-lag to displace Wei Zong's rhythm. But it was barely survival.
> I'm not strong enough.
He clenched his fists as Wei Zong appeared behind him again, blade raised.
Yi Zhen detonated his corrupted Qi—a full core burst. Not an attack. A retreat.
Black mist swallowed the courtyard.
And when it cleared—
Yi Zhen was gone.
---
He collapsed miles away, deep in the ravines of the Shattered Sky Valley. Blood pooled beneath him.
His vision blurred.
He clenched his fist, trembling.
> They were faster. Smarter. Stronger. I was nothing.
But in his chest… his stem still pulsed.
He looked to the sky.
The stars did not move.
> One day, I'll reach you. And when I do, I'll pierce the heavens so deep they bleed black like I do.
---
Author's Note – Terry
Chapter 4 was a big one. Yi Zhen went in with fury, but he learned the hard way—raw rage isn't enough. The Golden Balance Sect isn't made of fools. Each elder embodies a Dao sharpened over centuries.
Now begins the real cultivation arc. Yi Zhen's gonna need more than hate. He's going to need vision—and power that defies cosmic law.