Han Yu stood before the mission hall, sweat dotting his brow—not from heat, but from the tremendous pressure of pretending to be stronger than he actually was.
The pill was doing its job. His aura rippled like a cultivator who had just stepped over the threshold of the Peak Qi Refining Realm, and the attending elder behind the jade desk squinted at his cultivation base with faint approval.
"Name?" the elder asked.
"Applying for mission: Border Investigation – Mist Eye Sect Territory, Northern Broken Fang Ravine... solo mission, highest grade." The elder raised an eyebrow. "Dangerous choice."
"I’m aware," Han Yu replied as steadily as possible. "But I’ve prepared extensively."
"Hmm." The elder peered at him again. "We’ll verify your information. You’ll receive confirmation in two days. Use the time to make final preparations."
Han Yu nodded and turned to leave, concealing the tremble in his fingertips. Two days. That was exactly the upper limit of the pill’s effects.
He’d either be in the Mist Eye borderlands by then... or disqualified entirely.
But Han Yu wasn’t the only one who’d heard about the mission.
Far across the sect in a richly adorned courtyard filled with ornamental bamboo and perfectly trimmed hedges, a servant knelt beside a lavish teacup.
"Repeat that," Murong Xie said coldly, his silver robes glinting under the late afternoon sun.
The servant gulped. "Y-yes, Senior Brother. Han Yu submitted a request for the Mist Eye Sect border mission. The one near the Slumbering Caldera."
Murong Xie leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowing.
"That brat?" he scoffed. "He was barely Seventh Stage of the Body Tempering realm during the recruitment exam and an Early Stage of the Qi refining realm when he returned to the sect. He got lucky once with that bizarre luck and a half-broken body in that last mission. And now he’s applying for a mission that even Inner Court disciples hesitate to take?"
The servant nodded frantically. "They say his talent grade increased from Red to Blue when he returned."
That gave Murong Xie pause.
"Blue grade?" he muttered, tapping the edge of his teacup thoughtfully. "No wonder he’s been rising quickly. But even so—Six months to reach Peak Qi Refining? Absurd. Suicidal. And probably fake."
Murong Xie was sure that Han Yu was faking it, there was no other option. Even if he considered the talent increase after Han Yu’s return and miraculous survival, it was a long shot.
Murong Xie himself was at the Late Stage of the Qi Refining Realm with an Indigo talent. And this was when he had the best resources and a talent one rank higher than Han Yu. If he couldn’t reach it with all that he had, it would have been a joke for Han Yu to do the same.
’At most he’s at the Mid Stage of the Qi Refining realm. He’s probably faking it somehow.’ He thought to himself.
"This Han Yu... He’s close with that crazy alchemist girl, isn’t he?" Murong Xie asked.
"If you mean Li Mei, then yes." The servant nodded.
"Would she have the means to make high grade pills or at least obtain them?" Murong Xie questioned.
"I cannot say for sure, but her talent in alchemy is quite high and has the approval of many elders. If not for her eccentricness, she might just have been qualified enough to be a potential Legacy Disciple." The Servant asnwered.
"Does she have some backing?" Murong Xie asked.
"There are rumors about it, but we don’t know if its just due to her talent or something more. We haven’t been able to find out more." The servant said carefully.
"hmm..." Murong Xie continued to think.
"Though, we do have proper information that Han Yu has been testing some pills for her the last two months. He’s done quite a lot of antics these two months that were witnessed by the entire sect, so it’s easy to find out." The Servant added.
"Then it’s probably the reason why he’s appearing so strong. Probably some pill that allows him to fake the cultivation base." Murong Xie understood for sure now.
He rose from his chair, the smirk spreading across his face like oil on water.
"I know how the elders work," he murmured. "If they think it’s suspicious, they’ll run a deep probe and uncover the illusion. That’ll humiliate him more than anything I could plan."
But then another thought occurred. One darker, more elegant in its cruelty.
What if he passed the inspection without issue?
Murong Xie turned to his assistant. "Contact Elder Qian. I believe he still owes me a favor for covering that incident with the spirit ore embezzlement with my clan. Have him approve the mission without further cultivation checks."
The servant blinked. "You’re... helping him?"
Murong Xie’s eyes gleamed with a dangerous glint.
"No," he said with a smile colder than ice. "I’m giving him a gentle push off a very tall cliff."
By evening, several things were set in motion.
Han Yu received a sealed note saying his mission was "approved earlier than expected" and he could depart at dawn.
He cheered in his quarters, thinking fortune had smiled on him.
Meanwhile, Murong Xie summoned two of his loyal lackeys—Wei Pan and Lu Qing—both Inner Court disciples with reputations dirtier than sewer water.
"You’ll shadow his route through the Broken Fang Ravine," Murong Xie instructed, handing them a scroll marked with coordinates. "These are trap formations I’ve prepared. If he’s truly at the Peak, they’ll be little more than a nuisance. But if he’s faking it..."
"What about informing the Mist Eye Sect people?" Wei Pan inquired.
"That’s too risky. Even my clan doesn’t have relations with them and they’ll be wary of us." Murong Xie shot that option down. "Still, we’ll prepare enough trouble for the boy."
He let the thought trail off, but both disciples grinned knowingly.
Wei Pan cracked his knuckles. "And if he survives?"
Lu Qing drew a curved blade. "Then we’ll make sure the Spirit Beasts do the rest."
Murong Xie raised his teacup and toasted the air.
"To destiny... and loose ends tied up by hungry maws!"