Chapter 203 - 202: A Little Celebration

Night had fully descended upon Sky Jade City. The streets beneath the floating palaces were illuminated by countless spiritual lamps, while the city remained alive with the restless energy of millions of cultivators dissecting and debating the day’s impossible events.

Yet within the eastern royal pavilion of the provincial palace, absolute tranquility reigned, as the noise of the outside world seemed to be completely cut off, leaving it wrapped in a rare and profound silence.

Inside, a private celebration was underway. It was not a boisterous banquet filled, but an intimate, heavily guarded gathering of the few individuals who understood the true magnitude of what had just transpired in the Void Ascension Battlefield.

Lord Zhao Shenming sat at the head of the long table. The Provincial Lord personally poured a cup of steaming, emerald-green tea and gently slid it across the table toward Lin Yuan. His youthful face was illuminated by a wide smile, one filled with profound relief, staggering pride, and the satisfaction of having made the right choice.

For Zhao Shenming, the emotions were difficult to conceal.

"I have lived for over eight hundred years, Daoist Lin," Lord Zhao began, his voice a low, but vibrated with genuine awe. He leaned back in his heavy wooden chair, his eyes locked onto the black and white-robed expert sitting across from him. "I have witnessed the rise and fall of countless ’peerless’ prodigies. I have seen wars fought over singular Dao Treasure. But in all my centuries, I have never seen a single man break the spine of the Central Continent’s elite without drawing a single drop of blood."

Lin Yuan accepted the tea with a graceful, fluid motion. He brought the jade cup to his lips, allowing the fragrant, Qi-rich steam to wash over his flawless features before taking a slow sip.

"The Chu Province’s pride was an illusion, Lord Zhao," Lin Yuan replied, a faint hint of warmth touched his deep purple eyes. "An illusion built on the suffering of the weak and the silence of the oppressed. I merely held a mirror up to their arrogance. When forced to look at their own reflections, cowards inevitably flinch."

"Flinch?" Lord Zhao let out a booming, joyous laugh that echoed off the pillars of the parlor. "Chu Kuang did not just flinch! You stripped him bare! You left a Half-Step Transcendent monster sitting at the bottom of the Merit Rankings with zero points! The political shockwaves of this day will resonate through the Continent for a millennium."

Lord Zhao’s expression sobered slightly, shifting into the analytical gaze of a seasoned warlord. "When Chu Wuhai stood before the Court and demanded your standing be stripped, my heart nearly stopped. The sheer hypocrisy of the Chu Lord was staggering. But your response... to quote Elder Xuanji’s own rules back to everyone."

"The elite of the Central Continent believes its laws are weapons meant only to bludgeon the Lower Division," Lin Yuan noted calmly, setting the empty jade cup down on the table. "They do not expect the Lower Division to pick up those same weapons and hold them to their throats."

"And then Emperor Xiyan intervened," Lord Zhao murmured, shaking his head in disbelief. "To have another emperor mock the Central Continent’s Cultivation Court on your behalf... we could not have asked the Heavens for a more perfect distraction. Emperor Tianxu was forced to validate your victory simply to save face in front of the other observing experts. It was perfectly executed."

Lord Zhao leaned forward, placing his hands flat on the table. The pride in his eyes was absolute.

"You are currently sitting at six hundred and ten Merits, Lin Yuan. You are exactly fifty points away from breaching the Top Five and permanently securing the Ascension Clause. I gambled the entire geopolitical standing of the Zhao Province on you, and tonight, you have proven that my gamble was the single greatest decision of my reign. I am profoundly, and deeply proud to call you the General of this province."

Before Lin Yuan could offer a measured response, the heavy wooden doors of the parlor burst open.

"Proud?! Proud doesn’t even begin to cover it!"

Bai Chen practically vibrated into the room, his youthful face flushed with an erratic, and entirely euphoric energy. The Foundation Establishment cultivator had completely abandoned the rigid etiquette of the palace. He paced rapidly around the table, his arms waving wildly as he relived the adrenaline of the Grand Court.

"Brother-in-law, did you see Chu Wuhai’s face?!" Bai Chen shouted, his voice pitching high with manic glee. He stopped and mimicked the furious, bulging-eyed expression of the Chu Provincial Lord, pointing a trembling finger at an imaginary adjudicator. "’I petition the Court! My son is a genius! He couldn’t possibly lose to a peasant!’ Oh, Heavens, I thought the old man was going to burst a blood vessel and die right there on the terrace!"

Lin Yuan watched his brother-in-law’s animated performance, a genuine chuckle escaping his lips.

"You should have seen the other Lower Division provinces!" Bai Chen continued, entirely unable to stand still. "For weeks, they have been looking at us like fools. They thought we were suicidal for invoking the Ascension Clause. But the moment your name flashed on that monolith? The Golden Diting Province, the Fu Province—they were cheering for you! For the first time in centuries, the Lower Division actually looked the Central Continent in the eye and didn’t blink!"

Bai Chen suddenly stopped pacing. He turned to Lin Yuan, "Sixty tokens, Brother-in-law. How did you do it? How did you actually outplay a Half-Step Transcendent expert?"

Lin Yuan looked at the young man. Beneath the frantic excitement, he saw the genuine hunger for martial wisdom in Bai Chen’s eyes.

"I did not outplay his cultivation, Chen’er," Lin Yuan instructed softly, his tone shifting from to that of an elder brother imparting a crucial Daoist truth. "In a battle of pure cultivation, a Half-Step Transcendent would undoubtedly possess the advantage over my Early-Stage foundation. But battles are rarely won by the might of one’s Qi alone."

Lin Yuan raised a single finger, tapping the side of his own head.

"I outplayed his pride. I outplayed his ambition. I simply found for what I was looking for and used it as a blade. The strongest armor across Heaven and Earth is useless if you know exactly where the man wearing it hides his heart."

Bai Chen absorbed the words, his hyperactive pacing finally ceasing. The realization of the psychological warfare Lin Yuan had waged settled heavily upon his shoulders. He bowed deeply, his fists clasped together.

"I understand, Brother-in-law. Brute force is a tool, but the mind is the hand that wields it. I swear, I will train twice as hard as I used to. I will not let your shadow be the only thing that protects me."

Lord Zhao smiled warmly at the boy’s resolve. "Go and rest, Bai Chen. You may need every ounce of your energy."

Bai Chen nodded fiercely, offering a final, respectful bow to both the Provincial Lord and Lin Yuan before leaving the parlor, buzzing with the motivation to cultivate.

Lord Zhao turned back to Lin Yuan. "You should rest as well, Daoist Lin. Thirty days in the Void Ascension Battlefield is a grueling ordeal for the spirit, regardless of how flawlessly you managed the outcome. Your wife is waiting for you in the master suite."

"Thank you, Lord Zhao," Lin Yuan said, standing up from the table. His robes fell perfectly into place. "We will speak tomorrow regarding the second preliminary round."

"Rest well," Lord Zhao replied, offering a deep, respectful nod that blurred the lines between a ruler and his subordinate.

Lin Yuan turned and exited the parlor, his footsteps silent against the floorboards of the corridor.

As he walked through the dimly lit hallways of the royal pavilion, the residual adrenaline of the standoff finally began to ebb from his spiritual sea. For thirty days, he had meticulously plotted, observed, and executed a flawless extortion. He had stood before the Court and stared down a Peak Soul Transformation adjudicator without blinking.

But as he approached the heavy doors of his private quarters, the cold armor melted away entirely.

He pushed the doors open.