Volume One, Chapter 15: First Glimmers of Talent

“Come on! Drink up, Old Mo! You’ve still got so much left for the fish, don’t you?”
“Hey, hey, hey, why are you pouring just for me? Aren’t you going to drink yourself? Come on, have some too.”
...
For cultivators, sobering up from drunkenness is a simple matter. To play the part fully, Sinan Xi didn’t force himself sober with spiritual power; instead, he let the intoxicating sensation flood his brain freely.

Since Mo Daoke wanted him drunk, wanted him to perish by his own hand, then he’d get drunk and show him madness.

Staggering, Sinan Xi hooked his arm around Mo Daoke’s shoulder, his cheeks flushed bright red as he looked at him.

“Old Mo, I feel like I’m going to burst! I’m full of strength now—if even nine bulls stood before me, I could kick them all flying with one strike!”

Mo Daoke knew Sinan Xi was nearing his limit, so he feigned drunkenness as well.

After swaying left and right a few times, Mo Daoke steadied himself against the door and stepped out. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, he slumped against the railing in the corridor.

Sinan Xi understood that the effect of the Divine Dawn Wine was far from enough to push Mo Daoke to his limits. When they began their drinking contest, he had Xiao Liuli light three sticks of a secret sandalwood incense inside the room.

Sinan Xi called this incense the — Spirit Wandering Incense.

This incense could cause one’s spirit to wander into illusions, immersing body and mind in fabricated imaginings.

Alone, this sandalwood incense was harmless and smelled much like common osmanthus. But for those who had consumed Divine Dawn Wine or taken pills boosting spiritual power, prolonged exposure to the incense’s scent in a sealed room easily induced hallucinations.

This rare and exotic incense was discovered by Sinan Xi early in his career while leading the Baiyi Division to suppress a demon monk.

He refined it into a more subtle form and never imagined it would come in handy today.

In Lin’an City, Mo Daoke was among the highest cultivators, commanding power that could shift clouds and overturn rain. But within the Spirit Cultivation Institute, he was merely an average talent, his realm artificially raised by top-grade pills.

Senior brothers and sisters stronger than him openly and covertly disdained his company.

Junior brothers and sisters weaker than him feigned respect but secretly looked down on him.

He fancied Yan Jin and had pursued her for years without a single response.

He harbored hatred!

He nurtured resentment!

Yet he did not know whom to hate or blame.

In dealings both upward and downward, wasn’t Mo Daoke himself just as ruthless?

Now slumped against the railing, the Spirit Wandering Incense took effect within Mo Daoke. A wave of hallucination surged through his mind, giving his anger and hatred a target to vent upon.

Mo Daoke’s lifelong pursuit was to surpass everyone else in strength. Only with overwhelming power could he compel those haughty, self-righteous seniors to submit.

He believed all women in this world loved only three things—money, strength, and status.

As for love, that intangible thing, it was merely a fleeting feeling; it could be present or absent, and if absent, could be cultivated.

Over the years, Yan Jin’s cold and warm attitude toward him contrasted sharply with her enthusiasm for that brat Sinan Xi, which he could not accept.

Under the combined influence of Divine Dawn Wine and the Spirit Wandering Incense, he fell completely into delusion, losing all remaining reason.

In his eyes, Sinan Xi was both the despised seniors and the rival who had stolen his love.

At this moment, his hatred erupted utterly.

He unleashed all his spiritual power, swung his arm in a wide arc, and charged fiercely at Sinan Xi.

Caught off guard, Sinan Xi was suddenly swept out the third-floor window. Mo Daoke’s arm pressed down like a thousand-pound millstone, making it hard for Sinan Xi to breathe.

They crashed through the window, flying over the lake and landing on the large platform in the lake’s center.

This platform outside the Immortal Spirit Tower was usually used by disciples for cultivation and enlightenment. At this hour, some newly admitted disciples were meditating there.

Mo Daoke’s sudden appearance startled everyone.

“Senior Brother Mo?”
“Who’s that with him? I haven’t seen him before.”
“Must be new.”
...

Though displeased by Mo Daoke’s intrusion, a few juniors still greeted him respectfully with bows and stepped back several dozen feet to make way.

“Come on, brat, I want to see what you’re capable of.”

Sinan Xi was startled by Mo Daoke’s sudden rampage but quickly recalled Mo Daoke’s tyrannical bullying within the institute.

In Lin’an City, with his cultivation, Mo Daoke had done countless evil deeds and amassed wealth for others.

To Yan Jin, he appeared devoted and otherworldly, but in secret, he was a libertine fond of pleasures.

Today Sinan Xi only wished to teach him a small lesson, to disgrace him publicly, not to kill him.

He was confident in his own conduct with Yan Jin, yet Mo Daoke wanted him dead over this?!

None of them were truly upright; fairness was meaningless in this fight!

As Sinan Xi pondered, Mo Daoke launched the first attack.

Since his cultivation was crippled, Sinan Xi hadn’t fought anyone in real combat. Mo Daoke’s sudden assault caught him unprepared.

His shoulder, back, and calf took several heavy hits. The sharp pain forced Sinan Xi to take the fight seriously.

Though he had forcibly pushed himself to Spirit Realm Stage Three in five days, much of his spiritual power came from pills and was not fully integrated. In exchanges with Mo Daoke, he fell behind.

Mo Daoke held back his full strength, yet Sinan Xi’s performance still drew gasps from the crowd.

“Who is this guy, taking twenty hits from Senior Brother Mo?”
“Is there such a figure among the new recruits this year?”
“Never seen him before...”

Mo Daoke had expected to subdue him within ten moves, but Sinan Xi’s stubborn resistance stoked his fury.

Mo Daoke crossed his hands, and all the stones around him lifted into the air, forming a dense stone array.

As he twisted his hands forward, the stones’ sharp edges turned toward Sinan Xi. With a buzzing sound, they all flew at him.

The stone array spread wide. Sinan Xi dodged most of it, but a few stones grazed him.

The stones tore his jacket, and bloodied scratches appeared on his body.

At this point, Sinan Xi abandoned pretense. He leapt onto a giant rock, glanced around at the crowd, then pressed two fingers together, pointing at Mo Daoke.

“I am Sinan Xi, newly admitted to the Spirit Cultivation Institute’s novice class this year. Today, due to a minor dispute, Senior Brother Mo has tried to kill me!”

He bowed lightly to all the seniors and continued,

“I ask all the brothers and sisters here to witness that this fight with Senior Brother Mo was not provoked by me. Whatever the outcome, I am willing to accept the consequences. I only ask the institute’s teachers not to accuse me of disrespect afterward.”

His words caused a stir below.

“A kid from the Spirit Cultivation Institute?”
“Senior Brother Mo actually sparring back and forth with a newbie from the novice class? If this spreads, won’t people laugh themselves silly?”
...

Commanding the narrative, Sinan Xi slowly tore off his tattered jacket, revealing strong muscles, and shouted at Mo Daoke,

“Mo Daoke, you provoked me first, so don’t blame me for showing you no mercy!”

“Brat, you have no right to speak in the Spirit Cultivation Institute!”