Chapter 133*

Chapter 133: Chapter 133*

His expensive indigo robes were disheveled, and the white jade thumb ring on his hand clicked erratically against the dark rosewood table.

Every scene from the Baidun mission was playing in his mind on repeat like a nightmare, each one like a fiery iron branding his pride:

Li Hanye refusing to give him a single resource while openly handing Li Yan precious rank-ten antidotes!

Li Yan handing Li Hanye a modified sweater while utterly humiliating Li Wei by declaring he had made nothing for him!

And worst of all—Li Hanye erupting with terrifying spiritual pressure on the mountain summit, threatening to cripple anyone who dared look at Li Yan with disrespect!

"Why?!" Li Wei hissed through clenched teeth, his eyes bloodshot with raw jealousy. "He was supposed to be dead! He was supposed to be beaten into pulp by those brutes in the alley! How did a discarded, worthless Ger crawl into the Nine Valley Sect, take the Sect Master as his teacher, and steal all of Brother Hanye’s attention?!"

In Li Wei’s mind, everything Li Yan currently possessed was stolen from him. For years, as the adopted son, Li Wei had enjoyed the status of the favored younger brother while Li Yan was locked away in the cold courtyard like a piece of filthy rags. Now, the sky had flipped and the earth had inverted!

"Young Master Li’s temper seems rather fiery tonight."

A cold, mocking voice suddenly drifted in from the shadows of the veranda.

Li Wei snapped his head around, his eyes narrowing as he recognized the figure stepping out from the darkness.

Cui Ahjun walked into the hall, his arms folded across his chest. Although he wore a faint, insolent smirk, the suppressed humiliation and hatred burning within his dark eyes was no less intense than Li Wei’s.

Ever since Li Hanye had forced him to his knees on the mountain summit with sheer spiritual pressure, Cui Ahjun had become the laughingstock of the other inner disciples who were present. A disciple ranked sixtieth in the Inner Sect, forced to kneel before an outer sect brat!

That disgrace was etched into his marrow!

"Senior Brother Cui," Li Wei forced his breathing to steady, though his tone was dark. "What brings you to my courtyard in the middle of the night? Aren’t you afraid Brother Hanye will see you?"

"Hanye went straight into closed-door meditation the moment he returned," Cui Ahjun sneered, stepping into the room and kicking a fragment of broken porcelain aside. "He fought two Rank Nine beasts and burned a massive amount of core essence to suppress the poison. He won’t emerge for at least half a month. Why should I fear him?"

Li Wei’s eyes flickered with a calculating light. "Then why are you here?"

"I am here to tell you that heaven has eyes," Cui Ahjun leaned closer, a venomous, triumphant smile spreading across his pale face. "Do you know what happened after your brother brought that little bastard down the mountain?"

Li Wei froze. "What happened?"

"He took him to a mortal medical hall in town first," Cui Ahjun whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "I have contacts among the rogue cultivators at the foot of the mountain. The physician who treated him revealed that Li Yan’s body was completely scorched by violent energies! His breathing was nearly severed, his meridians were in total chaos, and his right arm was withered black as charcoal!"

Li Wei gasped slightly, his heart leaping with sinister joy. "Black as charcoal? Could it be... the lizard’s venom?"

"More than just venom," Cui Ahjun laughed softly, the sound like a viper hissing in dry grass. "He was a mere newly admitted disciple who dared to forcibly ignite his spiritual energy to kill a swarm of beasts. His dantian was completely drained, and his meridians were corroded by the miasma. When Hanye carried him back to Elder Fu’s residence, he was completely comatose, burning with a deathly fever!"

Cui Ahjun’s smile turned feral.

"Even if Elder Fu has heaven-defying medical arts, the dantian and meridians are the root of a cultivator’s life. Once shattered and corroded by Rank Nine miasma, how could an outer sect trash ever recover? Word from the disciples around the Apothecary Hall is that Li Yan hasn’t circulated a single wisp of Qi since he woke up!"

Hearing this, Li Wei felt as if a basin of freezing spring water had extinguished all his earlier rage, leaving behind an intoxicating, intoxicating wave of vicious satisfaction.

A cripple!

Li Yan has become a cripple!

"Hahaha..." Li Wei let out a low, trembling laugh that gradually grew into a chilling chuckle. "I knew it! That trash was born weak, possessing neither heaven-defying bone structure nor great destiny! He wanted to show off on the mountain, wanted to play the hero in front of Brother Hanye, and in the end, he destroyed his own foundation!"

"Precisely," Cui Ahjun’s eyes narrowed into slits. "Right now, Elder Fu is keeping him hidden in the courtyard to save face. But an outer disciple cannot hide behind the Sect Master forever. The sect has rules. Every disciple must undergo monthly assessments and take up pavilion tasks."

Cui Ahjun patted Li Wei’s shoulder, his voice dropping into a sinister murmur.

"Brother Hanye is in seclusion. Elder Fu is busy with sect affairs. If that outer sect rat has truly lost his cultivation, he is nothing more than an ant waiting to be crushed under our boots. We only need to wait for him to step out of that courtyard..."

Li Wei’s gaze locked onto Cui Ahjun’s, the cruel, arrogant peacock sneer returning to his handsome face in full force.

"You are right, Brother Cui," Li Wei said softly, a murderous glint flashing in his eyes. "A discarded dog should stay in the dirt where it belongs. Since he refused the peaceful road to marriage that Father prepared for him... I will personally ensure that this time, he won’t even have a grave to be buried in."