Si Yuanli hurried down from the main seat. The painting, ignited by the mana he had left behind, burst into crimson flames upon the jade table and curled into a ball of blackened ash. Tantai Jin dared not look at it, keeping close behind him and whispering urgently.0

"Xiao Chuting? He must have had a hand in this!" Si Yuanli replied in a low voice. 3

Though his expression remained calm, the exaggerated length of his stride betrayed the unease and disbelief roiling in his heart, At first, I thought it was Xiao Yuansi acting on his own, seizing the opportunity while that old man was in the Northern Sea, with others fanning the flames and forcing a pill refinement… But now it seems Xiao Chuting even schemed against his own juniors! Pit Water's Man On Creek… truly lives up to his name.4

For nearly a century, Xiao Chuting's strategies have been flawless. He maneuvered deftly between the Azure Pond Sect and the Golden Feather Sect,...9