Chapter 847: Chapter 847: Shock, Rage and Pride.

One year ago...

Liu Yue had noticed Noah immediately. Everyone had. He stood out as the unsurmountable mountain that no one could even think of surpassing.

He dominated the whole cave within a day. Whoever attacked him was dealt with within a single swing of a blade.

Even when someone tried to challenge him after practicing the technique granted to them by the demonic cult, nothing changed.

Noah became the undisputed number one challenger among the participants.

And she’d recognized opportunity.

A strong cultivator, seemingly alone, who kept to himself. If she could get close to him and secure his protection early, she could ride his strength all the way through the trials.

So she’d approached him. Carefully, subtly, with that same pleasant smile that had never failed her before.

She’d positioned herself near his cultivation chamber, waiting for a moment when he emerged.

She had even prepared the whole script on how she would stage her encounter with Noah and sway him slowly with her words.

But when she’d gotten within ten paces of him, everything had changed.

The air itself had turned hostile.

She couldn’t explain it any other way. One moment she was walking normally; the next moment every breath felt like inhaling knives. The air pressure around her increased tenfold. Her skin prickled with the sensation of invisible blades pressed against every inch of her body—throat, eyes, heart, all the vital points.

The ground beneath her feet became unstable, like walking on a rope bridge during a storm. Her balance shifted without warning.

It felt like she was about to be swallowed whole by the ground and be buried alive.

Her cultivation base trembled.

And through it all, Noah hadn’t even looked at her.

He was simply practicing swords with Yuan Ming, whom she had not even taken note of.

She could not tell if Noah had done that to her or not for sure, but she knew one thing...

That day, it felt to her like the whole world had turned against her.

Had she taken a step forward, she might have lost her life.

She’d felt despair like she’d never experienced before.

Neither the Demonic Cult’s trials nor the death that surrounded them could make her feel this way.

That day she realized that there were people in this world so far beyond her that even her greatest weapon, her ability to read and manipulate others, meant absolutely nothing.

She couldn’t charm someone who wouldn’t let her within ten paces.

She couldn’t manipulate someone whose instincts screamed danger at her approach.

She couldn’t use someone who had made it abundantly clear, without a single word, that she was beneath his notice.

Ever since that moment, Liu Yue had been wary of Noah. More than wary, she was terrified.

He was someone she could not even dare to manipulate, let alone offend. She could only stay away from him.

Noah was one of the reasons he tried to leave early and get a head start on the second trail so that she could become stronger.

And now here he was again. Still ahead of her and still the same mountain people could only stare at from afar.

She stopped her foolish teammates from acting because she was afraid she would lose her life because of their idiotic actions.

’These idiots can only use their dicks to think. I cannot let this continue; I have to take care of them... but how?’ Liu Yue maintained her smile as she moved in a different corner of the cave with two men while plotting their demise. "I cannot deal with them since they are too powerful, but maybe I can do that..."

"Sister Yue is right," Feng Wei said slowly, his earlier arrogance deflating as he processed her reasoning. "We should rest. Observe. Wait for others."

Mu Tao looked rebellious for a moment, clearly wanting to argue, but something in Liu Yue’s expression stopped him.

He could not bring himself to go against her. That smile of hers was his everything.

"Fine," he muttered. "We rest. But if an opportunity presents itself—"

"Of course, we will take it." Liu Yue smiled happily, bringing her hands before her face, making a cute gesture. "But for now, we should focus on recovering."

She stepped back from the cave entrance, moving deeper into the shadows where she wouldn’t be immediately visible to anyone entering from other openings.

She stepped back from the cave entrance, moving deeper into the shadows where she wouldn’t be immediately visible to anyone entering from other openings.

Her pleasant smile remained firmly in place as she guided Feng Wei and Mu Tao to a corner far from the platform where Noah and Yuan Ming sat meditating.

Just as they settled down, a familiar voice echoed through the hollow chamber, lazy and amused.

"Well, well. More survivors."

Supervisor Gui emerged from his cave dwelling, stretching languidly as he looked over the three new arrivals. His scarred face twisted into something that might have been a smile.

He walked to the edge of his elevated platform, a bone chair materializing beneath him as he sat down with obvious satisfaction.

"Three of you made it through," he observed, his hollow eyes moving from Feng Wei to Mu Tao to Liu Yue. "Not bad. Most groups lose more than half their numbers in the tunnels."

His gaze lingered on the blood staining their robes—blood that clearly wasn’t their own.

"I see you’ve learned the most important lesson," he continued, his smile widening to show those filed teeth. "The weak exist to fuel the strong. Good. Very good."

Feng Wei straightened slightly, emboldened by what he perceived as praise. "Supervisor Gui, we—"

"Silence when I’m speaking," Gui interrupted casually, not even raising his voice. But the temperature in the chamber seemed to drop several degrees.

Feng Wei’s mouth snapped shut.

"Now then," Supervisor Gui continued, gesturing broadly at the chamber around them. "You’ve reached the central hub. From here, you can choose once more. Do you want to continue the next trial or stay here and do whatever you want to do."

"The choice is yours. But in three months whether the others arrive or not, you will advance to the next phase."