Chapter 2: Compensation, No Exceptions!

The Grand Elder of the Profound Heaven Sect and the others watched Cloud Quinny with unease. Cloud Quinny had stepped forward at this moment. Was he planning to beg Luna Lyson to stay? It seemed likely. He had treated her far too well over the past two years. Two years of effort, wiped out just like that. There was no way he would accept it. If Cloud Quinny tried to keep her, the Profound Heaven Sect would lose all face. Yet they had no choice. He was the Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect. Whatever decision he made, they would back him. "Cloud Quinny, I already made myself clear. Our marriage contract is canceled. Stop clinging to me." Luna Lyson's face was tight with irritation. Thank goodness she had finally cut ties with him. With his stubborn, clingy temperament, he would only become more unbearable later. "You say it's canceled, so it's canceled?" Cloud Quinny stared at her, his gaze turning icy. "Even if the marriage contract is to be canceled, I'm the one who cancels it. Since when did you have the right?" "You…" Luna Lyson's expression sank. She had not expected him to become this hard-edged. "You want to leave the Profound Heaven Sect? Fine." Cloud Quinny's voice sharpened. "Then spit back every bit of spiritual medicine you swallowed here over the last two years, and every scrap of resources you used from the Profound Heaven Sect!" The Grand Elder and the others finally let out a breath. As long as he was not trying to keep Luna Lyson. Still, Cloud Quinny's forcefulness stunned them. The old Cloud Quinny had been gentle and refined, rarely this domineering. They could only sigh to themselves. Love and resentment were strange things. They could wake a person up and change them in an instant. "What did you just say?" The Venerable Beastmaster's face darkened. "You want my disciple to spit out all the spiritual medicine she took over two years? Did I hear you right?" The Black Serpentine Wyrm snapped its head up and unleashed a deafening hiss. Across the mountains, demon beasts answered in a chorus of roars. The Profound Heaven Sect's mountain gate trembled violently. The disciples with weaker cultivation base went white as paper, sweat pouring down their backs, yet they still gripped their weapons until their knuckles showed. "You're really going to do this?" The Venerable Beastmaster's voice turned colder. "You want my beloved disciple to spit back two years of spiritual medicine? And he speaks for your Profound Heaven Sect?" He looked toward the Grand Elder and the rest. Beneath him, the serpent wyrm flicked its blood-red tongue, its gaze vicious and razor-sharp. The Grand Elder nodded. "The Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect's will is the Profound Heaven Sect's will." "Whatever the Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect says goes." "Luna Lyson must give the Profound Heaven Sect and the Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect an explanation!" the other Elders barked in turn, true energy already surging as they took their positions, ready to strike at any moment. The Venerable Beastmaster's expression turned ugly. "I'd like to see what kind of ability your Profound Heaven Sect has to come collect!" he snorted. A terrifying suppressive aura rolled off him. The Black Serpentine Wyrm reared up, its abyssal maw gaping wide, tongue lashing as its poisonous fangs gleamed with a cold sheen. The eight beast tamer moved as well. The demon beast leaders beneath them rumbled with low, violent growls. All across the mountains, the demon beasts stirred and surged forward, pressing toward the Profound Heaven Sect. The Grand Elder and the others held themselves taut. Even under the Venerable Beastmaster's Energy Pressure, they did not yield. Their eyes stayed locked on him. "Strike the Profound Heaven Drum a ninth time. Invite the Patriarch out of seclusion!" the Grand Elder shouted. "Grand Elder, isn't calling the Patriarch too extreme?" the Second Elder and the others asked, faces grim. Nine strikes of the Profound Heaven Drum meant the situation had escalated to a crisis, severe enough to threaten the Profound Heaven Sect itself, enough to require the Patriarch in seclusion to act. "Their feet are already on our faces," the Grand Elder snapped. "They're humiliating the Profound Heaven Sect and the Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect. Are we supposed to let them keep stepping?" "If he dares to step on our face, then break his damn legs!" Even the usually mild-mannered Grand Elder cursed out loud. "Strike the Profound Heaven Drum!" "Strike it immediately!" "Humiliate the Profound Heaven Sect and the Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect, and you will pay the price!" "Invite the Patriarch out of seclusion. We'll slaughter our way to the Beast Taming Sect!" The Elders' eyes reddened, especially the hot-tempered ones. If the Grand Elder had not been holding them back, they would have charged out already. Boom! The ninth strike of the Profound Heaven Drum rang out. The drumbeat echoed through the entire Profound Heaven Sect, lingering until it slowly faded. The instant the sound vanished, a colossal thunderclap exploded within the sect. Everyone's ears rang into silence. Even the Venerable Beastmaster went deaf for a heartbeat. A Crimson Thunderbolt tore through the air and slammed down in front of the Venerable Beastmaster. Boom! The earth shook. The Crimson Thunderbolt blasted a crater into the ground. Splintering arcs of lightning shredded part of the serpent wyrm's scales, making it shriek in agony as blood sprayed across its body. Even the Venerable Beastmaster's robe was punched full of holes. If he had not ducked behind the serpent wyrm in time, he would have been injured on the spot. Luna Lyson's face changed. She had not expected the Profound Heaven Sect to still have a Patriarch this terrifying. Why had Cloud Quinny never told her? *I knew it. He was never wholehearted with me,* she thought, a cold satisfaction curling in her chest. *He would not even tell me the Profound Heaven Sect had a Patriarch. Good thing I cut him off in time, or I would have suffered for it later.* The Venerable Beastmaster clenched his teeth and shouted toward the sect, "What? Your Profound Heaven Sect plans to bully with power?" "Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect, how do you want to settle this?" The Profound Heaven Patriarch's voice carried crushing authority. "No matter what you decide, the entire Profound Heaven Sect will support you with everything we have." "Just as I said." Cloud Quinny's tone did not waver. "Make Luna Lyson spit back every bit of spiritual medicine she consumed in the Profound Heaven Sect over the past two years." "Understood." The Profound Heaven Patriarch answered, then his voice pressed directly into the Venerable Beastmaster's ears. "You heard the Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect. Either compensate, or fight!" "That's right, either compensate, or fight!" "The Profound Heaven Sect is ready. We can strike at any moment!" The Venerable Beastmaster's face twitched again and again. Under the Profound Heaven Patriarch's suppressive aura, he knew he would only lose more if he pushed this further. He had already taken Luna Lyson in. It was not a total loss. "I don't have that much on me," he said heavily. "I'll compensate part of it first. I'll pay the rest later." "Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect, what do you think?" the Profound Heaven Patriarch asked Cloud Quinny. "That works," Cloud Quinny said. "Pay part first. I'll personally go collect the rest later." The Venerable Beastmaster snorted inwardly. *Come to the Beast Taming Sect?* If Cloud Quinny dared show his face there, he would not make it out. Even if the Profound Heaven Patriarch came, he would not return either. A moment later, the Venerable Beastmaster took out the spiritual medicine he carried. It pained him. None of it was low-grade, and he had been saving it for more than a year. Handing it over to the Profound Heaven Sect made his heart bleed. The Grand Elder accepted the spiritual medicine as compensation. "We're leaving!" the Venerable Beastmaster barked. He shot the Profound Heaven Sect a frigid glance, then departed with Luna Lyson and the eight beast tamer. The tens of thousands of demon beasts followed, scattering as they withdrew. From beginning to end, Luna Lyson never spared Cloud Quinny a single glance. There was no need. From this day on, they no longer belonged to the same world. In the Beast Taming Sect, she would rise quickly. One day, she might even become one of the top figures among the younger generation in the Southern Azure Province, climbing step by step into the ranks of the greatest cultivator. As for Cloud Quinny? In the future, he would only be able to look up at her. Watching Luna Lyson leave, many Elders simmered with rage. The Profound Heaven Sect had painstakingly nurtured a talent who could have stood at the peak of the younger generation, only for the Beast Taming Sect to snatch her away. "It's a good thing she left," the Grand Elder said. "If she stayed, with her temperament, she would cause the Profound Heaven Sect even bigger trouble sooner or later." The Elders knew it was self-comfort, but they could only swallow it. The Grand Elder walked up to Cloud Quinny and softened his voice. "Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect, don't think too much. Consider it bad luck. You simply misjudged the person." "Thank you, Grand Elder, and thank you to all the Elders for standing with me," Cloud Quinny said. "We're family. No need for courtesy." "You're the Young Master of the Profound Heaven Sect. Of course we support you." The Elders did not know how else to comfort him, so they could only repeat it. The Grand Elder handed over the spiritual medicine that had been paid. "These are for you." "No need." Cloud Quinny shook his head. "I can't use them. Grand Elder, you all keep them." "How could you not use them?" the Grand Elder insisted. "Take them and cultivate properly. I believe the day will come when the world will look at you with new eyes." He shoved the spiritual medicine into Cloud Quinny's hand. *Look at me with new eyes…* Cloud Quinny remembered Luna Lyson's words, and the look she had worn when she left. That thick contempt, that open disdain. She had never truly respected him. All because his talent was mediocre, because his future looked hopeless. As he faced the Grand Elder and the others, the scene from moments ago replayed in his Sea of Consciousness. If the Profound Heaven Patriarch had not intervened, the Profound Heaven Sect might have been drenched in blood. The Profound Heaven Patriarch had forced the Venerable Beastmaster to bow his head and compensate. What had he relied on? Overwhelming strength. This was a world where the strong ruled. Without strength, you could not earn respect. Without strength, you had no dignity. If the Profound Heaven Sect did not shelter him, could he still live so freely? How long could the Profound Heaven Sect protect him? A few years? A few decades? A lifetime? Cloud Quinny did not know. He only knew he could not continue like this. He returned to his residence and opened the sealed chamber. Facing the peerless beauty inside, he said, "Senior, I've decided. I'm willing to absorb the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Vein!"