Another elder shot him a cold re. "Do you honestly believe you could have dragged him here if he didn''t want toe?"
The elders fell suddenly silent.
Elder Tong''s humiliating defeat still hung fresh in everyone''s mind—a hard, painful lesson none of them could ignore. Dragging Jun Jiu anywhere against his will would not be simple. It would almost certainly cause far more trouble than any of them wanted to handle.
The Sect Master nodded once, calm and unhurried. "Then tomorrow, I will go meet him myself."
Shock rippled through every elder in the room. The rule had always been irond: when the Sect Master called, disciples came running and bowed low. Never- not once in the long history of the sect—had the Sect Master gone to a disciple after being refused.
"That damn disciple," one elder snarled. "Why don''t we punish him and force him toe?"
"That is also an option," the Sect Master said evenly. "But to do it, you would need to take your own disciples and go there yourselves. Remember what happened to Elder Tong. I suggest you prepare yourselves first."
The elder''s arrogance vanished in an instant. He closed his mouth and looked away.
Everyone knew he was nowhere near as strong as Elder Tong had been. And even Elder Tong had ended up kneeling before Jun Jiu.
The elders exchanged uneasy nces. A heavy silence fell over the hall. This was the first time in the history of the Wudang Sect that a single disciple had imed first ce on every peak. But it was also the first time they had gained a disciple they could not control.
The next morning, the Sect Master arrived at Alex''s modest hut, apanied by several elders and Li Qingxue.
Alex had sensed their approach long before they reached the clearing. To show basic courtesy, he waited outside his yard, standing quietly in the warm sunlight.
When the group stopped before him, Alex offered a slight, respectful bow. “I wee the Sect Master."
One of the elders stepped forward, voice sharp with outrage. "Jun Jiu! How dare you stand there without kneeling before the Sect Master? And you had the nerve to ignore his summons yesterday!"
Alex met the elder''s re with steady eyes. "I never chose toe to the Wudang Sect. I was kidnapped and brought here against my will. So as far as I''m concerned, I''m still not part of this sect."
"How dare you—” the elder roared, his face twisting with fury.
The words died instantly. His body locked up, knees mming hard into the dirt. He knelt there, helpless, unable to move or even speak.
No one had seen Alex lift a finger. No surge of energy had rippled through the air. The entire group stood frozen in stunned silence.
What they didn''t know was that Alex had already formed a Fivefold Heaven Foundation—one of the rarest and most powerful foundations possible.
Even back when he was only at Qi Condensation, he could force an elder to kneel. Now his true strength far surpassed anything the others could imagine.
The elders'' faces turned deathly pale. They had believed Jun Jiu was still stuck at the first level of Foundation Establishment. Yet here he stood, casually overpowering someone at Greater Foundation Establishment or early Core Formation without breaking a sweat.
"Disciple Jun Jiu," the Sect Master said softly, his voice calm but carrying quiet authority. "Even if you were brought here without your consent, you have lived among us for years. You have eaten our food, trained on our mountains, and used our resources. Like it or not, you are part of the Wudang Sect."
Alex remained silent for a moment. He had always believed in simple fairness: treat him with respect, and he would return it. Treat him badly, and he had no problem bing the problem.
"That is exactly why I didn''t walked out," he replied, "even though I could have left anytime I wanted."
He turned, walked to the simple wooden table outside his hut, and picked up a stack of roughly twenty thick books he had prepared.
"These contain sword arts, movement techniques, fist manuals, and many other lost arts that the Wudang Sect no longer possesses," Alex said. "I wrote them all down from memory. I want to give them to the Sect Master." He looked straight at the older man, expression calm and final. "After this, we don''t owe each other anything."
The elders stood frozen, eyes wide
stood
with disbelief and sudden, greedy joy. They knew Jun Jiu had
mastered the Wudang Sect''s
long-lost secret arts. Now he was
offering every one of them back
Hands twitched at their sides, eager
to snatch the stack of books.
But the Sect Master did not reach for them. So no one moved. They waited, tension
thick in the morning air.
The Sect Master stared at the books
for a long moment, then let out a
slow, heavy sigh. "Jun Jiu," he said
quietly believe
ese Wudang arts,
were passed down by the founder specifically for you. I have no right to im them."
His voice grew solemn. "Moreover, I believe you are the only one worthy to be
the next Sect Master of Wudang. Please... ept the position and continue our legacy."
A stunned silence fell over the clearing.
Every elder and disciple stared in shock. Even Li Qingxue''s eyes flew wide.
For anyone born and raised inside the sect, the meaning was unmistakable: the current leader had just named his sessor.
The thousand herb disciples broke into quiet, excited murmurs. Smiles spread across their faces like sunlight.
A few elders, however, looked horrified. One stepped forward at once. “Sect Master, you cannot-"
Alex bowed his head slightly. "I apologize," he said, voice calm and steady. "But I cannot ept."
His simple refusal sent another ripple of astonishment through the crowd.
In the cultivation world, people killed and schemed for years just to taste that kind of power. Yet here was a disciple calmly turning it down.
To Alex, the decision was easy. He had once been king of Estoria and the richest man in Prussia. The Wudang Sect, no matter how ancient, was nothing more than a small mountain school in a corner of Xia.
He felt no desire for its throne.
"Please take these books,” Alex said, pushing the stack gently toward the Sect Master, “and let me go. After this, we will owe each other nothing."
The Sect Master bowed in return, deep and respectful. “The founder''s teachings were given to you alone. I do not dare ept them on behalf of the sect."
Before anyone could react, he raised one hand. Powerful inner energy surged outward.
In an instant, all twenty books burst into bright mes. They burned rapidly, curling into ck ash that scattered across the dirt.
The elders who had longed for the Wudang Sect''s most secret arts felt their hearts shatter in an instant.
A few of them rushed forward in panic, dropping to their knees beside the pile of still-smoldering ashes. Desperate hands scooped through the ck dust, fingers trembling as they searched for any fragment that might have survived.
One elder even blew gently on a charred corner, hoping against reason that a single page or line of text could be saved.
But there was nothing left.
Only fine gray powder scattered across the dirt, carried away by the morning
breeze.
Their faces twisted with grief and disbelief. These were techniques lost for centuries -priceless treasures of the sect. In one careless moment, the Sect Master had burned them all away.
Alex stood frozen, shock shing across his face. Inside, fury boiled over.
''You old snake,'' he thought. ''I wanted to clear our debt and karma, and you dare refuse—and burn them?''
The Sect Master met Alex''s gaze with his calm, ancient eyes. In his heart he answered silently, ''I don''t want you to repay that debt. This way, you stay bound here, I believe, you are a good guy and you will be unable to escape your obligations so easily. So stay.''