More and more disciples gathered around, drawn by the commotion. Whispers spread as people stopped to watch.
The cold youth’s eyes narrowed, killing intent flashing within them. He stared at Ryan as if looking at a corpse. "It seems you prefer a toast only after being fined."
"Why?" Ryan curled his lips, his tone laced with disdain. "Do you want to make a move?"
He had already checked with Sky Eye Technique. The cold youth before him was nad Mo Ran, and his cultivation was only at the Exalt realm. To Ryan, such strength posed no threat at all. If Mo Ran really dared to act openly, Ryan was confident he could beat him until he no longer recognized his own parents.
"Of course not," Mo Ran replied coldly. "This is Western Mansion. Fighting is forbidden on the streets."
That much was true. No matter which palace one belonged to in Jiuyi City, disciples were not allowed to clash in public. If disputes arose, they had to be settled at the Yanwu Platform. Each of the Eight Outer Palaces had such a place, supervised by Western Mansion elders. There, one could fight freely without restraint.
However, Mo Ran’s words were not the end of it.
Dui Palace specialized in spiritual power.
Spiritual power was formless and invisible. When it struck, it ca silently and unexpectedly. As long as no one could see it, who could say for sure who had acted?
A faint, mocking smile appeared at the corner of Mo Ran’s mouth. Since this candidate dared to belittle Dui Palace, then he would let him taste Dui Palace’s true thods.
Mo Ran fixed his gaze on Ryan. In the next instant, a strange purple glow blood deep within his pupils. That purple light carried an ancient, desolate aura, like rebirth through nirvana, mysterious and dreamlike.
Ryan noticed the odd smile on Mo Ran’s face and felt a flicker of unease. Almost at the sa ti, that purple glow flashed past Mo Ran’s eyes. It was fleeting, nearly imperceptible, and no one around seed to notice it.
Fortunately, Ryan’s realm was higher than Mo Ran’s, allowing him to vaguely sense that strange fluctuation.
Before he could analyze it further, his mind jolted violently. His body froze, as if bound by invisible chains. At the sa ti, an unfamiliar sensation surged into his consciousness.
Ryan’s heart sank.
A gray, shadowy force had appeared within his spiritual sea, spreading rapidly and invading his mind with savage intent. The power was strange and profound, erupting without warning, tearing inward as if it wanted to destroy everything.
Within that gray force, Ryan felt sothing terrifying.
Death.
A genuine aura of death brushed against him.
He had only felt such a thing once before, when he was nearly killed by Poison Elvis. Even when facing a Lord rank expert, he had never experienced this level of threat. Yet now, it was unmistakably real.
What was this gray power?
Ryan’s thoughts raced, and in that instant, he recalled the purple light in Mo Ran’s eyes.
Dui Palace. Spiritual power. Purple glow.
It was him.
Realization struck like lightning. Mo Ran had attacked him, and it was a spiritual attack.
Ryan was shocked. So this was the true might of spiritual power? Even with his cultivation surpassing Mo Ran’s, he was still driven to the brink of death by this unseen assault.
Fear rose in his heart, mixed with deep regret. He had been careless. He had not carefully examined Mo Ran’s detailed information earlier, only glancing at his na and realm before closing Sky Eye.
Now, he was paying the price.
The gray energy grew more aggressive, and sharp pain stabbed through Ryan’s mind. He panicked. He had no idea how to defend against it. This helplessness, this loss of control, was sothing he had never experienced before.
So this was why Dui Palace’s thods were feared.
Just as Ryan felt his spiritual world cracking and his consciousness slipping toward collapse, a soft hum echoed within his mind.
Sothing awakened.
A stream of cyan energy appeared from nowhere, spreading rapidly and wrapping around the invading gray force. The mont the two energies touched, the gray power recoiled as if it had encountered a natural enemy. It retreated frantically, dissolving bit by bit, until it vanished completely from Ryan’s mind.
Clarity returned in an instant. Ryan’s body loosened, and he regained control.
What seed like an eternity had, in reality, lasted only a blink of an eye.
"So this," Ryan said calmly as he raised his head to look at Mo Ran, "is the way of Dui Palace?"
Having brushed against death and tasted despair, Ryan should have been furious. He should have lashed out and crushed Mo Ran on the spot. Yet strangely, his mind was tranquil.
Mo Ran’s attack had revealed sothing crucial.
Ryan lacked defenses against spiritual power.
That invisible assault, launched with nothing more than a glance, was terrifying. If not for that sudden cyan energy awakening within him, his soul would have been destroyed, or at the very least, shattered beyond repair.
Fear lingered, but excitent also blood.
Spiritual attacks were powerful. They were exactly the kind of thod Ryan needed.
As Wang Bi’er had said, cultivating spiritual power was dangerous and difficult, which was why Dui Palace ranked low. But for Ryan, who possessed the God of War System, difficulty ant nothing.
At that mont, a decision ford clearly in his heart.
He would join Dui Palace.
anwhile, Mo Ran had already dismissed the matter. After unleashing his spiritual attack, he turned to leave. In his eyes, Ryan should already be finished. Even if he did not die, he would certainly beco an idiot.
That punishnt was enough for daring to speak disrespectfully about Dui Palace.
Yet before Mo Ran could take more than a step, a voice sounded behind him.
"You!"
Mo Ran stiffened and turned around in disbelief. Ryan was standing there, expression calm, eyes clear.
"You’re... fine?" Mo Ran asked, stunned.
"Oh," Ryan smiled faintly, "as you can see."
"Impossible!" Mo Ran blurted out. "Under my Purple Pole Soul Devourer, even disciples from other palaces would be injured. You’re just a candidate about to enter Western Mansion. How could you possibly resist it?"
"Oh." Ryan responded lightly. Seeing Mo Ran’s disbelief, he only smiled.
In truth, Ryan himself did not understand how he had resisted that first ntal attack. The cyan energy that had appeared within his mind was far too mysterious. He did not know what it was, where it ca from, or why it helped him. It appeared without warning, dissolved Mo Ran’s spiritual assault, and vanished just as inexplicably. No matter how he searched his spiritual world afterward, there was no trace of it left behind.
It was as if it had never existed at all.
"What? Brother Li?" Wang Bi’er suddenly exclaid when she realized what had just happened. "He used a ntal attack on you?"
Shock and anger flashed across her face.
The process of a ntal attack was incredibly fast, and Mo Ran’s thod was extrely subtle. With nothing more than a change in his gaze, he had already completed the attack. In that brief blink of an eye, no one else present had noticed anything unusual.
If Ryan and Mo Ran had not spoken afterward, the truth might have remained hidden.
Had Wang Bi’er known earlier, Mo Ran would never have succeeded.
ntal attacks were sothing she understood very well. They could be described as powerful, yet also fragile. For those who knew how to defend against them, such attacks were far from invincible. If one’s cultivation was higher than the caster’s, ntal attacks were often ineffective. Even if the realm was slightly lower, as long as the opponent’s spiritual cultivation was not strong enough, the damage would be limited.
This was precisely why disciples of Dui Palace possessed terrifying techniques yet ranked at the bottom among the outer palaces. Others cultivated faster, reached higher realms, and gradually learned how to defend against spiritual assaults.
But for those who had no knowledge of ntal defense, such attacks were deadly.
One mistake, and the soul could be damaged or even destroyed.
Ryan and the others had just arrived at Western Mansion. They had only just co into contact with spiritual attacks. How could they possibly know how to defend against them?
Although Wang Bi’er knew Ryan was powerful, ntal attacks ignored physical strength. Without proper defense, even the strongest could fall.
Her expression darkened, but when she saw that Ryan was unhard, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hah."
Seeing Ryan smile so calmly, Mo Ran took it as mockery, the sa kind of ridicule Ryan had shown toward Dui Palace earlier. Resentnt surged in his heart.
Why?
Why could a re candidate, soone who had not even entered Western Mansion, dare to mock Dui Palace?
Why could such a person resist his ntal attack?
The more Mo Ran thought about it, the angrier he beca. His hands moved without hesitation, forming seals once more as he unleashed a second spiritual technique.
"Heart Scorch!"
A low hum echoed.
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