With a shudder, the walls seized and shrank down—at the same time Mo Yixuan resisted with all his qi. The two forces clashed within the invisible walls and shuddered violently. Even as the pagoda tried to crush him, Mo Yixuan's qi resisted and stood firm against the force. There was no way that his tiny, last minute efforts could overpower the Heavenly Sealing Pagoda, but he didn't need to try.

All he needed was to interrupt the process of Jun Zhen feeding more power into the projection.

CrrrRRRRAAAAaaacCCK!

A silvery crack appeared in a wall by Mo Yixuan's left. Without hesitation, he pressed his palm against the opening and flooded it with his spirituality. Unable to take the sudden imbalance of qi, the wall splintered further before breaking apart beneath his hands. The effects spread to the rest of the pagoda, causing it to tremble once again before splitting apart with a terrific shriek.

In his wheelchair, Jun Zhen spasmed from the backlash and spat up a mouthful of blood. The white-robed youth immediately rushed to his side with a cry.

"Master!"

"Leave it!" Jun Zhen snapped and knocked him aside, glaring daggers at Mo Yixuan. "Pulling off a trick like that—so you did improve after all."

Mo Yixuan was silent as he massaged his neck. It was sore from being pressed down from above.

Seeing this, Jun Zhen gave a wet laugh and fell back in his seat. "Next time," he murmured softly, "Next time for sure, I'll crush you..." He fell into unintelligible mutters as he cradled the pagoda in his hands, head bowed as he seemed to shrink into himself.

This...

Mo Yixuan waited a while longer, his nerves on edge. When no new attacks or insults were forthcoming, he exhaled softly and directed his gaze at the stricken youth by Jun Zhen's side.

"You," he began stiffly, not knowing his name.

The boy gave a start before looking up. He was only about sixteen or seventeen, with a pair of large, bright eyes and what looked like a permanently stiff upper lip.

"Is your master going to be alright?" Mo Yixuan asked. Jun Zhen was ignoring them both to play with the Divine Artifact between his fingers. Occasionally, he'd even mumble something, or sob and laugh to himself. It was a highly unsettling sight.

"My master..." the young disciple echoed blankly. A flash of bitterness flickered past his eyes, almost too quickly to catch, before he faced Mo Yixuan with a mechanical bow. "I am sorry, Peak Lord Mo, but my master is feeling unwell. He's overdue for his treatment with the sect leader, so we'll be heading there now."

Mo Yixuan wasn't about to let him go just like that. He stepped forward to block the way, causing the disciple to look up at him warily. Ignoring the boy, Mo Yixuan slowly bent down until he was eye level with Jun Zhen.

The Peak Lord continued to remain oblivious. By now, he'd found the hanging jade pendant from his belt and was fixated with tying a bow around his beloved pagoda, his eyebrows creased.

"What's wrong with him?" Mo Yixuan finally asked after a while.

The disciple hadn't taken his eyes off him as he spoke. "Peak Lord Jun's been like this ever since his soul was torn in two. Sometimes he returns to his senses, but it's never for long."

Soul torn in two... Mo Yixuan shelved that complicated tidbit for later. "But you took him as your master?" he asked next, perplexed. Who would willingly accept an insane man as their teacher?

"...I had no other choice," the disciple muttered, suddenly looking elsewhere.

Mo Yixuan didn't probe. Instead, he stepped aside to let the youth push the wheelchair away, his thoughts swirling. Deep down, he felt a twinge of annoyance. Ouyang Che had warned him about Jun Zhen, but he never mentioned the man was insane! It was partly because of Jun Zhen's roiling emotions and unstable control that Mo Yixuan managed to wrest an advantage in their faceoff with the pagoda in the first place. Otherwise, who knew if he'd be mincemeat by now?

Is there a chance of him attacking me whenever we meet? Mo Yixuan wondered grimly. Just as he thought that—

"Mo Yixuan, you'll regret this. I won't forgive you as long as I live!"

Mo Yixuan turned around. The disciple had stopped pushing the wheelchair as Jun Zhen clutched the armrests, snarling at empty space before him. He might have been speaking to a hallucination, or to the memory of the past—it was impossible to tell.

The disciple hesitated and wanted to speak, but Mo Yixuan raised a hand to silence him. He walked to the front of the wheelchair and leaned down, locking gazes with Jun Zhen again.

"What will I regret?" he asked simply.

The disciple sucked in a breath and Jun Zhen clearly paused. His eyes struggled to focus on Mo Yixuan before the pupils suddenly dilated and narrowed into slits. Two arms suddenly rushed for Mo Yixuan's neck as Jun Zhen devolved into a hoarse shout.

"I'll kill you!"

Mo Yixuan quickly retreated before he was placed into a chokehold. Jun Zhen muttered an oath and grabbed for the Heavenly Sealing Pagoda, only to find it missing from his lap. Mo Yixuan had stolen that while they were locked into their staring contest.

"You...!" the peak lord sputtered, attempting to lift himself from his seat. "That's mine, give it back!"

"You're going to hurt someone with this," Mo Yixuan deadpanned as he held the miniature pagoda up high.

Jun Zhen devolved into a series of angry shrieks. His disciple looked at Mo Yixuan helplessly. "Peak Lord Mo, I can hold the pagoda in his place..."

"Go to the sect leader's hall," Mo Yixuan said instead. "I'll come along."

He strode forward as he spoke, walking past the hysterical Jun Zhen and striking him directly on the neck as he passed by. Instantly, the peak lord fell unconscious, restoring peace and quiet to the mountaintop again.

—

In the sect leader's hall, Fei Chenling had stopped examining Nan Wuyue in response to the strange power fluctuations that he had picked up a moment ago.

Zhen'er's having another one of his fits? He wondered, recognizing the familiar qi signature. That's right, he's due for treatment soon—or was that today?

Even since Jun Zhen had lost a piece of his soul, his behavior had been erratic and unpredictable. Occasionally he'd devolve into violent outbursts, but they were short-lived and limited to periods approaching his monthly treatment sessions with Fei Chenling.

If it wasn't for the lack of candidates, I would have found a peak lord to replace him by now, Fei Chenling's thoughts turned gloomy. In recent months, Jun Zhen's condition had deteriorated so rapidly that he'd been forced to move to the sect leader's peak for constant monitoring. Ouyang Che had taken over matters for his martial brothers in the interim, maintaining a united front for the five direct disciples of the sect founder.

With this, it's still our five peaks to their four, Fei Chenling sighed internally. Despite his dislike for power struggles, the reality remained that the nine peaks of Star Pavilion Sect was firmly divided between two camps: that of the ex-sect leader's original disciples, and everyone else.

We can't show any weaknesses before the inter-sect competition. What's more, with Xuan'er behaving strangely, I'll need to keep an eye on him as well...

At the thought of Mo Yixuan, Fei Chenling's gaze drifted naturally to the young teen that was his disciple. Nan Wuyue was currently sitting motionless in his seat thanks to Fei Chenling sealing his acupoints to halt all movement.

This brat isn't making our lives any easier either, the sect leader scowled.

"It'll be better for all our sakes if you stop causing trouble," Fei Chenling scolded Nan Wuyue, "I've already done a cursory scan of your meridians. They're recovering now, but they've gone through long-term damage in the past. Just what kind of training were you doing? You'll tear yourself apart at this rate!"

Nan Wuyue didn't flinch as he glared back. "Exactly what my master told me to."

"Ridiculous!" Fei Chenling rejected. "You've been examined by the sect healers before—they've never found injuries within your body!"

Because Mo Yixuan hid everything from them, Nan Wuyue sneered internally. Outwardly he just pursed his lips and stood his ground. "I'm telling the truth."

Fei Chenling raised a finger at him, then dropped it to shake his head. "We'll talk about this with your master later," he said decisively.

At that moment, Mo Yixuan and the young disciple stepped into the halls with Jun Zhen in tow.