THE FORBIDDEN HEIR'S RETURN

Chapter 3: Testing the Blade

The damp grass crushed under Lie Tian's boots as he reached the outer perimeter of the wilderness. He stopped near a massive, moss-covered boulder, breathing in the crisp morning air. The heavy, suffocating weight that usually pressed down on his shoulders was completely gone. He felt light, almost too light, like his feet weren't entirely touching the muddy ground.

A low rumble shook the bushes to his left.

Lie Tian did not run. He turned around slowly, his arms hanging loosely at his sides. A shadow fanged boar, easily three times the size of a normal animal, burst through the thick briars. Its curved tusks dripped with a sticky green venom that hissed whenever it touched the wet leaves. The beast paused for a brief second, its red eyes locking onto him, before it charged. The ground literally shook beneath its hooves.

"Come on then," Lie Tian muttered. He didn't move away.

As the beast leaped, aiming to tear his chest open, Lie Tian channeled the raw, ancient energy from his central meridian into his right fist. He stepped forward, putting his entire weight into a straight punch. He wasn't just hitting the animal. He was throwing every single insult, every sleepless night of starvation, and the memory of Mei turning her back on him into that fist.

The punch connected with a loud, sickening c***k right between the beast's eyes.

The momentum of the massive boar stopped instantly, its skull shattering under the force. It dropped straight into the dirt, sliding a few inches before going completely still. Lie Tian stood over the carcass, his chest heaving slightly. His hand didn't hurt at all. In fact, he felt a strange, bubbling sense of relief washing over him. The three years of silent misery in the mines seemed to evaporate into the morning air.

He pulled out a small iron knife from his belt and sliced through the tough hide near the chest, digging out the beast's spirit core. It was a perfectly round, basketball-sized crystal that glowed with a deep purple hue.

"This is incredibly pure," Lie Tian said, weighing the heavy crystal in his palm. "The market dealers will definitely have the medicinal herbs I need to stabilize my meridians now."

He tucked the glowing core into his coarse linen sack and started the long walk back toward the sect's main trading square.

The market was already packed with hundreds of disciples and traveling merchants by the time he arrived. The noise was overwhelming, a loud mix of people arguing over pill prices, weapons, and low-grade spiritual talismans. Lie Tian walked right through the center of the crowd. Nobody looked at him, which was fine. They still saw the dirty clothes of a mine laborer, entirely unaware that the person walking past them was a completely different man now. He felt a bit like a ghost moving through a world that had already written him off.

A loud crash from the eastern corner of the square cut through the general noise of the crowd.

"Please, Master Feng, I beg you," an old man's voice cried out, trembling with genuine terror. "I spent three months gathering these silver leaf grasses. My grandson is terribly ill, and we desperately need the spirit stones."

Lie Tian shifted his direction and walked toward the commotion.

A small wooden stall had been kicked completely to pieces. A frail, elderly merchant was on his knees in the dirt, trying to gather his scattered, crushed herbs with shaking hands. Standing over him was a young man wearing the expensive gray robes of a senior outer disciple. It was Feng, one of Young Master Zhao's primary lackeys, a guy known for picking on anyone who couldn't fight back.

"Your garbage grass isn't worth a single copper, old fossil," Feng sneered, deliberately stomping his heavy leather boot onto the old man's fingers. "This spot belongs to the Zhao family interests now. Consider your ruined stock a tax for breathing our air."

The surrounding crowd of outer disciples watched the whole thing in absolute silence. A few turned their heads away, but nobody dared to say a single word. Everyone knew that crossing Feng meant crossing Young Master Zhao, which was basically a death sentence in this part of the sect.

Feng laughed, a loud, obnoxious sound, and turned around to look at the crowd. His eyes scanned the faces until they stopped directly on Lie Tian. His nasty grin widened immediately.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Feng shouted, pointing a finger at Lie Tian's chest. "Look, everyone, the sect cripple actually crawled out of his hole today. I heard Young Master Zhao gave you a very personal lesson in the courtyard yesterday afternoon. How is that broken hand of yours doing, trash?"

The crowd immediately backed away, leaving a wide, empty circle between the two men. Nobody wanted to be standing anywhere near Lie Tian when Feng decided to start breaking bones.

"I'm talking to you, my rat," Feng barked, taking three long steps forward. His hand rested on the pommel of his iron sword. "Get over here right now. Kneel and clean the mud off my boots, and maybe I'll let you leave this market with your other hand intact. The crowd wants to see how well a dog can beg."

Lie Tian didn't say anything. He didn't even look at Feng. He simply walked past him, his shoulder brushing against the senior disciple's sleeve, and knelt in the dirt next to the crying old man.

"Don't worry," Lie Tian said softly, helping the old merchant pick up the remaining uncrushed herbs. "Get your things together and leave the square."

"Are you completely deaf?" Feng roared, his face turning an angry, bright red as the crowd began to whisper among themselves. He had never been ignored like this by a mere laborer before. "You absolute piece of garbage! You think because you survived yesterday, you can act like a hero in front of my face?"

Feng lunged forward, his face twisted in rage, and reached out a hand to grab Lie Tian by the hair to yank him backward into the dirt.

Lie Tian stood up slowly, putting his body directly between the old merchant and the advancing bully. He turned his head and raised his eyes, locking his gaze straight onto Feng's face.

An invisible, suffocating wave of pure, heavy pressure suddenly erupted from Lie Tian's body. The air in the immediate area became incredibly thick, making it hard to breathe, and the stone tiles beneath their feet seemed to emit a low, warning hum.

Feng's hand stopped exactly one inch away from Lie Tian's shoulder. He couldn't move it forward. His breath caught completely in his throat, and all the color drained from his face in an instant. He stared into Lie Tian's eyes, which seemed to pool with a terrifying, ancient power that didn't belong to a human being, let alone a servant. The arrogant smile vanished from Feng's lips as his knees began to shake uncontrollably under the sudden weight of the atmosphere.