Dual Cultivation System: The Villainous Servant’s Rise

Chapter 288: Damned Old Hag, One Day I’ll Drain You Dry! Bai Ling’s Path to the Nascent Soul

“Rebellious disciple! In your eyes, are decades of my teaching and guidance worth less than this demonic fiend?” Leng Ye’s voice trembled, a thin veil over the inferno of rage in her heart.

This wasn’t the first time. For Han Lie, Xiao Yuruo was truly willing to harden her heart and sever their sacred bond.

Xiao Yuruo stood her ground, her voice ringing with righteous fury. “You forged my letters! You tried to force me to abandon the man I love! You insist on shackling me with your own beliefs! Master, respect is mutual! I have always respected you, but have you ever once respected me?”

She pleaded, still trying to reason with the unmovable mountain before her. “I told you, Han Lie came from the Servant Disciple division of the Heavenly Void Sect. He is not the irredeemable monster you imagine him to be!”

But she didn’t understand. Leng Ye wasn’t listening. If not for Xiao Yuruo’s unique background, Leng Ye would never have made so many concessions. In fact, to sever the girl’s attachment, she would have already slaughtered Han Lie where he stood.

Leng Ye was like an ancient, fossilized elder, her mind rigid and unyielding. No amount of reason could penetrate her convictions. Perhaps, deep down, she knew she was wrong, but for the sake of her so-called dignity and authority, she would walk this dark path to its bitter end.

“Fine,” Leng Ye declared, her tone glacial. “I will spare this brat today. But you *will* return to the Sect with me. Now.”

“I told you I want to go home first! Have you no respect for my wishes?” Xiao Yuruo refused to yield, knowing full well that once she returned to the Sect, seeing Han Lie again would become nearly impossible.

But it was a futile struggle.

“When the time is right, I will naturally permit you to go home,” Leng Ye stated, dismissing her disciple’s protest as if it were the buzzing of a fly. With a flick of her wrist, she tore a gaping rift in the fabric of space and dragged Xiao Yuruo towards it.

“Han Lie!”

Tears streamed down Xiao Yuruo’s face as she screamed his name, her voice a heart-wrenching cry of despair and loss.

“Old hag! Let me the fuck out of here!” Han Lie roared, thrashing against the invisible walls of the spatial cage that imprisoned him. He could only watch, helpless, as Leng Ye pulled the woman he loved into the void.

“Hmph. Demonic fiend,” Leng Ye’s threatening voice echoed from the closing rift. “If you dare seek out Xiao Yuruo again, I will personally obliterate you on the spot.”

And then, they were gone, leaving not a single trace behind.

The moment the rift sealed, the spatial cage imprisoning Han Lie shattered.

“You cowardly old bitch, come back and face me!” Han Lie bellowed at the empty sky, his voice raw with fury. “Are you some kind of rabid dog, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong? You’d better hope I never get my hands on you, because one day, I swear I’ll drain you fucking dry!”

But as the rage subsided, it left behind a crushing sense of loss and an immense, suffocating disparity.

Nascent Soul Stage Perfection. In the eyes of most, he was already a mighty figure. Yet before an existence like Leng Ye, he was nothing more than an insect staring up at an indifferent heaven. Their power wasn’t even in the same dimension.

*Once, twice… but there will not be a third time! I swear it. The next time you try to take her from me will be the last thing you ever do!*

The first time was in Qingzhou City, when Leng Ye had exploited Xiao Yuruo’s trust to tear them apart. Today was the second.

In that moment, the absolute importance of power became terrifyingly clear. Without sufficient strength, you didn’t even have the right to pursue, let alone protect, the one you loved.

It took a long while for him to compose himself. Finally, Han Lie reined in his turbulent emotions and began the journey back to the Sect.

Even after his return, the events in the Buried Immortal Mountain Range haunted him. It wasn’t just that Leng Ye had ripped Xiao Yuruo away from him. It was the utter contempt in her eyes, the way she had dismissed him as something beneath her notice. That was a humiliation that cut deeper than any blade.

Not even when he was targeted by Old Ghost Black Sha’s Overlord Hall, not even when he was endlessly schemed against by Bai Ling, had he ever felt so powerless, so utterly shamed.

Fortunately, Han Lie’s will was forged in fire. After a few days of quiet solitude in his wooden cabin, he had mostly recovered. What was done was done. Wallowing in misery would only dull his spirit. The only path forward was to grow stronger—strong enough that no one could ever stand in his way again. He knew Xiao Yuruo wouldn’t want to see him broken.

“Hmm?”

Just as Han Lie prepared to step outside and clear his head, an exceptionally powerful aura erupted from the direction of the Purple Cloud Palace, surging outwards like a volcano.

Immediately after…

**BOOM!**

A colossal thundercloud materialized from nothing, blotting out the sun and casting a dark shadow over the Heavenly Void Sect. A heavy, suffocating pressure descended upon the land for hundreds of miles, crackling with terrifying, violent energy that was rapidly gathering within the storm.

“Bai Ling?”

Han Lie’s eyebrows shot up. He leaped into the air, his gaze fixed on the Purple Cloud Palace.

The cataclysmic disturbance had, of course, seized the attention of the entire Sect. Countless Inner Disciples scrambled onto rooftops, treetops, or took to the skies, all staring at the same point on the horizon.

“That’s the Purple Cloud Palace, isn’t it?”

“Yes! By the looks of it, the Saintess is about to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage!”

“Incredible. As expected of the Saintess. She joined the Heavenly Void Sect just over twenty years ago, and she’s already ascending from Foundation Establishment to Nascent Soul!”

“That’s why she’s the Saintess! We direct disciples can’t even begin to compare!”

“Tsk, it’s useless to even be envious. A cultivation speed that terrifying… she must be second only to Elder Han himself!”

“…”

A Nascent Soul tribulation was not an entirely uncommon sight within the Heavenly Void Sect, but that did nothing to diminish the awe and yearning of the disciples below that realm. For the direct disciples of the various halls, stuck at the peak of the Golden Core Stage, the desire was an almost physical ache.

Golden Core Perfection and Nascent Soul seemed only a single step apart, but the chasm between them was as vast as heaven and earth.

**RUMBLE!**

As time stretched on, a swirling vortex of black clouds formed at the heart of the storm. As it slowly rotated, a blinding silver light began to gather within its depths, as if some terrible, magnificent power was about to be born.

**CRACKLE!**

At last, the oppressive aura blanketing the Sect reached its absolute peak. A thunderclap, so loud it seemed to shatter the very heavens, exploded from the storm.

Han Lie and the thousands of watching disciples saw the silver light in the vortex coalesce into a single, massive bolt of lightning. With a furious roar, it struck down towards the Purple Cloud Palace.

The instant the lightning fell, its blinding radiance banished the darkness, illuminating the world in a flash of pure, white light.

At that same moment, a tall, graceful figure soared out from the Purple Cloud Palace. Dressed in a flowing cyan-and-white gown, her posture was as light and elegant as a celestial fairy.

Who else could it be but the Saintess, Bai Ling?

She raised her head, her gaze meeting the descending pillar of divine fury. Upon her exquisitely beautiful face, there was not a single trace of fear.

“Floating Slaughter Sword Art—Break!”