I Can Only Cultivate In A Game

The second time they summoned Victor, the atmosphere was different.

This wasn't a polite inquisition, it was a cornering.

Four elders sat at the long crescent jade table with gazes sharp enough to peel flesh. Elder Qin Han, with his white serpent-tied beard, leaned forward with folded fingers. Elder Bai Yao remained calm but suspicious while Elder Qin Mu loked ready to burn someone alive.

Victor stepped into the chamber calmly, wearing the same humble disciple robes.

His hair was neatly tied with hands behind his back and his chin tilted slightly.

His gaze, however, flicked briefly around the room and settled on the one missing person.

"Where is Bai Heng?" he asked gently.

"We're the ones asking the questions," Bai Yao replied coldly. "You were dismissed earlier, but new information has come to light. It seems you may be more... involved than you've let on."

Victor blinked innocently. "Involved? I truly don't understand."

"Stop playing games," Qin Han hissed. "Bai Heng claimed you once carried a letter with the name Fang Chen in it. 'Thanks to Fang Chen, we—' Ring a bell?"

Victor appeared to pause as his brows furrowed slightly, as though genuinely confused. Then he gave a soft chuckle and shook his head.

"That boy must be mistaken," he stated with a light tone. "I've never carried any letter with that name. Perhaps he dreamed it. He seemed quite... stressed when we last spoke."

"And yet," Qin Han cut in, "he gave a very specific account."

Victor shrugged. "And where's the letter then? I was searched... My robes, my courtyard. You turned everything upside down. Did you find anything?"

Silence.

"Of course not," Victor said smoothly. "Because it never existed. Or rather... maybe it existed in Bai Heng's head. Have you considered that perhaps... he's the one you should be questioning more seriously?"

That got their attention.

Qin Mu's eyes narrowed. "Explain."

Victor leaned forward slightly with a hushed tone like a storyteller around a fire. "Think about it. You say there's a spy. Someone responsible for slave disappearances. For the ore vein burning. For the so-called 'kidnapping' of Bai Ting Ting. Someone who moves in the shadows... Perhaps that person is now pointing fingers at someone else... to avoid suspicion."

"Are you saying Bai Heng is the true Fang Chen?"

"I'm saying I wouldn't be surprised," Victor replied. "You said it yourselves—he had the letter, not me. He claimed he saw something no one else did. Strange, isn't it? Suspicious, even?"

'Sorry Bai Heng... you'll have to momentarily take the fall until my plans are complete...' Victor apologised internally.

The elders exchanged uncertain glances.

"He has no proof," Qin Mu murmured.

"No evidence at all," Bai Yao added.

"And he's the one accusing me?" Victor spread his hands. "For all we know, he forged that story. Perhaps he used the name Fang Chen and panicked when someone else got close to discovering it. So he pinned it on me. Clean, simple, convenient."

Qin Han stood abruptly. "Summon Bai Heng again."

Within half an hour, Bai Heng was dragged back into the chamber, this time in cuffs laced with suppression talismans. He looked confused, worried, desperate.

"I didn't lie!" he shouted as soon as they confronted him. "I saw the letter! Chen Fen dropped it!"

"And yet we found no trace of it," Bai Yao replied sternly. "Isn't that convenient?"

"No—it was there—I swear—he snatched it back!"

Victor looked at him with a sorrowful shake of the head. "Why would you do this, Bai Heng? You and I were friends."

"You're Fang Chen, aren't you?!"

A slap from Qin Han echoed through the hall.

"Enough!" Qin Han snapped. "We'll get the truth from you eventually."

And with that, Bai Heng was dragged off—this time to the disciplinary cells in the lower cliffs. His protests echoed long after the door shut behind him.

Meanwhile, Victor was given a long, silent stare by the elders.

"You are not cleared," Qin Mu finally said. "We will continue our investigation. Do not leave the estate without permission."

Victor bowed. "Of course, elders. I understand."

---

That evening, back in his quiet courtyard, Victor removed the last silk sheet covering the near-complete array diagram laid out beneath the floorboards. He had buried it under the sand of his training space, sealed beneath layers of spiritual paper and illusionary concealments. One more night. That was all he needed.

When midnight struck, he moved like a whisper.

Dressed in black with a thin mask veiling half his face, he stepped through shadowed corridors and silent bridges until he reached the Sealed Sanctum of the Bai Qin Inner Guardians.

Two titanic statues stood like silent gods carved into the cliff face. One resembled a bronze-clad warrior with a sword too large for any mortal. The other bore six arms and multiple faces with ever-changing expressions.

Both radiated ancient and slumbering aura.

Their unmoving figures emitted a Soul a barely dormant Soul Transformation Realm energy.

Any one of them, if activated, could crush Victor like a fly just like how Tarkos was much more powerful than he was.

And so, this was the night he would render them useless. Thankfully, he was well versed in crafting array formations.

Victor knelt on the sigil-drawn rock before them and placed the final jade plate onto the array grid.

He whispered a chant.

The glyphs glowed faintly and then brightened before vanishing, like being sucked into the surface of the statues.

A low ting resounded. Victor immediately slapped a suppression seal onto the base of the bronze warrior statue.

"Now... you will not awaken," he muttered.

He repeated the process with the six-armed guardian.

The array was built not to destroy, but to subtly distort activation. Should anyone attempt to summon them in the future, the command would simply... fail.

Even the elders wouldn't understand why.

By the time the moon dipped beyond the peaks, Victor had slipped back into his courtyard like smoke.

By morning, the estate buzzed with confusion and whispers.

Elder Qin Han stormed into the Assembly Hall with a scroll in hand.

"We ran a background trace on Chen Fen."

"And?"

"There is nothing. No parental registry. No town of origin. No clan documentation. No siblings. He simply... appeared one month ago."

Elder Bai Hu hissed through his teeth. "You mean... he's not from any known place?"

"He is a phantom. A shadow. His origin is a blank page."

"Or perhaps he is exactly who Bai Heng said he was," Qin Mu said grimly.

...

...

Victor sat cross-legged in his small private courtyard as the faint rustle of cherry blossoms drifted through the air like snow.

A loud and impatient sound echoed through the vicinity, drawing him out of his meditative state.

He rose and crossed his arms, already prepared for what was coming.

Sure enough, a squad of six burst into the courtyard, breathing hard.

"Fang Chen," their leader who was a tall youth with narrow eyes, called out loudly, "the elders demand your presence. You will come with us now."

'Oh they called my name... looks like they finally figured it out,' Victor smirked internally and then gave a lazy yawn.

"If the elders need me, they can fetch me themselves. I'm busy polishing my sword." He gestured at the finely hammered blade.

A gasp ran through the squad. "How dare you speak to us that way?" the leader snapped. "We will drag you back by force if you refuse."

Victor tucked his chin and let a slow smile spread across his face. "By all means."

The leader's temper snapped.

He drew a curved saber and charged.

Victor sighed, stepped forward, and flicked a finger through the air, unleashing a sudden gale that whipped the disciple's clothes and halted his advance.

In the next second, Victor's palm turned into a steaming blur that struck the youth's chest with the chill sting of a frost bloom palm.

[ Frost Bloom Palm Activated ]

The disciple flew backward with his teeth chattering together before crashing through a stack of ceramic pots and lying in a heap.

A layer of frost spread from the palm mark on his chest to the rest of his body, causing him to lay still in place. Even the blood in his mouth, froze.

The courtyard fell deafeningly silent.

The remaining five exchanged alarmed glances.

"This fool Bai Lang must be messing around! I'll deal with this qi Refining Realm stage three brat myself!"

A large youth at Victor's right roared and rushed in with a heavy punch.

Victor didn't draw his sword.

Instead, he drew his arm backwards, gathering a veil of qi around his forearms as he clenched his fist.

He sent a punch hurling forward and both fists collided in the next instant.

A loud cracking sound rang out as the youth entire right arm twisted towards the back in an angle that shouldn't be possible.

"Arrghhh!"

In one graceful pivot, Victor swept his foot against the youth's ankle, sending him tumbling before he delivered a strike to the face of the disciple.

Pah!

The slap sent him flying and rendered him unconscious.

Three remained.

They hesitated only a moment before charging in unison. Victor shook his head and closed his eyes, extending both arms sideways. A silent whisper of wind arced outward, forming a spiraling barrier that repelled them like leaves before a storm.

Each disciple struck it and staggered, stunned by the sheer force.

"Weak..."

Victor opened his eyes.

He flowed forward, weaving among them like a drifting cloud, striking each in turn with an underarm gale, followed by a palm charged with ice-laced qi.

No blade was drawn; no qi wave erupted. It was simple, efficient. Within seconds, all three lay groaning on the cold stone tiles.

Victor stepped forward and crouched beside the first disciple, who began to stir.

"Run back and tell your elders," Victor voiced quietly with a deceptively soft tone. "Tell them Fang Chen doesn't answer summons from scared baby boys."

The young man scrambled away, clutching his bruised ribs as his eyes widened with fear.

---

Minutes later, the Bai-Qin elders stood in the Grand Assembly Chamber with looks of anguish.

They'd received the frantic report: their disciples had been trounced by the very student they'd sent to arrest.

Elder Qin Han slammed his fist on the jade table. "The boy dared—dare—to attack our disciples? He humiliated them in his own courtyard!"

Elder Bai Yao spread his hands in exasperation. "They higher in cultivation realm... yet he dispatched them as though swatting flies. This is intolerable."

Elder Qin Mu's pale eyes glowed with restrained fury. "He laughed in their faces. He insulted our summons. This is no longer mere insolence—it is open rebellion."

In unison, the elders leaned forward. They could not allow such a challenge to stand. Their authority was the backbone of the family's rule; without it, the estate unraveled.

"We will handle Fang Chen ourselves," Bai Yao declared with a cold tone.