Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time

The days blurred into one another—a flurry of activity and quiet growth.

In that time, Han Yu had become a known face on the peak. While not yet one of its brightest stars, he was undoubtedly rising fast—too fast for some.

He'd taken on tens of missions, not by venturing outside the sect on dangerous excursions, but through pill commissions, fulfilling dozens of requests from inner court disciples, mission teams, and even minor elders who didn't have time—or patience—to craft pills on their own.

These commissions paid handsomely, and more importantly, they didn't take him away from the Alchemy Peak where he could remain focused on his studies, soul cultivation, and material procurement for the Undying Life Charm.

Since he was unable to still buy the Three Cycle Soul Grass and or even get any news about the Moonshadow Lotus he had ended up deciding to compensate for it by accumulating common herbs and spirit stones instead.

Merit points rolled in like spring rain, and the spirit stone stash in his courtyard grew heavy enough to warrant formation-based safekeeping.

With his increasingly advanced alchemical control, Han Yu was now able to refine multiple pills in a single batch with high purity, efficiency, and consistency. He rarely failed anymore.

But that was not all that he did.

He also worked frequently with Li Mei.

She often dumped her commission work on him when she needed time for her obscure, highly specific alchemical research. In return, she generously paid him in high-grade cultivation pills, some of which weren't available to most outer court disciples at all.

With her help, Han Yu's cultivation surged.

He finally reached the peak of the Qi Refining realm—just a breath away from Core Condensation. His foundation was polished to near-perfection, his spirit qi sea steady and vast.

Meanwhile, his Soul Cultivation progressed in more unpredictable ways.

Most of it came passively—from the Eight Emotions Energy of satisfaction, gratitude, and joy from happy clients and students. Some came from the occasional flare of awe or envy from other disciples who watched him rise with a mix of admiration and quiet resentment.

But the best came during the mandatory combat sessions.

These were periodic sparring tournaments meant to "keep disciples battle-ready," though everyone knew they were really just a legal outlet for grievances. Han Yu, as always, couldn't resist using the opportunity for a bit of chaos harvesting.

He fought dirty. Or at least, he looked like he was fighting dirty.

Illusory flames, sneaky talismans, ridiculous footwork that made it seem like he was slipping by accident but was really dodging deadly strikes with precision—it all made him appear half-lucky, half-deranged, and entirely maddening.

Which was exactly how he wanted it.

The audience? A sea of emotions to feed from.

The result? More Soul Qi. More power. More progress on his long and strange path.

It was a long period of peace.

All things considered, it was a golden year for Han Yu.

He was wealthy.

He was respected, even if grudgingly by some. He had formed bonds across all levels of the sect—from disciples to elders. He'd even begun receiving discreet requests from some minor sect branches and outposts outside the Twin Leaf Peak Sect, asking if he'd take on special pill orders.

There was no denying it anymore.

Han Yu had become a pillar of the Alchemy Peak's outer court. A minor one, but still a pillar.

And for the first time in what felt like forever… he had peace.

But peace never lasts...

Unbeknownst to him, far above the mist-clad ridges of the Twin Leaf Peak, the clouds had begun to turn. Not with thunder or lightning—but with something worse: silence.

The kind of silence that comes before a storm.

Elders who should have returned from their regular inspections in the Marshes far in the south had missed their reports.

A few outer sect informants had been marked as "disappeared" in recent months.

Li Mei, despite being dismissive on the outside, had added extra wards to her personal hut for the first time in three years.

Even the rats under Chitterfang's command had grown restless, whispering of shadowy figures seen lurking around the lower ridges, cloaked not just in darkness but something unwholesome.

Han Yu felt none of this, not yet.

Not while he sat in his courtyard, drinking tea made from herbal dreg fertilized peach tree petals, scribbling talisman designs, and listening to Chitterfang complain about the state of peanut quality in the kitchens.

But change was coming.

And when it did, it would not come for him alone.

It would come for everyone.

The Twin Leaf Peak Sect, once standing tall and serene amidst the forested mountains, was about to be shaken at its roots.

And Han Yu—alchemist, soul cultivator, prankster, and chaos-seeker—would find himself in the center of it all.

A few weeks later...

The sect was quiet.

Too quiet.

Though no official announcements had been made, anyone who spent more than a day inside the Twin Leaf Peak Sect could feel it—the tension in the air, like the tightly drawn string of a bow about to snap.

Disciples whispered behind sleeves and paper fans.

Missions that once flowed like water to the outer lands had dried up overnight. Those already sent out had been recalled with unusual urgency, and inner court elders were now spotted more frequently than ever, flitting across peaks like grim-faced specters.

Han Yu had noticed it all.

It was the little things, really—like how the mission boards in the central plaza had started showing fewer and fewer listings. Or how the patrol teams at the sect's outer perimeter had doubled, some even tripled in number.

There were new formations placed at key intersections, too—not standard ones, either. These pulsed with high-grade spiritual qi Channels and were clearly intended for more than just security.

Han Yu didn't know what was going, but he had tried finding out only to no avail. Even the rats weren't able to gather any information as Elder's were keeping a tight control on it, discussing matters in Array Sealed rooms.

All he knew was that something was going on.

Something big.