"I've made it!"

  The shout was a raw, triumphant roar that cut through the cacophony of the battlefield.

  From the desolate, rocky highlands, a crimson comet descended upon the plains.

  Sima Danxie, having just won his own grueling battle, landed with a ground-shattering impact that carved a deep trench in the war-torn earth.

  SHWOOM!

  A shadow fell over him, vast and absolute. Hao Fu, his face a mask of furious disbelief, was already there.

  "I've got you now, brat!" he bellowed, his voice a thunderclap of pure, unrestrained power.

  He swung his open palm, a cleaving blow.

  The impact sent Danxie spiraling through the air like a discarded toy, he tore through the clashing ranks of bandits and disciples alike.

  He zoomed past the central, most personal conflict of the entire war. Hao Yifeng leaped back, a thin trickle of blood snaking from the corner of his mouth, which he wiped away with a casual, almost bored indifference.

  "Not bad, old man," he drawled, his gaze fixed on the wounded, staggering form of Hao Yu. "I thought it wouldn't be that hard killing you." His hand reached for his own left arm, where a series of sharp, crystalline spikes, identical to the ones now impaled through his father’s hand, protruded from his skin.

  With a slow, deliberate motion, he encircled the spikes, crushing them into a fine, glittering dust. "It's nice, isn't it?" Yifeng whispered "Using the same technique on each other like this."

  Just as the two were about to clash once more, Hao Fu finally arrived, his heavy boots thudding against the blood-soaked ground as he took in the impossible scene.

  His cousin, grievously wounded. His nephew, the attacker. "W-What's happened here?!"

  Yifeng turned, his manic grin a stark slash in the firelight. He jabbed a finger towards his uncle. "This one lacks true martial technique," he declared, his voice ringing with a mocking authority.

  "Some would say… he got lucky reaching the peak of the Body Tempering Realm."

  Hao Fu’s eyebrows furrowed, his confusion incinerated by a surge of pure, unadulterated rage that seemed to sour the very air.

  "YOU BASTARD! YOU DARE HUMILIATE ME, INSOLENT BRAT?!"

  SHWOOM!

  Hao Fu’s arm, which had been raised to strike his nephew, was suddenly no longer attached to his body.

  It flew upwards in a high, graceful arc, trailing a fountain of crimson before tumbling to the ground with a wet, final thud.

  "W-What the—?!"

  Wei Tiexuan stood where empty space had been a moment before. He swung his blade, flicking the blood from the pristine steel with a single, sharp motion.

  "I'll take you out before dealing with the others," he stated, his voice as cold and flat as the edge of his sword. "Kill the weakest, before the weaker, and then the weak."

  Xuan dashed forward again, a phantom of motion, his blade carving another deep, bloody line across Hao Fu’s chest.

  He spun, his momentum carrying him into a powerful kick that snapped the bandit’s chin upwards.

  Hao Fu grit his teeth, the pain a distant, irrelevant thing as his remaining fist shot out in a desperate, furious block.

  DING!

  Fist met steel. "The material of my blade," Xuan sneered, his own confidence absolute, "can never be broken by the likes of scum!"

  Their battle erupted, a whirlwind of swift, precise movements against raw, unyielding power. Hao Yu, however, ignored them completely.

  He was a wounded beast, his world narrowed to a single, all-consuming point of betrayal. With a roar that seemed to come from the very bedrock of the earth, he charged straight for Yifeng, his bare fists crushing the ground with every step, a living earthquake that left a web of cracks and massive destruction in its wake.

  Yifeng was a sly snake, his movements a fluid and taunting dance around his father’s raw, explosive power. He slipped through the web of cracks his father created, his steps leaving ghostly afterimages in the dust-choked air.

  "How do you like my steps, father?" he chirped, his voice a melodic counterpoint to the symphony of destruction. "I've learned quite a few techniques from torturing martial artists!"

  Hao Yu let out a guttural roar of pure, unadulterated rage. "Silence!" he bellowed, his voice shaking the very ground. "I shall discipline you, my son! You've crossed the line!"

  His Qi gathered once more at his fist. The faint purple aura he had used for his spike technique erupted, no longer a subtle shimmer but a raging inferno. His hand convulsed erratically as if his very bones were begging to be released from their fleshy prison.

  In a grotesque and fascinating transformation, his flesh and bone warped, coalescing into a living mace of jagged, crystalline amethyst, each spike sharp enough to pierce steel.

  "That looks like amethyst," Yifeng mused, his smile unwavering. "How pretty."

  SHKHK!

  Hao Yu’s attack was a blur, a single, devastating strike that had pierced Yifeng's defenses and carved a deep, bleeding wound in his chest.

  Yifeng leaped back, clutching the gash as he dodged his father's relentless, follow-up assault, a thin trail of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

  "Not bad!" he coughed out, his devilish grin still plastered on his face. "I didn't know you had a trump card up your sleeve! How about I show you mine?"

  He leaped high into the air, his hand raised, his index finger and thumb forming a perfect pistol aimed directly at his father's head.

  "Bang!"

  As if summoned by the gesture, a crimson speeding bullet descended from the heavens. Sima Danxie’s foot, wreathed in the full, explosive power of his Body Tempering peak, connected squarely with the side of Hao Yu’s head, the impact caving in his skull and sending his massive figure hurtling uncontrollably through the battlefield.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "Shit, we're still being pushed back!" Dong Kai yelled, his own body a canvas of fresh, bleeding cuts. His eyes snapped towards the new commotion, but he was far too late to react to the bandit who had slipped through his guard.

  A blade, sharp and cold, carved a gash so deep in his side he collapsed to his knees.

  "Finally, you're done," the bandit snarled, his dagger driving towards the back of Dong Kai's exposed neck.

  The blade shattered upon impact, not against flesh, but against a fist of tempered steel. "Sorry we're late," a fiery Inner Disciple laughed, his arrival a welcome, if tardy, storm.

  "Wei Tiexuan took his sweet time analyzing the situation before letting us wreak havoc!"

  Beside him, the disciple with glasses was already at work, activating a flurry of talismans that pulsed with a brilliant yellow light, infusing the beleaguered disciples with a temporary but potent surge of energy.

  "I feel… so alive!" the axe-wielding disciple roared, his fatigue forgotten as he went on a fresh rampage, cleaving through the bandit ranks in a whirlwind of steel.

  "Unfortunately, it's still not enough." The glasses-wearing disciple pushed his frames up the bridge of his nose, his analytical gaze sweeping over the unending tide of bandits.

  "The Body Tempering experts are holding their own, and the weaker ones are running interference. We're going to lose at this rate; our numbers are too low."

  His focus then shifted to the central, most chaotic conflict: the tag-team battle of Yifeng and Sima Danxie against the wounded but still terrifying Hao Yu.

  "Luckily, there seems to be an inner conflict," he mused. "And that guy." He pointed towards the crimson-haired maniac.

  "Y-You're right!" An Inner Disciple with Qi-empowered gloves grinned nervously, a spark of hope in his tired eyes.

  "He's one of us! Another at the Peak of the Body Tempering Realm, the same as Wei Tiexuan!"

  Dong Kai rubbed his chin, his own gaze filled with a profound, unsettling confusion.

  "But why is he fighting alongside that other bandit?"

  THUD!

  The disciple with the Qi-empowered gloves was sent hurtling backwards, his body a broken marionette that crashed against the hard-packed earth with a sickening crunch.

  He coughed, a spray of blood erupting from his lips, his gauntlets sparking and fizzling out.

  "Did he really think he could beat us with just his fists?" A bandit spat a bloody tooth onto the ground, a cruel, triumphant grin splitting his face.

  "He did get a number on me, but not as bad as he got!"

  Two Body Tempering Realm bandits stood with their arms crossed, a pair of immovable mountains observing the slow, grinding attrition of the sect disciples.

  Just as the bandits' confidence began to swell into a fatal arrogance, a deep, groaning sound, like the world itself tearing apart, ripped through the battlefield.

  The high, wooden walls of the fortress, which had stood as a symbol of the bandits' power, began to splinter and collapse. The main gates, no longer barred, slowly swung open with an eerie, mournful creak. A lone bandit, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated terror, came sprinting out, only to be cut down in a single, silent flash of steel.

  A bald slave, his head shaved clean, slowly rose from the corpse, the stolen dagger in his hand dripping crimson.

  He lifted his gaze, and his eyes, which had been dull with despair just hours before, now burned with a cold, righteous fire as he stared out at the battlefield.

  Behind him, a river of the oppressed flowed from the broken fortress—the slaves, no longer shackled, their hands clutching crude, stolen weapons, their faces a unified mask of incandescent rage.

  From the highest peak of a crumbling watchtower within the fortress walls, Wei Zheng watched the scene unfold.

  "The sect disciples held their end pretty well," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "But it's time we help them."

  Beside him, Xu Wanxia drew back the string of a longbow, her movements fluid and practiced, her gaze sharp and focused as she sighted her target.

  Xu Chenxi stood on his other side, a stolen dagger held in each hand, her earlier fear replaced by a wide, brilliant smile. "We're finally free!"

  "Fly true," Wanxia whispered. The arrow was a black streak, a whistling sound that cut through the chaos of battle before finding its mark.

  TCHK!

  The Body Tempering bandit who had been observing the fight crumpled to his knees, the arrow buried to the fletching in the back of his head, his eyes wide with a final, uncomprehending shock.

  "Huh? Brother!" the other one roared, his head snapping towards the fortress.

  The rest of the bandits followed his gaze, their bloodlust freezing in their veins.

  An army of slaves, their bodies radiating the faint, shimmering auras of newfound Qi.

  "What the fucking hell happened inside that damned fortress?!" a bandit screamed, his voice cracking with a mixture of terror and disbelief.

  "How could all the slaves be at the Qi Sensing Realm?!"

  The tide had turned. Dong Kai, who had been on the defensive, saw the bandits' formation shatter, their morale collapsing in the face of this new, terrifying reality.

  With a roar, he smashed a bandit's head into the ground, not stopping his relentless assault.

  Guess someone already saved them, he thought, his gaze shooting towards the small, determined figure standing silhouetted against the flames on the high tower.

  "You'll be the hero for today, brat!"

  Ying Xia’s eyes, heavy as stones, slowly peeked open. Through a swimming, pain-filled haze, she saw a pathetic, almost comical display. Bi Kan, his body a canvas of fresh bruises, was being toyed with, kicked around like a broken doll.

  "You cowardly brat!" Hao Xua’s voice was a low growl of contempt. A final, powerful kick sent Bi Kan tumbling across the grassy earth. Bi Kan slowly rose, pushing himself up with trembling, blood-soaked hands. "You ran, you hid," Xua mocked, slowly sitting up himself. "How are your wounds holding up?"

  His smile was eerie. In an instant, he was on his feet, a phantom of motion. Bi Kan’s body was suddenly pierced with fresh holes as Xua’s blade became a blur, a whirlwind of shallow, torturous cuts. "Your death will satiate me for now," Xua whispered, his voice a low promise. "My men are dead. I have nothing now." He swung his blade. Bi Kan dodged, the last dregs of steam from his incomplete technique venting from his body in a desperate burst of speed. His cheeks bloated, and he threw up a mouthful of hot, steaming blood.

  I'm using it wrong, aren't I? Am I heating up my blood too much?

  Hao Xua kicked him squarely in the gut, sending him crashing to the floor. "Pathetic," he sneered, his voice dripping with disdain. "To think I was at the brink of death by the hands of brats like you." He let the tip of his blade drag across the grassy earth as he slowly, deliberately, closed the distance.

  The black blade, a silent, sleeping titan in the vast ocean of Bi Kan's Soul Sea, began to ripple the waters erratically. It was not a gentle vibration; it was a furious, hungry tremor that threatened to disrupt his very soul. "STOP! AGH!" Bi Kan screamed, smashing his hand against the ground, the pain in his spirit eclipsing the agony of his body.

  Hao Xua tilted his head. "Begging for mercy no—"

  "No," Bi Kan’s voice was a shredded ruin. He slowly looked up, his eyes burning with a cold, terrifying light. "You should be the one begging for mercy. I won't forgive you, bastard."

  The sheer, unadulterated killing intent in his voice made Hao Xua’s entire body pause. Before he could snap back, a blade of pure, impossible darkness popped into Bi Kan’s hand out of thin air.

  Hao Xua’s feet trembled. He took an involuntary step back. Why am I… backing up?

  Bi Kan grit his teeth. "How dare you force me to use this." His gaze flickered to Ying Xia. Her eyes were drooping, her consciousness fading, but in them, he saw a final, desperate glint of shock and hope. "I'll make your death painful."

  Hao Xua’s eyes widened. With a flick of Bi Kan’s wrist, a minuscule spike of Qi transferred into the black blade and erupted.

  "AGH!" A fountain of blood sprayed into the air as Hao Xua's right arm was cleanly severed at the shoulder. His own sword, a fine piece of Body Tempering steel, shattered upon impact. "What kind of bullshit is thi—"

  "Shut up." His left arm was the next to be cut.

  "AGHHHHHHHH!"

  "You're noisy," Bi Kan said, his voice flat and devoid of all emotion. "Weren't you acting so dangerous earlier? How pathetic." His footsteps trailed closer. Hao Xua’s head was lowered, his mind a maelstrom of terror. As Bi Kan got close, he propelled himself forward, a last, desperate gamble, twisting to kick Bi Kan hard.

  "You think I can't see your pathetic movements?" Bi Kan simply moved to the side, his Qi infusing with the black blade once again before cleaving Hao Xua’s feet from his legs.

  Hao Xua screamed in agony, his now-limbless body crashing to the floor. "W-Wait, I'm not… a bandit!"

  Bi Kan’s foot slowly pressed against Xua's torso. "I don't care."

  Xua’s eyes narrowed, staring at Bi Kan with a final, unbending contempt.

  "You can still look at me like that despite the state you're in?" A laugh erupted from Bi Kan. "How amusing! Hahaha!" He covered his eyes with his hand before his fist came down, a full-blown, Qi-infused blow that caved in Xua's chest.

  "KUHK!" Blood spewed across Bi Kan’s face. "Not enough."

  The sounds of crunching bones echoed through the forest, a grim and brutal percussion accompanied by powerful, wet thuds. Ying Xia's vision finally blurred, the world dissolving as her eyes slowly shut.

  Bi Kan’s gaze flickered towards Ma Niu's still, lifeless form, before snapping back to Xia's unconscious one. He raised his fist one last time.

  "This is for Xia."

  Crunch!