Chapter 5 – Back From Afterlife 2.
"What did you—"
The short cultivator gathered the last of his strength, trying to force the question out, his voice was weak and broken. Before he could finish the sentence, his heart began to slow. The world around him seemed to stop. In the end, everything stopped.
Dean stood face to face with the dying man, something about his expression had changed. Those watching could sense it, yet none of them could clearly explain what was different.
There was a new calmness in his eyes, mixed with a faint, dangerous sharpness that had not been there before.
Inside his mind, Dean spoke to Zi through their newly established connection.
"How did I become so strong?"
He was still dealing with the shock of how easily the fight had ended, he had not expected to win so cleanly.
Zi's voice replied calmly inside his Knowledge Sea.
"Remember those years you spent training in Thunder Mountain?"
Dean's eyes widened slightly.
"What? You've been with me since then? Why didn't I notice you?"
He instinctively looked down at his own body, as if trying to find some trace of the presence that had apparently been hidden within him for so long.
Before Zi could answer, a furious roar exploded from the direction of the broken doorway.
"Hey! What have you done to my younger brother?! You will pay dearly for this!"
The voice was filled with intense rage and pain.
Dean's head snapped toward the entrance, the tall cultivator, who had been standing there the entire time without interfering, was finally moving.
His face was twisted with fury as he stared at the lifeless body of his companion.
There's still one left…
The thought flashed through Dean's mind like cold water.
How am I going to get out of here intact?
None of the people in the room knew that the young man who had just killed someone without hesitation, the same youth who now looked so heroic, was actually afraid of facing the remaining opponent.
The tall cultivator charged forward with explosive speed, launching a series of attacks as he closed the distance.
"Little lad, I am going to kill you today!" he roared, his voice thick with murderous intent.
"Nothing will stop me from taking revenge. I will achieve it no matter the price!"
Dean steadied his breathing and forced a calm expression onto his face.
"Why are you all so mad?" he retorted.
Then, with a simple smile, he continued,
"In the world of cultivation, the one with the bigger fist makes the decision. And that younger brother of yours… his fist was far too small to go against mine."
The tall cultivator's eyes burned with even greater rage.
"What?! With my bigger fist today, I will decide your life!"
His voice trembled with pure hatred, as if he had already lost his reason.
Dean shook his head slightly, putting on a faintly wronged expression.
"You of all people should know that your younger brother was too small to have a big fist. Don't get me wrong — I'm only telling the truth here."
He paused for a brief moment.
"He was small, wasn't he? Anyway… he's dead now."
Pa!
Ca!
While the words were still leaving his mouth, the two of them had already begun exchanging blows.
Dean focused entirely on dodging, using every bit of his improved speed and reaction to avoid the heavier, more experienced strikes of the tall cultivator.
"All you can do is dodge, and yet you dare talk about bigger fists?" the tall cultivator mocked between attacks.
Dean suddenly laughed.
"Hahaha!"
He could not hold it back.
"At least I'm still alive," he said with a grin.
"But that small-fist fellow who couldn't dodge my big fist is already dead."
After several more exchanges, the two separated. The tall cultivator clearly held the upper hand in pure strength and technique.
Just as he prepared to press his advantage, however, he saw Dean suddenly charge straight toward him, this time without any attempt to defend or dodge.
Inside his mind, Dean quickly asked Zi:
"Will it work?"
Zi's voice answered without delay.
"Do you remember asking me how your earlier attacks were able to burn that cultivator from the inside?"
Dean's expression flickered for a moment.
Oh… I did ask that, before this guy interrupted us.
"It is called Lightning Intent," Zi explained.
"This kind of energy is invisible to those who are not powerful enough. Most of the time, only the user can sense it clearly."
"Use your spiritual senses to feel your body. Then guide the Lightning Intent energy and make it strike your opponent."
Dean focused inward.
What he saw amazed him.
Faint gray arcs of lightning were wrapping around both of his fists. The energy was subtle, almost transparent, blending into the surrounding air so well that it was nearly impossible to notice with ordinary eyes.
Without hesitation, Dean launched two punches straight at the charging tall cultivator.
The tall man frowned.
Is he playing tricks on me?
From what he could sense, the punches carried no visible essence energy at all.
They looked like ordinary physical strikes. There was no way such weak attacks could harm a cultivator at the peak of the middle stage of the Foundation Realm, especially not when the attacker was only at the peak of the upper Qi Realm.
"Ah—!"
Before his thoughts could fully form, a strange energy surged into his body. It moved with terrifying speed, devouring his essence energy from the inside like a hungry flame.
"What… is—"
Pa!
Before he could finish the sentence, a sharp slap landed cleanly across his face.
When his vision cleared, Dean was already standing directly in front of him, wearing a gentle, almost peaceful smile, as if he had known from the very beginning how this fight would end.
The tall cultivator staggered, a wave of dizziness washed over him, when it finally passed, he discovered the terrifying truth, there was almost no energy left in his body.
He could no longer form any proper attack.
His face turned ashen.
"Little lad… how were you able to defeat us?" he asked in a low, defeated voice. "You are only at the peak of the upper level of the
Qi Realm…"
The question itself felt absurd. A cultivator of that level should never have been able to kill someone at the Foundation Realm, let alone two of them.
If Dean had been one of those rare geniuses, he would not still be stuck in the Qi Realm at his age, he should have already stepped into the Foundation Realm long ago.
A new suspicion rose in the tall cultivator's mind.
"Little lad… are you hiding your true cultivation level?"
Dean looked at him with quiet satisfaction.
"Do I need a higher level of cultivation just to kill the likes of you?" he asked calmly. "I already told you, the one with the bigger fist will win. I guess your fist was simply too small to take my life."
Without giving the man any more time to speak, Dean stepped forward and drove a heavy punch straight into the tall cultivator's chest. At the same time, he guided the remaining Lightning Intent deep into the man's body, targeting the heart.
The energy tore through the vital organ without mercy.
The tall cultivator's eyes widened one final time. Then his body collapsed to the ground, completely lifeless.
Silence fell over Room B-10.
The only sounds that remained were the heavy breathing of the six young women and the faint drip of blood on the floor.
Dean stood in the middle of the room, fists still faintly crackling with disappearing gray lightning. His expression was calm, but inside his mind a single thought repeated itself over and over.
I survived…
And I protected them.