The heavy, metallic silence of the damp stone corridor was broken only by the steady, rhythmic sound of Railin's footsteps against the smooth granite flagstones.
Behind him, the distant, muffled roar of the grand arena grounds was rapidly fading into a dull, unintelligible hum. As he had walked off the stone platform of Ring Four, he had felt the gazes of the four purple-robed enforcement disciples tracking his movement like hunting dogs. They had followed him closely, entering the wide, quiet arterial passage carved deep into the roots of the mountain behind the spectator stands.
Railin did not alter his pace, nor did he turn his head to acknowledge his pursuers. He walked deeper into the shadowed corridor, his hands tucked loosely inside the wide sleeves of his navy-blue robes, his pitch-black eyes cool and utterly unbothered.
Four Seventh Level Spirit Refining guards, led by an elite captain hiding ahead in the dark, Railin analyzed smoothly, his refined soul sense mapping out the spatial coordinates of every living signature within a hundred-foot radius. Feng sent his best dogs. They waited until I stepped off the public arena floor into an isolated transit zone before springing their trap.
He reached the center of a wide, stone-arched intersection used for storing heavy wooden crates and spare arena tiles.
BZZZZZZT!
Without warning, the air inside the stone corridor instantly plunged in temperature. High up on the damp ceiling and along the stone walls, ancient spell runes etched into the rock flared into a fierce, suffocating shade of deep purple. A thick, translucent energy barrier dropped down from the ceiling archway behind Railin with a violent, resounding BOOM, completely sealing off the corridor entrance and severing all sound and visual connections to the outside arena.
"Disciple Lin... or whatever vile rat you truly are," a harsh, echoing voice cut through the cold gloom of the passage.
Out from the deep shadows of the forward storage alcove stepped four tall, formidable men clad in the silver-trimmed, dark-purple battle cloaks of the Outer Enforcement Hall. Each man held a drawn, twin-grooved spirit broadsword, the cold steel humming with dense, unstable purple spirit qi.
Stepping out directly behind Railin—closing the trap from the sealed entrance—was a tall, scar-faced man with cold, ruthless eyes. He wore the golden-bordered cloak of an Enforcement Captain, radiating the heavy, suffocating pressure of a Peak Eighth Level Spirit Refining cultivator.
The Captain lowered his sword tip slightly, his sharp, narrow eyes locking onto Railin's navy-blue robes with pure, unadulterated malice.
"Senior Disciple Feng sends his personal regards," the Captain spoke, his voice carrying a dry, grating tone like rusty iron blades scraping against slate. "You put on quite a dramatic show on Ring Four, trash. You shattered Meng's dantian, drained Ye's wind foundation in front of thousands, and displayed a spatial movement art that exists in no outer academy manual."
Railin slowly turned his body sideways, resting his shoulder casually against the smooth stone wall. He made no movement to draw a weapon or adopt a defensive stance.
"Senior Disciple Feng is remarkably observant," Railin replied softly, his metallic, smooth voice carrying a cold undertone that bounced off the damp walls. "And yet, he remains remarkably foolish. He sends five meat sacks into a dark corridor to hunt a ghost."
The Captain's face twisted into an ugly, furious scowl. The dark scar across his left cheek flushed bright red as his Eighth Level spirit qi surged outward, cracking the stone flagstones beneath his heavy boots.
"Arrogant scum!" the Captain spat, pointing his glowing broadsword directly at Railin's neck. "The administrative hall confirmed it ten minutes ago—Disciple Lin was executed three days ago during a disciplinary patrol in the western hills! Your copper merit token is stolen, your identity is a complete fraud, and your strange, energy-draining technique matches the dark blood residue found near the missing patrol squad in the gorge!"
The four enforcement guards slowly began circling Railin, their broadswords held in a high-level four-point killing formation.
"Senior Disciple Feng ordered your capture," the Captain continued, his voice dropping into a lethal, threatening whisper. "He wants your soul searched under memory-stripping arrays, your dantian dissected, and your cultivation art extracted before we toss your dry bones into the furnace pits. Drop to your knees and surrender your energy, or we will carve off your limbs one by one!"
Railin let out a low, quiet sigh, shaking his head with a look of genuine disappointment.
He slowly withdrew his right hand from his sleeve, holding his pale, bare palm out into the cold air of the corridor.
"Search my soul?" Railin murmured, his pitch-black pupils suddenly expanding, swallowing the faint ambient torchlight until his eyes resembled two bottomless, abyss-like voids. "Dissect my dantian? You crawling insects truly have no concept of the magnitude of the entity standing before you."
BOOM!
A terrifying, suffocating wave of pitch-black Ashen Devouring Qi erupted out of Railin's body like an unholy, dark tempest!
The violent energy wave slammed violently against the stone walls of the narrow passage, shattering the nearby iron torch sconces and plunging the entire corridor into near-total darkness. The sheer atmospheric pressure generated by his Fifth Level Peak foundation—tempered by devoured essence and reinforced dark iron meridians—was so immense that the purple warding barrier sealing the hallway flickered wildly, its structural runes groaning under the sudden strain.
The five enforcement members gasped in utter horror, their boots instinctively slipping backward against the flagstones. The heavy, crushing weight pressing down on their chests didn't feel like the power of a Fifth Level outer disciple—it felt like the ancient, dark presence of a primordial demon awakening from an eternal slumber.
"Attack him! ALL AT ONCE!" the Captain screamed, his arrogant composure instantly shattering into frantic, desperate panic. "DO NOT LET HIM CLOSE THE DISTANCE!"
"Thunder-Crimson Sever!"
The four Seventh Level guards lunged forward simultaneously! Their broadswords flared with violent purple and red lightning as they executed a synchronized four-point killing strike—two blades aimed horizontally at Railin's waist, one plunging downward toward his collarbone, and the fourth thrusting directly at his heart!
The spatial constraints of the narrow corridor left Railin zero room to dodge or retreat.
He didn't need room.
SWISH!
Railin activated the spatial shifts of The Seven Void-Severing Steps!
His physical form vanished into a translucent blur of dark mist. But instead of dodging backward to escape the four incoming blades, Railin folded space to step forward, plunging directly into the center of the four guards' lethal convergence point!
CLANG! CLANG! BANG!
The four lightning-infused broadswords collided violently with one another in mid-air, striking nothing but a residual dark afterimage! Sparks of purple electricity exploded outward, blinding the guards for a fraction of a second.
Before the guard on the far left could even realize his blade had missed, Railin materialized directly in front of him, standing chest-to-chest.
"First," Railin whispered into the guard's ear.
PAK!
Railin's bare right hand shot out like an iron spear, his dark-clawed fingers plunging straight through the guard's steel chest plate as if it were soft wet clay! His palm drove deep into the guard's chest cavity, slamming directly into his heart and lower dantian simultaneously.
"DEVOUR!"
BZZZZZZZZT!
A violent, roaring vortex of dark Qi erupted within the guard's internal organs.
The man let out a terrifying, muffled shriek as his entire Seventh Level cultivation base, blood essence, and life force were violently ripped from his body. In less than two seconds, his skin shriveled, his eyes collapsed into hollow sockets, and his muscular frame withered into a dried, fragile husk of bone and parchment skin.
Railin pulled his hand back, and the withered corpse crashed onto the floor, crumbling into grey dust under its own weight.
"JUNIOR BROTHER CHEN IS DEAD!" another guard shrieked, his voice cracking in sheer terror as he watched his comrade turn to dust in an instant. "HE DRAINED HIM TO BONE!"
"Panic is useless," Railin's cold voice echoed from behind him.
SWISH.
Railin flickered through the shadows like an invisible phantom.
Before the second guard could even turn his head, Railin's left hand seized him by the back of his neck. The Ashen Devouring Qi surged out of Railin's palm, instantly paralyzing the guard's central nervous system and violently siphoning every drop of his spirit energy into Railin's core.
BZZZZZZZT!
Two seconds. That was all it took.
The second guard shriveled into a lifeless, dried husk, dropping onto the floor beside the first.
"MONSTER! YOU MONSTER!"
The remaining two Seventh Level guards broke down completely, their martial discipline vanishing as primal terror overtook their minds. They dropped their broadswords, turned around, and began frantically throwing their body weight against the purple warding barrier behind them, screaming desperately for help!
"CAPTAIN! OPEN THE BARRIER! OPEN THE BARRIER AND LET US OUT!"
The scar-faced Captain stood frozen five paces away, his sword hand shaking violently, his face completely drained of color as he watched two of his elite Seventh Level guards reduced to dust in under ten seconds.
"You brought a barrier to trap me," Railin said, stepping out of the swirling black mist, his face illuminated only by the faint, sinister glow of his pitch-black eyes. "Did you never consider... that it would only serve to prevent your escape?"
SWISH! SWISH!
Railin's body flickered twice in rapid, fluid sequence.
Two dark afterimages blurred through the narrow hallway.
PAK! PAK!
Railin's hands shot out simultaneously, grabbing both fleeing guards by their throats, slamming their heads violently against the stone wall of the corridor.
"DEVOUR!"
BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!
A dual vortex of dark energy erupted from Railin's hands. The two remaining Seventh Level guards thrashed wildly, their legs kicking against the stone floor, their eyes wide with agonizing terror as their cultivation bases were violently extracted, refined, and funneled directly into Railin's inner dantian.
Within five agonizing heartbeats, both guards went completely limp. Their shriveled, withered frames collapsed onto the flagstones, disintegrating into fine grey powder under the heat of Railin's dark Qi.
HAHH...
Railin exhaled a long, heavy trail of dark mist into the quiet air of the sealed corridor.
Inside his lower dantian, the vast influx of energy harvested from four Seventh Level cultivators was swirling with immense, violent momentum. His Fifth Level Peak foundation throbbed, expanding outward as his meridians greedily drank in the refined essence.
He slowly turned his head to look at the last remaining man in the corridor.
The scar-faced Enforcement Captain was kneeling on the floor, his broadsword lying forgotten in the dirt beside him. He was breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his bloodless face as he stared at the four piles of grey dust scattered across the flagstones.
"Peak Eighth Level Spirit Refining," Railin noted quietly, stepping over a pile of dust as he walked calmly toward the terrified Captain. "Your energy density is significantly higher than your subordinates. You will serve nicely as the final key to my next breakthrough."
"P-Please..." the Captain whimpered, his voice trembling so violently he could barely articulate his words. He raised his bloodless hands in a desperate plea for mercy. "Senior Disciple Feng... he made us do it! He has the backup of the Inner Sect Elders! If you kill me... he will know! He will release the Blood-Tracking Hounds!"
Railin stood directly over the kneeling Captain. He reached down, gently grabbing the Captain by his hair and pulling his head back so their eyes met.
"Let him send his hounds," Railin whispered, his voice smooth, dark, and utterly devoid of mercy. "Let him send the Inner Elders. Let him send the entire academy."
He placed his open palm flat against the Captain's forehead.
"Devour."
BOOM! BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!
A terrifying, massive column of pitch-black Ashen Devouring Qi erupted from Railin's hand, completely engulfing the Captain's head and torso!
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The Captain let out an ear-splitting, agonizing shriek that rattled the stone ceiling of the corridor. His Eighth Level spirit qi—dense, heavy, and vast—was violently ripped out of his dantian in thick, turbulent currents. The dark core in Railin's chest roared with terrifying joy, spinning like a miniature black hole as it absorbed, purified, and converted the massive wave of high-grade essence.
The Captain thrashed uncontrollably for seven terrifying seconds. His muscles collapsed, his skin shriveled into thin grey paper, and his robust Eighth Level foundation was completely erased down to the absolute bone.
CRACK.
With a final, effortless flick of his wrist, Railin snapped the withered neck of the Captain and released his hold.
The dried husk crashed onto the stone floor, instantly dissolving into a heap of fine, colorless powder under the lingering heat of the dark Qi.
RUMBLE!
The moment the Captain's energy was fully integrated, a powerful, deafening shockwave erupted from Railin's body!
The dense, violent energy inside his dantian breached its final barrier, expanding his core to twice its original size and sending thick waves of reinforced Ashen Devouring Qi roaring through his dark iron meridians!
Spirit Refining Realm — Sixth Level!
Railin opened his eyes. The ambient darkness of the corridor seemed to yield before his gaze as two deep, terrifying vortexes spun silently within his pitch-black pupils. His physical body felt lighter, stronger, and infinitely more durable—his bone density had reached a level capable of withstanding direct strikes from high-grade spirit weapons without drawing blood.
He casually swept his hand, unleashing a small gust of wind Qi that blew the five piles of grey dust into the drainage cracks beneath the wall. He picked up the Captain's spatial ring and merit badge, tossing them into his dark steel storage ring alongside the weapons of the fallen guards.
Then, with a casual flick of his finger, Railin released a minute thread of dark Qi into the purple warding barrier sealing the hallway.
CRACKLE... SHATTER!
The heavy warding barrier collapsed instantly into harmless purple light fragments, opening the corridor back up to the outside world.
Railin stepped out of the dark stone passage, adjusting his navy-blue robes as he walked back out into the bright, blood-red glow of the setting sun.
Far up on the central elevated seating platform, the grand seating chair of Senior Disciple Feng stood empty—Feng had already departed to await news of the capture in his private quarters.
Railin looked up at the darkening sky, a cold, razor-sharp smile touching his lips.
"The appetizers have been cleared," Railin murmured into the evening wind as he walked back toward the arena grounds. "Tomorrow... the real feast begins.
See you in next chapter....