The immense, circular stone stage of Bracket D was carved from dense, spell-reinforced black granite, its surface shimmering with faint silver runes designed to absorb high-impact spiritual shockwaves. Surrounding the perimeter, an ancient defensive barrier hummed softly, casting a translucent blue sheen over the stage.
High above in the spectator stands, tens of thousands of disciples leaned forward, their voices combining into a deafening, echoing roar that vibrated through the surrounding mountain peaks.
"Look at Gao Yuan! He's at the peak of the Third Level of Foundation Establishment, and his Blood-Raven Sword Art is brutal!"
"Railin is facing a Stage Three veteran in his very first match! Even if he broke through to the Second Level, the difference in qi reserves is massive!"
"The Shadow Moon Peak clearly wants his blood today..."
On the center of the stage, Gao Yuan stood tall, his crimson robes fluttering in the high mountain wind. He rotated his heavy, jagged blood-sword in a slow, theatrical circle, leaving faint trails of crimson light lingering in the air. A cold, arrogant sneer stretched across his face as he stared at Railin, who stood twenty paces away with his hands casually tucked inside his wide navy sleeves.
"Railin!" Gao Yuan yelled out, his loud voice easily cutting through the thunderous noise of the crowd. "You were arrogant enough to survive the Ghost-Fog Valley and foolish enough to think you could parade yourself around the academy! My cousin Gao Lei was killed because of your pathetic scheme, and today, I will carve your heart out to avenge him!"
Railin's pitch-black pupils remained neutral, reflecting no emotion, no anger, and no surprise.
"Your breath is noisy," Railin spoke flatly, his calm tone devoid of any weight. "And your weapon is slow."
Gao Yuan's sneer instantly twisted into a contorted mask of pure, humiliated rage. "Arrogant bastard! Let's see if your tongue remains this sharp when your limbs are severed!"
Without waiting for the arena referee to give the official starting signal, Gao Yuan reached into his left sleeve and pulled out the dark crimson talisman handed to him by Lu Chen—the Soul-Locking Crimson Talisman!
CRACK!
Gao Yuan slapped the talisman onto the granite floor beneath his feet!
A sudden, terrifying surge of dark red light erupted from the stone! The crimson energy shot straight up into the air, intertwining with the arena's primary protective array and instantly turning the translucent blue barrier into a thick, opaque dome of deep blood-red!
BZZZZ—!
The entire arena array vibrated violently as the outer connections were severed!
High up on the spectator pavilion, Rusunam Rusu stood up abruptly, her azure eyes wide with anger. "Master! That is a high-grade spatial isolation talisman! It has locked the stage from the inside!"
Peak Master Bing Lian remained seated on her ice throne, her pale face serene behind her frost veil, though her icy eyes narrowed slightly. "Shu-Lin's methods remain predictably desperate. The barrier cannot be broken from the outside for ten minutes without destroying the entire stage foundation."
Across the high tier, Grand Elder Shu-Lin sipping her tea calmly, a cold, victorious smirk gracing her pale lips.
Down on the stage, isolated within the thick blood-red barrier, Gao Yuan let out a wild, hysterical laugh that echoed off the dome walls.
"HAHAHAHA! The stage is sealed, Railin!" Gao Yuan shrieked, his blood-sword bursting with thick, dark crimson sword-qi that shaped itself into the roaring silhouette of a massive raven. "No elders can save you! No peak master can step in! For the next ten minutes, this arena is your personal slaughterhouse!"
Railin casually glanced up at the blood-red dome above his head, then looked back at Gao Yuan.
"Ten minutes..." Railin murmured softly, his pale lips curving into a slow, dark arc. "You brought a isolation barrier to protect yourself from help, yet you failed to realize... it merely locks you inside a cage with me."
BOOM!
Gao Yuan didn't waste another second! He stomped his right foot into the granite, cracking the stone beneath his boot, and shot forward like a blood-red meteor!
"Blood-Raven Art: Nine-Heaven Devouring Slash!"
SCREECH—!
A terrifying, high-pitched screech echoed through the sealed stage as nine massive, sword-qi ravens materialized in the air, their razor-sharp wings cutting through the wind as they surged directly toward Railin from nine different directions! The attack completely sealed off every possible route of escape!
The spectators outside the crimson dome gasped, unable to see clearly through the thick red energy, but feeling the murderous shockwaves radiating from the stage.
Facing the incoming wave of Stage Three sword-qi, Railin did not draw a weapon. He did not even raise his hands to construct a defensive barrier.
Instead, his body subtly melted into the surrounding shadows.
Shadow-Veil Step!
SWISH!
Railin's physical frame became completely translucent! The nine blood-ravens slammed violently into the exact spot where he had been standing a millisecond prior, shattering the granite floor into a crater of flying debris and dust!
BOOM—!
"WHAT?!" Gao Yuan's eyes bulged in pure shock as his lethal strike hit nothing but air. He couldn't feel a single thread of Railin's spiritual presence, heartbeat, or movement! "Where did he go?!"
"Looking for me?"
A low, smooth, and chilling voice sounded directly behind Gao Yuan's left shoulder.
Gao Yuan's blood ran cold. Instinctual, bone-chilling horror flooded his mind as he frantically spun around, swinging his heavy blood-sword back in a wild, desperate arc!
CLANG—!
The sound that followed was not the impact of steel against steel, nor was it the sound of flesh being torn.
It was the terrifying, crisp sound of two bare, pale fingers lightly catching the edge of a Stage Three high-grade spirit blade!
Gao Yuan froze mid-swing. His jaw dropped in utter, mind-numbing horror as he looked down.
Railin was standing right in front of him. His navy robes were untouched by the dust. His left hand was still tucked inside his sleeve, while his right hand was raised, two pale, slender fingers effortlessly pinching the razor-sharp edge of Gao Yuan's blood-sword!
No matter how hard Gao Yuan poured his Stage Three qi into the sword, the blade refused to budge even a fraction of an inch!
"How... how is your physical body this strong?!" Gao Yuan stammered, his voice cracking violently in sheer terror.
"Your sword art is weak," Railin said softly, his pitch-black eyes locking onto Gao Yuan's trembling pupils. "And your spirit essence is unrefined."
The Ashen Devouring Technique!
BOOM!
A terrifying, pitch-black void vortex erupted directly from Railin's palm, wrapping around the blood-sword!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The high-grade spirit blade began to shatter into hundreds of tiny metallic fragments! More terrifyingly, the thick, crimson sword-qi that Gao Yuan had spent years cultivating was violently sucked out of the blade, rushing straight into Railin's hand like a river of liquid energy!
"MY QI! NO! STOP! MY DANTIAN!" Gao Yuan screamed out in agony as he tried to let go of the sword hilt, but his hands were magnetically glued to the weapon by the terrifying void gravity!
The raw, Stage Three spirit essence was violently dragged out of Gao Yuan's body, flowing through the shattered sword, up Railin's arm, and directly into his lower dantian! Railin's Stage Two void core flared, instantly purifying and devouring the energy, converting it into refined void qi!
Gao Yuan's skin rapidly grew pale and shriveled, his hair turning grey as his cultivation base collapsed at an alarming speed!
CRASH!
The blood-sword exploded into useless metal dust!
Gao Yuan collapsed onto his knees, gasping for air, his dantian completely shattered, his Stage Three cultivation permanently erased in less than twenty seconds! He looked up at Railin with hollow, terrified eyes, trembling uncontrollably like a dying old man.
"You... you monster..." Gao Yuan croaked out, his voice a frail whisper.
Railin stood over him, his navy robes rustling gently. He did not even look at the broken man at his feet. Instead, he raised his right hand toward the blood-red dome surrounding them.
Deep within his upper dantian, his three Soul-Piercing Needles vibrated!
SWISH!
A single, invisible needle of pure soul-force shot out, striking the core of the Soul-Locking Crimson Talisman pinned to the granite floor!
EXPLODE—!
The blood-red dome shattered like fragile glass, turning into millions of dissolving crimson specks that washed away in the mountain wind!
The blinding midday sun flooded back onto the stage.
The tens of thousands of spectators in the amphitheater fell into a dead, absolute silence.
Standing on the center of the shattered stage was Railin, completely clean, uninjured, and standing tall under the sun. At his feet lay Gao Yuan, shriveled, crippled, and unconscious, his cultivation entirely destroyed.
The whole match had lasted less than thirty seconds.
High above on the spectator pavilion, Grand Elder Shu-Lin's tea glass shattered in her hand, her face turning deathly pale with a mixture of shock and violent rage.
Railin slowly turned his head, his pitch-black, bottomless eyes looking directly past the arena stewards, past the referee, and locking straight onto Lu Chen, who sat in the Shadow Moon contestant box with his jaw clenched so hard his teeth were bleeding.
Railin raised his hand, pointing a single, pale finger directly at Lu Chen's face.
"Next," Railin's smooth, terrifying voice echoed across the quiet arena.
The absolute silence hanging over the Central Sun-Moon Arena was so dense it felt almost physical. Tens of thousands of disciples, stewards, and elders sat frozen in their seats, staring down at the shattered black granite ring where Railin stood in complete, untouched calm.
Below his boots lay Gao Yuan—a prominent Stage Three disciple of the Shadow Moon Peak—shriveled, grey-haired, and devoid of a single thread of spiritual energy. The entire duel, from the activation of the spatial isolation talisman to the complete destruction of Gao Yuan's cultivation base, had transpired in less than half a minute.
In the contestant pavilion of Bracket D, Lu Chen's hands were shaking so violently that the armrest of his stone seat cracked under his grip. His face, usually defined by proud arrogance, was pale, his eyes wide with an emotion he hadn't felt in years: instinctual, cold dread.
"He... he didn't just defeat Gao Yuan," Lu Chen whispered under his breath, his voice trembling slightly. "He absorbed his qi... right through his high-grade spirit sword... What kind of vile, demonic technique is this?!"
Around Lu Chen, the other Shadow Moon disciples backed away, their faces drained of color. None of them dared to make eye contact with Railin, who remained standing at the center of the stage, his pale index finger still pointed directly at Lu Chen.
Up on the highest spectating tier, Grand Elder Shu-Lin slowly lowered her hand, letting the shattered fragments of her tea glass drop to the polished floor. Her deep purple robes trembled with suppressed rage, her crimson eyes locked onto Railin with an intensity that could melt iron.
"Peak Master Bing Lian," Shu-Lin's raspy, cold voice echoed across the high pavilion, drawing the attention of the surrounding elders. "Your disciple just used an unholy, forbidden method to devour a fellow disciple's cultivation base right in front of the entire academy! Under section twelve of the discipline code, devouring another's dantian is grounds for immediate execution!"
Peak Master Bing Lian did not even turn her head. She remained relaxed on her ice throne, her melodious voice sounding clearly through her white frost veil.
"Grand Elder Shu-Lin, have you lost your memory in your old age?" Bing Lian asked calmly, her words laced with icy sarcasm. "It was your disciple who illegally deployed the Soul-Locking Crimson Talisman, turning the official match into a life-and-death struggle behind a sealed barrier. When two disciples enter a sealed life-and-death duel, the academy bylaws explicitly state that all methods are permitted until the barrier breaks or one party surrenders."
Bing Lian paused, her azure eyes turning slightly to glance at Shu-Lin. "Gao Yuan did not surrender. Railin merely defended himself. If you have objections to the result, perhaps you should ask why your direct disciples are so fond of digging their own graves."
Shu-Lin's jaw clenched tightly, but she could not utter a single word of rebuttal. The arena records clearly showed Gao Yuan activating the crimson isolation array first. Under academy law, Railin's actions were entirely justified as self-defense within a locked duel!
Down on the stage, the official arena referee—a veteran elder from the Enforcement Hall—shook himself out of his shock. He stepped onto the shattered stone ring, cleared his throat loudly, and raised his hand.
"WINNER OF MATCH ONE, BRACKET D: DISCIPLE RAILIN OF ICE MYSTIC PEAK!" the referee announced, his voice echoed by the amplification array.
A sudden wave of thunderous cheers and frantic whispers erupted from the spectator stands!
"Merciless! Absolutely ruthless!"
"Did you see how he caught a Stage Three spirit blade with two bare fingers?!"
"He didn't even use a weapon! Is he really just at the Second Level of Foundation Establishment?!"
Railin casually retracted his hand, tucked his sleeves back into place, and turned toward the exit stairs. He did not wait for the applause, nor did he acknowledge the terrified stares of the passing stewards. As he walked past the referee, he paused slightly, his pitch-black eyes sweeping over the official tournament slate mounted on the stone wall.
Due to the brutal efficiency of Railin's victory, the scheduling for Bracket D was immediately altered.
Under the assembly rules, a contestant who completes a match without sustaining any physical injuries or spending more than ten percent of their qi reserve can request an immediate Consecutive Challenge to bypass the standard resting period.
Railin turned back to the referee, his calm voice cutting smoothly through the ambient noise.
"Elder, I request an immediate continuation," Railin stated flatly.
The referee blinked in surprise. "Disciple Railin, you wish to enter your second match immediately without resting?"
"There is no need to rest," Railin replied, his voice completely devoid of fatigue. "I would like to call out my next opponent directly under the Faction Dispute Clause."
The entire crowd went silent once more!
Calling a Consecutive Challenge under the Faction Dispute Clause meant that Railin could bypass the randomized bracket drawing and directly summon any opponent from the opposing faction who shared the same bracket level!
The referee looked down at his golden roster scroll, checking the active registrants for Bracket D. "Who do you wish to summon, Disciple Railin?"
Railin did not look at the scroll. His gaze turned cleanly toward the Shadow Moon contestant box, locking directly onto the rigid figure of Senior Disciple Lu Chen.
"Lu Chen," Railin called out, his voice smooth, clear, and carrying a heavy, echoing void resonance that vibrated through the stone seats. "You stated three days ago at the Central Martial Hall that you would break every bone in my body and drag me across this stage. Why wait for the second round? Step down now."
BOOM!
The spectator stands erupted into a frenzy!
"He's calling out Lu Chen directly?!"
"Lu Chen is a Stage Four Foundation veteran! He's at the middle tier of the entire inner sect ranking!"
"Railin just devoured Gao Yuan's Stage Three qi... could he actually be targeting Lu Chen's Stage Four core?!"
In the Shadow Moon contestant box, Lu Chen's face flushed red with intense, burning humiliation. Being called out directly in front of tens of thousands of spectators, peak masters, and grand elders left him with zero room for retreat. If he refused the challenge now, his reputation as a direct core disciple would be completely ruined, and his heart-demon would permanently halt his cultivation progress!
"You arrogant, suicidal leech...!" Lu Chen growled through gritted teeth, his heavy silver broadsword unsheathing with a sharp, ringing echo!
CLANG!
Lu Chen leaped over the stone barrier of the contestant box, his crimson robes fanning out as he surged through the air like a heavy, falling anvil! He slammed heavily onto the center of the granite stage, generating a dense shockwave of crimson shadow qi that shattered the remaining tiles around his boots!
BOOM—!
The Stage Four spiritual pressure radiating from Lu Chen was vastly superior to Gao Yuan's. The ambient temperature around the stage plummeted, and the heavy, metallic scent of blood filled the air as Lu Chen's volatile shadow aura expanded to its maximum limit.
"Elder! I accept the challenge under the Faction Dispute Clause!" Lu Chen roared, his cold eyes burning with murderous intent as he pointed his silver broadsword straight at Railin's heart. "Furthermore, I request that both parties sign the Life-and-Death Stage Covenant! No barriers, no surrenders, until one of us ceases to breathe!"
The referee turned his head to look at Railin. "Disciple Railin, the Life-and-Death Covenant requires mutual consent. If you decline, this match will proceed under standard tournament regulations where the referee may intervene to prevent mortality."
Railin looked at Lu Chen's bloodthirsty face, a faint, dark smirk slowly curving his lips.
Without uttering a single word of hesitation, Railin reached out his right hand. A thin thread of his void qi shot out, carving his name smoothly onto the golden covenant scroll held by the referee!
CLICK!
The golden scroll flared with a dark crimson rune, officially validating the Life-and-Death Covenant under the eyes of the academy's grand array!
"The covenant is sealed!" the referee declared, his voice grave as he stepped back off the stage, raising the defensive barrier to its maximum setting to protect the spectators. "MATCH TWO OF BRACKET D: RAILIN VERSUS LU CHEN! BEGIN!"
The moment the starting signal echoed across the arena, Lu Chen did not hold back a single fraction of his strength!
He knew Railin possessed terrifying physical strength and strange devouring methods. Therefore, he chose to unleash his most powerful, wide-scale Earth-tier combat art right from the start, intending to obliterate Railin before he could close the distance!
"Earth-Tier Art: Seven-Star Crimson Phantom Slash!"
WOOSH! WOOSH! WOOSH!
Lu Chen's figure suddenly split into seven distinct, crimson phantoms, each holding a glowing silver broadsword! All seven phantoms moved in a complex, overlapping star pattern, their terrifying Stage Four qi merging into a single, massive blade aura that spanned over thirty feet in length!
The air inside the defensive barrier twisted violently under the crushing weight of the sword aura!
"DIE!" all seven phantoms roared in unison, bringing the massive, thirty-foot crimson blade down directly toward Railin's head!
The attack covered every square inch of the stage! There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no space to execute subtle movement techniques!
Facing the descending, apocalyptic crimson blade, Railin's pitch-black eyes shimmered with an absolute, abyss-like excitement.
Instead of retreating, Railin took a deep, firm step forward with his right leg!
BOOM!
His lower dantian roared like a awakened ancient monster! The Stage Two void core spun at an unprecedented speed, unleashing every drop of the refined void qi he had devoured from Blood-Blade Mao, Iron-Skull Ba, Ghost-1, Ghost-2, and Gao Yuan!
A thick, pitch-black aura erupted from Railin's navy robes, transforming into a towering, black void vortex that wrapped around his body like an impenetrable shadow armor!
At the same time, deep within his upper dantian, all three Soul-Piercing Needles merged into a single, ultra-dense, pitch-black spike of pure mental destruction!
"Soul Art: Abyssal Needle Strike!" Railin whispered coldly in his mind.
SWISH!
The invisible black spike shot through the air at a speed that transcended physical space, penetrating straight through the thirty-foot crimson blade aura and slamming directly into Lu Chen's central consciousness!
THUD!
Mid-swing, Lu Chen's main physical body shuddered violently! A sudden, agonizing sensation of his soul being shredded apart exploded inside his brain! His vision turned completely pitch-black, his hands lost all feeling, and the seven crimson phantoms collapsed instantly into thin air!
"AAAAAGH—!" Lu Chen let out a blood-curdling scream of pure soul agony, clutching his head with his left hand as his massive sword aura shattered into useless sparks of red light!
Before the spectators could even comprehend why Lu Chen's invincible strike had suddenly collapsed mid-air, Railin's figure flickered!
Shadow-Veil Step!
Railin reappeared directly in front of Lu Chen, standing mere inches from his chest!
His pitch-black eyes were entirely devoid of human warmth, reflecting only the cold, devouring void.
Railin raised his right hand, his pale fingers forming a rigid claw, and thrust it straight into Lu Chen's chest!
PUCHI—!
Blood sprayed across the granite floor as Railin's hand pierced straight through Lu Chen's defensive qi shield, locking firmly around his lower dantian!
"N-No... mercy..." Lu Chen gasped, blood spurting from his mouth as his eyes opened wide in sheer, paralyzing horror.
"You wanted to break my bones," Railin whispered softly into Lu Chen's ear, his cold voice carrying the weight of a death sentence. "Thank you for the Stage Four core."
The Ashen Devouring Technique!
BOOM—!
A massive, black void vortex erupted violently inside Lu Chen's chest!
Lu Chen's Stage Four Foundation core, along with his entire life essence, blood qi, and spiritual reserves, was violently ripped apart, crushed, and swallowed whole by Railin's insatiable void core!
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!"
Lu Chen's shrieks of agony echoed through the sealed barrier, turning the stomachs of thousands of spectators in the stands! His body shriveled at a visible rate, his muscle mass deflating, his hair turning snow-white, and his eyes sinking deep into his skull!
Within ten seconds, the proud, arrogant third-ranked direct disciple of the Shadow Moon Peak was reduced to a withered, lifeless husk!
THUD.
Railin casually withdrew his hand, letting Lu Chen's dried corpse collapse onto the shattered granite floor.
BZZZZ—!
Inside Railin's lower dantian, the vast, concentrated energy of a Stage Four Foundation core exploded like a miniature sun! His Stage Two void core absorbed the massive essence, expanding rapidly, reinforcing his meridians, and pushing his cultivation base directly to the absolute peak of the Second Level of Foundation Establishment, just hairbreadth away from Stage Three!
Railin slowly raised his head, exhaling a faint trail of refined, grey mist from his lips. He pulled a white silk handkerchief from his pocket, casually wiping the blood from his pale fingers, and looked up at the high spectator pavilion.
His pitch-black eyes locked directly onto Grand Elder Shu-Lin, whose face was now completely twisted in a mask of horrifying, powerless rage.
The silence across the Central Sun-Moon Arena was absolute.
Railin tossed the bloody silk handkerchief onto Lu Chen's corpse, turned his back, and walked calmly off the stage, leaving behind a mountain of blood and the broken pride of the Shadow Moon Peak.
See you in next chapter....