**Sunlight burned** Min-jun's eyes as they emerged from the tunnels.
After days in the underground ruins, the sudden assault of golden morning light was almost painful. He raised a hand to shield his vision—just as an arrow thudded into the rock beside his head.
"DOWN!" Xia yanked him behind a boulder as a volley of projectiles whistled overhead.
The landscape before them was chaos incarnate.
Hundreds of fighters clashed across a valley of trampled rice fields—some in the distinct black-and-silver robes of the Jade Serpent Sect, others in the earthy tones of what could only be rebels. Above them, floating platforms carried archers raining fire arrows onto the battlefield. But most horrifying were the *creatures*—twisted hybrids of man and beast that moved with unnatural coordination, tearing through rebel lines.
Xia's nostrils flared. "Void-spawn. The sects are using them as shock troops."
Min-jun's brand pulsed in recognition, sending a wave of nausea through him. The black veins from crushing Golden Mask's stone had spread up to his elbow now, throbbing with each heartbeat.
A rebel fighter crashed to the ground near their hiding spot, his chest caved in by a Void-spawn's claw. His dying eyes locked onto Min-jun.
"Help... us..."
Xia grabbed a fallen sword. "We need to move—"
Min-jun was already moving.
The Second Form guided his steps as he entered the battlefield. The first Void-spawn—a jackal-headed monstrosity—died mid-leap, its skull imploding from a precise palm strike. The second fell when Min-jun's fingers found its irregular heartbeat and *pulsed* chi through its veins.
Rebel fighters stared as he carved a path through the enemy lines. Whispers spread:
"It's the Wolf-Slayer..."
"The Blood Pit champion..."
Xia fought beside him, her movements less refined but twice as brutal. She fought like someone with nothing left to lose.
A horn blast signaled the sect forces' retreat. The remaining Void-spawn collapsed simultaneously, as if their strings had been cut.
Panting, Min-jun turned to face the surviving rebels—and froze.
At the head of their ranks stood a familiar scarred figure.
Liao grinned, very much alive despite the fresh burns covering half his body. "Took you long enough, boy."
---
**The rebel camp** smelled of blood and boiling herbs. Makeshift tents housed the wounded, while children too young to fight sharpened spears under watchful eyes.
Liao poured bitter-smelling liquor over his burns without flinching. "The sects have been purging anyone connected to the Void experiments," he explained. "Turns out that made a lot of enemies."
Xia snorted, cleaning her stolen blade. "So you formed a rebellion with lab rats and discarded tools?"
"Exactly." Liao's good eye gleamed as he studied Min-jun's blackened veins. "Though it seems you've been busy too."
Min-jun flexed his aching arm. "What are these?"
"Void corruption." Liao produced a yellowed scroll from his robes. "The sects' records call it 'Eclipse Rot'—what happens when human flesh absorbs too much unfiltered Void energy." He tapped the scroll. "Normally fatal within weeks. But..."
Xia snatched the scroll. "But nothing. The Third Form of Heaven's Fist can purge it." She glared at Liao. "If we can find someone who knows it."
A tense silence fell.
Liao broke it with a chuckle. "Lucky for you, I know exactly where to look." He unrolled a map across the makeshift table. "The Cloud-Swallowing Mountains. Last stronghold of the original Heaven's Fist practitioners."
Min-jun studied the markings. "That's three hundred li through sect-controlled territory."
"Closer to five hundred with detours." Liao's grin turned feral. "Good thing we have a distraction coming."
As if on cue, shouts erupted outside. A scout burst into the tent, eyes wide.
"The sects! They're—"
The ground trembled. Then the *sky* trembled.
Min-jun rushed outside just in time to see the horizon *tear open*.
A new gate—ten times larger than any he'd seen before—swirled into existence above the Jade Serpent Sect's fortress. But instead of monsters, *figures* in flowing robes began descending on beams of golden light.
Xia made a sound like a wounded animal.
"That's not a sect," she whispered. "That's the *Celestial Vanguard*."
Liao paled. "The Void Lords' personal army."
As the first celestial warrior touched down, the earth itself recoiled. Trees withered in a hundred-meter radius. Birds fell dead from the sky.
Min-jun's brand *screamed* in recognition—and something far beneath his skin *answered*.
**TO BE CONTINUED...**