The heavens seemed to shudder.
Ren Hao descended like a meteor, his sword blazing silver, Qi howling around it like a storm. Killing intent pressed down like an avalanche, suffocating and merciless. Even the mist recoiled, shredded into ribbons by the sheer force of his strike.
Lin Xuan's staff quivered in his grip, splintering with each heartbeat. His golden veins pulsed violently beneath his skin, too much power surging through a body unprepared to contain it. His vision blurred, his ribs ached, and yet—his grip only tightened.
"Fight… or die."
The words were not a choice. They were a truth carved into his bones.
Ren Hao roared, his blade crashing down. Lin Xuan raised his shattered staff, infusing it with every scrap of Qi he could muster. The collision split the night with a deafening thunderclap.
The shockwave blasted the ground apart, uprooting trees, sending dirt and stone flying like shrapnel. Lin Xuan's arms nearly snapped under the force; pain shot up his bones like fire. His staff screeched, cracking deeper, splinters flying. His knees buckled.
But he did not fall.
Ren Hao's eyes widened. "You—!?"
A mortal boy—matching a cultivator's blow? Even if just for an instant, it was heresy against the natural order.
"RAHHH!" Lin Xuan roared, pouring everything into his strike. His blood boiled, Qi erupting wildly, uncontrolled. Golden veins across his skin blazed, searing cracks through his flesh as if his very body rejected the power.
And then—
The staff shattered.
A violent burst of light consumed the clearing, blasting both fighters apart. Ren Hao flipped midair, regaining balance on his flying sword. Lin Xuan, however, was hurled like a ragdoll, smashing against the shrine stones. Blood sprayed from his mouth, but he forced himself upright, trembling, refusing to collapse.
The shrine glowed faintly where his blood touched it, the jade fragment embedded within pulsing like a beating heart.
Ren Hao sneered, regaining his composure. "So that's it. The shrine feeds you. A broken mortal with a scrap of heaven's pity." He lifted his blade, silver Qi swirling thicker around him, sharper, deadlier. "Then I'll crush shrine and boy together."
Yu Ling's voice rang out, fierce and desperate. "Ren Hao! Stop this madness!"
But her words were drowned beneath the roar of Ren Hao's Qi as he raised his sword high. "Die, cursed one!"
The blade descended again—faster, heavier.
Lin Xuan staggered to his feet, chest heaving, ribs screaming with pain. His vision doubled. His legs trembled. He had nothing left. Nothing but—
The shrine's pulse.
The jade fragment flared in response to his desperate will. In his hand, where the shattered staff had been, fragments of light coalesced. Golden energy wrapped around his fingers, solidifying, hardening—
A weapon. Crude, jagged, half-formed. But alive.
A broken spear of jade and gold.
Lin Xuan raised it, just as Ren Hao's blade fell.
The collision shook the heavens. Sparks and light erupted, blinding. Qi storms raged outward, carving craters in the earth, ripping apart trees like grass. Yu Ling was forced back, shielding her face as azure light wrapped her blade defensively.
Ren Hao snarled, pressing harder, veins bulging at his temple. "You dare defy me! A mortal brat dares resist!?"
Lin Xuan's arms quivered violently, the bones nearly snapping from the pressure. His lips bled as he grit his teeth.
"I… am not… a brat!" he roared. "I am Lin Xuan!"
He twisted his crude spear, channeling the jade fragment's chaotic resonance. A surge of golden light burst outward, forcing Ren Hao back several steps. The cultivator's sword screeched against the glow, sparks flaring.
Ren Hao's eyes narrowed, his smirk twisting into something feral. "Interesting. Very interesting. No wonder Yu Ling defends you. But this only proves what I said—" His voice dropped to a venomous growl. "—you are dangerous."
With a vicious spin, he unleashed a technique. His blade split into countless silver arcs, each one slicing toward Lin Xuan like a storm of knives.
Lin Xuan's body screamed in warning. He barely raised his weapon, deflecting the first arc. Sparks exploded. The second cut grazed his side, blood spraying. The third slammed into his shoulder, nearly sending him to his knees.
But he did not fall.
Each wound burned, but his golden veins flared brighter, forcing his Qi to flow despite the pain. His jagged spear absorbed fragments of the shrine's pulse, strengthening under each desperate strike.
He met the storm head-on.
Steel against jade, silver against gold. The forest blazed with light. The ground trembled.
Yu Ling hovered above, her heart pounding. This is madness. A mortal should not even survive a single blow… yet he… he fights.
Ren Hao's laughter echoed. "Good! Struggle harder, boy! The more you resist, the sweeter your despair when I break you!"
Lin Xuan panted, his body soaked in blood, but his gaze never wavered. "Break… me?" His voice was hoarse, ragged. "I was already broken. What I am now—what I fight for—cannot be broken again!"
With a desperate cry, he lunged, spear thrusting forward. Golden light spiraled around the jagged weapon, unstable but fierce.
Ren Hao swung down to meet it. Their blades clashed—
And the shrine behind Lin Xuan roared to life.
A wave of golden Qi exploded outward, swallowing both fighters. Yu Ling gasped, shielding herself from the light.
When it cleared, Ren Hao was thrown back, coughing blood, his robe scorched. His eyes widened in disbelief. "That power…! No… it can't be… That fragment is—"
But before he could speak further, the ground shook violently.
From deep within the forest, a guttural roar echoed. The mist twisted, shadows churning. Crimson light pulsed between the trees, heavy and suffocating.
Yu Ling's face drained of color. "No… not now…"
Lin Xuan's trembling body turned, his crude weapon still glowing faintly. His chest heaved, every breath agony, yet his eyes fixed on the shifting mist.
The roar came again, louder, shaking the earth. The trees bent as something vast stirred within the shadows.
Ren Hao's smirk returned, cruel despite his wounds. "Hah… it seems heaven itself wants you dead, boy." He spat blood, raising his sword again. "Whether by my blade, or by what awakens in this forest—you won't leave alive."
Lin Xuan planted his spear into the earth, forcing himself upright though every nerve screamed. His veins flickered, his vision blurred. But his voice, hoarse and raw, carried through the clearing:
"Then I'll fight them all."
His golden veins flared once more, the shrine pulsing behind him, as the monstrous presence in the forest finally stirred—its shadow spilling across the mist like the wings of death.
The night of Azure Mist Village was far from over.