[System]
Mission Path[1]
Reward[2]
Chen Xiao's face twisted. "No… this isn't what it should have been!" he shouted as all the other mission choices faded from the system window.
He stared helplessly, the glow disappearing from his face. "H-hey! Come back!"
Mad with frustration, Chen Xiao grabbed the neck of the person who had bumped into him.
"Who are you?! Do you know what you just"
But when he saw the man's face, he froze.
"Please, no! I'm not part of them! I'm a victim, I swear!" cried Pi Dao, trembling and on the verge of tears.
Chen Xiao blinked. "Pi Dao…?"
He had never seen him like this before. His friend looked terrified, clothes torn, eyes red from crying.
Chen slowly loosened his grip. "What happened to you?"
Pi Dao fell to his knees, shaking. "I was just on a date with my girl. Everything was fine… until her eyes turned red. She looked back toward the town center then ran off like she'd gone mad. Everyone did."
He swallowed hard, voice trembling. "When I chased after her, I saw the South Sword Sect. They didn't even ask they just attacked. I barely dodged one strike before they cut another man in half!"
He clenched his fists. "The screams… the blood… I hid inside a house. Within minutes, the whole town was… gone."
Chen Xiao stared in silence.
"And now," Pi Dao whispered, "I'm the only one left."
Chen sighed, turning away. "You should get out of here. I don't have any plans to head to another town. It's better we split up."
But before he could walk away, Pi Dao grabbed his leg.
"Please! Don't abandon me! I'm useless at everything except labor and cultivation!"
Chen Xiao tried to shake him off. "Come on, man, this isn't the time for"
"Please!" Pi Dao begged again, tears streaking his face.
Chen groaned, rubbing his temples. "Don't you have relatives?"
Pi Dao just shook his head.
After a long silence, Chen Xiao sighed in defeat. "Fine… you can tag along. But if you slow me down, I'm leaving you."
"Thank you!" Pi Dao cried, hugging his leg tighter.
The two walked back into town. The once bustling streets were now a ghost town, corpses strewn everywhere. The air was thick with the smell of iron and smoke.
"How did the South Sword Sect wipe this place out in just a few minutes?" Chen muttered.
They stopped as a massive crater came into view at the town's center, stretching across several kilometers. The ground was still smoking.
Pi Dao's face went pale. "What did this…?"
The scene shifted to Pan xiao when his still in the very town center..
Pan Xiao's sword slashed through the air like a raging current. The flow of his energy spiraled out of control, his aura turning wild and lethal.
"Move away! I can't stop!" Pan shouted, his eyes snapping shut. He didn't want to see his sparring partner, Zhao Xinger, die.
The next instant, a deafening BOOM split the air. Dust and wind exploded outward, shaking the square.
The disciples gasped. "Little Zhao!"
When the smoke cleared, Pan Xiao was still standing his sword trembling slightly. In front of him stood the South Sword Sect elder, one hand raised, effortlessly blocking the strike.
"You keep surpassing my expectations, young man," the elder said calmly. "As such, the first and second tests are complete."
Pan Xiao blinked. "Second… test?"
The old man nodded. "The first test was about your will and your sword. You never switched weapons during the duel you trusted your blade fully. You passed. The second was about skill. You pushed an inner disciple to the brink of death. That too, you passed."
"So did I pass?"
Pan Xiao caught his breath. "Then what's the last test?"
The elder's smile widened, and the pressure around him grew heavy.
"People can hide their true strength and their true nature when they are comfortable," he said, his aura beginning to swirl. "But when they're threatened, their real selves emerge."
His robe fluttered in the air as his power surged, sending waves of force across the courtyard.
"Now, show me everything you have!"
The elder pointed his sword down his expression deadly serious.
"Block this child"
[1] find and cultivate a land
[2] modern garden tools