Chapter 6 — The Hunted Becomes the Hunter
The storm had quieted. The air within the Lightning Burial Ground was thick with the stench of charred corpses. Among the ruins of beasts and cultivators alike, Ye Tianlan stood, his aura surging like an endless tide.
The Lightning Core he absorbed burned within his veins, every breath carrying crackles of thunder. His once bloodied body was now tempered, his skin glowing faintly with golden lightning runes. He clenched his fist, and arcs of electricity snapped across his knuckles.
He had ascended.
But peace would not last.
A shrill whistle echoed through the air, followed by the flutter of black banners descending from the mountains. Dozens of cultivators emerged, their armor etched with demonic sigils. Their killing intent pressed down like an iron wall.
The leader, a tall man with crimson eyes, smirked coldly. "So it's true. The Crown Prince of Xu survived. The Seven Envoys will be pleased when I bring them your head."
Behind him, his subordinates laughed, their blades gleaming.
Ye Tianlan's gaze swept over them. There were at least twenty—Spirit Realm cultivators, each stronger than the guards of his fallen empire. But instead of fear, his lips curved into a cold smile.
"So the dogs have come. Good."
The crimson-eyed leader frowned. "You dare mock us? You're alone, boy. What can you—"
He never finished.
Ye Tianlan moved like a storm, lightning tearing the ground as he vanished from sight. A crack of thunder echoed, and the man's head rolled across the dirt before his body realized it was dead.
The army froze in horror.
"Kill him!" someone screamed.
The Burial Ground became a slaughterhouse.
Ye Tianlan's body blurred through lightning arcs, every strike burning flesh to ash. Spears shattered in his hands, throats crushed beneath his fists, eyes turned to nothing under his blazing palm strikes. He was not a man fighting—he was a storm given flesh.
Blood drenched the black soil until rivers ran red.
One cultivator, a woman clad in dark armor, fell to her knees, her face pale with terror. "Please… spare me. I'll serve you, anything—"
Ye Tianlan's golden eyes glared down at her.
"Equity," he said coldly, raising his palm. "You stood with them. You die with them."
Lightning fell, and silence followed.
By the time the sun rose, the Burial Ground was littered with corpses. Not a single one had survived.
Ye Tianlan stood amidst the ruin, his robes torn, his aura blazing stronger than ever. His grief still burned in his chest, but something else now festered—resolve.
He looked toward the distant horizon, where the Seven Realms watched from their lofty thrones.
"You sent pawns, envoys, armies…" His voice was low, filled with thunder. "But no matter how many you send, I will devour them all. Until nothing remains above me."
The heavens rumbled faintly, as though answering his defiance.
That day, the cultivator world whispered of a massacre in the Lightning Burial Ground—where a lone survivor of the Xu Empire annihilated an entire hunting force.
And in the shadows, whispers grew of a name that would soon shake all realms:
Ye Tianlan, the Heaven-Defying Prince.