Meanwhile, outside the barrier, the righteous army was already celebrating a victory they hadn't earned yet.
When Jake walked toward the edge of Dark Sky guild with four villains at his back, the army outside the barrier erupted in response. Tens of thousands of voices surged together, confidence swelling like a rising tide. Above them, ten figures sat unmoving inside their hovering chariots, trying to steady their breaths. They weren't here to shout. They were here to end something.
Then the crowd rippled.
"He's coming out."
Every flying sword wavered. Cultivators who had been floating proudly in the air suddenly dropped toward the ground like startled birds. No one wanted to be the highest target when this grand villain stepped into view.
Even before Jake emerged, fear arrived first in the eyes of onlookers.
Darius, meanwhile, remained suspended above everyone else, stubbornly holding his ground. His aura burned hot and sharp, but the chill in his eyes gave him away.
Jake walked forward.
No terrifying pressure followed him. No surge of power shook the land. He simply walked with his robe fluttering faintly in the wind and his white hair drifting behind him like slow-moving smoke. His four disciples followed in silence, their steps stopping when he stopped at the very edge of the barrier.
The mountain fell quiet.
Orion was the first to speak. "Only one month, and you already look younger, Guild Master Seraph. Either you've found a miracle cure… or your time is almost up."
Laughter broke out across the ranks at the last bit of comment.
Jake didn't take it as offense, though. He replied calmly, "You've grown bold, Orion."
"Drop the act," Orion snapped back. "We know you're injured. Surrender now, and we might leave you enough flesh for burial."
Darius then lifted his voice from the sky. "Those four behind you must be your last loyal dogs. Hey, you four… Kill him with us, and the righteous path will wipe off the crimes you lot have committed so far."
Tens of thousands roared the same word in reply.
"Kill!"
The sound struck like a wave.
Lucien clicked his tongue. "Master, give me thirty seconds. I'll turn that pretty boy into a cloud of red mist."
Darius retreated instantly.
Jake raised one finger. "That won't be necessary."
Isolde Von Eryna smiled lazily. "Pity. I was hoping to slap him hard enough to remember us in his next life."
Orion sneered. "You villains never change. Using veterans to bully juniors. Typical."
Jake Garreck finally spoke again, voice low and even. "Good and evil are not yours to define, fool. If my disciples sinned, then I would punish them. Not you."
Orion laughed outright. "Punish them? Cassien (first disciple) is devouring Guilds. Kaelan (2nd disciple) was killing nobles and cultivators without any reason. Azrael (the third disciple) was helping both of them and even harming the Emperor by supplying the imperial army secrets to the enemies. Which one did you stop?"
Each name struck like a hammer.
The crowd watched closely now.
Jake's reply, however, came without hesitation. "Then?" He didn't have an ounce of expression on his face.
Silence met his one-word question for half a breath.
Then anger exploded.
"You talk about right and wrong and then dare pretend indifference?" Orion shouted.
Jake's gaze turned cold this time, speaking finality. "Those who are not my kin are never my burden."
For the first time, his disciples tensed behind him. Their master had never bothered to justify anything before.
Draven, a 7-star realm warrior, stepped forward sharply. "Come out of the barrier if you're not afraid!"
And in the next second, Jake moved.
The shield parted at his touch.
Wind surged. The vast army loomed before him, endless and watchful. Every instinct in him screamed retreat. Instead, he stepped fully outside.
"Well?" he said. "Show me."
Orion immediately burst upward in a blur. Reaching tens of feet high, he then motioned his sword, which multiplied into a spinning storm, hundreds of blades flashing as one.
"The Flash of Heavenly Sword!"
The sky filled with his scream
Jake still did not move.
*
Every eye outside the mountain locked onto Jake.
The weaker cultivators saw only an old man standing in the wind. The stronger ones reached out with their senses, probing, testing, searching for even the faintest ripple of power.
They found nothing.
No pressure. No presence. No depth.
It was like he had absolutely no power at all.
Above them, Orion's attack finished condensing. Hundreds of overlapping sword-images spun into a single, violent storm of light.
Seraphina's fingers tightened in her sleeves. "Master…"
Behind her, the other three watched with a different kind of interest.
Lucien tilted his head, eyes gleaming as he said. "Relax. Master wouldn't step out unless he had something hidden."
Jake's face remained calm, but inside, his heartbeat hammered like war drums.
His eyes flicked across the glowing icons in his vision. Peak Strength Card. Critical Blocks. All still unused. All sitting there like tightly wrapped explosives waiting to be used.
Just as he was about to use the strength card, the system whispered again.
*Ding.
[Side Quest Triggered: Observation of the Heart.]
[Objective: Force the villainous disciples to reveal their true loyalty.]
Jake stopped at the last second and nearly laughed.
Enemies in front. Knives at his back. Even his system had a sense of irony.
Orion's voice then crashed over the battlefield.
"Die."
The sky screamed.
Blades roared forward in a silver hurricane, tearing the air apart. The wind alone stripped banners from poles and drove thousands of cultivators into retreat.
"Master, move!" Seraphina cried.
The other three did not shout, though.
They moved instead.
Sylas and Isolde struck at the same time.
A wall of force slammed sideways into the storm of blades, violently shifting its trajectory. The attack scraped past Jake instead of through him, slamming into the barrier behind.
Jake turned and bolted back inside the shield as if driven by pure panic.
The redirected attack, meanwhile, hit the barrier like falling stars.
Boom.
Boom.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the invisible dome.
Silence followed.
Then laughter.
"He ran!"
"So this is the Great Villain of House Seraph now?"
"Tch. A month ago, he fought ten of them. Now he hides behind glass."
Orion hovered casually in the sky. "Is that your trick, Alaric Von Seraph? Running?"
Jake didn't answer, though.
He looked at the fractured shield overhead.
His Critical Block Cards still showed full charges.
Meaning he had never actually been in danger.
Meaning the only ones who had truly panicked… were his disciples.
Lucien stepped forward and said in a confident manner, "Master, with your strength, holding the ten monsters is enough. The rest we can crush easily."
Jake turned his head slowly, staring right into his eyes. "Are you questioning my decision?"
Lucien bowed. "This disciple wouldn't dare."
Jake's voice then deepened. "Sylas De Veylin."
"Yes, Master."
"Who allowed you to interfere in my battle?"
Sylas froze.
A heartbeat later, he dropped to his knees. "I was afraid you'd fall into his trap."
As Jake watched him quietly, Lucien straightened up with a crooked smile. "You've acted long enough, Master."
"Oh?"