Location: The Imperial Capital – Main Plaza
Time: The Heat of Battle
The screaming of the dying city faded into the background.
In the center of the plaza, beneath the towering obsidian statue of the Abyssal Lord, a circle of silence had formed. The sheer pressure of two Nascent Soul cultivators clashing pushed the lesser soldiers and beasts away.
Head Disciple Jiao stood with one hand resting casually on the flank of his Golden-Maned Lion. He spun his crystal spear, the weapon leaving trails of pure white light in the air.
"You are a disappointment, Lin Chen," Jiao said, his voice smooth and pitying. "I read your file. You were a 'Child of the Sun'. You had a Luck Stat of 85. You were destined to ascend to the Middle Realm."
Jiao pointed the spear tip at Lin Chen's black, corrupted armor.
"Now look at you. You reek of rot. You serve a master who treats you like a tool. Do you even remember what honor tastes like?"
Lin Chen didn't answer immediately. He adjusted his grip on Solstice. The once-golden blade was now jagged, pulsing with a violet vein. In his left hand, the Staff of the Corpse King hummed with necrotic hunger.
"Honor," Lin Chen whispered, his voice sounding like grinding stones, "is just a shackle the strong use to bind the weak."
He stepped forward.
"And I broke my chains."
Phase 1: The Gap in Technique
Jiao sighed. "Then die like a dog."
Jiao moved.
[Middle Realm Art: Flash-Step of the Thunder God.]
He crossed the fifty meters instantly. His spear thrust wasn't a single attack; it was a fan of starlight.
Thrust. Thrust. Thrust.
Lin Chen parried desperately. Solstice met the crystal spear in a shower of sparks.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG.
But Jiao was faster. His technique was flawless, honed by centuries of tradition in the Myriad Beasts Mountain.
A strike slipped past Lin Chen's guard. The spear tip grazed his cheek, tearing open a gash that hissed with holy fire. Another strike pierced his thigh armor. A third slammed into his chest plate, cracking the Abyssal Steel.
"Slow," Jiao taunted, dancing back. "Clumsy. Is this the power of the Abyss? You swing your sword like a barbarian."
Lin Chen stumbled back, black blood leaking from his wounds. The holy fire was burning his corrupted flesh, preventing regeneration.
[System Analysis: Lin Chen]
[HP: 75% (Falling)]
[Dexterity Disadvantage: -30% compared to Opponent.]
Jiao was right. In terms of pure martial arts, Lin Chen was outclassed. Jiao had trained in a Higher Realm. His basics were simply better.
"You can't win on skill," Jiao laughed, signaling his Lion. "Simba, crush him."
The Golden-Maned Lion roared. It leaped, a five-ton missile of muscle and fire.
Lin Chen looked up at the descending beast.
"Skill?" Lin Chen spat a mouthful of blood. "I don't need skill. I have Code."
Phase 2: The Hybrid Awakening
Lin Chen slammed the Staff of the Corpse King into the pavement.
"Active Skill: Grave-Bind."
Spectral hands exploded from the concrete—not to attack Jiao, but to grab the Lion's legs in mid-air. The Lion roared, thrashing as the necrotic grip halted its momentum.
"Simba!" Jiao shouted.
While the Lion was pinned, Lin Chen dropped the staff. He grabbed Solstice with both hands.
He closed his eyes.
He remembered the sun. He remembered the warmth of his old cultivation.
He remembered the cold. He remembered the void of Aris's torture.
Combine them.
"Fusion," Lin Chen whispered.
The violet vein in Solstice began to boil. The golden core of the sword ignited.
When the two energies met, they didn't mix. They annihilated each other.
But in that annihilation, a new energy was born.
[New Energy Signature Detected.]
[Type: Entropy.]
[Visual: The Grey Flame.]
A fire the color of cigarette ash erupted from the blade. It made no sound. It cast no shadow.
Lin Chen opened his eyes. They were no longer violet or gold. They were grey.
"Let me show you," Lin Chen said, vanishing.
Phase 3: The Ash-Walk
He didn't run. He flickered. He moved through the gaps in reality, appearing instantly in front of the pinned Lion.
He swung the sword.
The Lion roared, unleashing a burst of Holy Nova to protect itself.
The Grey Flame hit the Holy Nova.
It didn't explode. The Grey Flame simply... aged the Holy Fire. The golden light turned dim, then flickered out, as if a thousand years had passed in a second.
SLASH.
Solstice cut through the Lion's golden mane. It cut through the enchanted hide. It cut through the spine.
The Lion didn't scream. It disintegrated.
The massive beast turned into a cloud of grey dust before the two halves of its body even hit the ground.
[Enemy Unit Defeated: Golden-Maned Lion.]
[Effect: Erasure.]
Jiao froze. His arrogance shattered.
"What... what did you do?" Jiao stared at the pile of dust that used to be his bonded beast. "That wasn't Death Qi. That wasn't Fire. What is that?!"
"It's the End," Lin Chen said, turning toward the Disciple.
Phase 4: The Final Exchange
Jiao screamed in rage. "You killed him! I'll skin you alive!"
Jiao's aura exploded. Nascent Soul power flooded the plaza. His crystal spear began to glow with a blinding blue light.
[Ultimate Art: Dragon-Piercing Drill.]
Jiao threw the spear.
It spun like a railgun round, tearing up the pavement as it flew toward Lin Chen's heart.
Lin Chen didn't dodge. He walked forward.
He raised his left hand—his empty hand.
"Catch."
He grabbed the spinning spear.
CRUNCH.
The spear tore through his gauntlet. It shredded the flesh of his palm. It shattered the bones of his forearm.
But it stopped.
Lin Chen held the vibrating, deadly weapon by the shaft, his own arm ruined, blood spraying everywhere.
Jiao's eyes bulged. "You... you sacrificed your arm?"
"I have another," Lin Chen hissed.
He was now in striking range.
He thrust Solstice forward.
"Art: Sun-Eater."
The Grey Flame on the tip of the sword concentrated into a single point.
Jiao tried to summon his armor, but he was too slow.
The sword pierced Jiao's chest plate.
The Middle Realm Spirit Armor, forged from Star-Metal, rusted instantly upon contact. The blade slid through the metal like it was wet clay and buried itself in Jiao's heart.
The Conclusion
Jiao gasped. He looked down at the grey fire spreading from the wound.
He didn't feel heat. He felt... nothing. He felt his memories fading. He felt his cultivation dissolving.
"My... soul..." Jiao wheezed. "It's... deleting..."
"Tell the Underworld," Lin Chen whispered into his ear, twisting the blade, "that the Pale Alchemist sends his regards."
Lin Chen ripped the sword out.
Jiao fell. His body turned to ash before it hit the floor, leaving only his crystal spear clattering on the stones.
[Enemy Commander Defeated: Head Disciple Jiao.]
[XP Gained: Massive.]
Lin Chen stood over the dust pile. His left arm was a mangled ruin of bone and meat. His armor was shattered. He was breathing heavily, the Grey Flame on his sword flickering out.
He looked up at the sky, where the Azure Dragon still circled the enemy ship.
"Master," Lin Chen projected his thought, filled with a grim, bloody satisfaction. "The Plaza is clear."
The View from Above
Aris watched the duel conclude on his tactical map.
"The Grey Flame," Aris mused, zooming in on the combat log. "He fused the concept of 'Solar Life' with 'Abyssal Void'. Life plus Anti-Life equals Entropy. He unlocked the Dao of Ash."
Aris smiled.
"Good job, Lin Chen. Go heal. You've earned a break."
Aris turned his attention back to the massive Pagoda-Ship in front of him.
The ground invasion had stalled. The Elite Disciple was dead. The Hunter Pods were being overwhelmed by the frenzied suicide-soldiers.
Elder Kong appeared on the hologram again. His face was no longer bored. It was twisted with apoplectic fury.
"You killed Jiao," Kong's voice shook the sky. "You slaughtered my disciples. You destroyed my ground forces."
The Pagoda-Ship began to hum. The runes on the hull turned from blue to an angry, unstable red.
"PROTOCOL: GLASS PLANET IS TOO MERCIFUL," Kong roared. "I WILL CRACK THIS WORLD IN HALF LIKE AN EGG!"
The ship began to descend. It wasn't firing weapons. It was turning itself into a kinetic impactor. It intended to ram the World Tree directly.
Aris stood on the Dragon's head.
"He's trying to kamikaze the server," Aris realized. "If that ship hits the ground, the impact will trigger an extinction event."
Aris pulled out the Four Divine Seals. They circled him—Blue, White, Red, Green.
"Dragon," Aris said calmly. "It's time to show them what a 'World Master' can do."
He looked at the descending city-sized ship.
"System. Combine all four seals. Unlock Planetary Authority."