Beneath the erosion of countless years, ancient ruins lay scattered across the valley. Broken stones overlapped one another like the remains of a failed calculation, their surfaces darkened by dried blood and lingering resentment. Battles had been fought here. Victors had departed. Losers had become part of the soil.
Time had passed.
Time always passed.
Time, that most impartial law, had worn away everything except what refused to yield.
"Refine… refine… refine…"
The whisper echoed faintly, hoarse and broken, yet unwavering. It carried neither madness nor confusion
only obsession, cold and persistent, like water grinding stone.
"I shall refine the earth."
"I shall refine the heavens."
"Refine. Refine. Refine."
At the center of the ruins stood a shattered altar. Upon it sat an old man, cross-legged, unmoving.
His robes were little more than rags. His body was thin, frail, pushed to the edge of collapse. Snow-white hair fell loosely around his shoulders, stirred by a weak wind. Yet his eyes remained sharp clear pools that reflected not despair, but calculation.
Old Ancestor Qi.
A qi Path great expert. Once feared. Now surrounded.
Footsteps crunched against broken stone.
"Old Demon Qi!"
A young man strode forward, his posture straight, his voice loud enough for others to hear. Righteous indignation colored his expression, practiced and deliberate.
"Hand over the Myriad Immortal Blood qi Pearl," he declared, "and the righteous path may yet spare your miserable life."
Old Ancestor Qi did not respond
Like he didn't even hear it .
His gaze lingered briefly on the youth's clenched fist, the tension in his stance, the greed barely concealed behind anger.
They speak of mercy because they believe they hold victory, he thought calmly. They demand surrender because they wish to harvest benefits without cost.
Beside the youth, a young woman stepped forward. Her eyes were sharp, her patience thin.
"Why waste words?" she sneered. "Just kill him. Once he's dead, his inheritance is ours to divide."
Old Ancestor Qi's lips twitched.
At least she understands incentives, he noted. Honesty born of ambition. Rare, among those who preach virtue.
"Insolent!"
A cold snort cut through the tension.
An elder advanced from the rear. His presence alone caused the surrounding cultivators to stiffen. The air seemed heavier with each step he took, as if the world itself resisted his approach.
His eyebrows were sharp, his gaze piercing.
"He is Old Ancestor Qi," the elder said slowly. "A peak core formation level expert". A qi Path grandmaster who has survived for 500 years
Do you truly believe he can be killed so easily?"
The valley fell silent.
The young man and woman froze. Their confidence shattered instantly. Fear seeped in, cold and uncontrollable.
The crowd of cultivatiors snorted and reprimanded them .
"S-Sword Immortal…" they stammered.
Old Ancestor Qi raised his head at last.
His gaze swept across the assembled cultivators
A gathering of vultures, he assessed. Each waiting for another to bleed first.
"Yin… Yin… Extreme Yin."
His voice was weak, yet each syllable carried weight. Dao marks stirred. The heavens trembled faintly in response.
The next instant, his body rose from the altar.
Across the battlefield, Extreme Yin Lotuses bloomed.
One after another, they emerged from the ground black and pale, petals layered with deathly intent. Cold spread outward as life force was drained indiscriminately.
Screams erupted.
Cultivators caught unprepared were frozen in place, their bodies crystallizing before being devoured by the lotuses. Resistance was brief. Death was efficient.
"Save us!"
"Sword Immortal—!"
The Sword Immortal's expression darkened.
Useless, he thought. All of them.
He drew his blade.
Sword qi screamed into existence, carving a radiant arc across the battlefield. The Extreme Yin Lotuses were severed cleanly, their essence collapsing into dissipating mist.
The Sword Immortal rose into the sky. His Rank Eight aura unfurled without restraint.
"Old Demon Qi," he said coldly, "hand over the Blood Pearl. I will let you leave."
He paused.
"I will even cleanse this battlefield for you. Consider it sincerity."
Old Ancestor Qi looked up at him.
Pragmatic. Decisive. He understands the rules, he acknowledged. If this were fifty years earlier, I might have accepted.
But now—
It is too late.
Before the Sword Immortal could act—
The Myriad Immortal Blood Pearl detonated.
It was not a chaotic explosion, but a controlled collapse. Dao marks shattered and reassembled, fuel for a forbidden Time Path killer move.
Old Ancestor Qi's body dissolved into crimson-black light.
The Sword Immortal's pupils contracted.
"No!"
Space distorted.
Reality screamed.
A temporal singularity formed, devouring everything mountains, sword light, screams, even cause and effect itself.
Abd then
Stillness.
Old Ancestor Qi opened his eyes.
The air was unfamiliar .
The fluctuations of heaven and earth matched his memory precisely as t
He read in the aincent books fifty years ago.
He remained motionless.
Then he laughed.
"I broke through, I BROKE THROUGH
I'm no longer a scum of the lower realms
I broke through to the upper realms ahahahahahaa" he said.
Success.
The price had been high . Acceptable