The sky above the Eternal Night Sect was a kaleidoscope of violence.
To the left, the Nascent Soul Puppet (Old Sect Master) was locked in a deadlock with Jian Wushuang. Green necrotic poison clashed with white holy sword light, creating shockwaves that vaporized clouds.
To the right, Mo Tian danced with the berserker Ye Chen.
"Die! Why won't you die?!" Ye Chen screamed, swinging his sword like a club. His attacks were sloppy, driven by the Solar Tyrant's rage rather than skill.
Mo Tian sidestepped a slash that would have cut a mountain in half.
"You have power, Hero," Mo Tian commented, slapping Ye Chen across the face with the flat of his blade. "But you have no rhythm."
He kicked Ye Chen in the chest.
BOOM.
Ye Chen rocketed downward, crashing through the roof of the Alchemy Hall.
Mo Tian turned his attention to the real threat: Jian Wushuang.
The Divine Sword Sect Master was winning. He had realized the puppet was mindless.
"Divine Sword Art: Sun Piercer!"
Jian Wushuang feinted, then drove the Heaven-Splitter straight through the puppet's chest. The holy light burned the necrotic core instantly.
The puppet froze. Its green eyes went dark. It crumbled into dust.
"One down!" Jian Wushuang roared, turning his burning gaze to Mo Tian. "You are next, Demon!"
He raised the massive greatsword. The spiritual energy of the entire battlefield seemed to gather toward the blade. It began to glow with a light so intense it blinded the soldiers below.
"Ancestral Art: World Severing Slash!"
This was it. The move that could kill a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Mo Tian floated there. He didn't run. He didn't defend.
He looked past Jian Wushuang, toward the Divine Sword Sect's flagship hovering at the edge of the battle.
Standing on the deck was Young Master Jian, who had been "rescued" (ransomed) weeks ago. He was watching the battle, surrounded by guards.
Mo Tian raised his left hand. He didn't aim at Jian Wushuang. He aimed at the son.
"Code: Parricide."
On the flagship, Young Master Jian's eyes suddenly went pitch black. The Soul Puppet Thread Mo Tian had buried deep in his brain stem—dormant until this exact frequency was played—snapped tight.
"Father!" Young Master Jian screamed, his voice amplified by Qi. "Behind you! The Assassin!"
Jian Wushuang, focused entirely on Mo Tian, flinched. An assassin?
He turned his head slightly, his concentration breaking for a microsecond.
There was no assassin.
But there was a beam of sword light rushing toward him. Not from an enemy. From his son.
Young Master Jian had launched himself from the ship. He wasn't attacking an assassin. He was attacking his father.
"Jian'er?" Jian Wushuang froze. "What are you—"
SHKTH.
Young Master Jian's sword didn't pierce his father's armor. It couldn't. The difference in cultivation was too high.
But Mo Tian had accounted for that.
Jian didn't stab. He slammed a Corrupted Talisman (given to him by Mo Tian during his captivity) onto his father's back.
BOOM!
The talisman exploded. It didn't deal damage. It released a concentrated burst of Villain Qi directly into Jian Wushuang's meridians.
The Heaven-Splitter sword, a holy artifact, sensed the sudden influx of demonic energy in its wielder.
It reacted violently.
SCREEEE!
The sword rejected Jian Wushuang. It burned his hands, releasing a backlash of holy energy that blasted him backward.
"ARGH!" Jian Wushuang screamed, dropping the sword. His meridian flow was chaotic. He looked at his son in horror. "Why?!"
Young Master Jian floated there, tears streaming down his face, but his body moving like a marionette.
"I... I can't stop..." Jian wept. "Master says... it's time to fall."
Mo Tian arrived.
He didn't attack Jian Wushuang. He caught the falling Heaven-Splitter.
The holy sword tried to burn him too. But Mo Tian's Chaos Core pulsed. The white ring in his eyes—the stolen Sword Intent of the Jian family—flared.
"Shh," Mo Tian whispered to the struggling sword. "Daddy is here."
The sword confused him for a Jian family member. It quieted down.
Mo Tian looked at the horrified Jian Wushuang.
"You raised a good son," Mo Tian smiled. "He really knows how to stick the knife in."
"You monster!" Jian Wushuang spat blood. "You turned my own son into a weapon?!"
"I turn everything into a weapon," Mo Tian corrected.
He raised the Heaven-Splitter.
"Now. Let's test this 'World Severing Slash'."