The journey back to the Cloud-Mist Sect was no longer a walk of shame for a discarded disciple; it was a silent invasion. As Han Feng, Lin Xiruo, and Su Yue ascended the winding staircases carved into the obsidian cliffs of the sect's outer perimeter, the atmosphere changed. The "Tainted Qi" here was thicker than in the mortal city, vibrating with the collective greed of thousands of practitioners.
To the common eye, Han Feng looked unchanged—a youth in travel-worn robes with a simple wooden scabbard strapped to his waist. But to the Heaven-Shatter Scabbard, he was a sun hidden behind a thin veil. The blade within, the Azure Phoenix Wing, pulsed in synchronization with his heartbeat, its 100% purity creating a micro-vacuum that sucked the surrounding grime into the Purification Mirror at a constant, low-level rate.
"Stop," Lin Xiruo whispered, her hand hovering over her silver rapier. Her silver eyes, now sharpened by her own purification, caught a shimmer in the air—a distortion in the grey mist that smelled of ozone and dried blood.
"The Shadow Guard," Su Yue gasped, her face draining of color. "Elder Li's private executioners. They shouldn't be this far out of the Inner Peaks unless..."
"Unless they were sent to make sure I never reached the gates," Han Feng finished.
He didn't look afraid. He looked bored. He stepped into the center of the narrow mountain path, a thousand-foot drop on his left and a sheer cliff on his right.
"Come out," Han Feng commanded. "The 'Void-Stealth Art' is a Tier 2 technique. Using it to hide from me is like a toddler hiding behind a blade of grass."
The Seven Shadows of Li
The air rippled like disturbed water. Seven figures materialized, forming a perfect octagon around Han Feng's group. They wore masks of white porcelain, devoid of features except for the blood-red character for 'Silence' painted over the mouth.
These were not outer disciples. Each was at the Fourth Stage of Qi Condensation, their bodies lean and vibrating with a dark, lightning-attribute Qi that crackled with a sickly violet hue.
"Han Feng," the leader spoke, his voice sounding like two stones grinding together. "You killed Zhao Hu. You stole a treasure from the Jade Spring. You have consorted with the Sword-Saintess to commit treason. By order of Elder Li, your dantians will be shattered, and your souls will be fed to the Sect's Guardian Beast."
"Consorted?" Lin Xiruo's silver sword-intent erupted, a cold pressure that forced the Shadow Guard to take a half-step back. "I am a Tier 1 Inner Disciple. You have no authority over me."
"Elder Li has been promoted to Acting Sect Master while the Leader is in seclusion," the Shadow Guard leader countered, unsheathing a pair of hooked daggers that dripped with paralytic venom. "In his eyes, you are all already dead."
"Su Yue, Lin Xiruo—stay back," Han Feng said, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous register. "They are Stage 4. Their meridians are saturated with 'Violet-Thunder' toxins. If they hit you, the corruption will paralyze your soul."
"And you?" Lin Xiruo asked, her eyes darting between the seven killers. "You're only Stage 3."
Han Feng gripped the hilt of the Azure Phoenix Wing. He didn't draw it yet. "I'm not Stage 3. I'm the cure."
The Dance of the Crystalline Blade
The Seven Shadows moved as one. They were a whirlwind of violet lightning, their daggers tracing arcs of lethal energy. They didn't aim for a quick kill; they aimed to shred Han Feng's limbs, to leave him a screaming husk.
Han Feng closed his eyes.
He didn't need sight. Through the Purification Mirror, he could see the "Flow of Filth." Every movement the Shadow Guard made left a trail of toxic residue in the air. To him, they were as bright as lanterns in a dark cave.
SHING.
The Azure Phoenix Wing left the Heaven-Shatter Scabbard.
The sound wasn't a metallic ring; it was the cry of a celestial bird. A wave of pure, white light exploded from the blade, instantly neutralizing the violet lightning in a ten-meter radius. The Shadow Guard's "Void-Stealth" was forcibly canceled, leaving them stumbling and exposed.
Han Feng moved.
He didn't use a complex martial art. He used the Fundamental Stroke of Purity.
He stepped toward the first guard. The man tried to parry with his hooked daggers, but the moment the Azure Phoenix Wing touched the "Violet-Thunder" Qi, the lightning didn't just break—it was Refined. The energy was stripped of its elemental properties and sucked into Han Feng's blade, leaving the guard's weapons brittle.
Squelch.
The blade passed through the guard's chest like it was cutting through smoke. There was no blood; the wound was instantly cauterized by the heat of pure essence. The man didn't even scream; his soul was simply erased from the cycle of reincarnation.
"One," Han Feng whispered.
"Kill him! Use the Seven-Soul Decapitation Array!" the leader roared, his mask cracking under the pressure of Han Feng's aura.
The remaining six guards linked their Qi, creating a massive, swirling vortex of violet energy that took the shape of a skeletal hand. The pressure was enough to crack the obsidian path beneath Han Feng's feet.
"You call that an array?" Han Feng asked, his eyes glowing with a terrifying, white light. "It's just a pile of garbage."
He held the Mirror up with his left hand and the Phoenix Wing with his right.
"Universal Sanitization!"
Han Feng didn't slash at the guards. He slashed at the air.
The white light from his sword merged with the reflective surface of the Mirror, creating a beam of focused, concentrated purity. It hit the violet skeletal hand and didn't just destroy it—it inverted it.
The "Tainted Qi" of the six guards was turned into a white flame that traveled back along their Qi-links.
The screams that followed were horrific. The six guards clutched their chests as their own purified energy—now too clean for their corrupted bodies to handle—tore through their meridians like liquid fire. Their dantians, filled with years of "Violet-Thunder" sludge, exploded from the sudden infusion of holy light.
Six bodies slumped to the ground, their white masks charred black. Only the leader remained, his legs trembling, his daggers shattered into dust.
Han Feng walked toward him, the Azure Phoenix Wing humming with a satisfied vibration. The sword had just absorbed the essence of six Stage 4 cultivators, and through the Mirror's filter, that energy was being funneled into Han Feng's own foundation.
[System Notification: Refinement Complete.]
[Progress: Qi Condensation Stage 3 → Stage 4 (Early).]
"Go back to Elder Li," Han Feng said, stopping inches from the leader's throat. "Tell him that his 'Shadows' were too dirty to stand in the sun."
"He... he will kill everyone you love," the leader gasped, blood leaking from his eyes. "The Sect is his! You are nothing!"
"The Sect isn't his," Han Feng replied, his voice echoing with the weight of an ancient god. "The Sect is a wound on the side of this mountain. And I am the one who is going to cauterize it."
Han Feng didn't kill the leader. He reached out and touched the man's forehead with the tip of his finger.
"Refine."
The violet lightning in the man's eyes vanished, replaced by a dull, grey emptiness. He wasn't dead, but his cultivation was gone. He was now a mortal—the very thing he had spent his life despising.
"Now, run," Han Feng commanded. "Run and tell the 'Acting Sect Master' that I'm coming for his throne. And I don't like to leave a mess."
The Gate of the Inner Peaks
As the broken guard crawled away, Lin Xiruo stepped up beside Han Feng. She looked at the six corpses, which were already dissolving into white ash, leaving the mountain path cleaner than it had been in a thousand years.
"He will send the Elders next," she warned. "Stage 7 and 8 experts. Men who have practiced the 'Cloud-Mist Soul-Eating Art' for centuries. Your Mirror is powerful, Han Feng, but you are still just one man."
"I'm not one man," Han Feng said, sheathing his blade. The Heaven-Shatter Scabbard clicked shut, once again hiding his power. "I have the truth. And in a world built on lies, the truth is the only weapon that never dulls."
He looked toward the massive, arched gate of the Cloud-Mist Sect, where the violet mists were swirling in an angry storm.
"Su Yue, prepare the Purification Salts we gathered from the Lotus," Han Feng ordered. "Tonight, we don't just enter the Sect. We start the fire."