Lu Zhenhai's voice cracked through the chaos like a whip. "Lu Heng! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
But Lu Heng didn't respond. His muscles writhed unnaturally as if something alive pulsed beneath his skin. His roar ripped through the clearing, primal and inhuman. Standing well over two meters now, his presence alone distorted the air. Veins bulged across his golden arms, his fangs elongated, and his golden hair whipped like fire in the wind. He was still growing.
Zhao Lian faltered for only a second.
Only a second.
But it was enough for Lu Heng to lunge forward, his massive arm cutting through the air like a boulder flung from a siege weapon. She gritted her teeth and drew her sword in a wide arc, activating her defensive stance with a flourish of silver Qi. Glass Lotus Guard! Her blade traced a shimmering lotus mid-air that bloomed into a crystalline barrier.
His fist collided.
The petals cracked.
The ground groaned.
Her heels carved deep trenches into the soil as she was pushed back, skidding nearly a dozen meters before anchoring herself with a burst of Qi. Her arms ached and her stance wavered.
Before the dust could settle, Xie Tianhun was already upon Lu Heng. "Rank 2 High-Tier Technique: Midnight Sundering Fist First Form : Devastating Force!" he shouted.
His gauntlet-clad fist hummed with Qi, veins of black energy dancing around his arm like serpents of night. As it crashed into Lu Heng's transformed body, a massive boom erupted—sending shockwaves through the forest and tearing trees from their roots.
The collision created a crater nearly twenty meters wide.
Lu Heng was launched like a cannonball, tearing through trunk after trunk, wood splintering and flying in all directions before he finally crashed into a hill of stone, embedding himself halfway in.
Zhao Lian turned toward Jiang Wuyu, fury sharpening her eyes. "You lied to all of us To the empire!"
Jiang Wuyu's smirk widened, his lips curled like a beast finally off its leash. "Of course I did you think I'd do this if i gave a shit about your so called empire." Zhao Lian enraged by such words even though she knew it was part of Lu Heng's plan to make her lose her composure she was still angered by such Ignorant Lie as she attacked Jiang Wuyu.
Jiang Wuyu With a whirl of motion yanked his massive blade from his storage ring, its edge pulsing with venom. As Zhao Lian charged, he swung it with terrifying force. "Venom-Clad Execution!"
The venom on the blade flared—an acidic green haze dancing off the steel as it hissed through the air.
She ducked the first swing and parried the second, but her blade vibrated violently from the impact. The sheer weight behind Wuyu's weapon was enough to stagger her—even her footing cracked the stone beneath.
Lu Zhenhai had already drawn his bow, fingers moving with practiced fluidity. With calm precision, he fired a flurry of arrows, each one charged with Qi and aimed to pin Wuyu in place.
Jiang Wuyu twirled his massive blade, knocking several arrows mid-air. One managed to graze his cheek, slicing a line of blood. He frowned. " persistent pest."
Then came the counterattack.
Lu Heng, bloodied but furious, emerged from the rubble in a golden blur. With a thunderous stomp, he vanished and reappeared right behind Tianhun, swinging a horizontal haymaker that crackled with raw Qi. "Golden Carnage: Bone-Drill Smash!"
Tianhun parried with both gauntlets crossed, sliding back a dozen paces as the ground cracked under the force.
"I see," he muttered, eyes sharp. "Your transformation—unstable. Power is raw, but you're bleeding Qi with every move you can overwhelm the inexperienced but you'll always be toyed around with by the wise."
Lu Heng charged again, but this time, Lu Zhenhai's arrows intercepted mid-step, three of them landing shallowly into his shoulders and thigh. They sparked on impact—exploding with concussive force.
Heng roared, ripped one out, and continued rushing.
Zhao Lian clashed again with Wuyu, this time her swordplay faster and tighter. She weaved in between the swings of his giant blade, landing a shallow cut on his arm. Venom spilled—but not hers.
Wuyu twisted his body and grabbed her wrist mid-motion, bringing his face close.
"You've got fire, little fox," he whispered, and then spat venom directly into her eyes.
She shrieked, staggering backward and wiping desperately. "Poison?!"
"Spider's Offering," Wuyu said calmly, spinning and bringing his sword in an upward arc. "Death from a silken fang."
But before he could strike again, Lu Zhenhai's arrow forced him to retreat, whistling past his cheek with a burning hiss.
"Fall back, Lian!" Zhenhai shouted.
But Tianhun was already on top of Lu Heng again, a flurry of precise blows forcing the golden brute back step by step. Each punch was a masterpiece—calculated, economical, devastating.
"Midnight Sundering: Second Form—Crushing Eclipse!" he shouted.
Both fists struck Heng's ribs—sending a shockwave through his body. The Qi behind it bypassed skin and muscle, targeting organs directly.
Lu Heng coughed blood but grinned savagely. "Hah... not bad."
He retaliated with a feral swing, catching Tianhun off guard and sending him skidding across the dirt with torn-up gauntlets.
Zhao Lian wiped her eyes, barely able to see but still clutching her sword. "I'm not out yet!"
Wuyu clashed with her again, but now Zhenhai was close—switching from long-range to short-range using a short Qi blade attached to his bow.
The battlefield dissolved into chaos.
Each pair moved in perfect coordination:
Zhenhai danced around Wuyu's wide swings, stabbing precise cuts into the openings between armor and muscle.
Zhao Lian, even half-blind, held Wuyu off with surprising tenacity.
Xie Tianhun pressed Lu Heng relentlessly, targeting joints and organs to wear him down.
But even then, Wuyu and Lu Heng didn't fall.
Yet.
They panted, backs close to one another, blood dripping from dozens of wounds.
Lu Heng's golden form was dimming, flickering. Wuyu's blade was cracked and his venom supply nearly spent.
"Running out of tricks," Wuyu muttered under his breath.
"Same," Heng grunted. "They're too damned persistent."
The trio circled them, tightening their formation.
Then Tianhun spoke coldly, "This ends now."
And Lu Heng growled, "Not yet it doesn't."
Lu Zhenhai screamed as he said, "Lu Heng! Is this what you were planning? Is this the path you chose—the demonic path?! How could you? How could your humanity fall so far? How could you betray Han Zhennan's trust?! How could you betray me—your own brother—after everything we've been through, after everything I did for you?!"
His voice was hoarse with rage, his Qi surging uncontrollably, and his eyes were bloodshot as veins pulsed along his temples.
"YOU CHOSE THE DEMONIC PATH! DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS?! YOU WILL BE HUNTED DOWN BY THE ENTIRE REGION! HAVE YOU GONE MAD?! TO TRY AND TAKE A DEMONIC CORE—SOMETHING THAT MUST BE DESTROYED AN OBJECT THAT CORRUPTS AND IS THE REASON FOR WARS AND INNOCENT LIVES LOST! I— I SIMPLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND! WHAT EVEN ARE YOU THINKING BY DOING SUCH THING?!"
Lu Heng stood up slowly, his frame trembling not from weakness but from something rising inside him. His head lowered slightly as he looked at his brother with eyes devoid of warmth. Then he laughed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The sound was jagged and vile. "Oh please, spare me the family bullshit and the justice speech! You think I give even half a fuck about any of that?! Please. When was the last time we saw each other—spoke like brothers?!"
His voice dropped low, bitter. "And don't you dare blame me. You're the one that betrayed me. You're the one that stole from me. You're the reason I'm in this state."
His voice rose again, raw and venomous. "But enough of this time-wasting talk. I don't have enough breath to argue with you—but I do have enough strength to rip your damn heart out."
At that moment, Lu Heng used a voice-transmitting technique, his voice slipping into Jiang Wuyu's mind unnoticed by the others: "If you want to survive, go get this old man's disciple—his name is Xie Lang. I'll hold them off. You find him."
Lu Heng smiled faintly. It was not a smile of peace. It was the smile of a man already halfway to madness.
Tianhun stepped forward, his tone dripping with contempt. "You two have no honor. No dignity. Just dogs ready to do anything for power. For you to even consider going after a demonic beast…" He sneered. "You're not men. You're cowards—no better than beasts yourselves."
He turned to Lu Zhenhai and said solemnly, "I am sorry… but your brother has made his stance very clear. Forgive me, friend."
Tianhun's armor began to shine with silver light as his aura erupted. He shouted, his voice echoing like a judge delivering final judgment:
"BY THE AUTHORITY GIVEN TO ME BY THE EMPEROR, I HEREBY DECLARE YOU—LU HENG—as well as YOU—JIANG WUYU—TRAITORS TO THE RIGHTEOUS FACTION AND TO THE EMPIRE! YOU ARE TO BE JUDGED AS FOLLOWERS OF THE DEMONIC PATH!"
His eyes turned silver like molten mercury. Lu Zhenhai and Zhao Lian instinctively retreated from him as the air within a thirty-meter radius collapsed inward. A crater formed around Xie Tianhun as the earth itself recoiled from his presence.
He stepped forward, fist raised, glowing with silver radiance as he entered a stance.
"RANK 2, PEAK-TIER TECHNIQUE: FIST OF GLORY!"
The atmosphere warped. The ground quaked. The air grew hot enough to shimmer as flames licked the earth beneath Xie Tianhun's feet.
Lu Heng roared, "WUYU! GO, NOW!"
Jiang Wuyu darted away with everything he had, tearing through the forest toward the student encampment in search of Xie Lang. Lu Zhenhai went after him in a blur. Zhao Lian tried to follow—but the poison Wuyu had inflicted on her pulsed violently in her meridians. Her steps staggered. She had to fall to her knees and begin circulating Qi just to stabilize her organs.
Lu Heng exhaled slowly, then lifted his hands high and screamed with all his fury:
"GOLDEN CARNAGE—TRUE FORM!"
His body began to warp, flesh tearing and bones snapping as his figure swelled. His skin stretched taut before being overtaken by golden fur. Muscles surged, shoulders widening, chest expanding. In the blink of an eye, Lu Heng no longer stood as a man.
He became the Golden Carnage.
A monstrous lion-like beast over seven meters tall and nearly twelve meters long now stood where Lu Heng once was. Its mane blazed like molten gold, each strand flowing like liquid fire. Jagged black claws extended from paws large enough to crush boulders. Intricate black lines, like tattoos, ran along its limbs and ribcage—glowing faintly with a dark light, pulsating like veins full of corrupted Qi.
Its mouth stretched far too wide for any natural creature. A massive grin tore across its face, extending all the way to its ears. Rows of razor-like teeth glinted in the air, curved and uneven like broken glass. That smile—it was not born of joy but of hunger, madness, and carnage. It was the very image of sadistic horror.
Its eyes—two burning coals—focused on Xie Tianhun. The beast let out a low, guttural growl that shook the earth beneath its feet, then took a single step forward, and the ground cracked.
The Golden Carnage didn't need words.
Its presence screamed one thing—
Slaughter.