The clash was like thunder.
The Guardian moved with impossible fluidity, her silver spear flashing arcs of light that carved through the haze. Each strike bloomed like a star, scattering the assassins' shadows. Where their blades split into a dozen illusions, her spear pierced the true form without hesitation.
Lin Feng watched, breathless. To mortal eyes it was not battle but storm and cosmos colliding. Mist coiled into monstrous shapes, talons and fangs, as the sect wove their secret arts. Yet the Guardian's every step mirrored constellations… Orion's Hunt, the River of Heaven, the Binding of the Void.
Stars seemed to pulse faintly in the clear sky above, as though echoing her movements.
But the elder was no ordinary foe. With a gesture, his black robe dissolved into smoke, body splitting into three shadows that attacked from different angles. His curved blade dripped poison so potent that even the air hissed where droplets fell.
Steel clashed against silver light. Sparks showered the square.
The Guardian staggered back, her spear trembling under the weight of the strike. A gash bloomed across her arm, black veins creeping toward her shoulder, the poison.
For the first time, Lin Feng saw the Guardian falter.
The elder laughed, voice echoing from all three shadows. "You are no celestial being. You bleed. You will fade, as all legends do."
But the Guardian's reply was silence. She steadied her breath, raised her spear, and let the mist close in again. Her body bent, flowing with the rhythm of unseen stars.
Then, with one devastating thrust she split the ground itself.
A column of pale light erupted, scattering shadows. The elder's illusions shattered, leaving his true body reeling. The spear stopped just shy of his throat, humming with restrained fury.
For a heartbeat, the afternoon held its breath.
The elder hissed, retreating into the mist with his surviving assassins. "This is not the end. The Black shadow Mist will drown the boy… and you with him."
And then they were gone, swallowed by fog.
The Guardian lowered her spear, shoulders heaving. Her mask tilted towards Lin Feng, and for the first time the boy realized, the woman behind it was not untouchable. Her arm trembled, poison darkening her veins.
Lin Feng's chest tightened. The world was cruel, vast, merciless and if even the Guardian could bleed… then the path before him was darker than he had ever dreamed.
[The Aftermath]
The village square lay in ruins. Stones were cracked, the air reeked of poison, and a heavy silence smothered the island. The villagers huddled in clusters, whispering, too afraid to raise their voices. Children clung to their mothers, eyes wide from the memory of steel flashing in the fog.
The Guardian stood at the center, spear planted in the ground, her silver mask catching the pale moonlight. Her left arm hung stiff, veins blackened by poison that pulsed faintly beneath the skin. Yet she stood tall, as though the weight of the heavens rested upon her.
Lin Feng's heart thudded in his chest. For years he had heard fragments of myths about a phantom who protected the forgotten edges of Jianghu but seeing her here, bleeding, silent, struggling… it shattered the illusion of immortality.
Damn! He also thought the guardian was a man.
His mother broke the stillness first. She stepped forward, her voice trembling but steady.
"You saved us." She bowed deeply, tears streaking her face.
"Guardian, we owe you our lives."
Others followed, bowing low, though their gratitude was tinged with unease. Gratitude for survival fear of what it meant.
The Guardian did not answer. Instead, she wrenched her spear free from the earth and turned her masked gaze toward Lin Feng. The boy froze as moonlit eyes bored into him, heavy with meaning. Lin Feng's lips parted. Why me? He wanted to ask. Why does the Black Shadow Mist want me? What are these scrolls I found? But his throat tightened, and no words came.
The Guardian finally spoke, her voice low, edged with weariness.
"The storm has only begun. They will return …for him."
Gasps rippled through the villagers. Dozens of eyes turned toward Lin Feng. His chest tightened as if invisible chains had bound him. Fear, confusion, guilt, emotions warred within him.
"Why my son?" his mother demanded, stepping protectively in front of him. Her voice cracked, but her eyes blazed.
The Guardian hesitated, then slowly lifted her uninjured hand. She pointed toward the bundle of scrolls by Lin Feng's feet, the Celestial Void Manual, faintly glowing even through its oilcloth wrap.
"The stars chose him," the Guardian said. "And Jianghu… has already heard their call."
The villagers recoiled, murmuring. To them, Jianghu was a land of blood and betrayal, far beyond their quiet lives. To be chosen by it was no blessing... it was a curse.
Lin Feng's throat went dry. He looked at the scrolls, then at the Guardian's poisoned arm. For the first time, he realized the truth, this was not a story of glory or destiny. This was survival. This was war.
The Guardian staggered then, her spear dipping, her mask tilting as if the world itself swayed beneath her. Poison had reached her shoulder, and dark veins spiderwebbed across her chest.
Without thinking, Lin Feng rushed forward, catching her arm.
"You're dying…."
The Guardian's hand shot out, gripping Lin Feng's wrist with surprising strength. Through the mask, her moonlit eyes softened for the briefest moment.
"No," he said, voice barely more than a whisper. Lin Feng shivered. He wanted to ask for what? But the Guardian pulled away, steadying herself.
"Guard him," the Guardian said to the villagers, her tone sharper now, a command that brooked no argument.
Then, without another word, she turned, vanishing into the mist, leaving behind only the faint echo of her presence, and the ruined square.
The villagers stood in stunned silence.
And Lin Feng, clutching the glowing scrolls, realized his life would never again belong to him.