Kaelan lets the echo of the crowd fade, his gaze gliding over the forest of raised hands and faces shining with curiosity. He opens his mouth to call on the next questioner—
—but a sharp voice cleaves through the air, cutting the calm like a blade drawn in anger.
"Kong Wuya! I, Song Yan, challenge you!"
The words crash across the field like thunder.
Gasps ripple through the masses as a figure bursts skyward, propelled by a torrent of blazing aura. His true energy erupts outward, condensing in an instant into a translucent flame armour that wraps his body from head to toe.
The air around him distorts, every breath shimmering in the heat. Each plate of the fiery armour gleams like molten jade, pulsing with the rhythm of his will.
Shouts explode from below—
"Who is he?"
"His aura—it's powerful!"
"Is he a Core Formation Qi Refiner?"
Kaelan's eyes lift, calm and unreadable, to the man in the sky.
Song Yan unsheathes his crimson sword, its blade bursting into flame.
His voice booms, proud and defiant. "I, Song Yan, have broken past the limits of the Ultimate Master Realm! I call this new realm the Gang Qi Realm, and I will bear the banner of martial artists! The path of the fist and blade will not vanish from this world!"
The crowd erupts—shocked murmurs and disbelief rippling through them like wind through dry grass.
"Gang Qi Realm?"
"A new martial realm?"
"If this is true…"
Hope flickers in their eyes. For generations, the martial path ended at the Ultimate Master Realm—a ceiling that chained their ambitions.
Many among them had already resolved to abandon martial arts for the Wizard Way. But now, seeing Song Yan shining with a fiery aura, they hesitate.
Kaelan rises slowly, standing tall upon the tower's peak. His expression remains serene, eyes half-lidded, voice quiet but firm.
"I am here to preach the Wizard Way," he says, each word steady as stone. "I have forced no one to follow it."
Song Yan hovers in silence for a heartbeat, then points his sword down at Kaelan. "Then do you accept my challenge, or will you hide behind your words?"
Kaelan steps forward, the moonlight glinting off his hair. His calm smile remains unchanged.
"When," he says softly, "did I ever say I wouldn't?"
With that, he rises higher into the night sky, the wind stirring around him.
"But not here," Kaelan says, his voice calm but heavy, carrying through the silent field like the toll of a great bell. "Let's fight where no city burns for it."
He turns and soars into the sky, his aura rippling softly like a rising storm. Song Yan, surrounded by roaring flame, follows—two figures streaking across the heavens like opposing stars.
They cross above the royal city and drift toward the Xinyi River, the moon's reflection trembling on its dark waters. The air hums with tension as the crowd below erupts into motion. Those who can fly lift into the air, their robes snapping in the wind, and those who cannot sprint across rooftops or climb the city walls to watch.
On the western wall, Li Xueyao stands beside Chen Qi and Lin Zian, her gaze locked on the two lights hovering over the river.
Chen Qi scowls, muttering through clenched teeth, "How can someone suddenly claim to have created a new realm of martial arts—just when Lord is about to make martial art history?"
Li Xueyao's eyes flash. "Chen Qi!" she snaps quietly. "My husband never said he wished for martial arts to disappear. Mind your tongue."
She gives him a sharp look—one that carries more meaning than words—and Chen Qi stiffens, realising from her glance that they're being watched.
Lin Zian, meanwhile, narrows his eyes, studying Song Yan's aura. As his spirit senses expand, he feels the oppressive heat of Song Yan's power—the molten surge of fire dancing around every movement.
But beneath that brilliance, he also senses instability. The power of heaven and earth is incomplete… his transformation isn't finished.
Lin Zian's expression tightens slightly. He's forcing his breakthrough.
"The masters of the Demon Hunter Association," Li Xueyao says softly, "they've come."
Lin Zian follows her gaze upward. High in the clouds, shadowed by moonlight, a dozen figures hover—men of immense presence, their eyes gleaming coldly as they watch the duel unfold.
He turns back just in time to see Song Yan move first.
"Kong Wuya! Face my fire!"
Flames surge from Song Yan's blade, coiling into a serpent of molten light as he dives. Kaelan draws his sword in one smooth motion—lightning bursts from the blade—pure, sharp, crackling through the sky like a divine verdict.
Fire and lightning collide.
The night splits open with sound and light, the shockwave scorching the air and sending waves racing across the river below. Steam hisses upward, twisting like smoke from a dying star.
Song Yan attacks again, his fire burning brighter, his speed blurring beyond sight. But Kaelan's stance remains still—his blade flashing at the perfect moment each time, parrying, diverting, absorbing.
Each clash sends thunder rolling through the clouds.
On the wall, Lin Zian closes his eyes as his spirit perception unfolds. Inside the dark sea of his consciousness, he sees it—a rainbow arc of light, forming slowly above his spirit core. Five colours pulse with clarity, while two remain faint, half-formed, flickering at the edge of existence.
So this is what I was missing… the harmony of elements, not the strength of one.
Above the river, Kaelan studies Song Yan between each strike, his mind already piecing together the truth behind Song Yan's sudden rise.
He knows why Song Yan can create a "next stage" of martial arts—because the sword in Song Yan's hand is one of the nine scattered blades the Sword Immortal hurled into this world.
Those swords are anchors, vessels for the Sword Immortal's future invasion.
But Kaelan does not yet know how the invasion will unfold, nor where the remaining eight swords have fallen.
So he chooses restraint—not to kill Song Yan, but to defeat him and observe him, to let Song Yan unknowingly guide him toward the other blades.
Song Yan roars, "Fire God Strike!" and a colossal fire sword forms above his head, blazing like molten sky.
From a distance, he swings down, sending the fiery greatsword plummeting toward Kaelan.
Kaelan watches calmly, knowing he must win here—knowing he must demonstrate the overwhelming advantage of the Wizard Way so Song Yan's challenge cannot undermine tomorrow's transformation of the world.
The river below trembles.
Water surges upward at Kaelan's command, rising into a dozen cutting jets, striking the descending fire sword in a coordinated torrent.
The fiery blade shatters on contact—exploding into thousands of burning fragments that rain through the sky.
Kaelan reaches out with one empty hand, catches a speck of flame, and analyses it instantly with his mana.
Song Yan charges again, his sword blazing, and Kaelan meets him strike for strike—yet holds back, always careful not to end the fight too quickly.
Hours pass, blades clashing under moon and starlight, until Kaelan finishes analysing the foreign energy.
He looks directly into Song Yan's eyes and says softly, "Thank you."
Song Yan blinks, startled, just before Kaelan knocks him back with a single controlled blow.
Song Yan stabilises himself in mid-air—and his eyes widen in shock as a Gang Qi armour forms around Kaelan's body, flowing like water and gleaming with misty blue light.
"You—how?!" Song Yan shouts.
Kaelan answers with a smirk, loud enough for every spectator in the sky and on the walls to hear: "Did you forget what I said about the Wizard Way? For a wizard, the most important thing is…?"
The crowd murmurs the word all at once, as if pulled by invisible strings. "Knowledge…"
Kaelan nods. "While fighting you, I analysed your Gang Qi and simulated it with my mana."
Song Yan's disbelief is almost comical.
"Impossible!" he protests—but the truth gleams on Kaelan's body for all to see.
Kaelan raises his sword. "Let's end this."
Before Song Yan can react, Kaelan appears in front of him in a blur of water-light and delivers a single decisive strike.
Song Yan is blasted downward, crashing into the river with a towering splash.
Kaelan waits, hovering above the rippling surface until, moments later, Song Yan bursts back out, gasping.
"Do you admit defeat?" Kaelan asks.
Song Yan grits his teeth, pride bleeding through every word. "Yes… I admit defeat. But don't get too happy. I'll challenge you again. I lost only because I broke through recently!"
Kaelan smiles faintly, thinking, You will never defeat me.
Aloud, he simply says, "I'll be waiting."
Song Yan shoots away into the distance, vanishing into the night sky like a fading spark.
Kaelan turns to the crowd. "Three months from now, I will preach again—but only for those who have stepped onto the Wizard Way."
Then he rises higher, turns, and flies toward the royal palace as the watchers whisper in awed voices behind him.