The strongest among the group, their bodies tense, their eyes filled with both fear and burning resolve.
Their auras surged, intertwining like three enraged storms.
> "Damn demons… he killed twenty of us like nothing…"
"Stay together! Don't get separated!"
"We fight or we die!"
Lin Xian stepped forward slowly, Shadowbane restless in his hand, its blade trembling with hunger.
Xiao Jin crouched on a branch above, tail swaying in excitement, lightning sparking faintly beneath his fur.
Lin Xian's voice was cold,
He spoke without looking at them:
"
You have the audacity to ambush me."
He paused
"Very well. Leave your worthless lives here."
The three Zhao experts reacted instantly.
"Spirit Art — Ironwood Bulwark!"
"Crimson Seal – Piercing Flame!"
"Riverflow Steps! Spread out! Don't let him flank us!"
A wave of attacks surged toward the darkness where Lin Xian disappeared.
But—
SHHH—
A blur swept past the first man.
The man's instincts fired—he parried blindly with a steel-forged gauntlet.
CLANG!
Shadowbane clashed against the gauntlet, sparks exploding.
Lin Xian reappeared, eyes glowing faintly.
The man gritted his teeth.
"Argh!—he's simply too strong!" "That blade… heavens, what is it?! it's abnormally sharp! "
Lin Xian rotated his wrist, forcing the blade down.
The man stumbled back as Lin Xian whispered:
"Shadow Severing Art – Silent Edge."
A flash.
Blood gushed from the man's left shoulder — his arm severed cleanly.
"AHHHHH!!! MY ARM—!!"
He fell back screaming.
But the other two retaliated.
"Now! Hit him while he's open!"
Flames erupted behind Lin Xian, forcing him to dodge as a burning talisman exploded.
BOOM!
Another tried to flank him with a spear thrust enhanced by spiritual wind.
Lin Xian twisted mid-air.
Shadow Steps → Void Drift
He blurred sideways, avoiding the spear by a hair.
The spear wielder cursed:
"His movement art—too fast! Damn it!"
Lin Xian's smile sharpened.
Xiao Jin then joins the hunt
"Meorrrrrww!!"The cry tore through the forest like a war horn
He launched from the treetop.
The branch he stood on exploded beneath him.
Lightning wrapped around his small body in violent spirals, crackling outward in jagged arcs.
Divine Beast Art — Storm Crush.
ZRRRKKKK—
He became a streak of blue-white destruction.
The spear wielder barely had time to lift his weapon.
Xiao Jin slammed into his chest.
The impact sounded like a battering ram hitting iron.
CRAAACK—
Ribs fractured instantly.
The spear flew from the man's hand as his feet left the ground.
He was thrown backward—
But Xiao Jin didn't let go.
Claws dug in.
Sank deep.
Hooked into flesh through cloth and muscle.
"GET THIS CAT OFF ME—!!"
"Meow!."
(Xiao Jin: Pathetic!.)
Electricity sparked violently, burning the man's skin and forcing him backward.
The man tried to strike him.
His arm lifted—
Trembling violently—
But his nerves were no longer obeying him
The fire-user rushed to help—
But Lin Xian blocked him, blade raised sideways.
Their skills collided.
"Crimson Seal — Roaring Blaze!!"
"Shadowbane — Sever."
A shockwave blasted out.
Leaves scattered.
The two were thrown back in opposite directions.
The fight became chaotic—
The spear wielder lunged first— with precise. His weapon blurred into overlapping afterimages, thrusting in spiraling patterns that sealed off retreat paths. Each stab carried compressed qi at the tip, detonating small shockbursts upon impact.
Lin Xian didn't retreat.
Shadowbane rotated in his hand.
Clang—clang—CLANG!
He deflected three thrusts in succession, each parry angled just enough to redirect force rather than absorb it. Sparks erupted between spearhead and blade, scattering across the mist.
A second Zhao expert moved simultaneously.
Fire condensed around his palms — not wild flame, but tightly compressed streams of searing crimson qi.
Then,
Two crescent fire arcs tore across the forest aiming at Lin Xian
He pivoted.
His figure blurred sideways, the flames skimmed past his shoulder, scorching fabric but missing flesh.
Before his feet fully settled—
The third expert struck.
A short blade aimed for Lin Xian's kidney,
But Shadowbane reversed direction mid-spin.
Clang—
The short blade met cold steel inches from its target.
This battle was nothing like the slaughter before.
The three Zhao experts fought like cornered beasts.
And Lin Xian's blood boiled with exhilaration.
The one-armed cultivator gathered his last strength.
"Spirit Burst — Raging Ox Charge!!!"
He charged with a reinforced shoulder.
Lin Xian planted Shadowbane into the ground, using it as leverage to flip over him.
The moment he landed—
He kicked the man's knee sideways.
CRACK!!
The man screamed, collapsing.
And then—
Lightning tore through the battlefield.
"MEORRRRWW!!"
Xiao Jin shot between them like a streak of pure voltage.
He pounced towards him, biting deep into his shoulder.
"MEOW!!!"
The man howled in agony, blood spraying from the torn shoulder as his qi surged chaotically.
"Arghhh!! Damn this demonic beast!"
-------
The spear wielder and fire-user regrouped.
"Keep pressure on him! If he keep swinging that sword we're all dead!"
Lin Xian's eyes narrowed.
His breathing slowed.
Shadowbane gleamed.
"Enough warm-up."
The three surviving Zhao experts felt it instantly —
the shift, the quiet, the killing intent surging like a tide.
Then Lin Xian disappeared again, his voice a cold echo on the wind:
"Shadow Severing Art — Third Stance: Lunar Eclipse Slash."
Light vanished.
A crescent arc of shadow-moon light swept through the clearing.
SHHHH—
Time froze.
The first man — the fire user — split cleanly from the top down to his waist.
A second — the spear wielder — sliced horizontally in half, legs collapsing separately from his torso.
The last one — the one-armed cultivator — blinked, confused.
His head fell off before he could scream.
THUD—THUD—THUD
Three bodies collapsed almost in unison.
The moonlight returned.
Shadowbane hummed.
Lin Xian exhaled slowly:
"Twenty-three."
Xiao Jin raised his little chin proudly.
Lightning gathered in his paws.
"Meow~ Watch me!"
Divine Beast Art —
Lightning Pounce: Thunder's Descent!!
BOOOOOOM!!!
A pillar of lightning struck the ground, engulfing all three corpses.
Their bodies vaporized instantly, leaving only scorch marks and drifting black ashes.
Xiao Jin turned around, fluffing his fur proudly.
"Meow!"
(Easy work!)
Lin Xian glanced at the ashes.
Then looked at Xiao Jin.
Then raised an eyebrow.
"You sure you weren't just showing off?"
Xiao Jin puffed his little chest.
"Meow."
(I killed more stylishly than you.)
Lin Xian smirked.
"Stylish? I killed seventeen. You only took… what? Six?"
Xiao Jin froze.
Then stomped the ground angrily.
"MEOWWW!!!!"
(That doesn't count! Mine were stronger! Mine exploded!!)
Lin Xian patted his head.
"Mm, mm. Whatever helps you sleep at night."
Xiao Jin bit his sleeve in frustration.
"MEOW!!"
Lin Xian laughed.
Their silhouettes disappeared into the forest, leaving behind only scorched earth and the stench of ozone.
The forest canopy blurred past as Lin Xian and Xiao Jin moved like shadows.
"Xiao Jin," Lin Xian said while leaping from one massive branch to another, "we're heading to the Black Veil Forest. The sooner we reach it, the sooner we can finish what needs to be done."
"Meow—!" he replied
A sharp, confident cry.
Excitement
Xiao Jin's body crackled faintly with lightning as he jumping beside him, landing on branches as if gravity no longer applied.
Their silhouettes flickered—
running, gliding, vanishing—
as they raced deeper into the wilderness.
The closer they drew to the Black Veil Forest…
…the air changed.
The wind grew cold.
The trees twisted unnaturally.
And the surrounding qi thickened into heavy and suffocating.
Lin Xian slowed, eyes narrowing.
"Xiao Jin… you feel that?"
The kitten's ears flattened.
Lightning flickered around his whiskers.
"Meow…"
A low warning.
A dense wave of dark qi washed over them—far thicker than normal miasma.
Lin Xian placed a hand on an ancient trunk. Even the bark felt wrong, like it was breathing.
"This suppression…"
His expression hardened.
It wasn't just one type of dark qi.
There were two distinct layers—one natural, one… something else.
"If someone above the Spirit Foundation Realm enters this place…"
Lin Xian exhaled deeply.
"…their cultivation would collapse instantly."
This forest wasn't just dangerous.
It was deliberately designed to kill the strong.
He stared into the abyssal fog ahead.
Then—
Two figures stood at the edge of the forest.
Barely visible through the drifting black mist.
One tall.
One small.
The tall figure was a man—lean, quiet, unmoving like an ancient monolith. His aura was sealed, unreadable.
Beside him stood a young girl—slender, pale, and motionless like a ghost. Her long hair fluttered without wind.
Their silhouettes didn't belong to any traveler.
And they definitely weren't ordinary.
Lin Xian and Xiao Jin landed silently on a branch, gaze locked on the strangers.
"…We're not the first to arrive," Lin Xian murmured.
Xiao Jin's fur stood up, sparks dancing.
"Meow—!"
The two unknown figures slowly turned their heads toward them.
Their eyes glowed faintly in the mist.
To be continued…