Chapter 4: The Architect's Judgment and the Shattered Decree
The atmosphere on the Hidden Dragon Mountain had shifted from the predatory silence of the jungle to a tense, electric vibration. High above the jagged cliffs, five streaks of light cut through the mist—the flying swords of the Li Clan Elders. These were not mere disciples playing with fire; these were masters of the Second and Third Stages of Qi Condensation, men who had spent half a century refining their spiritual seas.
At the center of the formation was Elder Li Kun, a man with a face like withered parchment and eyes that held the coldness of a winter gale. Beside him was Elder Li Mo, known for his ruthless "Iron Palm" technique. They had been sent by the Patriarch to retrieve the "rogue servant" and investigate the strange energy anomaly that had crippled Li Han.
"The air here is distorted," Elder Li Mo noted, his feet balanced perfectly on his glowing bronze sword. "I sense no Qi from the boy, yet the laws of the mountain seem to be... bending."
"It matters not," Li Kun replied, his voice a gravelly rasp. "A broken vessel remains a broken vessel. Whether he found a cursed relic or practiced a demonic art, he will kneel before the clan's justice."
They landed in the clearing outside the ancient cave, their presence instantly suppressing the local wildlife. The sheer pressure of their Qi made the grass wither. But as the mist cleared, they saw him.
Li Ming was sitting on a flat stone, his obsidian-black spear, The Nullifier, resting across his lap. He didn't stand. He didn't bow. He simply looked at them with a gaze that felt as though it was peering into their very souls—dissecting them.
"You've come quite far for a jade pendant," Li Ming said, his voice calm and steady.
"Li Ming!" Elder Li Mo roared, stepping forward. "You stand accused of assaulting a clan genius and stealing sacred relics. Drop that strange staff and prostrate yourself. If you confess your crimes, we may allow you to die with an intact corpse."
Li Ming stood up slowly, the movement fluid and rhythmic. He gripped The Nullifier, and the blue circuits on the shaft began to pulse with a low, menacing hum. "Assault? I merely corrected a mistake. Li Han was an error in the system. And you..." Li Ming's eyes swept over the two Elders, his golden lattice vision highlighting the swirling vortexes of Qi in their chests. "...you are just bigger errors."
[System Notification: Multiple Targets Detected.]
[Target 1: Li Kun. Qi Condensation Stage 3. Weakness: Fractured Foundation in the lower Dantian.]
[Target 2: Li Mo. Qi Condensation Stage 2. Weakness: Excessive Qi leakage in the palms.]
[Suggested Action: Systemic Deconstruction.]
"Arrogance!" Elder Li Mo shouted. He lunged forward, his Iron Palm glowing with a dull, metallic luster. The air in front of his hand compressed into a shockwave capable of pulverizing a mountain wall. "Receive the clan's judgment!"
Li Ming didn't retreat. He stepped forward into the blast. As the Iron Palm approached, he thrust The Nullifier. The tip of the spear—the flickering point of Absolute Zero—made contact with the center of Li Mo's palm.
*Voom.*
There was no explosion. Instead, there was a sound like a vacuum sucking in air. The brilliant metallic Qi of the Iron Palm didn't shatter; it simply vanished into the tip of the spear. Li Mo's eyes widened in horror. He felt his spiritual energy being siphoned out of his body at an impossible rate, as if he had plugged his meridians into a bottomless hole.
"What is this... what did you do to my Qi?!" Li Mo screamed, trying to pull his hand away, but it was as if he were fused to the spear.
"Your Qi is nothing but unoptimized code," Li Ming whispered. "I am simply... deleting it."
With a sharp twist of the spear, Li Ming released a pulse of Deconstruction energy. A grey shockwave erupted, and Li Mo was sent flying backward. But he didn't just fall; his robes were turning to ash, and the spiritual aura around him was disintegrating. He hit the ground not as a powerful Elder, but as a man whose cultivation had been stripped bare in a single strike.
Elder Li Kun gasped, his calm composure shattered. "A Void Attribute? No... this is something else entirely! You are destroying the very laws of the Dao!"
"The Dao you follow is a prison," Li Ming said, his spear glowing brighter. "I am the one who builds the exit."
Li Kun realized that this was a threat to the very foundation of the Li Clan. He summoned his flying sword, the blade expanding until it was five meters long, wreathed in violet lightning. "Lightning Decree: Heavenly Execution!"
The sky darkened, and a bolt of violet lightning struck the sword, which then shot toward Li Ming like a falling star. It was a Tier 3 Martial Art, a strike that could level a fortress.
[Alert: High-Energy Projectile Detected.]
[Executing Sub-Routine: 'Firewall Reflection'.]
Li Ming spun The Nullifier in a complex overhead arc. As he moved, the grey mist around him coalesced into a shimmering, translucent shield made of binary-like runes. The violet lightning struck the shield and, instead of exploding, it began to change color. The violet turned to a pale, neutral grey.
Li Ming caught the lightning with his spear and redirected it. "Returned to sender."
The grey lightning bolt shot back at Li Kun twice as fast. The Elder barely had time to summon a defensive barrier before the impact. The explosion rocked the mountain peak. When the smoke cleared, Li Kun was on his knees, his expensive robes tattered, his flying sword snapped in half.
For the first time in centuries, an Elder of the Li Clan felt true, primal fear. He looked at Li Ming—the boy they had called "trash"—and saw not a person, but a force of nature.
"Go," Li Ming said, planting his spear into the ground. The vibration caused the jade floor of the clearing to crack in a perfect geometric pattern. "Go back to your Patriarch. Tell him that the Hidden Dragon Mountain is no longer his territory. Tell him that every law he has written, I will erase. Every wall he has built, I will dismantle."
He looked at the three remaining disciples who had accompanied the Elders; they were shaking so violently they could barely stand. "And take these 'remnants' with you. I have no use for weak data."
Li Kun, supporting the unconscious Li Mo, struggled to his feet. He didn't say another word. He knew that any further combat would lead to his death. They boarded their damaged flying swords and fled into the horizon, their pride left in the dust of the mountain.
Li Ming stood alone as the sun began to set, painting the world in gold and blood.
[System Notification: Combat Data Collected.]
[Resource Acquisition: 200 Units of High-Grade Qi Essence (Refined).]
[Evolution Progress: 45%.]
[New Module Unlocked: 'Architect's Domain' (Preliminary Stage).]
"The Patriarch will come next," Li Ming mused, looking at his spear. "And he will bring the other Great Clans with him. They will see me as a demon... a glitch in their perfect world."
He sat back down on the stone, his mind already beginning to "write" the next level of his power. He wasn't just defending himself anymore. He was preparing to rewrite the entire continent.
"Let them come," he whis
pered to the rising moon. "I am just getting started with the first draft."