Chapter 61 – Don’t Make Me Do This!

  The five demonic cultivators fanned out around Jun De, each exuding a thick, oily aura that made the air feel like it was crawling along his skin. They were all in the late stages of Qi Condensation, far stronger than him in raw cultivation, but their foundations were fractured.

  They had used forbidden techniques and demonic methods to increase their power, and that sort of advancement didn’t come without a cost.

  Their eyes were filled with madness, while their robes stank of rot and blood.

  The first amongst them came at Jun De directly while wielding a dagger. When he had crossed half the distance toward Jun De, his body vanished from sight with a puff of shadowy mist.

  Reacting on instinct, Jun De stepped aside using the Luminous Step. He left a streak of golden flames in his wake. When the man reappeared from the shadows, he was surprised to find Jun De wasn’t where he had expected him to be.

  Jun De lashed out with the Falling Star Palm, his hand wreathed in golden flames that engulfed the cultivator. The man screamed in agony as Jun De’s Qi incinerated his flesh like parchment.

  But there was no time for Jun De to celebrate.

  A sword slammed into Jun De’s shoulder from behind, and he staggered as he bit back a curse. It sliced through his robes and left a deep cut, but Jun De had avoided the blow enough to prevent serious injury.

  Thankfully, the weapons they were using were made of mortal materials; otherwise, Jun De would be in serious trouble. He could only assume that they were unable to obtain spiritual artifacts during the assault on the Hollow Stream Sect.

  Regardless, it hurt like hell, and Jun De reacted with another Falling Star Palm to drive his attacker back and gain some room.

  Another cultivator came from his left, launching a flurry of blows with his sword that Jun De barely deflected with the Heavenly Deflection Art.

  Jun De slammed the staff of the Warflag of Dominion into the ground and used its brilliant light and oppressive spiritual energy to drive them back. When a spear was thrown at him, the Flagstaff trembled in his hands as it absorbed the impact.

  One of the cultivators with a burned face from some prior battle, roared and flung a handful of talismans forward. Jun De blocked them with the Warflag of Dominion, forming a barrier of translucent light, but the shield cracked slightly under the weight of the attack.

  They were relentless in their assault. They were chaotic and unpredictable, but they were also uncoordinated. They attacked without any rhythm, coming at him like a pack of hungry animals more interested in devouring him than working together for a common cause.

  Their attacks clashed with each other more than once, and they would often block each other in their eagerness to strike at him.

  Jun De used every opening they gave him in order to survive. He had learned something similar in the Tower of Tempered Will when he fought a dozen shadows.

  Jun De ducked under a wild swing, redirected an overextended sword strike using his Qi to stab another of his enemies, before disengaging. He wove his way through the chaos like a dancer, the Luminous Step keeping him ahead of his opponents.

  Still, no matter how much more skilled he was, or how his techniques were more refined and his cultivation base stable, he was getting tired and his injuries were accumulating.

  Jun De had cuts on his arms and his side, and a nasty bruise was forming under his ribs while his shoulder screamed in agony.

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  “This is nothing compared to the Ninefold Refinement Array!” Jun De roared as he slammed his palm against one of the cultivators, and he flew backward a dozen feet.

  The fight continued, but it was quickly becoming clear that Jun De was on the losing side. His breath rasped in his throat, and blood trickled down his forehead from a cut. Every muscle in his body ached, while the Warflag of Dominion trembled in his grip, and the white-and-gold radiance was now flickering.

  The five demonic cultivators, sensing weakness, pressed in. They were burned and bleeding, but all of them were still eager to refine Jun De’s essence in order to fuel their own progression.

  ‘I’m out of time.’ Jun De thought dejectedly.

  A bitter taste filled his mouth. He didn’t want his new life to end so quickly. He still had so much to look forward to, and the thought of dying again left him angry and depressed.

  “I don’t have a choice.” Jun De muttered. He lifted his hand and unleashed three rapid Falling Star Palms. Golden fire hammered back the foremost attackers, forcing them to retreat temporarily.

  Jun De pivoted and activated the Luminous Step. Golden footprints seared the ground as he flashed through the darkness, leaving the Warflag of Dominion behind.

  Resolve settled in his chest like cold iron. When he had gained some distance and saw that the fire keeping the demonic cultivators from following was fading, Jun De formed a hand-seal that Elder Shen had shown him.

  Light flared along the fabric’s fading symbol of Dominion, and it brightened from a faint flow to a white hot intensity. The Demonic Cultivators hesitated for a moment as they sensed something was wrong, but it was too late.

  Jun De let a moment of silence linger before he shouted.

  “Detonate!”

  He released the seal, and the world turned white.

  The Warflag of Dominion shattered in a blossom of blinding gold and white light. A pillar of fire roared skyward, ripping through the clouds above like the rising of a second sun. Shockwaves rippled outward, destroying the trees and ruins around them.

  The five demonic cultivators were vaporized as they were caught in a hurricane of righteous fire.

  As for Jun De, he felt a flash of heat and a deafening noise, then nothing at all.

  Page Break

  High above the shattered Hollow Stream Sect, sword-light clashed with a dark spear in a storm of Qi that split the night.

  Elder Mu Yanyu moved like starlight, her pale blue sword carving arcs through the darkness.

  “First Bloom: Lotus-Petal Cascade!”

  One hundred luminous petals unfurled around her in the wake of her sword, and the oncoming demonic Qi was shredded while Xun Beiming was driven back half a step.

  The old man snorted in response to the attack, and his lips curled into a smile. His skeletal fingers tightened on the black spear, while it pulsed with dark spiritual energy.

  “Blood-Soaked Heaven-Piercing Thrust!”

  A column of crimson spiritual energy erupted from the tip of the spear, hissing like boiling oil as it barreled toward Mu Yanyu.

  She pivoted in the air, the sleeves of her robes swirling as she held her sword with both hands, pointing horizontally at Xun Beiming’s black spear.

  “Second Bloom: Moon-Drifting Plume.”

  Her blade met the crimson energy and parted it down the center. Shards of demonic Qi scattered toward the ground in harmless sparks. Two other Tranquil Mountain Sect Elders flanked her, their own Core-Formation Auras reinforcing her own.

  Together, they pressed the assault.

  Xun Beiming backpedalled, and fury flashed in his sunken eyes. He was stronger than them all; his half-step Nascent Soul cultivation should have been enough to crush anyone in the Core Formation stage.

  But every time his power surged, his brittle foundation would creak. Hairline cracks were beginning to form on his Core, the black crystal-like object in his Dantian was beginning to fracture.

  Still, he laughed madly. He was unconcerned with the consequences of this battle. Once these Core Formation Elders were defeated, he would refine their essence and fully step into the Nascent Soul realm.

  “Nine-Serpents Devouring The Sky!”

  The spear in his hands spun a wide circle, all while in released coils of shadows shaped like fanged serpents. Mu Yanyu parried three in the blink of an eye, her sword ringing like crystal, while the other Elders shattered the rest.

  So far, they were at a stalemate and neither side was sure how the battle would turn.

  Then the night tore open.

  Far across the ruined Sect ground, a pillar of white-gold fire separated into the heavens, bright enough to turn the night sky into day. The shockwave reached the fighting Elders, who blocked it with a wave of their hands.

  But it wasn’t the shock of the explosion that made Elder Mu’s sword miss a beat. It was the fact that the slender strand of spiritual sense that she had kept tethered to Jun De, monitoring his well-being at all times, snapped.

  Mu Yanyu’s heart lurched.

  For the first time since they had begun fighting, uncertainty flickered in My Yanyu’s eyes. And Xun Beiming, sensing her distraction, raised his spear with a grin.

  “Looks like one of your seedlings just burned out. Shall we see how many more we can uproot?” He rasped.

  Elder Mu tightened her grip on her sword, and her pale blue Qi flared anew.

  She needed to finish this quickly and search for Jun De.