Cade was barely a dozen miles from his destination when the rising pressure at the back of his head prompted him to send out a pulse of his life sense. A powerful life signature registered at the edge of its range. It was rapidly closing in.

  I’m not going insane. The warning is real!

  Magnifying the view to its absolute limit, he saw the vague outline of a thin silhouette surrounded by a golden glow, blazing through the air like a burning arrow. It was moving at roughly the same speed as him, maybe slightly faster.

  “Gorgo, keep Griswold close. We have company,” Cade said into the comms gem as he pushed his speeder to its utmost limits with a trickle of ignited blood qi, his expression grim beneath the mask. The Arrow shook dangerously, ripping through the air at close to double its original speed.

  Whoever was following them was undeniably strong. Judging from their life signature, Cade estimated this person to be in the Foundation Establishment realm, but the distance was still too great to ascertain their exact stage.

  Finally, Cade spotted Gorgo at the base of a tall cliff near the cave’s entrance. The giant had his broadsword out, the massive blade resting easily on his shoulder. In his other hand he held Griswold, already bound—though, surprisingly, already conscious. Gorgo had only grown larger with his recent cultivation progress, now weighing over five hundred pounds of qi-enhanced muscle. Griswold’s bound legs flailed helplessly a foot above the ground, the warrior’s thick fingers wrapped around his neck.

  “Fucker, release me!” the man’s hoarse yell reached Cade’s ears just as he arrived. Cade jumped off the speeder and swiftly approached Gorgo, not bothering to give Griswold a second look.

  “Who the fuck are you two geniuses? Do you understand the amount of shit you’re in right now?!” their indignant captive continued to curse, struggling to turn his head to look at Cade under the strength of Gorgo’s relentless grip.

  Both of them ignored the man completely, instead giving each other meaningful looks.

  “Early to middle stage of Foundation Establishment,” Cade said, his thumb pointing behind him, where Gorgo noticed a bright, radiant dot, its size growing with every passing moment.

  “Alright. Let’s see what happens,” the giant calmly replied, cracking his neck.

  “You imbeciles, you have no idea who I am, do you? I am the tenth heir to the Brightheart Empire! This is my Dao Protector. Enjoy your last few breaths,” Griswold spat out hatefully, unsuccessfully attempting to free himself from Gorgo’s chokehold. His limbs, tightly bound with green silk rope, made his body from the neck down flap about like a fish tossed onto the riverbank, presenting a rather comical sight.

  However, with the looming presence of a powerful cultivator, neither of them was in the mood to laugh.

  “Brother, I think little Griswold is breathing far too comfortably. What do you think?” Cade remarked. Gorgo tightened his chokehold, preventing his captive from spouting more crap.

  Cade had no idea who a Dao Protector was, but Griswold’s unexpected proclamation did surprise him. The Emperor must have been truly blind to select that fellow for anything other than a life behind bars inside the shittiest imperial prison.

  “Let me deal with this,” Cade said.

  As he looked at the approaching silhouette surrounded by a fiery halo, Cade felt no fear. Unexpectedly, the sense of pressure at the back of his head disappeared, as if it had served its purpose. The young Asura took a deep, slow breath.

  With the sound of traveling thunder, Griswold’s Dao Protector arrived some fifty feet in front of them in an explosion of heat and buffeting winds. The multiple scorching waves slammed into them in rapid succession, but other than being mildly uncomfortable, they didn’t do any damage.

  The man landed softly with his hands clasped behind his back, presenting an image of effortless mastery. He appeared to be around seventy years old, his body emaciated, with a wrinkled, gaunt face, dark circles under his eyes, and multiple liver spots. He had long gray hair, mostly receded, a short beard, and wore a golden robe that Cade recognized as belonging to the Sword Sacrament Sect.

  Cade knew that Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn’t sustain flight for too long and suspected the elderly man had traveled most of the way here by conventional means, only resorting to flying toward the end to show off and try to intimidate them. What surprised Cade was that this elder’s life force suggested someone who had reached the early stage of Foundation Establishment, but his spiritual aura placed him closer to the peak of the middle stage. It wasn’t due to his age, either. Upon noticing this, Cade was initially confused, but then the reason suddenly occurred to him. His eyes darkened, the striations on his jaw pulsing rhythmically.

  This old bastard must have used cultivation furnaces to raise himself to the middle stage.

  The old man stared at the two masked men as if they were a couple of dog turds, then spoke in a whizzing voice. “Little fellows, you did something very silly. Very irresponsible,” he slowly shook his head, his pursed lips expressing disapproval. “This young man is Griswold Brightheart, the tenth heir to the current reigning Emperor and my charge. Release him, and you might yet live. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being unkind,” the elderly man stated magnanimously, trying to physically look down on the two of them but failing miserably, considering he wasn’t even six feet tall.

  Cade chortled in response, but his laughter held no mirth. “Griswold here is one step away from reincarnating, so if you want him alive, your attitude really needs to improve. Words like ‘please’ or ‘thank you’... They were missing from your speech. You might think you’re the dog’s bollocks as you fly over the streets of Sacrament City in your fancy golden robe, but here, you and your forcefully raised cultivation don’t mean shit. So shut that old trap, and go back where you came from,” Cade shot back, knowing well the effect his words would have.

  “You…! Bastard mortal dares to offend me?! I’m warning you, release him, or…” the man exclaimed indignantly as Cade’s jab apparently hit a sensitive spot, but the Asura didn’t let him finish.

  “Or what? You’ll keep warning us harder? Is your plan to warn us to death?” Cade’s challenging tone was dripping with sarcasm.

  The old man’s eyelid twitched, and his teeth clenched with an audible crack. He couldn’t even remember the last time anyone had spoken to him in such a tone, let alone been interrupted mid-sentence. However, because of Griswold, he had no choice but to ignore the insult.

  “I am Master Nine. I happen to be this young man’s Dao Protector and a Sword Sacrament Elder. Release him to me quickly, and you might survive this. If you don’t do what I say, I promise neither of you will have a good death,” the old man warned in a voice trembling with anger.

  His temper isn’t very good. Maybe I can give myself an opening to strike first.

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  “Master Nine, huh?” Cade remarked, looking the old man up and down. “Nine what? Teeth?”

  “You little fucker! Release Griswold or die!” Master Nine’s body shook with barely restrained fury as he pointed his gnarled finger at the pockmarked heir, who desperately clawed at Gorgo’s hand, his face already turning blue.

  “Nah. Go back to your care home or you’ll miss dinner.” Cade observed his nails with fake fascination as he shooed the old man away with his other hand, all while diligently watching the fluctuations in his life signature.

  Master Nine snapped. Releasing an indignant roar, he wrapped his body in a golden layer of spiritual qi and leaped at Gorgo with his fingers clawed, as if he wanted to tear the giant apart with his bare hands.

  However, Cade was already moving. “Your opponent is me!” he roared, igniting a portion of his qi. His body blurred, moving with astounding speed and intercepting the elder’s leap halfway. Gorgo didn’t even get to raise his broadsword before his friend’s strike landed.

  The Asura’s right fist slammed into Master Nine’s withered face, shattering his qi barrier and breaking his jaw with a nauseating crunch. While the barrier had exhausted most of the blow’s power, the sheer force of impact still sent the old man tumbling over forty feet. His thin body smashed into the stone cliff with a loud crack, fracturing its weathered surface. A cloud of dust surrounded the elder, and he coughed out two mouthfuls of blood.

  “Ahh khihh yuh!” The old man’s injury turned his scream into a slur of words, but the message was clear.

  Cade was quite shocked by the elder’s toughness, considering he had put a large portion of his strength into that blow. Then again, the old man was a Foundation Establishment expert. Even if his power wasn’t quite on the level his realm would suggest, his cultivation rank had still greatly reinforced his physique.

  “Who said the elderly weren’t resilient? Survival is proof of strength,” Cade nodded with appreciation, giving Master Nine a thumbs-up.

  Gorgo released an amused snort. Despite Cade taking the advantage from the start, he continued to stay focused in case his friend needed support. He gave Griswold a tiny amount of breathing room, just enough for him to not suffocate. Thinking about all the lives this man had destroyed made Gorgo’s hand itch with killing intent.

  At the same time, Master Nine’s hands blurred, producing several complex seals. In an instant, nine rotating formation circles manifested, forming a ring around him with a glowing, golden sword emerging from each. “Ghhie!” The elder’s incoherent screech pierced the air. His arms turned into a frantic blur, as if he was fending off a swarm of yellowjackets. In response, the sword projections whizzed in Cade’s direction, glowing like threads of condensed sunlight.

  When the young Asura noticed the first circles appear, the pressure in the back of his head returned. He immediately burst into motion. However, instead of seeking cover, he launched himself directly at the injured Master Nine, whose eyes widened in surprise. “Old thing, let’s see whose life is hardier!” Cade roared while powering forward with his teeth clenched, his red eyes glowing with bloodlust. He looked like a starving demon.

  The projectiles sliced through the air faster than crossbow bolts, their high-pitched hums nearly deafening. Cade clenched his fists, and his body tensed. This will hurt. With grim determination, he prepared himself for the pain. There was simply no way he’d be able to evade all the projections. He could only focus on protecting his most vulnerable areas—the heart and the brain.

  The first two swords lanced toward his chest. Suddenly, the pressure in his head reappeared, exploding into an intense ringing, and with it came an impossible clarity. He knew their paths, and how best to dodge. But how…? There was no time to question anything, as pure instinct took over. He threw himself forward, uncoiling his body in a sharp twist. The blades still raked across his skin, carving shallow, burning furrows, but they missed anything vital. Astounded, he pressed forward, the meager cuts doing nothing to slow him down.

  The third, fourth, and fifth swords aimed for his legs, intending to halt his approach. Cade twisted through the air in a sideways arc, guided by this new ringing sense, avoiding two of the three weapons. He knew where they were going to strike, but there was only so much his body could do. The fifth sword pierced deep into the outer part of his thigh, where it struck bone and burst into a cloud of golden light. The ringing had warned him—he just wasn’t fast enough. He stumbled briefly, wincing in pain, as even with his incredibly high threshold, it felt like hot lava had been poured into his leg. Still, he forced himself to ignore it, pushing ignited blood qi into the wound and straightening up, charging forward with everything he had.

  The sixth and seventh swords flew at his head and neck—obvious killing blows. His new battle sense rang out again, guiding him, but instead of dodging and losing even more momentum, Cade chose to reinforce his hands with surging ignited qi and thrust his arms forward. The ringing intensified as both swords stabbed into his palms, but thanks to the concentrated qi, they failed to punch through. The pain was far less than that of the leg wound. Cade clenched his fists, crushing the projections with ease, his eyes fixed on the elder as the distance between them shrank.

  Master Nine cursed loudly, swinging his arm down. The last two swords swiftly changed their trajectory, aiming for his navel, where the pre-core was located. Even with his new sense warning him and all of his Asura reflexes, Cade found no way to avoid them. The golden projections stabbed deep into his lower torso with a sickening slosh. Both weapons instantly dispersed into a mist of glowing specks that clung to his flesh, accelerating blood loss and preventing the wounds from closing. A pained grimace crossed his face, and he coughed up blood, nearly toppling over.

  My bad. I came at him straight like an absolute idiot.

  For a moment, he was forced to move on all fours, using his hands to steady himself as he fought through the pain. Blood kept leaking from the deep wounds in his gut, but thankfully, he no longer had a digestive system to worry about. His potent Asura life force was already purging the golden qi and slowing the bleeding.

  Master Nine spat out another mouthful of blood as his hands flashed, forming new seals. Cade once again sensed the pressure building behind his head and gritted his teeth, igniting half of his remaining qi. If a single sword projection stabs into me now, I’ll be done for. Pushing his speed to its absolute limit, he crossed the last twenty feet in a blur, the massive surge of power starting to tear his muscles apart.

  The old man unleashed a hateful screech, and a turbulent red glow wrapped around him—the unmistakable sign of burning large quantities of lifeblood. Crimson light surged through the formation circles as new sword projections erupted in rapid sequence. But for all his desperation, they still weren’t fast enough.

  Bloody tears streamed from Cade’s eyes as he surged at Master Nine like a scarlet storm. His leg snapped up, heel driving into the elder’s chest. Master Nine roared like a wounded beast, throwing his arms across his body in a desperate guard. Cade’s qi-empowered front kick forcefully smashed through the elder's qi barrier with the force of a runaway carriage, splintering bone and crushing his sternum. The blow hurled Master Nine back into the shallow crater, his sword projections unraveling into clouds of glittering dust. The stone wall behind erupted with a deafening crack, shards whistling through the air like slingshot pellets. Nearby trees shuddered as the fragments punched into their trunks in a series of explosive knocks.

  The elder was unable to bear the massive internal damage, and a fountain of blood sprayed uncontrollably from his mouth as his body forcefully bounced off the wall, instantly going limp. It hit the ground with a muffled thud, the man’s face smacking into the thin coat of soil covering the sheer rock below.

  Cade’s unquenched bloodthirst wouldn’t allow him to waver over a disabled enemy. This old man had to die. He poured the rest of his ignited qi into his leg, stomping down with brutal efficiency. His boot smashed into the back of Master Nine’s head with relentless force, obliterating his skull and collapsing the stone surface underneath with a booming thump. Dense clouds of dust rose into the air, revealing a gory pit full of shattered rock.

  At some point, the pressure in the back of his head had vanished.

  The young Asura stood still over the headless corpse, his chest heaving. The three deepest wounds were slowly closing, but it would still be at least a day before they were fully healed. He stepped out of the small crater, then wiped his boot on a patch of short grass.

  “I guess Master Nine’s path ends here,” he mumbled, setting his bloodshot eyes on the terrified Griswold, whose body trembled uncontrollably. A wet spot grew around his crotch, urine trickling down his leg.

  Yet despite his obvious terror, there was still a defiant glint in the pockmarked man’s eyes, as if some delusional part of his mind refused to believe anything truly bad could happen to him.

  Cade glanced at Gorgo, who continued to restrain Griswold with a frown and a scrunched nose. He then switched his gaze back to the captive heir. “If you’re done pissing yourself, let’s chat.”

  Just as he finished speaking, he felt his spherules vibrate, and the nagging sense of pressure suddenly returned.