Peach trees painting a mountain in pinks and greens swayed gently with the breeze. The rustle of their leaves and the sweet scent from their maturing fruits filled the village-sized sect with a lively aura mirrored by cultivators’ activities.
Despite the rain splashing beneath their feet and the fading light of the sun, energetic screams rang out from the training grounds. Disciples filled the streets, haggling over techniques, debating pills, and weighing which weapons were worth saving their sect points for.
But with the soft hum of space tearing open, and the heavy thud of Adam’s boot against the wet earth, their peace was about to vanish—consumed by a storm of raging flames.
A few disciples noticed his youthful figure, but the leaders and elders all felt the disturbance. Instantly, five voices thundered through the streets.
"All nascent soul realm disciples are to evacuate to the sect’s core area this instant. The others, witness the folly of a mage who dared sully our Verdant Peak’s life force with his nauseating mana."
The disciples’ eyes widened as they heeded the command. Those too weak cursed for missing the spectacle, while the few strong enough smirked as the noise of flying swords splitting wind registered.
Adam counted twenty-seven silver streaks before as many men and women landed in front of him. Including the few disciples, a total of thirty-two enemies glared at him, among whom five stood out.
Enchanted robes flapped behind them, the embroideries of flowers and butterflies coming to life with the movements. With a flash of their spatial rings, tight-fitting breastplates, spiked gauntlets, and pauldrons fashioned into tiger or bear’s roaring maws enveloped them. Blades enveloped in crackling fire, roaring winds, or thin yet sharp layers of water formed in their hands as one of them snorted.
"Any last word, bastard of the mage race?"
Adam tilted his head, pointing at his face, then smirked. "Funny. That’s exactly what I was about to ask you. It’s just a whim of mine, really." He pointed an accusing finger at them. "I mean to know if you’ll regret your deal with the Witch of the West, if you’ll repent for the children’s lives you’ve sacrificed for your benefits. You have ten seconds."
"Hahaha!" The cultivators slapped their foreheads in enraged laughter.
"I didn’t know mages had a sense of humour." One of the leaders said, his qi erupting as he crouched. "Regrets? Repent? I don’t know who dared to slander my righteous sect. But you, brat, only threw yourself into the jaws of death by believing these lies."
"You are the liar! We know everything!" The invisible children swung their fists, roaring behind Adam. Even Qing and Wei glared at those self-proclaimed righteous cultivators with clenched jaws.
Before they could curse them too, however, the leader who just spoke turned into a blur, then vanished in their eyes.
Sure of his victory since he was so close to a mage, the leader swung his crackling blade. His smirk rapidly twisted as Adam’s eyes followed his movements. How?
A knee drove up beneath him before he could ponder the question. The pressure accompanying it sent his jade hairpin flying, a split second before a crushing blow struck his chin.
A searing pain spread through his jaws, the shattering bones spreading like glass. His cheeks followed before his entire skull turned into dust in front of his wide-eyed allies.
"Leader Shang!" They called out as he collapsed like a stringless puppet.
The deflated face, popped eyes, and brain matter seeping from the ears—they all watched in horror.
"He’s no mage! A cultivator!" Another leader screamed. "Why are you attacking us?"
"Someone from the demonic path, no doubt! Kill him together!" The third’s knuckles whitened around his spear.
The last scrutinised the energies engulfing Adam’s eyes, shaking his head. "His eyes release both mana and qi. He’s an aberration never seen before."
"So what?" The third snorted. "Should we forgive him after he killed Shang?"
"Absolutely not," the fourth grinned. "His body, though, is more valuable alive. Why don’t we capture him to study how he wields both energies as we make him pay for our brother’s death?"
"I concur." The other three leaders and elders nodded.
Across from them, Adam sneered. "Capturing someone alive is quite the challenge, don’t you think so? I would say should be twice as skilled as your target."
"Outnumbering it thirty-one to one should be enough." The fourth leader cut him off, smirking.
Adam tapped his cheek, mockery dripping from his voice. "Thirty-one? Why do I only see you?"
An icy shudder ran down the fourth leader’s spine as he didn’t hear any answers from his companions. He snapped back to a sight of horror that made him, a void refinement realm expert, tremble in fear.
Thick threads pierced the pavement and buildings, threading through thirty lifeless bodies suspended in mid-air. He blinked three times, unwilling to trust what his eyes revealed. But the scarlet blood trailing down the sky-blue strands—and the gaping mouths of his friends, each silenced by threads snaking down their throats—told him it was all real.
He dropped to his knees, his breath coming out labored. Sweat drenched his forehead, the confidence he had nurtured for centuries vaporising like paper thrown in the inferno burning in Adam’s sky-blue eyes. There was no escape. He would die. No.. no, no! How could this happen? Did the witch ally with him to betray their agreement?
As dread devoured his heart, Adam’s mocking voice reverberated. "Do you regret now that you’ve lost the numerical advantage and I showed you I was more powerful?"
"I regret listening to my siblings’ stupid ideas! Let me repent by saving ten times the number of children’s lives they’ve robbed."
Adam waved at the invisible children, breaking his spell. Twenty emaciated bodies, draped in rags smelling worse than poison, appeared as he pointed at the leader. "Do you forgive him?"
"NO!" They roared in unison.
"Guessed so." Adam walked to the last leader, smirking. "But don’t believe your victims sealed your fate. Your siblings’ ideas? The lives they robbed? You’re shifting the blame to them, refusing to apologise properly. That’s not all."
Haunting gray mana swirled in his palm. "You’re the only one who didn’t let your emotions sway you after I killed that Shang. Did you think anyone with two brain cells connected would believe you? Well, the children didn’t, which answers the question."
His voice chilled as he approached his soul mana-covered hand. "I can’t let the mastermind die too fast, right? You have much to see, and even more to tell."