The terrifying aftermath of the battle at the Central Martial Arena sent shockwaves throughout Azure Mist City that refused to settle even as night fell. The once-mighty Wu Clan—a dominant pillar that had dictated the trade and politics of the northern province for over three centuries—was now reduced to a hollow, broken memory. Its patriarch was dead, its sixteen esteemed elders were permanently crippled, and its golden genius, Wu-Feng, was left as a mindless, shattered beggar wandering the filthy alleys of the city he once ruled with an iron fist.
Yet, the true source of horror among the major families and secret societies of Azure Mist City was not the fall of the Wu Clan. It was the total, effortless annihilation of Inner Elder Ling-Xiao and his top disciples from the grand Sovereign Sword Sect. A Seventh-Stage Grandmaster, a legendary figure who could command respect across entire empires, had been lifted by his throat like a helpless chick and killed with a single, sickening crack.
Inside the grand chamber of the Silver-Crane Trading Society, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense. Heavy aromatic incense burned in bronze braziers, but it did nothing to dispel the thick aura of anxiety hanging in the room.
Captain Chen stood near the curtained balcony, his massive broadsword resting against his shoulder, though his hands were trembling slightly. "Young Mistress... the entire city is in an uproar. The city guard has locked the gates, but nobody dares to launch an investigation. The surviving members of the Wu Clan are fleeing the city like rats from a sinking ship, leaving behind millions of spiritual crystals and territory assets."
Miss Liu-Rong sat gracefully behind her rosewood desk, slowly tracing the rim of her silver porcelain tea cup. Her face was pale, her dark eyes filled with a complex mixture of reverence, calculation, and deep intrigue.
"Let the Wu Clan assets rot, Captain Chen," Miss Liu-Rong spoke softly, her refined voice carrying an unusual weight. "Those trivial assets mean nothing. What truly matters is the storm that is about to brew outside our province. Elder Ling-Xiao was no ordinary inner elder. He was the younger brother of Supreme Elder Ling-Tian, one of the three Nascent Soul powerhouses of the Sovereign Sword Sect."
Captain Chen's face drained of all color. "A... a Nascent Soul powerhouse? Young Mistress, if the Sovereign Sword Sect discovers that their inner elder was executed in Azure Mist City..."
"They already know," Miss Liu-Rong interrupted calmly, setting her teacup down with a soft click. "High-ranking elders carry Soul Tablets inside the Sect's Ancestral Hall. The moment Elder Ling-Xiao's neck was broken, his Soul Tablet shattered into dust. Right now, the Sovereign Sword Sect is likely mobilizing their enforcement fleet. A bloodbath is coming to the northern province."
She stood up, her long silk robes flowing smoothly around her slender frame as she walked toward the open window, looking out into the starry night sky of the city.
"And yet... that youth walked away without a single trace of fear in his eyes," Miss Liu-Rong murmured, a faint, captivating smile appearing on her lips. "He didn't just defeat Elder Ling-Xiao; he treated a Seventh-Stage Grandmaster like mere dust beneath his boots. He is not a rogue genius, Captain Chen. He is a monster walking among mortals. Send out our top shadow scouts immediately. Find where Master Li-Wen has gone, but issue a strict command—no one is to disturb him or show the slightest hint of disrespect. Offer him whatever information or resources he requires, without asking for anything in return."
"Understood, Young Mistress!" Captain Chen bowed deeply before vanishing into the darkness outside the chamber.
Meanwhile, ten miles outside the eastern border of Azure Mist City, the bustling noise of civilization had completely faded away, replaced by the serene rustling of ancient pine trees and the cool midnight mountain breeze.
At the summit of a jagged black cliff overlooking the vast, endless stretches of the Northern Mountain Range, a lonely figure stood quietly in the moonlight.
Li-Wen's blue scholar gown fluttered gently in the cold wind. His hands were folded behind his back, his dark hair tied neatly with a simple cloth band. To any ordinary traveler passing by, he looked like nothing more than a peaceful scholar enjoying the night sky. But beneath his calm exterior, the terrifying cosmic energy inside his body was quietly undergoing an extraordinary transformation.
Inside Li-Wen's Dantian, the First-Grade Imperial Astral Core spun in absolute silence.
The dual elemental forces—the searing, world-ending heat of the Ignis-Frost Astral Rune and the crushing, cosmic gravity of the Abyssal Bone Rune—were continuously refining his internal Ki ocean. Every single breath he took pulled in massive amounts of surrounding spiritual energy from the mountains, purifying it into liquid gold that nourished his veins, bones, and meridians.
Li-Wen slowly opened his eyes. Within his dark pupils, a faint dual glare of icy blue and blood red flickered for a fraction of a second before dissolving back into tranquil darkness.
"Middle-Stage Core Formation Realm..." Li-Wen murmured softly, looking down at his fair, smooth palm. "My current physical shell and astral core are completely stable. However, the spiritual energy in this small northern province is far too thin. Continuing my cultivation here will only slow down my progress."
He flicked his wrist slightly.
SWISH!
A small, exquisite spatial ring—taken from the corpse of Elder Ling-Xiao—appeared in his palm. With a simple thought, Li-Wen's powerful divine sense breached the spatial barrier of the ring, sweeping through its internal storage space.
Inside lay over fifty thousand high-grade spirit stones, several bottles of Fourth-Grade medicinal pills, various top-tier martial manuals, and a strange, ancient parchment scroll made from the golden hide of a Seventh-Order Spirit Beast.
Li-Wen ignored the vast wealth of spirit stones and pills, directly summoning the golden parchment scroll into his hand.
Unrolling the ancient parchment, an intricate, glowing map of the Eastern Divine Continent expanded before his eyes. Most of the continent was rendered in dark crimson ink, marking dangerous forbidden zones and ancient Sect territories. But at the very center of the map, a glowing golden marker pulsed with a mysterious, faint spatial energy.
Written beside the marker were four sharp, ancient characters etched in pure sword intent:
The Sovereign Sword Realm.
"An ancient trial ground..." Li-Wen read the fine runes inscribed on the scroll's margins, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Every fifty years, the spatial barrier surrounding the ancient Sovereign Domain weakens, opening the gates to the Secret Realm of the Fallen Sword God. All major sects, ancient lineages, and hidden empires send their elite young masters and core disciples to compete for the legacy of the Ancient Sword God."
Li-Wen's lips curved into a subtle, cold smile.
According to the scroll's notes, Elder Ling-Xiao had traveled to Azure Mist City not just to inspect the outer recruitment, but to secure specialized spatial tokens for the upcoming opening of this very Secret Realm, which was set to begin in less than three months in the central continent's grand city of Stellar Falls.
"The Sovereign Sword Sect regards this Secret Realm as their ancestral hunting ground," Li-Wen thought to himself, his voice carrying a razor-sharp chill. "They believe that by controlling the entry tokens, they can claim the ultimate legacy of the Fallen Sword God and produce a new generation of Nascent Soul powerhouses."
He closed the scroll with a sharp snap, tossing it back into his spatial ring.
"A perfect hunting ground," Li-Wen whispered to the midnight wind. "The Sovereign Sword Sect will certainly send their strongest core disciples and high elders to this Secret Realm. Instead of waiting for them to send endless waves of assassins to my doorstep, I shall simply meet them at the center of the continent and sever their future at the root."
HUMMM—!
Suddenly, a strange, resonant vibration echoed from deep within Li-Wen's chest!
The Abyssal Bone Rune along his spine flared with a warm, dark energy, while the Ignis-Frost Astral Rune pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat. It was not a warning of danger, but a violent, hungry reaction to something buried deep within the distant Northern Wilderness!
Li-Wen turned his head, his gaze piercing through the thick mountain mist toward the deep, uncharted abyssal valley situated hundreds of miles north of his position.
"That sensation..." Li-Wen's eyes glinted with sharp realization. "It's the remnant aura of an Abyssal Celestial Fragment. To think that a fragment of the ancient Abyssal Star fell into this small lower realm millions of years ago..."
The primary reason Li-Wen was able to condense the First-Grade Imperial Astral Core was due to his absorption of the Abyssal Bone Rune and the Demonic Astral Flame in the dungeon. If he could locate and refine another Abyssal Celestial Fragment before traveling to the central continent, his Imperial Astral Core would undergo a second cosmic evolution, pushing his strength directly toward the Late-Stage Core Formation Realm!
"Before I step onto the central continent to crush the Sovereign Sword Sect," Li-Wen spoke in a quiet, firm voice, "I shall take a detour into the Abyssal Valley and claim that fragment."
SWISH!
Without another second of hesitation, Li-Wen stepped off the edge of the jagged cliff.
His body did not plummet into the abyss. Instead, a surge of dark-purple spatial gravity wrapped around his blue scholar gown, transforming his figure into a streak of ghost-like, blinding light that shattered the night air, shooting toward the northern horizon at sound-barrier-breaking speed!
Three days later.
At the highest peak of the Sovereign Sword Sect—located thousands of miles away on the majestic Cloud-Piercing Mountain—a bell tolled.
DONG... DONG... DONG...
The heavy, somber sound of the Ancestral Soul Bell echoed across the vast floating islands, ancient sword pavilions, and mist-shrouded training grounds of the grand Sect. Ten thousand disciples stopped their practice in sheer shock, looking up toward the central mountain peak in utter disbelief.
The tolling of the Ancestral Soul Bell only occurred when a major elder of the Sect had perished!
Inside the grand Enforcement Hall, built entirely from cold black iron and surrounded by floating flying swords, an elderly man sat cross-legged on a high throne made of jade. He wore dark silver robes embroidered with golden sword runes, his long white hair cascading down his shoulders like a river of silver thread.
This was Supreme Elder Ling-Tian—a formidable Nascent Soul powerhouse whose single blade strike could tear apart rivers and split mountains!
Before his throne, two shattered pieces of a glowing red jade tablet lay scattered on the cold marble floor. The name Ling-Xiao carved into the tablet had completely lost its spiritual light, turned into dark, lifeless stone.
Below the high platform, over twenty high elders of the Core Formation Realm were kneeling on both knees, their foreheads pressed tightly against the cold floor, sweating profusely in sheer terror. The suffocating, mountain-crushing pressure radiating from Supreme Elder Ling-Tian was making the very air inside the hall crack and buckle!
"Speak," Supreme Elder Ling-Tian spoke. His voice was not loud, but it sounded like thousands of razor-sharp swords grinding against iron, vibrating directly inside the souls of everyone present. "Who did this?"
A high elder wearing the dark green robes of the Intelligence Division raised his head with extreme difficulty, his voice trembling violently. "R-Reporting to Supreme Elder! According to the emergency spirit-transmission sent by the Silver-Crane Trading Society... Elder Ling-Xiao was inspecting the outer recruitment in Azure Mist City. He... he encountered a rogue youth named Li-Wen."
"Li-Wen?" Supreme Elder Ling-Tian's eyes slowly opened. Two blinding beams of silver sword aura erupted from his pupils, instantly blasting two deep holes through the heavy iron walls of the hall! "A rogue youth from a small northern province killed my brother?"
"Yes, Supreme Elder!" the intelligence elder stammered hysterically, bowing frantically. "That youth... he possessed unimaginable physical strength and an unknown dual-element cosmic technique! He shattered Elder Ling-Xiao's Ninth-Tier Azure Sword with a single unarmored punch... and then... and then broke Elder Ling-Xiao's neck on the spot!"
BANG—!
The massive iron throne beneath Supreme Elder Ling-Tian instantly vaporized into fine black powder!
The entire Cloud-Piercing Mountain trembled violently, causing massive avalanches to roar down the surrounding peaks! Hundreds of flying swords hovering around the pavilion broke into pieces, falling like rain from the sky!
"A single punch..." Supreme Elder Ling-Tian stood suspended in empty air, his silver hair flying wildly as a suffocating, blood-red murder intent erupted from his body, turning the sky above the Sect into a terrifying sea of crimson clouds! "Insolent insect! To dare spill the noble blood of my Ling family in a filthy backwater province!"
"Supreme Elder, please calm your wrath!" an ancient, white-bearded First Elder stepped forward, bowing deeply. "The opening of the Sovereign Sword Realm is less than three months away. Our Sect Master is currently in secluded cultivation preparing for the domain entrance. We cannot afford to deploy our main Nascent Soul forces to the northern wilderness right now!"
"Are you suggesting I let my brother's killer walk free?!" Supreme Elder Ling-Tian roared, his voice shaking the foundations of the hall.
"Of course not, Supreme Elder!" the First Elder replied hastily, his eyes flashing with a sinister, calculating light. "We have received news that the youth Li-Wen has left Azure Mist City and is traveling north toward the Abyssal Valley, likely seeking ancient treasures. The Abyssal Valley is bordered by the territory of the Blood-Fiend Pavilion!"
The First Elder paused, a cold, vicious smile touching his lips. "We can issue a Supreme Sovereign Kill Order! Offer a reward of one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones and a Fifth-Grade Medicinal Pill to anyone who brings us Li-Wen's head! The Blood-Fiend Pavilion's blood assassins and the rogue grandmasters of the northern wilderness will swarm him like hungry locusts! He will not live to see the sunrise of the next month!"
Supreme Elder Ling-Tian looked down at the shattered soul tablet of his brother, the murderous rage in his eyes slowly cooling into an icy, absolute death sentence.
"Issue the Supreme Sovereign Kill Order immediately," Ling-Tian spoke, his voice dripping with venomous chill. "Dispatch the Blood-Sword Executioners of our Enforcement Division as well. I want that boy's soul extracted and refined inside the Soul-Burning Cauldron for ten thousand years!"
"As you command, Supreme Elder!" the elders echoed in unison, their terrifying roars shaking the heavens.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles to the north.
The sky above the Northern Wilderness had turned into a perpetual, sickly shade of grey and purple. Thick, corrosive poisonous fog rolled across jagged black ravines, and the ground was littered with the massive, bleached bones of ancient spirit beasts.
This was the entrance to the notorious Abyssal Valley—a desolate, lawless zone where human life was cheaper than dirt, and only the strong had the right to draw breath.
A high-speed streak of dark-purple light cut through the toxic grey clouds, descending silently onto the crest of a barren ridge overlooking the jagged entrance of the valley.
The light dissolved, revealing Li-Wen's tranquil blue-robed figure.
The howling northern wind carried the thick stench of blood, rotting flesh, and ancient spiritual decay, but the moment the wind touched within three feet of Li-Wen, it was instantly repelled by an invisible, crushing gravitational barrier.
Li-Wen looked down at the entrance of the valley. Through the thick toxic mist, he could see dozens of dark, sinister figures lurking among the rocks—blood-thirsty rogue cultivators, sinister assassins, and demonic bandits waiting to ambush unsuspecting travelers.
"The aura of the Abyssal Fragment is getting stronger," Li-Wen murmured quietly, his eyes fixed on the deepest, blackest chasm at the heart of the valley. "It seems many rats have gathered here ahead of me."
Suddenly, his divine sense picked up several fast-approaching spiritual signatures hiding in the shadows of the craggy rocks just thirty paces behind him.
Six figures clad in crimson-and-black leather armor emerged silently from the mist. Their faces were covered with sinister iron masks, and their long, curved blood-daggers dripped with dark green poison. Each of these six assassins possessed cultivation at the Peak Fifth-Stage to Sixth-Stage of Ki refinement!
The leader of the assassins—a tall man holding a heavy blood-scythe—looked at Li-Wen's peaceful blue gown and scholar band, a cruel, mocking laugh escaping his iron mask.
"Well, well... what do we have here?" the leader sneered, spinning his blood-scythe with practiced ease. "A weak scholar lost in the Abyssal Valley? Young man, hand over your spatial ring and slice off your own limbs, and we might give you a quick death!"
Li-Wen did not even turn around. His hands remained folded behind his back as he continued looking out over the misty valley.
"Blood-Fiend Pavilion assassins?" Li-Wen spoke in a smooth, velvet tone that was completely unbothered by their murderous aura. "You arrived faster than I expected."
The lead assassin's eyes narrowed behind his iron mask. "You know who we are, yet you don't bow in terror? Arrogant fool! Kill him!"
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
All six assassins vanished into thin air, transforming into six blinding streaks of blood-red shadows that launched toward Li-Wen's vital spots from six different angles simultaneously! Their poisonous daggers cut through the air with sound-shattering speed!
Facing six lethal Fifth and Sixth-Stage killing strikes, Li-Wen simply took a slight breath.
He didn't draw a weapon. He didn't even shift his footing.
HUMMM—!
An invisible, absolute gravitational field with a radius of thirty feet exploded outward from Li-Wen's body!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The six blood-red shadows were instantly dragged out of the air and slammed violently against the hard, jagged granite floor by an overwhelming force equal to the weight of a thousand iron mountains!
"AAAAAAAH!"
"MY BONES! MY MERIDIANS ARE CRUSHING!"
The five elite assassins didn't even have the chance to scream twice. The terrifying gravitational force crushed their armor, shattered their bones into splinters, and turned their internal organs into bloody paste within a single second! Their bodies exploded into crimson mist right where they lay!
Only the lead assassin was left alive, pinned flat against the stone floor, his blood-scythe snapped into tiny pieces, his iron mask feebly cracking under the terrifying pressure! He looked up at Li-Wen's quiet, blue-robed figure with utter, soul-shattering horror!
"M-Monster... what kind of art is this..." the lead assassin gasped, spewing dark blood from his mouth.
Li-Wen slowly turned around, his calm steps silent against the stone. He stopped right in front of the kneeling, crushed assassin leader, looking down at him with dark, indifferent eyes.
"Who issued the hunt?" Li-Wen asked softly, his tone completely serene.
"T-The Supreme Sovereign Kill Order..." the assassin leader whimpered, his spirit completely broken by the casual, god-like display of power. "Sovereign Sword Sect... Supreme Elder Ling-Tian issued a bounty of one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones... every assassin guild and rogue sect in the northern wilderness is coming for you..."
"One hundred thousand spirit stones..." Li-Wen repeated the number, a faint, razor-sharp smile flickering across his lips. "My head is quite cheap in his eyes."
Li-Wen lightly tapped the toe of his shoe against the stone floor.
ZIP!
A microscopic needle of gravitational Ki pierced straight through the lead assassin's forehead, ending his breath instantly.
Li-Wen turned back toward the deep, misty chasm of the Abyssal Valley, his blue scholar gown fluttering peacefully in the howling wind. The Supreme Sovereign Kill Order that had sent terror through the entire continent did not bring a single ripple of emotion to his calm expression.
"Let them all come," Li-Wen whispered to the vast, grey sky, his golden-tinged eyes reflecting the dark, cosmic depth of an ancient sovereign. "The more blood that falls in this valley, the faster my Imperial Astral Core shall awaken."
With a single step, his figure dissolved into a streak of dark-purple light, plunging directly into the foggy depths of the Abyssal Valley to claim his next cosmic evolution.
See you in next chapter.....