A soft, heavy silence enveloped the mountain peak as the first winter snow began to drift from the heavens.
Feng Kail stepped out of the dark, jagged threshold, drawing a deep breath of the crisp, freezing air. Behind him, the monumental stone entrance of the Xuan Wang Mansion groaned under the weight of centuries, suddenly collapsing into a heap of ancient rubble before a thick blanket of pristine snow buried it entirely.
Kail extended his hand, letting a single, cold snowflake melt against his calloused palm. He looked back at the ruined cave and murmured, "Senior Xuan Wang, rest easy. The perfect, indestructible body that you could not achieve... I will carve it into reality with my own two hands."
Turning his back on the ruins, Kail's eyes locked onto the distant, sprawling canopy on the horizon. "Let's move, Igneel. It's time to head back to the Coastal Forest."
With his newly forged physical frame, Kail blurred into a streak of lightning, rocketing down the snowy slopes toward the dense wilderness below.
After few hours..... ..
They are still heading in way of coastal forest from sky, then suddenly, a voice come,
"Ahhhh! Help us!"
Kail abruptly skidded to a halt on a high ridge overlooking a valley. The wind carried the desperate, bloodcurdling screams of innocent people, accompanied by the thick, unmistakable scent of burning flesh and copper blood.
Kail's eyes narrowed as he looked down at a small, isolated village nestled near the forest border. "What is happening down there?"
From the beast box at his waist, Igneel's muffled, arrogant voice echoed in his mind: "If you actually want to know, you have to go down there and look, Mama! You can't just stand on a cliff like a brooding statue."
Kail rolled his eyes, a vein throbbing on his forehead. "Ah, shut up. This little bird is giving me a permanent headache."
"Who are you calling a little bird?!" Igneel shrieked indignantly inside the box. "I am a great, magnificent, handsome Phoenix! My feathers are a work of celestial art!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, 'great phoenix,'" Kail muttered, drawing his pitch-black sword. "Let's go see what kind of trouble has found this place."
Down in the village square, the snow was stained a horrific, deep crimson. Panicked civilians were fleeing in every direction as grotesque, horned figures tore through the wooden houses, swords raised.
"Boom".
A titanic, black-scaled dragon slammed heavily into the center of the village, crushing three houses beneath its talons. Sitting atop the beast's spiked saddle was a massive, towering demon. His skin was the color of fresh blood, two jagged obsidian horns curved from his brow, and he casually rested an oversized, jagged greatsword against his shoulder. This was the demon commander, Obelith
"Hahaha!" Obelith's booming laughter echoed like thunder over the screams of the dying. "Kill these filthy, pathetic humans! But heed my orders well—do not touch the women or young girls! Our demonic bloodline is thinning in this region. We need fresh human breeders to bear our children and make our army unstoppable!" He wet his lips with a thick tongue, a depraved grin twisting his face. "Slaughter the rest!"
The lesser demons cackled, their eyes burning with dark lust. "Kill the men! The women are ours to feast on tonight!"
A middle-aged woman sprinted frantically through the burning alleyways, gasping for breath. She clutched a crying toddler tightly to her chest, her clothes torn and covered in soot.
"Slash."
A small, agile demon lunged from the shadows, its rusted blade tearing a deep, bleeding gash across her back. The woman screamed, collapsing heavily onto the frozen mud. The impact knocked the toddler from her arms, the crying child sliding across the snow a few feet away.
The demon slaver stepped over her, a wicked, jagged grin splitting its face. "Don't worry, human garbage. I won't kill you. You're going to provide me with a very entertaining night. But this little brat is just dead weight..." He raised his dripping sword, aiming it directly at the crying toddler. "I'll bleed him right now."
"No! Please, I beg of you! Take me, do whatever you want, just spare my child!" the mother wailed, desperately crawling forward, but her body failed her.
"Die, brat!" The demon laughed, bringing his sword down.
A localized sonic boom shattered the air. A glowing azure arrow shot out from the smoke with the speed of a falling star, piercing cleanly through the demon's right eye socket and blowing the back of its skull out in a shower of black gore.
The demon froze instantly, its raised sword trembling before it crashed lifelessly into the crimson snow.
"Hmph. Repulsive, filthy fiends."
A cold, melodious voice cut through the roaring flames. Stepping out from the thick smoke was a young girl gripping a glowing, elegant recurve bow. She possessed cascading, midnight-blue hair that framed an incredibly beautiful, sharp face with piercing black eyes. She had a slender, athletic figure with long, powerful legs, clad in a striking uniform of deep blue and midnight-black leather that accentuated her attractive curves.
This was the village's top genius, Xu Guifei.
Guifei gracefully scooped up the crying child, rushing over to the wounded mother and placing the boy safely back into her arms. "Go, quickly! Head toward the eastern river tunnels. It's too dangerous here."
"Thank you... You must be careful, Xu Guifei!" the mother gasped, limping away into the shadows. "That demon commander... he is a monster!"
Guifei didn't waste a second. She spun on her heel, pulling the glowing string of her bow back to her ear. Three arrows of compressed Qi materialized instantly.
Every release of her bow string resulted in a demon's head exploding across the square. She moved like a phantom through the snow, dropping lesser demons by the dozen, single-handedly halting the advancement of the demon vanguard.
Up on his dragon, Obelith's golden eyes locked onto the beautiful archer. A dark, twisted curiosity gleamed in his gaze. "Oh? It seems these pathetic cattle actually managed to breed a talented seedling."
He watched her effortlessly snipe three of his elite guards in rapid succession. His grin widened. "A mere Peak Qi Profunding Stage (Tier 1 Peak) cultivator dares to stand against my legion? She clearly has a death wish... but killing a beauty like that would be a tragic waste of prime blood."
Obelith licked his lips, his demonic aura flaring as he vanished from the dragon's back.
Guifei was in the middle of nocking another arrow when an oppressive, suffocating wave of heat crashed over her. She instinctively leaped backward, executing a perfect mid-air flip.
"Boom.
A massive torrent of hellfire blasted the spot she had been standing on, vaporizing the snow and melting the stone. Obelith dropped from the sky, his heavy boots cracking the earth as he raised his massive greatsword.
Guifei's eyes narrowed. She channeled every ounce of her Qi, firing a massive, condensed azure arrow directly at his throat.
With a casual, lazy flick of his greatsword, Obelith swatted the lethal arrow away as if it were a mere fly. He began to leisurely walk toward her, his heavy steps radiating an undeniable, crushing pressure.
Guifei's heart skipped a beat. She rapidly fired a barrage of ten consecutive arrows, aiming for his eyes, his heart, and his joints. But Obelith simply swung his massive blade in a circular motion, creating a wall of black steel that deflected every single projectile into the dirt.
"My turn, little bird," Obelith purred. He gripped his greatsword with both hands, demonic red energy swirling violently around the edge. With a savage roar, he unleashed a flurry of devastating crimson energy slashes.
Guifei drew her bow to its absolute limit, firing a colossal, spiraling arrow of concentrated wind and ice to counter the incoming assault.
"Catastrophic explosion!!!
The collision of their techniques tore the village square apart. A massive shockwave of displaced air and black smoke erupted outward, shattering the windows of every remaining house.
When the smoke partially cleared, Xu Guifei was on her knees, coughing violently as a stream of bright red blood spilled from her lips. Her beautiful blue and black armor was cracked, and her bow slipped from her trembling hands. She tried desperately to force her legs to stand, but the sheer kinetic impact of a Spirit Realm attack had completely shattered her internal meridians. She was entirely paralyzed.
Obelith stepped through the curtain of ash, towering over her like a demon god. He looked down at her gorgeous, bleeding face and smiled condescendingly. "Impressive. You survived my casual slashes. Submit to me, girl. Become my personal concubine, bear my demonic children, and I will spare your pathetic village."
Guifei glared up at him, her black eyes burning with an unyielding, fierce pride. "I would rather tear my own soul apart than let a foul, wretched demon touch me!"
With the last remaining spark of her strength, she slipped a concealed silver dagger from her waistband, thrusting it violently toward Obelith's throat.
Smack!
Obelith casually caught her wrist mid-air. With a cruel smirk, he squeezed her wrist until the bones popped, forcing her to drop the dagger into the snow.
This is it...Guifei thought bitterly, her vision beginning to blur from the agonizing pain. I gathered every remaining drop of my Qi into that final strike, and it didn't even scratch his skin. A Spirit Realm cultivator... the gap is simply too despairing. Am I really going to die like this? Desecrated by a monster?
Obelith laughed darkly, wrapping his massive, clawed hand tightly around her neck, slowly lifting her frail body into the air. He raised his other hand, his sharp, black talons slowly reaching toward her exposed collarbone and chest, preparing to strip away her armor right there in the snow.
Xu Guifei's body trembled violently. Unable to watch her own defilement, she tightly closed her eyes, tears of absolute despair finally slipping down her pale cheeks as she screamed in her mind:
Someone... anyone... please help me!