"Hehe... no one can save you today, little bird," Obelith purred, his clawed hand tightening around Xu Guifei's throat.
"And who decided that no one can save her?"
A voice, cold as glacial ice and sharp as a honed blade, sliced through the roaring fires of the village square.
Obelith's smile instantly froze. A sudden, suffocating pressure dropped onto the square, so heavy it caused the surrounding flames to flicker and die. The demon commander whipped his head around, his golden eyes narrowing as he scanned the smoke.
Stepping into the clearing was Feng Kail. Standing closely behind him, clutching makeshift weapons and bandages, were the surviving village elders and men whom Kail had already freed while clearing out the lesser demons.
Kail tilted his neck, a sharp crack echoing from his spine. His dark blue eyes locked onto the towering demon. "A 1-Star Spirit Realm cultivator... Perfect. I haven't had a proper fight since leaving the ancient mansion. You'll make an excellent test dummy for my new power."
Obelith let out a thunderous, mocking laugh, tossing the semi-conscious Guifei into the snow like trash. "A test dummy? You?! A pathetic insect at the Peak of the Qi Enlightenment stage dares to use me as a metric? I'll flay the arrogant flesh right off your bones, boy!"
With an explosive burst of red Qi, Obelith sprinted forward, the ground cracking under his heavy boots. He raised his jagged greatsword, bringing it down in a vertical arc meant to split Kail in half.
"Clang!"
Kail didn't dodge. He drew his pitch-black sword with lightning speed, meeting the massive greatsword dead-on. A cataclysmic shockwave of displaced air exploded from the point of impact, tearing up the mud and snow, violently throwing both combatants backward.
Before the dust could even settle, Kail blurred, his newly forged physical speed leaving afterimages as he collided with the demon commander again and again, their blades sparking like fireworks in the winter dark.
While the titanic clash raged in the center of the square, several village elders rushed out of the shadows, dragging Xu Guifei's broken body behind a thick, ancient oak tree.
An elderly man with a long grey beard—the village physician—hurriedly pressed his fingers against her pulse points. His face turned completely ash-white, his hands trembling. "This is bad... it's too severe. Her internal meridians are entirely shredded, and the demonic Qi is corroding her heart. She... she won't survive past sunrise."
"What?!" a village hunter choked up, tears welling in his eyes. "Elder, you must do something! Guifei is the pride of our Whiteleaf Village! She is our only true cultivator, the one who risks her life to shield us from the beasts and bandits every single time. We cannot just watch her die!"
"Our mortal medical arts are useless against Spirit Realm wounds," the old physician wept, hanging his head. "We don't possess a Holy-Grade healing pill..."
Guifei coughed violently, a thick stream of dark blood spilling down her pale chin. Despite the agonizing pain, her gaze remained fiercely stoic. "I am... okay," she gasped out, her black eyes locked onto the flashing swords in the distance. "Do not waste... your tears on me. But tell me... who is that boy? Why is he risking his life for us? Didn't the regional scouts say the elite Yin Clan refused to send aid to our outer sector?"
The old physician shook his head. "He is not from the treacherous Yin Clan, child. His name is Feng Kail. He was simply passing through the valley when he witnessed our slaughter. He didn't hesitate—he slaughtered every single demon terrorizing our eastern walls in minutes. This commander is the last monster standing. If young master Kail wins... we will beg him to save you. Perhaps a wandering cultivator possesses a miracle cure."
Guifei closed her eyes tightly, her voice cracking. "He can't win... A Qi Enlightenment cultivator cannot bridge the gap to the Spirit Realm. He is throwing his life away..."
Kail ducked under a lethal horizontal sweep, his dark hair whipping through the air. In a fluid, continuous motion, he stepped into Obelith's blind spot, his pitch-black blade moving like a phantom.
Slash! Cut! Pierced!
In the span of three breaths, Kail executed a dozen flawless counter-strikes, leaving a network of deep, bleeding lacerations across Obelith's crimson chest and shoulders. Kail leaped back, resting his sword loosely on his shoulder, a mocking smirk playing on his lips. "Is this the absolute limit of a Spirit Realm demon? Disappointing."
Obelith roared in sheer fury, black blood dripping from his newly carved wounds. "Don't get cocky, human brat! Your swordplay might be refined, but my demonic physical heritage is a hundred times denser than your fragile human flesh!"
Slamming his greatsword into the earth, Obelith bared his razor-sharp claws, channeling his crimson Qi directly into his muscles until his arms swelled to twice their original size. "I'll crush your skull with my bare hands!"
Obelith lunged, throwing a devastating sonic-boom punch.
Kail's eyes flashed with an eerie excitement. "You want to compare physical bodies? Let's see who breaks first."
With a flick of his wrist, Kail stored his black sword away into his ring, clenching his right fist. He ignited the physical conditioning method inherited from Xuan Wang, his muscles hardening to the density of divine meteorites.
"Boom"
Fist met fist. The sheer kinetic force of the impact created a localized shockwave that flattened every remaining wooden structure within fifty yards. But the deadlock lasted only a fraction of a second.
"Crack --snap"!
"Arrrrgggh!" Obelith screamed in pure agony. The bones in his massive demonic forearm shattered into splintered fragments under the overwhelming, unyielding density of Kail's punch.
Before the demon could comprehend the impossibility of the situation, Kail pivoted on his left foot, driving a brutal, reinforced kick straight into Obelith's abdomen.
"Spurt!"
Obelith vomited a torrent of blood as he flew backward like a cannonball, crashing through three stone walls before embedding himself deeply into the trunk of a massive, ancient tree.
Behind the oak tree, the village elders froze in absolute, jaw-dropping shock. Xu Guifei's eyes snapped open, her breath catching in her throat. He... he broke a demon commander's bones with a single punch? Just what kind of monster is he?!
Panting heavily, his face twisted in a mixture of terror and desperation, Obelith dragged himself out of the ruined tree trunk. Realizing he was facing an anomalous monster, he bit his tongue and blew a sharp, high-frequency whistle.
The massive, black-scaled dragon that had been hovering above descended like a falling mountain, its jaws open to swallow Kail whole.
"Igneel, now! Your turn!" Kail commanded.
The beast box at his waist burst open with a blinding flash of golden light. Igneel erupted into the sky, instantly expanding into his majestic, ruby-feathered Phoenix form. With a ferocious screech, Igneel's divine talons gouged deep trenches into the dragon's black scales, violently dragging the massive reptile up into the clouds as a storm of fire and blood erupted in the heavens.
Down on the ground, Obelith knew this was his final stand. He retrieved his greatsword with his remaining good hand, channeling every single drop of his demonic life force into the blade. The steel glowed with an ominous, bleeding crimson light.
Kail's expression went completely cold. He drew his pitch-black sword once more, a dark, dangerous aura swirling around him.
"Demon Blood Art: First Style — [The Conqueror] !" Obelith screamed, swinging his blade forward. A colossal, avatar of a horned demon made of pure, destructive crimson energy materialized, holding an ethereal greatsword, rushing down toward Kail to erase him from existence.
Kail drew a slow, calculated breath. His irises shifted into a brilliant, electric blue.
"Dragon Blood Art: First Style — [Dragon Breath Strike]."
As Kail swung his blade, a titanic, spectral blue dragon materialized behind him. But this time, it was entirely different. The living, emerald-green embers of the Flame of Rejuvenation and the searing, destructive currents of the Flame of the Blue Dragon twined together, wrapping around the spectral beast like dual divine armor.
"Fuse."
Roar!!!
The dual-flame blue dragon unleashed a cataclysmic torrent of elemental destruction, colliding head-on with the crimson demon avatar.
"Catastrophic explosion !!!"
The entire valley shook as if the world were splitting open. Trees were violently uprooted, stones were pulverized into fine dust, and a blinding, apocalyptic flash of blue and emerald light consumed the village square, leaving behind a thick, impenetrable blanket of black smoke.
Leaning against the oak tree, the village elders and Xu Guifei shielded their eyes, coughing through the ash. As the wind slowly cleared the debris, a heavy, lumbering silhouette emerged from the smoke.
The red skin, the jagged horns—it was Obelith. He was walking out of the crater.
The villagers' faces instantly drained of color, a wave of absolute despair and disappointment washing over them. Guifei let out a weak, bitter chuckle, her heart sinking into her chest. I knew it... nobody can cross a whole major realm. We are finished.
"Thud"
Suddenly, Obelith froze. A clean, thin line of blue fire appeared across his throat, and his entire body violently split into three charred pieces, collapsing lifelessly into the snow as a pool of black blood spread across the white ground.
A second later, the massive black dragon crashed from the sky, landing heavily right beside its master's corpse, its throat completely torn out. Igneel drifted down gracefully, landing on the dragon's snout, scoffing with a shake of his feathers. "Hmph. A low-grade drake. Far too weak."
Stepping calmly out from the deeper shadows of the smoke was Feng Kail. His upper robes were slightly singed, and a few minor cuts lined his chest, but as the villagers watched in sheer disbelief, a soft green flame danced across his skin, instantly closing the wounds and restoring him to absolute peak condition.
How is this possible?! Guifei whispered in her mind, her heart pounding against her ribs. He slew a Spirit Realm commander and his dragon guardian... without taking a single scratch of lasting damage?!
Kail wiped the blood from his blade before sheathing it, looking over at his companion. "Igneel, what should we do with these carcasses?"
"What else?" Igneel chirped, hopping onto Kail's shoulder. "Burn them to ash so they don't foul the air."
Kail extended his hand. A brilliant wave of pure blue fire swept across the square, instantly reducing the demon fragments and the massive dragon into nothing but white dust.
Igneel blinked in surprise. "Oh! So you can seamlessly cycle the full power of the Blue Dragon Flame now?"
"Yeah. I can control the balance of both flames perfectly," Kail replied quietly. "But a Spirit Realm cultivator's vital energy is no joke. If I didn't possess the Flame of Rejuvenation to instantly negate the internal shockwaves of his attacks, those crimson slashes would have cracked my ribs. My physical body needs to be forged even further."
"Your body is already a freak of nature, Kail," Igneel snorted, preening his wing. "You only felt the impact because demon bloodlines inherently possess higher primal density than standard humans. In the ancient eras, a supreme Demon Primarch actually achieved Godhood, permanently elevating their lineage's physical traits. Though, looking at this trash commander, their modern bloodline has severely degenerated."
Kail glanced at him, a deadpan expression on his face. "And how the hell do you know ancient demon lore? Don't tell me you saw this in the three-headed tiger's memories too."
"Nope!" Igneel chirped proudly. "I tasted it in this drake's core! When I tore its heart out in the sky, I swallowed its beast crystal. The core was pretty low-grade, so it didn't give me a power boost, but it unlocked a portion of its ancestral memory files."
Kail shook his head, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "An useful ability. Every time you eat a core, we get a free history lesson."
Before their conversation could continue, the old village physician took a deep breath, exchanging a desperate look with the surrounding hunters. Stepping out from behind the oak tree, the entire group of villagers walked toward Kail and suddenly dropped to their knees, bowing their foreheads directly into the snow.
"Young master! High immortal!" the old physician begged, his voice cracking with emotion. "Our Whiteleaf Village has been devastated. Many of our families are dead, and dozens are clinging to life by a thread. We do not dare to ask for much... but if your highness possesses any medical means, we beg you to save just one person—our village protector, Xu Guifei! If you save her, our entire village will swear eternal servitude to you!"
Igneel looked down at the kneeling crowd, then looked at Kail, giving a soft, encouraging nod.
Kail expression remained unreadable. "Rise. Lead the way."
The villagers hurriedly led Kail to the base of the oak tree. Lying there, her skin translucent and her breathing incredibly shallow, was Xu Guifei. Surrounded by dozens of other groaning, mutilated villagers who had gathered in the clearing, she looked like a dying flower.
Seeing Kail approach, Guifei forced her heavy eyelids open, using the last of her strength to whisper, "Do not... waste your resources on me, traveler. I am already a corpse. Please... if you have medicine, give it to these innocent villagers instead..."
Kail looked down at her shattered state, then glanced at the dozens of bleeding, dying civilians surrounding the clearing. He slowly extended his arms, a calm, terrifyingly confident aura radiating from his silhouette.
"Don't talk nonsense," Kail said, his deep voice carrying an absolute, unyielding authority. "Not a single one of you is going to die today. I will save every last one of you."
As his words echoed through the burning village, Xu Guifei and the entire village elite froze, their minds completely blank with sheer, unadulterated shock.