The air on the hillside crackled with tension, thick enough to taste.
Rylan stood firm, his hand gripping the collar of the jade-robed woman's armor. She was trembling, her earlier arrogance replaced by the visceral terror of a cultivator whose life hung by a thread.
Across from them, Senior Brother Lin's face was a twisted mask of fury. His "Jade Serpent Bind" had failed, dispersed by a technique that defied logic, and now his own subordinate was being used as a human shield.
"Release her, you mongrel!" Lin roared, the air around him vibrating. "You dare use a disciple of the Jade Empire as leverage? Do you know the magnitude of your crime?"
Rylan smirked, tightening his grip slightly—not enough to choke, but enough to assert total control. He leaned close to the woman's ear.
"Your Senior Brother seems quite upset," Rylan whispered, his voice cold. "Let's see how much he values your life."
[Mei. Age: 23. Peak Qi Condensation. Spirit Artificer aptitude. Allegiance: imperial.]
Rylan caught the word Artificer before closing the pane. It explained the gauntlets. It did not make taking her hostage a harmless act.
Rylan's eyes lit up. A Spirit Artificer. The woman with the gauntlets wasn't just a fighter; she was a crafter. Lyra could make potions, but Mei could create weapons. She was valuable.
"Lin!" Rylan shouted, projecting his voice with spiritual energy. "Walk away. Take your unconscious dog"—he gestured to the scarred man—"and leave Oakhaven. Do that, and she lives."
Senior Brother Lin stared at Rylan, then at Mei. His eyes narrowed, and the rage in them cooled into something far more dangerous: indifference.
"You think to bargain with me?" Lin scoffed. "The Jade Empire does not negotiate with rogue trash. And we do not tolerate weakness."
He raised his hand. The spiritual energy around him didn't dissipate; it sharpened. A glowing green lance formed in the air, humming with the terrifying density of the Foundation Establishment realm.
Mei's eyes went wide. "Senior Brother? No... I am right here! You'll hit me!"
"Your failure captured you, Mei," Lin said, his voice devoid of emotion. "Better to die a martyr for the Empire than live as a hostage to filth. I will cleanse this stain myself."
The lance surged forward.
It wasn't aimed at Rylan. It was aimed directly at Mei's chest, intending to skewer her and Rylan in a single strike.
The lance's light sharpened every edge in the clearing. Rylan saw the betrayal shatter Mei's eyes before the lance even reached her.
Lin would kill her to reach him. Rylan had expected leverage, and for an instant the shock left him late to move.
If he held her in front of him, the lance would kill them both. He shoved her toward the broken ground and used the boulder as his own escape anchor.
Instead, Rylan shoved Mei violently to the side, out of the lance's path.
He reached with Stone Serpent Grapple toward the fixed boulder he had marked while backing away. He launched the spectral serpent at a large boulder ten paces away, using it as an anchor to yank himself out of the kill zone with blinding speed.
BOOM!
The jade lance struck the ground where they had stood a split second before, exploding with enough force to shatter the bedrock and send a shockwave ripping through the trees.
Mei rolled across the dirt, scraping her face, but she was alive. She looked up, dazed, staring at the crater where she would have just died—killed by her own leader. Then she looked at Rylan, who had landed in a crouch nearby, dust swirling around his boots.
He had saved her.
[Mei: allegiance uncertain. No adult partnership established.]
Mei stared at the crater. Lin had been willing to kill her. That did not mean she knew whom to trust next.
Rylan stood up, brushing dirt from his shoulder. He looked at Lin, then pointed a finger at him.
"Behind the tree," Rylan told her. "We can argue about what happens next if we survive him."
He turned his gaze to Lin, his killing intent spiking to a boil. "And that is why you will lose."
Lin was panting slightly. The Foundation Establishment technique had cost him significant energy. He stared at Rylan in disbelief. "You... you saved her? Why?"
"Because you were willing to kill her," Rylan said. "Mei, get behind the tree."
"Lyra! Now!" Rylan shouted.
From the tree line, a projectile whistled through the air. Lin, expecting another smoke bomb, raised a spiritual barrier.
But the projectile didn't explode into smoke. It was a clay pot filled with a volatile mixture of Lyra's flash-powder and Rylan's own Qi, marked with the black cord during their preparation.
CRACK-FLASH!
A blinding white light, brighter than the sun, erupted right in front of Lin's barrier. It wasn't enough to hurt a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but it was enough to blind him.
"My eyes!" Lin roared, stumbling back.
"Mei!" Rylan commanded, his voice brooking no argument. "The gauntlets! Overload the needles! Fire them at him!"
Mei hesitated for a fraction of a second. She looked at the man who had just tried to execute her. Her face hardened.
"He tried to kill me," she said, and raised the gauntlets.
She raised her gauntlets. They whined with a high-pitched frequency as she poured her remaining frustration and fear into them.
"Jade Rain Torrent!"
Hundreds of needles, glowing with unstable energy, screamed toward the blinded Senior Brother Lin.
Rylan didn't watch. He was already moving, his Earth-Shattering Hammer technique charging in his right fist, ready to deliver the finishing blow the moment Lin's defenses cracked.