The world seemed to hold its breath. The crimson-haired woman stood frozen in the sky, her mind a raging war between two irreconcilable truths. The first was the logical, undeniable fact of her overwhelming tactical superiority. The second was the primal, soul-deep certainty that to act on that superiority would mean her absolute and utter annihilation.
Her subordinates watched her, their expressions shifting from battle-readiness to confusion, and then to a simmering, contemptuous impatience. One of them, a prideful, ambitious man at the mid-Core Formation stage while impatient was waiting for his commander's orders. He saw a lone, weaker opponent and a hesitant leader. He saw not a threat, but an opportunity for glory.
After a long, agonizing moment that stretched for an eternity, the woman made her choice. She chose to live. Her cultivator's instinct, the sixth sense that had kept her alive for over a century, was a voice she had learned never to ignore. A look of firm resolve settled in her eyes. She opened her mouth to give the order to retreat.
But in that moment of suspense, as every eye was on her, waiting for a command, that ambitious man saw his chance. Believing he would be rewarded for his decision, he saw that everyone was paying attention to his commander. This was his chance for a sneak attack on the boy, he decided to seize the credit for this kill.
A brilliant, violent sphere of lightning energy quickly to gather in his palm, a powerful, signature technique meant to be a swift, decisive killing blow. He lunged forward, launching his sneak attack.
The commander's eyes widened in pure, absolute horror as she saw the energy form in his hand out of the corner of her eye. She saw not an act of bravery, but an act of collective suicide.
"NO!" she screamed, her voice a frantic, desperate roar that was torn apart by the howling wind. "STOP!"
But it was too late. The moment the man's killing intent flared, the moment the energy began to gather in his hand, everyone's perception of time was rendered completely meaningless. Things happened with a speed so profound, a speed born from not just Li Yu's recent breakthrough, but from his training and the further integration of his soul with his body, that the events were over before they had even truly begun.
As the word "NO!" was leaving the commander's mouth, Li Yu, whose calm, unflustered expression had not changed, acted. A sound that was not a sound erupted from the space around him—his Death's Roar. It was a silent blow that struck the soul of every single person in the enemy squadron.
The effect was instantaneous and devastating. The two dozen Foundation Establishment experts, their souls as fragile as glass, felt a brief, shocking pain before their consciousness was snuffed out. Their bodies simply went limp, starting a long, silent fall to the earth below.
The energy that had been gathering in the man's hand, the brilliant sphere of lightning, flickered and died, its master's mind now a blank, ringing void from the soul shock. He was still moving forward, his body acting on a momentum his mind no longer commanded.
Before he, or the other two stunned Core Formation experts, could even begin to process what had happened to their spirits, Li Yu's second attack was already in motion.The air around him darkened. A volley of javelins, formed from black abyssal energy materialized around him. It was his Abyssal Javelin Volley.
Three of the javelins shot out simultaneously, each aimed at one of the Core Formation experts. They struck their targets with a concussive, explosive force. The men's bodies burst into a fine, red mist. For a horrifying moment, three clouds of blood hung in the air where they had been, and then, as if erased by an unseen, cosmic hand, they too vanished from existence.
As the final, desperate syllable of the commander's shout—"STOP!"—finally finished echoing in the empty sky, the entire battle was already over. All of her subordinates were gone.
And Li Yu was now behind her, using his void step.
She felt his presence, a calm, terrifying finality. She tried to turn, to raise her halberd, but her soul was still ringing like a struck bell from the roar, her body sluggish and unresponsive. She was moving in slow motion, trapped in the wake of his impossible speed.
She saw the black staff in his hands, arcing through the air. It struck her shoulder. The blow was not just powerful; it was absolute. Her formidable armor shattered like porcelain. Her bones turned to dust. The force of the impact was like being hit by a falling mountain, and she was blasted down, a crimson comet rocketing towards the ground below.
She slammed into the earth with a ground-shaking impact, the world going black for a moment. When her vision returned, she was at the bottom of a deep, newly-formed crater, her body a broken ruin, her mind a maelstrom of pain and utter, soul-deep confusion.
She looked up at the sky, at the small circle of gray clouds far above and saw her people slowly falling from the sky. A figure appeared at the edge of the crater next to her, silhouetted against the bleak light. It was the boy. He looked down at her, and on his face, she saw a look of almost… pity. It was a look that seemed to say, Why didn't you just walk away?
I wanted to! she screamed in the silent prison of her own mind. I tried to! I wanted to accept what you requested!
But no words could come out of her mouth. Her body was too damaged, her lungs filled with blood, her mind still in turmoil from that terrifying, soul-shattering attack. How had this happened? How could he be this strong? How could a single, rash act from her subordinate have led to this moment of complete annihilation? How unfortunate things have led to here.
She saw him raise his staff. It came down, a swift, final shadow that brought an end to her questions, her regrets, and her life.
Li Yu stood there alone, looking around at the people that were still falling down from the sky, the entire elite enemy force completely gone. He quickly and calmly collects the storage rings from the spots where his enemies had been erased from existence, and from the body of the commander at the bottom of the crater. Then he moved to collect the rings from those that had finally fallen from the sky.
He did a quick mental inventory. There was nothing in them that gave him any information on the group they belonged to—no tokens, no identifying documents. But they were filled to the brim with a vast fortune of spirit stones, high-grade pills, and powerful spiritual weapons. He would give them to Kui later to be sorted and added to the Guild's treasury.
He would take what he needed as always, resources were one of his paths to growing stronger. No river was too small when adding to the ocean.
He stood up, a deep, contemplative look on his face. He had given them a chance, and they refused it. He could tell that their commander had made the decision to retreat when that man had attacked. However, what could he do?
Would things be left as is after only the man was killed? Since he had to attack, he had to kill them all. The outcome was their own doing, their choices brought them here and his choices had brought him to where he was today. He turned and flew back towards the north, a lone, silent figure in a now empty sky.