Peng Yue, master of the Famous Blade Sect, let his gaze drift across the tense shoreline, a predator surveying his domain. His eyes, sharp as the steel he wielded, finally settled on the newcomer: Luo Zhen.
A flicker of spiritual energy was all it took for Peng Yue to size him up. A demon snake, he thought, barely at the entry level of the Earth Profound Realm. Nothing to worry about.
"And who is this?" Peng Yue gestured dismissively toward Luo Zhen, his voice cutting through the quiet air. "What happened to the Six-eyed Flying Fish?"
The Great Green Fish surfaced, its voice a deep rumble that stirred the water. "The Six-eyed Flying Fish is gone. Brother Black Snake fights in its place now. He stands with us."
Demon beasts who reached the Earth Profound Realm could speak the human tongue, a fact that stripped away any illusion of this being a simple animal conflict. This was a negotiation of power.
Peng Yue just smirked. "It makes no difference. You're all going to lose anyway."
Luo Zhen's own senses were telling him a different story. Peng Yue projected the aura of an early-stage cultivator, but Luo Zhen's internal system flagged him as something more: a mid-stage warrior hiding his true strength. A classic gambit, Luo Zhen thought. He's trying to lure us into a false sense of security.
"Enough talk," barked You Zheng, the sect's Great Elder, as he leaped forward, the long blade on his back already in his hand. "Let's settle this!"
"Great Carp," the Green Fish commanded, "You're up."
"On it." The Carp Demon surged forward, churning the lake into a frenzy as it summoned powerful currents and spells of water. You Zheng met the assault with a flurry of steel, and the shore erupted into a chaotic symphony of crashing waves and ringing metal. For a few frantic moments, they were evenly matched, a whirlwind of fury and focus. But skill, in the end, won out. The Carp Demon was driven back, its magic broken.
"I... I lost," it stammered, shamefaced.
"It's alright," the Green Fish said, its voice low. "My turn."
You Zheng swaggered on the bank, sheathing his blade with a flourish. "That's seventeen times now, Carp! Seventeen times you've fallen to my blade! Ha!" Laughter echoed from the other sect members.
The mockery stung, but it was quickly silenced by the Green Fish's rage. "You've had your fun. Now you face me!"
The mood shifted. This was no mere carp. The sect's vice master, He Cai, stepped forward, his expression grim.
"Be careful, He Cai," Peng Yue warned. "This one has teeth."
"I know." He Cai drew his saber, bracing himself.
What followed was less a fight and more a brutal lesson. The Green Fish was a force of nature, its power overwhelming He Cai's defenses completely. Within moments, a crushing blow sent the vice master stumbling back, spitting blood. He yielded without another word.
One win, one loss. Everything now hinged on the final duel.
"Brother Snake, it's all on you," the Green Fish said, the tension clear in its voice.
"You can do it!" the Carp chimed in.
"Relax," Luo Zhen hissed softly, his forked tongue tasting the air. "I've got this."
He slithered forward. Across from him, Peng Yue's smirk returned as he drew his own magnificent blade. "I was hoping for a real fight with the Six-eyed Flying Fish. To be stuck with you instead... It's a pity."
"A pity for whom?" Luo Zhen asked, his voice unnervingly calm.
"A pity I won't have a worthy opponent!" Peng Yue declared. And with that, the facade dropped.
The air itself seemed to crackle. A tremor ran through Peng Yue's frame, and then it erupted—a wave of raw power that pressed down on everyone present, stealing the breath from their lungs. His aura blazed, no longer suppressed. This was his true strength.
"Middle-stage!" the Great Green Fish gasped, its voice tight with shock.
The Famous Blade Sect disciples grinned, their mockery returning tenfold.
Peng Yue laughed, a triumphant, ugly sound. "That's right! I broke through five days ago. You," he said, pointing his blade at Luo Zhen, "are an entire realm beneath me. Surrender now, and I might let you crawl away with your life."
"Surrender?" Luo Zhen's voice was laced with amusement. "I don't think you have what it takes to make me."
Peng Yue's face darkened with rage. "Insolent worm! You think I can't kill you?" Blinding energy began to gather around his blade, a corona of deadly light.
"Brother Snake, he's right! Give up!" the Green Fish pleaded from the water. "This isn't just about the peninsula anymore. This is your life! His blade arts were legendary even before his advancement. He could fight mid-stage beasts to a standstill! Now... he could kill you!"
"He's right," the Carp added desperately. "No prize is worth your life."
Luo Zhen didn't even turn. "I appreciate the concern," he said coolly. "But I'm not the one who's out of his league."
He wasn't being arrogant. His system had already analyzed the man. Peng Yue was not a threat. In fact, Luo Zhen was tempted to just stand there and see if the man's blade could even scratch his defensive shield.
Across the clearing, Peng Yue's patience ran out. "You asked for this! Die!"
He swung his sword, unleashing a hurricane of blade energy that tore through the air, a roaring wave of destruction aimed straight at Luo Zhen.
"Watch out!" the Carp screamed.
Luo Zhen simply let it come. In the split second before impact, a thought was all it took. An iridescent, azure shield of shimmering water materialized around him.
BOOM!
The explosion was deafening. The shockwave ripped through the clearing, pulverizing earth and sending a plume of water high into the air. For a moment, the world was nothing but violent, swirling energy.
But when the dust settled, Luo Zhen remained, completely unharmed. The azure shield around him pulsed with a soft, steady light, without a single scratch.
Peng Yue's jaw went slack. "How...?"
Relief washed over the two fish demons.
Luo Zhen regarded the stunned sect master. "I'll give you one more chance, Peng Yue. Use your ultimate technique. The Fierce Light Spirit Blade Shatter. But be warned," he added, his voice dropping to a low hiss. "It will be your last."
Peng Yue recoiled. "How do you know that name?" A flicker of fear crossed his face, but it was quickly replaced by murderous resolve. "Fine! You want to see my true power? You'll get it!"
He grit his teeth, his face contorting with the strain of gathering an immense amount of Yuan Power. The air grew thin as a colossal blade of pure, pale light formed above him, nearly twenty feet long. It radiated a terrifying pressure, its edges sharp enough to slice through reality itself.
With a final, guttural roar, Peng Yue brought the phantom blade down. "FIERCE LIGHT SPIRIT BLADE SHATTER!"
The impact was apocalyptic. The sound was a physical blow, a shockwave that nearly burst eardrums and vaporized the surrounding lake water into a thick, choking mist. The ground buckled, and the entire peninsula seemed to shake. Luo Zhen was completely engulfed in the blinding flash and ensuing chaos.
"He's finished!" Peng Yue panted, exhausted but triumphant. "No one could survive that head-on!"
His disciples erupted in cheers. "The Sect Master is invincible! The peninsula is ours!"
The Green Fish and the Carp watched in despair. "He's gone," the Carp whispered.
"The fool!" the Green Fish seethed. "He was too arrogant! Now we've lost everything."
On the shore, Peng Yue began to dictate the terms of his victory. "You've lost! For the next month, this peninsula belongs to the Famous Blade—"
He stopped mid-sentence. His eyes widened in disbelief.
As the smoke and mist finally cleared, a figure stood in the cratered earth. Luo Zhen was perfectly still, his black scales gleaming under the sun. The azure shield around him remained, as flawless and serene as ever. The ultimate attack, a technique that could level a small mountain, hadn't even managed to break his shield.
The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the sound of Peng Yue's jaw hitting the floor.
"Impossible..." one of his disciples whispered in horror.
From the lake came an uncontrolled eruption of bubbles as the two fish demons stared, utterly dumbfounded.
Luo Zhen finally turned his gaze from the crater to Peng Yue. He flicked his tongue.
"I told you," he hissed, his voice cold and final. "That was your only chance."
"Now, it's my turn."
Luo Zhen's mouth opened, and from it emerged not a sound, but a single, slender ribbon of crimson fire. It looked fragile, almost insignificant, yet it radiated a heat so intense it warped the air around it. This was the Red Lotus Fire, his second-tier beast flame. He didn't need any more than this.
Peng Yue, still reeling from shock, scrambled to raise a defense. But when he saw the tiny, harmless-looking flame floating towards him, his arrogance returned.
"Hah! Is that it?" he sneered, sheathing his blade to show his contempt. He threw up a hasty shield of Yuan Power, more out of instinct than necessity. "I'll stand right here. If that little spark of yours can even touch me, I'll concede defeat!"
A flicker of a smile played on Luo Zhen's serpentine features. So be it.
With a flick of his will, the crimson tendril shot forward. It didn't just hit Peng Yue's shield; it pierced through it as if it were paper. Then it touched his chest.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!"
The scream that tore from Peng Yue's throat was inhuman. He clawed at his chest, trying to smother the flame, but it clung to him, unquenchable. Worse, wherever it touched, his flesh began to sizzle and melt away like tallow under a blacksmith's forge. His hands, his chest—it was all dissolving into a horrifying ruin of exposed muscle and bone.
"HELP ME! SOMEONE, HELP ME!" he shrieked, writhing on the ground in pure agony.
His disciples rushed forward in a panic, but their spells and techniques were useless against the alien fire. It simply consumed everything they threw at it.
"Demon! What is this sorcery!?" one of them yelled, his face pale with terror.
Luo Zhen watched the pathetic display, unmoved. "Peng Yue," he said, his voice cutting through the screams. "Do you surrender?"
"YES! I SURRENDER!" Peng Yue sobbed, barely coherent through the pain. "MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE!"
With a simple thought, Luo Zhen recalled the wisp of flame, drawing it back into his mouth.
Silence fell, broken only by Peng Yue's ragged, gasping breaths. He lay in a heap, his chest a crater of charred flesh, his life saved but his power shattered. The remaining sect members stared at Luo Zhen, their faces masks of pure, primal fear.
The Great Green Fish and the Carp, meanwhile, were ecstatic.
"We won!" the Carp cheered. "The peninsula is ours!"
The Famous Blade Sect didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled to lift their broken master, casting fearful glances back at the silent, coiled serpent before retreating into the woods, their pride shattered.
"Incredible," the Green Fish said, shaking its head in awe. "Ten years of defeat, and you ended it in a single day. We owe you everything, Brother Snake."
"We are allies," Luo Zhen replied. "Now, about this Yin Baleful Qi. It's deepest in that dark forest, isn't it? How do you plan to get there?"
Luo Zhen was adaptable—land, sea, or air—but his companions were bound to the water. A month on dry land was impossible for them.
"There's a river," the Green Fish explained, "that flows from the heart of the peninsula. We can follow it upstream."
"Lead the way."
They journeyed up the winding river until they reached its source: a dark, ancient forest shrouded in a palpable chill. This was the nexus of the Yin Baleful Qi, a place of immense power and cold.
"Here we are," the Green Fish announced. "Let's begin."
Without another word, the two fish demons began to draw in the potent energy, their massive gills filtering the Qi from the air. Luo Zhen joined them, unleashing his own devouring power.
A familiar cascade of notifications filled his mind:
You have refined Yin Baleful Qi, gaining 15 Baleful Qi Value!
You have refined Yin Baleful Qi, gaining 17 Baleful Qi Value!
...
It was a slow trickle, but he had a month. Advancing to the next stage required a thousand points, a goal he could easily reach in ten days at this relaxed pace. He was deliberately holding back; if he unleashed his full power, he could drain the entire peninsula dry in half a day. But he would let his new allies have their share.
Ten days passed, and he reached the thousand-point threshold for his Baleful Qi. His experience points, however, still lagged. And so, he waited, patiently absorbing the endless cold.
Another twenty days drifted by. As their time on the peninsula drew to a close, Luo Zhen made his move.
He opened his eyes, and the passive absorption became a ravenous vortex.
A terrifying suction force erupted from him, pulling at the very fabric of the forest's energy. The Yin Baleful Qi, which had been a gentle mist, now became a raging river, a tidal wave of power that surged violently into Luo Zhen's body.
The sudden shift shocked his companions. "Brother Snake, what are you doing?" the Green Fish cried out, fighting against the pull.
Luo Zhen didn't answer. He was focused inward, feeling the immense power flood his system as new alerts blared in his mind:
You have refined a massive amount of Yin Baleful Qi, gaining 300 experience points!
You have refined a massive amount of Yin Baleful Qi, gaining 330 experience points!
You have refined a massive amount of Yin Baleful Qi, gaining 400 experience points!
...
He was done waiting. It was time to evolve.