"Sister—Chi!" Lou Yi shouted.
She cut through the giant's heels in a flash. The massive body lurched forward, crashing down as the ground shook. Lou Yi leapt upward with effortless grace, landing on the giant's shoulders. Twin daggers flashed.
Slash!
The giant's head was severed cleanly, tumbling to the ground with a heavy thud.
"Elder sister…" Lou Chi whispered, lifting her gaze just in time to see the enormous body collapse.
She was battered, clearly she been doing this for days, her body was filled wish scares and behind her stood three young children, trembling on their faces, still with lines highlighting their tears they had dried and built on one after the next.
In the same breath, every Blood Cult disciple turned toward them.
"We have intruders!" one of them shrieked. "Kill them!"
They charged.
Each disciple had crimson hair, and their inner Qi twisted grotesquely as blood condensed around their arms, forming weapons of hardened gore.
"What a foul smell they all have," Lian thought as he floated down his blade, whistling already drawn out of its sheath.
"Blade of Autumn," Lian whispered.
A crushing force descended from above.
Cling! Cling!
Chains chimed violently as every demonic cultivator was forced to a halt, their bodies pinned as the ground trembled beneath them. Some still struggled, managing a few staggering steps before being driven down again.
He finally reached the ground, stepping lightly with little impact. He readjusted his grip.
"Blade of Spring."
Crack!
His blade cracked as lightning flowed through it.
Thud!
A head flew across the cavern, blood erupting like a volcano and splattering the stone walls.
"Mmm… this is good," Lian thought. "I can use them in conjunction. If I fuse the techniques into a single motion—"
Thud!
Another head fell, followed by a violent spray of blood from the stump.
"What—what's happening?!" one cultivator screamed, eyes darting wildly as she searched for Lian, unable to see him.
"Has his speed increased?" Wang Gu thought. "He wasn't this fast last time."
Four more heads fell within a fraction of a second.
Lian's speed increased again. He slashed his blade diagonally, the wind screaming as steel cut through the air. The blade traced a smooth arc—and within that single motion, five more heads dropped.
"Why does it feel easier now?" Lian thought.
"Well, after fighting the Fune twins, I bet anything would feel easier."
He cut down ten more cultivators, yet unlike before, their bodies remained standing for a heartbeat—frozen in place.
Boom!
A thunderous echo followed as Lian moved again. He himself hadn't realised it, but the Qi he had absorbed from Wang Gu had greatly amplified him. At this moment, his speed could rival even a Sovereign martial artist.
Qi surged with every step. The movement techniques he had refined into Blade of Spring were no longer just techniques—
They were pure motion.
What once would have been a deadly struggle had become nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Within a few seconds, Lian had decimated nearly ninety-nine percent of the cultivators, leaving only one.
He stopped directly in front of him.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Concussive blasts rippled through the cave, the walls trembling violently as the remaining Qi roared.
"G–get away from me…"
The last disciple staggered back, his eyes bloodshot, his entire body trembling.
"Please… spare me…"
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The young man wet himself. The warmth soaked through his robes, pooling beneath his feet.
Lian's expression didn't change.
He extended two fingers and flicked them against the side of the man's neck pressure point.
Thud.
The disciple collapsed unconsciously.
"Tsk… they go around killing others, yet fear death themselves," Lian muttered. "These f*cken cowards?"
"My, oh my…" Wang Gu thought. "This guy is something else."
"I wanted to test my own growth too, but now I have no chance, he got them all," Wang Gu continued inwardly, "and his speed, it was so terrifying that the backlash from his movement alone shattered the cave walls."
Stepping forward, Wang Gu expanded his internal energy, scanning the cavern for signs of life. Among the thousands of hanging corpses, only about ten still breathed.
"Why the hell are they collecting so much blood? Is it for some sort of ritual…?"
His Qi surged.
Chains snapped apart, and the people that hung launched down, but before they could hit the ground. The survivors were lifted gently into the air, wrapped in Wang Gu's energy, as he shattered the cave ceiling completely.
Crack!
Light flooded in, illuminating everything at once. The walls were carved with indecipherable inscriptions, cracked plaster peeling away to reveal ancient runes beneath.
"The people from Heaven's Gate are terrifying…" Lou Chi said, staring wide-eyed as Wang Gu's Qi carried the three children beside her. "Are you sure we can trust them? They were the ones—"
"They're good people," Lou Yi said, helping her sister steady herself. "This must have been another faction. It's… complicated."
Just then—
A massive boulder tore loose from above, crashing downward.
Before anyone could react, Lian appeared beneath it.
He raised one hand.
Boom!
The boulder shattered on impact, crumbling into dust behind his palm.
"Wang Gu, you're getting reckless!" Lian called out as he grabbed the unconscious Blood Cult practitioner. Leaping onto the falling stones, every no an then he crushed any that he couldn't evade.
"Oh? You're one to talk," Wang Gu scoffed. "You may be fast, but your control over internal energy is lacking. Why do you think your movements are causing those explosive sounds every time you move?"
Lian paused.
"Mmm… he's right. Something did feel off," he thought.
"I have more Qi now, but the Four Seasons technique consumes far too much internal energy. Just those two forms drained more than half of it."
He let out a quiet sigh.
"I need to train my body and properly integrate it with my Qi. Relying too heavily on techniques alone is dangerous. It's time to return to the basics."
Behind him, Lou Chi and Lou Yi emerged from the cave, supporting the rescued survivors.
Within moments, everyone had made it out, standing just beyond the shattered entrance as the cavern continued to collapse behind them.