The clearing was a mess of freezing fog and red demon eyes, but the moment Xiao Yan stepped in, the temperature seemed to jump by twenty degrees. The air didn't just feel heavy; it felt charged, like the second before a lightning strike hits a tree.
"Xiao Yan!" Jinyao cried out, her voice a mix of relief and pure confusion. She stared at him, her hands still trembling from the shield spell she'd been holding. He looked like the same guy, but the way he stood... it was like he was a mountain that had suddenly decided to go for a walk.
The demon commander, a brute with skin like cracked leather and a massive axe, snarled. "I don't care if you grew an inch, brat! Fifty blades are better than one! Kill them all!"
The demons lunged. It wasn't a clean fight; it was a chaotic, muddy brawl.
Xiao Yan didn't even draw his sword at first. He moved through the crowd like water. A demon tried to claw his face, and Xiao Yan just shifted his weight, letting the creature's own momentum carry it into a tree. Thud. Another came from the side, and Xiao Yan delivered a palm strike to its chest. A burst of blue-red energy exploded, sending the demon skipping across the grass like a flat stone on a lake.
"Too slow, boy," the Azure Dragon's voice rumbled in his head. "Left side. Pivot. Stop playing with your food."
I'm working on it! Xiao Yan thought back, gritting his teeth.
On the edge of the clearing, Shi Wuheng was having a very bad day. Usually, he was the star of the show. He was from Iron Mountain! He had the best spear, the loudest voice, and the most expensive boots. But as he watched Xiao Yan move, a cold knot started to form in his stomach.
Wuheng tried to charge a group of three demons to impress Lieya. "Out of my way, you filth!" He thrust his spear, but the demons moved faster than he expected. One swiped at his leg, tearing his expensive silk trousers.
"My pants!" Wuheng shrieked, stumbling back. He looked over at Xiao Yan, who was currently catching a demon's axe with his bare hand—wrapped in a glove of red lightning—and snapping the handle like a dry twig.
Wuheng's jaw dropped. He felt a wave of pure, cold fear wash over him. It wasn't just that Xiao Yan was strong; it was the aura. It felt ancient. It made Wuheng feel small. Unimportant. Like a bug looking up at a boot.
(How? He was just a nobody!) Wuheng thought, his grip on his spear shaking. (I'm the genius here! Not him!) The fear quickly began to take on a darker form—a bitter, burning seed of inferiority that would undoubtedly cause problems later.
While the mountain was screaming with battle, the training grounds were silent, except for the sound of heavy breathing.
Yanfeng was hanging upside down from a tree branch by his ankles, sweat dripping off his nose. Yanxue was sitting cross-legged below him, balancing three bowls of water on her head while trying to keep a flame alive in her palm without boiling the water.
"Brother... do you think... he's okay?" Yanfeng wheezed, his face bright red from the blood rushing to his head.
"Xiao Yan is strong," Yanxue said, her voice small but firm. She didn't move a muscle. "But the mountain is loud today. I can feel it in the ground."
The Beast Shuanglang sat nearby, gnawing on a bone. He looked toward the distant peaks of the Sacred Mountain. "He's fine," the beast grunted. "In fact, I think he just found a very big, very old friend. You two focus on your breathing. If you want to stand by him when he gets back, you'd better learn how to hold that water."
Yanfeng gritted his teeth and pulled himself up for another sit-up. "I'm coming for you, big brother. Just don't finish all the monsters before I get there."
The fight was settling into a brutal rhythm. For every five demons Xiao Yan flattened, another five seemed to crawl out of the mist.
"They're like cockroaches!" Lieya yelled, her orange flames turning blue as she pushed her limits. She punched a demon square in the jaw, sending it spinning. "Xiao Yan! Use the big sword already!"
"I'm trying not to level the whole forest!" Xiao Yan shouted back.
Yan Bingxue was a whirlwind of white and blue. She was moving in perfect sync with Xiao Yan, her ice spikes pinning demons to the ground just as his lightning finished them off. She glanced at him, her eyes wide behind her veil. She knew he'd had a breakthrough, but Peak Mortal Realm? In an hour?
Suddenly, a loud, mocking laugh echoed through the trees.
The remaining demons froze. They didn't look happy; they looked terrified. From the shadows of the higher path, a figure walked out, stepping over the corpses of demons and humans alike with a look of pure disgust.
It was Haoran.
He looked different. His eyes were bloodshot, and his golden robes were stained with dark blood—none of it his own. He held a sword that dripped with a strange, oily purple energy.
"Well, well," Haoran said, his voice smooth but shivering with a weird kind of madness. "I leave you losers alone for five minutes and you start a circus. Xiao Yan... you smell different. You smell like... power I haven't tasted yet."
Xiao Yan stepped forward, the Sword of Heaven and Earth finally leaving its sheath with a low, thundering hum. The red sparks on the blade turned a deep, royal blue as the Azure Dragon's energy leaked out.
"Haoran," Xiao Yan said, his voice dropping an octave. "You look like crap. Did you get lost in the bushes?"
Haoran's smile didn't reach his eyes. "The mountain gave me a gift, little brother. A gift that makes your 'lightning' look like a birthday candle."
The demons began to back away, sensing that the two monsters in front of them were about to turn the clearing into a crater. Even Wuheng crawled behind a rock, his pride completely shattered, just watching the two auras clash in the air.
"Master," the Dragon whispered. "This one has the scent of the Abyss on him. Don't hold back."
Xiao Yan gripped his sword. "I wasn't planning on it."
To be continued!!!