The high midday sun was completely swallowed by a churning, violent sea of blood-red clouds.
Across the Southern Mist District, the sky bled a horrific crimson light. The Ten-Thousand-Man Sun-Gorging Siege Array, anchored by four Stage-5 Peak Sovereigns and thousands of elite sun-knights, had completely severed the district's spatial coordinates from the rest of the world. Heavy, suffocating thermal pressure rained down on the iron-bamboo forests below, causing the green stalks to wither and yellow in seconds.
High above the rooftops, arrayed in precise military formations, sat three distinct battle lines:
To the east hovered fifty massive, steel-hulled war-barges of the Blood-Blade Sect, their decks crowded with thousands of crazed, blood-robed disciples holding jagged crimson scythes.
To the west and south marched ten thousand elite Crimson-Sun Imperial Knights, clad in interlocking scale armor made of volcanic bronze. They rode massive, double-headed fire-beasts whose nostrils spewed liquid sulfur into the air.
And directly in the center of the sky, sitting upon floating chairs forged from red molten ore, sat the four commanding figures of the siege:
Patriarch Yan Crimson-Heaven of the Crimson-Sun Clan, his golden-red dragon armor glowing with terrifying heat.
Chief Strategist Elder Yan Wise-Sky, holding his ivory scholar scroll with a dark, confident smirk.
Sect Master Blood-Gouger of the Blood-Blade Sect, a skeletal, hunchbacked monster wrapped in buzzing blood-flies and carrying a staff made of human spinal bones.
And Grand Commander Marshal Zhao Dragon-Crest of the Imperial Guard Directorate, an imposing, iron-jawed veteran in silver-and-crimson plate armor, carrying a massive dragon-headed war spear.
"Is the spatial lock fully stabilized?" Patriarch Yan asked, his voice booming like distant thunder across the burning sky.
Elder Wise-Sky bowed slightly, unrolling his ivory scroll. "Report Patriarch: The spatial grid is solid as deep iron. Even a Stage-6 Spatial Sovereign would need at least three strikes to break through! That nameless wanderer is trapped like a rat inside a cage!"
Sect Master Blood-Gouger cackled, his voice sounding like dry bones grinding together. "Hehehe... Once he is dead, hand the Fire-Lotus brat to my sect! Her bloodline vitality will complete my Great Blood-Swallowing Core!"
"Do not rush," Marshal Zhao Dragon-Crest spoke coldly, his sharp eyes scanning the quiet estate below. "A man who erased nine Stage-4 Peak shadow guardians in three minutes is no ordinary rat. Form the vanguard! Force him out with our spiritual artillery!"
"Understood!" Wise-Sky raised his ivory scroll, his voice echoing across the ten-thousand-man army. "Heavy Sun-Cannons, aim at the Dragon-Vein Estate! Fire on my mark—"
SWISH—!
Before Wise-Sky's order could fully clear his lips, the fiery red clouds in the northern sky were suddenly split clean in two!
It was not an explosion. There was no thunderous boom, no dramatic flare of fire.
A single, brilliant streak of sapphire-blue frost light sliced through the five-mile spatial barrier as if it were soft silk! The intense, boiling heat that had scorched the Southern Mist District was erased in less than a single breath!
Every soldier, every sect disciple, and every commander froze in mid-motion!
Out of the newly split clouds stepped a solitary, tall figure dressed in a plain, dark traveler's coat.
Li-Wen walked calmly through the sky, taking slow, unhurried steps. His left hand was holding the small hand of Xiao-Yue, who walked beside him without a single drop of fear in her bright eyes. Across Li-Wen's back rested his massive, cloth-wrapped heavy blade, its abyssal presence sending phantom tremors through the atmosphere.
Every step Li-Wen took on thin air left behind a glowing, crystal-blue snowflake footprint that remained hovering in the sky, refusing to melt under the midday heat!
"He... he walked through the Grade-5 Spatial Lock?!" Elder Wise-Sky gasped, his ivory scroll slipping from his fingers in sheer disbelief! "That's impossible! The spatial coordinates were completely locked!"
Patriarch Yan's eyes contracted into tiny crimson slits. He slowly rose from his molten throne, his voice dripping with murderous venom. "So you actually dared to show your face instead of hiding under the dirt!"
Li-Wen stopped three hundred yards away from the massive ten-thousand-man army. He did not look at the four Stage-5 Sovereigns. His dark, indifferent eyes swept casually across the fifty Blood-Blade war-barges to his left, then shifted down toward the sun-knights below.
"Ten thousand men..." Li-Wen spoke softly, his low voice echoing clearly in the ears of every single soldier present. "Is this the best the Central Capital can bring to my feet?"
"Arrogant fool!" Sect Master Blood-Gouger screeched, lifting his bone staff. "You are surrounded by four Peak Sovereigns and the grand military force of the empire! You think your little northern frost can save you here?!"
Blood-Gouger slammed his staff down hard! "First Blood-Barge Flotilla! Deploy the Crimson-Louse Swarm! Boil his blood from the inside out!"
SCREECH—!
Ten massive Blood-Blade war-barges immediately broke formation, their heavy dark-wood hulls glowing with toxic crimson runes. Tens of millions of thumb-sized, blood-red flying beetles poured out from the barge holds, forming a massive, black-and-red cloud of death that rushed straight toward Li-Wen and Xiao-Yue!
These were the Crimson-Louse Beetles—fearsome spiritual pests that could burrow into a Stage-4 master's skin and drain their core meridians dry in a few heartbeats!
Xiao-Yue looked at the swarm rushing toward them, her small fingers tightening around Li-Wen's hand. "Brother Li-Wen... they smell like rotten iron."
"They are trash," Li-Wen replied calmly.
He did not draw his wrapped heavy blade. He did not even raise his arms.
Li-Wen simply closed his eyes and breathed out a single, slow breath of pale blue mist.
HUMMM—!
The Ancestral Northern Rune on his chest pulsed through his coat with an ancient, terrifying frequency!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
In an instant, time itself seemed to freeze!
The ten million flying Crimson-Louse Beetles were caught mid-flight by an invisible wave of absolute zero spatial frost! Before they could even screech, every single insect was instantly encapsulated in a tiny, perfect sphere of blue spatial ice!
The black-and-red cloud turned into a glittering, ten-mile sea of frozen sapphire crystals suspended motionlessly in the sky!
"What?!" Sect Master Blood-Gouger stood up in terror, his skeletal hands shaking violently! "My... my spiritual bugs! The connection was instantly cut!"
Before anyone could recover from the shock, Li-Wen raised his right foot and took a single step forward.
THUMP.
The single step struck the air like a hammer hitting a mountain bell!
A visible, circular shockwave of deep blue frost light exploded outward from beneath his boot, racing across the sky at mind-numbing speed!
It hit the ten Blood-Blade war-barges instantly!
SNAP! CHILL—!
The thick, iron-reinforced wooden hulls of the ten massive war-barges didn't just freeze—their molecular structure was instantly pulverized by the extreme cold! The glowing formation arrays on the decks flickered once before dying completely!
Then, before the eyes of ten thousand horror-stricken soldiers, the ten colossal war-barges shattered into millions of tiny, fine blue ice particles, dissolving into the wind like dry powder!
Three thousand Blood-Blade sect disciples riding those barges vanished without leaving a single drop of blood or a single scream behind! They were erased from existence before they even realized they were under attack!
"MY WAR-BARGES!" Blood-Gouger shrieked in absolute agony, spewing a mouthful of black blood! "TEN BARGES... ERASED IN ONE STEP?!"
The entire sky fell into a dead, horrifying silence.
The ten thousand sun-knights, who had been shouting war cries seconds ago, suddenly felt a icy clamp grip their throats. Their double-headed fire-beasts whimpered in sheer terror, dropping their heads and kneeling in mid-air, refusing to move forward no matter how hard their riders pulled the reins!
Even Marshal Zhao Dragon-Crest, the battle-hardened veteran of a hundred wars, felt his knuckles turn white as he gripped his dragon-headed war spear.
He didn't use a technique... Marshal Zhao thought, cold sweat pouring down his back beneath his heavy armor. He didn't draw a weapon! That was just the passive release of his Domain! How high is this man's cultivation realm?!
Standing atop his molten throne, Patriarch Yan Crimson-Heaven felt a sudden, terrifying pang of regret pierce his heart. But his pride as a Supreme Patriarch and his burning desire for revenge quickly swallowed his fear.
"Do not panic!" Patriarch Yan roared, his voice echoing across the battlefield to rally his terrified troops. "His spatial frost technique consumes massive amounts of core Qi! He cannot sustain it! Marshal Zhao, Wise-Sky, Blood-Gouger—attack together! Use the Four-Direction Sun-Crushing Formation!"
"AS YOU COMMAND!"
The four Stage-5 Peak Sovereigns erupted with their full power simultaneously!
BOOOM—!
Four terrifying beams of celestial light shot into the high clouds!
To the East, Sect Master Blood-Gouger unleashed his ultimate technique—a thousand-foot-tall Blood-Demon Avatar holding a massive scythe forged from boiling blood!
To the West, Marshal Zhao Dragon-Crest transformed into a towering Silver Dragon-Warrior, his war spear glowing with spatial lightning that tore through the air!
To the South, Elder Yan Wise-Sky burned fifty ancient scholar scrolls, summoning a massive, floating Sun-Seal Array that cast a crushing gravity field down upon Li-Wen's shoulders!
And in the Center, Patriarch Yan Crimson-Heaven himself transformed into a burning Crimson Sun-God! His dragon armor burned with pure, white-hot solar fire as he drew a nine-foot molten broadsword from his spine!
Four Stage-5 Peak Martial Sovereigns! Four ultimate domains overlapping to form a domain of absolute destruction that locked onto Li-Wen from four directions!
The sky within five miles melted into a boiling sea of distorted red, white, and silver light! The pressure was so intense that the stone buildings of the Southern Mist District five miles below began to crumble under the weight of the aura alone!
"Nameless wanderer!" Patriarch Yan's voice boomed from inside his Sun-God form, sounding like an apocalyptic judgment from heaven! "Hand over the Fire-Lotus brat and kneel before my clan, or be burned into absolute nothingness!"
Facing the combined, world-ending assault of four Peak Sovereigns, Li-Wen slowly stopped walking.
He stood in the center of the raging storm of fire, lightning, and blood light. His plain dark coat flapped violently in the wind, but his body remained as steady and unyielding as an ancient northern mountain peak that had stood since the creation of the world.
He reached down, gently releasing Xiao-Yue's small hand.
"Xiao-Yue," Li-Wen murmured softly, his voice cutting through the roaring heavenly pressure with absolute clarity.
"Yes, Brother Li-Wen?" she answered, holding her pink lotus lantern close to her chest.
"Close your eyes and count to three," Li-Wen said.
Xiao-Yue nodded obediently, her little face filled with absolute trust. She immediately shut her eyes tight and began counting in her sweet, small voice: "One..."
As her voice sounded, Li-Wen's right hand moved.
SLIDE...
His broad, calloused fingers reached behind his shoulder, grasping the dark, heavy hilt of his wrapped blade.
For the first time since entering the Central Imperial Capital, Li-Wen slowly began to draw his weapon!
CLANK—!
The dark cloth wrapping around the hilt unravelled, exposing three inches of the dark blue, abyssal steel blade!
In that exact microsecond, the entire world lost all color!
The burning red sky, the silver lightning, the boiling blood sea, and the glowing sun-arrays were instantly drained of their vibrant hues, turning into a monochrome world of absolute black and white!
An ancient, icy whisper echoed directly inside the souls of the ten thousand soldiers and four Sovereigns:
"Northern Blade Art: First Stance — Absolute Chill."
SWISH—!
Li-Wen did not swing his blade with wild, dramatic force. He simply executed a clean, horizontal sweep through thin air.
A single line of sapphire-blue frost light, no thicker than a single strand of hair, expanded outward from his blade in a perfect three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circle!
The hair-thin blue line passed through the thousand-foot Blood-Demon Avatar.
It passed through the Silver Dragon-Warrior's lightning spear.
It passed through Wise-Sky's Sun-Seal Array.
And it passed cleanly through Patriarch Yan's white-hot Sun-God armor!
Time stopped.
"Two..." Xiao-Yue's sweet voice echoed softly in the quiet world.
CRACK!
The thousand-foot Blood-Demon Avatar froze into solid blue ice before splitting clean down the middle, crumbling into fine snow! Sect Master Blood-Gouger let out a strangled, bloody gurgle as his chest erupted with spatial frost, his body exploding into a shower of frozen red ice!
BOOOM!
Marshal Zhao Dragon-Crest's dragon spear snapped into ten pieces! He was thrown backward five miles through the air, spewing golden blood as his heavy silver armor turned to brittle frost-dust, crashing through three floating islands before burying deep into the earth!
CRINKLE!
Elder Wise-Sky's scholar scrolls turned into frozen ashes! His meridians shattered simultaneously, and he fell from the sky like a bird with broken wings, screaming in horror as his cultivation base was completely destroyed!
And in the center of the sky, Patriarch Yan Crimson-Heaven stood frozen in mid-air.
The white-hot solar fire around him died instantly. His golden-red dragon armor split clean down the center, a deep, frozen line running from his forehead down to his chest!
"You... what... what kind of power..." Patriarch Yan gasped, blood mixed with blue ice crystals spilling from his lips. He looked at Li-Wen with eyes filled with absolute, unadulterated terror.
Li-Wen slowly sheathed his heavy blade, the dark cloth wrapping itself smoothly around the hilt once more.
"Three!" Xiao-Yue called out happily, opening her big, bright eyes.
The moment her count ended, Patriarch Yan's body erupted into a cloud of sapphire frost dust, scattered into nothingness by the midday breeze!
A Stage-5 Peak Patriarch, wiped from the face of the earth in a single swing!
Li-Wen turned around smoothly, reaching out his hand to take Xiao-Yue's small hand once more.
He looked down at the remaining forty Blood-Blade war-barges and the ten thousand sun-knights who were now paralyzed with sheer, crippling terror, kneeling in mid-air and weeping in despair.
"Return to your masters," Li-Wen said, his voice flat and indifferent as he walked toward the distant center of the city. "Tell them the Northern Sovereign has arrived.
See you in next chapter....