The Azure Sky Sect's halls shook with rage.
News of their disciples' slaughter spread like wildfire. Senior Brother Liu—dead. His squad—annihilated. An entire team of promising cultivators, erased in a single day.
Elder Huang Zhi, a man of Golden Core Realm, slammed his palm upon the sect's jade table, splitting it in two.
"Find him!" he roared, qi storming through the hall. "Drag the wretch who dares spit on the Azure Sky Sect's name! Rip his bones apart, hang his corpse above Lianghe Town for all to see!"
The sect master, cloaked in azure silk, eyes like cold rivers, raised a hand. His voice was calm, but venom dripped beneath each word.
"No… do not underestimate this one. A mere Foundation disciple does not slaughter a group of our cultivators, nor slay Liu, who had reached the third layer of Foundation Establishment. Whoever this killer is… he is no simple rogue."
The master's gaze sharpened. "Send Elder Huang Zhi with a hundred disciples. Bring me his head."
Meanwhile, the forest stirred.
The scythe-wielder sat upon a boulder, moonlight casting his shadow long upon the ground. Before him, the corpses of spirit beasts lay in neat rows, their blood drained, their cores extracted.
His cultivation surged steadily. The Origin Core within his dantian pulsed, crimson and gold, like a newborn sun. The scythe at his side whispered hungrily, absorbing fragments of slaughtered souls.
[System Notice: Cultivation Progress — Core Formation, Origin Core Perfection: 83%.]
His lips curved faintly.
"Not yet," he whispered to the void. "But soon."
The sect came at dawn.
Disciples in azure robes marched like a tide, blades gleaming. Their leader, Elder Huang Zhi, rode upon a spirit beast, aura blazing like wildfire. His qi churned the forest air, crushing trees under its pressure.
Mortals who glimpsed their procession from afar knelt in terror.
At the forest's edge, they found him.
A lone figure standing amidst the clearing, scythe planted in the ground, golden-crimson eyes calm as still water.
Elder Huang Zhi sneered. "So, you are the butcher who dares stain our sect's name."
The figure tilted his head, voice flat. "Sect? Ah… parasites, feeding on the weak."
Huang Zhi's rage erupted. "Impudent cur! Kill him—leave nothing behind!"
The disciples surged, qi techniques blazing. Blades flashed, talismans ignited, arrows of spiritual energy rained down.
The figure moved.
The scythe sang, black steel streaking crimson under the rising sun. One sweep cleaved through a dozen men, their bodies splitting like butchered cattle. Another swing carved through incoming arrows, their shattered fragments falling like ash.
Blood mist filled the clearing. Screams erupted, then choked into silence.
The scythe gleamed, its black edge glowing faintly crimson. It was not just a weapon. It was hunger incarnate.
"Useless," the figure murmured, eyes calm as he stepped forward.
Huang Zhi snarled. "You dare—!"
He leapt, qi flaring, palm crashing down with the weight of a mountain. Golden Core might erupted, the air itself screaming under its force.
The figure raised his scythe.
Clang!
Steel met qi. The scythe's edge did not shatter—it drank. The black blade pulsed, devouring fragments of Huang Zhi's golden aura, and flared with crimson light.
Huang Zhi staggered. "Impossible—!"
The figure stepped closer, each motion deliberate. His scythe arced upward, carving the very air. Huang Zhi barely blocked, but the force hurled him back, crashing through trees.
The disciples froze. Their elder, their pillar, was driven back—by a mere youth?
The figure's voice broke the silence, calm, merciless.
"Authority means nothing without strength. Your sect is nothing but carrion waiting for the blade."
Huang Zhi roared, unleashing his full might. His Golden Core blazed, his body glowing with golden light, qi waves surging like tidal floods.
The forest quaked.
The figure moved again. His scythe split through Huang Zhi's techniques as if cutting through paper. Lightning qi? Shattered. Fire talismans? Consumed. Blades of golden light? Broken in half.
The scythe's shadow enveloped Huang Zhi.
"No—!"
The black blade whispered as it fell.
Blood sprayed across the trees. Huang Zhi's bisected body crumpled to the earth, his golden core shattered in the dirt.
The disciples screamed in horror. Some dropped their weapons, others fled. But none escaped.
The scythe-wielder's figure blurred through the clearing, his blade reaping lives with cold precision. In minutes, the ground was painted crimson. Bodies lay in heaps, disciples butchered like livestock.
The forest was silent once more.
The figure stood alone amidst the carnage, scythe dripping blood. His aura remained calm, not exalted by victory, not burdened by death.
[System Notice: Mission Complete — Slay Oppressors. Reward: Chaos Scythe Intent (Initial Stage).]
The voice echoed within his mind. The scythe in his hands trembled, its crimson glow deepening, its aura expanding until the forest itself seemed to bow before it.
The figure gazed at the weapon, then at the sea of corpses. His golden-crimson eyes reflected only truth:
"This world is ruled by predators. Then I shall become the calamity that devours predators themselves."
By dusk, rumors swept across the kingdom.
An elder of the Azure Sky Sect—slain.
A hundred disciples—slaughtered.
A nameless scythe-wielder—walking the path of calamity.
Mortals whispered prayers to him in secret. Cultivators whispered curses. Sects trembled.
But one truth was certain—
The Azure Wind Kingdom had birthed a nightmare.
And it walked with a scythe.