The world slowed.
The scarlet spear tore through the sky like a comet, swallowing sound, bending air, and dragging behind it a vacuum of pure murderous intent. Even the clouds recoiled from its presence.
Lin Feng could only watch it descend.
Too fast.
Too heavy.
Too absolute.
A killing blow meant for someone leagues above his realm.
His hair whipped in the wind. Lightning crawled uncontrollably over his skin. But his hands froze. His body refused to move.
Too strong… I can't…
For the first time since awakening his lightning essence, fear clawed at him.
And that's when he heard it—
A sigh.
Gentle. Calm. Almost… annoyed.
"Must you be so dramatic?" Xuanyu Ye's voice echoed as if spoken right beside his ear.
Lin Feng barely turned before—
Xuanyu Ye appeared beside him.
Not running.
Not flying.
Just… appearing, like he had always been there.
He stood with one hand behind his back, the other still holding that jade fan.
No aura erupted from him.
No shockwave.
No ripple of qi.
Yet the world reacted to him.
The grass bent toward him.
The wind curved around him.
And Lin Feng suddenly understood—
This man had been hiding more than just cultivation.
He had been hiding existence.
Xuanyu looked at the descending spear as if someone had thrown a stick at him.
"Well… this is mildly inconvenient," he murmured. "Lin Feng, you should step back."
Lin Feng's brain barely worked.
"Wh—WHAT ARE YOU—"
Xuanyu flicked his wrist.
Just a flick.
The jade fan snapped open with a soft pa.
And the world broke.
The scarlet spear collided with Xuanyu's fan—
CRAAAAAAAAAACK—
The sky split.
Lightning and scarlet qi detonated in a shockwave that uprooted forests. A ring of force expanded outward, flattening trees for hundreds of meters. Mountains shook. Birds died midair.
Lin Feng was thrown back like a fallen leaf.
He crashed through a tree, hit the ground, and tumbled until he slammed into a stone pillar.
Dust swallowed him.
For a moment, he tasted iron.
His ears rang.
His vision blurred.
He forced himself upright, gasping—
—and stared at the sky in disbelief.
The spear was gone.
Not shattered. Not deflected.
Gone.
Erased.
Xuanyu Ye hadn't moved from where he floated in the air, fan open, robes fluttering as if in a gentle breeze.
He looked faintly irritated.
"As I expected," he muttered. "Scarlet Veil Sect techniques… still as gaudy as ever."
Across from him, the Scarlet Elder hovered, face drained of all blood.
His lips trembled.
"You… you… what are you?"
He stumbled backward mid-air, eyes wide with a fear Lin Feng had never seen from such a powerful cultivator.
"You… suppressed my technique…? No, you erased it—! Even a Golden Core master cannot—"
Xuanyu closed the fan with a soft click.
"I would prefer you not shout. It gives me a headache."
The elder's heart dropped.
"T-This aura… this presence… you're—"
Xuanyu raised a finger.
"I'm nobody."
A gentle smile formed.
"And you should leave."
The elder's instincts screamed.
He turned—
—and ran.
Actually ran, flying at full speed, qi flaring wildly.
Lin Feng stared numbly.
Peak Core Formation experts… do not run.
Not from Foundation.
Not from Core Formation.
Not even from those slightly above them.
They only run from one thing—
Monsters.
And Xuanyu Ye, apparently, was one.
Xuanyu sighed when the elder fled.
"Ah… this is troublesome. If he reports to his sect, this area will swarm with cultivators."
He glanced at Lin Feng.
Then he vanished.
Not the "move fast" type of vanish. Not teleportation.
He simply wasn't there, and then—
He was standing in front of the fleeing elder.
The elder shrieked, losing control of his qi and tumbling through the sky.
"STOP! DON'T—DON'T KILL ME!"
Xuanyu tilted his head.
"Kill you? Don't be absurd. That would attract too much attention."
The elder blinked. "Then what—"
Xuanyu touched the elder's forehead with one finger.
The elder's pupils widened. His breath hitched. His aura collapsed like a snapped bridge. His cultivation plummeted in a cascade of crimson qi that evaporated into nothing.
Peak Core Formation…
Mid…
Early…
Foundation…
Mortal.
The elder fell through the sky, screaming in disbelief, until he crashed into the forest far below.
Xuanyu dusted his hands.
"Much better."
Lin Feng could only stare as Xuanyu descended lightly, landing beside him as if he had gone out to fetch water.
"You okay?" Xuanyu asked.
Lin Feng gaped.
"No! No, I am NOT okay!"
Xuanyu blinked innocently. "Why not?"
"You—you just—you ERASED a Peak Core Formation expert! With a FLICK! And then you—you— WHAT REALM ARE YOU!?"
Xuanyu smiled pleasantly.
"Well, that is an interesting question."
He closed his fan.
"And one I will answer someday."
Lin Feng instantly felt a chill crawl down his spine.
Someday.
Not today.
Xuanyu looked toward the distant mountains.
"We should leave. The Scarlet Veil Sect will notice their elder's sudden disappearance."
Lin Feng forced his legs to move.
"Xuanyu… what are you really?"
The scholar grinned like someone about to share a delicious secret.
"Lin Feng… I am the reason your lightning is only the beginning."
He turned away, cloak fluttering.
"And the reason the real threats are just now waking up."