A single crimson crystal, as large as a carriage, throbbed from the palace roof, pumping demonic energy into the canyon, much like a heart forces poison through veins.
Hundreds of elite Malevolent Path Hall cultivators in sable robes stalked the courtyard, their murderous auras dwarfing those of the fodder Jared and Flaxseed had just slaughtered. Yet two figures eclipsed them all, Dioz and Varek. They stood at the vanguard like twin vipers guarding the nest.
Dioz noticed something, and his head jerked toward the mouth of the gorge.
The instant spotted the intruders, fear flashed across his eyes only to curdle into venom. “Jared? Flaxseed? How dare you crawl this deep into our base?!”
Varek’s face twisted into a grin as ragged as torn parchment. He leveled his bone-white sword, its edge dripping spectral mist. “Last time, you scuttled away. This time, I’ll grind your bodies to chalk and feed your divine souls to my blade…”
Flaxseed answered with a laugh that cracked like dry timber snapping in flame. Dozens of charms whirled before him, runes glittering, spiritual energy rolling out in waves.
“Save your breath! Hand over every last divine soul you stole from the Flaxseed clan, or I’ll turn Bloody Bones Gorge into powder and let the wind scatter what’s left of you!”
“The divine souls?” Dioz spat the words, lips curling. “Those petty divine souls have long since been refined into pills. You’re too late. Bow now, and I’ll leave enough of your corpse intact!”
The taunt dumped oil on a furnace already roaring. Flaxseed roared back, and the charms exploded with light so fierce it painted the cliffs gold.
“Then die!” He shot forward like a thunderbolt, hurling Immense Power Charms and Exorcism Charms.
ln mid-air, they twisted into colossal golden fists, each big enough to shatter a fortress, both aimed straight at Dioz’s brow.
“Paltry tricks.” Dioz’s gaze hardened. A cyclone of black energy erupted around him, condensing into a spiked bone shield taller than a gatehouse, its surface oozing cold demonic energy.
Clang!
A golden fist hammered into the bone shield with the shriek of steel on steel. Spider-web cracks raced across the pale surface in a single heartbeat.
Dioz staggered backward, throat tasting iron as a thin thread of pitch-black blood slid past his lip.
“Your opponent is me!” Jared’s voice cracked through the valley like sudden thunder.
In a blur, planted himself before Varek. The Dragonslayer Sword leveled at Varek’s throat, its gold-white flames licking hungrily along the edge. “Last time you slipped away. This time, luck deserts you…”
Varek’s face blanched to an ashen green. He remembered all too well how lethal Jared had been before, yet the aura rolling off at that moment was severalfold stronger, the unmistakable pressure of Earthly Immortal Realm cultivation.
Terror coiled in his gut, but retreat was no longer an option. Gritting his teeth, raised his bone sword, the blade sheathed in demonic energy that howled with countless vengeful spirits.
“Kill!” Dioz barked, voice raw with urgency.
At once, several hundred black-robed cultivators surged forward. Black energy flooded from their robes, swallowing the entire gorge until Jared and Flaxseed seemed to stand inside the maw of some colossal beast. The valley erupted into a pitched blood-soaked war.
Jared engaged Varek head-on. With every sweep, the Dragonslayer Sword flashed golden light, each are riding on the thunderous strength of the Power of Dragons. The wind it birthed howled, forcing Varek back, step after stumbling step.
Varek’s sinister bone sword could use demonic energy to gnaw at a foe’s spiritual energy and physical body, yet against Jared’s searing, sun-bright fire, it may as well have been paper-a relic fit only for kindling.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Steel screams ricocheted through the gorge. Notches riddled Varek’s blade, demonic energy hissed and curled as Jared‘s flame burned them away.
The sword energy shredded Varek’s black robe, exposing skin withered and bark-like. Panic twisted his features, mingling with stubborn rage.
