“Who in blazes are you?!” the club-wielding Demonic Cultivator barked. “This is Obsidian Stone Sect’s territory. Strays are not welcome!”
Jared ignored him. He looked instead at the fallen beast race cultivator and the woman crouched beside him, both trembling beneath bruises.
“Are either of you hurt?” His voice softened, a steady hand extended through the dust. The woman lifted head. For a heartbeat, astonishment outshone fear, no one defied the sect out here.
“W-We’re okay… Thank you, sir…” Her words wavered, yet urgency flared behind them. “But please, leave now! These people from Obsidian Stone Sect are merciless. They’ll tear you apart!”
“Tear me apart?” Jared’s laugh was quiet, razor-thin. “They haven’t earned that privilege.”
He turned, white sleeve whispering across the grit, eyes looking on the ring of Demonic Cultivators. Heatless fury rolled off like a silent storm.
“You cowards tormenting weaker cultivators, today, you pay in full…”
The Demonic Cultivator hefted a spiked iron club over one shoulder, his eyes burning red beneath a mane of tangled hair. “You little whelp! Are you courting death? Dare you insult Obsidian Stone Sect? I’ll teach you what true fear feels like!”
Roaring the last word, lunged across the quarry floor, the club slicing the dusty air with a mournful whistle that promised broken bones.
At once, the other Demonic Cultivators swarmed forward, eager to impress the nearby enforcer. Their boots pounded the rock in unison, sealing every avenue of escape around Jared.
Jared’s mouth curved into a lazy, razor-thin smile that told the universe how little any of this mattered.
Most of these Demonic Cultivators were in the Immortal Realm, a level considered an expert in the realm powered by spiritual energy. Yet compared with Jared, who stood firmly in Earthly Immortal Realm, they were less than insects crawling across a giant’s palm.
Jared did not bother to lift an arm. He did not summon a protective aura. He simply stood motionless, letting the iron club slam into his chest.
The impact rang out like a cracked bell, and the weapon exploded into glittering powder that drifted down his tunic like gray snow.
Staring at the stump of wood and twisted metal in his hands, the Demonic Cultivator gasped, “W-What… W-Who are you?”
“You are not worthy of the answer…” Jared’s voice was soft as falling ash.
He then spat, just a single contemptuous fleck of breath. That breath became a mountain of unspoken power.
Before the Demonic Cultivator could blink, his body turned to mist and vanished, leaving nothing, not even a ghostly echo, behind. Silence rippled outward. Even the wind seemed to pause, stunned by the sudden erasure of flesh and soul.
Another Demonic Cultivator, face drained of color, managed a shaky shout. “W-What sorcery is this? How dare you slay a warrior of Obsidian Stone Sect!”
He swung an arm in frantic command. “All of you! Together! End him!”
A dozen figures leaped, weapons blazing with black energy, forming a jagged ring that crashed toward Jared like closing jaws.
“Quiet!” Jared flicked his wrist as though brushing away an invisible speck.
A gale screamed Into existence, lifting the Demonic Cultivators off their feet. While they were still airborne, their bodies shredded into ribbons of black smoke that the wind carried into nothingness.
Not a shard of bone, not a single wandering soul remained.
“H-How can this be?”
“His strength… It’s Impossible!”
The enslaved cultivators, once resigned to chains, stood frozen, eyes wide, hopes they had buried now sparking back to life at the sight of Jared’s power.
The Demonic Cultivator who had ordered the assault trembled so hard his club rattled against the stones. Ten warriors had not even grazed Jared’s sleeve.
“W-Who are you?” whispered, every syllable shivering as if spoken through teeth made of glass. Jared gave no answer. He advanced one slow, measured step at a time, boots scraping over shattered stone, every footfall a promise.
“Tell me, why do you enslave these cultivators? Why turn ordinary spiritual stone into celestial gems?” His voice struck the air like frost.
