Seeing this, Marius’ face drained of color. “N-No… Impossible! How can this be?” stammered, eyes fixed on the vanishing light.
He hurled his will at the crumbling array, only to find could no longer touch a single thread of its power. In moments, every barrier guarding Obsidian Stone Sect Headquarters vanished without a trace.
Marius stood rooted to the spot, shock and raw fear widening his eyes. The fact that a mere youth had unraveled a formation laid by Immortal Lord Nimbus defied everything believed possible.
Around him, the other Demonic Cultivators gaped in mute disbelief, mouths hanging open yet voiceless. Quincy and his companions trembled with exhilaration, never had they imagined Jared’s strength could reach such heights.
“Tell me something,” Jared said softly, meeting Marius’ gaze. “Do you still think your little barrier can hold me?”
Marius finally blinked. “W-Who are you?”
“I already told you,” Jared replied. “I am the Celestial Supreme, sovereign of the celestial realm.”
“Impossible!” Marius muttered, still shaking his head. “You don’t look the slightest bit impressive…”
Yet disbelief clung to like a damp shroud could not shake free.
Jared answered with a chill smile, summoning the Dragonslayer Sword. The sword bloomed into existence above his palm, its metal humming with ancient hunger.
At the blades awakening, golden light washed across a hundred-mile radius, turning earth and sky to molten dawn. The sword energy pressed on every chest, robbing the gathered throng of breath.
Human, beast, and demon alike stared wide-eyed, awe eclipsing all rivalry. Cradling the Dragonslayer Sword, Jared traced a deceptively lazy arc toward the mountain bastion of Obsidian Stone Sect.
A thunder-crack split the air. A single blade of light tore from the Dragonslayer Sword and vanished into the distant peak.
Silence followed, so complete it seemed the slash had never been.
The onlookers hovered in stunned confusion, unsure what Jared intended.
Then the ground convulsed like a wounded beast. Earth crumbled underfoot, forcing every cultivator aloft to escape the collapsing terrain.
Far below, the sect’s mountain split from crown to root, the entire massif folding in on itself beneath the weight of a single stroke.
Where Obsidian Stone Sect had once crowned the peak, only a vast, cratered scar remained, loose earth sliding across bare bedrock as if the mountain itself had been bitten out of the sky.
Gasp!
A sharp, collective gasp tore through the onlookers. Every chest seized with the same cold realization. They had just witnessed the impossible.
One sword stroke had erased a sect and decapitated a mountain. No cultivator in the entire Cardinal Realm could hope to muster such power. Marius felt the last of his skepticism bleed away.
Jared had unraveled Immortal Lord Nimbus’ barrier like a loose thread, then splintered a summit with casual ease. Legends spoke of such might belonging only to a Celestial Supreme.
Marius’ legs shook so violently could scarcely remain upright, pride battling, and losing to, raw terror.
The other Demonic Cultivators, faces drained of color, staggered backward in a panicked scramble for escape.
“Leaving so soon? No one departs this place alive today.”
With a languid flick of his wrist, Jared brushed invisible dust from the air.
A silent shield blossomed outward, sealing the entire Obsidian Stone Sect Headquarters beneath a shimmering, featureless dome.
Marius went sheet-white. A true giant now stood before him, survival meant immediate surrender.
“I-Immortal Lord, mercy!” cried, crashing to his knees and pounding his forehead against the stone. “I was blind, spare this worthless life!”
Terror rippled outward, Demonic Cultivators dropped like felled trees, each smashing brow to earth in frantic imitation.
“Immortal Lord, forgive us! We were wrong, spare us, spare us!”
Quincy Lee and the other captives felt a fierce, righteous joy ignite in their chests. Never had they imagined these swaggering tyrants would one day grovel like insects.
