Despair flickered in Seamus’ eyes. His mouth opened, but no words emerged. A dull thud, and his head tumbled from his shoulders.
Inside the Holy Light Sect’s grounds, panic ignited. Scores of disciples in spotless robes poured out, instantly surrounding Jared and his two companions.
“Defend the sect!”
“Slay these demonic sc*ms!” Their silver longswords flared gold, merging into a sweeping sea of light that charged the trio. A fleeting sadness crossed Jared’s gaze for those blinded disciples, then ice reclaimed his stare.
“Stand in my way and die!”
He let out a long, piercing howl. The Dragonslayer Sword erupted, its gold-black radiance spiraling skyward like an enraged serpent and tearing a ragged wound straight through that golden sea.
Light uncoiled like a bronze-scaled dragon. The marked aura it carried felt as cold and inescapable as a prison yard at midnight.
With one downward sweep, Jared’s blade vomited a tide of golden light laced with black energy. That roaring current split the ocean of Holy Light Sect swords as if tearing silk.
Dozens of disciples in the front ranks had no time to scream. The air itself mulched them into crimson dust; scraps of white robes and glittering blood mist rained together in a ghastly, shimmering shower.
“He’s insane! Completely insane!”
The survivors trembled so hard their longswords rattled like loose shutters in a storm. Courage bled from their eyes, and none dared step forward again.
Jared did not bother to chase them. His gaze slid above their bowed heads and locked on the grandest structure buried deeper inside the mountain stronghold, the radiant Holy Light Palace.
“Mr. Flaxseed, Master Morden, sweeping up their foot soldiers is your job now. I‘m going to meet their sect leader…”
Before the last syllable fell from his lips, his figure blurred into a streak of molten gold and shot toward the palace gate.
“Jared, be careful!”
Corin and Flaxseed shouted in ragged unison, the words chasing after the fading line of light.
Corin’s longsword flashed in a broad arc, weaving a lattice of gleaming force that herded the pursuers backward. “Mr. Flaxseed, end this fast so we can back Jared up!”
“Understood!” A feral glint fired in Flaxseed’s eyes. He slapped several charms into the wind and chanted under his breath. The slips burst into serpents of fire that dove, hissing, into the mob.
Flames billowed sky-high. Steel clanged, men screamed, and the gates of Holy Light Sect burned like an anvil in a forge.
Higher up the path, disciples crumbled before Jared as though they were wheat beneath a reaper’s scythe. With each casual swing of the Dragonslayer Sword, whole clusters fell. Their holy light barriers tore like paper under the blade’s marked aura.
Moments later, arrived at the front door. The Holy Light Palace was carved entirely from milk-white jade, its roof sheathed in golden tiles that flared painfully bright under the sun.
Two colossal angel statues flanked the door. Each sculpted guardian held a broadsword of stone, stone wings half-unfurled, visages stern and unyielding, as if sworn to bar the unworthy from some inviolate secret. Jared did not bother with courtesy. He pivoted and drove one boot forward.
Boom! The heavy door exploded inward, shards of cedar spinning through the air like shrapnel.
Seated on the dais was an elderly man. His violet robes pooled like twilight silk, snow-white hair and beard framing a kindly face. Yet a tranquil, crushing aura flowed from him, warm and radiant.
He was none other than Santino Kadosh, leader of the Holy Light Sect, an Earthly Immortal Realm Level Eight cultivator.
At his feet, several elders knelt trembling, having clearlyjust received the grim news. As the broken door skidded across the marble, Santino lifted his eyes, calm, fathomless, utterly unsurprised.
“So, you have finally come,” said, voice gentle yet commanding. “I have waited for this moment for centuries…”
“You expected me?” Jared asked, brow furrowing.
“Of course,” Santino replied with a small smile. “A descendant of the Flaxseed clan was bound to seek revenge eventually, though I did not think the avenger would be a prodigy so young.”
He rose, violet robes billowed though no wind stirred. Golden light welled around him. “Your marked aura is peculiar, it dampens my holy light. And though you stand only at Wandering immortal Realm, you swatted Earthly immortal Realm cultivators as though they were flies.”
After a pause, Santino continued, “If I am not mistaken, you are the Jared Chance who distinguished himself in Swordmaster City…”
