Jared did not dodge, nor did he conjure the faintest shimmer of a celestial light shield. He simply stood there, calm as a mountain amid thunder.
“Is he insane?!” someone in the crowd exclaimed, their voice coated with pure disbelief. A towering crimson fist, nothing but condensed flame and fury, plunged toward him, ready to land. Jared lifted his right hand, spread his fingers, then closed them with almost lazy grace around the incoming mirage.
Pop! The blow burst like a soap bubble. An attack fierce enough to maim a Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Six cultivator unraveled three feet from his palm. The energy dissolved into raw fire spiritual energy, drifting away on the breeze. Throughout the process, Jared’s hand never once shook.
“W-What?” the young enforcer stammered, his eyes bulging. Every spectator froze, statues carved from shock. Jared had taken a Level Seven Combat Puppet’s strike head-on, walked away unscathed, then crushed it like an eggshell. What kind of a monster is he?
“S-Second s-strike!” The enforcer forced the words out, his voice trembling.
Red light flared hotter in the puppet’s eyes. Both arms rose. Twin fists collided, spawning a spinning fireball nearly a foot across, its surface laced with crackling blue arcs, thirty percent stronger than before.
“Attack!”
The puppet shoved. The blazing orb screamed through the air, heat distorting the path it carved. Despite that, Jared still did not move. He did not even raise a hand. With just a thought, golden light instantly enveloped his entire body as the Golem Body was activated.
Boom!
The fireball slammed into the golden veil, detonating in a white glare and a crack loud enough to shake lungs. When the smoke curled away, Jared remained exactly where he had started. The golden film around him rippled once, whole and unscarred. Even the flagstones beneath his boots lay uncracked; the barrier had swallowed every shred of force.
“Impossible…” someone whispered, as though watching their faith crumble to dust. The words hung in the air while the crowd’s certainty died, one heartbeat at a time.
“T-Third strike!” the young enforcer’s voice cracked through the testing hall, raw with disbelief. He stood there, lungs tight, mind blank, every scrap of composure scalded away by the spectacle before him.
Across the arena, the Combat Puppet’s eyes blazed scarlet until they resembled twin suns about to burst. Its massive frame shuddered so violently that brass joints screeched, and a complicated array carved into its chest flared alive, siphoning every shred of fire-type spiritual energy from the air. A deep, metallic hum rolled outward, vibrating through the stone floor and rattling ribs.
Above the puppet’s steel skull, a colossal greatsword of pure crimson flame coalesced inch by inch. Three stories tall, the blade writhed with red dragon phantoms that hissed around its edge, radiating a heat so savage it seemed to blister the soul. This was the Level Seven Combat Puppet’s ultimate technique, Flame Dragon Slash. Witnessed claimed a full-force blow from it rivaled the strike of a Top Level Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Seven cultivator.
“Slash!”
The puppet brought both arms down. The flaming greatsword crashed toward Jared, promising to cleave heaven, earth, and every fragile thing between. Even seasoned cultivators at Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Five and Level Six staggered back, breaths stolen by the pressure.
Only then did Jared move. He lifted his left hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and raised them toward the falling inferno as though about to pluck a stray thread. He meant to pinch a flaming sword the height of a house with just two fingers. Around the arena, gasps turned to horrified silence. To every onlooker, the gesture looked like nothing short of suicidal.
And yet, a clear, bell-like ring snapped through the hall.
Ding!
Jared’s two fingers clamped the flaming blade’s tip, holding the entire mountain of fire and steel as easily as one might still a quivering candlewick. The sword’s deadly plunge halted. Dragon shadows coiled and roared in frustration, powerless to advance another inch. The next second, Jared exerted the slightest pressure.
Crack!
Hairline fractures spider-webbed outward from the blade’s tip. In a single heartbeat, those cracks raced the sword’s full length.
“Break…” Jared uttered.
Boom!
With that, the three-story blade exploded into a storm of ember shards. Fire rained in dazzling sheets, yet each spark that neared Jared glanced off the thin golden aura sheathing his body and winked out of existence. When the last cinder died, only two figures remained: a Combat Puppet, its power reserves spent, standing dull and lifeless, and a man in pale green robes, hands folded behind his back.
The Mission Hall plunged into a graveyard hush. That silence lingered for ten full breaths until the spell snapped. Voices detonated overhead, rolling across the vaulted rafters like war drums.
“Oh, my goodness! What did I just see?!” “He caught a Level Seven Combat Puppet’s Flame Dragon Slash with his bare hands! And crushed it!” “Is he really at Heavenly Immortal Realm Level One? Who’s he trying to fool?”
The cultivators who had mocked Jared only moments ago burned scarlet with shame. The burly heckler slipped to the back of the crowd, shoulders hunched, praying the young man’s gaze would never find him.
Meanwhile, the young enforcer drew three deep breaths, steadying the storm inside his chest. He stepped up to the supervising elder, bowed, and spoke. “What’s your judgment, Elder Zuver?”
The elder rose and strode to Jared. His eyes gleamed with admiration. “Remarkable technique, young friend… May I know your name and who your master is?”
Jared offered a polite bow. “I am Jared Chance. I’m a wandering cultivator and have no fixed master.”
“A wandering cultivator?” A flicker of surprise crossed the elder’s gaze, yet he pressed on with a warm nod. “Your strength far exceeds our guard requirement. I am Royce Zuver, one of Earthfire Pavilion’s outer court elders. If you’re interested, I’m more than happy to welcome you into Earthfire Pavilion as an inner court disciple once this mission is completed.”
Sharp intakes of envy rippled through the hall. Yet Jared only smiled, calm as autumn water. “Thank you for thinking so highly of me, Elder Zuver. For now, I only seek the mission’s pay and the tempering it brings. We can discuss joining Earthfire Pavilion another day.”
Thankfully, Royce did not press. “Very well, each to his own path… Having passed the trial, you are hereby a guard on this mission. And who is this companion of yours?” he asked as he turned toward Vermilion Demon Lord.
“This is my comrade, Mr. Vermilion,” Jared said.
Vermilion Demon Lord stepped forward, releasing the steady aura of a Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Six cultivator.
“Mr. Vermilion has also passed the trial,” Royce declared. “Please step forward to register and receive your Guard Tokens. Assemble outside the south gate at dawn tomorrow. Do not be late.”
Jared dipped his chin in a slow, unhurried nod. “Understood.”
Once the registry clerk stamped the parchment, Jared and Vermilion Demon Lord accepted two crimson Guard Tokens. They turned and strode from Mission Hall. Behind them, a sea of cultivators craned for a better look, whispers rising like sparks.
“Jared Chance… It won’t be long before every street in Crimson Flame City learns of that name…” “Hey, Malevolent Path Hall posted a bounty on someone called Jared Chance, too. Could… Could he be the one?” “Hush! Watch your words! You can’t say stuff like that without thinking!”
