The golden arc tore through the air, its promise of annihilation locking the elder in place. He could only stare as the blade-radiance swelled, filling his pupils with blinding light. A wet crack followed. His head spiraled Skyward, blood fountaining from the severed neck and streaking the clouds crimson.
The wide-eyed head tumbled a few times before thudding onto the broken earth, life already fled.
Flaxseed hauled himself from the crater, one hand pressed to his bruised chest. He stopped beside Jared and studied the severed head, then the demon cultivators shaking nearby.
“Kid, that was a little extreme,” muttered. Jared replied, “Mercy toward an enemy is cruelty toward yourself. When they treat human lives like weeds, we owe them nothing…”
Flaxseed was speechless.
This man’s becoming more and more arrogant!
The air quivered. A middle-aged man clad in dark armor materialized before Jared and Flaxseed.
“Humans, you dared kill a member of the demon clan?” His stare was colder than winter stone.
Jared sighed. “Another one…”
“Two ignorant humans trespass on demon land,” the newcomer roared. “Do you truly wish to die?!”
Jared tilted his head. “Your turn!”
Flaxseed stepped forward. “This valley belonged to my family long before your kind slithered in. It was human soil first!”
The man’s brow tightened. “Rubbish!”
Flaxseed bristled. “The only rubbish here is you!”
Flaxseed leaped, fury crackling around him. The demon slashed a curtain of black light to meet him.
Thunder rolled. Flaxseed skidded backward, coughing dust, yet the man also staggered several paces, surprise flickering in his eyes.
“I did not expect a mere human to possess such strength,” the man admitted, voice tight.
If I had not burned through my power over countless reincarnations, I would have ended already, Flaxseed thought, seething.
The man’s brief astonishment hardened into rage. Demonic aura bled from his pores as gathered force for another strike. “Today I will grind your bones to ash!”
Before the man’s last word faded, flung up his hand.
Pitch-black flame roared to life in his palm and hurtled toward Flaxseed like a falling star. With his strength still crippled, taking the blast head-on meant ruin.
“Stop!” A clear female voice cracked through the air.
A slender figure flickered into existence before Flaxseed, pale hand brushing forward so lightly the demonic flame simply vanished.
The middle-aged attacker blanched, snatched back his hand, and stumbled a step in retreat before dropping into a respectful bow.
“My lady…” murmured. Jared narrowed his eyes at the newcomer. She wore a black gown that set off skin as white as fresh snow. Delicate features framed eyes as deep as bottomless water, their chill hinting at unfathomable power.
“An Earthly Immortal at Level Three?” Jared gasped. She might be far stronger than the elder we faced earlier!
Her gaze skimmed the kneeling man. “Who gave you permission to act on your own?”
