Ursan landed with a shattering thud. Blood sprayed across the shale, and a wet gasp tore from his throat. Terror overwhelmed instinct, and crawled, claws scrabbling for purchase in a desperate attempt to flee.
“Run?” Kishor’s contemptuous chuckle cut the night air. He flickered again-then one boot crashed onto Ursan’s chest, nailing to the earth.
“K-Kishor, mercy!” Ursan’s bravado dissolved into pitiful sobs. “l failed to recognize your benefactor. Spare me, I beg you!”
“Spare you?” Kishor leaned harder. Ribs splintered with a sharp crack. “Did you pause to spare him?”
A final kick slammed Ursan into a granite boulder. The impact silenced forever. The instant the threat lay still, Kishor turned, warmth returning to his features. “I hope that did not alarm you, Jared!”
“You saved our lives,” Jared replied, gratitude thick in his voice. “Had you not arrived, Flaxseed and I would be corpses by now.”
Kishor waved the praise aside. “You once pulled me out of the Celestial Stairway’s jaws. I vowed then to serve you. Compared to that debt, tonight was nothing.”
His gaze shifted to the lean, sun-weathered man beside Jared. “And this friend is?”
“Flaxseed, a master of charms and an ally I trust with my life,” Jared said.
Flaxseed offered a respectful bow. “My thanks for the timely rescue, friend.”
Kishor’s laugh boomed again. “Any comrade of Jared’s is a comrade of mine. Consider Darkwind Ridge open to you both.”
Then his brows knit. “But why venture into level five so soon? With your present cultivation, these skies can be merciless.”
Jared laid out everything, how level four had turned into a battlefield, how the Flaxseed clan had been massacred, how Blackshade Demon Palacejoined forces with the Crimson Coil Sect.
He spared no detail, and each sentence drove Kishor’s fists tighter.
When the tale ended, Kishor slammed a palm against his thigh, the sound like a thunderclap. “Outrageous! Those vermin dare run rampant at level four? Do not worry, Jared. With me at your side, we will see justice done and every debt repaid in blood!”
“Thank you, friend,” Flaxseed exclaimed, his hoarse voice trembling with long-suppressed fury. “l’ve been itching to settle scores with Blackshade Demon Palace and that serpent Seraphina, but with you at my side, fear no longer shackles us.”
The thought of Kishor, an Earthly immortal Realm cultivator whose power stood just shy of legend, sent a hot rush of confidence through him.
In Flaxseed’s mind, compared with Kishor’s might, Blackshade Demon Palace and the Crimson Coil Sect were little more than dust on the wind.
“Those paltry sects are beneath mention,” Kishor replied, a lazy grin tugging at his scarred lips. “Jared, whenever you decide it’s time to collect the debt they owe, I’ll walk with you and watch them crumble.”
A sharp light flared behind Jared’s calm eyes. “No point waiting, let’s go now…”
Kishor’s laughter cracked across the sky like rolling thunder. “That’s the spirit. Come, let’s pay those maggots in level four a visit and end their miserable tale.”
With a casual sweep of his broad palm, Kishor tore open the fabric of space itself.
A rift yawned before them, shimmering violet at the edges. Together the three men stepped through and re-emerged beneath the fractured heavens of level four, where lesser cultivators still dreamed of gates and tunnels.
Power, raw, undeniable power, clung to Kishor like a second skin, making the empty air quiver. No barrier at level four, five, or even six could halt a man such as him.
They wasted no time. A single thought carried them across jagged cloud peaks toward Nine Serpent Mountain, home of Blackshade Demon Palace.
Flaxseed, barely able to contain his wrath, clenched and unclenched his fists with every mile. He would finally vent the humiliation that had chased like a shadow, see who still dared to raise a hand against them, who still fancied forcing them to flee.
With Kishor present, an apex wandering immortal, the combined might of the entire mountain would buckle in a heartbeat. Flaxseed almost chuckled, picturing Lunaria’s face when beheld their unexpected guest.
He didn’t simply want victory, wanted shock and pleading to wash away the bitterness lodged in his chest
