Low thunder rolled over the valley as wave after wave of celestials marched toward Skyfiend Gorge. From the shadowed ridges, their bronze shields caught the stray light, so the entire mass looked like a single, ever-rising black tide.
Overhead, more than a hundred celestial sky sloops swept into formation and locked together like slabs of dark iron. Their keels glowed, linking bows to sterns until the last scrap of open sky behind Jared vanished.
Down on the battered plain, tens of thousands of celestial guardsmen and conscripted beast soldiers closed ranks. Their square formations advanced one deliberate step at a time, spears leveling in a forest that never stopped creeping forward.
At the very front, Beast-Quelling Venerable hovered above the dust. Cold armor wrapped him from throat to heel, every plate ringing with the steady hum of a Top Level High Immortal Realm Level Seven aura. That pressure pressed down like a full cliff on every living thing beneath him.
Flanking him floated the two surviving beast kings, King Silverserpent on his left and King Ironhawk on his right. Eight celestial captains at High Immortal Realm Level Five spread out behind them, forming a jagged half-circle that mirrored their master’s killing intent.
The Venerable’s voice cracked across the gorge like lightning. “Jared! Show yourself and die!”
The words boomed from his throat, rattling loose stones from the cliff face. The thunderous command ricocheted against every wall of Skyfiend Gorge, rolling through tunnels and ravines until even the deepest crevice carried the sound.
Inside the dim war tent, King Ironhide’s shaggy brows pressed together. “Brother Jared, we’re surrounded,” he rumbled, voice pitched low so the nearby scouts would not panic. “Enemies on every side, no fewer than fifty thousand.”
Each syllable landed like another nail in the floorboards. Jared stepped out of the hidden cavern and let the cold daylight slam against his face. High above, the Venerable’s gold-clad silhouette shone like a hanging executioner’s blade, and battle heat surged behind Jared’s eyes.
“Alpha Bear, gather everyone and break out,” Jared said, never taking his eyes off the sky. “I’ll carve a path for you.”
The promise came out calm, but the air around him vibrated with chaotic force already gathering.
“No! We fight beside you!” King Ironhide burst out, fists the size of millstones slamming together. Dust drifted from the cave ceiling with the blow.
“That is an order!” The words cut sharper than any blade, leaving no room for discussion. Jared’s tone hardened. “If you stay, you slow me down. Trust me, I can light my way through.”
Each clipped phrase carried the weight of iron certainty. King Ironhide opened his mouth, found no counter, then shut it with a crack. At last he growled, “Fine! Brother Jared, stay alive.”
Resolve and worry tangled behind his dark eyes. Jared turned to the shadow-wrapped Luther. “Luther, guard the Bear King during the breakout. If a window opens, start fixing that array.”
His gaze held no hint of doubt. Luther nodded twice, quick and forceful. “Understood, Mr. Jared. Be careful!”
The normally flat voice trembled at the edges. Jared wasted no more breath. He gathered chaotic force under his soles and shot up, a single gray streak ripping through layers of swirling mist. Wind screamed past, unable to cling to him.
“Beast-Quelling Venerable, weren’t you looking for me?!” Jared’s shout carried clean and even. “Well, here I am!”
Although calm, the declaration rolled across the battlefield, entering every ear like a personal summons. For one silent heartbeat, even the marching boots missed their rhythm. The Venerable’s stare sharpened until it felt like a spear haft growing from his brow.
“A youthful hero indeed,” he said, voice dropping to a cold admiration. “Pity you chose to oppose the celestials. That road ends only in a grave.”
“Life or death… We’ll know after the blades meet,” Jared answered. Within his meridians, chaotic force raged like a storm locked behind iron doors.
The Venerable barked a laugh that held no humor. “Arrogant whelp. Form the array!”
At his command, every skysloop pulsed. Gold light poured from their prows, weaving itself into chains that shot outward, link after blazing link. In seconds a titanic mesh arced overhead and swooped toward Jared. This was the Heaven-Net Entrapment Array. Once inside, even a High Immortal Realm Level Eight expert usually clawed in vain for freedom.
Cold light flashed as the Dragonslayer Sword appeared in Jared’s grip. He raised it without ceremony and swung. “Chaos! Skybreaker!”
The cry ripped free of his chest, fusing sound with power. A gray sword beam tore upward. Where it passed, gold chains snapped like rotten twine, and the giant net split open, daylight flooding through the wound.
Seeing this, the Venerable’s expression tightened. *Such force… He must not leave here alive!* A rare flicker of concern crossed his features. He hurled himself forward and threw a punch. The blow warped the air, shaping a gold fist the size of a small mountain that dropped toward Jared.
Jared didn’t dodge. He met the incoming mass with a punch of his own, muscles and chaotic force snapping into perfect alignment. The two fists collided.
A thunderclap followed, loud enough to make nearby hearts stutter. The shockwave fanned outward. Dozens of celestial soldiers below sprayed blood and tumbled through the air like rag dolls before crashing onto the rocks. The impact hurled Jared a hundred yards back. He skidded to a halt, a thin line of blood tracing from the corner of his mouth.
The Venerable also swayed mid-air, disbelief flashing through his eyes. That punch had carried seventy percent of his strength, yet the Heaven Immortal Level Nine youth still stood.
“This one cannot be measured by common standards,” the Venerable realized, unease coiling in his chest. Alert now, he barked, “All forces, advance! Spare no cost! Kill him!”
“Kill!” The shout rolled from the five-division host in perfect unison, dense enough to shake the teeth in a man’s skull.
Fifty thousand troops surged forward, a living tide aimed straight at Jared. Armor clanged, banners snapped, and the ground itself seemed to crawl beneath their charge. Metallic wind hissed at Jared’s ears as King Silverserpent shot in from the left and King Ironhawk sliced in from the right, the two apex beasts moving like mirrored blades.
In mid-air, King Silverserpent’s frame blurred, stretching outward until a 100-foot silver python coiled where the man had been. Its jaws yawned, a billow of ink-green venom rolled out, and every shard of cliff it touched fizzed, slumped, then crumbled into shining dust.
Opposite the serpent, King Ironhawk burst into bronze feathers and reformed as a giant eagle; the span of its wings smothered the sun for a heartbeat. Air screamed beneath hooked talons that scythed downward, leaving white gouges in the sky itself.
For an instant Jared stood at the eye of a tightening ring, sky choked with wings, ground crawling with steel, poison mist closing the gaps. No avenue of retreat remained. Yet the sight did nothing to chill him; heat rushed up his spine and his fighting spirit towered higher than the walls of blades hemming him in.
“Come on then!” he bellowed, the shout cracking like thunder between the cliffs.
He drew a breath that seemed to drag the universe through his lungs, and the chaotic force exploded outward. A gray membrane formed around his body, swelling in a blink until it domed over 100 feet of air and stone. Spearmen at the rim rushed in and staggered the instant the haze touched their armor. Strength bled from limbs, breathing went ragged, and a sickly gray climbed their skin as the field drank power and life alike.
From somewhere inside the choking crowd a voice cracked with terror, “What kind of devil art is this?!”
Another soldier shrieked, “My spirit power’s draining away!”
Panic blossomed in every direction, the shouts layering over each other until fear became a single, ragged chorus. Jared waded forward like a wolf through penned sheep; each sweep of the gray longsword carved an arc, and dozens fell before their screams finished forming.
Blood mist sprayed so high it stained the clouds, and bodies tumbled from the air like broken arrows. But for every foe that dropped, three more surged in; fifty thousand warriors meant the tide never truly receded.
Beyond the melee, Beast-Quelling Venerable and the two beast kings traced sigils through the air, latticing fresh formations that kept shrinking Jared’s battlefield.
“Nine Hells Dragon-Shackle Formation!” their voices boomed, stamping the first array into place.
“Tenfold Demon-Seal Formation!” followed a breath later, layers of runes slotting together like prison bars.
“Nine Heavens Thunderfire Formation!” they cried, and sparks danced across the forming cage.
Each array settled with a rumble, stacking weight on his shoulders until the very air felt ready to crack his bones. The chaotic force roared inside him, still monstrous, yet every surge tore more fuel from a dwindling core.
Hours, or maybe only minutes, of unbroken slaughter had already burned through more than half his remaining essence. A memory flared behind his eyes; Jared slapped the silver storage ring at his waist.
“Lucky, lend me your fire!” he shouted into the ring.
A pillar of flame punched out of the ring, accompanied by a thunderous roar that shook the formations. A young fire unicorn burst into view, now the size of a calf, crimson scales gleaming where embers crawled between the plates. Flames rolled under its four hooves, and a single golden horn atop its brow flashed like a brandished blade.
The aura pouring off the creature rivaled a High Immortal Realm Level Five elder, raw and untempered, laced with the regal bloodline of the unicorn clan.
Lucky trumpeted, fire swirling into the shape of a crown above its head. It snapped its jaws, a ribbon of gold fire lashed across the front ranks, and dozens of celestial guards vanished, reduced to drifting ash before their weapons hit the ground. Lucky galloped through the air, ramming the barriers apart, scattering shields like toys, unstoppable as a living comet.
A stunned lieutenant gasped, “That’s… a unicorn?!”
Beast-Quelling Venerable’s pupils shrank. “Impossible! How can a unicorn exist on level thirteen?”
With the beast at his flank, Jared finally found breathing room; their combined assault punched holes straight through the encirclement. Man and unicorn charged in, broke out, and dove back seven times; each pass left fresh fields of bodies littering the blood-slick earth. Yet the sea around them only grew darker; for every gap they carved, new troops flooded forward, shoulder to shoulder.
A fresh column of celestial banners appeared on the horizon, headed by a High Immortal Realm Level Six commander whose aura rolled in like distant thunder.
“Jared Chance! The Grand Venerable of the Central Region has decreed your extermination. Every celestial in level thirteen hunts you! There is no escape!” the newcomer roared.
Beast-Quelling Venerable echoed in a low, iron tone, “Hear that? Your doom is sealed!”
