Ding!

  Next breakthrough available!

  Error!

  Insufficient influence points!

  Jin Yu didn’t break focus. Steel clashed in his ears, shadows swirled at his flanks. He glanced sideways, barely dodging a strike, then looked at the glowing red digits in the corner of his sight.

  347,500.

  His brows twitched.

  Why isn’t that enough?

  No answer came.

  Fine. Then no distractions.

  He ducked low, sidestepped another assassin’s blade, and instead of holding ground, he dove straight into the forest, into the heart of the enemy swarm.

  That was Madness.

  There were hundreds of them in there. Smoke and shadow. Death waiting behind every tree.

  What am I doing?

  Craving death?

  No time to think.

  He moved faster, harder. Sword flashing like lightning, cutting down one, two

  But they came faster.

  A blade scraped his ribs. Another cut across his thigh. A third nicked his side.

  He was getting overwhelmed.

  His breathing grew ragged, but somewhere within the storm of blades and smoke, a quiet voice echoed in his mind:

  I need to keep my senses.

  Inhale.

  Exhale.

  He dipped into his sea of consciousness. A flood of awareness surged back.

  Suddenly, his movements changed.

  From frantic to fluid.

  From wild to precise.

  He turned a slash into a feint. A retreat into a killing arc.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  His footing shifted with practiced balance, his sword now dancing, not swinging.

  The assassins noticed. And adjusted again.

  Ten of them came at once.

  From every angle. Blades flashing with killing intent.

  A thrust to the temple.

  A strike aimed for the Dantian.

  Another slashing toward the Heart Meridian.

  Two blades curving toward the Spirit Gate behind his neck.

  A dagger reaching for the Soul Bridge near his spine.

  Each one a deadly point in a cultivator’s body. A blow to any of them could cripple cultivation, or worse.

  But Jin Yu didn’t panic.

  He did what he should have done from the start.

  As steel closed in from all sides, he shut his eyes.

  And moved.

  His right hand, still gripping his sword, rose slowly.

  Deliberate.

  But to those who could see clearly, it was fast. Too fast.

  A strange stillness spread with it.

  The air seemed to hush, like the world had stopped to watch.

  A quiet, sharp aura leaked from him, cold and weightless, yet heavier than a mountain.

  Like the eye of a storm.

  Still. Serene.

  But filled with buried destruction.

  Then He lowered his hand.

  And stabbed the sword into the ground.

  Time didn't just slow.

  It froze.

  Every breath halted.

  Every movement paused.

  Even the smoke curled mid-air, suspended.

  Every assassin locked in mid-strike.

  Even the grass stood still, caught in unnatural silence.

  Then—

  BOOOOOOM!

  A cataclysm erupted from the sword.

  Disastrous intent exploded outward in violent, pulsing waves.

  A blast of sheer will and refined power.

  Everything around him, Man, Beast, tree, smoke, everything shredded into a billion fragments, each atomized, erased, or devoured by the expanding shockwave. Their remains didn’t hit the ground, they simply vanished into mist. Or dust.

  Silence returned.

  Only Jin Yu remained in the crater of ruin, his blade still buried, his breath shallow.

  But his eyes…

  Burned.

  -------

  Thousands of miles away, in a City of soaring Pagodas and walls laced with jade and gold, a vast manor stretched like a coiled dragon across the city’s northern edge.

  Inside, beyond layers of silken curtains and seals of concealment, a single chamber brimmed with thick, rolling purple mist, so dense it seemed to pulse with breath, heavy and ancient.

  At its heart sat a man in lotus position, unmoving. His breath was steady. Silent and Timeless

  Suspended before him hovered a sword of impossible white, its glow neither harsh nor blinding, but pure, like moonlight frozen in motion. A gentle aura rippled from its surface in rhythm with his breathing, lulling the mist into motion.

  Yet to those with awakened eyes, the illusion of calm was a lie.

  Space warped and folded around the blade, its edges flickering as if one wrong twitch would tear a hole in the World itself.

  Then—A tremble.

  The sword began to hum.

  Low and Subtle. But filled with disaster.

  Its serenity frayed. Its glow shifted from gentle to wild, and the very air around it twisted violently, threatening collapse.

  The man's eyes flickered open.

  A piercing screech split the room, sharp as metal dragged against bone. His gaze alone could shred mountains, each eye gleamed like a honed blade. Sharper than the sword itself.

  He looked at the restless weapon, studying it. Then, with one slow motion, he raised a hand… and patted it gently, like soothing a distressed child.

  The sword stilled.

  The chaos vanished.

  As though the tremor was never real.

  He tilted his head slightly to the side, frowning for just a moment. Then, without a word, he closed his eyes once more and returned to cultivation.

  --------

  Back in the forest…

  Smoke curled gently through the trees, now silent after the storm.

  Jin Yu stood in the heart of the devastated clearing. His sword was still plunged into the ground, cracks radiating outward from where it struck. The silence weighed heavy. Even the wind dared not whisper.

  His breath was slow but uneven, a single bead of sweat trailing down his jaw. He hadn’t moved in some time, not out of weakness, but sheer control.

  Then—A footstep.

  Soft and Crisp.

  Ding!

  Influence +20,000

  (Emotion Provoked: Killing Intent)

  Jin Yu’s eyes twitched. More of them?

  He pulled his sword from the ground, fluid and quiet.

  From the smoky treeline, a single figure emerged, wearing the same black robes as the others. But his stride was different.

  It was slow, steady and confident. His presence didn’t stir the air, it compressed it.

  Jin Yu’s muscles tensed.

  This one... is different.

  The man looked plain. His face was unreadable. But his aura… it didn’t rage or roar, it coiled like a sleeping serpent, compressed and controlled.

  Jin Yu’s instincts screamed. That aura..... it's the same Realm as Shen.

  Transcendent Realm!

  The man stopped a short distance away.

  "Nameless."

  The word left his mouth like a ritual offering, too calm to be casual.

  He reached into his robe and pulled out a short black knife, utterly unremarkable, dull, and void of spiritual pressure. It looked no different from a kitchen tool.

  But Jin Yu’s system flashed.

  Ding!

  Sinister Intent Detected!

  He held his breath. That blade, it wasn’t just an object. It was a threat hidden beneath silence.

  He’s stronger than me... What do I do?