Black Marsh Valley lived up to its name.
The sky above it was a dull, ashen grey, as if the sun itself had grown tired of looking upon the land. The ground was a patchwork of damp earth and stagnant pools, black water reflecting nothing, swallowing light whole. Twisted trees clawed upward like skeletal hands, their bark cracked, their leaves long dead. Even the air tasted wrong—thick, sour, carrying the faint rot of decay and old blood.
It was a place where decent men did not walk.
Li Wei had been moving through it for three days.
Silent. Patient. Unseen.
His black cloak blended into the gloom, his presence drawn inward until even the wind seemed to pass him by without notice. Not a trace of Chaos Qi leaked from him. Not a footprint lingered behind him. To the valley, he was just another shadow.
Yet for three days… nothing.
No sign of Xue Yan.
No trace of a Foundation Establishment expert.
Not even the usual scattered corpses or spiritual disturbances one would expect from a rogue of that level.
Li Wei paused atop a jagged rock outcrop, his gaze sweeping the endless marsh.
Was the information outdated?
The thought surfaced, cold and precise.
A mission built on flawed intelligence was worse than useless—it was a trap.
He was about to shift direction when—
Laughter.
Crude. Loud. Unrestrained.
It cut through the valley like a knife.
Li Wei's eyes narrowed.
He moved.
---
The sound led him through a narrow ravine choked with dead vines. His steps were soundless, each movement controlled, deliberate. In less than a minute, the scene revealed itself.
Five men.
Rogue cultivators.
They sat around a crude fire pit, torn meat in their hands, wine spilling freely as they laughed like beasts. Their clothes were ragged, stained with grime and blood. Their faces—hard, twisted, stripped of anything resembling restraint.
Predators.
And they were not alone.
Three women huddled together a short distance away, their clothes disheveled, their faces pale with terror. One clutched another's arm so tightly her knuckles had gone white. Their eyes darted wildly, searching for escape where there was none.
The bandits weren't even hiding their intentions.
They didn't need to.
To them, this valley was law.
The weakest among them hovered around the 8th Stage of Qi Condensation.
The strongest—lean, scar-faced, with a cruel grin—radiated the unstable aura of 1st Stage Foundation Establishment.
More than enough to dominate this place.
One of the men rose, wiping grease from his mouth as he stalked toward the women.
"Enough waiting," he muttered, voice thick with anticipation.
The women shrank back, despair settling in.
And then—
"Have you all fallen so low?"
The voice was calm.
Flat.
It carried no anger.
That was what made it terrifying.
---
The laughter stopped.
Five heads snapped toward the source.
Li Wei stepped from the shadows.
He didn't rush. Didn't posture. Didn't release his aura.
He simply walked forward, as if entering a place that already belonged to him.
For a moment, confusion flickered across the bandits' faces.
Then it twisted into irritation.
"Another idiot wandered in," one spat.
"Kill him."
Two moved instantly—flanking him from either side. Their movements were fast, coordinated. Not amateurs. Their weapons gleamed as they closed in, aiming for a swift, efficient kill.
Li Wei didn't even look at them.
He stepped forward.
And punched.
The first man didn't have time to scream.
Li Wei's fist met his torso—
—and the world seemed to fold.
There was no explosion.
No dramatic flare.
Just a quiet, brutal collapse.
The man's body caved inward, his upper half disintegrating under the sheer, condensed force of the strike. Flesh, bone, and organs reduced to a grotesque spray that never even touched Li Wei.
The second attacker froze—
For half a heartbeat.
Then Li Wei turned.
Another punch.
CRACK.
The man's head vanished.
His body staggered forward two steps before collapsing, incomplete.
Silence.
The remaining three bandits stood frozen.
The smell of blood thickened the air.
The women stared, horror replacing terror—because what stood before them now was not a savior.
It was something worse.
The scar-faced leader's grin faltered.
"…Kill him!"
They attacked together.
All restraint gone.
Spiritual energy surged. Techniques erupted. Blades cut through the air with deadly precision.
Li Wei moved.
And the valley learned what true violence looked like.
He didn't dodge much.
He didn't need to.
Attacks that would have shattered stone struck his body—
—and stopped.
His skin didn't break.
His stance didn't shift.
The Divine Overlord Body Refining Art had tempered his physique into something beyond mortal durability.
So this is its effect…
A faint thought passed through his mind.
Then he answered.
One step.
A grab.
A neck crushed like brittle wood.
A backhand.
A ribcage collapsed inward, the body flung aside like discarded meat.
A final punch—
The last Qi Condensation cultivator didn't even register death.
Only one remained.
The leader.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator.
He stood trembling, blood pouring from his mouth, one arm hanging uselessly at his side. Fear—raw, primal—had replaced every trace of arrogance.
This was no fight.
This was slaughter.
Li Wei stopped before him.
Calm. Unhurried.
"Xue Yan," he said. "Where is he?"
The man spat blood, his eyes burning with hatred.
"Go to hell—"
He never finished.
Li Wei's foot came down.
CRACK.
The skull collapsed.
Blood, bone and brain fragments splattered across the black earth.
Silence returned.
He stood there for a moment, unmoving, the corpses around him like broken dolls.
Then he turned.
The women flinched.
Not because he approached.
But because he didn't.
He looked at them once—calm, indifferent.
Then walked past.
To them, he was not a rescuer.
Not a hero.
Just another force of death that had passed through their nightmare.
And somehow, that was more merciful.
Li Wei crouched beside the corpses, searching with efficient precision.
Coins. Useless trinkets. Low-grade pills.
Then—
A map.
Rough. Hand-drawn. But detailed.
Paths. Markings. Hidden routes.
Points of interest across Black Marsh Valley.
His eyes lingered on it for a moment.
Good.
If Xue Yan was still here… this would lead him closer.
He stood, folding the map away.
Without another glance—
At the corpses.
At the women.
At the blood soaking into the marsh—
Li Wei stepped back into the valley's shadows.
And vanished.