Chen Yun screamed, his face turning red with anger.
"Who dares storm my sect? Are you tired of living?"
Kael walked forward calmly, dusting off his robes from where he'd crashed through the wall.
"I'm Kael Holyfield Nightborn. You do know my clan, right?"
The entire hall went silent. The ministers stepped back, their faces draining of color.
On this continent, only complete fools wouldn't recognize the Holyfield Sect. They were one of the five great clans, known for being the king's personal guard of the night—extremely loyal but absolutely terrifying when provoked. The Nightborn surname was added only because of their demonic nature, their dark cultivation methods and ruthless tactics.
"What? He's from that villain clan?"
"The Eternal Nights Sect has someone from one of the five great families? That's impossible."
The system chimed in helpfully.
[SYSTEM - REWARDED VOID ARTS]
Good. More toys to play with.
Chen Yun's arrogance vanished completely. He tried to sound reasonable now.
"Why have you come here then, young master? Surely we can come to some arrangement."
Kael smiled coldly.
"Look at you acting all weak. Weren't you the one planning to destroy my sect? I'm only here to return the favor."
The ministers started whispering frantically.
"If he's here, does that mean our attack on the peaks failed?"
"The demon creature we hired didn't finish them?"
Chen Yun looked desperately toward the elder from the top sect, begging silently for help. The elder sighed and got to his feet. He was tall, with an air of power that filled the entire hall.
"Kneel, boy. I might just let you live because of your family's standing."
Kael laughed.
"Old man, you really think I'm going to kiss your ass?"
The elder's eyes flared with anger. His aura surged outward, making the air feel heavy and suffocating.
Chen Yun smirked, thinking Kael had just sealed his own fate.
"Kid, apologize now. You have no idea what he's capable of. If you don't, our sect's next target will be yours."
The ministers nodded in agreement, their voices dripping with false sympathy.
"Yes, the elder is at mid-level Nascent Soul stage. You're completely outmatched."
Kael's expression turned evil, and he started laughing.
"Isn't that fun now?"
His laughter echoed through the hall. To everyone watching, he looked like a madman laughing at his own death. The disciples thought he'd finally snapped under the pressure of the elder's aura.
This kid is completely terrified, they thought. He's lost his mind.
The elder walked forward slowly, each step measured and deliberate. The pressure he was exerting was enough to make regular cultivators bleed from their eyes.
"You are just a speck of dust in front of our sect. Do you think the father who abandoned you will come save you now?"
The elder launched himself at Kael with incredible speed.
[SYSTEM - ATTACK FROM MID-LEVEL NASCENT SOUL REALM ENEMY DETECTED. HOST POWER UPGRADED TO HIGH NASCENT SOUL REALM FOR NEXT 1 MINUTE.]
Kael smiled.
The elder's eyes went wide as he sensed the shift in power.
"What the fuck? How did you jump from Void Stage to... how the hell did you jump more than five realms? That's impossible."
Everyone in the hall scrambled backward, their voices panicked and confused.
"How did a backwater sect like theirs manage to reach Nascent Soul? Even high level? That's insane."
"They must have used some kind of dark arts or black techniques. That's the only way."
"To reach Nascent Soul at his age... he must have gotten help from some powerful force."
Chen Yun looked at the elder with genuine fear now.
"Elder, he's even a realm higher than you. What do we do?"
The elder gritted his teeth.
"Shut up. I'm from one of the top one hundred sects. He can't kill me that easily. I've survived worse."
Kael just smiled.
"Heh. Typical."
Attack fast. I've got one minute only.
The elder's body began to glow, and a massive palm made of pure qi materialized above him. It was a partial Dharma body—a technique that required immense power and control. A full Dharma body was impossible unless you'd passed the peak Nascent Soul stage.
The giant palm descended toward Kael, destroying everything in its path. The air itself seemed to crack from the pressure.
"Boy, consider it an honor dying by my hands!"
Kael didn't move. He simply raised his hand and called out to his new technique.
"Void Arts. Spear."
A spear made of pure void energy erupted from his palm and shot forward. It pierced straight through the elder's Dharma body palm, shattering it into dissipating energy.
Everyone in the hall gasped. Kael had formed a half Dharma body—something that required immense control and power. And he'd done it to counter the elder's attack.
"What is that?"
"He's going to kill us all!"
"Run! Run!"
The disciples and servants scattered, running for their lives. Kael didn't care about them. He focused entirely on the elder, using his Dharma body's palm to grab the man's arm and crush it.
The elder screamed, his bones cracking under the pressure.
"Wait! Wait! Spare me! Spare me in the name of my sect! Whatever you want, I'll give you anything!"
Kael just made a dismissive sound.
"Tsk, tsk."
The elder was still begging, his voice desperate.
"If I die here, your sect will face responsibility! The retaliation from my sect will be—"
Kael ignored him completely. He pushed his Dharma body's palm down into the ground. The impact created an enormous imprint in the stone, and the elder's body couldn't withstand the force. Blood spattered everywhere as the elder's body was crushed beneath the pressure.
And it's gone.
The one minute limit expired, and Kael's Dharma body dissolved. His power dropped back to normal, and he immediately felt exhausted. Maintaining a Dharma body drained qi incredibly fast—normally you could only keep one active for five or six minutes before completely running out of energy.
He didn't stick around to see the aftermath. Instead, he threw a bomb—a real one, a destructive artifact—at the Oasis Water Sect's main building as he flew away.
The explosion was massive. The entire structure collapsed in on itself, debris flying everywhere.
Thank god I used the Dharma body. Without it, I wouldn't have survived that exchange.
He flew back toward the Heiyuan Peak where Remlin and several other disciples were waiting anxiously. They were flying toward him, their expressions worried.
"Sir, thank god you're still alive! The elder from the bigger sect—we should run! They're too powerful for us!"
Kael smiled.
"That old man? I killed him."
Remlin and the others froze mid-flight, staring at him in complete shock.
"What... what do you mean you killed him? How? Weren't you at most at Nascent Soul stage?"
A young disciple tried to make sense of it.
"Maybe he's been hiding even more power than we thought. Maybe he has hidden realms we don't know about."
Kael shook his head.
"No, no. I just used a few artifacts that Alexia gave me. Nothing fancy."
Remlin seemed to accept that explanation, nodding slowly.
"Ah, so that's how. Artifacts from the grand elder. That makes sense."
Kael walked toward the other disciples who were standing around looking confused and lost.
"Lesson one, everyone. After you destroy someone, you loot them. Come on, let's go."
The disciples looked confused.
"Loot them, sir?"
"Go through the Oasis Water Sect's supplies. They're higher ranking than us, so they must have good cultivation resources. Take everything that's not nailed down."
One of the disciples ran off and came back with a pill in a jade box—the Rank 3 pill that the elder had been giving to Chen Yun earlier.
Kael examined it briefly.
Pretty much useless to me at this point.
"Remlin, you take this."
The Peakmaster bowed deeply, genuine gratitude in his expression.
"Thank you. I will live up to your expectations."
The system chimed in with a notification.
[DETECTED A POTENTIAL DISCIPLE - REINCARNATED DEMONIC MASTER]
Amazing. Another disciple. And this one's a reincarnated demonic master? This is getting interesting.
But before he could search for this new person, one of the disciples raised a concern.
"Now that we've angered a big sect, aren't we in danger? Maybe you should return to your clan for safety."
Another disciple nodded in agreement.
"Yes, you're too powerful to waste. You should go back to the Holyfield Sect. Your family would protect you."
Remlin added his voice to the suggestion.
"You should go, sir. We'll hold the fort here. You're powerful enough to revive our sect from anywhere, and it's better to be safe."
Kael smiled.
"Thanks, but I won't return. There's too much to do here."
He wasn't going anywhere. Not when the system was telling him there was another disciple with potential nearby.
Somewhere else on the continent, an old man was chasing someone through the streets of a small town. He was laughing, his tongue hanging out like a dog.
"Hahaha, beauty! Stop there! I'll take you to heaven!"
The person he was chasing was a girl with long black hair and a delicate face. But when she looked back at him, her voice was completely different from what her appearance suggested.
"Shut up, you old pervert. I'm a fucking man."
But the old man didn't care. He kept chasing, completely unconcerned with what she'd just said.
"Come on, no way someone as beautiful as you is a man. Don't be shy!"
The girl's name was Cassia Velkryss now, though her true identity was more complicated than that. In her previous life, she'd been male—a cultivator named Caster who'd risen all the way to Quasi-Immortal realm out of pure spite. She'd built an entire demonic sect based on revenge against Kael for destroying her clan.
But now, in this life, she'd gotten her memories back at age nineteen and found herself in a female body. Her clan was still alive, and Kael hadn't done anything to them yet. The conflict between her male and female identities was tearing her apart.
What a joke I've become. Only a few days since I got these memories and I'm already running for my life. In my previous life, people begged just to touch the dirt beneath my feet.
The old man sent out a wave of qi energy toward her back. She barely managed to shield herself from the attack, stumbling forward.
"Cough, cough... damn it."
The old man slowed slightly, surprised.
"How is a Foundation Establishment stage girl blocking my Qi Formation realm attacks?"
He pulled out a seal talisman and threw it. The energy formed a cage around Cassia, trapping her. The old man moved in, grabbing her face with a lecherous smile.
"Don't worry, pretty boy. I won't take all day."
Cassia felt sick.
"You creepy old bastard."
The old man laughed.
"Don't worry about that. I'm not picky. Dudes aren't off the table either. I'll still do it."
Cassia's fear turned to rage. She started chanting, her voice steady despite the terror.
"I would rather burn my core than let you touch me, you waste of a man."
The old man realized what she was doing and stepped back in alarm.
"Wait, what spell is that? That's not any technique I've seen before!"
"You messed with the wrong person, you old freak!"
She unleashed the spell, and a wave of pure destructive energy hit the old man. His body burned to crisp in seconds, leaving nothing but ash and the smell of burnt flesh.
Cassia stood there, breathing heavily, her body shaking from the effort. She'd just barely managed to stop her core from being destroyed by the spell's backlash.
I've got to rest somewhere safe.
But her mind was already on her real goal. She still had to kill Kael. Her revenge wasn't complete, even if he hadn't done anything to her clan yet in this life. The memories of what he'd done - the destruction was real even if it was in previous life.
I haven't even started my comeback plan. I still have to kill that Kael. Even if he's good now, I have to take my revenge.
She limped off into, her mind torn between two identities and the need for vengeance.