Location: The Valley of Fallen Kings – The Skies
The battlefield fell silent.
It wasn't a peaceful silence. It was the silence of a forest when a predator passes overhead. The gunfire stopped. The screams of the dying beasts faded into whimpers. even the fire caused by the chemical napalm seemed to burn quieter, cowed by the pressure descending from the clouds.
Three coffins floated in the sky.
They were not made of wood. One was carved from Blood Crystal, pulsing like a fresh wound. One was made of Azure Jade, etched with sword runes that hurt the eyes to look at. The third was rough, grey Granite, looking as heavy as a mountain.
"Ancestors..." Jian Chen, the Azure Sword Leader, fell to his knees in the mud. He wept openly. "We were incompetent. We forced you to wake."
CREAAAK.
The lid of the Azure Jade Coffin slid open.
A hand withered like dry parchment reached out. It gripped the edge of the coffin.
A man stepped out. He looked frail, wearing robes that were centuries out of fashion. His hair was long and white, floating around him as if he were underwater. He didn't have a sword. He was a sword. The air around him cut the skin of anyone looking at him.
This was Grand Ancestor Xuan, a half-step Nascent Soul monster who had sealed himself away two hundred years ago to delay his death.
Location: The Command Bunker
Lin Fan stood by the viewport. The glass began to crack.
PING. CRACK.
"Pressure warning," Su Mei gasped, clutching her chest. "The air... it's heavy. I can't breathe."
Lin Fan adjusted his glasses. His face was pale, but his mind was racing.
[Seal 2: Sovereign's Blueprint – Active] [Target Analysis: Ancestor Xuan] [Cultivation: Pseudo-Nascent Soul] [Danger Level: Extreme] [Win Probability: 0.0001%]
"He is distorting the atmosphere with his soul," Lin Fan muttered. "He doesn't need to attack. His existence is hostile to life."
"Fatty," Lin Fan ordered calmly. "Aim the Railgun. Maximum charge. Target the old man."
"B-Boss," Fatty Wu's hands were shaking so hard he couldn't hold the lever. "That's an Ancestor! If we shoot him, he'll look at us!"
"If we don't shoot him, he'll erase us," Lin Fan shoved Fatty aside and grabbed the controls. "Physics doesn't care about your rank."
Lin Fan pulled the lever.
THOOM.
The MK-1 Spirit Railgun fired. The barrel glowed white-hot, warping from the heat. The Thunder Steel slug accelerated to Mach 6, tearing a vacuum tunnel through the air. It aimed directly for Ancestor Xuan's forehead.
It should have turned his head into red mist.
Ancestor Xuan didn't dodge. He didn't blink. He simply raised one withered finger.
"Stop."
The word wasn't spoken; it was imposed on reality.
The slug—moving at hypersonic speed—stopped. It didn't fall. It froze in mid-air, spinning violently against an invisible wall of Will. The kinetic energy had nowhere to go. The slug grew hot, glowing brighter and brighter until it melted into a puddle of liquid slag that dripped harmlessly toward the ground.
"Rude," Ancestor Xuan whispered.
He flicked his finger.
The liquid metal shot back toward the bunker.
BOOM!
The reinforced concrete roof of the bunker exploded.
Location: The Mud
Zhang Wei covered his face as debris rained down. He looked up at the floating god-like figure.
"He stopped a railgun slug..." Zhang Wei whispered, his grip on the Thunder Spear tightening until his knuckles cracked. "How do we fight that?"
"You don't," Li Mu's voice came from beside him.
The Master was standing in the mud, drinking from his gourd. He looked unimpressed, but his eyes were serious.
"That is Domain," Li Mu explained. "A Nascent Soul cultivator imposes their will on the world. Inside his range, his thoughts are laws. If he says 'Stop,' matter stops. If he says 'Die,' weak hearts stop beating."
"We have to help Lin Fan," Zhang Wei took a step forward. "If the Iron Blood Sect falls, the civilians in the back—"
Li Mu grabbed Zhang Wei's shoulder. His grip was like iron.
"Stay down, fool. You are an ant to him. If you step into his attention, you die. I didn't save your life so you could throw it away for a Villain."
"He's not a Villain right now!" Zhang Wei argued, pointing at the burning bunker. "He's the only one shooting back!"
Location: The Ruined Bunker
Lin Fan coughed, waving away the dust. The roof was gone. Su Mei was unconscious, bleeding from the ears. Fatty Wu was whimpering under a table.
Lin Fan stood up. His suit was torn. He wiped blood from his lip.
"Kinetic weaponry ineffective," Lin Fan stated. "Target controls local vectors."
He looked up at the sky. Ancestor Xuan was looking down at him. The gaze felt like physical needles piercing his brain.
"A strange toy," Ancestor Xuan's voice echoed in Lin Fan's head. "You have no Qi. You have no Dao. You are a hollow shell playing with fire. Disappointing."
Ancestor Xuan raised his hand. The clouds above began to swirl, forming a massive sword made of condensed spiritual pressure. It was the size of a skyscraper.
[Technique: Heaven-Severing Sword Intent]
"Die," Xuan said.
The sword began to descend. It was slow, deliberate. He wanted them to feel it coming.
Lin Fan looked at the descending doom. He looked at his broken Railgun. He looked at his terrified army.
He realized he had made a calculation error. He assumed the Alliance would fight a war of resources. He forgot they were a cultivation society. When they lose on logistics, they cheat with magic.
"System," Lin Fan whispered. "Access the Admin Token."
[Admin Token: Accessed] [Vault Connection: Weak] [Available Funds: 12,000 Credits]
"I need a blueprint," Lin Fan typed frantically on the holographic interface invisible to everyone else. "Something that bypasses Physical Immunity. Something that hurts the Soul."
[Search Result: "The Ghost-Fire Array" (Tier 3)] [Cost: 10,000 Credits] [Requirement: 1,000 Souls as fuel.]
Lin Fan paused. 1,000 Souls. He looked at his trenches. He had about 1,500 surviving Operators.
"Lin Fan!" Zhang Wei's voice screamed from the battlefield below.
Lin Fan looked down. Zhang Wei was charging up the hill, glowing with blue lightning. He was going to try and throw his spear at the giant sky-sword.
"Idiot," Lin Fan muttered. "He'll die."
Lin Fan made a choice. He wouldn't sacrifice the Operators yet. He needed them for the escape.
He bought a different item.
[Purchase: "Void-Shift Teleportation Beacon" (One-Time Use)] [Cost: 12,000 Credits]
Lin Fan grabbed the unconscious Su Mei and kicked Fatty Wu.
"Get up!" Lin Fan roared. "We're leaving!"
"Leaving? The sword!" Fatty screamed, pointing at the sky.
"The Omega Protocol isn't just a bomb," Lin Fan slammed the beacon onto the floor. "It's a distraction."
He spoke into the sect-wide intercom one last time.
"All units. Order 66. Overload the Core."
Deep underground, the collars on the enslaved Elders detonated. Not to kill them, but to destroy the regulators on the Earth Fire vein.
The mountain beneath them began to shake. The magma was rising.
"Run," Lin Fan told his troops.
The giant sword fell.
CRASH.
It hit the mountain. But the mountain hit back. The Earth Fire vein, destabilized by Lin Fan, exploded upward to meet the sword.
A pillar of magma and spiritual fire erupted, colliding with the Ancestor's attack. The shockwave flattened the valley.
In the blinding light, a small, digital flash enveloped Lin Fan, Su Mei, and Fatty Wu.
They vanished.
The dust settled. The Iron Blood Sect was gone. The mountain was a broken, smoking crater. Ancestor Xuan floated in the sky, his robes slightly singed. He looked annoyed.
"He ran," Xuan noted. "Like a cockroach."
On the edge of the crater, Zhang Wei lay in the mud, shielded by Li Mu's aura. He looked at the ruin.
"He destroyed everything," Zhang Wei whispered. "His own home. His own men."
"He survived," Li Mu said, taking a drink. "That makes him dangerous."
Li Mu looked at the horizon.
"The war isn't over, kid. The rat just moved to a new hole. And now... he's desperate."