“Feel free to use your weapons,” Shuren taunted them as he continued to walk with both hands behind his back.

“State your name! Don’t you realise this is the turf of the Huang Clan?!” Captain Guanzi yelled out, trying to prod at Shuren’s identity.

But there was a reason Shuren shouted out about his blatant plan to help the captured Qaen. To make them think he was just an insurgent back up sent by one of Qaen’s comrades. The thought that he was a member of a major clan wouldn’t go by their heads.

Otherwise, none of them would even bother trying to fight a young master of a major clan. They’d just lay down and let him walk straight to their boss. The risk wasn’t worth doing their jobs.

“Who knows?” With those words, Shuren strode forth. That guy at the front’s the strongest, at Stage 4 of Qidense. He should last a while.

“Don’t be scared, even if he is a cultivator! Crowd together and move him towards the corner of the room! Reduce his field of movement!” Captain Guanzi waved his arm to gesture to the guard at the back, taking the lead as the five others shuffled forth with him.

A knife shot out towards the chandelier at the ceiling, cutting off all light.

Taking away light to reduce my range of vision? A handicap like this should make things interesting.

Shuren picked up the leg of a nearby table, casually throwing it across the room. Far too slow, I’m going to fall asleep at this rate.

He dashed forth, aiming for the moment the table slammed into two of the guards at the front. With Qi surging around his left foot, he leapt into a crescent kick.

The table exploded into pieces, debris falling across the room. Splinters fell in some of the guards eyes, pricking their arms.

“Do you dare face my blade?!” One of them roared, raising his weapon up high to the ceiling.

Shuren smirked. Amateur. He turned around with ease, grabbing the spear that thrusted in the darkness. The broad swordsman’s bluff was way too obvious, using himself as bait to let the others sneak attack Shuren from behind.

Shuren gripped on the spear with intensity and tugged.

In a second, the wielder of the spear was pulled before Shuren. And he stared directly into the eyes of this rather short man. “Let go. Or you’ll die,” Shuren casually said, and felt the weight on the spear lighten.

Coward. Shuren smacked the man’s head away with the back of his fist, and felt the heavy fall of the broad swordsman’s downward cleave aiming towards his back. One step was all he needed to step out of the range. But he held the spear in an awkward position, allowing the blade tip to be sliced right off.

Captain Guanzi yelled out from the distance, with his sheathed sword in hand. “Those with long weapons, prod him out! Stop huddling around him and make space for each other. You’re not going to stab each other!”

*The one leading the flow of battle must be their captain. He’s not half bad.

Shuren held the broken spear; now a wooden staff, in a reverse back grip. And saw the slinking guard with a knife head towards Qaen.

“Tsk.“ Shuren dashed north. The last thing he needed was a hostage situation.

Using the force of his staff, Shuren vaulted over the entire crowd with ease, his legs using Guanzi’s head as a footstool to launch himself forward.

Guanzi scowled as his oiled and slicked-back hair was now an utter and dirty mess. “Shoot him from afar. Get throwing knives or daggers, whatever you have!” But though Guanzi yelled these orders, he couldn’t even steel himself to take the offence. I can’t even sense his power! I’m already near midway through Qidense Realm, at Stage 4, yet I can’t even tell if he’s a Stage 5 or a Stage 8! Who in Gehonan is this brat?!

Mid fall, Shuren brought his arm with the staff back and tensed his core muscles.

The knife wielding guard brought his knife to Qaen’s throat. “Stay back! Or I’ll kill thi-”

He was struck down by Shuren. The staff shot out, smacking him right in his forehead.

Shuren planted himself in front of the captured Qaen, using the knife to cut the surrounding rags. “You don’t look the scholarly type.”

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

Qaen coughed for a moment to regain his breath. With a heave, he limped to leave. “W-wait. I have to go now to find my sister! I ca-”

He felt a thud on the back of his head, causing him to stumble.

“Fool, this is how you ended up in this situation. Stay back and wait,” Shuren said, scolding the idiot. Five guards crowded around him.

Backed to a corner. Reduced vision. Limited field of movement. Protecting an injured person. The disadvantages continued to stack against Shuren. But this was precisely what he wanted.

Otherwise, it would be over too quickly. The sect finale would surely have even harder scenarios than this one.

“Why don’t I show you all a real technique?”

Shuren’s biceps tensed, weaving Qi to focus even further on the offence.

The first rank of cultivators; the Qidense Realm, focused entirely on mastering the usage of Qi. It comprised of twelve stages.

Stages 1-3 of Qidense Realm focused on absorbing Qi from your environment into your body.

Stages 4-6 focused on controlling that internal Qi around your entire body. The more Qi you focused on your eyes, the sharper your vision would be. The more Qi around your arms, the stronger and faster the power.

As for Stage 7 onwards, the second half of Rank 1… That was when you could extend your Qi outside of your body, and most importantly, tap into the Paths of the world, learning to transmute internal Qi into elements and aspects such as fire or water.

The first cultivator techniques; to assimilate Qi into a unique formula, was simply the first step. Later on, you could use invocations, conjurations, enchantments, talisforge, and even divine and the blasphemous demonic arts.

And that didn’t include the esoteric abilities and mystical powers of those beyond Nascent Soul; those who ascended into Immortal Cultivators. They operated in a completely different realm. Literally.

Shuren held the staff almost like a sword, with both hands gripping one side of it. With it lowered into a stance, he put one step forth and flexed his hip back.

He was going to use an ability generally reserved for those past Stage 7. Even if he himself was only Stage 6! Extending Qi throughout the entire staff, both body and weapon became one.

It didn’t matter if all the guards were ready to defend, they had already fallen for the trap.

Shuren swung his staff wildly, covering the entire room in that one slash. The Qi flowing through the weapon condensed and pulsated, using the force of the weapon itself as the anchor. A wave of Qi unseen by mortals, yet visible to cultivators, shattered the staff in Shuren’s hands as it shot across the room.

From the tables and chairs to the ground itself, everything had shattered and threw the room into a flurry of debris. Let alone most of the guards, stumbling and staggering back from the damage.

This was one of the first Qi techniques taught to all members of the Liu Clan. Blade Surge! Even if Shuren repurposed its use into a staff, that just meant his mastery of the technique was absurd.

“Guanzi, none of these trash even have basic martial training. Did you pick up sewer rats as your men?” Shuren taunted, raising both fists above his waist. But in his mind was a completely different thought. It’s not effective to use Staff Surge this early. More than half of my Qi Reserves have depleted, for half the efficiency and power. I’ll hone this technique later on.

“He’s a bloody monster! Those mutts from the south actually could bring someone like him to act?” Captain Guanzi complained to himself, but he retained rationality amidst the battle. “Don’t panic! There’s still five of us, and he’s unarmed now!”

With a burst of power, Shuren abandoned playing with simple tactics, and went brawl for brawl. He ran right into the fray, using his bare hands to deflect the slashes of blades and thrusts of spears. Shoddy, amateurish slashes and slices, predictable to the trained eye and body.

The glee from one man disappeared when his blade sliced into Shuren’s forearm. Because when Shuren pushed it away without even a glance, there wasn’t even a mark on his arm!

“He’s like an iron ore! How’s he barely taken a dent?!” the man complained, instinctively backing off. Those were his last words as Shuren sensed his hesitation.

Curling all his fingers into a tight fist, Shuren punched with the raw force of a trained Stage 6, throwing one of his opponents across the room.

Guanzi could only watch as his sword trembled. “His body is like iron… He has Iron Grade Talisbody at this age?!”

There was no time to even take a breather. Shuren ducked, allowing two weapons to slice into each other’s wielders, taking them out without even an action. Sweeping their legs to make them collapse, Shuren paid attention to all the surrounding sounds.

The whizzing of a hurling knife flew towards his back in the darkness.

He caught it in midair.

Only to throw it back at the assailant.

The blood curling scream of a coward echoed amongst the chaos, but Shuren paid it no heed.

There was only one left.

“It is quite interesting. Normally, the strongest guards would defend the perimeters of their building. Instead, all of you are huddled around in the basement. And at the first news of someone intruding, you focus only on hiding your own ledgers.” Shuren brushed off the dust off his clothes.

“Exactly how many floors have you built underground, and for what purpose do they hold?” Shuren posed the rhetorical question.

The rambunctious battlefield had now drawn silent, only Shuren’s footsteps echoing throughout the destroyed room.

Until the metallic clang of a fallen sword thumped on the ground.

“Forgive me, Lord Cultivator! I had eyes yet could not see Zhenren’s Throat. Even if I’m ignorant of your status, I should’ve led you to-”

“What a bore.” Shuren picked up the sword, ignoring the kowtowing captain. Observing its craftsmanship, engraved with even jewels at the hilt, he raised it upright. “A gaudy, ineffective blade. But, every blade has a tale to tell,” Shuren remarked, holding the sword in a low guard stance.

Shuren employed the breathing style taught by his family, allowing Qi to slowly swarm from his arm into the hilt of the sword. With complete concentration, his sharp blue eyes grew hazy, focusing entirely on the sword.

His right arm was tense, his biceps rippling and veins squirming. His sword arm shivered, and sweat dropped from Shuren’s face.

Slowly, but surely, he covered steel with his own condensed Qi.

Intende pain radiated from his torso.

A piece of bloodied, sharp metal bloomed from the left side of his chest, tearing through his shirt.

Shuren had drawn blood.