[Soul-Shackling Commandment]

Ghostly blue fire erupted from the funerary tablet, bursting out and coiling into the sky. I could feel the ferocity and intensity of the Qi as what I was pretty sure was some kind of spirit took form. The cultivator, Huian, was throwing bits of what looked like armor into the air, which were attaching themselves to the energy as it continued to take form.

Transforming isn’t a free action… but it's also kind of hard to take advantage of an opening when another person launches themselves at you.

The world slowed down as a woman just as fast as Zang Zeng was suddenly in my face… except this time, there were no spasms throwing off her aim.

I jerked my head out of the way of the first strike, and had to move a lot further than I initially planned as liquid trailing from her fingers splashed toward my eyes. It hissed and sizzled as it sailed through the air. Poison. I dodged a second blow and blocked a third. The hit was much weaker than Zeng’s—but it was enough.

Her nails just barely penetrated my skin.

My adversary grinned nastily at me.

[Poison Butterfly Arts: Consuming the Leaf]

“Grovel, squirm on the ground, and know agony. But do not worry, this Chixia will keep you alive for a nice, long time,” the poison lady said, gloating.

My heart clenched as I felt something spear down from the point of contact. My skin turned black, and I could feel my body start to die. Yet the surging poison began to slow immediately. What felt like Meimei’s medical Qi welled up from the connection I had from her, immediately forming a bulwark in my arm to stop it from spreading further.

Poison lady’s smirk vanished, as she stared at my arm in confusion.

I slugged her in the face.

Her head snapped back. I grabbed her trailing hair and pulled her back down to knee her in the gut. Her feet left the ground, the woman wheezing her tight guard faltered for a brief moment. I grabbed her arm and I felt her bones grind and snap. I started pulling, to bring her closer and crush her.

Her eyes widened. An explosion of her Qi prevented any follow-up, breaking my grip. She launched herself skyward on her wings. She looked terrifyingly ugly when she frowned like that.

“You… You!” the woman's entire body spasmed. I spared a glance at the still-forming spirit. That brief bout had taken only a few seconds. It was clearer and more distinct now, but there was still time to-

[Poison Butterfly Arts: Falling Scale, Silent World]

Each flap of Chixia’s butterfly-like wings sent down gales of little fragments that were making my throat itch… and our immediate area started to wither and die. I could feel the malevolence filling the air, spreading death and misery.

I liked this forest. It had a bunch of nice trees in it, and this bitch was poisoning them.

The Path of Shennong was for big strikes, and similarly, I wasn’t good enough to make them use less Qi—I had a feeling I would need every drop. I needed something smaller. Something closer to home. Something to clear the sky of all this poison dust—

The idea hit me like a freight train. It's a bit stupid to test a new technique in the middle of a fight for my life, but it should work. It would work. I brought back my hands like wings—and did something I had seen Big D use to clean up dust and clear paths in the snow. I tapped into that wellspring of golden energy, and felt something click. Cracks spread from my arms into the air.

It wouldn’t be a full [Divert The Waters]… but with this, it would force my opponent’s Qi to act how I wanted them to act.

[Rooster Tail Broom]

I clapped my hands together.

If I hadn’t been a cultivator, my eardrums would have ceased to exist, and there would be a good chance my heart would have just exploded. Some of the closer flakes of poison just ignited under the sudden force, and the rest went hurling back to where they came from. The shockwave I generated by clapping was so opaque it looked more like one of those anime wind-blades.

Poison Lady’s eyes bugged out. She dipped her wings and threw herself out of the way as I launched myself toward Huian. Huian stepped into the flames, strings of Qi anchoring them into the middle of the rapidly expanding inferno. A human face and arms had formed on the construct.

I didn’t give any thought to my next move. My opponent was immobile.

My right arm cracked like it was made of rock rather than flesh as I gathered the First Step of Creation within. Huian threw a bunch of talismans into the air when they saw my stance shift. I pulled as much Qi as I could muster as fast as I could muster it. I could see the grimace on their face.

“The First Step of Creation is Destruction.”

It wasn’t as strong as it could be. The cold energy had tried its best, but without Tianlan I had to sacrifice some power for speed.

[Break The Rocks]

My fist hit the front piece of armor Huian had attached to the Spirit. The armor disintegrated. The talisman floating just behind the armor flared like a newborn sun, straining and throwing off Qi—then burnt away.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The first barrier shattered. Then the next. Then the next. Five talismans. The defenses parted before my fist, breaking apart like glass before a hammer. They drained some momentum. They blunted the strike… but I reached my target.

I felt ribs go and looked into Huian’s eyes. They were full of shock and confusion.

My opponent went flying, punching through the hill behind them, then into the next one after that. I grimaced as my arm screamed with protest, staggering back and holding my abused limb. I immediately searched the sky for Chixia, spotting her butterfly wings. One down, hopefully just one more to go.

Then it was my turn to be punched in the mouth. A ghostly fist hammered into my face and sent me staggering backward. A second blow made my feet lift from the ground briefly and nearly made me vomit. I whipped back around in time to block the third strike, my legs sinking into the ground up to my knees. One string connected the spirit to Huian.

The great ghostly construct glared down at me, the weight of its gaze pinning me in place.

“Junior, you dare harm the Young Master?!” the voice boomed. “You dare break my funerary tablet?! This Jia Rong shall end you for this insult!”

A poison spear rammed into my shoulder and another front was opened in my body, the Medicinal Qi instantly reorienting to do battle with this new foe.

I swallowed thickly as the Spirit’s Qi flared while Chixia glared down from on high. She had a nosebleed and was favouring one of her arms.

I ripped my legs out from the ground and threw off the arm pushing on me. My arm was shaking. My legs were wobbly.

But I brought up my arms and set my stance anyway.

=====================

“Keep going! Push in and break through!” Xiulan shouted over the din of combat. Yin and Tigu roared, and Demons shrieked. Freed from sparing their foes, everyone was much more effective. Tigu’s claws were reaping through multiple foes at a time, the demons screaming whenever the woman’s Qi touched them. Her yellow eyes burned with fury.

Their goal was to cut off the reinforcements from the west, smashing the enemy piecemeal before they had the chance to consolidate their strength, and then continue on to the ones attacking from the south. The bee behind Xiulan’s ear was conscious again, wiggling around. Xiulan was grateful that she could understand the reports being given.

Things were balanced on a knife’s edge.

The bee behind her ear wiggled frantically, and Xianghua grimaced when the report of ‘more demons cresting the walls’ reached her.

Xiulan weighed her options.

“Xianghua, break off and head to the fortress, they need reinforcements!” Xiulan shouted, and Xianghua instantly obeyed, her steam furnace roaring. Xiulan would have to redouble her efforts.

They made good progress, the demons from the west group visibly thinning out as they rampaged through their flanks—but of course, the enemy had their own surprises for them.

“Anjing, take the orange one.”

Xiulan’s head whipped around as Tigu snarled with pain, tumbling backward. Two of her Qi claws were broken from the force of the strike. Tigu caught her momentum, and then immediately had to bend as a shadow with a massive sword tried to split her in two. Xiulan redirected to intercept this new threat, but grimaced when the world erupted with heat and light.

A blazing fire tore from the forest, incinerating many of her Jade Grass Blades. The fire leapt and jumped, forming jagged maws as they pulled her Qi constructs into them.

…it always has to be fire cultivators, Xiulan thought to herself with a grimace.

“Sons of bitches!” she heard Yin shout, then she grunted with pain as a large demon hammered into her, bowling the light of her sun over. It was swelled with Qi and frothing at the mouth, screeching as it relentlessly smashed its fists into Yin’s sunlight armor.

Xiulan raised her Jade Grass Blades just in time as a blazing sword tried to cut her down—the power of a Spiritual Realm Cultivator filling her senses. Her blade groaned in protest at the contact but held firm, and Xiulan forced the disengagement.

Her foe erupted with more flame as her blades tried to take him from the back—and grunted when one of them penetrated the inferno, barely managing to deflect it before it took him in the side.

It took five blades woven together to penetrate his fire barrier. That was not a Qi drain she could keep up for long.

The man, the human man, looked at her. His eyes were dispassionate, and they were locked solely upon her. They were the eyes of a man trying to figure out the best way to kill somebody.

Xiulan steadied her breathing. She spared a glance at Tigu, who was forced to leap as black spears erupted from her shadow. Her opponent launched himself at her, immediately taking advantage of her lapse in attention. She caught Tigu’s eye.

The cat turned woman kicked the air and disappeared.

[Pounce of the Tiger]

Her opponent barely managed to block the strike in time. More shadowy weapons erupted from the ground and were intercepted by blades of grass. Xiulan weaved six swords together, the blade lengthening into a giant, two handed thing, and smashed into ‘Anjing’s’ own blade. The man held his ground for a moment, but had to disengage as more swords erupted from the ground.

Tigu was now facing the fire cultivator, while Xiulan was facing the man with the giant sword.

Anjing clicked his tongue. “They’re pretty skilled, Huoha.”

“Their strength does not matter. Only that they shall perish,” Huoha replied. The intensity in his words filled the clearing with heat.

Tigu let out a snarling growl, the rumbling of an enraged tiger. “They’re quite cocky, aren't they?” Tigu asked her, forcing amusement and cheer into her voice.

“Indeed they are,” Xiulan said like it was the truth. They were already tired. They were already at a disadvantage.

But they could still fight.

“For the Heavenly Demons!” the men intoned.

Fire erupted. The shadows around then writhed like living things.

A roaring tiger and sixty four blades of grass rose to meet them.

============================

All across Fa Ram the battle raged.

In the skies above, a ribbon of electric blue was twirling and twisting, chased by another beast. Rich draconic blood fell to the earth from long wounds in his body. Wa Shi was desperately firing attacks backward, but each and every one bounced off a shell made of air.

In the forest to the south, a boar and a pig stomped, bit, and smashed, using their bodies as living battering rams as they were circled by hunters with poisoned spears, their eyes on the beasts as they slowly weakened.

On the walls of the fortress, the demons redoubled their efforts, snarling and hissing. They screeched as a heron tore into their flank, its beak plucking away their lives and providing a brief reprieve.

And far, far to the north, in the deep darkness… a similar desperate battle raged.

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Edits: Massgamer,