Jian Tian was said to be the Heaven’s chosen one, the sword god in the flesh. His infamy and power were well known in the Cultivation world. I mean, I had never before heard of the guy, but those that I killed did. Duh, they were all from the same Sect. That’s the propaganda for you.

No, but seriously, the guy was strong.

Unlike our Sect, where the leader was elected to perform the duty of a Sect Master, the Brilliant Sword Sect worked a bit differently. The hard managerial work was done by the Elders while the Grand Elders watched over them. The position of a Sect master was like that of an emperor. Everybody served him. And as he was the strongest, his word was law.

The position was decided by a duel between the two strongest contestants after the previous ruler retired or died. There was no limit to their reign and could sometimes last centuries. The duel, often ending with the death of one of the contestants, sometimes both, was considered sacred and everyone, no matter of previous enmity, swore their loyalty to the new master.

And there we were, under his gaze, unable to move. The pressure suddenly descended and I was forced to the ground despite doing my best to remain standing.

Cultivators fell from the sky at once, burying their heads into the earth in a kowtowing position. I ground my teeth in anger. What humiliation! But I couldn’t do anything, he was too strong. He could overpower so many Cultivators, some of them even in the Sky Realm, with his sheer presence alone.

Was he some kind of god?!

“People of the Myriad Beasts Sect!” His voice suddenly boomed across the land. “You have put up a valiant defense, even killing some of my people! For that you deserve death!”

There was silence. Nobody could respond, though I’m sure many craved to. I wanted to spit in his face. Who the fuck did he think he was?! Attacking us and then complaining about his men getting killed?! Was he dumb?!

“But!” He let his words hang in the air. “I am not here for revenge. I am here to challenge your Sect master to a duel. A fair fight between two equals!”

He waited a few moments, awaiting a response.

Nothing changed. The barrier over the Sect continued quietly humming as power was poured into it without end. I could taste the Qi in the air, I could taste death and fire, the smoke of burning wood and smoldering corpses giving the land an interesting aroma.

“Well?!” Jian Tian’s voice boomed with a subtle tone of anger. “Do I really have to destroy this Sect for your leader to show himself? Did he soil his clothes in fear and escape?!”

Twelve blades appeared around Jian Tian, each of them as big as a person. They began to spin in a circle, their pointy ends aimed at the barrier below.

“I’ll count to ten! If by then Yo Shi does not show himself, I will level this Sect to the ground!” The crazy bastard shouted, and he didn’t seem to be joking.

“One!”

Lightning began to crackle as the swords began spinning faster. His aura expanded and I felt a suffocating pressure pressing on my body. One of the weaker Elders near me groaned from the strain and then his bead suddenly exploded as his body was flattened into a pancake, blood spraying everywhere.

“… Five!”

Jian Tian continued to count and the swords were already spinning stupidly fast, too fast for even my enhanced vision to detect. They were a bright blur of white lightning and the air was filled with static. The high-pitched whirl of blades produced scary sounds as if it was going to explode at any moment.

“Ten!” Jian Tian shouted and then scoffed. “You asked for it.”

Qi exploded out of him and poured into the spinning blades. The energy spilling out of his body was enough to drown me a thousand times over. I couldn’t even look at it. He swiped down at the barrier with two fingers.

“Lightning Dragon!”

There was a thunderous roar as a head made entirely out of pure lightning emerged from the spinning circle. It looked around with such a menacing gaze, that my heart skipped a beat. Despite all my experiences with death and violence, I felt like a hopeless lamb before the face of the ultimate predator.

The Dragon’s gaze then focused on the barrier below, and it shot forward, the rest of its body materializing as it moved. Wings expanded, covering hundreds of meters of the sky, and lit up the world. Its claws were like spears aimed at a soap bubble, and I even began to doubt the barrier could hold. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. The massive explosions that devastated the land around the Sect were nothing in comparison!

The Dragon was just about to strike when another voice boomed.

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“Who dares to make a ruckus on my mountain?!”

Six Grand Elders flew out of the barrier, with the Sect master at the helm. They all wore regal robes of dark blue with the Sect master having embroidered mithril dragons on his clothes while the rest had gold and silver.

They formed beastly Avatars of pure energy and sent them against the Dragon. The beasts clashed, and the Lighting Dragon was torn apart like a piece of meat amid the pack of starving wolves.

The energy dissipated with such a tremendous boom, that a few more Elders on the ground around me started coughing out blood. I just felt like someone smashed my body with a sledgehammer, despite being at least a kilometer away.

The rest of the enemy Cultivators already distanced themselves as the elites stepped onto the battlefield.

“Finally. You are here.” Jian Tian stated arrogantly and the swords around him came to a stop, floating gently in the air around him.

It almost seemed like they were there randomly, but as I thought about it, I realized they moved in such a way to cover all his blind spots while being ready to attack from any angle. What a crazy display of sword control. I couldn’t even begin to form a plan of attack that could possibly work. Everything that I came up with, I realized, was not enough to even touch his robes, let alone wound him.

“Jian Tian.” Grand Elder Ge Ting spat out, his eyes just as arrogant as the enemy. He was the only Grand Elder there I recognized, and it appeared he was one of the strongest in the Sect, standing beside the Sect master himself. “This feral dog finally reared his ugly head again.”

“Despicable!” Another shouted and then spat.

“What do you want?” Sect master Yo Shi stated, his gaze hard and proud, and his voice with an undertone of anger.

“What do I want?” Jian Tiang scoffed. “I want you to kowtow to me three times and then hand over the keys to your Sect. If you do that, I’ll spare your people and give them a place where they can live out the rest of their miserable lives.”

The Grand Elders there all immediately transformed, gaining beastly bodies of some powerful, legendary creatures. Only Yo Shi himself remained in his human form, staring straight ahead at his opponent.

“Bold demands.”

“Not bold. Reasonable.” Jian Tian replied, his voice flat. “If you decide to fight, I’ll just slaughter your people and make you watch. And when I’m done, I’ll kill you as well. No matter what you decide, after today, this land will belong to the Brilliant Sword Sect. That, I promise you.”

He then released his Aura, well, more than before.

“Sky Realm, the Eighth Sky?” Sect master Yo Shi frowned. “I see you have broken through… again.”

Jian Tian threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, I love your look! You finally understand the chasm that separates us! Your puny warriors cannot compete with me. All of you old dogs could attack me at once and the only outcome would be your death!”

He looked at the gathered Grand Elders and grinned.

“You suddenly don’t have the words to speak, huh? Filthy animals, I’ll make a feast with your corpses.”

He received low growls of anger in response, but that just made him laugh more.

“Pups in the Fifth Sky, dare to challenge me? Hilarious! Don’t look at me that way, I know you have some hidden experts, that’s why I have waited so long in the first place.”

He smiled and spread his hands.

“But I am magnanimous. Swear your loyalty to me, and I’ll let you live. Hand over your Sect without bloodshed, and your descendants will live in luxury. That, I promise you.”

The seven looked at each other in the sky and I could almost see them exchanging words, but their mouths didn’t move. They just looked at each other and then gave a small nod.

Sect Master Yo Shit turned to Jian Tian and slowly nodded. Then his body expanded, turning green and growing scales. His neck stretched and his limbs elongated, a tail grew and wings sprouted from his back. He grew and grew, turning into a real Dragon before long.

The beast looked at the enemy with a blaze of rage inside its eyes.

“Fuck you.” Yo Shi said, showing his fangs.

Jian Tian sighed. “So be it. You will all die today.”

“Kill the worm!” One of the transformed Grand Elders roared. “Show him the power of our Sect!”

“Come at me then, you dogs! It’s time to meet your doom!”

Seven against one.

They clashed, and the world went white.

----------------------------------------

What just happened?

I looked at Yo Shi in the sky, back in his human form. His robe was full of fresh blood and partially torn. One of his sleeves was empty and his face appeared to be broken. His breaths were long and strained, with blood flowing out of his mouth.

One of the grand elders lay on the ground, each piece of his large transformed body a few meters apart from the others. He was dead.

The fight didn’t even last a minute. There was a blinding light, a sound similar to a volcanic eruption, and then it was over. By the time the air cleared and the chaotic energies settled enough so I could see again, the group of seven already lost.

They lost in the first clash. One was dead, three were not far behind, and even Grand Elder Ge Ting was severely wounded and groaning on the ground, his body broken.

“You didn’t seriously think your puny attacks would work on me, did you? I show a small fragment of my power and yet you think you can compete with me. Pathetic.” Jian Tian said.

“And you, the backstabbing rat, how does it feel to have your technique turned against you?”

I looked to where his gaze was and noticed the last Grand Elder, his body weirdly twisted and full of painful-looking growths. His Soul was in similarly bad shape, probably the result of curse damage. From Jian Tian’s words I understood he tried to sneak attack him, but somehow managed to curse himself instead. Wow…

“You… monster. Just... kill me. What are you waiting for?” Yo Shi hissed while holding his missing arm as his sleeve slowly trickled blood.

“Hah, now why would I do that? I said you are going to watch, so you are going to watch!”

I saw the Grand Elders stiffen where they lay and they were lifted into the air, forced to gaze upon their Sect while Jian Tian cackled.

He really was the strongest one by far. The world darkened in a moment, even more than it already was, and lightning covered the sky. Jian Tian lifted his hands in the air, Qi spilling out in unimaginable amounts.

“Watch upon your life’s work, worms, and despair!”

We were doomed, but then…

A quiet crack was heard through the thunder despite being incredibly quiet. Maybe it was the frequency of the sound, or maybe it was just so tiny in comparison, that it stood out. All eyes turned. Yo Shi released his grip and small chunks of a crystal fell from between his fingers like petals of a beautiful flower.

After that tiny, insignificant crack, everything went quiet, and an incredible force exploded from deep inside the Sect.

Then a voice rumbled.

“WHO DARES BULLY MY SECT?!”