Sounds of metal hitting stone rang out as Fan Long’s Spirit Earth Qi exploded outward. Inside of him, a vast amount of energy that had been condensed into blocklike formations inside his dantian slowly started to break down to the tune of ‘Rivers Looping among Mountains’. Runes lit up below him that stretched out into a formation that covered the entirety of Little Green Bamboo Village.
Sadness crossed his mind that it had come to this; however, there was no hesitation. Looking around he could see the forming nets of Wind sword Qi that pressed in from all directions. It seemed as if 1,000 swords that could cleave through the earth itself would descend upon him in no time at all.
Indeed even to his newly improved perceptions, the attacks moved far quicker than anything else, a testament to the advanced speed of the Wei clan sword techniques. To Fan Long, however, this speed was still no faster than the pace one would casually walk through their own backyard. Firming his resolve, the Fan clan leader simply pressed his palm forward and nine giant phantom palms pushed outward with blinding speed.
In a rush, a dome of energy formed by these palms expanded outward in all directions, crushing all the sword energy under Fan Long’s ‘All things birthed from the origin’. Blood rushed from the mouths of each of the surrounding Wei masters as they coughed up vital force, palm force spreading through their energy systems and wreaking havoc. This was the advantage of palm techniques when one reached the master stage.
Although they lacked the raw strength of punches or the piercing power of finger attacks, palm strikes made up for this by transferring force into the opponent over an area. When this reached the stage of being enhanced by Qi the users' Qi could be projected into the opponents, creating the phenomena known as palm force that continuously damaged the opponent even after they were struck.
As such, prolonged fights with users of palm techniques became increasingly harder to win as one accumulated more and more palm force within themselves. Looking around Fan Long was surprised to see one man had withstood the strike. Wei Tu, the proud general of the Wei army, stood only ten paces from him, sword planted into the ground to stabilize himself.
Around the proud general, a tight cloak of whispering winds swirled with images of swords as the blade in his hand glowed an emerald green. Fan Long’s mental energy was already present in the entire village thanks to the formation under his feet and with it, he could feel the powerful emanations coming from that sword. His expression turned slightly sour as he scanned the item further, this Wei general would be able to distract him far more than originally planned.
Finally, the surrounding enemies seemed to start recovering as the blood they had spat up was halfway to the ground, each of them slowly starting to swing their swords in Fan Long’s perception. Falling into a fighting stance for the first time, the leader of the Wei clan prepared to fight for his life. Sword Qi screamed forward again from all directions with phantom swords rising outward to form a grander formation between the Wei warriors, this time much more prepared for the overwhelming opponent in front of them.
Quickly his staff rose, and soon three Fan Longs walked out from his original position. Each one of these copies was ethereal like an attack phantom and moved with speed faster than the sword energy. Rushing forward, each of these phantoms moved and phantom arms seemed to sprout from them at each point their techniques could have branched into a different Fan Clan technique.
Soon the phantom clones had sent out over a hundred attacks each, utilizing all nine forms of ‘Nine Palms Subdue the Nine Heavens’. Fan Long still stood on the dais resting in void gate stance, eight pairs of phantom arms sprouting from his shoulders. In each of these phantom arms was held a replica of his staff that was now glowing with incandescent brown runes.
Suddenly he moved, the staves and extra arms blurring in innumerable different patterns. Phantoms of his staff lashed out in a ring that seemed to crush the entire world, like a mountain range being plucked from the earth by some immortal from the legends and thrown around in an ever-expanding circle. Wei steel met the onslaught of the original phantom projections blow for blow, suffering numerous hits as they went.
For the first twenty blows they held and only one of them fell. The next two fell after another ten blows where exchange as shifting palm techniques echoed into the bodies of half the Wei masters, spilling blood all over the square. Shockwaves echoed from the clash, within the first thirty blows the square was no more and all the buildings within 1km had been destroyed.
Runes that gave off an ancient feeling started to glow brightly as the destruction spread, a formation that had lain dormant for centuries. Hazy brown energy started to form domes over the surroundings and soon the shockwaves started to be contained, only destroying another 100 meters of the village. All the shockwaves carried over the ground, sending debris everywhere and washing over the remaining protected parts of the village to destroy the outer wall and 2km of the surrounding forest!
By the time 50 blows had been exchanged in total 10 of the Wei masters had died and a single sword strike had reached Fan Long. In the hail of swords and blows, this blade rang out with the piercing whistle of Wei clan Qi! A deep thud could be heard as the strike landed as if the sword had struck the side of a mountain.
On the ground behind Fan Long, a 10m long 5m deep furrow trailed on the ground, remnants of the strike that tore a hole in his martial elder robe, leaving a small mark on his skin. By the time he finally began moving his staff, the initial hundred or so strikes had been made and five more Wei Masters had fallen. As the ring of staff phantoms raced outward and Fan long began gathering Qi for the second part of his technique a piercing whistle sounded out, louder than the entire battle.
A shockwave sprang out from among the Wei clan ranks as a singular sword was drawn from a sheath that twisted the air around it, radiating power. Wei Tu’s sword moved faster than even Fan Long’s blows as if he had somehow brought himself to the supreme grandmaster realm! This sword carried the trailing winds of over 500 sword shadows that billowed out behind it like a long cape in a giant sword shape.
Phantom blows lost power as they traveled; however, when overlaid over the physical weapons they originated from, their power didn’t diminish. Instead, the force was multiple to be even higher, causing physical blows made by those able to use Qi to reach unimaginable force! Power radiated from the magical treasure sword in Wei Tu’s hand and Fan Long had to turn all of his attention to facing the man.
As he did so the ring of staff shadows rang out, destroying the defensive formation of the Wei masters but dissipating in the process. The blow had been intended to finish them off with overpowering force; however, the enemy general had struck at the perfect moment, reducing the casualties to only five men while also catching Fan Long off guard! Mirthful laughter played through the air and for a moment even Wei Tu’s powerful sword thrust seemed to freeze.
The world seemed to be cast under the twilight of a full moon as silvery light shined all over the battlefield. With an explosion, a hundred phantom silver-cloaked figures seemed to glide up out of every direction, as if they had been in the walls and ground! Thousands of glinting lights flitted, intertwining and causing the sound of metal meeting metal to resound in the winds of sword Qi conjured up by the Wei.
Haze surrounded these figures as their cloaks seemed to make each and every one of them skip in and out of sight. In a flash a short sword of pure silver light met Wei Tu’s blade, shining with more powerful runes and greater weight! Each of the ethereal phantoms let out an unearthly wail as if the vengeful spirit of all wronged beings in the world was being played to the most beautiful melody ever conceived.
Finally, all the figures vanished and condensed into a single person holding the sword that had blocked Wei Tu’s attack! It was Fan Yahui, radiating the presence of a grandmaster!
“Now, now junior. My husband is busy so I’m afraid you’ll need to entertain me for just a short while. Don’t worry, he won’t be long.” Fan Yahui landed as the shockwave of the two colliding sword strikes pushed her back, an expression of cold ice on her face.
She raised an open hand and closed it into a fist so quickly that a shockwave radiated out in the clearing. Groans of pain spread through the clearing as two more Wei clan masters fell dead instantly. Many more revealed pained expressions or dullness of the eyes as each of them rapidly used their Qi to battle against the invading palm force as well as the mental Qi attacks Fan Yahui had just spread through the battlefield.
Wei Tu’s expression turned from sour to grim as he now fully understood the severity of the situation. He and his men had only ever had a single chance, the mercy of Fan Long. In haste and arrogance, he had thrown it all away and now this square would mark his death.
Hefting his sword in a graceful movement the Wei General raised his weapon in a martial salute to his enemy.
“Understood senior, please advise!” With these words, the battle commenced once again.
Only this time, both sides understood the outcome before a single blow was exchanged.
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Fan Zhong jumped forward with all of his momentum as a whistling sound resounded behind him. Just a second later and he would be laying in two pieces at the furrow in the ground just two meters behind him down the five-meter rise that his movement tum technique had taken him over. Running forward a step he jumped slightly and turned, using the momentum he had built to swing on a tall bamboo shoot and change direction.
It had only been a few seconds since he had escaped the enemy and they had wasted no time catching up to him. Two times already he had come close to death and his hiding spots were becoming sparse. The terrain surrounding the mine was winding and offered a good amount of coverage if the enemy had to find him visually.
This wasn’t true for master realm experts, however, as they could send out their mental energy to detect him. Normally this was only done in brief stints as wasting mental energy reduced the overall enhancements to the senses one received as well as reducing the total amount of Qi that one could generate. In this case, the enemy was simply far too strong, however, so they could afford to be wasteful with energy.
If Fan Zhong were in the first-grade realm he could control his own mental energy and stop himself from being detected as searching for someone this way was crude. What the martial artist was doing was not so much as seeing, merely getting a feeling for the direction of other sources of energy. Mental energy had a certain feel to it and only martial artists and spirit beings had it, with the Flowing Grass Valley being so sparse with spirit animals and plants it was easy for the Wei to pick out Fan Zhong.
First-grade martial artists could cloak themselves by simply focusing their mental energy on their skin, this would keep them from leaking their energy and work against crude methods like those used by the Wei. It was said in the legends that immortals had their mental energy transformed into divine sense that could actually see and sense as if one was physically there; however, when Fan Zhong had asked Fan Cheng about this he had never heard of such a technique.
Thinking of this he ran as fast as he could, only changing course to try to throw the enemy off the trail. If they were forced to spread out their energy in more directions then it would waste more of it. Perhaps if they found Fan Zhong too troubling an opponent then they would leave.
Pain lanced through the back of his leg and he stumbled forward, pulses of agony throbbing through his left thigh. Laying back against a tall bamboo shoot near the edge of the small clearing he had fallen into Fan Zhong saw his opponents quickly blurring towards him. In the time it took him to blink they were already there, knowing smiles spread across their faces.
The lead Wei master started to speak however before he could manage any words the world exploded with sound. A primal howl of rage echoed from behind Fan Zhong as a blurring transparent form landed in front of him followed by a streak of gold and azure. Explosions and shockwaves seemed to drown out all noise in the world as the stalwart back of Fan Cheng stood vigil over him.
A warm smile crossed the older warrior's face as he looked back at his brother, one that spoke of words that might never be spoken as he stared down the two opposing master realm warriors. Talismans blurred from within Fan Cheng’s robes as he seemed to disappear right before the clearing exploded as well.
Shockwaves railed against the glowing formation of azure talismans that now surrounded Fan Zhong. Powerful forces ripped the forest around him apart as dozens of palms seemed to appear in dozens of places at once. Right as they appeared they disappeared following streaks of countless figures blurring.
Only a few seconds had passed before Fan Cheng appeared before him again, staff in one hand as he covered his side, blood trailing from dozens of cuts across his body. Across from him on the field lay the form of one of the Wei masters, half of his head vibrated into blood pulp as his corpse vibrated from palm force that was breaking it apart. Another few seconds started and passed leaving the first Wei master a bloody puddle as his fellow landed beside him with three large holes in his body
Fan Cheng blurred to Fan Zhong’s side, a sword halfway into his side as blood leaked from his mouth, with a grunt the older warrior pulled the sword out as he walked closer. With a calm smile, he looked at his brother before falling to his knees, only supported by the staff he held in his single good hand. Running to him, Fan Zhong scattered the formation from the inside.
As he approached, he could see the extent of his brother’s wounds, tears streaked over his face and he gently guided his brother to lie down on the ground. All of a sudden the world was quiet as the shockwaves from the direction of the village had stopped. Victorious warcries resounded in the background of Fan Zhong’s mind as he struggled to comprehend what was going on.
While inside of this dull world something broke him from the numbness. A pressure fell from the sky like the imperial decree of some ancient immortal emperor. To Fan Zhong, it felt as if heaven itself had descended.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
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Fan Long looked down at the kneeling form of Wei Tu as he bled among the corpses of what was once his army. Once Fan Yahui had arrived the outcome had been determined and he had swiftly dealt with the remaining forces. Now all that remained was to end all this and to deal with the fallout.
A long sigh escaped his lips as he considered how much work was left to be done. After this plan was finished the alliance forces stationed at No Leaks Village would receive orders to meet up with the Fan clan army and they would assault Wei City. With so much of their power destroyed here little could stand between Fan Long and taking Wei Hua’s head.
Such was the plan to cut the head of the snake early so that the loyalist cities and clans could be cowed and reintegrated into the valley culture. Fan Long had no aspirations to replace the Wei as the western overlords within the valley itself, he simply wished to put an end to this conflict by burning each of the loyalists to the ground as they fought a losing battle. It had been a long road to tread however, this path he felt ultimately led to the least amount of deaths.
Truly, the Wei lordlings scheme had been a boon to his war efforts as he had been racking his mind over how to kill Wei Hua without simply smashing down the walls of Wei City. Fan Long was under no illusions that the arrogant pup would throw tens of thousands of loyal citizens and clansmen in front of him before he fought in an open field. It would’ve been a slaughter and then the valley alliance would begin acting like the ravens they were.
He had seen it play out over the course of 30 years, right after the war with the Deng clan. Most histories told that the war ended a century ago and that mostly peace had reigned in the valley from then on. Fan Long knew better, for decades the valley clans had subtly subverted each other and devoured those who had been weakened during that conflict.
It was one of the reasons he had banned the long history of mercenary and assassin work that the Fan clan had been known for and instead chose to focus on the bodyguard and observing as trade professions instead. Shaking his head the old warrior looked into the eyes of the defeated enemy general.
“Wei Tu, today you have fought bravely. Go to the halls of your ancestors with pride in your heart, pride in the martial prowess you showed here. May your rebirth be swift and bountiful.” Without a pause, two palm phantoms pressed the man’s head between them as two staff phantoms converged from above and below.
A receiving technique that used heaven and earth forms at the same time, Fan Long’s specialty that he referred to as ‘Receiving All things under Heaven and Earth’. With a shout infused by a good 20% of his remaining gathered Qi, he let out another warcry, this one speaking of victory.
As the noise traveled outward it seemed to be suppressed as a force fell from the sky. This force was something that dwarfed Fan Long so much that he felt like an ant staring at an army of celestial immortals. Looking into the sky he saw two figures standing in mid-air around 100 meters up, each of them radiated power beyond imagining.
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Teng Hanying looked throughout the small valley below him with a grim expression. Throughout the last years, he had tried to arrive at each and every one of his inheritances to activate them and replenish his supply of soul Qi! Each and every time this damnable brat from the Heavenly Infinite Sword Sect had either been faster than him or arrived just in time to attack and destroy the formation.
Originally he had wanted to use one of his more recent sites however, as the list kept growing smaller he had been led here, to where it all started. Behind his eyes, complex feelings arose. He had not always been surnamed Teng, originally he had been known as Wei Hanying!
Thousands of years ago he had stumbled upon a cave that had primitive runes that described a cultivation method to extract Qi from the recently slain. It was so-called ‘Soul Devour Arts’ and had led him to the vaunted heights of the spirit realms! Even then, he had felt scammed by the heavens as the local Xing empire’s ancestors had caught wind of him through the noble Lu family having their ancestor visit and discover traces of demonic Qi.
After that, he quickly decided to escape and left a formation here that would allow his descendants to master his arts. Alongside this, he had also left his clan's traditional wind sword arts so that they had something to practice in public. This way they wouldn’t be forced from home as he had.
Checking the formation with his divine sense he found that it was indeed intact and that one of the two formation keys he had left was in use. Unfortunately, it was the lesser key that he had left in the clan with instructions on how to seek out the master key of the formation. With the lesser key, the descendant couldn’t activate the whole formation and absorb the soul of every life in the valley.
Knowing that no one had the master key excited and disappointed him, if it had been found then he would have a worthy successor in the world, and his techniques would continue onward. However, now that it seemed his clan only had the lesser key and that it had been active for over half a decade it was obvious they weren’t qualified to cultivate. Cultivating in itself is an act that defied the heavens! How could someone who was too weak-willed to seek out the trials of his master key ever have the qualifications to do such a thing?
With a sneer in his heart, Teng Hanying turned his attention to the formation and began activating it. At this moment a black and white phantom sword strike that seemed to stretch outward from the horizon arrived and struck several points in the valley. Instantly Li Cheng was standing in the air opposite him, only a kilometer or so separating the two. For the two of them that were at the foundation establishment realm, they may as well have been touching!
“Finally out of holes to run to, old devil? Give up this farce and surrender. You can’t run from me.” Li Cheng’s eyes glowed, one black with a white iris while the other was the reverse.
Li Cheng presented an arrogant face to the old devil as he spoke his words. In truth, this mission had dragged him across populated mortal territory that he was restricted inside of. Even the sword swing that had disabled this formation had to be carefully monitored as there was an entire mortal nation below him.
If his power were controlled even slightly worse it could kill hundreds if not thousands of them. Knowing this, he rather hoped that Teng Hanying would surrender or at least wait until some high-level senior noticed that he was in their territory. Li Cheng had been hoping to get a message to his seniors or someone more powerful in the righteous faction in hopes of clearing the path that the demonic cultivator was taking through civilized lands; however, the bastard simply had too many backup locations.
Given the chance, he would recover and this time Li Cheng wouldn’t have an immortal magical treasure charged with a thousand years of mental energy. Simply drawing that sword at this moment would most likely vaporize him as it would amplify his energy so much that his body couldn’t take it. With a mental sigh, he started to form the ‘Lesser Infinity Sword Array’ around the valley.
At that moment he noticed that the outrage in the older devil’s face seemed to melt and a slow smile crept on his face.
“Hmph, you righteous bastards are always speaking about the good of others and shouldering heaven for the better good, eh? Try this on then, brat! Let's see if the vaunted Heavenly Infinite Sword Sect disciple values his own life over hundreds of thousands of others!” A mad gleam appeared in Teng Hanying’s eye and power gathered at his dantian.
Qi washed the whole valley as crying souls seemed to appear all around. Suddenly that energy started to rush into the fading formation, fueling it with energy that the runes were never meant to hold. Li Cheng’s face turned dark, this formation was shattered but still contained a vast amount of energy. If it was allowed to detonate along with Teng Hanying’s cultivation then it would take a large part of this lesser territory with it.
By quick estimation his mental energy allowed him to deduce that it would cover everything within at least a 5,000km radius. Calculating while channeling his Qi he quickly generated 1,000,000 heaven sword arrays from the sword phantoms generated by the ‘Lesser Infinity Sword Array’. These smaller sword arrays were made of nine swords each and could amplify techniques that passed through them.
More and more sword phantoms appeared, passing through the lesser arrays and making more powerful and grander arrays. In the second that it took for the self-destruction technique to reach its max Li Cheng had condensed over 10,000,000 lesser sword arrays into 10,000 heavenly grand sword arrays, the highest level techniques he could manage. Each of those arrays had nine heavenly swords that were half pitch black and half radiant white and from their center unimaginable power billowed outward.
Suddenly, an explosion ripped through the world and the arrays activated. In the span of a thousandth of a second as the shockwave rippled outward Li Cheng’s techniques started activating quickly producing 1,000,000 swords that were layered over 9 times each that rotated to form a condensing dome around the explosion. Sweat beads formed on his brow as the black and white swords held in his hands blurred at speeds that dwarfed even the movement of the edge of the shockwave, sending out individual phantoms that were far more powerful than those generated by the arrays.
Dust filled the air as the forces collided, large shockwaves rebounding off the arrays as they moved to position the sword that formed them to rebound the forces back and forth in a maelstrom in the smallest area possible. Finally, another moment passed and Li Cheng was left standing in the sky on wispy trails of sword Qi as large clumps of earth fell to the ground. A small smile crossed his face as realized that he had done it, the valley remained intact with only a relatively small crater to show for it.
Well relative to the lesser territory that was, Li Cheng reprimanded himself for thinking that a 5km wide 1km deep crater was a small amount of destruction. Thousands of years of fighting and cultivation had skewed his perspective it seemed. Thinking of this a sickening thought came to his mind as he remembered… there had been a village underneath the battle. A village that was now a large crater in the ground.
At that moment an ear-splitting cry sounded from the western lip of the crater, among a shallow peninsula that seemed slightly less worn than the rest of the landscape. There Li Cheng saw a scene that would stick in his mind for years to come.
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The world came into focus as Fan Zhong slowly sat up. Around him, the entire bamboo forest was decimated as a large crater stretched out over the horizon. Behind him, the soft fur of Little White seemed to press against his side as weight seemed to be weighing on his leg.
Looking down he saw the smiling face of Fan Cheng, eyes closed as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. Numbness once again washed over Fan Zhong as he remembered what had happened right before the world seemed to explode once more.
“See that little brother?... Yo… You’re… elder brother’s… sagely… palms of greatness… they can even block the heavens.” Fan Cheng’s voice came out weak as he spoke.
“Elder… Elder brother… please hold on, plea…” Fan Zhong’s voice fell into sobs as he looked over his once invincible seeming brother.
From the waist down Fan Cheng’s body was simply missing as if some large beast had bitten him in half. It seemed that only sheer willpower was holding him to this world.
“Live a… goo..” Fan Cheng’s voice faded, and he stirred no.
Gray seemed to fill the world as Fan Zhong felt each little movement of wind on his face, each small swaying of the grass. His focus shifted as he saw a youth with two swords sheathed at his sides descend on wispy look swords that writhed with energy as if they were attached to his feet. Agelessness seemed to radiate from the youth and Fan Zhong could see his sharp features from even a kilometer away as if they were right next to each other. This felt odd to him as if something weren’t right.
Hope filled his heart for a moment, however, and as the sword immortal landed, Fan Zhong got up and bowed as low as he could.
“Honored immortal, please spare my brother! Immortals have healing magic, right? Please help him! This lowly ant doesn’t deserve your kindness, yet I can only offer my soul or whatever else you wish! Please save him, make it me instead of him. PLEASE..” his pleading turned into sobbing babbles as the youth looked on with a sad expression, one that spoke of an understanding that only countless years of hardship could have brought.
“Junior, I have no healing with me that would fix your brother. I can only ask your forgiveness, if you wish I will take you in as my own. You shall be as close to me as family and everything I can do to repay this debt will be done. I am sorry junior, death is something not even immortals can escape.” The sword immortal's eyes seemed to become hazy for a moment as if he was seeing some faraway memory when he said these words.
“NO, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS? BRING THEM BACK. BRING THEM ALL BACK!” Fan Zhong beat against the man’s ankles, strength rapidly leaving him as the world sank heavier on his shoulders than ever before.
“I see, if that is your choice then I can only accept it. Very well then, take this. Inside are enough spirit stones to allow you to live comfortably for the rest of your days and… a token that will point you in my direction, no matter how far away I am.” The youth nodded and started to walk away as a streak of azure light descended from the skies over the green mist mountains. “ and junior, one more thing. I am Li Cheng of the Heavenly Infinite Sword Sect. Today, a great demon was slain and for it, your kinsmen paid the price. This is not fair nor do I think that the heaven's will is ever fair. It is your right, however, to resent me. Keep that token and if ever the day comes that you find the need to find me for good or ill, use it. I’ll accept your challenge anytime.”
As he finished the last words a man with short black hair and an azure robe landed on the ground, a scar ran down the life side of his face alongside his neck and further down.
“Junior Xing Zheng greets Senior!” The man said as he gave a bow as well as martial salute “If I may be candid, what the hell is going on here?”
Danger seemed to lurk in the tone of this man as he looked at Fan Zhong and the surroundings.
“All things have been taken care of, Junior Xing Zheng, please take me to see your master. He sent me a divine sense message a short while ago and said that he will be contacting my master.” With that, the sword immortal stepped into the air as ethereal black and white swords formed under his feet.
With a single glance at Fan Zhong’s sobbing form, Xing Zheng left with complex emotions in his heart.
Fan Zhong numbly grabbed at the bag the immortal had given him, putting it into the folds of his robes without thinking. As he looked up he felt the call of something within the crater. His feet started to move on their own as if the mere ability to feel something was the only thing keeping him going.
Each step seemed to come into razor focus as his muscles moved precisely how he wished, guiding him forward with a speed he had never known. Within moments he was in the center of the crater staring at a brick. Powerful energy radiated from the brick and he recognized that it was one of the foundation stones that sat in the middle of the Fan clan compound basement.
He had been there only once when he had been very little and his memories were hazy from the events. Now that he focused on them though, it was like mist cleared away, he was reminded that his father had told him of the formation that empowered the foundation of the clan. This brick was the formation core that held together the energies that let the village resist being destroyed by high-realm martial artists fighting. In a sense, this singular brick was all that was left of the foundations that built the Fan clan.
Looking at it caused everything to click into place, Fan Zhong was focusing his mental energy. He had broken through to the first-grade realm. With this revelation came all the emotions that he had been suppressing, all the hate, anger, and sadness. Blackness crawled at the edge of his vision as he fell to the ground, curling around the brick in the mud.
There, sobbing and crying until no sound came from his mouth, Fan Zhong advanced to the first-grade realm in an astonishing three years, skipping over years of hard work that others had done. A genius among geniuses.
Right before he lost consciousness a roar escaped Fan Zhong’s throat accompanied by the howl of a primordial king. It was a sound that would echo throughout the heavens, leaving countless ripples in the annals of the twisted territories' history.
End of Part 1