Back at the Crimson Sun sect, in a hidden pavilion of the sect, the nine elders were currently in the presence of the sect leader and supreme elder, discussing the fate of the sect.

The sect leader was a beautiful woman, she had bright crimson hair that ended at her waist. Her gaze was sharp and piercing like she could see through anyone with a single look. Her body was lean and delicate but looks can be deceiving.

The supreme elder, on the other hand, looked like a Greek god, he had long, flowing silver hair. His eyes were electric as his pupils were a vibrant crimson and his irises were radiant white eastern dragons that chased their tails.

His physique was incredibly well-built and seemed to ooze with power. He wasn't the most handsome of men but he would certainly turn heads.

"So, Qing Long has finally reared his head after only a decade. What movements has he made recently, Mei Yin."

The supreme elder asked, his voice domineering and boisterous by nature.

"All three elders who went to investigate the situation are confirmed to have been killed yesterday, our life force retrieval formation has absorbed their life force. The blood warriors returned today with no member missing thanks to Elder Tu's sacrifice."

A female elder spoke, her voice was charming and melodious.

"Hmm, Ming Xue, what do you think we should do."

The supreme elder's tone subconsciously got softer as he addressed the sect leader.

"Qing Long is consumed by misplaced rage and can't be reasoned with. Our only option is to face him directly in battle. This time using our full force to ensure either he dies or we do, there are no third options. If we try to mitigate the situation anymore, our sect's true foundation will be lost, its spirit"

The Sect leader, Ming Xue, said calmly the supreme elder just nodded and asked.

"Who's in favor?"

The majority of the elder's hands were raised, and thus the die was cast.

————

While the meeting was going on, a solitary figure dressed in a patched-up black martial uniform stood outside the Crimson Sun sect. He was seemingly lost in thought.

Oddly, none of the stationed guards picked up on his presence.

Suddenly, his static figure began radiating brilliant golden light, as he floated high into the sky.

"Every disciple of the Crimson Sun sect, leave now while you can. I'm only here for your leaders. Hong Wei, get your ass out here! Or will you be a snake till the very end?"

The response he got was the sect's formations powering on and shielding the entire sect in a crimson force field.

The force field attempted to block Qing Long's perception, but he could still sense what was going on inside. The nine elders, the sect leader, and the supreme elder were now levitating over the sect's courtyard, as Elder Mei Yin gave a speech to the disciples below, her melodic voice which now carried a special and soothing energy, rang out throughout the sect. The disciples below were terrified thanks to the overbearing aura coming from the sky.

"Our sect is approaching its final hour, this is brought upon us by a man who looks down on our way of life and seeks to crush our sect under his heel, will we let him do that?"

"Noo!!!"

All the 8 stars and below disciples roared, their gaze now shone with a sharp, almost manic light.

"Your wills may be strong but this is not a fight that can be won with solely willpower, who among you is willing to sacrifice themselves for the sect?"

Mei Yin asked, her gaze hardening at this point. After a few seconds of silence, a quiet voice spoke up.

"I am. I am willing to lay my life down for the sect."

A young, five-star disciple, stepped out. He looked no older than 17. His words were like a chip in a dam which led to a flood.

"I am willing!"

"So am l!"

.....

More and more disciples complied until, Mei Yin with a somber expression raised a hand, causing everyone to quiet down. She intoned.

"Place your hand to your chest and recite after me if you are willing to make this sacrifice; Blood sacrifice: My life belongs to the Crimson Sun."

"Blood sacrifice: My life belongs to the Crimson Sun!!"

"Will sacrifice: My will belongs to the Crimson sun."

"Will sacrifice: My will belongs to the Crimson Sun!!!"

In that moment, thousands of disciples willingly sacrificed their entire being for a single cause, each individual may have been minuscule to the threat they were facing but together they stood a much better chance to make a difference. Sadly, none of them will get to see the power of their sacrifice.

The teenager who first spoke up was the first to become a cloud of radiant crimson mist, the other disciples followed one by one, there were no screams or panic they all seemed to have accepted their fate.

The crimson mist flowed into the nine elders and sect leader, instantly supercharging their power. As they took a few moments to get used to the power, they heard a calm voice from outside the formation.

"Cheap tricks are not part of the martial way, that is why you sect, no, your cult shall fall today."

Qing Long spoke lightly. He watched the sacrifice go on with a trace of pity.

"Our way of climbing to the summit is not something you can spout drivel about."

The supreme elder said, his voice carrying a hint of anger.

"The fact that a low-life like you still has the guts to say that to me just proves my point, Hong Wei. Now, stop stalling and activate your blood paragon formation so that we can end this feud once and for all."

Qing Long said, his voice must colder than before.

The nine elders ignored the conversation, as they slid their wrists drawing blood. At this point, their blood was packed with so much energy it looked like pure crimson plasma followed out of their veins.

They then manipulated the blood and used it to draw complex and esoteric symbols faster than the eye could track. Unlike the blood warriors, all ten of them were drawing one giant symbol from the start.

When it got done, it beamed an oppressive light that altered the world around it. The sect leader and elders started performing various hand seals at inhuman speed, the symbol shrank until it had a diameter of about 7cm. Their eyes flashed with a sharp light as they roared in unison.

"True Paragon Formation!!!"

The symbol shot out and imprinted on the back of Hong Wei. He roared as it seared into his back, the overwhelming power of the symbol now coursing through his veins. If before he felt like a demi-god then right now, he felt like a true divinity.

As Hong Wei bore all this power, the sect leader and the nine elders were visibly exhausted and were forced to land. They looked up at the sky with varying expressions, the sect leader's soft features were locked in worry, then suddenly Hong Wei stepped out of the force field protecting the sect and they heard his loud, overbearing voice.

"Crimson Sun Art: Sanguine light illuminates the world!"

A giant, crimson sun was born behind Hong Wei. It was so bright it outshone the sun, it filled the world with a harsh crimson light. In the sun, a radiant white dragon could be seen swimming in it, its motions copied the one in Hong Wei's pupils.

"Show me your cycles of life and death, Qing Long and I will show you the true might of the crimson sun sect!"

"Big words from a man that relies so much on the weak, make your move Hong Wei, this battle can not be avoided."

Hong Wei's expression became steely and he turned into a red streak of light, accelerating from 0 to Mach 7 in an instant, as he went on the offensive.

Qing Long raised a golden hand and met the strike with his own, their energies clashed as they struggled for dominance. The clashing energies created a hurricane of crimson and gold as they kept raising their power, testing each other's bottom line.

*Bang!!*

The point between their fists exploded in a blinding flash of white light. When their forms were revealed in a few seconds, a red figure was attacking a golden figure in a blur of motion, but all its offense was calmly dispatched. Their forms created multiple after-images as they clashed.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Their tempo became faster and faster until something strange happened, one golden after-image split off from Qing Long's moving figure. It then struck out independently, smashing Hong Wei away with a double axe handle, like it was swatting a fly.

Hong Wei crashed into the earth, creating a crater hundreds of meters wide and tens of meters deep. The two Qing Longs looked down at the crater indifferently as one said.

"Seems like you haven't improved your fundamentals after all these years, well that's not strange, you have your hands full with brainwashing others into believing in your idealistic nonsense. Like how you did to my brother."

A frightening black light flashed in both of their eyes when Qing long mentioned his brother for an instant. From the crater, Hong Wei's domineering voice ran out.

"You never understood our cause, even in Xue Long's dying moments, his only regret was being unable to get it through that thick skull of yours."

"Shut up! How dare you mention his name?!"

Qing Long roared furiously, a black ripple spread from him that slammed into the force field protecting the Crimson Sun sect, causing it to warp and twist as it struggled to resist its oppressive might. Hong Wei reacted instantaneously and roared.

"Your oppressive methods are what drove your brother away from your side and to ours! We honor his death while you constantly look down on the legacy he left behind!! Sky Culling Fist: Divine Dragon Armaments!!!"

The massive crimson sun in the sky shrank and shot towards Hong Wei, who shot towards Qing Long like a comet, the crimson met Hong Wei on his path to Qing Long, and he didn't slow down as he absorbed it. A brilliant crimson-scale armor formed across his body with dragon-clawed gauntlets and a dragonic helmet that obscured his face. The radiant white dragon that swam around the crimson sun had now shrunk and swam around his figure, it shone with a radiant white light.

The crimson light emitted from him countered the oppressive black light from Qing Long. Hong Wei then clenched his right fist as the rest of his armor dimmed slightly and his fist brightened dramatically, the dragon shrank further and coiled around his fist as he struck out.

'Sky Culling Fist: True Dragon's Roar!!!!'

A pure beam of white light shot out of his fist, it struck out like a bolt of lightning. One Qing Long flew forward and delivered a palm strike, it compressed the very air in its way as his previously golden hand now had streaks of black energy flashed over it at random intervals.

When both attacks clashed, a second Qing Long appeared behind Hong Wei, his eyes were pitch black as he struck out with a claw strike, and a dark light covered his arm.

'Death's grasp.'

Hong Wei didn't even look back as the attack shot towards his heart. When he was about to be impaled, the claw strike hit the scale armor and stopped dead in its tracks, Hong Wei borrowed the force of the impact to rush towards the Qing Long he attacked initially.

He closed the distance in an instant, he cocked back a fist and smashed it into him like a meteor. The golden Qing Long struck out as well aiming to meet all opposition with direct martial might.

The golden Qing Long instantly lost its hand the moment they clashed, his eyes widened in shock. Before he could switch moves or escape, a radiant crimson fist smashed into his head, turning it into golden mist.

Hong Wei then turned to the ominous Qing Long and spoke.

"These are the efforts you look down on so much, our sect is just a century old but thanks to the blood paragon formation we came up with, we're able to rival a heavenly genius such as yourself. Your brother was a once-in-a-lifetime genius, he almost single-handedly uplifted the entire formation to its current height, but what did you do? You spat on his effo-"

He couldn't finish as a black light pierced towards him, he hastily tried to dodge but he was not fast enough to completely avoid it, the beam pierced through his shoulder like it was made of paper and melted the side of his helmet.

The radiant dragon coiled around his shoulder as he fixed his gaze on Qing Long whose eyes were now pitch-black abysses.

"Do not mention my brother again. You are just a heretical mongrel who twisted his views in a moment of vulnerability and for that, ten thousand deaths will not be enough to quell my anger."

Qing Long said coldly then shot out towards Hong Wei, his killing intent causing the sky to become pitch black as the world itself bent to his will.

Hong Wei wasn't intimidated as he charged out as well, the crimson light coating him shone brighter and healed his armor before they clashed.

They exchanged hundreds of punches and kicks in less than a second, the air around them howled and screeched. As the flurry of blows picked up in pace, it was clear who had superior fighting skills.

While Hong Wei's strikes were grand and powerful, with each strike accompanied by dragon roars, he was overwhelmed by the calculated, deathly silent strikes from Qing Long.

Qing Long countered, parried, and weaved everything from Hong Wei at every turn, Hong Wei would try to accelerate and overwhelm his opponent but no matter how much faster he moved and attacked, Qing Long always matched it with ease and overwhelmed it with pure technique.

After a few minutes of this fast and furious exchange, Hong Wei ate a fist to his shoulder blade and roared.

"Enough! True paragon formation: one showcases the might of ten thousand!!"

As he roared, his eyes instantly changed, his crimson pupils vanished and his eyes became all white. His posture immediately changed, he met a low kick from Qing Long with a low kick of his own and immediately followed up with a swift combination of three punches.

The first was weaved, the second blocked, and the third actually struck home! Qing Long's head whipped back from the impact and Hong Wei followed up with a double palm strike to the chest, blasting Qing Long tens of meters away before he got his bearings and looked back at Hong Wei in shock.

In that one exchange Qing Long could tell he wasn't fighting just Hong Wei anymore. Hong Wei's style was grand and mighty, seeking to turn every clash into a competition of pure power but that combination was a drastic shift from that, it was a perfect balance of technique and power.

Qing Long took in Hong Wei again but Hong Wei didn't speak, he just gestured; Come at me.

Qing Long retracted his dark aura, and his previous golden aura returned. He then took a proper stance for the first time and rushed at Hong Wei.

Hong Wei charged out as well, they exchanged blows once again, but this time they were mostly on equal footing with Hong Wei slightly ahead in technique. One elder couldn't help but comment.

"The supreme elder is starting to suppress him, he really might beat him!"

The other elders didn't reply but, it could be seen that they shared the sentiment, only the sect leader and Mei Yin still had frowns on their faces.

They could tell that Qing Long had not used any trump cards and they were not naive enough to believe the fight was tilting in Hong Wei's favor just yet.

The fight in the sky was getting more and more dangerous, physically Hong Wei was superior, and now technically he was superior as well. Qing Long was getting battered and systematically broken down in the clash of fists.

After three minutes, Qing Long had tried various strategies; creating clones, ranged attacks, aura oppression, and more. But the results were—he lost his limbs tens of times and sustained three would-be fatal injuries.

If not thanks to his special physique granted by his very unique cultivation art, he would be dead tens of times over. To make matters worse, Hong Wei was getting better and better at countering him. His movements and techniques carried an impossible degree of mastery and control.

*Boom*

After losing his lower jaw to a devastating hook, Qing Long backed off with a troubled gaze as it regenerated rapidly, he then sighed and started doing hand seals, he chanted.

"Cycles of life and death art: life and death intersect, primordial chaos is born."

A gold and black taiji diagram formed in his eyes, and his previously troubled and contradictory aura suddenly became harmonious. It gave a contradictory feeling of life and death fusing to become one whole concept.

He then spoke, his voice now carried a strange resonance.

"I do admit I was wrong to look down on this path you have forged for yourself, but you should have never pulled my brother down it."

"That's why I called you a numb skull earlier, we didn't force him down this path. He made his choice and chose humanity's long-term future, his death was a tragedy to us all. But you keep clinging to your selfish delusions!!"

Hong Wei got more and more emotional as he spoke, by the end, his voice was booming as he charged out.

He could tell this was Qing Long's final card from their previous clash. All he had to do was crush whatever techniques he used with his martial might.

Qing Long took a taichi stance, then switched to a more offensive stance. A taiji diagram, a few meters across, appeared behind his back and rotated slowly. It looked like the ones in his eyes.

Hong Wei struck out with a knife edge chop, his hand was covered in a deep crimson glow. This attack had previously gravely injured Qing Long.

Qing Long easily sidestepped it and countered with a palm strike, Hong Wei weaved backward and when Qing Long had over-extended, he reached out with a claw and grabbed at his wrist.

The moment he made contact with Qing Long's wrist, his arm got blasted back by an inexplicable energy. This energy was indescribable to human perception, even Hong Wei in his true paragon state could bearly comprehend it.

He hastily took two steps back appearing about a kilometer away, he looked down at his arm which was now disintegrating, and frowned.

'This... his life force and death energy have finally formed a perfect system? Interesting.'

This inspection took less than a microsecond but when he turned his attention to Qing Long, he had vanished. Hong Wei reacted swiftly and bobbed his head to the side while countering with a short uppercut, Qing Long's fist missed his face by millimeters but the unusual energy coating his fist destroyed Hong Wei's dragonic helmet, fully exposing his face.

Hong Wei's fist absorbed the crimson energy of his disintegrating helmet and struck Qing Long squarely on the chin, the collision created a blastwave that knocked back both fighters.

Qing Long was launched into orbit like a rocket, and Hong Wei crashed into the earth like a meteor. When Qing Long dissipated all the energy behind the strike, he was shocked! That strike from Hong Wei contained a slight trace of his primordial energy. This made his heart turn cold as his instincts screamed at him to either escape or eradicate this threat.

He initially thought that no matter how skilled, strong, or fast Hong Wei was, he could never produce or resist a truly profound power such as his primordial energy with a "cheap trick" like the True paragon formation. But he was proven wrong, very wrong.

This made his blood boil as shot back to the earth like an otherworldly comet. Back on earth, boisterous laughter could be heard from the crater Hong Wei made from their most recent clash.

He laughed with genuine joy as he stared at his now nonexistent fist. He then sent a mental transmission to the last surviving members of the Crimson Sun sect who were now hundreds of kilometers away.

'It worked! The true paragon formation helped me comprehend a fundamental concept. If we do perish today, ensure this knowledge is passed on to humanity.'

He didn't wait for a response and shot out towards the incoming Qing Long. The taiji diagram behind Qing Long had vanished and various, much smaller diagrams could be found on; the soles of his feet, knees, palms, back of his hands, and his elbows.

Looking at the otherworldly figure zooming towards him with palpable anger on his face, Hong Wei subconsciously clenched his fist tighter. He could tell this would be the final clash so he went all out. The dragon that swam across his form went still before it vanished.

His crimson-scaled armor exploded with radiant white light as he roared with all his might.

"Sky Culling Fist: Celestial dragon's last stand!"

He immediately arrived in front of his opponent and simply struck out with a fist. No fancy energy manipulation. No fancy footwork. Just overbearing martial might!

*Boom!!*

Their fists clashed, and no one stepped back even with the massive, hundreds of kilometers spanning blast wave that expanded from the point of impact, they went at each other in a hyperactive frenzy.

They forwent all defense and ate the strikes from their foes without flinching.

This didn't last long however as Qing Long coughed up blood from a devastating palm strike and took a step back, like a shark who smelt blood in the waters, Hong Wei pressed on with even more ferocity.

Hong Wei struck out with a simple straight which got weaved and countered with a sharp cross, he tanked it and wrapped his free hand around Qing Long's hand, and cocked a fist back.

Qing Long went for a blitz of knee strikes which were all tanked again. Hong Wei struck out while roaring in his mind. This was going to be his final strike.

'Sky culling fist: True dragon's roar!!!'

Before the strike could land, a taiji diagram appeared in between Hong Wei's fist and Qing Long's face but, it was to no avail as Hong Wei's fist drilled through and smashed into Qing Long's shocked face!

After that strike, Qing Long's head was vapourised while Hong Wei's armor dimmed drastically dimmed.

He located his sect and flew towards it. He saw the elders rush towards him and he smiled. He tried to raise a hand but noticed half of his body was crumbling to the ground.

His armor dimmed and fizzled out as he began to crumble into nothing.

Before the elders could get to him, there was nothing left.