A little earlier

Empress Cai, with Mr. Kang and Solomon behind her, ran left, which led to the lot of the house, while Celeste departed to her right. Ahead was Míngyuè. She looked horrified, assumingly not realizing what she had done. Empress Cai assumed the worst and gestured for the rest to enter the house. Boiled in her head, she ran right up to her, grabbing her robe. When she lifted her up, she angrily spurted. “Did you do this?!”

“No…I didn’t,” Míngyuè muttered. Her eyes didn’t focus directly back at her, always leaning to the left or right.

“Stop lying! Look at me when I’m talking to you!” Empress Cai yelled, screeching her throat. She gripped her robe harder. “Did you do any of this? Even a little.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“I don’t want to hear any excuses. Say it out loud. Word by word. What the hell happened here? And why is he with you in the Second District?”

“I want to introduce him to my friends. They’re worth recruiting.”

People from the second district? There’s no chance that will happen. Empress Cai thought and looked at Julius within his pillar of qi while Celeste, on his back, assisted him. I hope he didn’t buy her reasons for recruiting these people.

“Why the Second District of all places?! You know damn well the reputation here. The risks are too damn high to take the damn chances!”

“I know!” Míngyuè glared at the house’s entrance. “But these are my friends for years! I hung out with them for as long as I can remember! It was a hangout spot whenever I had free time!”

Empress Cai gave a deep sigh. Clearly, she was frustrated but worse off. She was disappointed in Míngyuè. “You were given an opportunity to assist Emperor Julius and me to rebuild this nation. He heard your story from Journalist Rui. He interviewed you, and he conversed with him about you! Now, you are just going to take the opportunity away?! This was your damn chance to get revenge on Renos and Kriegshan, the ones that killed your family. And now, looking at you, I’m not sure you are worthy of that position anymore!”

Slam!

Drip.

White blood had soaked Empress Cai’s fist while she looked at Míngyuè after being knocked out cold. Her nose spat all the ruptures, painting her face in a puddle of white.

Empress Cai let her down to the ground, and the latter thumped her head to the floor with her partially leaned unconscious face pointed towards her. I trusted him, so I trust you. You have betrayed all of us and, like everybody else, you’ll get some judgment. Empress Cai mumbled in her head.

A bright light flashed from the right. She partially turned and an explosive light flashed again, instinctively blocking her eyes from being blinded. What followed was a deafening explosion that erupted. And she couldn’t cover her ears. Therefore, she braced herself against the loud volume. Noises swarmed past her like gusts of wind, roaring to her eardrums. It rang, throbbing her head. Her knees flexed, and the weight pressured to the ground, cracking the cobblestone.

Suddenly, the noise screeched like someone struggling to breathe. Winds faded away and pressures around her body dissipated, allowing her to stand upright again. Her knees relaxed, and the brightness dimmed. She slowly lowered her arm only to find her blood dried on her forearm. In front of her, there was a yellowish transparent barrier shaped like a cylinder. Ahead and above revealed a colossal structure. All the smoke was trapped inside it, causing the interior to darken. Black smoke with traces of blue and purple qi became compact, and the towering shield suppressed itself inward.

Bang! Empress Cai jolted from her foot up to her spine. “What the hell?” she mumbled.

Bang! The second time, the width of the shield decreased drastically. Her whole body shook again, taking no breaks from the first rumbling.

Bang! Boom! Her legs felt loopy, resulting in her falling to the floor. She grunted after her bottom struck the floor. Focused at Míngyuè to her left, she remained head down and not awakened since getting punched. There was a little relief when Empress Cai observed her, seeing her unconscious body still breathing. Phew. She can’t die.

Empress Cai carefully stood from the ground while still viewing the sky. And then the tower withered away from the top. A swift motion made it as if a hand was right next to it, forcefully pushing it out of the stack. Refocused at Míngyuè again, her head hemorrhaged from the back of her skull, probably from the blast before the shield took over. From her eyes, it looked like white paint, which made it more vivid, flowing down on silky white hair.

Julius’s chaotic burst ended. Celeste descended from the air down. Empress Cai’s attention returned to wide focus, finding every building except the large white house destroyed. Rubble everywhere. The effects from Celeste’s shield and methods prevented any of the flying debris, which makes the whole setting a lot more realizable. Her power has grown beyond being a supportive healer. Maybe she is next. She thought about Celeste taking next to learning restrained strength. But she proved a form thanks to her shield’s capability. Or was it actually something else that was not related at all?

Shatter!

Empress Cai half turned around to the house, witnessing people from inside being tossed out through the shattered windows. A lot came from the second floor and fell like a heavy bag, thumping on the flat lawn. Multiple ladies screamed from inside, and the commotion got so loud that even from where Empress Cai stood was enough to hear. She wanted to find out what was happening inside but couldn’t. Not until Julius and Míngyuè are taken care of.

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

“I didn’t know there was a house in a spot like this,” Solomon said.

Father Kang nodded. “Even I didn't know there was one in the Second district.”

He and Solomon ran up to the dual door of the large, two-story white house. As they headed up the little stairs, Father Kang heard the thumps even while the doors were closed. He held his hand up. “Hold on,” he whispered while walking up to the right of the door frame. “Wait until they are clear.” His finger pointed to the opposite side of the door frame, directing Solomon to position himself there.

Solomon leaned his ear right against the wall. “A lot of panicking in there. What’s your plan? Are we taking them alive?”

Feng and a few other cultivators met up with the two. “What’s your plan?” she asked.

“Anybody hostile, we kill. No questions…Anyone who surrendered will be taken for questioning on behalf of Emperor Julius. Is that clear?”

They nodded while Solomon, hand raised, had one more question. “Dirty hands?”

Father Kang nodded. “Yes, we clear.” He then hammered the door once with his forearm and fist, forcing it open inward.

Slam!

The right door tore from the hinges, and the qi pressure generated brought the other door down with it. The dual doors dropped to the floor, breaking the wooden panels and spurting bits across the space like arrows. Father Kang entered first, with Solomon watching his back. It smelled pungent and heavy, almost as if there should have been smoke clouds lingering around. “I’m going up the stairs.”

Solomon decided to follow him while Feng and the others separated, going through different parts of the house.

The two went up the stairs, anticipating the company above. About halfway up, Father Kang grabbed Solomon’s upper robe, and the two jumped upwards, hitting the ceiling. They looked down as they descended. In a flash, a long and heavy dresser slid down the stairs as fast as a bird. Solomon, anticipating chaos, kicked it with the sole of his boot. He knocked the dresser out of its course, and it flew to the living room, striking the furniture. And the loud echo rang the entire first floor.

Father Kang dropped down first, letting Solomon off his grip and nearly tipping off the stairs. He galloped up the last half. Solomon followed, summoning his battleaxe. As the two went up, they noticed silhouettes running past them in the dark hallway. On the entrance to the second floor, the hallway was from left to right. However, the left side only led to one room with the now-closed door. Hence, the focus went on the latter. Father Kang leaned to the side for Solomon to head up first. The two each took one side of the hallway, with the former taking the right side while the latter monitored the left.

A tang dao sheathed in an ordinary black scabbard summoned beside Father Kang’s waist. He drew his blade with his right hand, resulting in the dark hallway brightening as he unsuppresses his qi. The specks of black and white levitated around him like fireflies, and everywhere was bright, as if the lights were on.

The hallway had five doors. Two on each side and one at the direct center as the dead end. Solomon gripped hard on his battleaxe, wanting to go loud. Father Kang had to remind him that it’s not the time yet. One mistake and the house is trashed in rubble with nothing worth taking.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Thump!

Father Kang’s attention turned to the door next to Solomon. He pointed to the door gap, where multiple shadows from the footwork traveled frantically. “You got the gold,” he whispered.

“You ready?” Solomon asked, lifting up his battleaxe.

“Hell yeah…I am!” Father Kang ran right up to the door, kicking it off from its hinges. He immediately sprinted in to find booby traps set in place all around him. With no time, he plunged himself into the air and spun his entire body into a swirl, shooting out beams from the tip of his blade. Being a tang dao sword, the single-edged blade allowed the beam attack to be more direct and focused, making effectiveness deadlier than a katana. The move caused wreckage and havoc, prompting Solomon to enter fully in an orange aura to block off any of the beam attacks. Solomon subsequently leaped inward into a cluster of the ones hiding in this specific part of the room.

Father Kang stopped exerting the beam from his sword and dropped down into the same crowd as Solomon barged in. Being the same weight as Solomon or even more, he was like a bag of boulders, which weighed heavily on the entire crowd. Everyone collapsed to the floor. Next, he rolled away to regain footing first. Laying in front of him were eight individuals, excluding Solomon. He pulled him by his leg away from them.

Pew.

Father Kang’s head turned back to a loaded man with a bow in his grip. His stoic expression shook when he gave the glare. In response, Father Kang fired back with the prior beam striking through the chest. But he wasn't satisfied. Hence, he articulated his tang dao sword downward, creating a vertical opening. All the blood in that spot disintegrated, and he could see the organs lose their structure, cluttering to the opening. “How unfortunate. You shouldn’t have been here,” he said, making an abrupt gesture.

Spat!

The body turned pale and red. Lifeless has overridden the body’s skin. Subsequently, the redness came from the heat generated by Father Kang’s beam. Vapors seeped from inside through the skin as if he was being boiled from the inside. Not a liter or a gallon of blood exited the opening. Only a drip came out. Father Kang looked at the guy without moving an inch away from focus. He wanted to smile, growing satisfied. The guy couldn’t even react anymore other than giving a horrified face with his lower jaw fully down. A locked jaw while alive is horrific. However, as an example of this guy, his life slowly faded into existence, being facially stuck.

When his eyes ceased to exist, the guy finally collapsed.

Thump!

Father Kang turned back to the enemy crowd. They thought they were safe, but then quickly disintegrated.

“Sir, that was brutal,” Solomon commented.

“They got a quick one compared to that guy. After all the booby traps, they got lucky they received my mercy instead of being chopped like beasts.”

“I don't want to imagine that if that was Julius.”

“He might be that type to bring trouble if the terrible actors kept provoking him. His eyes expressed it very well.”

“I doubt he would do such a thing.”

“Trust me, past emperors have that characteristic. But they are bad people. Cai the Fifth had that too. Emperor Julius might be the first well in a while to have such characteristics. If I'm wrong, I'll be damned.”

“Well, I'll be damned if he had it.”

Father Kang checked his tang dao. He grimaced as he leaned the rough edge of his left thumb on the edge of the blade. One swift to clean away the residue. Afterward, all of his left fingers massaged his thumb. It was painful because his tang dao is customized. The blade wasn't a standardized form of steel. In fact, he never knew the origins as the tang dao was a gift from a few decades ago. But the strength, he recalled, was that the blade was tough to break two ground floors in one correct motion. It needed correct gestures and practice to work. And that was years ago.

Before Solomon could gather interest in Father Kang’s sword, he stopped him. “I know what you are thinking. But not yet. We have four more rooms to go.”

“Then, let’s go.”

After the commotion in the first room, there was no point in being hidden. Father Kang wanted to make a mess. Hence, he went up next to the door straight ahead as he exited. Solomon took the last room to the left of the hallway.

Father Kang then aggressively stabbed his tang dao into the wall. Behind the wall was a loud female gasp. More trouble. He initially thought. Without a doubt, he went for it, gripping hard on the solid hilt. He sprinted through the hallway while his hand pulled the sword across. The blade’s cringing noise screeched adjacent to the layer of wood and bricks as Father Kang forced it through. A piece of cake. He sprinted down to the second right door, thrusting his sword before removing it from the wall.

Rumble!

Light seeped through the lengthy mark. When Father Kang turned to the right, half of the wall collapsed and fell inward like a piece of a domino. Blood splattered on his face. He wiped his eyes and face and used his qi to disperse some away. Afterward, he saw the sunlight from the windows shining through all the newly available space. Since the blade cut through the two rooms, the divider was also cut off, giving him an entire premise. A couple of startled women stood in place in shock and wanted no harm. Next to them were the decapitated bodies that were responsible for the blood splatter. He leaned over the wall, glaring at the dead corpses. Looking back at the group of startled women, he turned nice. “My daughter will be with y’all shortly. But stay there and don’t move.”

When Father Kang turned into the hallway, there were screams and horrific sounds followed from the second door to the left. Walls banged without a moment of break. Stacks of furniture and weapons were tossed violently out of the door, lying on the wooden floor of the hallway. He ran right into the source and immediately dodged away. Standing next to the door frame, he saw a big couch flying past him through the doorway.

“Get out of the way!” He yelled to the multiple women on the other side who were about to get hit. They’re too slow. Father Kang directed his tang dao sword on the couch, slicing it in half. The force halted it and dropped to the floor, saving the multiple women. He then went inside the room, where Solomon was having a confrontation.

Inside revealed the horrific bloodbath. Multiple colors flooded the floor. Before Father Kang could analyze the blood on his boots, he heard footsteps from behind. In response, he impaled the attacker from his rear, letting out a hard groan. From the reflection of the bloody floor, he saw the appearance of the attacker. An old man with a rough face, assumingly he went through some hard times. Somehow messy short hair with a rusty sideburn. He was about the same height as Father Kang, but he was unhealthy from the beer belly. The attacker wielded two large knives. The knives were only a couple of inches away from striking Father Kang’s head. You had your shot. Unlucky for you.

He thrust the blade in deeper, right to the beer belly stomach until the sounds of inner organs were punctured. Only then did he turn around to view the old unfit man and withdrew the blade, bringing more blood splashes onto himself. Not again. Yinhai. Too much blood to fill.

By the time Father Kang wiped his soaked eyes, the attacker had already collapsed dead onto the bloody floor. Like the archer from the earlier room, he was also molted from within and left no extras for the floor.

Subsequently, Father Kang twirled away from the arrow blades that swarmed past him from his left. Facing the crowd, Solomon was dealing with a one-to-one conflict. “You piece of crap!” he yelled, running up and grappling them through the wall. Funny enough, there was another business occurring across from this specific room.

Holy, you’ll smell like shit. Father Kang wanted to throw up. The beer or alcohol smell lingered around their faces. It was pretty strong for his nose to handle, almost at the urge to puke. He leaped upward quickly and looked at the spare window. Before anyone in the pile could get up, he kicked them from their feet toward that window.

Easier said than done because they got stuck at the window after the first one shattered through the glass and fell off. The rest followed, all piled up and anchored in place. This shit is gnarly. I want to be out of this damn place.

From the door’s entrance, ahead were three more women who also looked traumatized. Next to them was his daughter, Feng, fending off against two perpetrators. From the timing sequence, he assumed the confrontation only began right before he crashed through the wall. He went up right to the three women, who had some different physical characteristics, and guided them out of the scene. He told them to stay next to the doorway. Finally, he went right up to the lodged window and burst out his aura. Father Kang ran right up to the end of the pile and, using his shoulder, struck the pile of people. The impact caused a whole ignition of bone-breaking noises. It was like soft boulders because all of them weren’t that peak physique.

Bam! Crack!

The wall cracked. One more.

Bam! Boom!

Finally, the wall shattered to pieces. A part of the wall dragged all the five that were stuck at the window to the ground. The ground shook for a second. And Father Kang leaned his head over and saw them lying on the floor, barely alive. Each had at least one broken limb. He shook his head at their instant defeat. Half turning back to the room, Feng neutralized the two individuals. It wasn’t a nice one, as both of her hands were covered in blood. He walked up to her and saw both of her middle fingers taking one neck. The guy to her left had collapsed dead. While the one currently being impaled was about to lose consciousness. She went on asking him questions.

“Why are you rebel still here in this part of the forbidden zone?!” Feng asked.

Yinhai. They really are rebels. How long have they been here? Father Kang’s mind was blown because that would mean they had lived for a pretty long time. Hidden bastards.

Feng grew pissed when there wasn’t any answer. Hence, she sent a bit of her qi to resuscitate him. “Answer me, damn it!”

“I have nothing to say to you—”

Feng nodded. “You're right. I already got everything I need.” She head-butted the guy, tearing all the organs in the neck. Her middle fingers yanked out of the neck.

Splat!

Father Kang had his hand up, preventing more blood from hitting his face. He coughed as the smell overwhelmed the scene. “Is there anything else? I smell like shit in here.”

“No, father. It’s done. We got all the intel we needed. Once we depart, this place needs to be decimated to dust. Nothing can be left behind. And that’s official.”

“Don’t forget about the survivors too,” Father Kang said while looking at the three women. “I think these three know Míngyuè.”

Feng turned around. “You think? Well, they don’t look hostile.”

“Give them all the medical evaluation. We need to make sure they are okay before we can proceed further.”

Feng strolled back to the hallway. “Way ahead of you,” she said before directing them out. Also, she led the others from prior rooms to follow.

Solomon walked through the hole Father Kang caused. He looked absolutely soaked and toasted. “It’s over?”

“Yeah. I think we all need to get the hell out of here and find a shower. I’m absolutely disgusted.”

The two walked out along the highway and headed back to the first floor.