For a moment, every thought in my head stopped.
What the hell is this?
I stared, mouth open, at the scene in the distance.
The Fire Dragon Pavilion members were running toward me, panic written all over their faces. A group of black-clad figures was racing after them.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The ground shook. Even the figures I could see numbered well over a thousand, all dressed in black from head to toe. As they drew closer, their chilling aura grew clearer. It could mean only one thing.
Enemies!
The instant I reached that conclusion, a red warning light flashed in my mind.
Shit.
I had no idea what had happened, but what I needed to do was clear.
The unknown figures had brought the battlefield to a momentary lull. I shouted at the Embroidered Uniform Guards.
“Quit standing there and pick up your weapons!”
I didn’t expect them to obey me just because I’d given an order. But beside me stood a man of considerable rank—a Thousand Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
“Rally! Rally immediately!”
As Jeong Hogun’s shout roused the battlefield, I channeled my internal energy and kicked off the ground.
Boom!
Flamefire Path.
Flames burst from my toes, scorching the air. Riding the shock wave, I took one step, then another. The twenty-odd jang1 between me and the stone wall vanished, and the figures atop it came into view.
The Imperial Guards.
Along with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, they were one of the Great Nation’s elite forces, charged with protecting the Imperial Capital. They were also traitors who’d betrayed the Emperor and taken refuge in the shadow of the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord, who had lived behind the guise of Cang Gong.
From behind the high stone wall, they had been firing arrows without pause. Their bows were now aimed at the Fire Dragon Pavilion members who had appeared behind them alongside the black-clad figures.
At least, they were until I arrived.
“General, your orders!”
At the urgent call of someone who looked like a junior officer, a middle-aged man in ornate armor swung the baton in his hand without hesitation.
He swung it at me as I closed the dozens of jang1 between us in an instant.
“Loose!”
Thwang-thwang-thwang! Fwoooosh!
Nearly a thousand archers turned and released their taut bowstrings. Countless silver arrowheads, imbued with internal energy, blanketed the sky as they rained down on me.
It was a near-perfect volley, powerful enough that even a Supreme Peak master couldn’t ignore it.
But…
Not if they can’t hit me.
Boom!
Another burst of Flamefire Path exploded from my toes, and I shot forward like a cannonball.
A sudden burst of speed. A swerve.
Thup-thup-thup-thup!
Arrows whistled past behind me with a sound that made my skin crawl. I didn’t need to look back to know that the spot where I’d stood a moment ago was bristling with them.
Nor did I think the Imperial Guards, one of the Great Nation’s elite forces, would stop there.
“What the—!”
“Don’t lose your nerve! Loose!”
Their surprise at my speed lasted only a moment. Thoroughly trained, the Imperial Guards nocked new arrows and fired in one swift, fluid motion.
Fwoooosh!
Once.
Thup-thup-thup!
Then again.
“Fire! I said fire!”
“Begin staggered fire!”
Thwang-thwang!
I narrowly evaded the fourth rain of arrows, loosed in two successive waves.
Bang!
Then I kicked off the ground and shot into the air. The Imperial Guards were nocking their fifth volley—the last they would get to fire—when they cried out.
“H-He’s coming!”
“Loose! Loose!”
It all happened in an instant: four volleys, and my passage through that dense storm of arrows to the top of the stone wall.
In the world that had slowed around me, a few of the quickest Imperial Guards obeyed the order. Their arrows cut through the air toward me.
Slowly. So slowly that I could hear the wind flowing along each advancing arrowhead.
Whoosh.
I reached toward the dozens of arrows flashing in the darkness, each imbued with internal energy. At the same time, I awakened the pulse I alone could feel at the center of my chest, at the point called the Jade Hall.
Stop.
At that instant—
Whoooosh!
An invisible power, utterly unlike internal energy, spread in every direction at my will. It erased the wind, stilled the air, and caught the dozens of arrows moving through it.
Rrrrrumble.
The air trembled. Time returned to its normal pace.
But the Imperial Guards looking up at me, standing in midair, remained frozen in shock.
“Th-This is insane…”
Someone’s groan broke the heavy silence. Reflected in their wide, staring eyes were dozens of arrows suspended as though caught by an invisible hand, with me at their center.
“A m-monster.”
“How… How is this possible?”
Shock. Fear. The questions of men who had seen something they couldn’t comprehend.
And then came the desperate resistance of the few who hadn’t given up.
“What are you waiting for? Shoot him!”
“B-But…”
“All Imperial Guards! Follow the General’s orders and take down that heinous—!”
I shot my hand out like a bolt of lightning toward the few officers screaming at their men.
Or, to be exact, I scattered the arrows I’d been holding with the power of my Middle Dantian.
Whoosh! Thup-thup-thup!
“G-Gah!”
“Gaaah!”
Screams followed the arrows’ fierce whistle.
True to their reputation as Imperial Guards, each of them was a master of no small skill. But they couldn’t dodge the arrows I sent flying as if I were controlling them.
Except one.
Clang-clang!
Arrows flew aside in a flash of swordlight.
The middle-aged man cut down the attacks converging on him from every direction in a single sweep. His Force shone as brilliantly as the armor that set him apart from the other Imperial Guards. A thought crossed my mind, and I said it aloud.
“One of the Twelve Palaces of the Zodiac?”
The Twelve Palaces of the Zodiac: the collective title for the twelve Supreme Peak masters who represented the imperial court.
“Have you ever heard of the Twelve Palaces of the Zodiac?”
“Sure. Aren’t they the names of constellations?”
“It’s also what they call the twelve Supreme Peak masters who represent the Imperial Capital. And half of them are on our side.”
Ma Sanbao had told me that himself.
The middle-aged man fixed me with a grave look and tightened his grip on his great saber.
“Do you know me?”
“I know you well.”
I nodded and went on.
“You’re the treacherous piece of shit who betrayed the Emperor and sided with Dark Heaven. The asshole who wanted to turn me and my people into pincushions. And the asshole who’s about to die.”
“……!”
“That about covers it. If you need to add anything, spit it out yourself.”
“…No. That’s enough. Except for one thing.”
His eyes gleamed as he added quietly, “I’m not the one who’s going to die.”
At that moment—
Whoosh!
His figure blurred.
Shifting Form and Position: a supreme movement technique available only to those who had reached the highest realms.
He kicked off the stone wall and sprang into the air. His great saber, longer and larger than most grown men, flashed across the space between us.
Its speed and power were worthy of a superhuman. Terrifying energy poured from the Force wrapped around the blade.
Strong.
I could tell at a glance how powerful this nameless man was. I could imagine the grueling training it had taken to reach his realm and become commander of the Imperial Guards.
But that was precisely why his saber would never touch me.
If you could take in an entire mountain range at a glance, you had to be looking down from higher up.
Whoooosh!
One step was enough.
The great saber tore through distorted space, but it couldn’t match my speed as I moved through the air as if it were solid ground. Only the strands of Force it sent flying barely grazed me.
Sizzle.
Pain like a burn.
The pressure split the skin exposed beneath my tattered clothes. Drops of my blood scattered through the air and mingled with someone else’s.
Grrk. Cough.
The middle-aged man’s body shuddered with a wet, rattling sound. Something that hadn’t been there a moment ago protruded from his thick, bull-like neck.
Something that glinted coldly in the dark.
“Grrk. Wh-What is this?”
He could barely maintain Stepping on Empty Air. Still, he felt for the arrowhead, as though he couldn’t believe it was there. I watched him calmly.
“I’ve received so many unexpected gifts that I was starting to feel bad. Here, you can have one back.”
“Seizing an Object Through Empty Space?”
“Similar, but different.”
Tap.
I touched the center of his swaying chest with a finger.
“Much harder, though. And more certain.”
“…The Middle Dantian. It’s the Middle Dantian.”
Cough.
He spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at me, his eyes trembling. Then, with his last strength, he struggled to raise the great saber he still held.
His voice faded as he spoke.
“I… I am the Golden Ox Palace of the Twelve Palaces of the Zodiac, the Chief Commander of the Imperial Guards, and one who devotes his life to the great and almighty Lord of Heaven…”
He never finished.
Slip.
Did the saber slide from his hand first? Or did his body tip as death closed in?
I didn’t know which struck the ground first. I didn’t care.
Man and weapon fell together. As a dull thud rose from below, I stepped onto the stone wall.
Right into the middle of the Imperial Guards, who stood frozen like statues.
Hff.
Someone drew a sharp breath. I could feel countless emotions swirling among the guards who filled the stone wall.
Fear and anger, shock. And, last of all, confusion at not knowing what to do.
That confusion could mean only one thing.
Not all of them are Dark Heaven’s lackeys.
There were thousands of traitors on this battlefield alone. No matter how long the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord had lived in the imperial court as Cang Gong, they couldn’t all have been raised as Dark Heaven’s dogs from the start.
The Great Nation’s imperial court wasn’t so easily fooled.
They were won over. Coerced. Or given orders they couldn’t refuse.
That was probably how Dark Heaven had brought them into line. Now I had their carrots and sticks in my hands.
“There’s one thing I can promise you, at least.”
I spoke up abruptly, then addressed all the Imperial Guards.
“If you side with the imperial court now, I’ll make sure you don’t end up as traitors, one way or another.”
As soon as I finished speaking, I reached out toward an Imperial Guard officer approaching from a blind spot, his killing intent unmistakable.
Whoosh. Thud.
A whistle cut through the air. One more corpse was added to the count.
I pointed at the body lying there, a Finger Qi hole through its brow, and added calmly,
“Anyone who doesn’t like my offer, raise your hand.”
“……!”
“……!”
No one raised a hand. I jumped down from the stone wall.
Of course, I didn’t forget one last thing I absolutely had to say.
“Oh, and if there’s someone you know is a real bastard, cut him down right now.”
“E-Excuse me?”
“Kill him. Do it yourselves.”
“……!”
That’s right.
From here on out, kill each other.
I left the Imperial Guards glancing at one another and ran toward the Fire Dragon Pavilion members fleeing the unknown black-clad figures.
To meet them.
To save them.
Whoooosh!
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