The silver moon hung high in the clear indigo sky, casting a cold, brilliant radiance over the quiet valley of the Southern Mist District. The breeze rustling through the tall iron-bamboo stalks sounded like the soft whisper of dry paper, carrying the crisp, wet fragrance of night dew and blooming water lilies.
In the central courtyard of the Dragon-Vein Bamboo Estate, absolute tranquility reigned.
Li-Wen sat cross-legged on the smooth white marble platform directly before the main pavilion. His broad blade, wrapped tightly in its dark cloth, rested horizontally across his knees. His eyes were lightly closed, his breathing so imperceptible that he seemed like an ancient stone sculpture carved from white jade.
Inside the quiet main room, Xiao-Yue was fast asleep on her plush, fur-lined bed. Her small chest rose and fell in a rhythmic, peaceful cadence, her silver hair ribbons untied and lying neatly beside her wooden practice sword.
HUMMM...
A faint, nearly invisible pulse of divine perception expanded smoothly from Li-Wen's forehead, spreading outward across the surrounding three miles.
Through this invisible web of consciousness, Li-Wen felt nine distinct, terrifying killing intents crossing the boundary of the Southern Mist District. They moved not on foot, but glided through the shadow of the moonlit clouds at incredible speed, completely bypassing the city guard patrols.
They have arrived, Li-Wen thought, his heart remaining as tranquil as an unruffled mountain lake.
Five hundred feet above the bamboo canopy, nine shadows hovered in absolute silence, completely merged with the darkness.
These were the legendary Nine Crimson Sun Guardians—the absolute peak shadow assassins of the Crimson-Sun Clan. Every single member was a Stage-4 Peak powerhouse who had mastered the art of shadow concealment and blood-tracking. Clad in dark crimson scale armor that absorbed all light and sound, they carried heavy blood-curved daggers that dripped with synthetic corpse-poison.
Leading the squad was First Guardian Sun-Shadow, a formidable half-step Stage-5 cultivator whose face was obscured by a dark iron mask painted with a burning red sun motif.
Sun-Shadow raised his right gauntlet, signaling the nine assassins to halt mid-air above the perimeter of the Dragon-Vein Bamboo Estate. He drew a small, dark obsidian compass from his sleeve. The compass needle was trembling violently, pointing directly toward the central pavilion below.
"Target confirmed," Sun-Shadow whispered through a secret sound-transmission array built into his mask. "The silver-haired girl with the Primordial Fire-Lotus bloodline is sleeping in the main room. The target carrying the wrapped heavy blade is sitting alone in the courtyard."
"Leader," the Second Guardian whispered coldly, his eyes glinting with bloodlust. "The target erased Elder Yan Fire-Demon in the Grand Cauldron Tower earlier today. He undoubtedly possesses an extraordinary ice-attribute cultivation technique or a hidden Grade-5 talisman. Should we activate the Crimson-Sun Boundary Seal first?"
Sun-Shadow sneered beneath his iron mask. "Elder Yan was careless; he allowed the target to take the initiative inside a confined space. We are nine Stage-4 Peak shadow masters trained in joint assassination arrays! Furthermore, Patriarch Crimson-Heaven has personally granted us the Grade-5 Blood-Sun Needle!"
Sun-Shadow reached into his inner pocket, bringing out a dark-red iron box. Opening it revealed a single, thumb-sized needle carved from ancient crimson-jade, surrounded by violent, destructive spatial-fire runes.
"This Blood-Sun Needle can shatter the protective aura of a Stage-5 Peak Sovereign in a single breath," Sun-Shadow gritted his teeth, his eyes burning with ruthless conviction. "Guards Three through Nine! Deploy the Shadow-Flame Nether Array! Lock down the spatial coordinates of the estate so no divine thought can call for help! Guards One and Two will descend with me to execute the target!"
"Understood!"
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Seven shadows detached themselves from the clouds, dropping like silent red hawks toward the four corners and upper sky of the bamboo estate.
They slammed seven dark bronze flags into the earth around the perimeter, activating the Shadow-Flame Nether Array!
HUMMM!
A translucent, blood-red barrier flared briefly in the night sky, completely sealing off a three-hundred-yard radius around the estate. All sound, light, and spiritual vibrations inside were instantly cut off from the outside world. To any onlooker standing a mile away, the bamboo valley looked as quiet and peaceful as ever.
Seeing the array lock in place, Sun-Shadow grinned wickedly beneath his mask.
"Execute!"
Like three streaks of lethal crimson lightning, Sun-Shadow and the two top guardians plunged straight down from three hundred feet in the air! Their blood-curved daggers unleashed twenty-foot arcs of scorching, corrosive flame, aimed directly at Li-Wen's head, heart, and throat from three different angles!
The speed was so blinding that the air caught fire under the friction, leaving three burning trails across the quiet courtyard!
Yet, as the three lethal daggers came within five feet of his body, Li-Wen slowly opened his dark, abyssal eyes.
There was no shock in his gaze. No panic. No movement to dodge or raise his blade.
He merely raised his left hand, his fingers opening in a calm, casual gesture toward the descending crimson streaks.
"Freeze," Li-Wen spoke softly.
BOOOM!
It was not an explosion of loud energy, but an absolute, violent inversion of the surrounding natural laws!
The three hundred yards of space enclosed within the blood-red array dropped from the warm summer night temperature to absolute zero in a fraction of a millisecond!
The scorching flames trailing from the three blood-curved daggers turned into static, translucent orange ice mid-air! The speed, momentum, and body kinetic energy of Sun-Shadow and his two elite companions were forcefully, brutally arrested in mid-flight!
"WHAT?!" Sun-Shadow's eyes widened to their absolute limit inside his iron mask!
He felt as though he had plunged headfirst into a solid wall of ancient, impenetrable spatial glass! His blood stopped circulating; his meridians turned rigid; even the thoughts inside his mind began to slow down under the sheer, suffocating weight of the Northern Frost Domain!
Before Sun-Shadow could even process his terror, Li-Wen stood up smoothly from the marble platform.
His tall frame cast a long, dark shadow under the moonlight. Holding his wrapped heavy blade loosely in his left hand, Li-Wen stepped forward, walking slowly toward the frozen Sun-Shadow floating three feet above the ground.
TAP. TAP.
The soft sound of Li-Wen's boots against the stone floor echoed like the solemn tolling of a death knell in the silent courtyard.
"You brought a needle," Li-Wen said faintly, his gaze dropping to the dark-red iron box trembling in Sun-Shadow's stiffening hand.
Li-Wen reached out his broad right hand, casually taking the dark-red iron box from Sun-Shadow's frozen fingers. He glanced at the glowing Grade-5 Blood-Sun Needle resting inside, feeling the volatile spatial-fire energy sealed within it.
"A clever tool," Li-Wen murmured, his voice flat and devoid of any praise. "Unfortunate."
Li-Wen closed his right hand into a fist over the iron box.
CRUSH!
A sliver of pure, crystalline Frost Qi erupted from his palm! The dark-red iron box, along with the terrifying Grade-5 Blood-Sun Needle inside, was instantly crushed into microscopic, frozen dust! The volatile spatial-fire energy didn't even have the chance to explode—it was completely frozen and extinguished into nothingness within Li-Wen's palm!
Sun-Shadow's soul shrieked in sheer, unadulterated horror! He... he crushed a Grade-5 lethal treasure with his bare hands?! Who is this man?! What kind of monster is he?!
Up in the air, the remaining seven guardians maintaining the array boundary realized the fatal trap they had walked into.
"ABORT! BREAK THE ARRAY AND RETREAT!" the Third Guardian shrieked through his sound transmission, his face turning deathly pale!
The seven assassins abandoned their posts instantly, turning into seven streaks of red light as they attempted to shoot upward into the high-altitude clouds!
Li-Wen didn't even turn his head to look at the fleeing figures.
He simply shifted his dark eyes toward the night sky, his right index finger lightly flicking upward.
SWISH—!
Seven microscopic, needle-thin threads of blue frost light shot out from his fingertips, piercing through the night air like streaks of falling stars!
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
The seven frost threads struck the seven fleeing assassins precisely in the center of their backs!
"AAAGHH!"
Seven frozen screams echoed briefly across the sky before dying out!
In less than a tenth of a second, the seven Stage-4 Peak assassins were completely encased in solid blocks of blue ice, losing all momentum and tumbling out of the sky like heavy blue rocks!
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The seven ice blocks slammed onto the marble courtyard floor, shattering into millions of sparkling, diamond-like ice crystals that scattered harmlessly across the stone walkways, dissolving into the cool night mist.
Seven Stage-4 Peak shadow masters—erased in a single breath!
Down in the courtyard, Sun-Shadow and the two remaining guardians floating in mid-air were shivering uncontrollably. Their crimson armor was covered in thick frost, and their eyes were filled with absolute, broken despair.
They had come expecting to slaughter a border wanderer and kidnap a young girl. Instead, they had walked directly into the lair of a sleeping dragon whose single breath could freeze the heavens!
Li-Wen stepped close to Sun-Shadow, stopping just two paces away.
"Your Patriarch sent you," Li-Wen spoke calmly, his low voice echoing in the silent yard.
Sun-Shadow struggled with all his remaining willpower to move his frozen lips, spitting out pale, icy mist. "P-Patriarch Crimson-Heaven... will... will never let you leave the Capital alive! Our... our clan controls... the city's fate!"
Li-Wen stared at him with an indifferent, abyssal gaze, as if looking at a dying insect.
"He will not have the chance," Li-Wen said.
Li-Wen raised his right hand, his palm resting lightly against the iron mask covering Sun-Shadow's face.
CRACKLE!
A blinding, brilliant wave of blue frost light flared from Li-Wen's palm!
Sun-Shadow and the two guardians beside him didn't even have time to utter a final scream. The frost energy surged into their heads, traveling down their spines and through their meridians, flash-freezing their blood, souls, and core energy into solid ice!
THUD.
Li-Wen retracted his hand smoothly.
The three frozen bodies fell to the ground, shattering into fine blue dust upon impact, joining the scattered crystals of their seven companions.
In less than three minutes, the entire Nine Crimson Sun Guardians squad—the absolute elite shadow force of the Crimson-Sun Clan—had been completely eradicated from the world.
The blood-red barrier of the Shadow-Flame Nether Array, now devoid of its maintainers, flickered twice before crumbling into harmless particles of red light.
The cool, natural moonlight restored its soft glow over the Dragon-Vein Bamboo Estate. The breeze rustled the bamboo leaves once more, and the quiet melody of the trickling stream filled the courtyard, as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever occurred.
Li-Wen stood in the center of the yard, his dark coat fluttering softly in the wind.
With a smooth, practiced motion, he swept his sleeve, bringing the scattered spatial rings of the nine fallen assassins into his hand. He stored them away without looking at them.
He turned his head toward the main pavilion.
The heavy wooden door opened slightly, and a small silver-haired head poked out from behind the frame.
Xiao-Yue was holding her wooden practice sword in one hand and her pink lotus lantern in the other, rubbing her sleepy eyes with her sleeve. She looked around the sparkling, frost-dusted courtyard with curious, big eyes.
"Brother Li-Wen?" she asked softly, her voice filled with innocent sleepiness. "Was there a loud wind outside just now? It sounded like snow falling on the roof."
Li-Wen's cold, terrifying aura vanished instantly, replaced by a quiet, protective warmth.
He walked over to the pavilion steps, crouching down before her and reaching out his broad palm to smooth her silver hair.
"It was just the night wind passing through the bamboo," Li-Wen said gently, his low voice steady and comforting. "Go back to sleep. I will be right here."
Xiao-Yue looked into his calm, dark eyes, feeling an absolute sense of safety. She nodded obediently, holding her lotus lantern close to her chest.
"Okay, Brother Li-Wen. Goodnight!"
"Goodnight," Li-Wen murmured softly, watching her pull the wooden door closed before heading back to her bed.
Li-Wen stood up, stepping back onto the center of the courtyard.
He turned his gaze toward the sky, looking far beyond the Southern Mist District toward the giant floating island hovering in the center of the city—the Crimson-Sun Floating Sanctuary.
Through his divine perception, he could feel the chaotic, boiling energy surging atop that floating island. The news of the Nine Guardians' demise would reach Patriarch Crimson-Heaven within an hour.
Li-Wen held his wrapped heavy blade firmly in his left hand, his calloused fingers resting on the hilt.
"Tomorrow," Li-Wen whispered into the cool night wind, his dark eyes shining with a lethal, unyielding blue starlight. "I settle this.
See you in next chapter.....