Footsteps pounded the ground, one after another, pushing Lin Tian ahead without pause. Rushing air howled by, dragging screams into its flow - voices breaking under fear, fire spitting through wood, rooftrees giving way that outlived their builders.
His village.
Burning.
Breathing didn't waver, even as everything spun wild around him - training held tight beneath the surface. Air moved in. Out it went. Attention stayed locked.
Faster thudded his heart the farther he walked.
Over the rise, just above where the houses clustered, his eyes found what waited below.
Three figures.
Hanging above the ground.
His thoughts stumbled, just for a second, not at the impossibility of what he saw - rather, at how it dragged truth into sharp, unsettling focus.
A few figures balanced on blades hovering without effort underfoot, moving across the hazy air like gravity had decided to look away. Smoke curled around them while they rode the stillness, each step a quiet defiance of how things ought to be.
Cultivators.
Not wandering rogues.
Not bandits.
Real cultivators.
Floating through the hot gusts, their cloaks stirred like smoke - plain black, without symbols, but somehow making the ground feel smaller beneath them. Silence thickened around each figure, filled only by a dense pressure, sharp with unseen hostility.
His steps faltered. Something inside screamed - freeze now.
To hide.
To survive.
Yet he let his gaze slip lower.
To the village.
Fires swallowed houses, jumping fast between them like something alive. People scattered every way they could - kids held tight, some dragging buckets though it hardly mattered. Down he went, hitting the ground just as wood cracked loud nearby.
Fighting back wasn't possible for anyone.
Far off, the foe stayed beyond touch.
Beneath the sky, they moved like ants. Tiny figures under vast air.
Fingers curled hard round the blade's hilt.
Beyond what he could handle, the machine had stated.
That truth stood clear without any machine confirming it.
Something stirred inside him.
What set them apart wasn't power alone - it ran deeper than that. His breath caught under their presence, something ancient pressing down. The air thickened, charged with energy far beyond what he could summon. A spark beside a wildfire, trembling in silence.
A shape moved a little, its head tilting.
From far away, the sensation reached Lin Tian anyway.
Awareness.
He froze.
A distant look crossed the farmer's face as he stared at the fields beneath, unmoved, as if watching tiny creatures crawl. A slow flick of his fingers sent a line of light cutting through the air toward the ground.
It struck.
Fire tore through the home, sending wood flying. Pieces of walls spun into the air like broken bones. Smoke swallowed the roof in seconds. A window burst before the heat cracked everything else apart.
The shrieks after that stopped fast.
Something inside Lin Tian snapped.
His body moved again.
Faster.
This moment moved without pause.
No doubt.
Only direction.
Footsteps pounded as he burst through the narrow path into the village.
Into his body rushed heat, heavy like a soaked blanket. Smoke scraped the back of his throat, burned his eyes - still he moved, slipping past flames and fallen wood, people darting around him. Between chunks of wreckage he stepped, breath tight, shadows jumping in the glow behind him.
"Lin Tian!"
Out of nowhere, a known voice cut into the noise.
Old Chen.
A heavy step forward, the village blacksmith came unevenly his way. Soot stained his face dark. Blood ran down one arm in thick streaks.
"You have to run!" Chen shouted, grabbing his shoulder. "These people - they're not human! They're demons!"
He held him steady. The others - where were they?
"Scattered - some are trapped near the well - others…" Chen's voice broke. "Others didn't make it."
Another explosion echoed.
Closer.
Fists tight, Lin Tian gritted teeth.
"Get out of the village," he said firmly. "Take whoever you can and head for the forest."
His gaze locked on, a mix of shock and worry swimming in his stare. What would happen to you?
Lin Tian stayed quiet at first.
He looked up.
Frozen in place, the trio remained exactly where they had been. Stillness held them tight, not a single one moved. There by the edge, all three stood unmoving once again.
Watching.
Destroying.
Untouchable.
Fingers clamped on the hilt, pressure building till each joint lost its color.
"I'll buy time."
Fear flashed across Chen's face. "That path ends in death."
Perhaps, Lin Tian murmured under his breath.
A silence followed after that last word. It stayed there, not moving.
Simple.
Honest.
Terrifying.
His face shifted then, edges sharper than before.
"But if no one stands, everyone dies."
A word tried to leave Chen's lips - then Lin Tian's gaze froze everything. Quiet won instead.
This was someone else entirely, not the child who used to stagger under the weight of a sword.
This one stood apart from the rest.
A person deciding on their own direction.
Chen swallowed hard, then nodded. "Don't be stupid… but don't die either."
A small movement of the head came then - barely there. Lin Tian did it without sound.
Then he turned.
Toward the center.
Toward the fire.
Toward them.
Heavier still came every next move - no fright inside, just the weight of what hung above.
Each step forward made the feeling grow sharper.
Fear shot through his gut like a spark in dry grass.
Turn back.
Hide.
Survive.
Yet onward he moved.
Then -
Suddenly, a sound came down from higher up.
"Oh?"
It wasn't loud.
There was no reason for it to happen.
Still, its sound pushed past the roar, slicing between fire snaps and far-off cries - sharp, steady. A voice moved where noise should have drowned it.
A figure among the growers dipped down a little, blade tilting low while eyes settled on Lin Tian - something like wonder flickering across his face.
"A mortal… walking toward us?"
A glance downward came from the others too, faces giving nothing away.
Lin Tian stopped.
Footsteps faltered, not because earth shook - rather, their nearness bore down like storm clouds.
Faltering came into his breath, just once.
A low shiver ran through his blade. It wasn't steady anymore.
Far from it being about losing grip -
But from resistance.
It was afraid.
Something stirred inside him.
Perhaps - just perhaps - it mirrored only what he feared inside.
A small shift of his head, the farmer watching close. Hmm. That caught his attention
A long breath slipped out of Lin Tian.
Calm.
Center yourself.
Fingers moved before thought caught up - his old routine slipped into place without asking.
His breathing steadied.
Fingers finally still. Quiet settled where shaking once lived.
A low whir came back, shaky to start, yet smoothing out over time.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
His eyes sharpened.
"I'm not here to die quietly," Lin Tian said.
Even he felt stunned by what came out of his mouth.
Yet saying them made it click.
A small smile passed between the growers, eyes meeting just briefly.
One spoke up. Brave, they called it. Or maybe just reckless
"Both," another added.
A shape dropped lower, boots meeting soil while a blade drifted nearby, keeping pace without effort.
Far too clear when seen nearby.
A shape loomed ahead, tall and unshifting. Lin Tian stood still, breath low, eyes fixed on what rose in front of him.
No -
Something farther looms ahead, not just beyond but wider too.
A look from the farmer passed across his form, weighing, judging.
A small smile touched his lips then.
"You have a trace of Qi," he said. "Crude. Unrefined. But… present."
Lin Tian stayed silent.
"You've barely stepped onto the path," the man continued. "And yet you stand before us."
A little broader came his grin.
"That makes this more entertaining."
A tremor ran through the blade resting near his side.
Just slightly.
Yet something inside Lin Tian stirred.
Danger.
Immediate.
Lethal.
His grip tightened.
His stance lowered.
The air grew tight around everything. Suddenly, only one thing mattered.
Now just this second remains. Gone are what came before.
This opponent.
This breath.
The cultivator moved.
No warning.
No signal.
He froze mid-step -
Footsteps faded as he stood before Lin Tian.
Too fast.
A sudden shift in Lin Tian's stance sent the blade upward -
Clang!
A jolt tore through his arms, fire surging toward his shoulders. From the soles of his boots, pressure clawed at the earth while he slid backward - just enough to stay upright. Balance hung by tension, nothing more.
His eyes widened.
It was something he shut away.
Barely.
A twitch near his brow showed surprise. "Is that so?"
Lin Tian stayed silent.
He couldn't.
The strength he used made his arms shake.
That single strike…
A heavy thud cracked through the air. Branches snapped under sudden weight. The ground shook beneath it all.
No
Worse.
His fingers shifted on the handle.
Re-centered his breathing.
Ignored the pain.
A quiet laugh slipped out of the farmer. "Could be worse," he said
Back at it, he came forward once more.
This moment, Lin Tian caught sight of it.
Not clearly.
But enough.
He moved.
Flying sparks lit up the night when metal struck metal once more. The ringing crash bounced between houses swallowed by flames.
This time, the force didn't send him flying like before.
Still overwhelmed.
Still outmatched.
Yet pressure built slowly.
A flicker crossed the farmer's face.
Interest.
Foot by foot, Lin Tian moved ahead.
Just happened without thinking.
It wasn't strategy.
It was instinct.
Fleeing meant his end.
Death waited only a breath away if he paused even once.
So he attacked.
Through the air his sword moved, shaped by months of unyielding training, each gesture powered not by thought but repetition fused with stubborn intent.
A sudden shift blocked the strike. The move came without effort.
Yet he waited before responding.
He watched.
Studied.
Tested.
Flinching with every clash, Lin Tian felt agony ripple from head to toe as tension tore at his frame. Breath thickened. Steps dragged on like they were pulling stone behind them.
Yet he kept moving.
Couldn't stop.
Behind him -
Fires kept eating through the village.
People still screamed.
Every second mattered.
A step backward saved the farmer just in time - something sharp cut through air where their chest had been moments before.
A shadow passed across his gaze. The light in them tightened just a touch.
"Your technique…" he murmured. "It's incomplete. But there's… something there."
Lin Tian stayed silent.
He lunged again.
Few waited that long. The grower's calm gave way.
His expression hardened.
"Enough."
The air shifted.
Qi surged.
Only then did the farmer let go of restraint.
It hit Lin Tian right away.
This wasn't just a gap - it yawned wide, unmissable. A chasm stood where similarity might've been expected.
Crushing.
For just a moment, his muscles froze against the force. Then release followed.
It stopped there.
Falling fast, the cultivator's strike hit hard.
Fast.
Precise.
Unavoidable.
Lin Tian lifted his sword
Too slow.
He flew through the air after the blow hit.
Footsteps vanished beneath him when the earth rushed up fast. Wind left like it was never there, gone the moment his ribs screamed under pressure. That blade - spun loose, rattling over pebbles - stopped just past where fingers could reach.
Coughing made it hard for him to pull air into his lungs.
The world spun.
His vision blurred.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Lin Tian pushed forward, though every step took effort.
To stand.
Failing him now, his body would not obey.
A shadow stretched tall above, eyes steady, unmoved. Stillness hung heavy between them.
"This is the end," he said.
Fingers pressed hard into the earth. Soil shifted beneath Lin Tian's grip.
His sword -
Too far.
His strength -
Nearly gone.
His vision flickered.
And yet -
The noise hadn't faded, stuck on repeat inside his head.
Flickering light came from the flames that hadn't gone out.
A quiet force within wouldn't let go. It just stood there, unmoving, against the truth.
Refused to stop.
The hum returned.
Faint.
Weak.
But there.
His eyes shifted.
To the sword.
Still too far to touch.
His fingers twitched.
A farmer lifted the tool he meant to fight with.
Lin Tian exhaled.
One last time.
Then -
The hum surged.
Not steady.
Not controlled.
But fierce.
Wild.
His sword trembled -
Then moved.
An inch.
Then another.
A flicker of surprise crossed the cultivator's face as his gaze stretched open.
Too late.
Faster than a blink, the steel darted at Lin Tian's fingers.
He caught it.
Then without stopping -
Swung.
Down went every bit of what remained, channeled through that one blow.
No technique.
No refinement.
Just will.
A shadow shifted into place, cutting off the path. The farmer stepped forward, stance firm against
what came next
Yet now, at last -
A step behind, he missed it by just a hair.
The blade cut.
A smear of crimson showed on his sleeve.
Silence fell.
Time stopped dead. Each stood still.
A shadow fell across his boots. The dirt cracked under his stare.
At the cut.
Only now it was time to return to Lin Tian.
Something had changed.
Still not what gives one more strength than the other.
Not the outcome.
But something else.
A threat deeper than before.
Interest.
Real interest.
Lying still, Lin Tian felt his fingers slipping from the hilt. The world blurred around him, thoughts fading like smoke.
But his eyes -
Still burned.
The cultivator smiled.
Not amused.
Not mocking.
But sharp.
"Now that…" he said quietly, "was unexpected."
Now, after waiting so long - they finally saw a change
Out of silence, the fight kicked into motion.