The next moment—Their bodies were flipped as if by a smothered thunderclap. In perfect symmetry they were hurled backward, arcing through the air before slamming into the outer wall of the pagoda. The stone boomed, ringing like a struck bell.“Urragh!”“Pff!”Blood burst from nose and mouth, a blackish red under the moonlight, dripping off their chins and soaking their collars into ruin. The tower shuddered under the impact; corner-stones loosened one by one, as though that single collision had jarred cracks through its whole frame.Terror. Dread.Anthony’s eruption was like a sun with no answer, blazing straight at them—a thing they were never meant to withstand. The suppression soaked out from the marrow, so absolute that even the courage to grit their teeth felt thin and brittle.“Guard the tower!”“Don’t let him keep going!”Their cries were hoarse and frayed. Forcing their reeling bodies to steady, they choked back the upsurge of blood. They moved quickly—still a beat too late.

If they failed, they knew there was only one end—die here, and perhaps not even leave a whole bone behind. They did not fear death. To stand here bearing the four characters of Dragon Tiger Mountain, they had long since shrugged life and death off their shoulders and left them roadside. What they truly feared was something else: if they fell in this foreign range and no one remained to destroy that tower; if the tower still stood and continued to leech Ardenia’s fate—then the parents, wives, children, and comrades behind them would be bled of their qi and gnawed at by doom, all without a mark.That would be the real injustice. That would be the waste.Now the collapsing range shuddered like an old beast finally dropping to the ground, twitching. Sheer cuts of rock lay exposed to the night, their gray-white breakage gleaming cold beneath the moon. The tower called the Solar Kingdom’s “heart” had been ripped from its root—splitting into a thousand shards of stone and iron and spilling i

Moments later, the Peace Dojo roared alive—iron clanged, feet hammered, short, sharp calls crashed over one another. A hundred disciples poured out, a black mass like a hive struck with a stick. In an instant, the three were ringed tight, the circle shrinking inch by inch until killing intent crystallized in the mist like ice.The crowd split at the back. A bare-chested giant stepped out, muscles rolling like stone, shoulders and back roped and scar-scrawled, rage burning off him as he came on in long strides. His chest rose and fell like a weapon winding up speed.“Fuck!” The word grated out between his teeth, fury hot enough to scorch the air. “You’re dead.”His eyes were hooks, digging hard into the three of them. The whites ran red; his nostrils flared; murderous heat steamed off his skin. He spat a string of Solar Kingdom syllables—harsh, hard, unmistakably a snarl of provocation, even if Anthony’s side didn’t know the words.“Fuck—enough noise,” Thirteen Smith snapped back, impa

Of course, if they insisted on throwing themselves on the edge, there’d be no call to spare them. Steel on bone—no one could help them then.“Anyone else?” Thirteen’s gaze skimmed the circle. His voice wasn’t loud, but it dropped like ice into a basin and sent cold up the spine.The courtyard answered with groans—no voices. Someone’s foot slid back a half-step, then stopped, as if that might salvage a shred of face.Dragon-Slayer laughed—loose, lazy delight. “We have a saying in Ardenia: the truly clever bow to timing. You’ve grasped that much, at least. Your lives—consider them held.”Anthony lifted his eyes, flat and light. “Go. Next one.”“Haha—go.” They turned without hurry, like men checking a box on a familiar drill. None of this was worth fretting over. Even if the Solar Kingdom sent a battalion to close the street, getting out wouldn’t be hard.He knew a nation keeps its guardians. The real strong rarely show their faces. These they’d drawn so far were not the pinnacle. Even t

“Dragon-Slayer, you’re courting death!” Vincent Walker’s face was iron-blue. When he spoke, his voice had a thin tremor to it.“How is that kid so strong?”“The Grand Shaman’s fistwork is endlessly changing—how did it break so easily?”“Terrifying.”“The three of them… do they really have this level…”Voices erupted all at once, their tone threaded with naked panic. They finally understood how the other side had flattened martial halls so easily—not just arrogance, but power, blunt and absolute. Rumors are rumors; the scene before them hammered hearsay into iron proof.“We’ll avenge the Grand Shaman!”“Kid, you’re dead!”A roar broke out. One of the Voodoo Cult disciples, eyes red with rage, lunged straight at Dragon-Slayer. His momentum wasn’t bad; yin energy roiled, killing intent surged—he was an arrow on a drawn bow.Dragon-Slayer cocked his head, gaze cool. “Another one rushing to his death?” As he spoke, his blade lifted lightly. The edge reflected the other man’s twisted face,