Taking this advantage, Kai suppressed the pain he was feeling. He didn’t scream and he didn’t hesitate.The Taotie’s jaws were still clamped around his arm and shoulder, its spiraling teeth grinding mercilessly against his flesh, trying to twist and rip the limb clean off. Blood streamed down his torso in thick, dark lines, dripping from his fingertips onto the shattered ground below.The pain was violent, raw and blinding but the pain was familiar.Pain was temporary.With his free hand, Kai shot forward and grabbed the Taotie’s head.Not its horns and not its jaw but its skull.His fingers dug deep into the jagged scales, gripping into the ridged bone beneath with crushing force. His muscles flexed violently as he anchored his stance into the earth, boots carving grooves into the dirt from the opposing forces.The Taotie growled, tightening its bite even further and more flesh tore, muscle fibers snapped audibly.A large chunk of his shoulder was ripped free, blood splattering acro

Getting to the Taotie, he punched out.There was no hesitation in his step, no second guessing. Kai drove forward with a short burst of speed, his feet crushing the soil beneath him as he entered the Taotie’s striking range. His body leaned slightly, hips rotating, spine aligned and everything about the motion was economical and brutal.His fist shot forward.The first layer of the stacking punch detonated the moment his knuckles touched the Taotie’s chest.To his surprise, the energy didn’t rebound.It didn’t twist back into him like it had when he used the halberd.It didn’t get redirected, this time, it had sank.The force went straight into the Taotie.A deep, concussive impact thudded through the clearing. The beast’s armored plates visibly caved inward where his fist landed. Cracks spread like lightning across its chest scales, dark energy splintering violently under the blunt force.The Taotie screamed.Not a roar but a scream.It staggered back half a step, its massive body sh

But that didn’t matter.Incomplete control and unstable stacking.Energy that nearly tore his own arm apart when he tried to restrain it.None of it mattered.He was going to learn right here and right now.Not later and not in meditation.Not under some calm waterfall pretending he understood himself better.Right here.With claws aimed at his throat.With a beast two realms above him trying to rip him apart.That was it.The decision wasn’t loud and it wasn’t dramatic.It simply settled in his chest.Kai rolled his shoulders once, letting the tension distribute evenly through his muscles. His breathing slowed, not weaker, but deeper. He could feel the Taotie’s aura pressing down on him like gravity had doubled. Every inhale felt slightly heavier than it should.Good.Pressure sharpened him.With that thought in mind, he readied himself.He adjusted his stance left foot half a step forward, knees slightly bent, torso angled just enough to reduce exposed surface area. His arms relaxed

Kai sighed.The tension left his shoulders all at once, like a bowstring finally released after being drawn too long.Then he collapsed.Not dramatically and not unconscious.He simply let his body drop backward onto the torn earth, arms spreading slightly as he stared up at the fractured sky above the clearing.The dust was still settling.Fragments of the Taotie’s destroyed body lay scattered around like the remains of a broken statue. Dark energy thinned rapidly in the air, dispersing like smoke with nowhere left to cling to.This time, he was sure.There was no way the Taotie would come back to life.Not after that.Not after its mouth had been detonated from within.Not after ten stacked punches had shattered its important structure beyond recognition.Not after its body had literally exploded because it could not handle the internal accumulation of force.There was nothing left to resurrect.If only he had known that the Taotie was not even supposed to come back to life after it

Back to Abigail’s space.She stood before the last house in the valley.All the previous houses had fallen behind her like stepping stones carved from blood and willpower. Each one had tested a different principle of the sword. Each resident stronger than the last. Each lesson is sharper than steel.Now there was only one left.The final house.It stood slightly apart from the others, positioned at the very end of the valley where the terrain curved inward like the edge of a blade. The air here felt thinner. Quieter. Even the wind seemed more restrained, as if it feared disturbing something ancient.Abigail stood before the house, having no emotions on her face.There was no anticipation, no nervousness and no eagerness.Her expression was calm to the point of detachment.It was as though she was a completely different person.The Abigail who once argued with Kai.The Abigail who had pride, temper, flashes of sharp sarcasm, none of that could be seen here.She was still, unmoving and