Ascension of the Forsaken

Chapter 10: The Battle Begins

Kael Varian and Luo Qiyan stood across from each other, the tension between them palpable. Jin Mu, meanwhile, faced off against the remaining two Serpent Fang disciples, Dong Chao and Ma Hu, who were visibly uneasy but determined.

Luo Qiyan’s sharp gaze lingered on Kael as he finally spoke, his voice laced with curiosity and suspicion. “I don’t understand something. How did you do it?”

Kael tilted his head slightly, amusement flickering in his eyes. “Do what?”

“Slaughter all those spirit beasts—and with such efficiency and speed.”

“Oh, that?” Kael replied casually, a smirk tugging at his lips. “It’s simple, really. You punch, you kick, and they die.”

Qiyan’s expression darkened. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Are you dumb, or are you just acting dumb to piss me off?”

Kael chuckled, feigning innocence. “What do you mean?”

Qiyan’s tone grew colder, his patience wearing thin. “Considering your current cultivation, there’s no way you could face all those beasts and survive, let alone unleash a massacre like you’ve just done. Unless, of course, you have a trump card—or know something we don’t.”

Kael’s smirk widened. “Oh, really? And what is my current cultivation?”

“Enough games,” Qiyan snapped, his aura flaring. “If you won’t tell me your secret, I’ll just have to beat it out of you.”

Kael shrugged nonchalantly. “Uh-huh. Let’s see you try.”

And with that, the battle erupted.

Qiyan vanished from his spot, reappearing before Kael like a phantom. Before Kael could react, a fist struck his gut with brutal force, causing his midsection to cave inward. But Qiyan wasn’t done. Gripping Kael’s shoulders, he drove his knee into Kael’s face with explosive power, sending him reeling backward. A devastating slap followed, humiliating and unrelenting, sending Kael crashing into the trunk of a nearby tree with unforgiving force.

Kael’s body slid down the trunk, his head bowed, his hands limp, blood streaming from multiple cuts across his face. Qiyan stood where he was, an evil smirk etched across his features. His hands were clasped behind his back as he looked down at Kael like a god surveying an ant.

“You know,” Qiyan began, his tone dripping with disdain, “when we faced off and I exposed my aura, you didn’t back down. You didn’t show a hint of fear. I asked myself, ‘Where is this guy getting his guts from?’ Because you—a mere Ninth Stage Body Refining Realm cultivator—dared to stand against me, someone at the Sixth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. And then I thought, maybe it’s your trump card. Or maybe you’re one of those geniuses with heaven-defying battle strength. But it turns out you’re nothing but a joke. Just a probe was enough to finish you.”

Kael remained eerily still, his head bowed as Luo Qiyan continued to mock him with venomous words. The air seemed to grow heavier, and a faint twitch ran through Kael’s body. His fists clenched, his breathing deepened, and then, from his lips, a low growl escaped, almost animalistic in its intensity.

“How dare you…” Kael whispered, the words barely audible.

Qiyan tilted his head mockingly, cupping a hand to his ear. “What was that? I didn’t quite catch it. Speak up, would you?” he jeered, pretending to strain to hear.

Kael’s whisper grew into a rumbling snarl, his voice reverberating with raw anger. “How dare you?”

And then it came—a thunderous roar that seemed to shake the very ground beneath them. “HOW DARE YOU!” Kael erupted with a surge of unrestrained fury. The atmosphere shifted violently as a torrent of energy exploded outward, creating a vortex that whipped through the surrounding forest. Leaves and debris swirled in the storm of power, and even the earth itself quaked in response.

“That slap across my face…” Kael growled, his voice shaking with wrath. “You’re going to regret it. I swear to the heavens, the earth, the seven hells, and all powers that be—you will regret it. And that day is today!”

Before Qiyan could muster a reply, Kael shot forward with an explosion of speed, the ground beneath him cratering from the force of his launch. In a blur of motion, he appeared directly in front of Luo Qiyan, his fist already hurtling toward his opponent’s face with devastating power.

Qiyan’s reflexes kicked in, and he leaned just slightly to the side, narrowly evading the punch. A smirk of confidence tugged at his lips as he prepared to counter, but Kael’s attack wasn’t so easily thwarted. In an instant, as if anticipating the evasion, Kael adjusted the trajectory of his strike mid-motion, redirecting his punch toward Qiyan’s new position.

“Boom!”

The impact was deafening as Kael’s fist connected squarely with Qiyan’s cheek, sending shockwaves rippling through the air. The blow sent Qiyan stumbling backward, his smirk wiped clean off his face. But Kael didn’t stop there.

A left hook came crashing in from the opposite direction, followed by a brutal uppercut that snapped Qiyan’s head backward. Before he could recover, Kael drove his knee into Qiyan’s midsection, eliciting a gasp of pain. A low sweep followed, cutting Qiyan’s legs out from under him, and as he fell, Kael delivered a merciless kick to his chest, launching him through the air like a ragdoll.

Qiyan’s body flew through the clearing, slamming into the trees with enough force to splinter the trunks. But Kael wasn’t done. In a flash, he appeared in the direction Qiyan’s body was hurtling, his movement a blur of unimaginable speed.

“Smack!”

A resounding slap echoed through the clearing as Kael’s hand collided with Qiyan’s face mid-air, sending him careening to the ground with a thunderous crash. The force of the impact created a shallow crater, and Qiyan lay sprawled at the center, dazed and bloodied.

Kael loomed over him, his expression a mixture of fury and cold determination. “You wanted my secret?” he said, his voice chillingly calm. “Here it is: underestimate me, and you’ll pay the price.”