Heaven's Only Men Cultivator

Chapter 10 - Refusing the Command

The silver light from Lin Yue’s teleportation had barely faded when the humid, suffocating weight of the Poison Mist Forest pressed against Li Feng's lungs. They weren't in the city anymore. The towering trees around them were gnarled, their bark weeping a black, oily sap that smelled like rot.

"Stay close," Captain Zhao ordered, her voice muffled by a thick silk scarf wrapped around her face.

Li Feng looked around. Behind Zhao, five of her elite mercenaries moved in a tight diamond formation. Ying Yue was there too, her violet eyes scanning the canopy with a lethal intensity. Even Lin Yue, the Saintess, stood nearby, though she looked paler than ever, her silver staff trembling slightly in her hand.

"Why are we here?" Li Feng asked. "The High Executioners are behind us, and we're walking into a death trap."

"Because the only way out of Azure Port without being tracked is through this hellhole," Zhao replied, her eyes narrowing at the shifting purple haze ahead. "And because the Saintess needs Moon-Shadow Lilies to stabilize her core after that stunt she pulled back at the guild. If she collapses, we lose our only ticket past the mountain wards."

"The fog is getting thicker," Ying Yue whispered, her hand on her sword hilt. "Captain, the Yin saturation is at eighty percent. My Qi is starting to stagnate."

"I can feel it too," Mira, one of the mercenaries, groaned. She stumbled, leaning against a tree for support. "It's like breathing needles."

Li Feng took a breath. He expected to choke, to feel the same burning suppression the women were describing. Instead, the moment the purple mist entered his throat, the Ancient Yang Core in his chest flared. It didn't just resist the poison; it seemed to devour it.

"I don't feel anything," Li Feng said.

"That's because you're a freak of nature, Feng," Zhao grunted, though she was clearly struggling to keep her posture straight. Her crimson aura was flickering, being eroded by the corrosive Yin energy in the air. "For us, this air is pure poison. It’s designed to kill anything with a Yin-based foundation."

"Captain, I can't... I can't move my legs," another mercenary gasped, collapsing into the damp moss.

Lin Yue tried to raise her staff to cast a purification circle, but a violent cough racked her body. She fell to one knee, her white robes already turning a sickly grey from the mist. "The poison... it’s too refined. This isn't natural fog."

"It's a trap," Ying Yue hissed, drawing her blade. "Someone lured us here."

Li Feng watched them. These women, who had seemed like goddesses of power just hours ago, were now wilting like flowers in a frost. He felt a surge of something he hadn't felt before—not fear, but responsibility.

"The heat," Li Feng whispered to himself. 'Don't bury it. Let it out.'

"Feng, what are you doing?" Zhao asked, her vision blurring.

Li Feng didn't answer. He closed his eyes and reached for the spinning grain of gold in his heart. He didn't try to strike or burn. He simply imagined the sun rising over the valley. He pictured the light pushing back the shadows, warming the cold earth.

"Move back," Li Feng commanded.

"You're a slave, don't tell me what to—" Mira started, but her voice died in her throat.

A soft, golden radiance began to bleed from Li Feng's skin. It wasn't a violent explosion like the one at the guild. It was a gentle, pulsing amber light that expanded in a perfect sphere around him. As the light touched the purple mist, the fog didn't just move; it hissed and evaporated, turned into harmless steam by the sheer purity of the Yang energy.

"The air," Zhao gasped, ripping the scarf from her face. She took a deep, desperate breath. "It's clear. How is it clear?"

"He's neutralizing the Yin," Lin Yue whispered, her eyes wide with a mixture of awe and terror. "He's not just resisting it. He's rewriting the environment."

"Keep moving," Li Feng said, his voice sounding deeper, more resonant. The golden aura moved with him, creating a ten-foot sanctuary of warmth in the middle of the poisonous dark. "I can't hold this forever. Where are the lilies?"

"Three hundred yards north," Zhao said, her strength returning now that her Qi wasn't being suppressed. "Move! Before the forest realizes what he’s doing!"

They sprinted through the cleared path, a bubble of golden light cutting through the purple gloom. Li Feng felt the drain on his energy, but it wasn't the painful ache he expected. It felt like a workout, a stretching of muscles he hadn't known he possessed.

"There!" Ying Yue pointed to a small clearing where a cluster of silver flowers glowed faintly in the dark.

"Get them, Mira! Fast!" Zhao shouted.

The mercenary lunged for the flowers, but just as her fingers brushed the petals, the ground beneath the lilies erupted. A massive, obsidian-scaled tail slammed into the earth, sending Mira flying backward into the fog.

"Mira!" Zhao screamed.

From the shadows emerged a beast that defied logic. It was a panther the size of a carriage, but its fur was composed of shifting shadows, and its eyes were two glowing orbs of toxic violet. It let out a roar that vibrated in their very bones.

"A Shadow-Crag Panther," Ying Yue gasped, her face turning pale. "Grade Two. It’s a Yin-beast. It lives on this poison."

"We can't fight it," Lin Yue said, her staff sparking weakly. "Even with Li Feng's aura, the beast's presence is amplifying the poison. Look at the edges of the circle!"

The purple mist was pressing in, turning into jagged claws of energy that tore at Li Feng's golden shield. The panther fixated on Li Feng, its snout wrinkling in disgust at the scent of the sun.

"It hates me," Li Feng noted, his jaw tightening.

"It wants to extinguish you, boy!" Zhao yelled, drawing her broadsword. "Everyone, defensive formation! Protect the anomaly!"

The panther lunged. It was a blur of darkness. Zhao intercepted the first strike, her blade clashing against the beast's claws with a shower of sparks. But the impact sent her reeling. Without her full Qi strength, she was no match for the creature’s raw, Yin-enhanced power.

"Captain!" Ying Yue dived in, her violet blade dancing in a series of quick stabs, but the panther’s hide was like iron. It swiped at her, a wave of concentrated poison following the movement.

Ying Yue barely dodged, but the effort forced her out of Li Feng's protective circle. She instantly began to cough, her movements slowing as the mist invaded her system.

"It’s picking us apart," Lin Yue said, trying to summon a shield that shattered before it could form. "Li Feng, we have to retreat!"

"We can't retreat!" Zhao shouted, struggling to stand. "If we leave without those lilies, you'll die, Saintess! And if we stay, it’ll kill us all!"

The panther crouched, its muscles coiling for a lethal pounce. It ignored the women now. It saw the source of the heat. It saw the man who didn't belong in this world.

Li Feng looked at Zhao, bruised and gasping. He looked at Ying Yue, clutching her chest in the fog. He looked at Lin Yue, the woman who had risked everything to take his hand.

He felt the slave mentality—the urge to hide, to wait for a master to save him—flicker and die.

"Feng, get back!" Zhao ordered. "That's a direct command!"

"No," Li Feng said.

He stepped toward the beast, leaving the safety of the group. As he moved, the golden aura around him didn't shrink; it intensified, turning from amber to a brilliant, searing white-gold.

"What is he doing?" Mira whispered from the ground.

"He's... he's challenging it," Ying Yue breathed.

Li Feng stood alone in the center of the clearing. The panther hissed, the fur on its back standing up like needles. It lunged, a mass of shadows and teeth aimed directly at his throat.

Li Feng didn't draw a sword. He didn't have one. Instead, he pulled his fist back, the Ancient Yang Core roaring like a furnace in his chest. His entire arm began to glow, the veins beneath his skin turning into rivers of liquid gold.

"Today," Li Feng whispered, "the sun doesn't hide."

The beast hit the barrier of his light, and the forest echoed with the sound of a thunderclap. Li Feng took the full weight of the panther's charge, his feet digging into the black mud, his eyes burning with the fire of a forbidden dawn.

"Go," Li Feng shouted over his shoulder, his voice echoing with a power that made the trees tremble. "Get the lilies! I’ll hold it back!"

"Feng, you'll be killed!" Zhao screamed.

But Li Feng didn't look back. He grabbed the beast's throat with his bare hands, the contact causing the panther's shadow-fur to sizzle and burn. The creature let out a scream of pure agony as the Yang energy began to melt its physical form.

"I said go!" Li Feng roared.

Behind him, the women scrambled for the lilies, their eyes filled with shock and a new, terrifying respect.

The panther recovered, its eyes turning a deep, murderous red. It realized this wasn't just a meal. This was an extinction event. It opened its maw, a sphere of pure, compressed Yin poison forming between its teeth.

Li Feng stood his ground, his silhouette framed against the darkness, the only light in a dying world. He felt the beast's power peaking, and he knew the next few seconds would decide if he was the savior they needed or just another sacrifice to the dark.

The panther fired.

***