Heavenly Rebirth: The Outcast Return

The Red Sky Burns

Chapter 5: The Red Sky Burns

The sky darkened with the arrival of the fleet.

Ten cloud ships loomed overhead, each pulsing with formation runes and carrying dozens of elite cultivators clad in red spirit armor. War banners flapped in the wind, each marked with the crest of the Crimson Council — the secret ruling hand behind the Crimson Cloud Sect.

At the head of the fleet hovered a single platform.

Upon it stood Mei Lin, hair silver like moonlight, her beautiful face expressionless, her eyes glowing faintly under the control of a talisman pressed to her brow.

The puppet they used to ruin him.

Xuan Long’s grip on his new spear tightened. The obsidian weapon pulsed with black flame, reacting to his fury.

The War Immortal whispered in his mind:

“That’s no ordinary talisman. That’s a full soul bind. Her consciousness is sealed. Only death… or destruction of the caster’s mark can free her.”

“I’m not killing her,” Xuan Long growled.

“Then you’d better survive long enough to find the one who did.”

“Target confirmed!” a captain on the nearest ship barked. “Engage!”

The air exploded.

Dozens of red-armored cultivators leapt from their vessels, raining toward Xuan Long like a meteor shower. Swords, sabers, and whips glinted in the sun.

But he didn’t flinch.

He spun his spear once, then slammed the base into the ground.

The earth screamed.

A ring of crimson-black fire erupted around him, melting stone and warping the air.

He moved.

In a blur, he launched upward — colliding mid-air with the first wave. His spear carved through two enemies in a single arc, slicing through their armor as if it were paper.

Blood sprayed across the sky.

More cultivators came from every angle, forming encirclement formations.

Xuan Long twisted mid-air, redirecting his momentum, using one soldier’s skull as a stepping stone to strike another.

A hammer fell toward him from above.

He raised his hand — the runes on his chest glowing — and absorbed the blow, converting the force into a shockwave that exploded outward, breaking the formation and sending men flying in all directions.

Their screams were drowned out by the thunder of clashing qi.

Suddenly, chains shot down from the lead ship — inscribed with suppression talismans meant to lock meridians.

Xuan Long caught them mid-air and yanked.

The entire ship trembled.

The deck cracked.

Soldiers panicked.

He pulled harder — then launched upward like a meteor, landing on the deck in a burst of flame.

The nearest warriors rushed him — twenty at once.

He stepped forward.

One second. One strike. One massacre.

His spear moved in a blur — impaling three, kicking two off the deck, spinning and slamming the butt of his weapon into the final soldier’s throat.

They collapsed like dominoes.

Only Mei Lin remained.

She stood still at the center of the deck, sword unsheathed but unmoving. Her eyes stared through him, as if she couldn’t even see him.

Xuan Long approached cautiously.

“Lin,” he said softly. “It’s me.”

No response.

He stepped closer.

Her hand moved — fast.

The sword came down toward his heart.

He blocked it with the shaft of his spear, but her strike was laced with something unnatural — puppet force amplified by an external command.

Blades clashed again.

She moved like a machine, silent, emotionless. Every strike was meant to kill, not wound. No hesitation.

He couldn’t strike back.

“Lin… wake up!” he shouted, deflecting a flurry of slashes. “This isn’t you!”

Her sword nicked his shoulder.

Blood spilled.

Still no change.

“You can’t talk her out of this,” the War Immortal warned. “If you won’t kill her, then destroy the talisman. It’s the only way!”

Xuan Long looked up at the glowing seal pulsing on her forehead — the mark of the controller.

He spun away from her next attack and launched himself behind her. In a split second, he reversed his spear and drove the blunt end into her brow.

Crack.

The talisman shattered.

Mei Lin froze.

Her body trembled, then collapsed into his arms.

For a moment, nothing moved.

Then… she screamed.

She clutched her head, sobbing, the seal’s remnants burning away into ash. Blood trickled from her nose and ears.

“Long’er…?” she whispered, eyes wide with confusion and pain.

He held her tighter.

“I’m here.”

Tears ran down her cheeks.

“I—I couldn’t stop it… They used me… I—tried to—warn you…”

“I know. It’s over.”

But it wasn’t.

The ship suddenly lurched.

A shadow appeared above them — a figure in red and gold robes with long silver hair and six spiritual talismans floating around his body like halos.

Elder Fang, one of the hidden puppet masters of the Crimson Council.

“I should have burned your body when I had the chance,” he snarled. “You’ve gone too far, Xuan Long. You think you’re special because you crawled out of a hole?”

He waved his hand.

The air shimmered.

A giant sigil of crimson lightning appeared in the sky — a formation so large it covered the entire battlefield.

“This is the Heaven’s Rend Formation,” he declared. “No one walks away from it.”

Xuan Long stood, placing Mei Lin gently behind a protective flame barrier.

Then he faced Elder Fang and raised his spear.

“Then let’s finish this.”

The formation descended, crackling with thunder and wrath.

Xuan Long took one step forward, his spear igniting with black fire, his eyes glowing like a god reborn.

“You burned me once, Elder Fang.”

“This time, I burn back.”