Rise of the Forsaken Immortal

Chapter 6: When Heaven Declares Cleansing

The first golden beam did not strike the mountain. It erased it. A section of the outer cliff vanished silently, stone, trees, disciples, reduced to drifting dust before screams could fully form.

For half a breath, there was only stunned quiet. Then chaos exploded. “Heavenly punishment!”

“Activate the Grand Defensive Array!”

“Inner disciples to the core formation!”

The sky fractured further. Three golden fissures widened above the sect, each radiating crushing pressure that bent the air itself.

Ken stared at the descending light. His heartbeat was steady. Too steady. “They’re not targeting us directly,” he said.

The hooded young man beside him nodded once. “They’re eliminating contamination at the source.”

Ken’s jaw tightened. “The sect.”

Another beam formed. Thicker. Denser. The stranger’s eyes flicked toward Ken. “If the Grand Array collapses, shockwaves alone will kill everyone below Core Formation.”

Ken turned toward the main peak. Screams echoed faintly across the valley. His grip tightened. “I won’t let that happen.”

The stranger studied him. “You owe them nothing.”

Ken’s gaze hardened. “I owe Heaven even less.”

The wind roared violently. Silver threads whipped around both of them as Heavenly pressure intensified. Elder Mo Yan stood at the heart of the formation.

Golden runes spiraled beneath his feet as dozens of elders poured spiritual power into the Grand Array. “Stabilize the western quadrant!” he barked.

A disciple cried out as backlash knocked him unconscious. Mo Yan looked up at the sky. Three beams now. All converging. “This is not punishment,” one elder whispered hoarsely. “This is extermination.”

Mo Yan’s expression darkened. “Yes.”

The first beam struck the array. Golden collided with blue. The mountain shook violently. Cracks spread across the barrier like spiderwebs. Mo Yan clenched his fists. “Hold!”

Ken inhaled slowly. “Can you cut Heavenly law?” he asked the stranger.

The stranger gave a humorless smile. “Not fully.”

“Can you disrupt it?”

“For seconds.”

“That’s enough.”

The stranger studied him carefully. “You have a plan?”

“Not yet.”

Another tremor shook the ground. Dust cascaded from treetops. The second beam descended. Ken closed his eyes briefly.

Inside him, the Heavenfall Root churned violently. Not in fear. In defiance. The Remnant’s voice emerged, calm but intense. “You cannot devour all three.”

“I don’t need to,” Ken replied internally.

He opened his eyes. “We split them.”

The stranger’s brow lifted slightly. “Explain.”

“You disrupt the formation of one beam before impact,” Ken said quickly. “Force it to destabilize.”

“And while it destabilizes?”

“I consume the fragmentation.”

The stranger stared. “That could tear you apart.”

“Yes.”

A beat. “And the third beam?”

Ken’s gaze turned toward the main peak. “Mo Yan.”

The second beam struck. The Grand Array shrieked. A section of the barrier shattered. Golden light cascaded downward.

Buildings disintegrated instantly upon contact. Mo Yan’s eyes widened. “Reinforce the inner ring!”

Too slow. The third beam was forming directly overhead. Stronger than the first two. Mo Yan’s breath stilled. “They’re escalating.”

The stranger extended his hand. Silver threads coiled around his arm like blades. “You’re insane,” he said calmly.

Ken gave a faint smile.

“Probably.”

The third fissure in the sky widened. Pressure doubled. Birds fell from the air mid-flight. Ken stepped forward. “On my mark.”

The stranger nodded once. Above them, the nearest beam condensed fully. Ken felt its trajectory lock. “Now!”

The stranger slashed upward. Silver threads shot into the sky, slicing through the forming beam. For one impossible second, Golden light fractured.

The beam destabilized mid-descent. It shattered into cascading shards of condensed law. Ken leapt. Silver threads exploded from his body.

He caught the falling fragments. And pulled. Pain, unlike anything before, tore through him. Each fragment was heavier than the spear he had devoured before. Denser.  Angrier.

He roared as they slammed into his dantian. The Heavenfall Root expanded violently. Silver devoured gold. Threads snapped and rewove.

Below, shockwaves rippled across the sect grounds but lost cohesion without a focused beam. The Grand Array flickered, then stabilized slightly.

On the main peak, Mo Yan looked toward the northern ridge. “What…?”

Ken hit the ground hard. Cracks spidered beneath him. The stranger landed beside him, breathing heavier now. “You absorbed too much.”

Ken coughed up blood. But he was laughing. “They felt lighter than the spear.”

“That’s because you’re changing.”

Above them, the remaining two beams hesitated. Their trajectories shifted. Not toward the sect. Toward the ridge. The stranger’s expression darkened. “They’ve identified the interference.”

Ken pushed himself up slowly. “Good.”

“You call that good?”

“Yes.”

Silver threads spiraled around him. Brighter now. More structured. “I’d rather they aim at something that fights back.”

The sky roared. Two beams descended simultaneously. The stranger cursed softly. “We can’t split both.”

Ken’s mind raced. Then, He saw it. Between the two beams. A thin, unstable seam where their laws overlapped. “They’re interfering with each other,” he murmured.

The stranger followed his gaze. “…You’re thinking of redirecting them.”

Ken nodded. “Not absorbing.”

“Guiding.”

The Remnant’s voice cut in urgently. “That is far more dangerous.”

Ken ignored it. He extended both hands. Silver threads surged upward. Not to consume. To latch. The beams struck the threads mid-air.

Ken felt their weight instantly. Crushing. His knees buckled. “Help me angle them!” he shouted.

The stranger leapt beside him, weaving his own threads into the golden light. Together, they pulled. The beams bent. Slowly.  Agonizingly. Toward each other.

The sky screamed. Golden light collided mid-air. A blinding explosion detonated above the ridge. Shockwaves flattened trees for miles. Both young men were thrown backward violently.

Ken lay on his back, vision spinning. The sky above was cracked but no longer bleeding light. The fissures were sealing. Retreating. He exhaled shakily. “Did we…?”

“Yes,” the stranger replied hoarsely from nearby.

“They’ve withdrawn.”

Silence settled. Not peaceful. Wary. Ken slowly pushed himself upright. Far in the distance, Azure Sky Sect still stood. Damaged. But standing.

The stranger approached him, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “You just redirected Heavenly judgment.”

Ken wiped blood from his mouth. “I redirected arrogance.”

The stranger studied him for a long moment. “You’re becoming unstable.”

Ken smiled faintly. “I’ve always been unstable.”

A sudden pulse vibrated through the ground. Both froze. The sky was clear. No beams. No fissures. But something else was descending. Not from above.

From within the space between realms. The air in front of them distorted. Like glass cracking. A vertical line of golden light split open. Slow. Deliberate.

The stranger’s voice dropped to a whisper. “…That’s not the Dao.”

Ken felt it too. This presence was different. Focused. Personal. A hand emerged from the crack in space. Not massive like the eye. Human-sized. Perfectly formed.

Radiating suffocating authority. Then a voice echoed across the ridge. Calm. Ancient. Amused. “So.”

The hand pulled the rift wider. “I was wondering who dared wound the sky.”

Ken’s pulse slowed. The stranger’s silver threads trembled. A figure stepped halfway through the tear in space. Robes of pale gold.

Eyes like burning suns. Not manifestation. Not projection. A being. Fully descended. Ken’s breath left him slowly. The stranger whispered what both of them understood. “…Upper Realm.”