Shattered Jade: Ascending soul

The Broken Reflection

The yellow arc of the warden’s sword cut through the heavy downpour, humming with the force of his Level 5 Qi. The blade was aimed straight for Li Xuan’s shoulder, meant to pin him to the mud before chopping off his fingers.

Li Xuan didn't move. He stood perfectly still, his wild black hair plastered against his face by the rain.

"Die, you freak!" the warden roared, his face twisted in a mixture of panic and greed.

Just as the iron blade was an inch away from his skin, Li Xuan’s left hand shot out like a striking viper. He didn't block the flat of the sword. He grabbed the razor-sharp edge of the blade with his bare palm.

CLANG!

A metallic ring echoed through the dark woods. The warden’s breath hitched. He expected Li Xuan’s fingers to fly off into the mud. Instead, the moment the iron blade touched Li Xuan’s hand, the dark emerald light beneath his tattered robes violently flared.

The surface of Li Xuan’s skin didn't bleed. It rippled with a jagged, crystalline sheen, acting like the surface of a shattered mirror. The crushing impact of the Level 5 blow didn't push him back—it slammed into his internal jade engine, bouncing off the jagged shards inside his stomach, multiplying in speed, and reflecting straight back up the iron blade.

CRACK!

The warden’s iron sword violently detonated into dozens of sharp, jagged metal splinters.

Before the warden could even scream in shock, Li Xuan flicked his blood-stained wrist. The swirling dark emerald hurricane around his body grabbed those flying steel shards mid-air, reversing their direction with a terrifying velocity.

SHOOSH! SHOOSH! SHOOSH!

"AAAHHHH!"

The warden screamed, stumbling backward as his own shattered sword pieces tore through his dark iron armor, shredding his arms and thighs. He crashed heavily into the mud, his iron lantern rolling away and sputtering out, plunging the clearing into near-total darkness.

Li Xuan stepped forward. His boots squelched softly in the bloody mud. Each step felt like a heavy drumbeat of death to the wounded warden.

"Level 5 Qi Refining," Li Xuan murmured, his voice layered with that terrifying, metallic resonance. He looked down at his bare palm, which bore only a faint, shallow white line where the sword had struck. "So slow. So soft. To think that yesterday, I would have called a minor warden like you a warrior."

"Monster... you're a monster!" the warden whimpered, dragging his bleeding body backward against the trunk of a dead tree. His iron sword was gone, and his hands were shaking so hard he couldn't even draw his backup dagger. "Your core was smashed! I saw the glowing green shards myself! You should be a dead man!"

Li Xuan knelt down, his hand shooting forward to wrap around the warden’s throat like an iron vice. He lifted the grown man a foot off the ground, pinning him against the rough bark of the tree. His glowing emerald eyes locked onto the warden’s terrified pupils.

"I am a dead man," Li Xuan whispered, a cold, bloodthirsty smile stretching across his face. "The Li Xuan who begged for mercy died in that room. The one standing in front of you is the one who will harvest your soul."

He squeezed his fingers, cutting off the warden's air supply. "Tell me... what are Mo Fan and Ning’er planning for tomorrow morning?"

"Cough... ack..." The warden thrashed against the tree, his face turning dark purple. "The... the Grand Ascension Celebration... cough... at dawn... Young Master Mo Fan is presenting... your jade core shards to the Grand Sect Master... to secure his position as the new Crown Disciple... They are getting married next week..."

"Married next week?" Li Xuan let out a soft, dark laugh that sent a primal shiver straight down the warden's spine. "How beautiful. A thief and a snake, celebrating their plunder."

His eyes flared with a blinding emerald light. Inside his stomach, the ten thousand jagged jade shards began to spin with a manic, hungry speed.

"Master Mo... Mo Fan will kill you..." the warden choked out, his vision fading. "The entire Azure Sky Sect... will hunt you..."

"Let them come. But you won't be alive to see it," Li Xuan murmured. "Your Qi... belongs to the broken."

Fractured Ascension: Devour.

With a violent surge of his will, Li Xuan forced his shattered core to pull. A terrifying, dark emerald vacuum erupted from his palm, locking onto the warden’s throat.

"AGHHH!"

The warden’s body violently convulsed. The liquid yellow Qi inside his veins didn't flow naturally anymore—it was violently ripped out through his neck, turning into a stream of dull yellow light that was forcibly swallowed into Li Xuan’s open palm. The energy rushed down into his stomach, hitting the spinning jade shards.

CRUNCH. GRIND. PURIFY.

The crude, low-grade yellow Qi was instantly crushed and shredded by the razor-sharp jade fragments, refined into pure, concentrated emerald force.

Fractured Ascension: Level 2!

Level 3!

The green cracks across Li Xuan's chest tore open a millimeter wider, pulsing with a dense, heavy energy that leveled the wild grass for five yards around him.

The warden's body went completely limp, his skin turning gray and withered as his lifeforce and cultivation were drained dry. Li Xuan carelessly let go, letting the lifeless husk drop face-first into the muddy puddle below.

Xuan stood upright, his tattered grey robes snapping in the howling wind. He looked up toward the towering, jade-veined peaks of the Azure Sky Sect in the distance, where the bright palace lights were still shining through the storm.

The dawn was coming. The Grand Ascension Celebration was about to begin.

"Mo Fan. Ning'er," Li Xuan whispered, his fingers curling into a tight fist as a violent hurricane of green energy blades erupted from his skin, slicing the falling raindrops into mist. "The guest of honor... is on his way."

Li Xuan turned and walked out of the clearing, heading straight up the jagged, rocky cliffs toward the main gates of the Azure Sky Sect. He didn't sneak through the shadows; he walked right up the main disciple path, leaving a trail of frosty, dark emerald footprints behind him.

As he reached the grand marble steps of the outer gate, the first light of dawn was just beginning to break through the storm clouds, painting the sky in a bloody, dark orange hue.

Standing at the top of the steps were two elite Inner Disciple guards wearing bright turquoise robes, their eyes widening in absolute horror as they saw a blood-drenched, tattered figure walking out of the abyss, carrying a terrifying aura that made the stone stairs vibrate.

"Stop! Who goes there?!" one guard shouted, drawing his silver sword.

Li Xuan didn't speak. He just lifted his head, his glowing white eyes locking onto the grand sect banner floating above the gate.