Shattered Jade: Ascending soul

To Shatter a Deity

The Heavenly Clash

Golden light drowns the grand courtyard as the air turns into solid lead. Mo Fan crawls backward in the dirt, coughing up black, ruined blood while fear deforms his bloody face.

Above them looms the Grand Ancestor—a thousand-foot phantom of pure spirit with eyes like burning celestial suns. The intense pressure cracks the stone tiles.

"Kneel, mortal ant!" the deity roars.

Li Xuan does not bend. His fractured bones pop and click, but his ruined jade dantian spins madly as azure sword aura leaks from his pores. He swallows his own stolen flesh; it burns like a molten star core.

"You stole my future," Xuan whispers, his voice cutting through the divine pressure. "Now you offer me a grave?"

He spits blood onto Mo Fan’s forehead the ultimate insult before the god.

 

Shattering the Palm

The Grand Ancestor frowns in fury. A massive golden hand descends, covering the entire sky. Mountains outside the sect collapse and the air ignites from sheer friction.

Xuan grips his invisible blade. Fractured Ascension Level 6 explodes, and the Azure Sky Sword Array awakens. Ten thousand spectral blades erupt upward, forming a vortex of vengeance. He does not defend; he only knows how to slaughter.

Xuan leaps straight into the palm. "Shatter!" he screams into the light.

The golden palm closes on him. A deafening explosion rocks the sky, and white energy blinds the watching disciples. Xuan feels his ribs snap instantly as divine pressure floods his meridians.

But his broken core acts like a sponge. It absorbs the raw heavenly energy, feeding his fractured jade dantian. Instead of dying, his power surges, and Level 6 fully stabilizes in his veins.

"Insolent worm!" the Ancestor roars.

"Your dao is hollow!" Xuan laughs.

He swings his arm upward fiercely. The spectral blades form one massive sword, shearing through the golden palm. The mile-long spiritual limb falls away, and golden spirit fluid pours like rain as the massive phantom hisses in pain.

 

Crippling the Genius

Xuan drops back to the earth, landing heavily on his feet. He instantly lunges toward Mo Fan.

"Ancestor, save me!" Mo Fan shrieks.

"None can save you," Xuan whispers.

He grabs Mo Fan's throat tightly, lifting the broken genius high. He squeezes until Mo Fan's eyes bulge.

"Stop!" Ning'er cries from the sidelines. Her beautiful face is deadly pale, and her white robes are stained with ash. "If you kill him, the continent hunts you!"

"Let them come," Xuan barks out.

Xuan rips Mo Fan’s right arm off. Blood sprays across the white stone as Mo Fan screams a pathetic wail. Xuan slams him face-first into the dirt and drives his heel into Mo Fan's belly. A sickening crack echoes outward. Mo Fan's cultivation base dissolves completely; the stolen power leaks away into ash.

 

Unmasking the Parasite

Above, the Ancestor prepares a final strike. The phantom's chest glows brilliant purple as he gathers the entire mountain's energy. A massive pillar of fire descends, three hundred meters wide.

Ning'er screams and runs away, but Xuan stands alone over his brother. He raises both hands toward heaven, his fingers clawing like a dragon. The ten thousand blades turn pitch black.

"Your heaven cannot hold me!" Xuan roars.

The black vortex smashes the divine pillar, and the world goes completely white. The sect peaks disintegrate into dust as the shockwave rings like a death bell, ending an old era right here.

The explosion flattens the outer palaces, erupting a massive wall of gray dust. The shockwave travels for fifty miles. Ancient forest trees snap like toothpicks, and boulders melt from the extreme heat.

Xuan stands firm in the smoke. His skin is black from soot and his clothes are completely burned away, yet his eyes burn like stars.

The absolute silence is terrifying. The golden phantom begins to warp as dark poison eats its spirit essence. The majestic outer shell peels away like cheap painted paper, finally revealing its true form.

The Ancestor is a grotesque monster. Half his face is a rotting black skull, and green moss grows inside his eye sockets. He has six skeletal arms that claw desperately at the gray sky. His hollow ribs form a giant cage, inside of which swarm thousands of weeping faces. They scream in absolute, silent agony. They are the missing sect geniuses, harvested across three long centuries.

"A parasite," Xuan says with disgust. "You breed your own family like pigs."

The monster issues a metallic screech. "Mortal meat!" the multi-toned voice roars. "You have ruined my eternal harvest!"

 

Devouring a God

Xuan does not answer with words. He drops back to his knees and grabs Mo Fan’s left hand. A strange bronze band catches his eye—the Abyssal Asura Ring. Its serpent carving twists around the metal, pulsing with a forbidden gravity.

Xuan forces the edge into the wound. The bronze snake drinks Mo Fan's blood, breaking the ancient spiritual lock instantly. The artifact recognizes its new master.

The ring floods Xuan with cold power, flowing through his broken arms. The dark aura stabilizes his remaining fractures.

"My turn to harvest," Xuan sneers.

He points the ring at the sky. A black vortex opens above his hand, unhinging like a dragon's jaw. The vacuum pulls the dust cloud inside and begins to suck the Ancestor's lifeforce.

The weeping souls scream for freedom. "Release us!" they cry.

The black vortex expands to fifty meters, tearing the skeletal arms away. The parasite screams in absolute terror as a god is consumed by an ant.

"Return to the dirt," Xuan barks.

He closes his fist tightly. The black vortex collapses inward violently. An implosion of dark energy shatters space, crushing the thousand-foot monster instantly. The remaining souls turn to white light, drifting into the upper atmosphere. The heavy golden pressure vanishes completely, leaving only a dead wasteland behind.

 

The New Path

Ning'er watches from a distant ridge. She falls to her hands and knees, her body shaking with uncontrollable fear. The entire sect is a lie. The man she betrayed is invincible.

"Li Xuan..." she whispers into the wind.

Xuan walks out of the crater. He does not look at her once; she is no longer worth his anger, and is completely beneath his notice.

He looks toward the southern horizon, where the air is stained crimson and smells of copper. The Asura Blood Sea awaits him. His jade dantian needs a cure, and the Blood-Forging Lotus grows there. It is a place of absolute death, but he has already conquered heaven. The sea will not stop him.

Xuan steps over the broken stones, his heavy boots leaving bloody prints. He leaves the ruined sect behind. His path of blood has just begun.