2026-02-27 16:46:12"Boss, where did he go?" a mercenary’s voice trembled, echoing loudly against the sheer rock face. "Men do not just step into the sky. He vanished into thin air."
"Hold your ground and keep your blades up," Zhang Hu commanded. His deep voice cut through the rising panic, masking his own uncertainty. "He used a movement technique to reach the trees. He is up there right now, watching us." "I do not like this, Boss," another mercenary muttered. "The sect intel said he was a crippled servant. But his skin turned my dagger away like it was forged steel. We are hunting a monster." "We are hunting one hundred Spirit Stones," Zhang Hu corrected him sharply. "Watch the branches. If he moves, shoot him down." High above, Ye Chen smiled. It was a cold expression devoid of warmth. "System, isolate the two men on the left flank," Ye Chen whispered into the darkness. "Give me their exact distance and visual blind spots." [Target One: Distance twelve meters. Blind spot located at upper right periphery.] [Target Two: Distance fourteen meters. Currently looking at the ground. Evasion probability: Zero.] "Perfect," Ye Chen replied softly. "They wanted to hunt. Let us show them how the beasts of this forest operate." Ye Chen activated the Cloud Step. He simply stepped off the branch, allowing gravity to pull him down while using the compressed air beneath his boots to silence his descent. He landed directly behind the furthest mercenary. "What was that?" the man gasped, spinning around. Ye Chen clamped a hand over the man's mouth, funneling his terrifying strength into his other arm. With a single brutal twist, a loud crack echoed through the clearing. Ye Chen lowered the lifeless body to the damp earth without making a sound. "Did you hear something?" the second mercenary asked, taking a hesitant step forward. "Liu? Where are you?" "He is currently indisposed," Ye Chen said, stepping out from behind a massive oak tree. The mercenary raised his sword, but Ye Chen was already moving. He bypassed the clumsy swing entirely, driving his reinforced fist directly into the man's chest. The impact shattered the mercenary's sternum instantly, sending him flying backward into the brush. "Over there!" Zhang Hu roared, swinging his executioner sword toward the sound. "Attack!" The two remaining lackeys charged blindly into the undergrowth. "Stop!" Zhang Hu yelled, recognizing the terrain. "Do not rush in blindly! The vines!" They tripped over a thick concealed root Ye Chen had deliberately exposed earlier. Their weight triggered a massive snare. A rotting tree trunk, suspended high in the canopy, swung down like a giant pendulum. The two lackeys shrieked as the timber crushed them against the forest floor, incapacitating them beneath thousands of pounds of dead wood. Zhang Hu charged forward, face pale with horror. He threw his sword aside and desperately grabbed the massive log, muscles bulging as he tried to heave it off his men. "Come on!" Zhang Hu screamed. "Push! I have you!" "They cannot hear you, Zhang Hu," Ye Chen’s voice floated down from the branches. A secondary vine snapped. The log shifted violently, rolling backward. "No!" Zhang Hu shouted. The massive trunk clipped his right side, crushing him against a jagged boulder. A sickening crunch echoed through the clearing as his ribcage caved in. Zhang Hu collapsed to the ground, coughing a thick spray of blood. Ye Chen dropped down from the canopy, landing gracefully. "You rigged a beast snare," Zhang Hu wheezed, clutching his ruined side. "You used the dark to funnel my men right into it. You are no outer sect trash. You are a demon." "I am just a boy trying to survive," Ye Chen said, walking slowly toward him. "You came into my home to take my head. I simply defended my territory." "System, analyze his condition," Ye Chen commanded silently. [Target: Zhang Hu. Condition: Severely Injured. Multiple fractures detected in right ribcage.] [Weakness: Structural integrity compromised. A single blunt force strike to this area will be fatal.] Ye Chen looked down. The imposing cultivator was now just a broken man bleeding out in the dirt. "You said you needed the bounty to buy your sick daughter medicine," Ye Chen said, his voice softening. "Is that the truth, or just a story to make me hesitate?" Zhang Hu spat blood, his eyes burning with agonizing sorrow. "I am a killer. I have done terrible things for silver. But I do not lie about my blood. She has a rot in her lungs. Only an alchemy pill from a cultivation sect can save her. Elder Wang promised me the pill and the stones. I failed her. I failed my little girl." Tears mixed with the dirt on his scarred face. Ye Chen stood in silence. They were both pawns. Elder Wang did not care about Zhang Hu’s daughter, and Su Rou did not care about Ye Chen’s life. "I am an orphan, Zhang Hu," Ye Chen said quietly. "I know what it means to be abandoned by the world. I understand your desperation." "Then let me strike," Zhang Hu gritted his teeth, forcing himself onto one knee. He grabbed a discarded dagger, his hand shaking violently. "Give my daughter a chance to live." "I cannot do that," Ye Chen replied resolutely. "My life is no longer mine to give away. I have a debt of blood to collect. But I promise you this. When I tear the sect down, I will find a way to send medicine to your family." "Words of a dead man!" Zhang Hu roared. Funneling his absolute last drop of Qi, the mercenary lunged in a desperate parental frenzy. He thrust the glowing dagger directly at Ye Chen’s heart. Ye Chen did not dodge. He trusted the sixty points he had poured into his Defense. The glowing dagger struck his chest. A loud metallic clang rang out. The terrifying force pushed Ye Chen back a step, but the blade did not penetrate his skin. The reinforced tissue absorbed the shock completely. Zhang Hu’s eyes widened in absolute despair. "I am sorry," Ye Chen whispered. He brought his right fist up in a tight arc, channeling his strength directly into Zhang Hu’s shattered ribcage. The remaining ribs snapped into his lungs. The mercenary leader collapsed backward, lifeless before he hit the ground. [Experience gained: 1500 Points. Congratulations. Host has defeated an enemy vastly superior in cultivation rank. Reward: 200 System Points.] [Special Reward Unlocked: Inventory Space. Host may now store non living items in a dimensional pocket.] "Inventory space," Ye Chen muttered. "That will be incredibly useful." He reached into Zhang Hu’s armor to search for identification he could send back to the family. His fingers brushed against a thick parchment sealed with the Azure Cloud Sect crest. "System, analyze this document," Ye Chen said. [Analysis complete. Direct missive from Outer Sect Elder Wang to a proxy merchant in the mortal capital.] Ye Chen read the words aloud, his voice growing colder with every syllable. "Core Disciple Su Rou has agreed to our terms. Her ascension requires massive amounts of refined Spirit Stones to feed the stolen Spiritual Bone she acquired from the servant Ye Chen. She requires the boy kept alive and suffering." Ye Chen gripped the edges of the parchment tightly. "The founding artifact of our sect will only recognize the original bloodline of the bone," Ye Chen continued reading. "Su Rou must harvest the boy's lingering resentment and blood essence to completely sever his soul connection, otherwise the artifact will reject her. Ensure the mercenaries keep him contained until she is ready for the ritual harvest." Ye Chen slowly lowered the letter. "They did not just steal my future," Ye Chen whispered to the dark trees. "They kept me alive for three years just to ripen my resentment so she could steal the founding artifact of the sect." [Warning. Host heart rate is elevating rapidly. Emotional stabilization recommended.] "I am perfectly stable, System," Ye Chen smiled. It was a terrifying sight. "Store this letter in the Inventory Space. This is no longer just about revenge. This is about total annihilation." [Letter stored in Inventory Space.] Before Ye Chen could take a single step, the ground beneath his boots emitted a deafening groan. "System?" Ye Chen asked, looking down. [Emergency Alert. Geological instability detected. The deadfall trap and violent combat have fractured the weakened crust above the subterranean Spirit Vein.] The earth violently gave way. The clearing collapsed inward, opening into a massive black abyss. Ye Chen tried to activate his Cloud Step, but the sudden rush of highly pressurized toxic Qi disrupted his focus. He fell backward, swallowed entirely by the ancient cavern hidden deep beneath the forest.
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Thunder vs Phantom
"My Master said to make it slow," Lei Bao rumbled.Actual sparks of blue lightning arced across his thick knuckles, illuminating his heavy features. He stepped closer, his massive frame casting a long shadow over Ye Chen."I am going to start with your legs," Lei Bao continued, his voice echoing loudly in the tense silence of the amphitheater. "I will shatter your knees so you can never stand before your betters again. I want you to completely understand your place in this world, trash.""My place is standing exactly where I am right now," Ye Chen replied calmly. His voice carried effortlessly across the arena. "Do you truly believe Elder Wang cares about you, Lei Bao? You are just another dog he threw into the fighting pit. When I am done with you, he will abandon you in the dirt, just like he abandons everyone else.""Shut your mouth!" Lei Bao roared, his face twisting into pure rage. "I am the pride of the Outer Sect! I am destined to be an Inner Sect elite! You are nothing but
Uninvited Challenger
The deafening strike of the great bronze gong still vibrated in the crisp mountain air. Ye Chen stood before the notice board in the empty entry plaza, his eyes fixed on the official declaration of his own execution. He lowered his hand to the hilt of his rusted sword.The Grand Assessment was the singular event that separated the worthless from the elite in the Azure Cloud Sect. It was held within the sunken arena of the Outer Peak, a massive stone basin carved directly into the mountain rock by the founding ancestors. Thousands of disciples gathered there today to fight for resources, for elevated status, and for the rare chance to step into the Inner Sect.Ye Chen turned away from the notice board and began walking toward the echoing cheers. His torn, blood stained gray robes flapped wildly in the wind.Inside the arena, the atmosphere was electric. Elder Wang stood heavily on the elevated jade platform overlooking the central fighting stage. He wore his finest emerald robes, hi
The Ice Queen
The cavern wall behind Ye Chen shattered into a million pieces of sparkling ice dust. The sheer force of the cold was unimaginable.Ye Chen materialized a few feet away, stepping seamlessly out of his own shadow as the Phantom Sword Step deactivated. His breath plumed into thick white clouds in the suddenly freezing air. He looked at the woman in the white robes.She did not speak. Her pitch black eyes were entirely void of reason, swirling with the same toxic green energy that pulsed within the cavern walls. She raised her pale hands again, and the temperature plummeted further."System," Ye Chen said, keeping his voice low as he gripped the rusted sword. "She is not attacking me specifically. She is attacking everything. The poison has completely warped her mind."[Affirmative. The target is experiencing severe neurotoxic hallucinations. The raw Spirit Vein Qi has breached her mental defenses. She perceives you as a monstrous threat.]"I need to neutralize her without killing h
The Sword Saint Grave
"System," Ye Chen groaned into the absolute darkness, his voice rough with dust and dried blood. "Give me a full damage report. Do it now."[Affirmative. Host sustained severe blunt force trauma from the geological collapse. Left fibula fractured. Minor internal bleeding detected in the lower abdomen. Healing protocols are currently initiating.]"Use whatever energy is left from my previous beast hunts to fix my leg," Ye Chen commanded. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, wincing as sharp pain shot through his side. "Where exactly are we? I cannot see a single thing down here."[We are located three miles beneath the Myriad Beast Forest. The ambient Qi here is highly toxic. It is the raw, unrefined discharge of the fractured subterranean Spirit Vein you learned about earlier.]"So we fell directly into the poison source," Ye Chen said, coughing as the heavy, metallic tasting air filled his lungs. "Can my new defense stats handle this toxicity?"[Your reinforced tissue will dela
Turning the Tables
"Boss, where did he go?" a mercenary’s voice trembled, echoing loudly against the sheer rock face. "Men do not just step into the sky. He vanished into thin air.""Hold your ground and keep your blades up," Zhang Hu commanded. His deep voice cut through the rising panic, masking his own uncertainty. "He used a movement technique to reach the trees. He is up there right now, watching us.""I do not like this, Boss," another mercenary muttered. "The sect intel said he was a crippled servant. But his skin turned my dagger away like it was forged steel. We are hunting a monster.""We are hunting one hundred Spirit Stones," Zhang Hu corrected him sharply. "Watch the branches. If he moves, shoot him down."High above, Ye Chen smiled. It was a cold expression devoid of warmth."System, isolate the two men on the left flank," Ye Chen whispered into the darkness. "Give me their exact distance and visual blind spots."[Target One: Distance twelve meters. Blind spot located at upper right
Prey vs Predator
The rushing stream masked Ye Chen’s breathing. He stood perfectly still, eyes locked onto the dense canopy. The Myriad Beast Forest was dark and alive with ancient malice."System, confirm the target," Ye Chen whispered.A translucent blue screen flickered in his periphery. The mechanical voice echoed directly into his soul.[Target identified: Grade 2 Wind Blade Wolf.][Cultivation Equivalent: Body Tempering Stage 5.][Warning: Target agility surpasses Host by thirty percent. Probability of evasion low. Direct physical confrontation highly unadvised. Utilize environmental advantages.]"Thirty percent faster," Ye Chen breathed out slowly. "Then I cannot outrun it. Or punch what my eyes cannot catch."High in the branches, two glowing yellow eyes blinked. A guttural growl shook the damp air."You rely on sheer speed," Ye Chen spoke aloud, stepping backward toward the muddy riverbank. "You think I am prey."The wolf snarled. It launched from the tree, a terrifying blur of silver
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