The Eternal Emperor: Reborn to Slaughter The Gods

The Unseen Blade

"You have a lot of guts for a nameless stray," Iron Tiger said, his voice dropping into a low, murderous rumble. The massive gang leader stepped over the broken crates, his heavy boots crushing the splinters into dust. "You think because you know a little martial arts, you can walk into my territory and steal from my plate? I have slaughtered men three times your size and fed their remains to the shadow wolves."

The remaining guards quickly circled Lu Tian, their weapons drawn and their eyes wide with cautious anger. The market stalls around them began to close up in a hurry, the merchants pulling their wares inside to avoid the inevitable bloodshed. Nobody wanted to be caught in the crossfire when the Black Vulture gang went to work.

Lu Tian stood perfectly still beside the dusty table, his fingers still wrapped gently around the stem of the disguised lotus. He did not look at the guards, nor did he acknowledge the massive man towering over him. To a former emperor who had commanded legions of gods, the threats of a mortal thug were less than the buzzing of a fly.

"You talk too much," Lu Tian said, his voice flat and completely devoid of emotion. "Leave the market now, and you might keep your life."

"I am going to peel the skin from your face," Iron Tiger roared, his patience snapping completely.

The gang leader lunged forward, his massive fist clad in heavy iron bands whistling through the air. The strike carried the full momentum of his fourth stage body refinement, aiming to cave in Lu Tian's chest with a single blow. The sheer air pressure of the punch caused Lu Tian's dark hood to snap backward, revealing his youthful face to the shadows.

Lu Tian did not waste words. He didn't even shift his stance.

As the iron fist came within inches of his face, Lu Tian moved with the terrifying speed of a striking viper. He slipped his left hand inside Iron Tiger’s massive swing, his fingers forming a rigid spear point. Channeling the dense, refined power of the Forbidden Devouring Scripture, he drove his fingertips directly into the nerve cluster beneath Iron Tiger’s armpit.

A dull, wet pop echoed through the narrow alleyway.

Iron Tiger’s entire right arm instantly went limp, the heavy iron bands clanking uselessly as the limb fell to his side. Before the gang leader could even process the sudden loss of sensation, Lu Tian stepped forward, his body moving like a shadow, and delivered a short, brutal palm strike directly into Iron Tiger's lower abdomen.

The strike looked effortless, almost gentle, but the moment Lu Tian's palm made contact, a burst of dark, destructive energy shot straight through Iron Tiger's flesh, completely obliterating his cultivation core and severing the main spiritual meridians in his spine.

Iron Tiger did not fly backward. He simply froze, his eyes bulging out of his head as the color drained from his face. A soft, choked gasp escaped his lips, and he collapsed onto the stone floor like a sack of wet sand, his legs completely paralyzed.

"My core," Iron Tiger whispered, his body trembling violently as he clutched his stomach. "You destroyed my cultivation. You crippled me."

"I told you to leave," Lu Tian said coldly, lifting the frost-covered lotus from the table and placing it inside his cloak.

The remaining guards looked at their fallen leader, who was now weeping and writhing in the dirt, and then at the terrifying teenager. They dropped their scimitars onto the stones, grabbed Iron Tiger by his shoulders, and dragged his heavy body away into the darkness, fleeing as fast as their legs could carry them.

Ye Qingxuan stood in the corner, her hand slowly sliding out of her wide sleeve. The glowing jade talisman she had been holding was gone, replaced by a look of intense scrutiny in her sharp eyes. She had watched the entire exchange without blinking.

"That was not a style from any of the clans in this city," she said, her voice smooth and cold. "You targeted his meridians with absolute precision, using pure physical force to mimic the effects of inner energy. Who taught you that technique?"

Lu Tian turned his gaze toward her, his face calm. "It is a basic strike. It does not require a teacher."

"Do not lie to me," Ye Qingxuan said, stepping out of the shadows. "A basic strike does not bypass iron armor and destroy a cultivation core in a single touch. You knew exactly where his weaknesses were before he even finished his movement."

"If you are here to question me, you are wasting your time," Lu Tian said, turning to walk away. "The gang is gone. You can leave the market safely now."

"Wait," she called out, her eyes narrowing as they locked onto the bulge beneath his cloak where the lotus was hidden. "You didn't step in to save me. You stepped in because you realized what that herb actually is, didn't you?"

Lu Tian paused, his back to her. "It is just a frozen heart lotus."

"To a common merchant, yes," Ye Qingxuan said, taking a step closer, her voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper. "But I have spent months tracking this specific mutation. It carries a rare strain of starlight energy hidden within its core. It is far more valuable than thirty spirit stones. You recognized it instantly."

Lu Tian turned around slowly, measuring her with his eyes. He realized this woman was far more perceptive than the average cultivator in this backwater region. "If you know its value, then you should know I have no intention of giving it back to you."

"I am not asking you to give it back," she replied, a faint, hidden smile touching her lips beneath the veil. "An herb of that nature cannot be consumed raw. If you eat it like a common vegetable, the concentrated frost energy will freeze your organs and kill you within minutes. You need a proper alchemist to refine it."

"And I assume you are that alchemist?" Lu Tian asked.

"My family has the formulas," Ye Qingxuan stated proudly. "I have a private residence near the edge of the city, away from the clans. We split the benefits fifty-fifty. I refine the medicine, we share the liquid essence, and we both get what we want. What do you say?"

Lu Tian calculated the offer in his mind. The Nine-Abyss Seal could refine the herb on its own, but doing so without proper auxiliary materials would cause a massive explosion of spiritual light that would instantly alert the First Elder and the city lord to his location. Working in a secluded place with an established alchemist setup was exactly what he needed to prepare for his upcoming duel.

"Fine," Lu Tian agreed. "Lead the way."

An hour later, they arrived at a small, hidden courtyard tucked away in the bamboo groves near the northern wall of the city. The residence was quiet, surrounded by high stone walls and basic concealment arrays that kept the spiritual fluctuations inside from leaking out.

Inside the main room, a large bronze cauldron stood in the center, heated by special charcoal that burned with a steady, smokeless flame. Ye Qingxuan removed her silver cloak and her veil, revealing a face of breathtaking, ethereal beauty that would have turned heads in any court. Her pale skin and sharp features gave her the appearance of an immortal fairy.

Lu Tian sat on a wooden stool, pulling the lotus from his cloak and placing it on the stone table beside the cauldron. "Begin."

Ye Qingxuan didn't waste time. She gathered several common auxiliary herbs from her satchel, chopping them with practiced ease before tossing them into the heated water inside the cauldron. The room soon filled with a thick, sweet-smelling vapor.

"When I add the lotus, the temperature will drop rapidly," she explained, her hands moving in a series of complex gestures over the boiling liquid. "We must balance the heat using our own inner strength to prevent the medicine from solidifying into useless stone."

She raised her hands, her fingers flexing as she initiated a specific martial fluid movement to channel her inner energy into the cauldron. As her hands wove through the air, her spiritual energy began to manifest as faint, glowing silver threads that twisted and turned like miniature silk ribbons.

Lu Tian watched her movements casually, but as the silver threads began to form a distinct, intricate pattern in the air, his body suddenly went rigid.

His eyes widened, a cold, ancient fury flaring to life in the deepest corners of his soul. He recognized those movements. The specific way she twisted her wrists, the exact rhythm of her breathing, and the unique silver manifestation of her energy were all part of the Star-Severing Method.

It was a technique that did not belong to this era. It was the absolute trademark style of Celestial Emperor Mu Rong, his closest brother who had driven the poisoned blade into his chest ten thousand years ago on the Divine Altar.

As they brew the medicine, Ye Qingxuan accidentally reveals a unique martial technique that Lu Tian recognizes as the trademark style of his worst ancient enemy. Lu Tian's hands tightened against his knees, his knuckles turning white as he stared at the young woman, realizing that the bloodline of his executioner was standing right in front of him.