The cold winds of sunset carried the scent of ancient rocks and falling leaves on the outskirts of the White Bone Mountains, where shadows intertwined to paint a gloomy picture reflecting the cruelty of the martial arts world.
Amidst this desolate climate, a strange procession moved at a slow pace toward the eastern borders of the Sword of Radiance Sect’s territory.
It was not a procession of lavish carriages or heavily armed guards; rather, it was a young man with pure white hair and crimson eyes like burning galaxies, walking with steady steps overflowing with absolute dominance, followed closely by a young girl with pearly hair and a slightly trembling body named Qing’er, while behind them crawled in shame and disgrace a young man in a torn robe with his face stained with dust and tears—Ling Zhan, whose arrogance had been completely shattered, reduced to the likes of a driven hound following its new master’s footsteps.
Dark never once looked back to witness the pathetic state of his first prey; in his eyes, Ling Zhan was nothing more than a trivial insect not even worth wasting extra energy to crush permanently.
All that mattered to Dark at that moment was monitoring the continuous changes within his sea of consciousness, where the luxurious golden-arched screen constantly updated its data without stopping.
Thanks to the “100x Amplification Feature” linked to Qing’er, every breath the girl took and every ounce of spiritual energy she absorbed from her natural surroundings was multiplied a hundredfold to flow directly into Dark’s neurological pathways and physical body, pushing the “Overwhelming Divine Elephant Technique” to awaken deeper cells within his structure, bringing the total number of awakened cells to 18 out of the 840 million targeted cells.
Although this number seemed minuscule in the vast ocean of the technique, the explosive power granted by these eighteen cells was enough to give his body a hardness and steeliness rivaling practitioners in stages far higher than his current Foundation Establishment phase.
Qing’er felt an ongoing wave of astonishment invading her mind with every step she took beside this mysterious youth.
She could not comprehend how her body, which had suffered for years from the slow progress of her Cold Wind meridians, had transformed into a terrifying energy-absorbing machine operating at an efficiency surpassing the greatest geniuses of the sect.
She felt every cell in her veins pulsing with new life, and the previous barrier of her level, which once looked like an impenetrable rock wall, shattered and vanished as if it had never existed, prompting her to leap instantly toward the peak of the Body Tempering stage, stepping firmly on the threshold of Foundation Establishment.
In contrast, she was well aware that this miraculous development was no free gift, but rather the fruit of her complete submission to a cosmic entity incomparable to any mortal she had ever known.
After marching for several hours under the cover of night, the massive gates of the Sword of Radiance Sect loomed clearly before them.
The gates were forged from petrified dragon-wood and decorated with giant sword engravings emitting a sharp aura meant to deter any wild beast or hostile practitioner, while the towering stone towers housed outer and inner disciples standing in pretentious stances overflowing with the arrogance typical of major sect members.
As the procession of Dark, Qing’er, and Ling Zhan approached the main gate, the guards froze in place, their eyes widening in shock and horror as they saw the condition of Ling Zhan—the pampered scion of a local family and prominent supporter of the sect—walking submissively and dust-stained behind a strange, white-haired youth with terrifying crimson eyes.
“Halt!
Who are you, and how dare you bring such a humiliating spectacle to the borders of the Sword of Radiance Sect?” shouted one of the chief guards, a tall youth wearing a red robe distinguishing advanced inner-sect disciples, stepping forward with his spiritual sword drawn, attempting to control his prestige before his peers.
Dark did not utter a single word.
There was no justification for speaking to another insect standing in his path.
He merely raised his left hand slightly forward, unleashing a simple flash of the Divine Elephant’s pressure combined with the Sovereign Immunity aura.
It was not a targeted strike, but merely a light breath of his physical energy.
In that instant, the guard felt as though a mountain of solid iron had suddenly crashed onto his chest.
His knees buckled involuntarily, slamming into the stony ground with immense force that cracked the tiles into a thousand fragments, a muffled cry of pain escaping him as he vomited saliva and blood, his spiritual sword slipping from his hand to shatter into scattered pieces on the ground.
A dead, horrifying silence swept across the entire gate perimeter; the remaining guards backed away with trembling steps, eyes wide with terror, utterly incapable of even raising their weapons to face this terrifying entity that had humiliated one of their strongest guards with a single glance and a casual pressure aura.
Dark strode through the broken gate with absolute calm, his white hair flowing lightly with the cool night breeze, his crimson eyes scanning the sect as if he owned the place entirely.
Qing’er followed closely behind with steady steps, having completely shed her old fear, realizing that staying beside this sovereign interloper would one day allow her to stand at the peak of this entire world, while a new, bloody chapter of the struggle for power and dominance within the Sword of Radiance Sect began to be written in letters of fire and blood.
”Thank you for reading Chapter 4!
Will the elders of the Sword of Radiance Sect recognize the terrifying storm crashing through their gates?
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