Han Xiu did not use words. His hand moved toward his sword, and a metallic hum vibrated through the grass. The sheer force of his movement caused the dry earth beneath his boots to split into narrow, jagged lines. He was a peak ninth-level practitioner, and to him, an outer servant holding a pine branch was an insult to his status.
"Die, you slave," Han Xiu said flatly.
The blade left its sheath with a sound like a tearing sheet. A crescent wave of white spiritual energy erupted from the steel, cutting a three-foot-deep trench straight through the yard as it rushed toward my chest. The wind from the strike tore the thatch from the edges of our roof.
I did not back up. I gripped the plain pine staff with both hands, my clay-dense bones locking into place.
’Asura Spear Intent.’ I didn’t have a core to gather energy, but the memory in my soul activated the mass in my muscles. I thrust the wooden tip straight into the center of the rushing white crescent. The invisible pressure from the staff exploded outward, colliding with his spiritual strike in a loud, deafening roar.
The collision sent a massive shockwave across the plot. The dirt between us erupted into a cloud of dust and flying stones, shattering the wooden fence rails to splinters. Han Xiu’s white crescent blade snapped into fragments, dissolving into the air, while my pine staff remained completely whole, its wooden grain humming with a dark force.
Han Xiu took two rapid steps backward, his boots sliding through the gravel as his face turned pale. He looked at his silver sword, then looked at my wooden stick with absolute disbelief. "No core... but you can project physical weapon intent? What kind of monster are you?"
Behind him, Elder Ironwood and the other Ashen Cloud elder stumbled to their knees from the wind of the blast, their jaws completely slack. They had expected Han Xiu to slice me in half with one casual swing; instead, the top genius of the capital region had just been pushed back by a servant.
"I told you to get off my property," I said, my voice smooth, calm, and completely flat as I stepped through the rising dust.
I vanished from his sight. Han Xiu’s instincts as a sword master kicked in, and he instantly swung his blade in a full circle behind his back, creating a protective shield of spinning silver steel.
Clang!
My wooden staff struck the flat of his silver blade from his left side. The raw physical weight of my tempered bones behind the strike smashed through his defensive stance, forcing his silver sword downward into the dirt. The impact was so great that the ground beneath Han Xiu’s feet caved in, creating a six-foot wide crater that shattered the nearby stone walkway.
Han Xiu let out a sharp grunt of pain, the skin between his thumb and index finger cracking open from the vibration, dripping red blood onto his white robe. He scrambled backward out of the crater, his arrogant look completely replaced by a panicked, desperate rage.
"Iron Sword Domain!" Han Xiu roared, his eyes turning bloodshot.
He thrust his bleeding hand into the air, and twelve translucent silver spiritual swords materialized above his head, spinning in a circle. The crushing pressure from the array caused the surrounding bamboo trees at the edge of the woods to snap in half, the heavy air forcing Elder Ironwood to press his face straight into the mud out of pure terror.
"Go!" Han Xiu screamed, pointing his fingers at my throat.
The twelve spiritual blades shot forward simultaneously, tearing through the air with a high-pitched screech, aiming to pierce my chest from every single angle.
From the porch, Ye Xinyang and Mo Ran stepped forward, their fingers tensing, but they didn’t panic. They had seen the silk flags I planted yesterday. The moment the twelve blades entered the boundary line of our plot, the invisible Five-Elements Defensive Silk Array flashed with a soft blue light.
Thud.
All twelve spiritual swords struck the invisible shield ten feet away from the house and shattered into harmless blue sparks, completely unable to penetrate the sanctuary I had built for my family.
Han Xiu stared at the sparks, his breath stopping entirely as his final, ultimate technique vanished into nothing.
Before he could even lower his hand, I appeared right in front of his chest, the tip of my pine staff pressed hard against the hollow of his throat. The invisible Asura Spear Intent radiating from the wood was so sharp it drew a tiny bead of red blood from his skin without even breaking the surface.
"Your domain is weak, Young Master Han," I told him, my voice carrying an unshakeable, terrifying weight that made his entire body freeze. "Your sect spent thousands of gold pieces to give you that silver sword, but you don’t even know how to balance your weight. If I push this staff another inch, your head will leave your shoulders before your elders can even step out of their carriage."
Han Xiu stood rigid in the ruined dirt yard, his hands shaking, his chest rising and falling in rapid, terrified gasps. The peak ninth-level genius of the capital region was completely helpless, pinned to a wooden stick by a coreless servant boy.
I shifted my gaze down to Elder Ironwood, who was shivering in the mud, his gray beard covered in filth.
"Elder Ironwood," I said flatly, my voice cutting through the silent yard. "You brought an outsider to my home to threaten my wifes. Next week, the main sect competition begins. If I see your face anywhere near the outer hall during the matches, I won’t just break your grandson’s wrist. I will test my spear intent on your throat. Take your guest and get off my mountain."
Ironwood didn’t say a single word. He scrambled up, grabbed the bleeding, humiliated Han Xiu by his sleeve, and dragged him back into the white jade carriage. The driver slammed the whip against the spirit horse, and the luxury carriage sped down the mountain path so fast it nearly tipped over the rocky ledge, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind.
I turned around, tossed the wooden staff onto the woodpile, and walked back to the porch.
All four girls were looking at me, their faces full of an intense, beautiful pride and absolute devotion. Gu Qinghan stepped close, her clear eyes looking straight into mine as she reached out and gently wiped a speck of dust from my cheek, her touch sweet and full of love.
"You smashed his domain with a pine branch," Mo Ran said, a wide, mischievous smile lighting up her face as she bumped her shoulder against my arm. "I think the capital sects are going to be very quiet for the rest of the week."
" They should be ," I said, giving them a warm, reassuring nod. "Let’s Go back inside. We have to finish decorating the dining room before lunch."