The shop’s threshold imploded in a storm of jagged splinters.
Three upper-stage demonic cultivators surged through the gap, their blades dripping with dark, congealed blood and reeking of slaughter.
Lux moved before the dust could settle.
Channeling The Burning Fire, a fierce, scarlet aura erupted around his white fur.
He didn’t growl; he lunged, a living bolt of crimson lightning crashing directly into the lead cultivator’s chest.
The impact threw the man back, but the second cultivator retaliated instantly, bringing a heavy, jagged saber down toward Lux’s spine.
“Get back!” Airan roared, throwing himself forward.
His right arm, still stiff from past injuries, screamed in protest as he whipped his hand outward.
Two low-grade explosive talismans flickered to life between his fingers.
He slapped them onto a wooden pillar and triggered them with a spike of Qi.
BOOM!
The concussive shockwave and flying timber shattered the second attacker’s momentum, throwing him off balance.
The third demonic cultivator shrieked, a wild blood-art frenzy turning his eyes bloodshot.
He ignored his fallen comrades, lunging directly at Max with a terrifying burst of speed.
His blade slashed downward, aiming to cleave Max in two.
Before the blow could land, Lux intercepted it.
The white beast threw his entire body sideways, taking the full, crushing weight of the blade across his flank.
The metal bit deep into muscle and bone, tearing a horrific gash across Lux’s abdomen.
The beast let out a choked, agonized yelp, yet his jaws clamped down viciously onto the cultivator’s forearm, channeling superheated thermal Qi straight into the man’s flesh.
With a smoking, charred arm, the cultivator screamed, thrashing wildly.
Airan closed the remaining distance, his face twisted in a mask of grim fury.
He abandoned all defense, driving a hardened dagger straight beneath the cultivator’s ribs and twisting it with every ounce of his remaining strength.
The man convulsed once and collapsed.
Max quickly pulled a communication talisman, activating it to send a desperate distress signal to his daughter before dropping it. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
For four grueling hours, Airan, Max, and Lux held the bottleneck of the shop against relentless waves, successfully slaying three late-level cultivators.
Outside, the chaos peaked as the massive North Gate of Zone D was completely shattered.
Zone D reinforcement teams flooded the streets, clashing with the raiders.
Just as total defeat loomed, a streak of cold, blue sword light cut through the smoke.
Lana had arrived from the sect, her 8th-level Qi pressure sweeping across the district.
Alongside the remaining reinforcements, she hunted down and slaughtered the surviving invaders.
When the dust settled, Airan could barely stand, bearing a broken right shoulder, a fractured left leg, and a deep chest wound.
Max was severely mangled with multiple broken bones.
But the heaviest toll belonged to Lux.
The beast lay motionless in a pool of blood, hanging by a thread with a fifty-fifty chance of survival after shielding Airan from the heaviest blows.
Author’s Note: Thanks for reading Chapter 24!
Airan’s journey from a penniless herb collector to a spirit distiller starts here.