But just then, a jade pendant tucked into Elder Thorne's robes, engraved with the words Azure Sun, suddenly shatters. A spiritual will carrying boundless fury and authority erupts skyward, forming in midair into an immense, commanding human face. Its gaze locks onto you instantly, a thunderous roar echoing across the entire sky of Bluestone City.
"Who dares kill my Azure Sun elder?"
That massive face, condensed from pure willpower, hangs suspended in the sky, its commanding features twisted with fury. The thunderous demand echoes over Bluestone City like the wrath of a god, pressing down on the entire city until people can barely breathe.
"Who dares kill my Azure Sun elder?"
Damian and the others turn deathly pale, their bodies swaying on the verge of collapse. This projection of will, though it carries no true physical force, contains a will far more terrifying than Elder Thorne himself was, a hundred times over. It's the spiritual projection of sect master Alistair Vane, a true late stage Core Formation Realm powerhouse. Facing a demand from a being like this, the sheer pressure alone is enough to shatter the will of any Heaven-Piercing Realm cultivator.
And yet, you simply lift your head slowly. You study the massive face hovering in the sky the way one might look at an amusing toy.
"Too noisy."
You breathe out the words lightly, then form your fingers into a blade, slashing casually at that massive face.
There's no earth-shattering surge of energy, no dazzling technique, just that simple, effortless slash.
A faint tearing sound, like fabric ripping, echoes out. High above, that towering, arrogant, commanding face suddenly splits open with a black crack right between its brows. The crack spreads rapidly, covering the entire face within seconds. The furious expression on Alistair Vane's face freezes in place, replaced by an unmistakable look of disbelief.
The projection of will shatters on the spot, breaking into countless points of light, dissolving into nothing.
Heaven and earth return to stillness once more, as though the world-shattering pressure, that god-like interrogation, had all been an illusion.
Bluestone City falls into a stillness even deeper than before. If killing Elder Thorne with a single fingertip shattered their understanding of what was possible, then this casual slash, which just erased the sect master's spiritual projection, has utterly demolished their ability to comprehend it all.
Is this power a mortal can even possess?
Having done all this, you act as though you've merely swatted away a speck of dust. You lower your hand and never look up again. Your gaze sweeps past the stunned, statue-still Reed clansmen, finally landing on the figure pinned by Chloe's sword tip, collapsed on the ground.
It's Julian. He shakes uncontrollably, like a leaf in a storm. His final hope, his last card to play, the Azure Sun Sect, has turned out to be nothing more than paper thin before you, collapsing at the slightest touch. Terror has completely consumed his mind.
You walk toward him slowly, step by step, looking down at him from above. "Still struggling, chosen one?"
Your voice is quiet, yet it lands like a hammer blow straight to Julian's chest.
"No. No. Who are you? What exactly are you?" Julian babbles incoherently, dragging his body backward, desperate to put distance between himself and the man who's become his endless nightmare.
You don't dignify his foolish question with an answer. Your gaze shifts to the side, to the tear-streaked face of Chloe, her sword hand trembling violently.
"Chloe." Your voice remains just as flat. "Do you still think I was the one in the wrong?"
Chloe's whole body shudders and she jerks her head up, her tear-stained face filled with confusion and pain, trying to speak but not knowing where to even begin.
"You're pitifully foolish." Your voice carries no emotion at all. "You thought he came to you because he liked you. You thought when he stood up for you, guided your cultivation, it meant he cared about you sincerely."
Chloe's face grows paler by the moment.
"The first time he ever met you, all he wanted was that bone inside you. The one that never belonged to you."
The words cut like the sharpest blade, stripping away the veneer of false warmth to reveal the bloody truth beneath.
"He knew the secret of the Hidden Dragon Mountains realm and told no one else. He only brought you along. You thought that was favouritism. He simply needed someone who knew the Reed family, who could give him access, and who could serve as a shield whenever he seized opportunities for himself. In the sword sovereign's cave, he took every last piece of the legacy without hesitation. Did he spare you a single thought? Facing the black spirit beast at the true dragon blood pool, his first instinct was to save himself, leaving you to fend for yourself. You thought that made him a hero? And when every one of his schemes crumbled to nothing in front of me, how did he scream at you? He said it was all your Reed family's fault. He blamed every single one of his failures on you, on your entire family."
Every single word out of you lands like a sharp slap, striking hard across Chloe's face and even harder against her heart.
Scene after scene replays in her mind at lightning speed. Julian's gentle refinement. Julian shielding her at personal cost. Julian's solemn, heartfelt promises. Against the backdrop of your words, all those cherished memories twist instantly into something grotesque and laughable.
She remembers the flash of greed in Julian's eyes whenever he looked at her. She remembers the twisted, resentful expression on his face at the blood pool. She remembers the crazed way he screamed, blaming the Reed family for everything after being defeated by you.
So it was all fake. Every bit of it. The so-called affection, the so-called protection, nothing but a con from beginning to end. He never cared about Chloe as a person. All he ever wanted was the supreme bone inside her, and the advantages her status as a Reed family daughter could give him. From beginning to end, she was nothing but a pathetic, laughable tool he'd used and discarded.
"No. No, that's not right. Julian, tell me. Tell me what he's saying isn't true." Chloe breaks down completely. She turns to look at Julian with one last flicker of hope, desperate to hear even a single word of denial from his mouth.
But Julian is already consumed entirely by fear and despair. Under your all-seeing gaze, every last one of his disguises has been ripped apart. He simply cowers, muttering over and over, "You're a monster. You're a monster."
This is as good as confirming everything.
Chloe can't withstand the blow any longer. She coughs up a mouthful of blood, staining the front of her robe. Looking at the man she once idolised without limit, the man she was even willing to give everything for, the last spark in her eyes extinguishes entirely.
What replaces it is endless regret and cold, burning fury. Regret at her own blindness, at inviting a wolf into the house, at harming her family, and worse still, at harming the brother she should have always cherished.
A shrill, twisted laugh escapes Julian's throat.
Her sword no longer hesitates for even a moment, the blade humming with resonance, carrying the most intense rage and resolve of her life as she drives it straight for Julian's throat.