Immortal of the Ages

The Sword Soul burst forth, its frigid aura unspooling like a cold tempest, consuming the entirety of the environment.

Azure Kite Street, in a mere moment, spiraled into a hell, the very epitome of desolation and demise.

“A protector, eh?” Yun Xiao, once rooted in place, transformed into a white streak, surging headlong into the fray.

“You think you can sneak up on Holy Son Chu, huh?” Xiao He, shrouded in his dark robe, shielded Holy Son Chu with a stern furrow of his brow, a deep-blue Sword Soul hurtling from his grasp.

Yun Xiao didn’t spare a glance at his Sword Aura. When he slew, he didn't measure his opponent's Sword Aura layers; he knew none possessed more than his own.

To Xiao He, Yun Xiao's sword birthed an azure, furious dragon, its roars echoing as it daringly sped towards him.

“He’s coming for me?” Xiao He laughed, a quiet, incredulous chuckle echoing amidst the chaos. This brazen audacity… He who stood mightier than numerous Great Sword Venerables in Sword Heaven!

Xiao He anchored himself, a deep-blue Palm Sword poised in one hand. Defending with one, and with the other, he unleashed a Planet grade sword technique.

“Shadows of the Sky-Bound Crane!” The deep-blue Sword Soul birthed a sword sea, releasing a shadow, which, like a tumultuous wave, cascaded forward. This strike, akin to a boundless ocean, swallowed dragons in a solitary swoop.

“Master Xiao, what power!” Holy Son Chu and Lin Lin, among others, secretly rejoiced. A powerful Sword Aura meant nothing without the cultivation to back it up! With Xiao He personally taking action, Yun Xiao would be reduced to dust in no time!

Observing the rolling sea before him, Yun Xiao's eyes sharpened. “Beneath its vastness, it lacks finesse; a sword with gaps dares to claim to be Planet grade?” His cold laugh cut through, the Azure Dragon Squall in his hand altering its trajectory, striking forth three dragons with a singular sword stroke. The dragons on either side gnawed at the sea of sword energy, the central sword, akin to a dragon bursting forth, ferociously pierced through.

“Little worm… WHAT?!” Xiao He’s once placid face transformed in the clash's immediate aftermath, his expression plummeting into stark horror.

Yun Xiao's two flanking azure dragons, with a sweeping, majestic sword technique, forcefully dispersed Xiao He’s sword intention. That central sword, moreover, struck with a bamboo-splitting momentum, a brilliantly delicate and lethal stroke.

“His power is nearing mine!” Xiao He cried out, his soul violently shuddering. A cold sweat instantly washed over his forehead.

If Yun Xiao could not even endure a single blow from Chu Yan, it would place him at the Early Origin Core Realm, the first transformation of the Origin Core. But the pressure of the power Xiao He presently felt surged beyond the Perfect Origin Core Realm, nearly catching up to the Establishment Origin Core Realm!

“It isn't just his power. His swordplay is stronger than mine!” Xiao He gritted his teeth.

This was a truly fatal revelation!

With a chorus of clashing, when Yun Xiao’s roaring dragon sword zoomed towards Xiao He’s chest, he had no choice but to parry with his own!

A stark clang resonated as the azure Sword Soul sharply collided against the side of the deep-blue Sword Soul. Blinding sparks erupted momentarily, an excruciating screech ringing out in the air. A thousand present involuntarily shielded their ears in shared agony.

“NOOOO!” Xiao He’s eyes violently ruptured, a wail of sheer torment tearing from him. In his very last moments, the man swung his head around, fierce indignation burning in his eyes, to glare at Holy Son Chu. "You… you did this to me! You lying little…!"

Were it not for Holy Son Chu's insistence that Yun Xiao posed as much threat as a paper tiger, he wouldn't have let his guard down. Sadly, the life of a Sword Cultivator was much like a high-stakes dance on the edge of a blade—one misstep, one false move, and it was curtains.

With an explosive sound that resonated like a thunderclap, their Sword Souls collided. Yet, Xiao He's deep-blue Sword Soul faltered and shattered almost instantly, spreading out like shrapnel and scarring his own physique.

Try as Xiao He might, no sword fragments, no matter how valiantly, could turn away Yun Xiao's unforgiving attack. Yun Xiao's sword passed through the man's chest like a hot knife through butter. Not a single crimson drop of life fell from his body as the azure Sword Soul acted like a leech, absorbing it all.

Before a gasp or wailed protest could be shed by any spectator, Yun Xiao ruthlessly pulled his trusty sword free.

Xiao He's body went as limp as a rag doll and crumpled at Yun Xiao's feet. His soul escaping in wisps to the ether, the gaping hole in his chest marking the undeniable signature of mortality.

Even in the veil of death that drew close, he dredged up the last of his strength, shaky hand outstretched towards Yun Xiao, voice a rasp, "Your... one… sword..." His eyes, once bright, were now pools of primal horror.

"Well, aren't you a mighty Dao Protector? Thought you could outmatch me? Couldn't even take a single sword stroke, could you?" Among a sea of stunned faces, Yun Xiao smirked. The joke was on them. Without wasted breath, he thrust his sword forward, impaling the lifeless man several times over until his own name, Yun Xiao, emerged in vivid crimson on the man's body—a cruel mockery.

"Agh…!" Xiao He trembled violently before his eyes rolled over and he breathed his last.

"A top swordsman of the Forbidden Tower, eh? Able to match sword swings with Great Sword Venerable? That's what they told me. What a joke!" After muttering those words, colder than a winter's day, Yun Xiao neatly severed the head with a single, decisive stroke.

With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the lifeless head towards a stunned maiden adorned in a yellow skirt. The head landed in her unprepared arms, staining her with blood.

The maiden, Lin Lin, was a statue of mute horror, her hands trembling as she held the decapitated trophy. She didn't even summon the strength to hurl the macabre object away...

She looked on with shocked, wide eyes at the young man before her, while tremors ran wild through her body. Looking down at the severed head, she found his face frozen in an eternal grimace, his tongue lolling out grotesquely.

"Lin Lin, your precious Holy Son Chu is really something else, eh? His own Dao Protector couldn't even take a single sword stroke from me. And I can't even take a single sword stroke from him. That must mean he must be far superior to even the Forbidden Tower Lord, huh?" Yun Xiao mocked.

"Ahhhhh!" Only then did the horrifying reality hit Lin Lin. Letting out a cry she vaguely registered as her own, she hurled the detached head away and turned an accusing gaze on Holy Son Chu.

The air thickened as every eye in the vicinity fixed on him. The unsettling and bitter outcry of betrayal that echoed one last time from Xiao He, "You… you did this to me!", reverberated like a desperate cry of the damned, leaving a deep impression on all who bore it witness.

"I...I..." Holy Son Chu's eyes quaked in terror. He stumbled backward, fear washing over his face. He was speechless.

"There's no need for chatter. Kill him!" Suddenly, Patriarch Fan surged forward, his sword aimed at Yun Xiao!

A powerhouse in the same league as Xiao He! However, his attack bore the weight of his full strength. There was not an ounce of condescension. Another Great Sword Venerable level expert at the Establishment Origin Core Realm!

Patriarch Fan was a towering figure. The Palm Sword in his hand measured a staggering four feet, a giant golden blade. His sword came slashing down like a lion pouncing on its prey. The attack was ruthless, vicious, and brutal!

KLANG KLANG! Unfazed, Yun Xiao continued his march towards Holy Son Chu! He didn't even spare a glance at Patriarch Fan. His Sword Soul transformed into a Flying Sword, shooting out with ferocious speed.

"Ten-Step Scale?" Patriarch Fan recognized it immediately. "You're using a mere Low Moon grade Flying Sword Technique against me?"

As his words echoed, the Ten-Step Scale exploded a total of thirteen times. The final three explosions were so brilliantly executed they were like divine strokes, catapulting the destructive capabilities of the Flying Sword technique from Moon to Planet grade.

BOOM BOOM BOOM! Three consecutive blasts, quick as phantom reflections, weaved through Patriarch Fan's offensive, one sword striking deep into his shoulder blade.

"Ah!" Patriarch Fan screamed miserably. An arm, accompanied by a chunk of his shoulder, detached from his body and flew through the air.

Yun Xiao suddenly emerged before him, catching his azure Flying Sword. The sword elongated into a three-feet-long blue edge with a hundred layers of Sword Aura swirling around it.

"You're three stages above me, do you think I can't kill you?" Yun Xiao sneered internally. "My Sword Aura is sixty layers higher than yours!"

In the Sea of Swords, his Heaven Burial Sword Soul was a truly exceptional super sword of its own. In terms of the sword alone, no one could rival it; no one dared to.

Yun Xiao struck again! The azure Sword Soul cut through the air and, like cutting tofu, it severed Patriarch Fan's other arm. THUD! Another arm was lost.

WHOOSH! With yet another slash from Yun Xiao, the Sword Soul cut again, just as with tofu, severing both of Patriarch Fan's legs in the process.

THUD! Patriarch Fan landed with a cry ripping out from the depth of his soul, his blood splattering across the ground. "Stop!!"

STAB! Just as he finished pleading, a Flying Sword fell from the sky, piercing his throat ruthlessly, nailing him to the spot.

"Just another weakling, unable to even withstand half a sword stroke from Holy Son Chu!" Yun Xiao flicked his fingers, the azure Flying Sword returning to his hand, spinning in place.

The robust body of Patriarch Fan slumped lifelessly.

"Dad!" Both Fan Jian and Xiao Xing'er, eyes bleeding with anguish, knelt down hard. The look on their faces was beyond desolate, their souls quaking.

The father-daughter duo, Ning Que and Ning Jing, stumbled back several steps, almost falling on their faces, tongue-tied with shock and awe.

The myriad Sword Cultivators watched on, rooted in place, their throats burning, bloodshot eyes filled with bewilderment as they stared at the young man in white robes.

Holy Son Chu, eyes stretched to a bewildering wideness, found himself without voice, his knees collapsing into the muddy, well-trodden earth before Yun Xiao. The moment lingered in the damp air, suspended between disbelief and the harsh tang of pending humiliation.

"Brother Chu…" Lin Lin, her heart a fluttering mess, sank down next to him, hands caked with dirt as she propelled herself backwards, the streams of tears carving trails through the grime on her cheeks.

"Holy Son Chu, tell me. Back in the Northern Wastelands, I couldn't even take a single swordstroke from you, is that right?" Yun Xiao said, with an air of leisure that betrayed the scene's tension, stepped forward. His smile sweet yet laced with insidious charm, regarded the kneeling youth before him.

"Y-yes.. Yes. I… I…" Holy Son Chu managed only a choked stammer, his violet robe darkening with an unspoken shame as sweat and stench mingled openly. Lin Lin, close enough to discern the unpleasant combination, could only bear witness, her own words lost in a sea of emotion.

“He’s soiled himself, Lin Lin. But even now, I wager you find his filth has a certain… sweetness?” Yun Xiao tilted his head, casting his mocking gaze towards her. The vibrant air of the street stumbled into an uneasy quiet. And Lin Lin trembled, unable to form words as her body seized up.

Yun Xiao, his sword now drawn, gently coaxed the bandage from Holy Son Chu's head. Holy Son Chu's hollow cheeks, once concealed, now provided a gorey spectacle to the onlookers.

“Oh dear, Holy Son Chu,” Yun Xiao began, his voice dripping with a playful venom. “Whatever happened to your ears during your trip to the Northern Wastelands? Surely I didn't chop them off? After all, I was hardly a match for a single stroke of your sword!”

JustLivingJL's Thoughts

P.S. New tier drops tomorrow.

Edit: Hey @Soveress! What was that about dragging Lin Lin out only for the word count? NOPE! It was for the SLAPS! Didn't think you'd get your own Ning Yan moment, eh?