Chapter 141: Destructive Whim

~~~

The nature of a day can only be ascertained when it is over. No one knows that better than Liu Jin.

Until the very end, the day Eastern Port City fell was just like any other.

“Precision, Young Master. Precision,” Liu Jin says as he weaves in between Feng Hao’s attacks. A piece of blue cloth is affixed to his robes, just above his heart. “Your target is in front of you. You just need to hit it.”

Easy to say, considerably harder to do. Indeed, irritation gradually accumulates in Feng Hao’s brow as his repeated attempts to hit the blue cloth are met with failure.

“How am I supposed to hit Elder Brother if he already knows where I am aiming?!”

Even as he yells, Feng Hao crouches low and aims for a leg sweep. Liu Jin easily jumps over it.

“Your enemies will usually be more aware of their weaknesses than you, Young Master. When the time for battle comes, they will be ready to protect them. Now.”

Liu Jin leans his head to the side to dodge a fireball.

“I will not deny overwhelming your opponent’s defenses with pure ferocity is also an option, one that suits Young Master much better than this.”

Feng Hao twists in mid-air. Liu Jin sidesteps as the young boy’s heel comes down.

“However, there will come a time when precision will be needed, and when it does, you will be thankful you were vexed for a few hours in the training room rather than a few seconds in the battlefield where any mistake can mean death.”

“Did Elder Brother also have to learn like this?” Feng Hao asks, pausing to catch his breath. As expected, Feng Hao burns himself out far too quickly. He always aims to overwhelm with a quick, decisive offensive. It is not a bad strategy, but Liu Jin wishes Feng Hao would learn to pace himself better.

“Not quite,” Liu Jin replies. “My master was far more vexing than I am.”

Old Jiang’s teachings were, quite literally, poison. Highly effective poison, but still poison. Putting aside the fact that Lady Ling would kill him for even thinking about it, Liu Jin has no desire to subject Feng Hao to that.

Liu Jin is thinking such thoughts when it happens.

A shockwave of Qi rings throughout the mansion. It is not the wild flare of someone’s aura, nor is it energy molded into a deadly technique. This Qi is not being used to attack or oppress.

It merely carries a message.

“I, Xun Huwen, challenge the great prodigy Feng Hao. Let him come out of hiding and face me by the rules that govern the Eternal Flame Clan! Or let him remain in hiding! Like a coward!”

Xun Huwen.

Elder Xun’s grandson who has recently been released from the Punishment House. A cultivator who has reached the Heaven Realm.

Challenging Feng Hao!

“I, Xun Huwen, challenge the great prodigy Feng Hao. Let him come out of hiding and face me by the rules that govern the Eternal Flame Clan! Or let him remain in hiding! Like a coward!”

As if to prove this is not a daydream, the words ring a second time. Feng Hao almost loses his footing as Xun Huwen’s Qi resonates through the building like the tolling of a bell.

It makes no sense.

Not only is Xun Huwen in the Heaven Realm, he is also Feng Hao’s elder by over three hundred years! Feng Hao is not a grown man but a child who has not even seen ten springs. For someone like Xun Huwen to directly challenge him is laughable! Worthy of scorn and derision.

And yet…

“I, Xun Huwen, challenge the great prodigy Feng Hao. Let him come out of hiding and face me by the rules that govern the Eternal Flame Clan! Or let him remain in hiding! Like a coward!”

The words ring through the mansion a third time, assuring everyone inside this is most certainly not a mistake. Liu Jin and Feng Hao are left staring dumbly at each other, both equally at a loss. Indeed, the entire mansion has gone silent. From the lowest of servants to the strongest guard, all are unsure of how to react.

All but one.

Lady Ling’s Qi surges. The power of a cultivator at the peak of the Heaven Realm engulfs the entire building. There are no words transmitted through the wild flare of her aura. Only emotion.

Only rage.

“Do not leave this room!” Liu Jin yells at Feng Hao. His own steps are already carrying him towards the door. For an instant, Liu Jin even contemplates paralyzing Feng Hao with poison.

“You two! Protect the Young Master with your lives! Do not let him put himself in danger!” Liu Jin orders the two guards standing outside the training room.

When Feng Zhi showed up to threaten him, they had been conspicuous by their absence. Back then, Lady Ling had taken a calculated risk. If Feng Zhi did try to hurt him while inside her house, she’d be allowed to retaliate against him. The only person who had been in danger was Liu Jin.

Liu Jin can only hope she is capable of showing such cold thinking right now. If this were any other disciple, it’d be alright for Lady Ling to react in anger. However, it is Xun Huwen who knocks at their door. No matter what, she cannot kill him.

Even if, by all accounts, Xun Huwen is courting death right now.

Liu Jin speeds up. Qi explodes from the soles of his feet as he chains Ground Contraction after Ground Contraction. Lady Ling is mere hundredths of a second away from reaching the front yard. Some people, most of them, would use this opportunity to get as far away from what is about to happen. By all means, Liu Jin should not be heading there. Lady Ling would approve if he were to stay protecting Feng Hao.

To his most profound regret, that is not what Liu Jin is doing.

Why?

If given enough time to think, Liu Jin would be able to come up with a few reasons. However, it would be a lie to say even a single one of them crossed his mind when his feet started moving. It was simply instinct. A sense of knowing. Whether that will be enough to justify marching into a meeting between Heaven Realm cultivators is not something that should even be contemplated.

No amount of excuses can make this anything other than foolish.

The air is so heavy with the pressure created by two high-level cultivators it is as if Liu Jin is making his way through mud. With every step, the pressure intensifies to the point he might as well be breaking through stone just to move. The world itself is telling him not to go that way.

Yet, Liu Jin breaks into the front yard all the same and lays eyes on Xun Huwen for the first time.

When Liu Jin had first heard of the dangerous cultivator who awakened to Destruction, the image his mind conjured had been that of a wild, ferocious man. A muscle-bound warrior who stood a full head and shoulders above the tallest of men. Someone who radiates violence and bloodthirst from his every pore.

Xun Huwen is none of those things.

Xun Huwen is dainty.

Perhaps Xun Huwen wouldn’t appreciate being thought of as such. Liu Jin wouldn’t now. Regardless, it is the first word that comes to mind when looking at him.

He is not particularly tall and might even be the same height as Lady Ling, just a few inches taller than Liu Jin. His body is lithe, lacking any visible muscles. Even though he is not moving, there is an almost feline grace about him. His face has long eyelashes and high eyebrows but not a hint of mustache or beard. His black hair is cut short. If Xun Huwen wore it long, his soft features might almost help him pass for a woman at a glance.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

His grey eyes glow with power.

Qi rolls from him in waves that crash against Lady Ling’s mansion. Though not an Emperor, Xun Huwen is not exerting nearly as much control over his power as an Emperor would. Lesser cultivators would already be kneeling before him.

At least, they would be if not for Lady Ling.

Though she has always seemed more at home surrounded by luxury, Lady Ling is a cultivator in the ninth level of the Heaven Realm. Her aura roars, pushing back against Xun Huwen’s Qi and rising over the mansion like a shield. She does this not to protect the house, her possessions, or her servants, but rather so Feng Hao does not have to be exposed to Xun Huwen’s Qi for even one more second.

“You dare come to my house and threaten my son!”

There is no easy laughter in Lady Ling’s voice. No casual indifference.

Only rage and indignation that rise from the very bottom of her heart.

And yet—despite Xun Huwen being only in the first level of the Heaven Realm—he does not look worried in the slightest.

“Threaten?” Xun Huwen titters. “Whatever are you talking about, Lady Ling? I merely came here to challenge your prodigy child. Even the lowest of disciples know everyone in the Eternal Flame Clan can challenge everyone. What is wrong with this Xun Huwen exercising his right?”

He asks the question in such a natural way Liu Jin is almost tempted to believe him. However, the glint in his eyes betrays him. It is knowing. Taunting.

And above all, smug.

Lady Ling’s Qi spikes. It sends her attendants stumbling and even causes her mansion to creak in protest.

“Your right?” She echoes, her long nails digging into her palms. “Your right?”

“Lady Ling!” Liu Jin cries out, stumbling in his steps as the strength of Lady Ling’s presence doubles. Xun Huwen bears it with ease, but the same can clearly not be said for everyone else. “Please! Your servants and your house cannot bear this weight so easily!”

Her servants and her house.