CG C125: Domain

Kai watched from the hilltop as the battles below reached their climax. His body ached from his own fight, but he couldn't look away from the scene unfolding before him.

This is no battle, Kai thought as he watched the battle between Yin Mengshuang and Li Yuan. It's a one-sided slaughter.

The silver threads tightened around Li Yuan's body, his struggles became more frantic. The Dream Binding Threads glowed ominously, feeding on his deepest fears and insecurities.

"No... please..." Li Yuan gasped, his earlier bravado completely shattered.

Yin Mengshuang's smile was cruel, her eyes glittering with malicious glee. "What's this? A mighty Crimson Phoenix expert, begging for mercy? How pathetic."

She made a sharp gesture with her hand, and the threads suddenly constricted. There was a sickening crunch of bones, and Li Yuan's body went limp, his life extinguished in an instant.

Yin Mengshuang looked down at her fallen opponent, a mix of satisfaction and disappointment on her face. "Well, that was fun while it lasted," she mused, casually brushing a strand of silver hair from her face. "Though I expected more of a challenge from a Core Formation cultivator of the Crimson Phoenix Sect."

Kai felt himself grow pale, the casual cruelty of Yin Mengshuang's actions was chilling. It was something he would have only expected from a demonic cultivator.

"She's... terrifying," he muttered.

Beside him, Shen Yu nodded, his expression unreadable. "Yin Mengshuang is known for her sadistic streak. It's why many in the sect avoid her."

Kai turned his attention to the other battle, where Qi Liaxuan stood staring down Zhao Xiuying. “This is where your journey ends.”

Zhao Xiuying struggled against the mental fog clouding her thoughts. Her eyes, once filled with purpose, now reflected only confusion and weariness.

"No... I can't... I won't give up," she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. With tremendous effort, she began to gather her qi once more, flames flickering weakly around her hands.

Qi Liaxuan's eyes narrowed slightly. "I see you still cling to your defiance. Very well. Let me show you the true nature of the Flowing Abyss."

With a fluid motion, he extended his hand towards Zhao Xiuying. The air between them seemed to ripple and distort, as if reality itself was bending to his will.

"Eternal Flow Convergence.”

Suddenly, Zhao Xiuying found herself unable to move. It wasn't that she was paralyzed - rather, time itself seemed to have stopped for her. She could see Qi Liaxuan approaching, his movements blurring as if he was existing in multiple moments simultaneously.

"What you experienced before was but a taste," Qi Liaxuan explained, his voice echoing strangely in the distorted space. "Now, you will truly understand the transient nature of existence."

He placed his palm on Zhao Xiuying's forehead. In that instant, she felt an overwhelming rush of sensations. She experienced a lifetime - no, multiple lifetimes - in the span of a heartbeat. Birth, growth, decay, death, rebirth - the endless cycle played out in her mind at dizzying speed.

"What's he doing?" Kai whispered, more to himself than to Shen Yu.

Shen Yu's eyes narrowed slightly. "He's using a Domain.”

"A Domain?” Kai's eyes widened in surprise. “But I thought only cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm could use those!"

Shen Yu shook his head slightly. "Normally, yes. But Qi Liaxuan's understanding of the Dao surpasses many Nascent Soul cultivators. He's managed to form a rudimentary Domain even at the Core Formation stage."

Zhao Xiuying's body began to change rapidly. Her hair cycled through black, gray, and white. Her skin smoothed and wrinkled, over and over. She aged and rejuvenated countless times in mere seconds.

Finally, as the technique reached its peak, Zhao Xiuying let out a final, agonized gasp. Her body, unable to withstand the strain of countless lifetimes compressed into a moment, simply... ceased to be. There was no explosion, no dramatic disintegration. One moment she was there, and the next, she was gone, leaving behind nothing but a faint shimmer in the air.

Qi Liaxuan lowered his hand, his face impassive. "And so, the cycle continues," he murmured, almost to himself. "May you find wisdom in your next incarnation, Zhao Xiuying."

Kai felt his stomach lurch. He'd seen death before, had even caused it himself, but this... this was something else entirely.

"She's... gone," Kai said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Just like that. No body, no ashes, nothing."

He turned to Shen Yu, seeking some kind of reassurance or explanation. "Is this normal? For Core Formation cultivators to just... erase someone from existence?"

"Normal? No," Shen Yu shook his head. "But for someone who has truly grasped the Dao of the Flowing Abyss like Qi Liaxuan, it's possible. Within his Domain, he didn't just kill her body. He erased her very existence from this cycle of reincarnation."

"I knew cultivators were powerful, but this..." Kai shook his head, still struggling to find words. "It's like he rewrote reality itself."

Shen Yu's gaze drifted to the horizon, his eyes taking on a distant, almost wistful look. When he spoke, his voice was soft, as if he was speaking more to himself than to Kai.

"Qi Liaxuan is... special, even among Core Formation cultivators. His understanding of the Dao surpasses many Nascent Soul realm experts, perhaps even Wang Lin himself. To form even a rudimentary Domain at his level... it's almost unheard of."

There was something in Shen Yu's tone, a mix of admiration and what almost sounded like longing, that caught Kai's attention. He turned to look at his fellow disciple, struck by the faraway expression on Shen Yu's face.

"The way he manipulates the flow of time and space," Shen Yu continued, his eyes still fixed on some distant point, "it's a glimpse of what true mastery of the Dao looks like. In time, he may reshape the very foundations of reality itself."

As Kai listened, he couldn't shake the feeling that Shen Yu wasn't just making assumptions.

Is Shen Yu describing Qi Liaxuan from... the future?

Shen Yu blinked, seeming to come back to the present moment. He turned to Kai, his usual impassive mask sliding back into place. "You should focus on the battle above, you can learn a lot from the way Nascent Soul cultivators battle.”

But before Kai could do that, he had a question he needed to ask. A question that had been nagging at him since their own fights ended.

“Hey, Shen Yu... what did you take from that cultivator you killed? I saw you grab something from the body."

Shen Yu's expression didn't change, but there was a slight pause before he answered. "Just some resources. It's standard practice to loot the bodies of fallen enemies. Don't tell me you've never done it?"

Kai didn't buy the excuse. There was something off about Shen Yu's response, a hint of evasiveness that set off alarm bells in his mind.

"Well, my Divine Lightning Hammer kind of... disintegrated her,” Kai smiled wryly, thinking of his battle with Jin Ling. “Didn't leave much behind to loot."

"Ah," Shen Yu said. "That's... unfortunate. You should be more careful in the future. A cultivator's storage ring often contains valuable treasures and resources."

"I'll keep that in mind for next time.”

Kai couldn't shake the feeling that his fellow disciple was hiding something. The way Shen Yu had carefully removed the item from the corpse, the slight hesitation before answering Kai's question... it all pointed to something more than simple looting.

Could Shen Yu have some connection to the Crimson Phoenix Sect? The idea seemed absurd at first - Shen Yu was a disciple of the Azure Sky Sect, after all. But then again, if Kai's suspicions about Shen Yu being a reincarnator or regressor were true, who knew what connections he might have had in a past life?

Could Shen Yu have been friendly with the Crimson Phoenix Sect in his previous existence? Was he trying to preserve some memento or information from his past? Or was it something even more sinister - was Shen Yu playing both sides somehow?

He wanted to press further, to demand a more detailed explanation from Shen Yu. But he held back, knowing that if his suspicions were correct, confronting Shen Yu directly would lead nowhere and could even be dangerous.

Their conversation was cut short as a massive surge of qi rippled through the air. Both Kai and Shen Yu turned their attention back to the sky, where Wang Lin and Elder Bu were still locked in their titanic clash.

The elderly cultivator floated high in the air, his face contorted with rage and desperation. The bodies of his fallen comrades lay scattered across the battlefield below.

"You... you monsters!" he roared, his voice echoing across the clearing. "You'll pay for this! The Crimson Phoenix Sect will burn your precious Azure Sky Sect to the ground!"

Wang Lin faced him calmly, seeming unperturbed by the elder's outburst. A small smile played on his lips.

"I think I'm done playing around, Elder Bu," Wang Lin said. "It's time to end this."

Elder Bu's eyes widened as Wang Lin raised his sword. The blade began to glow with an eerie black light.

"What... what are you doing?" Elder Bu demanded, a note of fear creeping into his voice.

Wang Lin didn't answer. Instead, his body began to shimmer and distort. To Elder Bu's astonishment, Wang Lin's form seemed to merge with his sword, becoming a being of pure shadow.

"Impossible," Elder Bu whispered. "What kind of technique is this?"

The shadow that was Wang Lin spoke, its voice echoing strangely. "This, Elder Bu, is the Shadow Sword Merge. A technique that can only be mastered by one who has achieved perfect unity with both their sword and their elemental affinity."

Elder Bu's mind raced. He'd never heard of such a technique before. How could someone so young have mastered something so advanced?

"You're bluffing," he said, trying to sound confident. "This is just some illusion, like that Silver Dream witch uses!"

The shadow chuckled, the sound sending chills down Elder Bu's spine. "Oh, I assure you, this is very real."

Suddenly, the shadow vanished. Elder Bu blinked, confused. Where had Wang Lin gone?

Then he felt a presence beside him. He turned, coming face to face with the young Nascent Soul expert, who had reappeared out of thin air.

"How did you-" Elder Bu began, but his words cut off abruptly.

He felt... strange. Disconnected. He looked down and saw his own body, standing there without a head.

With growing horror, Elder Bu realized what had happened. His consciousness, somehow still intact, watched as his headless body toppled from the sky.

No! This can't be happening!

In a desperate attempt to survive, Elder Bu's consciousness retreated to his Nascent Soul. The glowing, miniature version of himself emerged from his falling body, trying to flee.

But Wang Lin was faster. His hand made a slashing motion, too quick for the eye to follow. The Nascent Soul split into a thousand glowing fragments, each one fading away like sparks from a dying fire.

As the last fragments of his existence faded away, Elder Bu's final thought was one of bitter regret. I should have stayed home today...

Wang Lin floated back down to the ground, his sword returning to its normal state.

"Well done, everyone. Now, we need to make this look like the work of the Boundless Earth Sect."

"Ooh, a frame job!” Yin Mengshuang's eyes lit up. “This should be fun."

Qi Liaxuan merely nodded. "It will be done, Senior Brother but won't they be able to sense our qi signatures?"

Wang Lin smiled, reaching into his storage ring. He pulled out a small, unassuming stone. "Not with this," he said. "It's a Qi Distortion Stone. It will mask our presence and make it appear as though Earth-attribute qi was used here."

He activated the stone, and a subtle ripple spread across the clearing. Kai watched in fascination as the very feel of the air seemed to change.

"This will also interfere with any scrying attempts by other sects," Wang Lin explained. "They'll see only what we want them to see."

The Core Formation cultivators nodded, impressed. They set about arranging the bodies and planting false evidence, working quickly and efficiently.

As they worked, Wang Lin turned to Kai and Shen Yu. "You two did well," he said, a note of approval in his voice. "Master wasn't wrong to choose you."

Kai felt a surge of pride at the praise, mixed with a healthy dose of relief. They'd survived, and apparently impressed Wang Lin in the process.

"Thank you, Senior Brother," Kai said, bowing slightly.

Wang Lin nodded. "We need to leave soon. The Boundless Earth Sect members will be arriving shortly, and we don't want to be here when they do."

As they prepared to depart, Kai couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions. Relief at having survived, pride at their success, but also a nagging unease. This mission had been far more intense and morally ambiguous than he'd expected.

The casual display of power he'd just witnessed had shaken him to his core. This, he realized, was the true face of cultivation. Beautiful, terrible, and utterly beyond his current comprehension.

He glanced at Shen Yu, wondering if his fellow disciple felt the same way. But Shen Yu's face was as unreadable as ever.

I really hope this is the end of it, Kai thought as he followed Wang Lin away from the battlefield. His eyes darted nervously, half-expecting another ambush or challenge to appear. No more surprises, please. No secret cultivators waiting in the shadows, no last-minute twists. I've had enough excitement for one day...