Boots

5.11 - Echoes

“How can he still live?” He Yu asked.

“Is it really him?” Chen Fei shot him an uncertain look.

“You feel it, too, then.”

“It’s faint, but yes. But how?”

He Yu couldn’t say. With his own eyes he’d seen the pillar shatter, seen it crumble. He’d stood beneath Jin Xifeng’s furious red sun as the light of heaven faded. As the radiance was consumed. Could this be some trap? One last blow to anyone who returned to the sect, looking for treasure or ho...

5.10 - Return to Ruin

Carried by the Sky Dragon’s Flight, He Yu shot toward the sunset. The Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering sent trailing sparks of heaven qi into the vortex of wind trailing in his wake. Xin Lu followed.

The flat plains of the former sect lands raced by below. What were once farms, fields, and villages now gave way to spirits and bandits both. Absent the watchful eye of the Shrouded Peaks Sect, the land had become wild and lawless. Xin Lu, governor or no, had been lax in his duty, it seem...

5.9 - Fist of the Heavens

He Yu’s guandao fell into his hands once more. “Go,” he said. “I’ll catch up.”

“I’m not—”

“No,” he said, cutting her off. “You’re not abandoning me.” He turned to Chen Fei and forced a smile. “Xin Lu is after me. If you go and hide yourself, he won’t come after you. I can catch up. I’m faster than he is, I’m certain. I’ll hold him off for as long as I can, then I’ll come find you.”

Chen Fei turned in the direction they’d been hea...

5.8 - Xin Lu Seeks Satisfaction

Xin Lu’s presence exploded out from him. He was much as He Yu remembered. A furious blaze, sparking with the wrath of heaven. A pillar of swirling flame towered above them, twisting around itself and raining embers down from above. Lightning coursed along its length, cracking and sparking with each turn of the massive blazing column. The addition of a twinge of darkness, of shadow, of blood wasn’t something He Yu wanted to see, but it didn’t surprise him.

Whatever bargain Xin Lu h...

5.7 - Dong Wei

He Yu took in the sight before him. Dong Wei hadn’t changed much in the past fifteen years. His robes were of far finer make than He Yu remembered, but most noticeable was his cultivation. He made no effort to hide it—such as it was.

Somehow he’d advanced to the early Body Refining stage. Which likely explained why he appeared to have not aged a day in the past decade and a half. Despite the reaching the Third Realm, Dong Wei was far from reaping its full benefits. He barely had a...

5.6 - The Fallen Star

The forest around Shulin was just as He Yu remembered it—practically a wasteland to his qi sense. While shrubs and trees passed by in a green and brown blur, he couldn’t help but wonder. How had he ever awakened himself in a place like this? There was nothing here. Wood and life floated through the forest, but it was so faint he could only sense it if he concentrated all his attention on the environment.

In the lands around the Shrouded Peak Sect, the thrum of natural qi was a const...

5.5 - Return to Shulin

He Yu pushed aside his concern as he followed his father inside. He couldn’t be seen? Why not? This was his home. Sure, he’d left almost twenty years ago, but he should be welcome here. There weren’t any signs of danger—no powerful presences betraying any other cultivators nearby. At this point, that’s what it would take to pose a threat to him or Chen Fei.

With the door firmly closed behind them, He Yu, Chen Fei, and He Gang gathered around a table inside the modest home. He ...

5.4 - The Wayside Inn

Around He Yu, the air grew charged. The sharp scent of a thunderstorm, pungent and fresh, filled the room. The captain fell to his knees, and his soldiers followed suit. He Yu looked down on them from atop the storm, his eyes flashing with distant sparks of heaven. A breeze tugged at the hem of his simple robes, a promise of the gale he still held back. Although he’d not completely released his spirit, or any of his killing intent, even the blind would see he was far beyond these soldiers.<...

5.3 - The Journey South

He Yu sat with Chen Fei just inside the cave she’d carved for herself into the side of her mountain. They’d set the topic of their trip aside while they took care of other concerns. Now, after nightfall and next to a crackling fire, they returned to their next foray into the larger world once more.

“You’ll need a new weapon, won’t you?” she asked, turning over a slab of sizzling meat.

“That’s what Yongnian said. I’m just not sure where I’d be able to get a new ...

5.2 - To Venture Forth Anew

He Yu stepped out from behind the screen, dressed once again in the robes he’d received from Yongnian all that time ago. They still looked new, despite the battles and hardship they’d seen in their time with him. The shimmering gray silk embroidered with clouds and dragons was a more appropriate vestment now than ever.

“I should apologize in advance,” Yongnian said. “I will be of little help now that you’ve exhausted what meager expertise I possess.”

He Yu waved him ...

5.1 - Twilight Empire

A storm of qi swirled around He Yu’s dantian. His core. It drew from its surroundings. From the gathering and darkening clouds above, flickering with arcs of purple and gold. From the lashing wind and rain. From the ever growing, ever churning storm. He Yu drew upon it all, and cultivated.

Deep within the mountain, within the shrine of the Thunder God and his drum, He Yu cultivated. The insights he’d gained from that final battle over the Shrouded Peaks sect had taken years to sort ...

4.51 - Witness and Departure

He Yu opened his eyes to the pale soft glow of spirit stone spires. His chest hurt. His meridians ached. His core had turned to a hollow pit while he was unconscious. He’d promised them he would pull through—so he had.

Beside him, Chen Fei sat on the rough stone floor of the nest cavern. He gave her a sheepish a sheepish smile as he pushed himself up on one elbow.

“About time,” sniffed Yan Shirong from somewhere nearby but out of He Yu’s field of vision.

“Ow,” ...

4.50 - Fall of the Shrouded Peaks

With a delicate step down from her flying sword, Jin Xifeng alighted onto the ruined flagstones of a once-elegant courtyard. Death surrounded her. She drank it in. So many had given of themselves, their spirits, their cultivation—and now she stood on the threshold. After so many centuries, the Ninth Realm was within her grasp. Almost as importantly, she was free.

She sent the nine floating swords back to her storage treasure. Her lips curled into a smile as she did—she wouldn’t be...

4.49 - Demon Core

The awakened core lunged. The move dragged the puppeted cultivator’s body behind it, and the both of them flailed with all three of their weapons. A flash of the Spring Rain Mirror turned one blow aside. A well-timed dodge under the raw speed granted by his body enforcement put He Yu in position to both avoid a second blow while blocking a third.

Li Hang arrived with a blast of frozen winter and a flash of moonlight. The moon vanished, the snow lost its gleam, and the five black scars...

4.48 - Witness Madness

The group descended ever deeper into the caves. Branching paths split off every so often and it quickly became hard to tell which one continued the path they were on, and which led in to a different tunnel. Every so often, they had the benefit of a dead cave mantis to mark the correct path, but increasingly, they had to rely on their techniques.

Yan Shirong proved the most useful in that regard. The gloom lurking outside Chen Fei’s light provided ample shadow qi for him to draw upon a...

4.47 - Through the Caverns

The trip to the waterfall cave was a short one. The fighting in the outer sect had mostly died down, and the oncoming wave of the empress’s reinforcements hadn’t yet arrived. He Yu and the others moved as quickly as they could, given their exhausted state and desire not to draw any more attention than necessary. Soon they arrived at the now-ruined formation gate that marked the path leading to the cultivation spot Tan Xiaoling had found that first year.

Setting their feet upon the d...

4.46 - Escape

To the west, four additional presences rose to meet the Sunset Empress. He Yu only recognized the ancient forest of Elder Wen, but the other three had to be sect elders as well. Only an elder would be capable of standing against a monster such as Jin Xifeng. He Yu didn’t bother to look. The outcome had been decided when Leader Zhou and Elder Cai fell—the Shrouded Peaks Sect was lost.

He Yu raced through the sect, following one of Yan Shirong’s shadow and bone constructs. All aroun...

4.45 - Jin Xifeng

From atop her flying sword, Jin Xifeng raised one hand. A tide of twisting shadow rose, wrapping around the sect mountain closest to her. He Yu’s perception rebelled at it. The immensity of the technique was too much. Trying to look at it through the Peerless Judgment felt like it would rip his mind apart. The only point of reference he could pin it to was what had happened with King Hao, but even that was a meager approximation.

The shadows receded, and with them, the mind-numbing po...

4.44 - Her Court Arrives

Along with roughly a dozen other inner disciples, He Yu arrived at the outer sect mountain. When the outer disciples caught sight of the approaching inner disciples, a barrage of question arose to greet them. Most were of the First and Second Realms. A few early Body Refining disciples were there, too. None of them would have the first idea what was going on. He Yu was content to allow the more senior inner sect members to field the questions. To his knowledge, even among the top-ranked inner...

4.43 - Heralds of Twilight

He Yu sat down on a log that had been an ancient tree just that morning. The medicine he’d taken coursed through his meridians, restoring his dwindling qi reserves. The fighting had been going on for hours. Even so, a red sun hung just over the mountains to the west, casting the world in perpetual twilight. The column of red light still pierced the sky. The tide of spirits and beasts showed no signs of slowing.

For the third time that day, the countless little cuts and bruises and mor...

4.42 - Endless

A hundred presences of the Fourth Realm released at once. The aspects were all jumbled together, such that He Yu could only pick out hints of individuals within the riot of unleashed power. All the unrestrained qi made it difficult to concentrate, and it wasn’t helped by the additional weight of one hundred cultivators’ killing intent.

Dozens of techniques were released at once. Arrows, boulders, spikes, and more all screamed down the valley at the advancing horde. Next to He Yu, a ...

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4.41 - Rally

When He Yu arrived at the inner sect proper with Chen Fei, things were noticeably more calm. Although there were also a few sporadic exchanges of techniques here, too, most conflicts never rose past heated arguments between disciples. It reminded He Yu of what happened in the west between Li Heng and himself.

Under the influence of Jin Xifeng’s whispers, some long-buried point of contention would finally boil over to an open disagreement. It was usually something fueled by envy. At le...

4.40 - Xu Xiang

On the back of Yi Xiurong’s peacock feather, they soon arrived at the Shrouded Peaks. At the base of the lowest of the sect mountain, smoke rose from Xu Xiang, the sect town. Higher up on the outer sect mountain, flashes of light evidenced the exchange of techniques.

This close to the sect proper, the entire sky had turned a deep red, like a blood-soaked sunset. Even within the purifying light of Yi Xiurong’s presence, He Yu could feel the Sunset Empress’s influence scratching at ...

4.39 - Disaster

With a wide swing of his guandao, He Yu cut down another dozen beasts. By now, he’d lost count of how many he’d killed. The stench of death hung thick in the air. Along with smoke from countless fires, ignited by either He Yu’s techniques or fire aspected attacks coming from the horde. Or from mundane sources, like a toppled candle.

At his direction, the mortals of the town had erected barriers from the smashed remains of homes and furniture to herd the beasts into a single area. ...

4.38 - Kong Huizhong

Zhang Lifen danced on the edge of a knife. She faded backwards with the Tidewalker Step, launching a volley of arrows as she danced out of Kong Huizhong’s range. His gleaming cleaver slammed into the scarred ground. It cracked and split the earth. It melted stone. It had been too close.

The Emissary had shifted a large part of his attention to her. It was, all things considered, a good plan. Should he take her out of the fight, he could then focus solely on Yi Xiurong. As things stood...

4.37 - Desperation

He Yu slammed into the Fourth Realm spirit like the edge of a thunderstorm. Heaven flashed and winds roared. The Spring Rain Mirror turned the spirit’s first attack away. He Yu charged forward with the Rushing Wind and the crackling brilliance of Heaven’s Descending Blade.

The spirit was at early Golden Core. It stood almost eight feet tall, with long gaunt limbs that ended in razor-sharp claws. Its mouth hung open as though its jaw was broken or dislocated, with rows of sharp teeth...

4.36 - Witness

He Yu watched three legends do battle. At least, that’s how he would have described it had anyone been around to ask. He’d sparred enough with Zhang Lifen to get a taste of what she was capable of. This was the first time he’d ever seen her at full strength, however. As impressive as his master was, she was dwarfed by Kong Huizhong and Yi Xiurong.

The Emissary was just as terrifying as He Yu had been led to believe. The iron-clad giant with four bloody cleavers dripping molten met...

4.35 - Water and Fire

Zhang Lifen pushed her concern for He Yu from her thoughts. Both she and Yi Xiurong had warned him, and he knew what he was getting into. Although it had taken some convincing to persuade Yi Xiurong, one point in He Yu’s favor from the beginning had been that she agreed with Zhang Lifen’s assessment. He Yu could handle himself. If he got a bit banged up? It would be a valuable lesson.

Now that she’d learned Kong Huizhong had advanced since their last clash, Zhang Lifen couldn’t ...

4.34 - Tracking the Emissary

He Yu could barely contain his excitement. As far as he’d come in the past four years at the sect, this was beyond that he’d ever imagined. Since he was a child, he’d wanted nothing more than to step into the world of immortals, witness the deeds of legends, and perhaps become one himself. Now he would do just that.

Upon arriving at Yi Xiurong’s home, he found the First Disciple already waiting. Zhang Lifen was there, too. Trying his best to contain himself—no mean feat in hi...