One moment stretched into eternity. The courtyard, once filled with taunts and mockery, was now shrouded in an oppressive silence. Dao Wei stood there, unmoving, his grip tightening around Mu Xin's throat like a vice. Every struggling breath from Mu Xin was a wheeze of sheer desperation, his limbs flailing weakly against the force that held him in place.
The air itself seemed to tremble under the sheer force of Dao Wei's aura—thick, suffocating, and raw. His eyes glowed a sinister crimson, burning with barely restrained wrath. His presence was no longer that of a man, but something far beyond comprehension. A force of nature incarnate.
Si Yue staggered back, her fingers trembling. She hadn't even seen him move. One moment, Mu Xin had been beside her, arrogant and sure. The next, he was helpless in Dao Wei's grasp, crushed by an invisible force that even she—an elite of the Hall of Nine Sins—could not begin to fathom.
"H-How did he do that?" she muttered, the words tasting foreign on her tongue. It was wrong—everything about this was wrong. Dao Wei was supposed to be strong, yes, but this? This was beyond reason.
Dao Wei's gaze flickered to her, indifferent, as if acknowledging an insect.
Bang!
Si Yue's vision blurred as an unimaginable force struck her. She didn't even register the moment she was sent flying, her body spinning uncontrollably through the air. The impact shattered the ground beneath her when she landed, the pain radiating through her entire being. But before she could even let out a gasp.
Whoosh!
An unseen force yanked her back with inescapable might, her body dragged mercilessly across the ruined courtyard. She barely had time to scream before she was wrenched into Dao Wei's grip. His right hand clamped around her throat, mirroring Mu Xin's fate.
Dao Wei's expression remained unreadable, his features as cold and detached as the abyss itself. There was no anger contorting his face—only a terrifying calmness that sent shivers down their spines.
"W-What are… you doing?" Si Yue gasped, her fingers clawing at his hand, feeling her spirit being drained. It was as if her very essence was unraveling, her soul slipping through her grasp. "S-Stop…!"
"Monster! Let me go!" Mu Xin coughed, his body convulsing violently in Dao Wei's iron grip.
The world seemed to shrink around them, the very heavens trembling under Dao Wei's rising aura. It was absolute. Overwhelming. Divine yet terrifying.
Dao Wei remained silent, his gaze piercing through the horizon as though awaiting something. Someone.
The two prisoners in his grasp continued to struggle, their strength waning with every passing second. Desperation turned to horror as they realized what was happening—Dao Wei wasn't just crushing them physically.
He was consuming them.
Their spiritual energy, the very essence of their being, was being siphoned away like water through cracked stone. The agony was indescribable.
"P-Please… W-Wei…w-wait…" Si Yue's voice trembled, her arrogance long gone, replaced by sheer terror.
Dao Wei didn't even acknowledge her plea. His fingers tightened
Thump!
Their bodies hit the ground, limp. Empty, hollow shells of what they once were.
Dao Wei exhaled slowly, the flames around him flickering wildly in response. The moment of silence was short-lived.
Rumble!
The skies above twisted into an unnatural darkness. The wind howled, carrying with it an unbearable pressure, a demonic force that sent chills racing through the bones of all who remained. The very air grew heavy with malice, thick with an ominous presence that had finally arrived.
Dao Wei's crimson eyes flickered towards the heavens, unshaken.
"He's here," he murmured to himself. His fingers curled into a fist.
"Argg!" The Supreme Elder gasped, a rattling, shallow breath that seemed to pull more pain than air into his lungs.
Whoosh!
Dao Wei suddenly appeared next to the Supreme Elder, his face impassive, kneeling beside him, and hands glowing with a faint, ethereal green light, pressing against the elder's chest.
The air crackled with unseen energies, a discordant symphony that seemed to vibrate through the very bones.
"Stop…" Jiang Feng rasped, his voice cracking like dry leaves underfoot. He reached a trembling hand up, his fingers weak and claw-like, trying to grasp Dao Wei's arm. "Stop… wasting… your energy."
Dao Wei's eyes, void and unreadable, flickered down to the elder's hand but didn't pause in his healing efforts. "Save your strength, old man. Rest is what you require, not needless chatter. You need to conserve your strength." His tone was flat, devoid of warmth, yet laced with an undertone of cold efficiency. "You'll live if you don't speak."
"No… don't waste your energy…" Jiang Feng coughed a wet, painful sound. Dark blood flecked his lips. "Listen, Young Cub… This… this heirloom… It's… the sect's main treasure." He strained to lift his head, his gaze, though clouded with pain, fixed on Dao Wei with an urgent intensity. "Something… terrible… far greater than anything you've faced is c-coming…"
Dao Wei's brows twitched, his green glow twitching slightly casting an eerie light on Jiang Feng's ravaged face. 'Young cub? Why that name? There's only one person that ever called me that.' Dao Wei brushed off the lingering thoughts...
"The whole situation is… Indeed dramatic. A disruption, certainly. But those are… manageable." He spoke of the encroaching doom with the same detached tone he might use to describe a change in the weather as the bundle fell into his hands.
Whoosh!
The silk unraveled on its own and from within something pulsed with divine stillness.
A sword hilt—more of a blade floated before him. Ancient, tarnished gold, covered in celestial engravings too old for modern tongues. A single crimson thread spiraled around the hilt like a dragon biting its tail. The air around it rippled as if the very laws of reality bent in its presence.
"Manageable?" The Supreme Elder choked out a laugh that morphed into a groan. "You… you think this is merely… manageable? This is… this is the end of our sect… Young Cub, listen to me! You… you are the only one…" He struggled for breath, his voice fading. "The only one who can… save our legacy…"
Dao Wei tilted his head slightly, a gesture that could almost be interpreted as curiosity, but his expression remained stubbornly neutral. "Legacy… what, precisely, old man? Amorphous dread? Shadowy pronouncements? My strengths lie in the tangible, old man. In… in ensuring the safety of… priority assets."
Jiang Feng's eyes widened, a flicker of something akin to despair entering them. "No… you… don't… you don't understand." His voice weakened further, becoming a fragile whisper. "It's not about… not about… just your people… It's about… everything. Everything we hold dear… Young Cub… you must… you must…"
Dao Wei finally paused his healing, but only to adjust his grip on the Supreme Elder's robes, ensuring he was positioned comfortably. His blue light faded, leaving the elder looking even more pallid in the gloom. "I understand perfectly, old man. But my priority remains… those entrusted to my care. Let the heavens bleed and the earth tremble. My focus is now. On what I can control. On who matters."
Jiang Feng stared up at Dao Wei, his gaze filled with a mixture of pain and something else… disappointment? Or perhaps, a chilling realization. "You… you are so… cold…" he whispered, his voice cracking with emotion, finally giving way to the encroaching darkness. "So… focused on the few… you risk losing… everything… everyone…"
Slump!
His hand slipped from Dao Wei's arm, falling limply to the ground. The Supreme Elder's chest ceased to rise and fall. The only sound now was the oppressive, unnatural hum of the darkening sky and the distant, unsettling howl of the wind – a wind that carried not the scent of rain, but the chilling breath of something ancient and malevolent.
Dao Wei remained kneeling, like a petrified stone, his face still impassive, his gaze fixed on the now lifeless form of the Supreme Elder as if assessing the efficiency of his failed healing attempt, rather than mourning a loss. The chaos in the skies, the dying elder's pleas, seemed to simply bounce off the walls of his carefully constructed emotional fortress, leaving him untouched, focused solely on the narrow, defined world he had chosen to protect.
Howl!
The ruined courtyard stood silent, save for the whispering wind that carried the scent of blood and ash.
A dark shadow descended gracefully, robes billowing as if the very air bowed before him. Diteyi's arrival was slow and deliberate, an unspoken proclamation of dominance. His aura, as thick as condensed fog filled with demonic corruption, radiated power—dark purple and crimson hues swirling around him like an ominous storm. He hovered just above the broken earth, staring down at the lone figure amidst the wreckage.
A thin smirk curled his lips. "Dao Wei… Dao Wei… such a desolate welcome for a Celestial Chosen, wouldn't you say? Especially considering our long...history"
He swept his hand toward the ruins, his voice dripping with mockery. "Just look around you. See the beauty of your… what was it called again? Ah, yes, the Sword God Sect. Tch. Pathetic, really. And all thanks to… well, let's just say certain secrets have been put into play. Hahaha!"
Dao Wei remained motionless, his robes stained with the Supreme Elder's blood, his expression unreadable. His voice, when it came, was steady. "Diteyi. You are here."