Yu Xuan flicked his wrist, summoning his blade back to him. The weapon ascended through the air, its edge carving shallow lines into the monsters as it returned.
He caught it and imdiately noticed.
Black blood.
The earlier blast had torn through their ranks, obliterating so completely and reducing others to mangled husks... yet the survivors kept coming. Their charge didn’t falter for even a mont.
Even with half their bodies missing, they lunged. Even crawling on stumps where legs should’ve been, they dragged themselves forward with mindless determination.
Yu Xuan’s eyes narrowed. "They do not fear death... Hmm, war machines."
He moved, faster than their crimson eyes could follow. His form blurred as he darted into their midst, his sword no longer shining with silver starlight. Instead, it pulsed with a nacing crimson glow — an aura that seed to impose its will on all around it.
[Magic Swordsmanship of the Avalon Imperial Family]
The blade’s edge burned red as he swung. A crescent arc burst forth, domineering and unyielding, cleaving straight through a monster’s towering fra. The creature split cleanly in half, collapsing with a wet thud.
’Even with their hulking physiques... their actual strength barely scrapes the lower end of Foundation Establishnt,’ Yu Xuan assessed them.
But the ground shook with renewed growls.
"Grrraaaahhh—!!"
The horde surged, dozens encircling him while several others veered toward Lingluo.
"Sister, don’t let their blood touch you!" Yu Xuan shouted, his voice laced with Qi to pierce the battlefield.
Lingluo’s eyes flickered violet as she acknowledged with a sharp nod.
He hadn’t warned her lightly. When their blood had splattered against his blade earlier, he had felt it corroding the blade itself. Now, glancing around the battlefield, he saw the truth: wherever their blood spilled, the earth blackened and reeked, as though rotting in an instant.
No hesitation.
Yu Xuan stretched out his hand. Invisible force erupted from him, and with a simple thought—
Crack.
The skull of a charging monster imploded under the weight of his [Telekinesis].
That was the spark.
What followed was nothing short of massacre.
Yu Xuan cut down beasts in a whirl of crimson arcs, his sword carving through muscle and bone like parchnt. When his blade didn’t reach, his Telekinesis did — crushing skulls, snapping spines, ripping foes apart without rcy.
Even here, surrounded by corpses, he wasn’t fighting wildly. His movents were asured, deliberate. Every swing of his sword, every burst of psychic force, it was all practice, refinent, a relentless sharpening of skill.
Ten minutes later, silence fell. The field was littered with steaming carcasses, their black blood eating into the soil like acid.
Yu Xuan exhaled, wiping his blade clean with a flick before turning toward Lingluo.
She stood among her own ring of corpses, violet hair flowing, chest rising and falling calmly. The monsters that had rushed her lay broken, not a single one left standing.
He walked up to her, eyes still scanning the terrain. "Sister, let’s move into the forest. We need cover."
Lingluo nodded, her gaze just as sharp. "Agreed. Out here in the open, we’re exposed. And we don’t even know what else is coming, maybe a single strong enemy or even a small army."
Yu Xuan thought back to the floating words: Survive for a week.
That alone ant their foes weren’t ant to be defeated only endured. Sowhere ahead lurked enemies they would have no chance of killing.
Without another word, the siblings moved, leaving behind the battlefield and stepping into the shadowed forest.
Unaware.
Unaware of the pair of dark, hungry eyes that glimred faintly at the horizon — the sa horizon where the horde had co from.
Watching. Waiting.
***
Yu Xuan and Lingluo walked deeper into the forest, their steps muffled by damp leaves and twisted roots.
"I’ll climb a tree and scout the area," Yu Xuan said, scanning the canopy above. "Keep watch down here for any disturbances."
"Yeah, sure, be the leader," Lingluo muttered, puffing her cheeks. Earlier, she had proudly declared she’d take charge only for Yu Xuan, the only other mber of their group, to veto her. She hadn’t let it go.
Ignoring her sulking, Yu Xuan scaled one of the towering trees with practiced ease. The branches groaned under his weight as he reached the top, brushing aside leaves to get a clear view.
And then—
"What...?!" His breath caught.
The forest ended abruptly ahead of them, not in cliffs or mountains, but in nothingness. An endless void, as though the very fabric of space had been cut away, leaving only emptiness beyond.
They were walking in the wrong direction.
Yu Xuan’s gaze shifted back toward the plains they had left. There, faint but visible even from this distance, smoke rose in dark coils against the horizon. His expression hardened instantly.
Soone or sothing — was clearly behind the monsters. The horde they had massacred wasn’t random. If they continued heading deeper toward the void, they’d corner themselves. And once the enemy surrounded them, survival would no longer be possible.
Their task was to survive a week. But now it was clear: to survive, they couldn’t be cornered, they had to outmaneuver whatever intelligence lurked behind these attacks.
Things had just beco much more complicated.
Yu Xuan dropped lightly from the tree, landing beside Lingluo. His face was grave.
"What happened?" she asked, sensing the shift in his aura.
He pointed behind them. "This forest... it doesn’t lead anywhere. Ahead of us is just void. Space itself ends there."
Lingluo froze, eyes widening. "What do you an ends? Like a cliff?"
"No." Yu Xuan shook his head. "Worse. Like nothingness. If we keep going, we’ll be trapping ourselves at the edge. And that’s not all."
He gestured toward the plains. "Smoke is rising where those monsters ca from. Soone is driving them toward us."
Lingluo’s lips pressed into a thin line. "So we weren’t fighting beasts... but pawns."
"Exactly. Which ans whoever’s behind this is watching. Testing us." Yu Xuan’s hand tightened on his sword. "And if we run blind, we’ll play right into their hands."
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