The Prey Before Him

A tragedy. It was nothing short of an unmitigated tragedy. One could only say that they hadn't suffered from a lack of knowledge, but rather from having too much worldly experience. Just as Feng Mo and Bogel hadn't been fooled by An Ran's unrefined swordsmanship and had immediately focused their defenses on his miraculous projection technique! And because of that, they had made a fatal misjudgment. Against Flying Light, one had to race against the clock to close the distance and kill the user as quickly as possible. But against Saber-Tooth, one had to decisively pull away. Otherwise... This would happen. Blood, blood, blood, and more blood. Amidst the layered encirclement, a sword hum flashed. Severed limbs and shattered bones flew skyward. Within the sudden storm, fine minced flesh scattered as crimson splattered everywhere. In a sea of blood, the sword beast looked down with disdain. Lihen parted its jaws and sang at the top of its lungs! Just how many strikes had been unleashed in that single instant? No one could count them, discern them, or comprehend them. Terrifying destructive power that far exceeded that of an ordinary Regeneration tier erupted with every sweep of the blade! In an instant, all of An Ran's spiritus had transformed into sword qi, surging out in full force in a violent frenzy—Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Within ten paces, it was as if they stood inside the sword beast's maw. As the saber teeth clashed, an exquisitely sharp, fiercely malevolent radiance fell upon every opponent within range. There was not the slightest waste or oversight; every ounce of destructive force was brought down with lethal precision upon their vital points—eyes, ears, mouth, nose, heart, lungs, arteries, and limbs—without a fraction squandered. Beyond that, not even a single speck of dust was disturbed! The cruelty of the Wind-Thunder Prelude earlier paled in comparison to the chilling slaughter of this very moment. In the dead silence, only a lingering resonance remained in the air, resonant like the chords of an ancient guqin, winding around the rafters for days without fading. So cruel, yet so melodic. —Chapter of Sword Resonance: Joy of Gods and Men! Breaking through the barriers of the self, extending perception and power outward, embedding one's very existence into the sword qi, transcending the limits of limbs and mortal shell. Thus, heaven and earth resonated in mutual communion, a shared ecstasy of gods and mortals! At that moment, the mangled Feng Mo grinned, sneering soundlessly as the cracked gleam of scales across his body gathered once more! Even covered in wounds with bare bone exposed, the tenacity of the Scale branch defied imagination. Having absorbed the vast majority of the sword qi, he was on his last legs, but he was still alive! As long as he drew breath, the hunt was not over! Feng Mo roared, a blood-colored spear manifesting from thin air and lunging toward An Ran, who had exhausted his spiritus and had no sword qi left. In an instant, it pierced straight through the youth's skull! The sound of shattering rang out, and that handsome face was gone, blown to pieces. Yet the sneer on Feng Mo's face froze solid. No spiritus could be felt. No sword qi could be sensed. Not even life or a soul lingered there. That was entirely an empty shell! Then where was An Ran? "Still... a little unfamiliar..." The shattered face lifted, lips parting. "Though... it's fine now..." With merely a tremor of the blade, the beast of Lihen materialized once more behind him! The sword qi that had whistled outward converged again. As if turning back the hands of time, it flowed back into that shattered frame, condensing from ethereal vapors into blood and spiritus. The missing soul once more took mastery of the body! An Ran was reborn, utterly unscathed. He even nodded politely to Feng Mo before him and said, "Thank you." Only now did a bloodcurdling scream ring out. Shadows boiled and spread. Bogel, who had concealed himself in the dark, was forcibly knocked out of his Rebirth Form and thrown back to his original state, collapsing to the floor and shrieking without pause. It looked as if the skin across his entire body had been flayed away. Soaked in blood, two pitch-black cavities stared out from where his eyes had been. Severely wounded! The Saber-Tooth branch's Rebirth Form centered on the mutual transformation and coexistence of man and sword—the two existed in complete symbiosis. What brought the form of Lihen into being was not merely the sword, but An Ran himself! The two had already become one. The manifestation of the beast form was merely the result of the lineage's spirituality and the taint of the White Stag. It could be a beast, or it could be a man. It was An Ran himself! Sword qi given form; resonance granting spirit. Its true effect was to bestow life and spirituality upon every fleeting strand of sword qi—life and soul drawn from An Ran himself! Thereby temporarily converting his very self into sword qi! As long as a single thought remained unextinguished, the sword qi would never end. Likewise, so long as the sword qi lingered, his life and soul could not be severed. As a result, Bogel, who thought he could hide safely in the shadows, had instead suffered devastating trauma from the inside out. "...Two-thirds? No, four-fifths?" Grasping Lihen, An Ran murmured to himself in assessment. "This move really is too dangerous. I almost lost control." No wonder the texts said the key to Joy of Gods and Men lay in the boundless spiritual essence of the deities of heaven and earth—when mortals reached into it, they could easily find there was no turning back, so one had to exercise the utmost caution when using it. This was originally a technique meant only for the Exaltation tier. From that single strike alone, four-fifths of his spiritus had been depleted, leaving barely anything behind. And as for the people left before him, there were one, two, three, four, five... Five! Feng Mo, Bogel, Berger, Derento, Ling Zan. Even though their numbers held an overwhelming advantage and their total reserves of spiritus were as different as heaven and earth, the instant those pitch-black eyes fixed upon them, their hearts jumped into their throats! It was like a natural predator gazing down from above. Is this... Saber-Tooth? Standing protectively before Derento, Berger felt his hair stand on end, instinctively bracing for combat. Even though they were clearly the ones with the upper hand, not a single person dared to take the initiative to attack. Among the four branches—Scale, Horn, Claw, and Fang—any lineage bestowed with the name of Supreme Goodness had been forged atop mountains of corpses and boundless death. Even a dying Hunting Finger of Flying Light, so long as a finger could twitch—no, even if the fingers could not move at all, as long as a single thought endured, a strand of Flying Light could descend from thousands of miles away. And the most terrifying aspect of the Saber-Tooth branch back in the day was that... within ten feet, blood splattered five paces away! Once one entered Saber-Tooth's attack range, life and death were no longer in one's own hands. Therefore, distance had to be maintained, wearing him down first— Before the thought could even finish, the resonance of a sword rang out once more! Fierce sword qi rushed straight toward their faces! Fuck me— Berger's expression warped violently, and he almost cursed aloud. How the hell is this ten feet? Forget ten feet, it's twenty, thirty feet! Yet the sword qi's ferocity and violence remained undiminished, without the slightest degradation or delay, as agile as ever. Then, drenched in cold sweat, he finally had an epiphany. Motherfucker... Projection, goddammit! Though this brat's matrix was Sword Resonance, this projection technique of his was the House of An's exclusive secret art! Forget thirty or fifty feet—even a hundred feet away made no damn difference from being right under his nose! What the hell is this? A joint training program between Hunting Finger and Saber-Tooth?! When did your two families hook up? Where is the Chief? Somebody rein this in! The Chief said nothing, far away beyond the horizon. And this freak, who commanded the strengths of both houses, was right before their eyes! Regardless of the disparity in numbers, An Ran shot forward decisively—Archery Rites: Calamity! Going straight for the softest target, he flashed into existence in the blink of an eye right behind a dazed Derento, the sword of Lihen thrusting through. Bang! Amid a shrill scraping sound, the blade collided with an iron hand, lopping off a finger, and then another! Derento stared down stupidly, realizing that the reinforcement his uncle had sent had actually thrust an arm straight through Derento's own body in that split second to block the lethal blow from behind. Terror overtook him, and he shrieked in agony! Choosing the lesser of two evils. Berger had had no choice. If Saber-Tooth landed a solid stab, Derento would surely blow apart on the spot. Since he couldn't get around him in time, he had simply punched straight through Derento's body with one hand to parry the deadly sword behind him. At the same time, his other hand clamped onto Derento's face, completely transmuting Derento into stone harder than iron, fully shielding this useless loudmouth with his own ability. Amid the screech of metal on metal, Berger grinned viciously, gripping the blade of Lihen with all his might, locking it tight! Now, the sword was trapped in his grasp! No shout or call was needed. Everyone struck together, swarming forward in concert. Feng Mo's blood spear lunged forward, malicious killing intent congealing upon it. Bone-white hues surfaced along the spear shaft as currents swirled around it. Spear of Flood Dragon Scales! Shadows surged violently like a tide. The blinded Bogel brought his palms together with a clap. The shadows beneath his feet erupted and expanded, turning into hundreds of grasping hands that locked around An Ran, entangling and pinning him down. And in absolute silence, Ling Zan's figure had already materialized behind An Ran, having completely shed his earlier pathetic, near-death facade. A short dagger appeared out of thin air in his hand—pitch-black and brimming with curse poison, crafted for a one-hit kill! Yet in that very split second, Berger's expression twisted violently. His hand gripping the blade suddenly caught empty air. The tightly grasped Lihen had vanished into thin air—and vanishing along with it was An Ran! Even though he still remained where he was, all constraints and shackles could no longer touch him. It was as though he were standing in another world. He turned into a phantom, took a step, and walked forward, calmly passing the obstruction of the stone statue and Berger. Countless shadow hands grazed past the hem of his clothes to no avail. For the span of a single second, An Ran seemed to have transcended reality. Every targeting lock and tracking attempt failed to locate his existence. As though formless. In a daze, everyone seemed to witness a hallucinatory spectacle... It was as if a sudden comet, sharp as a blade, tore through the barrier of stars and surged forward without restraint, cleaving the moon's brilliant radiance in two! A comet assailing the moon, fleeting in an instant; a white rainbow piercing the sun, passing in the snap of a finger. By the time they came to their senses, it was already too late. This was the work Ji Jue had custom-tailored for Xiao An after advancing to Master, drawing upon the design of Yuchang, transcending the boundaries of the Nine Forms, and integrating the legacy and structure of the Saber-Tooth lineage—[Heavenly Work: Lihen]! One second. Just a single second! Within this single second, so brief it was barely perceptible, all sensory locks, tracking techniques, shackles, and crowd control could not touch him in the slightest. The freedom of the White Stag manifested here—unbound, transcending all cages, immune to all debuffs and control effects, untouched by anything in the mortal world. Crossing mountains of blades, leaping over seas of fire, he had already reached his destination. He stood right in front of the stunned Bogel. The softest target is right here! Amidst the endless shadows, Bogel, who had poured out all his strength, finally sensed that something was wrong. He raised his head, looking as though he wanted to say something. Yet he could make no sound. A dreamlike sword light flashed and vanished, severing all things. A head hit the floor, and blood erupted. Then An Ran turned back and looked behind him. Counting them up, he realized something. "Three left, huh." He smiled. To think there were still three more prey like this. Ten minutes later, the entire clubhouse fell into dead silence. Only a dying sob echoed and spread. Ling Zan crawled futilely across the floor, dragging his halved body outward inch by inch. Amid the spreading pool of blood, a body turned to metal collapsed backward, a gaping breach sliced across its throat. Feng Mo gasped violently, struggling with all his might, wailing, yet unable to break free from the arm clamped around his throat. Behind him, the silent youth said nothing, merely holding him down in an iron grip before sweeping the blade across, severing his head. With a thud, blood gushed forth. The youth, drenched in blood from head to toe, lifted his head and looked at Ling Zan, who had crawled to the doorway. Ling Zan convulsed in terror, wailing, "Spare me, spare me... I can make a deal too! I-I can work for Mr. Ji, I... I..." The youth remained silent. Propping himself up with the blade and leaning against the wall, he walked toward him step by step. A sharp shadow cast over the despairing face, then indifferently passed over it. He didn't even pause his footsteps or spare another glance. Ling Zan froze, bewildered and shocked, before a flicker of wild ecstasy and excitement surfaced on his face. He parted his mouth, about to say something, when his buzzing ears caught one final sound. Over his weakening heartbeat, an increasingly resonant, irrepressible chime rang out! Bang! Blood burst forth, and the smile on Ling Zan's face froze solid. Dead. Ding— In the first-floor lobby, the elevator doors slid open once again. Stumbling, the youth stepped out into the blood, walking step by step, no longer carrying the effortless grace he had entered with, thoroughly battered. The longsword hung low, trailing beneath his feet, scraping an intermittent groove into the stone tiles. Soon, the trailing groove was stained crimson by the spreading blood. The automatic doors parted once more. Outside, the night was deep, the wind howling. A rumbling thunder finally reached his ears, accompanied by chilly moisture and raindrops as big as beans pouring down. Washing away the blood, it made his face look all the more pale, the scar glaringly prominent. An Ran strained to raise his head and looked up at the sky, blank confusion gradually giving way to realization. "It's raining." "Yeah. It's going to rain for a long time." Someone held up a large black umbrella, shielding him from the falling rain. "Brother Ji Jue?" An Ran turned his head with difficulty, catching sight of that familiar face, smiling. Illuminated by the lights behind the doorway, his shadow stretched exceptionally long, as if reaching into the pitch-black night, swelling endlessly to encompass the entire gloomy world. "I happened to be passing by," the person who had waited for a long time said. "The weather forecast said it would rain for a while. I remembered you went out without an umbrella, so I came over to check." "Mm. Thanks, Brother Ji Jue." "Are you hurt?" "A little." Ji Jue nodded. "Can you still walk?" "I can." "Then let's go." Ji Jue took the lead, walking ahead. "Tong Hua called me this afternoon and told me to keep an eye on you. No staying up late playing video games. At your age, your body is still growing; you need to sleep early and wake up early. And brush your teeth thoroughly—don't just rush through it. What do you want to eat tomorrow morning?" "Anything's fine." An Ran followed behind him, keeping close in step. The youth lifted his head, looked at the person beside him, and chuckled softly. "Thanks, Brother Ji Jue." "Didn't you already thank me just now? It's no big deal." Ji Jue asked, "Are you cold?" "A little." "There's a jacket on the back seat. Remember to put it on." "Okay." ... Just like that, they walked past the figures bowing respectfully on either side, and the car vanished into the darkness at the end of the rain.