With the shattering of the formation, chaos erupted.
“Ah!” “Ah!” “…” Eight agonized screams pierced the air simultaneously. Waves of power surged outward in all directions like a tidal force, sweeping everything in their path. The eight Enforcers were flung into the air, unable to withstand the immense energy. Even disciples standing ten meters away staggered backward under the residual shockwave.
This wasn’t even Kayden’s most powerful technique. If his body had fully recovered, this move would have annihilated everything within a radius of twenty meters. Unfortunately, he was only operating at half his strength.
This single action had decisively declared the Enforcers’ crushing defeat.
All eight of them had been struck as though by a massive, invisible fist. They hit the ground heavily, blood spurting from their mouths.
Defeated. Utterly defeated.
These eight Enforcers, once powerful enough to establish their own schools under The Nightshade’s banner, had fallen. The disciples of The Nightshade stood frozen, holding their breath. Some dared not believe their eyes-the eight mighty Enforcers, beings they had revered as legends, had been defeated. And their fabled formation? Destroyed. By someone so young.
“What… what just happened? The Dragonlock Formation… broken? The eight Enforcers… beaten?”
“My god, those were the Enforcers! Eight of them!”
“Who is this guy? Is he really planning to wipe us out?”
“Don’t panic! The four Grand Lords are still here! If they step in, they’ll surely kill him!”
For The Nightshade, this was a devastating blow. If even the eight Enforcers couldn’t stop this man, then they had no choice but to rely on the four Grand Lords.
Despair loomed over them at the sight of the defeated Enforcers. But there was still a sliver of hope-they had the Grand Lords.
One of the Grand Lords, his face etched with deep wrinkles, could no longer contain himself. He stepped forward, his expression growing more severe. Stroking his long beard, he squinted his eyes and shook his head, muttering, “Impossible. How could someone this powerful exist at the Grand level? These eight were the strongest Grand-level warriors we have… How did he-”
He suddenly stopped mid-sentence, his expression darkening as a bold, terrifying thought crossed his mind.
Another elder approached, his voice grave. “Could he be… a Master level?”
The moment the words were spoken, the faces of all the elders turned grim.
Master level?
The young man before them didn’t look older than twenty-five or twenty-six. How could he possibly be at the Master level?
Even with extraordinary talent, such a feat was unheard of. Achieving the Master level required years of grueling cultivation. It wasn’t something that could be accomplished overnight. Becoming a practitioner might be easy-one only needed to train the body to enter the path of cultivation. But ascending to the Hermit level required enduring unimaginable physical torment.
Beyond sheer willpower, it demanded innate talent and rare spiritual medicines to temper the body and Chi. Only a body fortified to its peak, capable of releasing external Chi, could ascend to the Hermit level.
And that process alone took at least thirty years.
Even if this man were a prodigy and halved that time to ten years, reaching the Master level from the Grand level was an entirely different story.
The elders themselves, all nearing the twilight of their lives, had spent decades stuck at the peak of the Grand level, unable to break through. One of them had been stuck for sixty years! Sixty years, and still, he had failed to ascend to the Master level. Yet here stood a young man who had seemingly achieved the impossible.
“Could he be… a born Hermit?” one of the Grand Lords whispered, voicing his suspicions.
Whether he was or wasn’t, this man was terrifying. So young, and yet he had reached the Master level-a realm these elders could only dream of. No wonder he was so brazen. No wonder he dared to threaten The Nightshade’s annihilation.
Because he was a Master.
Firestone’s eyes, visible through the slits of his mask, were filled with shock. This revelation hit him like a hammer. Gritting his teeth, he growled, “How… how could someone so young reach the Master level?”
Standing nearby, Mags watched silently. She had anticipated this outcome. After all, she had investigated this man thoroughly. Even if the eight Enforcers were close to the Master level, there was no way they could defeat a true Master.
She spoke coldly, “Lord Firestone, I told you-this man is not to be underestimated.”
“Slap!”
Firestone’s fury erupted. He raised his hand and struck Mags across the face with such force that she staggered backward, nearly falling to the ground.
“You wretched woman, shut your mouth!” he roared.
Enraged, Firestone couldn’t bear her words. To him, they were salt on an open wound-diminishing his authority while elevating the enemy.
Mags clutched her cheek, looking up at Firestone with wide eyes. His gaze remained filled with hatred as he pointed a finger at her, snarling, “If you say another word, I’ll kill you where you stand.”
Before he could say more, Kayden moved.
He began walking, step by step, toward one of the fallen Enforcers. The Enforcer was clutching his chest, gasping in pain. It felt as if an invisible tank had shattered his ribcage.
Each breath was agony.
As Kayden approached, the Enforcer’s chest felt heavier, as though a mountain had settled upon him. Wide-eyed and trembling, he gasped, “What… what are you going to do?”
Kayden flashed a grin, his teeth gleaming like a predator’s before the kill. “I told you, there will be no survivors here. This place will become a living hell. The victor reigns supreme, and the defeated perish. You’ve lost. Accept your fate.”
With that, Kayden raised his battered blade and swung it down toward the Enforcer.
“Stop!” Firestone bellowed, his voice filled with desperation.
Grabbing a steel knife from the stands, he hurled it at Kayden with all his might. The blade sliced through the air like a streak of light, fast and lethal.
Kayden, with his back turned, seemed unaware of the knife hurtling toward him.
This was it. He was finished.
But just as the knife was about to reach him, Kayden’s hand shot up. His fingers curled into a claw-like grip, and a faint, visible blue aura radiated from his palm.
“Clang!”
The knife froze midair, suspended as though held by an invisible force.
It was Chi. Kayden’s Chi had stopped the blade.
The steel knife hung motionless in the air, an eerie and surreal sight.