Alex howled with the freedom of madness, of sweetest vengeance about to be embraced, his enemy’s own cards assuring the prohibitions of this world would slide off his soul like his enemy’s blood.

So when the crushing presence of three Golds whose roars and howls and awful curses caressed the air as they closed, accruing negative karma with the forest they gleefully tore through, Alex did nothing but laugh, even as he placed his own cards at the ready.

So that when the giant Titan emerged with his features of living stone, wearing a massive breastplate Alex sensed even a Jade body cultivator might envy, though he held no weapon save his massive fists, radiating such intense Earth Qi that Alex was sure the monster could walk through even Baidushi’s stone walls as if it were no more hindrance than water, he did nothing but stand at the ready.

Focus check made!

Carefully putting his first pieces in play as the powerful Gold’s icy smile faltered. Glaring down at Alex in stupefied disbelief.

“You? The heavens above promise a divine bounty for any and all mortal heads to be found in this forest, and all there is besides Dongfang Hong’s pathetic excuse for soldiers is you?”

Alex smirked but said nothing as a powerful golden presence radiating the howling fury of a storm, Wind Qi at its strongest, suddenly made an appearance. A pale skinned woman wearing a diaphanous qipao, radiating deadly power with enough magical treasures upon her jeweled features that Alex doubted any mortal attack could possibly get through, turned and frowned at the dozens of desperately fleeing soldiers.

Before raising her arm and clenching her fist as a whirlwind suddenly gathered scores of Dongfang Hong’s men, helplessly screaming as they were flung about for long seconds before being slammed to the ground, one after another, in vicious explosions of blood and ruptured organs, like bursting balloons filled with the most grizzly fair.

“The prince specifically instructed us that no one is to leave these fields alive, Shi Xien. And that most definitely includes Dongfang Hong’s least disciplined regiment, good only for cleanup. He wants no loose ends with this gambit.”

The massive strength cultivator chuckled coldly. “If you want to crush worthless trash, be my guest.” He then furrowed his massive brow, frowning. “Where is our third, Chui?”

This earned a mocking peel of laughter. “Do we really need him? We both know the true prize is any Ruidian we find within these woods. For all that Dongfang refused to give us any other details. Not his name, appearance, background, or even the coloring of his hair or eyes. As if he was somehow hidden from our sages and seers. But that hardly matters, when there is only one Ruidian to be found in this entire forest!”

She slowly lowered herself to the grown in a swirl of wind, delicate hands Alex was almost sure were at least as strong as his own, despite her clear Wujen affinity, rested upon sensual hips as she quirked an odd, bemused smile. “And I hardly think we need to wait for a third when I see only one Ruidian who does nothing but stare at Golds and finger the ancient blades at his hip. As if this fool basked in the presence of royalty every day.”

You have closed all gates, save 6 securing Divine Artifact + 2 In Contest. You now have 13 Doors available for use.

Shi Xien nodded. “Finally, the rank, glory, and recognition we deserve!” He smirked at the bloody splats. “And that’s why I chose not to get my hands dirty. You might get the pleasure of ruling from a cloud palace, but we both know I’ll be leading the vanguard when we overtake this country, and I believe it a good policy not to cover myself in the blood of my allies. It’s bad for moral.”

You have successfully placed 3 Doors.

Chui’s bemused laughter was an odd counterpoint to the dreadful power radiating off her in waves. “So I’ll take care of the ugly realities idealists refuse even to acknowledge, while indulging myself in absolute luxury, and you shall reap legends upon countless fields of battle with a thousand nubile virgins to sate your fearsome lusts after every campaign.”

Shi Xien grinned. “Just like old times. Glorious!”

Chui smirked and nodded, floating to within a few feet of her obvious partner, before her hard, measuring sky-blue eyes met Alex’s own. “You do realize we’re going to kill you, don’t you, Ruidian?”

Alex’s ice-cold gaze met her own.

You have successfully placed 3 more doors.

Shi Xien snarled when Chui was the one who flinched and stepped back.

“Chui?”

She paled and swallowed when Alex’s cold stare refused to leave her own, for all that he crashed to one knee under what felt like a fearsome coordinated assault of their combined Golden Auras. Before deliberately picking himself up and standing tall. Refusing to kneel before those who would instantly perish in waters he strode so well.

“He radiates death!" The pale-faced beauty blanched with horror. "It’s coming off him in waves!”

Contest of Wills check made V.S. 2 Gold Tier Potencies. Modified for multiplicity VS Gold Rank 7 equivalent. – Tie! Primary foe has managed to press 1 inch forward. 2nd portal in contest maintains stability

The giant stared at Alex for long moments, before giving a slow, thoughtful nod. “And he shows no fear. None at all. For all that he smells odd for a cultivator, he is clearly a Bronze, and nothing more. There is no reason for him not to scream or beg or simply flee. He doesn’t even ask why we’re here to kill him.”

Shi Xien actually gave Alex the thoughtful nod of a warrior showing respect.

Chui just looked incensed. “You have nothing to say, Ruidian? You think your silence will bring you anything save a slow, lingering death?”

“Did someone mention death?” Chirped in a grimly smiling youth that might have been 17, or the ageless monster that Alex sensed he truly was, gliding on the air with a connection to the surrounding Qi superior even to Alex’s Stormflight.

Qi Perception check made!

Wearing enchantments or simply using natural wards that gave him what Alex suspected was the strongest shields against both physical and cultivation attacks, that Alex had ever sensed before.

“Te Chang. You’re finally here! Took you long enough. Our kung fu sister’s getting restless,” quipped Shi Xien.

The cultivator known as Te Chang, wearing rich silken robes and more arcane artifacts than even Shi Xien, smirked at that.

“That’s because Chui knows exactly how stupid a mission this is,” Te Chang said with a chuckle as invisible walls that wouldn’t stop even mist formed around all three of them.

The newest member of their group then turned to Alex, a pitying look in his gaze. “You may not believe it, but I actually find this sort of work… distasteful.”

“Profitable though,” said Shi Xien with a smirk, earning a quick chuckle from Te Chang.

“Isn’t it though?” he then turned back to their target who continued to pin them all with his discomfiting stare. “I will make you the same promise I do all my targets. Your personal family will not be made to pay for your sins.” He flashed a dark smile. “This is the one concession I demand of all my employers, and I’m good enough that they always concede.”

“Because you’re a saint,” smirked Chui.

“Hardly. I just don’t care for unduly heavy karmic debts.”

“You’re too late,” Alex said, his voice heavy with inconceivable loss, earning him two hard stares and one bemused smirk.

“So, you can actually talk!” Chui said.

“And what do you mean we are ‘too late,’ soon-to-be corpse?” snarled a no longer amused Te Chang.

“The bloated bastard Shalu already arranged for the death of my great, great granddaughter. As he did for all my other children,” Alex explained with a trembling voice as he unsheathed his twin pair of sharktooth sabers, now glowing white with the deadly waters he had never let completely go of.

Saving throw versus oblivion made!

You’re actually getting quite good at this.

And the three Golds before him were the farthest thing from fools.

“Death! His blades radiate Death Qi! That’s impossible!” Screamed Te Chang.

Before his eyes widened, as did his partners, all of them immediately noting the odd changes in their voices, as if they spoke from an impossible distance, vibrations from invisible fields the only thing carrying their words.

And only because Alex willed it.

“You know, that’s probably the only time I’ve ever had three foes just stand there reminiscing about old times and future plans while their target calmly waits for them to strike. Had this been any true battlefield, you all would have killed me in an eyeblink.”

He flashed a bitter smile. “But you didn’t. And that is a mistake you will have to live with for all your future lives. Just like I’ll have to live with all of mine.”

Looks of surprise turned to outraged glares as the massive Shi Xien snarled and charged forward, fist raise, before coming to an almost comical stop, face smacking against a slanted field that was completely invisible, and hardly seemed like it should be an inconvenience at all.

The giant’s cold laughter washed over the battlefield, oddly distorted as it was. “You think a Bronze’s arts can possibly stop a Gold?

Shi Xien pinned Alex with his glare. “Remove this annoyance, or I will turn what would have been an honorable death into a nightmare of pain.”

Alex said nothing, caressing his cheeks with his sharktoothed dao, turning the teeth crimson with his blood.

For some reason this incensed Shi Xien. He roared his fury and began pounding Alex’s trap with fists that could effortlessly shatter stone, tearing through a mountain like another man might swim uphill.

Rank 2 Gold fails to penetrate Rank 7+ equivalent Resilient Gold Ward!

The deadly fists of a Titan.

That did absolutely nothing against Alex’s deadliest trap, 3 portals linked together like a pyramid, leading nowhere, utterly closed to everyone save Alex himself and his personal possessions, voices and light the only forces he allowed to pass through.

Chui’s eyes widened. Alex smiled at her, waiting.

Quickness check made!

The instant she tried to shoot upward in a blast of air, she smashed against the three conjoined walls of the pyramid trapping her, Alex quickly sliding a portal under her while she collapsed in a daze, before turning his eyes to Te Chang, who’s brilliant gaze was one of terror and awful understanding.

“No. There is no way you could have this power. This is the power of a Jade! This is impossible! You’re just a Ruidian! No… wait, wait, wait! It’s not that simple. It’s never that simple!”

The ancient, powerful Wujen master swallowed, stumbling back, before slamming against yet another wall of force utterly impervious to its target.

“You. You’re him. You must be. Chosen disciple of our lord’s enemies. The Ruidian who won’t die!”

Alex laughed coldly at that, locking gazes with his foe, Soul Sight somehow piercing so deeply in those moments he drowned in the memory of horror, death, and unspeakable betrayal, that not even a Gold’s mind was closed to him. “I’ve died plenty of times. Countless times. Lost everyone I loved so many times to the schemes and machinations of the gods you hold allegiance to, that I dare not ever sleep in any bed save my own, or I’ll wake up a city block with my screams.”

Alex’s bleak smile turned to a killing glare as he strode forward, bronze alloy blades dripping with his own blood. “I have been persecuted over countless lifetimes, forced to watch my families suffer at the hands of self-righteous monsters like you, always acting on behalf of so-called gods, no matter how saintly a life I lived, no matter how virtuous I acted. Well, that time is over. That Alex is dead. And the man before you will never show mercy to his enemies again!”

No longer fearing the horror of what he dared, the inevitability of his own end, Alex embraced the ice cold feeling of the River of Souls flowing through his own like he hadn’t since he had last struck a god or crushed a soul to oblivion, his dao now glowing with a pristine silver-hued light, Alex finding dark comfort as the storm of perilous waters flooded his soul, before turning his gaze back to his horrified foes.

He was moving toward the now panicked Te Chang.

“No, wait. You don’t need to do this!” The Gold flashed a desperate smile, countless centuries of overweening arrogance and disdain for all those beneath him, mitigated only by the most condescending of mercies, instantly faded to a desperate need to survive.

And something in Alex’s gaze, it seemed, made Te Chang all too aware of just how perilous his situation truly was, and how deadly the nemesis now before him just might be.

Thoughts earning a cold smile from Alex as the Wujen swallowed and trembled.

“You… you can read my mind. Like the first wave of Ruidians! The ones our earliest ancestors purged before they could ever gain a stronghold here. Before so many weaker tribes took their place…” His eyes widened in fresh terror. “No. I didn’t mean to say that aloud. A Gold’s darkest secrets. You compelled my thoughts. You must have!”

Alex shrugged. “I’m starting to get the feeling that my mother’s influence was a lot stronger than she ever let on, and maybe that giant freak playing the white-suited super villain on TV was anything but a hoax. Not that any of that matters now.”

The now trembling Te Chang began desperately striking the barrier before him with waves of crimson flame that did nothing but highlight the dimensions of the pyramidal prison before him. The other wild-eyed Golds doing the same thing in their own way, Chui’s pyramid vibrating with storms of wind, the body cultivator’s fists pounding an indomitable field with inconceivable strength.

All of their eyes now wide with fear. A sight Alex had never expected to see from a Gold.

In the end, just as human and vulnerable as everyone else, it seemed, when god-like power was replaced by mortal peril.

Te Chang cried out and lurched back to the rear of his prison as Alex drew close. “Please. It mustn’t end here. The story of my life, my destiny… I still have so much to accomplish!” His eyes widened with desperate hope. “This is a test, right? A fork in the road of destiny!” He forced a desperate chuckle. “I know you. I understand your power. Your great destiny! You are one of the chosen, like me! Yours…yours is the face of my future beloved adviser! We will forge a bond of friendship and brotherhood like no other, after this trial. You’ll see. Just please, let me make amends for such a rough start! We have such an exciting future ahead of us, just you wait!”

He then turned, sharing desperate gazes with his companions. “All four of us! Together! A band of allies and friends like no other!”

Shi Xien was gazing at Alex with something close to awe, an expression his features probably hadn’t registered in centuries, before he gave a slow nod. “Perhaps there is truth in what you say, Te Chang. Perhaps this is our lost fourth brother.”

Chui, coming too with a jolted scream, witnessing Te Chang’s growing panic and despair, quickly joined in with a desperate nod. “Yes. This boy has proven himself. A worthy disciple. To all of us! Together, we can forge him into the best cultivator, the deadliest cultivator he could ever hope to be! More than that, he will have three sworn allies to his service!”

Soul Sight skillcheck successful! (Whether you like it or not!)

Alex closed his eyes at the tremble he heard in the woman’s voice. Already sensing the gentle women whose golden laughter had raised a dozen powerful cultivators and beloved children. And the arrogant young noblewoman who had thought only of herself and her pursuit of endless power… until her heart had been swept up in the arms of a passionate prince that would have been the envy of any fairytale hero, the pair living out the most majestic of fantasies for a thousand years, endless millennium ago. As well as the witch who found such dark power in necromancy, as flashes of countless other lives blazed before his eyes.

Alex closed his eyes and gazed at the heavens.

“If only I could, WiFu.”

And WiFu didn’t need to say a word.

For Alex already knew the truth.

Any oath, even a cultivator’s oath, could be broken.

If one was willing to pay the price.

A price that might instantly damn a Bronze, and lead a Silver to excruciating agony for months before finally destroying him, lest he found a cure or forgiveness, would be but an ugly wound to a Gold. One that might impair, but would hardly cripple.

And for all that a part of him felt the anxious desperation radiating over all of them…

All he had to do was look at the dozens of shattered bodies killed as if they were nothing.

All he had to do was gaze at the forest all around him, knowing he was looking at Zhu Bi’s grave.

All he had to do was remember what had happened the last time he had dared spare enemies that later swore to be the staunchest of allies, only to cut him down and destroy everything and everyone he had ever loved, the day he had broken through to Silver, forging a cord so massive, so powerful, he was flooded with the memory of its creation, as well as the horror of his betrayal.

And what a tragic fool he had been, cut down at his greatest moment, too focused on the dream of his ascension and the ideals of a hero to spot the cold calculation hidden within the warm gazes of former enemies who had become sworn allies and friends.

So like the desperate stares of the three now pleading before him with their eyes.

Like never before, Alex understood the perils of mercy and the horrors of betrayal.

So he spoke from his heart, meeting Te Chang’s desperate gaze as he did so.

Qi Perception – critical success!

“You have no idea how much I want to take you up on that offer.”

He flashed a desperate smile. “Then do! We will be your brothers and sisters in battle. But spare us, and give us a chance to serve you!”

Alex’s gaze hardened. “But you already did that once before. Or don’t you remember?” His laughter would have frozen spirit wine. “I see truths long forgotten, karma’s call answered in the most unexpected of ways. For my fate may have been cleaved, but you three have very much fought and killed together before.”

Te Chang’s gaze widened in surprise and awe both. “I taste your sincerity. You really believe it. Believe that we’ve met before.”

The beautiful Chui flashed a relieved smile. “Have we, then? You truly know this… hero? Tell me, have we crossed paths before? Were we perhaps advisers to you, friends to you in this previous life?”

Alex nodded, noting the flood of relief washing over them. “Yes we have. And yes, you were,” he said, ringing the spines of his blades together as he continued to approach the Gold Titans before him. “All of you, sworn to my side. And in my final hour…”

“Yes?” Chui’s words held desperate hope.

Shi Xien’s gaze hardened, like a warrior ready for the worst.

Te Chang’s features were utterly still as Alex’s eyes met his own.

“You taught me the worth of your words.”

Adderstrike! Adderstrike!

You have successfully caught Gold Titan strength cultivator by surprise!

Soul Cleave!

And between one heartbeat and the next, hopeful gazes turned to desperate screams as the massive Shi Xien, the most suspicious of all of them, suddenly lost his head to the Ruidian who teleported behind him in an eyeblink, Alex’s intent focus on Te Chang alone having been but a ruse.

He didn’t need to gaze at his foe and prepare his strike, after all, when Qi Perception so perfectly mapped out the battlefield.

The pair of Wujen gazed in horrified disbelief when their ally’s body collapsed to the ground, the former Titan’s eyes blinking madly as his face contorted with furious disbelief.

Before widening with unspeakable horror as the grassy clearing turned grey and misty with death’s waters, their fallen friend’s impossibly perfect body wilting and aging before their eyes.

Skill check successful! You are now striding upon the River of Souls!

Spirit Crane skill check – Tie!

Alex didn’t hesitate to ram his powerful arm down the stunned spirit’s throat, surprised to feel, for the first time, teeth of resistance. Alex’s gaze hardened, glaring at the desperately writhing soul as he forced his fingers down his targets throat, the memory of the man now more real than the decapitated hunk of meat even now shriveling as all his potency and potential became Alex’s own.

Spirit Crane skill check – success!

You have claimed one Tier 3 Gold Soul Stone!

Alex wanted to howl with the sheer joy of sweet golden power from his kill flooding not just himself but the two girls closest to his heart, for all that they were a world away. Alex noted tiny slivers of potency also flooding into the Silver tier cultivators still connected to him. The squad defenders of his realm, however, immediately severed their link, lest the flood of sheer power burn out their channels entirely.

Yet that rush was nothing compared to tearing free yet another Golden Core.

And this time when the desperate soul shrieked and sobbed for mercy, Alex’s mind flooded with countless images of beloved sages bringing hope to thousands, brave heroes fighting for the noblest of causes, gentle men beloved by family and friends. Countless lives of virtue this one time hero had lived, a desperate pleading case before the most merciless of gods.

But all Alex had to do was pull up ancient memories of three old friends sharing the coldest of smiles before cleaving off the head of the Ruidian they had sold out for Shalu’s mocking smile and the sweetest of prizes.

The divine right to raise their hungry souls from Silver to Gold for all time.

All they had to do was betray one of their own.

Memories that had once belonged to the three souls sent to cut him down once more, haunted by the loss of a fourth they had never even realized had been one of their own.

And Alex had absolutely no doubt that Shalu took particular delight at the thought of having the same pieces destined to be Alex closest friends destroy his life at his moment of greatest strength, twice over.

“Please, forgive us!” Sobbed a soul far more cognizant than most Bronze or Silver spirits who had never before achieved their full potential, unlike the soul desperately begging even now. “We broke your sacred trust, which will forever be a stain upon our souls. But you would destroy us for all time! Allies you once fought and bled beside!”

Alex nodded, not flinching before the desperate sobbing screams of an innocent young man destined for a throne he would now forever be denied. “The hero I once was, the idealistic boy who fought by your side, would have died defending you in battle, and would have forgiven you with a smile and embraced you as brother, even at death’s door, had you somehow brought me back after your betrayal. And I have no doubt that he would have happily been the savior you plead for, even now.”

Alex sighed with those words, somehow sensing how true that was, the dream of him that almost could have been.

Before his gaze hardened with the coldness of steel.

“But you killed that innocent idealist, his wives and children butchered by fanatics soon after, because he was too foolish to know how cold, bitter, and ruthless this beautiful, terrible world, truly is.”

Alex flashed a bitter smile.

“So now you deal with me.”

With those words, he swallowed the prize in his hands that symbolized a thousand lifetimes worth of dedication and struggle as the beautiful young man shriveled to an ancient ravaged horror before Alex’s eyes. Before at last giving a final despairing wail when the possibility of reprieve and salvation became absolute zero, only then plunging itself into the cold waters of oblivion. And somehow Alex knew that was one soul who would never bother to rise again.

A soul he had once shared adventure and laughter with.

A soul he had once called friend.