Alex gazed at the three furious-looking fire cultivators washing him in their killing aura, reveling in the sweet desperate conflict to come. Taking a deep, steadying breath as he deliberately opened his psyche to whatever secrets or revelations might be gleaned from a single deflected attack, countered flurry, or fatal rebuttal.

Potency points will now be used with any insight gained! All insights gleaned will be conveyable to others.

No matter the cost. No matter the peril as he sensed something vast and terrible that tasted so deeply of regret, opening within his mind’s eye as the trio of cultivators circling him at less than fifty feet abruptly roared and unleashed balls of magma and streaks of flame.

You have successfully deflected Flamestrike!

You have successfully parried Fire Whip!

Spell Cleave fails to disrupt Magma Blast!

Alex’s eyes were lit by fierce hunger as he gazed at the trio of Silver tier cultivators now gazing at him so oddly, arrogance turning to confused uncertainty, before they ruthlessly stomped out the first glimmerings of fear, of uncertainty with a furious assault of fires dark and twisted that it was Alex’s absolute joy to counter, reveling in the fearsome killing intent radiating from his foes, pushing him to excel like never before.

He weaved and darted around the pyramidal battlefield like a performer embracing a well-rehearsed dance, sensing the furious hot flow of fiery Qi almost before his opponents had finished releasing their tainted spells. The added fires of purgatory honed his killing edge that much further as he subtly forced the flow of spiritual energies to miss him by inches, or ruptured the spells entirely with a single slash of his fangtian ji or dao.

It was only when he went so far as to attempt Spell Cleave with a ridge-hand strike alone that his opponents spell had exploded in his face, whereupon a modified twelve levels of Qi Absorption transformed even red hot magma to hissing stone, any infernal taint neutralized by 13 Ranks of a divine cultivation technique, leaving nothing but mild first degree burns that healed within seconds.

Healed far faster, in fact, than the slack-jawed expressions his opponents fixated him with, hovering as they all were over the city block they had been dead set on setting ablaze even as Alex calmly stood on an invisible field they could not see, only feel, and by some miracle or lack of imagination, his opponents had yet to even sense the nature of their magnificently oversized trap.

Which suited Alex just fine, as the trio linked arms and began chanting in unison, and he at last feeling a deadly surge of spiritual energy that would either destroy him, or push him like never before.

“There’s no way you should even be standing. We had you dead to rights, covered in flame!” Ruolan cried, now glaring his way as if trying to pin Alex with her stare alone.

Alex shrugged, fangtian ji disappearing as fast as he had summoned it, now armed with nothing more than the blades sheathed once more at his hips, flashing a cold smile as he sensed the subtle buildup of Qi pointing to a sharp intelligence underneath the facade of panicked emotion.

“What can I say? Maybe I’m just lucky like that. Or maybe I’m on the verge of a magnificent breakthrough that will lead to a Gold tier martial art, and I’m using you fools as the whetstone to hone my killing edge.”

He winked at her outraged expression. “Or maybe you fools really just suck at hitting any targets tougher than hapless mortals and flammable buildings.”

The girl’s eyes lit up with killing fury. Whatever attempts at guile she had been on the verge of embracing were surrendered to the embers of her own killing hate as she screamed a wordless cry filling the sky with a stream of magma.

Iado Skillcheck made!

Time seemed to slow as Alex’s heart pounded with terror and exhilaration in equal measure.

In this one pristine moment as a blisteringly bright bolt of magma roared through the air, so reminiscent of Li Jaw Long’s Gold tier plasma blast that had nearly obliterated him, yet this was instead a Silver Tier’s tainted and exquisitely deadly art. In that instant he knew nothing would serve him better than mastering the bow-wave of spiritual energy the deadly stream of death radiated, streaking through the air for his soul before being turned aside as Alex’s psyche blazed with sudden epiphany sensing like never before the complex weave of forces and fields connecting spell to target, and how effortless it would one day be to push them away.

A goal for the future, even if right now he found himself grunting with effort, feeling the hairs on his face disintegrate under the massive surge of heat emitted from a magma blast roaring past just inches from his face.

A Silver spell so powerful, it could set an entire block ablaze. Linked by three wujen, the art was barely contained by the matrix of spiritual energy containing it, which meant that it would hit with explosive force.

Countless revelations blazing across Alex’s comprehension in the time it took for the stream of pressurized magma to streak past him… and for him to strike in turn.

Knowing he had one chance here to absolutely push himself beyond what any sane man would dare.

So that the next time infernally tainted monsters used magics beyond their means to obliterate the people and places Alex loved, he would be ready.

Ready as his blade cleaved through the air in the literal blink of an eye, a weapon honed in the crucible of death’s own waters taking no damage at all from the blistering release of plasma as Alex sheered completely through the throbbing matrix before simultaneously searing free all taint and immediately infusing it with his own furious resolve, such that it would explode in any direction save directly in his face or at the target he would protect.

And in that, sadly, he had not reached perfection, so was forced to pay a price.

Skill check: Success! Spell Cleave has successfully ruptured Infernal Magma Blast!

Piercing Strike (Spell Cleave) is now Rank 8 as countless insights into the nature of spell constructs and how best to disrupt them become your own!

Qi Deflection: Partial Success! You have suffered multiple Critical Wounds, rupturing an unstable ritual Silver tier Flame spell! Draconic bloodline and Modified Rank 12 Qi Absorption reduces Critical damage to 3 Light Wounds!

Divine Tier Eternal Fox Cultivation Technique negates all infernal taint!

Qi Deflection is now Rank 8 as countless insights gained mastering the element that had so nearly cost you everything becomes your own!

You have been illuminated by transcendent understanding of Qi in its wildest, most destructive forms! Qi Absorption is now Rank 8! This rank doubles whenever consuming damage inflicted by Fire and/or Dark Qi! Infernal Qi counts as a combination of both!

You have invested 3 Potency points in enhanced comprehension of all revelations and epiphanies gained! (You have 17 Potency points left.)

You have lost your eyebrows! Your hair is now ablaze!

Alex shook his head, ignoring the looks of horrified disbelief all three Silver wujen were giving him, lost in a halcyon moment’s reverie, heart warmed by the memory of a beautiful girl in silken blouse and matching pants with a tricorn hat forever kept at a rakish angle flashing a cheeky smile before flicking a massive ball of flame his way.

“Remember to embrace the inverse, Alex! Every element save the element launched at you goes to unraveling the spell.”

Alex shivered at memories so alien to his own, yet somehow were his own, a spray of spiritual energy all the colors of the rainbow, about as far from unified White Qi as it was possible to go, effortlessly disrupting the massive ball of fire that a girl he hadn’t seen for five hundred years so casually threw towards him, disrupted as easily as Alex now disrupted a second Infernal Magma Blast unleashed by panicked wujen, splitting his own Qi in a perfect seven ray rainbow, save for the essence of Flame, recalling just how effective his ancient wife’s techniques were for disrupting spells of all sorts, even if they themselves had lived their lives as Bronze cultivators unable to ascend any further. They had been happy, safe, and free. One of the very few sweet memories he could sense bubbling up within him. The pair of them had been strong enough to be feared by slavers or bandits who might cross them, weak enough that the violent powers that be never bothered looking their way.

Yet however flawed their techniques, their love had been pristine, their children happy, and the insights they had gained on how to rupture the spells of the very few wujen daring to hunt fox pelts were the most profound he had ever gleaned. Insights that were now his own once more even as memories of warm brown eyes, light freckles, and the loving smile of a woman who had been as much Ruidian as kitsune faded like a dream, no matter how much he cried out, a nameless howl for a name long forgotten, trying to hold tight to a life that was no longer his own as the distant laughter of children became the furious howls of men and women desperate to kill him.

Yet one truth remained as he blinked back bitter tears and glared into the twisted faces of infernalists happy to trade all positive karma ever accrued for the sharp hot taste of tainted power in this life alone.

Whether using Light Qi as a whole as he did in this lifetime, or a rainbow of separate elements streaming forth in perfect tandem, it was all about sensing the metaphoric spin of countless spiritual energy matrices before cleaving those spells at just the angle needed to unravel their original formation, and their eruption was all but guaranteed.

It was in homage to ancient memories forced to the fore with the most practical and dispassionate application of potency points upon the character sheet of his soul that he forbore to strike at the three cultivators now hurtling a fearsome barrage of stone, magma, and flame his way. Not until he had done his best to consolidate his epiphany, to savor the ease with which his blade now cleaved through Silver Tier spells that now almost never exploded in his face when he struck them in twain.

Ruolan’s eyes widened in disbelief, the first traces of fear appearing on pixie features that would have been cute, had her gaze not been filled with such killing hate. “No. No one can cleave Deep Silver spells that way. You follow a forbidden path, you abomination. You must!”

“This from a cultivator who tainted her foundation with an infernalist’s black gifts? Seriously?” Alex laughed his contempt, before his gaze grew hard and cold at the three wujen trying once more to cow him with their pathetic killing intent.

“He dares to speak to us as if he were our equal? Unforgivable!” Roared the pock-scarred one known as Zhong.

“I’ll do a hell of a lot more than that, asshole,” Alex locked gazes with Zhong, no longer holding back his own killing intent as he subtly altered one of his gates. “You assholes came here with one purpose: To slaughter innocent Ruidians, Kitsune, and anyone else unfortunate enough to be caught in your flame. Eager to cause panic in this city with the death of thousands, so the bastard prince Dongfang Hong who dares to invade Cuijing Province can advance his pieces one more tile upon the board of kings and thrones.”

Zhong visibly lurched back on his flying boots, face twisting in a mask of apoplectic fury. “You would dare to insult the rightful ruler of YanTu nation? Blasphemy! We’ll purge all your kind in retribution for your unforgivable insult when our lord and master claims his throne, his future wife, and Cuijing takes its rightful place as a territory of YanTu, fool! Now pay for your crimes!”

A furious storm of Wind and Fire filled the pyramid that now vibrated with countless cries, flashes of flame, and explosions, a pyrotechnic display now audible to half the city. As had been the wujen’s declaration, a furious passionate declaration that Wind Qi and a barrier resonating like the tightest of membranes that had effectively conveyed the furious wujen’s voice across the entire city. No different than if he had roared his declaration through a massive block-sized bullhorn.

And the look in Ruolan’s face made it clear she at least suspected something when their pyrotechnical volume seemed to double, even triple as they screamed and shouted, doing all they could to slaughter the Ruidian with the mocking smile in their midst who was so chillingly effective at cleaving through spells of magma and flame.

Except, of course, when his strike was just a hair off, in which case he was sent flying back, writhed in fire that should have cooked him to the bone.

You have failed to counter Infernal Magma Blast!

Quickness check made!

Infernal Magma Blast partially evaded.

Dragon blood mitigates all damage involving cold, heat, or fire!

Qi Absorption rank doubled against all Qi attacks involving flame.

Silver Tier immolation has been reduced to Superficial Burns.

Divine Tier technique mitigates all infernal taint.

Your clothes have been immolated.

You are now laughing in a whirlwind of flame!

Alex had to give his foes credit. The massive jets of magma Ruolan had just unleashed could have had multiple city blocks ablaze, fires that would have been very hard to put out until the magma had cooled sufficiently, and by then it would have been far too late. As it was, nearly the entire floor of his pyramid of gates was covered in magma, noticeably raising the temperature of the space within, for all that it was large enough that his foes hadn’t even fully appreciated they were completely pinned in.

Yet the temperature differential, and perhaps the light refraction, was enough that his foes finally realized that something was terribly wrong.

Ruolan gazed at Alex with disbelief. “No. There’s no way you could have survived that. I killed a Silver Tier suitor with that very strike!” she hissed.

Fan, the quickest of the flying cultivators, was gazing at Alex, now laughing in a pyre of flame, with naked horror. “He’s playing us! This entire time he’s been playing us for fools. He’s no Ruidian jewel master, he’s a Gold tier monster!” Fan screamed, before abruptly turning about and racing for the heavens as fast as his boots could take him.

Alex sighed and shook his head as furious killing intent turned to terror, and he was forced to accept that he would be able to hone his own killing edge against the whetstone of their hate no further.

Besides, their Silver tier flames, deadly as they were, failed to match Dragon Blood and an effective 16 Ranks of Qi Absorption. Even his laughing and inhaling superheated smoke like a flashy idiot was well within his ability to regenerate without any effort at all.

He would advance no further training against his present set of opponents.

Best to push himself with one final act of madness and make the most of the opportunity before him.

He solemnly resheathed his dao in sheaths that had regenerated themselves far quicker than the rest of his clothing that had been utterly immolated by the magma blast, covering his arms in a sheathe of Silver Blue spiritual energy crackling with an Element his beloved Hao Chan had finally begun to embrace, declaring her heritage like nothing else. An element that soon exploded and crackled through the giant pyramid of force as he sent one howling wujen now pleading for mercy after another crashing down to the ground far below.

Find Weakness Skillcheck made! You sense the flaws in all of your opponent’s defenses!

You have successfully chained Bullrush seven times!

Storm Strike!

You have successfully synergized Piercing Strike (Spell Cleave) with Storm Strike

You have successfully synergized Piercing Strike (Spell Cleave) with Black Swan!

You have successfully ruptured multiple retributive talismans!

“No, please, don’t kill me!” Alex locked gazes with panicked brown eyes as Ruolan screamed her terror, back against the massive wall of force, a gate she would forever be forbidden entry through as she pled for mercy from the man who’s fist now crackled with blue-white lightning.

Alex paused for a single endless moment, ice-blue eyes sending shivers through her psyche, her own brown eyes widening as if realizing he could read her very soul.

Before she snarled her hate and lunged with a corrupted dagger so filled with infernal taint her own hand withered just from holding it. A small price to pay if it saved her life, of course, and a tragic waste of a limb if her opponent darted away so fluidly it was clear he had sensed her final desperate move a mile away.

But what terrified her more than anything else was the look of awful pity in his gaze.

As if he knew the ugly fate in store for her that she had been doing all she could to avoid thinking about, all her dreams of dark glory turning to crushing despair.

“No, ple—“ her words were cut off by a brilliant flash of lightning that shocked her mind free of all thought, leading to an absolutely painless death, her final sensation that of a neck collar that had always itched infernally shattering like glass, enchantment rupturing a heartbeat before steel was pierced and her throat ruptured as well.

And then she was falling, falling to gentle oblivion, hardly feeling any pain at all as she felt herself pulled into a cool stream of comforting darkness, ready to close her eyes to what had been a painfully bitter life, and start anew.

Before being jerked awake by a terrible cry.

Her own.

As hideous tendrils wrapped about her soul, reminding her of a promise she desperately wished she could forget, as her savior of countless lifetimes before now gazed into her eyes not with warmth or affection, but ice cold judgment as he tore free the most precious secret of her soul.

Just a heartbeat before the demon of jealousy and betrayal she had been so damn foolish as to let into her heart could do the same.