Chương 2220: Chapter 11: Tyrannical Soul, The Fall of the Three Xuan Elders

"The Qingyan Sect has no shame! To gang up two-on-one... if you have the guts, face me alone! I would skin you both alive!" Wang Kewen roared, his voice strained as he parried a flurry of blows. His robes were tattered, and sweat poured down his face, stinging his eyes. A black-robed cultivator across from him sneered, his lips curling in derision.

"Save your breath, boy. This is a blood feud, not a sanctioned duel. There is no room for honor when your life is forfeit. Why waste words on a dead man?"

"Senior Brother, do not dally with him," the other disciple added, his eyes as cold and pitiless as a viper's.

"Let us end this quickly so we can assist our brothers in slaughtering the rest of these Xuanxiao curs."

"Agreed!" The two attackers intensified their onslaught, their blades weaving a net of lethal steel. Wang Kewen was forced into a desperate retreat, his defense crumbling under the dual pressure. Just as despair began to take root in his heart, a sharp, high-pitched whistle cut through the cacophony of the battlefield. Whoosh! A streak of obsidian light blurred past. Before the two Qingyan disciples could even register the sound, their heads were severed from their shoulders.

Their expressions of cruel triumph froze forever as their skulls spun into the air, followed by twin geysers of crimson gore. A middle-aged man stepped out from the shadows, beckoning with a casual flick of his wrist. The cone-shaped artifact—the very one that had just claimed two lives—flew back into his palm. He spared a chilling, faint smile for the stunned Wang Kewen before his body flickered with spiritual light, vanishing into the chaos once more.

"Elder Xu, hold on! I have already sent the distress signal. Help will be here in mere moments!" a cultivator in his fifties cried out. His face was deathly pale, and his breath came in ragged gasps, but his eyes remained fixed on the three figures blocking their path. Elder Xu nodded, though a bitter taste filled his mouth. He knew the truth. Facing them were the Three Xuan Elders, a trio whose combined strength through the Linked Breath Scripture could stall even a Golden Core master for a time.

With one of their own already crippled by a cowardly sneak attack and the main battlefield so far away, they were little more than lambs waiting for the butcher's knife.

"If you two choose to end your own lives now," the first brother began, his voice rasping.

"We shall give you our word," the second brother continued, matching the rhythm.

"We will allow your souls to depart for the cycle of reincarnation," the third added.

"Otherwise," they spoke in a terrifying unison, stepping forward as their killing intent surged like a tide, "we shall extract your souls and refine them in the fires of agony for eternity!" Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Hmph, do you take us for children?" Elder Xu spat, a fierce light returning to his eyes.

"I am an Elder of the Xuanxiao Sect. Even if I must fall today, I will ensure the Three Xuan Elders pay a price in blood that they will never forget!" The wounded elder beside him said nothing, but his aura flared with the desperate resolve of a man who had already accepted his death.

"Since they refuse our mercy..."

"We shall waste no more time."

"Kill them and return to the fray!" Without a single signal, the three brothers raised their hands simultaneously. Their spiritual fluctuations merged into a singular, overwhelming wave. Within Xuan Wenji, the eldest, a power far transcending the limits of the Foundation Establishment stage erupted. The auras of the other two brothers seemed to vanish, flowing entirely into their leader.

"Go!" Xuan Wenji tapped his forehead, and a three-inch-long miniature sword shot out. As it left his hand, it expanded violently, growing into a massive, twenty-meter-long slab of black steel that hummed with destructive power. The Xuanwen Heavy Sword!

"A Magic Treasure!" Elder Xu gasped, his eyes widening in terror as the colossal blade descended like the hand of a vengeful god. Nearby, onlookers whispered in hushed, terrified tones.

"Look, those are the Three Xuan Elders. With their Linked Breath Scripture, they are invincible below the Golden Core stage. That Xuanwen Heavy Sword is real... they truly can sweep through any Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Xuanxiao Sect." But just as the blade was about to crush the two elders, a streak of black light intercepted it with a thunderous boom. The shockwave rippled through the air, knocking back nearby disciples.

In that moment of confusion, a shadowy figure appeared silently behind the Xuan brothers.

"Not good!" Xuan Wenji's Divine Sense screamed a warning. He tried to retreat, but a sudden, agonizing spike of spiritual energy pierced his brain. His soul felt as if it were being torn asunder, and his movement faltered for a heartbeat. When he forced his eyes open, he saw the middle-aged man standing before him with a cold, predatory grin. A white jade bead appeared in the man's hand, manifesting into a three-foot blade of pure, shimmering light. With a brutal, sweeping arc, the man struck. Splurt!

Two heads rolled across the dirt. The two younger Xuan brothers fell instantly, their life-force extinguished before they could even scream. With their deaths, the Linked Breath Scripture shattered. Xuan Wenji's aura plummeted, crashing back down to the Late Foundation Establishment stage. He let out a primal, animalistic howl of grief and rage, charging at the man with reckless abandon. Reyn—disguised as the middle-aged man—simply sneered. He unleashed a second, even more powerful Divine Sense shock.

Xuan Wenji felt a guillotine drop on his consciousness. His True Essence froze, and his body swayed, nearly collapsing from the mental trauma. Before he could recover, a black light flashed through his vision.

"No!" he screamed internally, but the world was already fading. A fist-sized, transparent hole had been punched through his chest, obliterating his heart. He slumped to the ground, his eyes staring blankly at the sky as his life-force dissipated into nothingness. In the span of a few breaths, the legendary Three Xuan Elders had been wiped out.

"Hiss!" The surrounding cultivators collectively drew in a sharp breath of cold air, their faces masks of disbelief.

"Who is this man? To slaughter the Xuan Elders as if he were stepping on ants..."

"Could he be a Golden Core master hidden by the Xuanxiao Sect?"

"No, look at his tactics. He used a soul attack to break their formation first. His Divine Sense is monstrous—likely on par with a Golden Core expert. If he remains on the field, the Qingyan Sect's Foundation Establishment disciples will be butchered to the last man!" Among the crowd, several cultivators felt cold sweat drenching their backs. They exchanged terrified glances, realizing that the tide of the entire battle had just shifted toward a bloody conclusion.