The sky split open like torn silk.
Thunder roared, shadows dripped from the clouds, and a crimson crack pulsed above Cloudpierce Pavilion. The masked figure floated beneath it, descending slowly—violently—like a falling omen.
Every cultivator in the Pavilion dropped to their knees.
Not from obedience.
From pressure.
Breath stolen.Bones trembling.Hearts seized.
Ling Xueyao couldn't breathe. Frost spiraled uncontrollably around her, her domain cracking under the weight of the aura pressing down on her.
Feng Qingyue gritted her teeth, phoenix flame thinning into flickers.
Even the Nine Executioners bowed as the figure lowered, cloaks whipping wildly.
"Grand Executioner," they murmured.
The masked being landed softly, like a whisper of death.
Qi Shan Wei stared at him… and for a moment, Shan Wei felt something he had never felt before—
True fear.
Not the fear of losing.Not the fear of pain.
The fear of ending.
The Grand Executioner did not walk.He glided, his feet not touching the ground.
His voice was calm.Too calm.
"Qi Shan Wei," he said, tone soft as winter's last breath."You were warned."
Jin Wei stepped in front of Shan Wei instantly.
Runes burned across his armor, brighter than before—overloaded, unstable.
"TARGET: OVERWHELMING.MASTER: RETREAT."
Shan Wei shook his head.
"No. I'm not running."
The Grand Executioner tilted his head.
"Bravery."A soft chuckle."Or stupidity."
Ling Xueyao raised her sword.Frost swirled desperately around her.
"You will not touch him."
Qingyue lifted her phoenix staff, both hands shaking.
"Come through us first."
The Grand Executioner didn't even look at them.
"You two…"His masked face shifted."…are irrelevant."
He raised one hand.
With a single movement—
BOMMMMM!!!
A shockwave exploded outward.
Xueyao was thrown like a ragdoll, smashing into the Pavilion wall.Qingyue spiraled into the air, crashing into a courtyard pillar.
Both coughed blood.
"XUEYAO!""QINGYUE!"
Shan Wei lunged toward them——but a hand caught his collar and yanked him backward.
The Grand Executioner had moved without stepping.
He whispered:
"Your guardians fall first."
Jin Wei roared, charging like an iron mountain.
His fist collided with the Grand Executioner's chest—
KRRRK—BOOM!!
An explosion of light—
And then Jin Wei flew back hundreds of meters, smashing through five stone walls.
"JIN WEI!"
Shan Wei's breath broke.
"J-Jin Wei—!!"
Dust rose.Rubble fell.
Jin Wei lay still.
Broken.Silent.Runa flickering like dying stars.
Shan Wei felt his heart crack.
"Jin Wei…"
He stumbled forward.The Grand Executioner appeared in front of him again.
"You form attachments easily," he murmured."That is why you will fail."
Shan Wei trembled. Fury twisted in his veins.
"You—hurt—my—family."
"Oh?" the masked man asked softly."You believe these beings… love you?"
Shan Wei's nostrils flared.
"They are mine. And I am theirs."
"Then watch them die."
The masked deity lifted a single finger—
A black blade formed from shadow.
He thrust it toward Shan Wei's chest—
FWEEEEEEE!!!
A prismatic beam shot from the sky, smashing into the blade mid-air.
The Grand Executioner paused.
"What…?"
Drakonix streaked down from above——but he was no longer glowing softly.
He was blazing.
His feathers were metallic prismatic fire.His horns flared with golden lightning.His wings tore cracks into the sky.
Ling Xueyao whispered weakly from the rubble:
"He's… evolving…"
Qingyue's eyes widened.
"No… he's being forced into a half-evolved combat state!"
Drakonix landed in front of Shan Wei, tiny body trembling with power far beyond its size.
"FWEEEEEEEE!!!"
He shrieked, wings spreading wide, challenging a being dozens of realms above him.
The Grand Executioner stared.
"A… hybrid phoenix-dragon… incomplete evolution… bound to a boy?"
Drakonix's flames flared.
"FWEEEEE!!!"(You touch him—you DIE.)
Shan Wei grabbed Drakonix with trembling hands.
"Drakonix… don't— you'll burn yourself alive!"
Drakonix shrieked defiantly, refusing to back down.
The Grand Executioner spread his arms.
"How touching."
Then he snapped his fingers.
Space cracked behind him.
A shadow hand emerged—
And slammed into Drakonix.
BAMMMMM!!!
Drakonix flew across the courtyard, smashing into the earth.
"DRAKONIX!!!"
Shan Wei ran toward him.
"NO!"
He reached the crash site—
Drakonix lay on the ground…
Glowing.
Fading.
His prismatic aura flickered like dying starlight.
"N-No… Drakonix… please… stay with me…!"
Shan Wei shook him desperately.
Drakonix blinked weakly.
"F—fwee…"
His body pulsed once—twice—
Then light engulfed him.
A cocoon formed around his tiny body—
The Nirvana Cocoon.
Qingyue screamed.
"SHAN WEI—NO ONE MUST TOUCH THE COCOON—!!!"
The Grand Executioner turned calmly.
"Another nuisance to erase."
He raised his blade toward the cocoon.
Shan Wei lunged.
"DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!"
He thrust his palm forward—
Prismatic Flame — Herculean Break!
A roaring crimson lightning flame burst from his hand—
The Grand Executioner didn't dodge.
He let it hit him.
He stood inside the explosion—
unmoved.
Not a scratch.
"Interesting," he said lazily."You are evolving too."
Shan Wei panted, collapsing to a knee.
The masked being approached him slowly.
"You are indeed the Heaven-Breaker."
Shan Wei spat blood.
"If you think I'll let Heaven kill me… you're wrong."
"Oh?" the Grand Executioner whispered.
He appeared behind Shan Wei, fingers pressed against his spine.
"You won't let Heaven kill you."
A cold breath against Shan Wei's ear.
"But I don't need Heaven."
Shan Wei tried to move.
He couldn't.
Fear froze him.
"Qi Shan Wei," the masked deity whispered,"you die now."
A blade of shadow formed above Shan Wei's heart.
Ling Xueyao crawled forward.
"NO—PLEASE—STOP—!!"
Qingyue screamed, tears in her eyes.
"SHAN WEI—RUN—!!!"
The blade fell.
Shan Wei gasped—
A hand caught the blade.
Everything froze.
Everyone froze.
Even the Grand Executioner stiffened.
"…What?"
A new figure stood behind Shan Wei.
Tall.White-robed.Radiating calm, ancient light.
His hand held the shadow blade effortlessly.
He spoke with a voice like quiet thunder:
"Enough."
The masked Grand Executioner stepped back, aura flaring.
"You—You dare interfere with a Heaven Decree?"
The white-robed figure lowered his hood.
Silver hair.Golden eyes.A calm, ancient smile.
Qingyue dropped her staff, trembling.
"No… it can't be…I've seen portraits… in the Phoenix Temple…"
Ling Xueyao's eyes went wide.
"Is that—an Immortal…?"
Shan Wei's breath caught.
He knew that face.
He'd seen it once—in a dreamduring the night the Crimson Comet fell.
The white-robed man looked down at Shan Wei.
"Qi Shan Wei," he said softly.
His eyes glowed with recognition.
"It's been a long time… my son."
To be continued..
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