The breakthrough came at 4 AM.
I jolted awake as my entire body erupted with power. Every cell felt like it was on fire, not painful, but intense. My Qi channels expanded violently, and the energy that had been building up for days finally exploded past the bottleneck.
[BREAKTHROUGH IMMINENT!]
[QI REFINING STAGE 4 → STAGE 5]
[HOLD ON, THIS IS GOING TO BE WILD]
My dantian felt like a star going supernova. The compressed Qi suddenly expanded, then contracted, forming into a denser, more stable core. I could feel my body tempering itself automatically, bones strengthening, muscles refining, meridians widening to accommodate the increased power flow.
The air around me shimmered with visible Qi distortion. Papers scattered across my room. The wooden bed frame creaked ominously under the pressure.
Then, just as suddenly as it started, everything settled.
Silence.
I lay there, breathing heavily, feeling fundamentally different. Stronger. Faster. More aware. It was like I'd been living my entire life with weights strapped to my body, and someone had just cut them all off.
[BREAKTHROUGH COMPLETE!]
[QI REFINING STAGE 5 - ACHIEVED!]
[BODY TEMPERING: 41% → 58%]
[COMBAT POWER: SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED]
[YOU CAN NOW PROBABLY FIGHT STAGE 7 CULTIVATORS]
[PROBABLY.]
I stood up and clenched my fist experimentally. The casual movement created a small gust of wind that rattled the window shutters.
"Okay," I said, grinning despite the circumstances. "That's pretty cool."
[TOLD YOU WE'D GET YOU TO STAGE 5 IN TIME]
[PERFECT TIMING TOO. INVASION STARTS IN 14 HOURS.]
My grin faded. Right. The invasion.
I quickly got dressed, strapped on my armor and sword, and headed out. The sect was already bustling with activity despite the early hour. Disciples moved with purpose, carrying weapons and supplies. Elders barked orders. Formation masters were making last-minute adjustments to defensive arrays.
The sky had turned from gray-red to deep crimson, like the world was bleeding.
[BLOOD MOON SECT ARMY: 80 KILOMETERS AWAY]
[THEY'LL ARRIVE BY NOON]
[EARLIER THAN EXPECTED]
"They're moving faster," I muttered.
[DEMONIC CULTIVATORS AREN'T BIG ON PUNCTUALITY]
[THEY PROBABLY GOT EXCITED]
---
I found Team Three already assembled at our designated position on the eastern wall. The wall itself was impressive, twenty meters tall, made of stone reinforced with defensive formations that glowed faintly with protective Qi.
Chen Wu stood at the forefront, fully armored and wielding a massive guandao that looked like it could cleave a person in half. He noticed me approaching and his eyes widened slightly.
"Stage 5," he said, not quite a question.
"Broke through this morning," I confirmed.
"Of course you did," he muttered. "Is there anything normal about you, Lin Tian?"
[HE'S JEALOUS. IT'S ADORABLE.]
Yun Xia rushed over, her face lighting up with relief. "Lin Tian! I felt the Qi disturbance from your room. You actually made it to Stage 5 before the battle!"
"Cutting it close, but yeah."
She punched my shoulder, surprisingly hard for someone so delicate-looking. "Don't scare me like that! I thought something went wrong with your cultivation."
"Everything went right for once," I said. "How's everyone else holding up?"
She glanced back at the team. "Nervous. Li Feng threw up twice already. Wang Lei won't stop talking, I think it's his way of coping. Zhao Min is just... meditating? I think he's accepted that we might die."
[TEAM MORALE: MIXED]
[SOME COPING BETTER THAN OTHERS]
[FAIRLY NORMAL FOR PRE-BATTLE SITUATIONS]
"We're not dying today," I said firmly.
"You can't promise that."
"Watch me."
Yun Xia smiled despite herself. "You're either very brave or very stupid."
"Why not both?"
[DEFINITELY BOTH]
---
By mid-morning, the entire sect had taken up defensive positions. Inner sect disciples lined the walls in their pristine white robes. Outer sect disciples filled in the gaps, a sea of gray uniforms trying to look braver than they felt. Elders positioned themselves at strategic points, their powerful auras radiating reassurance.
On the ground level, support teams prepared healing stations and ammunition supplies. Arrays hummed with stored Qi, ready to unleash devastating attacks.
And beyond the walls, in the distance, we could see them.
The Blood Moon Sect army.
It looked like a dark tide approaching across the plains. Thousands of figures in crimson and black robes, moving in disturbingly perfect formation. Corrupted beasts lumbered among them, creatures twisted by demonic cultivation, their eyes glowing with malevolent red light.
Above the army, the sky itself seemed to bleed, a massive blood-red moon hanging impossibly in broad daylight.
"By the heavens," Li Feng whispered. "There's so many of them."
[ENEMY FORCE ANALYSIS UPDATED]
[ESTIMATED COUNT: 2,400+ CULTIVATORS]
[CORRUPTED BEASTS: 300+]
[AVERAGE CULTIVATION: STAGE 4-6]
[ELITE FORCES: 50+ CORE FORMATION]
[LEADERS: 5 NASCENT SOUL]
[AZURE PEAK DEFENDING FORCES: 847 CULTIVATORS]
[WE'RE OUTNUMBERED NEARLY 3-TO-1]
[THIS IS BAD, BOSS]
'Can we win?' I thought.
[DEPENDS ON YOUR DEFINITION OF "WIN"]
[SURVIVE? MAYBE.]
[REPEL THEM COMPLETELY? UNLIKELY.]
[NOT DIE? I'M WORKING ON IT.]
The Blood Moon army stopped about 500 meters from the walls. For a long moment, there was only eerie silence. Then, a figure rose above the army, levitating through pure Qi manipulation.
He was tall, skeletal thin, dressed in elaborate crimson robes decorated with bone ornaments. His face was gaunt, almost skull-like, and his eyes glowed with an unnatural red light.
[DETECTING: NASCENT SOUL STAGE 5]
[IDENTITY: BLOOD PATRIARCH XU - LEADER OF BLOOD MOON SECT]
[THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME]
[HE COULD SNEEZE AND WIPE OUT YOUR ENTIRE TEAM]
Blood Patriarch Xu's voice boomed across the battlefield, amplified by Qi: "Azure Peak Sect. You have three choices. Surrender and become vassals. Flee and be hunted. Or die defending this worthless rock you call home."
From our side, a figure rose to meet him, Azure Peak Sect Master Liang, an elderly man with a long white beard and eyes that crackled with power.
[AZURE PEAK SECT MASTER: NASCENT SOUL STAGE 6]
[HE'S SLIGHTLY STRONGER]
[BUT XU HAS FOUR OTHER NASCENT SOUL CULTIVATORS]
[MATH ISN'T IN OUR FAVOR]
"The Azure Peak has stood for 800 years," Sect Master Liang replied, his voice equally powerful. "It will not fall today. Certainly not to parasites like the Blood Moon Sect who feast on the innocent."
Blood Patriarch Xu smiled, a terrible, predatory expression. "Then you choose death. How disappointing. I had hoped you'd be more reasonable."
He raised one skeletal hand.
"Kill them all."
[HERE WE GO]
The Blood Moon army surged forward like a crimson wave.
"BRACE!" Chen Wu roared.
The defensive formations activated, glowing barriers materializing in front of the walls. Sect disciples raised weapons. Inner sect elders began channeling devastating techniques.
The first wave of enemies crashed against the barriers, corrupted beasts, mindless cannon fodder, throwing themselves at the defenses with suicidal abandon. The formations held, but I could see the strain as cracks began forming.
"Archers! Fire at will!" someone commanded.
A volley of arrows and Qi projectiles flew from the walls, cutting down dozens of beasts. But more kept coming. Always more.
[FIRST WAVE: PROBING ATTACK]
[THEY'RE TESTING OUR DEFENSES]
[REAL ASSAULT BEGINS IN 3... 2... 1...]
The barriers shattered.
Blood Moon cultivators poured through the gaps, launching themselves at the walls with frightening speed. Stage 4 and 5 cultivators, all wearing the same manic expressions, all radiating bloodlust.
"Team Three! Defensive formation!" Chen Wu commanded.
We moved into position, a standard defensive triangle with stronger members at the points. I found myself at the front right position, Yun Xia at my back for support.
The first enemy reached our section of the wall, a Blood Moon disciple with Stage 5 cultivation and a wicked-looking curved blade. He launched himself at me with a feral scream.
[COMBAT ASSIST: ACTIVE]
[INFINITE TIDE SCRIPTURE: READY]
[LET'S SHOW THEM WHAT STAGE 5 REALLY MEANS]
I moved.
The Infinite Tide Scripture flowed through my body like second nature now. My sword met his blade, and instead of blocking, I redirected, flowing like water around his attack while my Qi spiraled and amplified.
My counter-strike caught him in the chest. The impact sent him flying backward off the wall, crashed into three other Blood Moon disciples below.
[FIRST KILL]
[HOW DO YOU FEEL?]
I didn't have time to feel anything. Two more enemies were already climbing the wall.
"Left side!" Yun Xia called out, her Flowing Water Palm deflecting an attack meant for Li Feng.
Wang Lei was fighting with wild abandon, his dual swords creating a whirlwind of steel. Zhao Min used his hammer like a siege weapon, each strike crushing enemies or sending them tumbling off the wall.
But there were so many. For every enemy we killed, two more took their place.
[TEAM STATUS:]
[CHEN WU: HOLDING STRONG]
[YOU: PERFORMING ABOVE EXPECTATIONS]
[YUN XIA: EXCELLENT SUPPORT]
[WANG LEI: GETTING RECKLESS]
[LI FENG: BARELY HANGING ON]
[UNNAMED MEMBER #3: DEAD]
Wait, what?
I glanced to my right and saw one of our team members, a guy whose name I'd never learned, lying motionless, a Blood Moon disciple's blade through his chest.
First casualty.
It wouldn't be the last.
"Hold the line!" Chen Wu roared, his guandao sweeping through three enemies at once. "Don't let them establish a foothold!"
I gritted my teeth and threw myself back into the fight. Sword met flesh. Qi clashed against Qi. Blood sprayed across ancient stone.
This was war.
And we were just getting started.
---
[BATTLE STATUS: ONGOING]
[ENEMIES KILLED: 47]
[ALLIES LOST: 23]
[YOUR TEAM: 9/10 REMAINING]
[ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS: STILL COMING]
[BOSS, PACE YOURSELF]
[THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG DAY]
Above the battlefield, the Blood Patriarch and Sect Master clashed, their techniques creating shockwaves that rippled across the sky.
And still, the Blood Moon army kept coming.
Wave after wave after wave.