CHAPTER 104 — The Starfall Massacre Begins
The abyss roared.
The world trembled.
And Lin Xuan stepped forward.
He stood at the edge of the broken rampart overlooking all of Starfall Valley—his spear angled low, the golden-scaled Dragon-Bai coiled around him like a living battle mantle, and his three companions arrayed behind him, faces grim but resolute.
Below them surged an ocean of abyssal beasts—twisted wolves, scorpion-tailed apes, horned boars with molten eyes, and armored humanoid fiends pulsing with corruption. And above them all towered the pseudo-general:
Four arms. A cauldron fused into his torso. Eyes that burned like polluted furnaces.
A mockery of what he once was.
Once a Sun-Forging alchemist.
Now… nothing but a fuel-hungry abyssal beast.
The pseudo-general slammed one clawed hand into the ground.
> "I SMELL THE ONE WHO DEVOURS CORRUPTION."
The earth cracked like glass.
> "YOU WILL FEED ME."
Lin tightened his grip on his spear, the golden mist swirling around him condensing into blazing lines of runic heat.
"Come take me then."
Dragon-Bai hissed in delight. Bai lifted his spear. Wen and Mu steadied themselves, qi rising like twin storms.
And then—
The abyss charged.
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1. The First Clash
The first wave of beasts reached the wall.
Wen darted in front, blades flashing in a seamless blur.
> Shing! Shing! Shing!
Heads flew.
Bodies crumpled.
Dark blood splashed the stones.
He moved like a shadow, as if dancing between raindrops.
Mu stepped behind him, her hands weaving seals.
Her upgraded Ice-Petal Lotus Art bloomed outward—
> FWOOM!
Blizzards of razor-thin petals spiraled into the crowd, shredding corrupted flesh into a thousand drifting shards.
Bai met the assault head-on.
His upgraded Thunder-Break Spear Art crackled with tribulation-laced lightning as he hurled himself down the rampart.
> BOOM!
Each thrust blew apart several beasts at once.
Energy ripples shook the valley walls.
But this was only the start.
Lin leapt from the rampart and landed directly in front of the pseudo-general.
His aura flared—
A miniature solar flare igniting the battlefield.
Golden waves tore outward, vaporizing lesser beasts instantly.
The pseudo-general swung a massive fist at Lin.
Lin didn't dodge.
He countered.
> "Solar Lance—Rend the Void."
His spear shot forward, wrapped in coiling solar flames and gravitational pressure.
The collision split the air—
> BAAAAAAANG!!!
A storm of corrupted qi scattered like ink thrown into a hurricane.
The pseudo-general slid back three steps.
Lin slid back two.
Bai shouted from behind, eyes wide:
"Boss! That thing's on par with a peak Golden Core beast!"
Mu gasped.
Wen clenched his blades tighter.
Lin wiped a smear of blood from his lip.
"No. Stronger. But not invincible."
He lifted his spear again.
"Not to me."
---
2. Starfall Alchemy Clan Sees the Impossible
The remaining Starfall alchemists watched from the shattered inner wall.
These were men and women who had brewed pills their entire lives, rarely taking part in battles beyond skirmishes.
Now they stood witness to a legend.
The clan patriarch whispered:
"He said… he came for a promise. But what kind of man fights like an entire sect by himself?"
An elder beside him bowed his head.
"A monster… but a monster on our side."
They watched Lin cleave through dozens of corrupted beasts at once, watched his spear carve arcs of blazing gold that melted abyssal hide like wax.
They watched Dragon-Bai leap forward, his tiny wings spreading as golden flame erupted from his maw.
> FWOOOOOSH!!!
A streak of shimmering, sacred dragon fire swept through the battlefield.
Entire ranks of abyssal beasts turned to ash.
The patriarch felt his knees weaken.
"That… that's true dragon flame!"
Another elder collapsed to the ground.
"What kind of people did Cloudsky Sect send…?"
The answer:
Heroes.
---
3. The Pseudo-General Strikes Back
The pseudo-general let out a roar that rattled the valley peaks.
The cauldron embedded in his chest flared with corrupted runes.
A spiraling vortex of abyssal qi reversed gravity around him—stones, bodies, weapons all lifted into the air.
Wen cursed, gripping the nearest wall to stay grounded.
Mu forced a stabilizing formation into the earth.
Bai stabbed his spear downward to anchor himself.
But Lin…
He simply rooted himself.
He clenched his jaw.
His dantian—his miniature sun within his inner solar system—burned hotter.
His aura expanded until golden flames carved lines through the darkness.
"Is that all?"
The pseudo-general's four arms snapped open—
and dark beams of abyssal alchemical fire shot toward Lin.
Lin twirled his spear once, creating a whirling galaxy of golden sparks.
> "Solar Orbit—Absolute Aegis."
A circular shield of spinning solar rings wrapped around him.
Dark beams collided.
> BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The ground ruptured into a crater.
But when the smoke cleared—
Lin still stood.
Untouched.
---
4. Lin Devours the Abyss
The pseudo-general paused.
"…You…"
Lin's eyes glowed brilliant gold.
"You didn't expect a human to refine abyssal corruption, did you?"
Dragon-Bai chirped and swallowed a still-sizzling beast, golden flames melting its body from within.
Lin inhaled—and the dark smoke drifting through the air bent toward him like iron filings to a magnet.
He devoured the corruption.
And his aura grew.
The pseudo-general hissed:
> "YOU—YOU ARE A THREAT TO THE ANCESTOR."
Lin grinned.
"Good."
---
5. Lin's Companions Unleash Their Full Might
Bai
Thunder roared as his spear released lightning now infused with tribulation sparks.
Every strike sounded like a miniature heavenly punishment descending on the enemy.
Wen
Moved in and out of shadows—afterimages slicing beasts before they even realized he was behind them.
Mu
Created massive Lotus Ice arrays—each explosion freezing everything within a hundred meters.
All of them had grown beyond human limits.
This wasn't a group of disciples.
This was a rising generation of powerhouses.
---
6. Lin vs the Pseudo-General — Decisive Collision
The pseudo-general lunged, its four arms colliding toward Lin like hammer blows meant to smash mountains.
Lin leapt upward—
Spear raised high, golden aura expanding behind him like a blazing supernova.
Gravity warped around him.
Solar law spiraled along his spear shaft.
His dantian pulsed with enough energy to rival early Nascent Soul cultivators.
> "Solar Collapse—
Sun-Piercing Execution!"
He thrust downward.
The spear tip hit the pseudo-general's chest.
Light exploded.
> KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The corrupted cauldron cracked—
shattered—
then detonated.
The pseudo-general let out one final, distorted roar—
"ANCESTOR… AVENGE… US—"
And collapsed into ash.
The ground trembled for several breaths.
Then—
Silence.
---
Lin slowly lowering his spear, chest rising and falling with controlled breaths.
Dragon-Bai landing on his shoulder, licking a spot of ash off his claws.
Mu, Bai, and Wen joining him—exhausted but alive.
Behind them, the last Starfall alchemists fell to their knees.
The patriarch whispered:
"He saved… all of us."
Lin stared toward the distant horizon—
toward where the abyssal army marched next.
And he spoke softly:
"This was only the first pseudo-general."
His eyes narrowed.
"The worst… is yet to come."
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