The Past......
"Feng'er! Leave this place immediately! Go and hide!"
Xiao Feng's parents desperately urged him as they fled from the assassins pursuing them.
Frightened beyond words, the young Xiao Feng hid inside the shadows of an abandoned cellar. His tiny body trembled as he watched everything unfold through a narrow crack.
An arrow whistled through the air.
Before his father could react, it pierced straight through his chest.
The arrow was coated with a deadly poison.
The poison spread instantly.
His father's body stiffened before collapsing lifelessly onto the ground.
"No!"
Xiao Feng bit his lips to stop himself from screaming.
His mother, Xiao Sui, watched her husband and Dao Companion fall before her eyes.
For a brief moment...
...time itself seemed to stop.
Then a heart-rending scream echoed throughout the village.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"
The grief of losing her husband shattered the last thread of her composure.
Her eyes instantly turned bloodshot. Killing intent erupted from her body like a tidal wave.
She slowly turned to face the assassins.
"You infiltrated my home..."
"...slaughtered my clansmen..."
"...and killed my husband."
Her voice was frighteningly calm.
"My Xiao Family has never had any enmity with you." "So why?"
"Why target us?"
The assassins burst into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
The leader stepped forward.
"You should blame yourself for possessing something you were never meant to have."
"Hand over what we came for..."
"...and perhaps we'll let you live." if you let us have our way with you. He said while sizing her up. Never knew there could be such an ice beauty. His comarades laughed lecherously in agreement, Some of them had reactions below their belly.
Their actions infuriated Xiao sui,
"Who sent you?" she demanded angriliy
The head assassin sneered.
"Who do you think you are to question the Iron Crow Society?"
"Stop pretending to be ignorant."
"Hand over the Dragon-Tiger Inheritance."
His expression became sinister.
"And perhaps we'll even leave your corpse intact."
Xiao Sui's eyes turned icy.
"Never."
She slowly drew a long saber with a magnificent golden hilt.
Its blade shone like flowing sunlight.
"You will never obtain the inheritance..."
"...unless you kill me."
The saber pointed directly at the head assassin.
Spiritual Qi surged violently.
Her aura erupted.
"Everlasting Curse Disaster!" "Die!"
She swung her saber.
Countless golden saber rays tore through the sky.
The head assassin's pupils contracted.
He had never expected Xiao Sui to launch the first attack despite her desperate situation.
Before he could properly defend himself—
Slash!
Several saber rays struck his chest.
"Ughhhh!"
He screamed as blood sprayed everywhere.
Looking down, he stared in horror at the deep wounds carved across his body.
"What have you done to me?"
His eyes became filled with murderous rage.
"I'll kill you, bitch!"
Fortunately for him, he had come prepared.
With a flick of his wrist, he produced a crimson talisman covered in mysterious ancient inscriptions.
He poured his essence into it.
The talisman glowed a sinister blood-red.
After forming several hand seals, he threw it toward Xiao Sui.
The talisman shot through the air like a living creature.
Xiao Sui dodged effortlessly. Yet the talisman changed direction. It continued chasing her.
Realizing something was wrong, she unleashed several attacks against it.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
None of them worked.
The talisman continued pursuing her relentlessly.
Frustration flashed across her face.
Meanwhile, the head assassin swallowed a high-grade medicinal pill.
Within moments, the wounds on his chest healed completely.
Watching Xiao Sui struggle, a cruel smile spread across his face.
"So this is the famous Dragon-Tiger Inheritor?"
"What a disappointment."
"I can't believe such a divine inheritance chose trash like you."
His eyes shamelessly wandered over her beautiful figure.
"Why don't you hand over the inheritance..." "...and after my brothers and I finish having our fun with you..." "...I'll consider sparing your life."
The surrounding assassins burst into vulgar laughter.
Several of them looked at Xiao Sui with undisguised lust.
Their filthy gazes filled her with disgust.
"You court death!"
She no longer hesitated.
A terrifying aura erupted from her body.
"Forbidden Technique..."
"...Dragon-Tiger Damnation!"
BOOM!
Her cultivation instantly increased tenfold.
With a single swing of her saber—
Slash!
The pursuing talisman was cut apart.
Without slowing down, she swung again.
A gigantic golden crescent tore through the battlefield.
The assassins never even had time to scream.
Their bodies exploded into thousands of pieces.
Blood rained from the sky.
Only the head assassin remained alive.
Silence descended.
The air became unbearably heavy.
Xiao Sui steadied her breathing despite the pain tearing through her meridians.
Opposite her stood the Iron Crow Society's leader...
...an assassin whose name was spoken only in whispers.
This time...
...he became serious.
He discarded all traces of arrogance.
Twin hooked blades appeared in his hands.
They hummed with a sickly violet aura filled with necrotic energy.
Without warning—
He vanished.
He moved so quickly that he seemed to ignore the laws of space itself.
Xiao Sui met him head-on.
"Tiger's Pounce!"
Golden flames engulfed her fist.
The collision between fist and hooks unleashed a devastating shockwave that reduced the surrounding houses to rubble.
Yet something felt wrong.
Every time his hooks collided with her saber...
...her spiritual energy diminished.
He wasn't merely attacking.
He was draining her cultivation.
"I'll be taking the Dragon-Tiger Inheritance after you die tonight."
His voice resembled stones grinding together.
"Die!"
He lunged again.
His hooked blades carved trails of black void through the air.
Xiao Sui spun gracefully.
Her Dragon's Tail Kick narrowly missed his throat.
Suddenly—
Several shadow clones emerged behind her.
They pinned her to the ground.
Only then did Xiao Sui realize the truth.
She was no match for him anymore.
The backlash from Dragon-Tiger Damnation had already begun clogging her meridians.
If she continued fighting...
...she would lose.
More importantly...
...the inheritance would fall into enemy hands.
Her son would die.
There was only one option left.
A forbidden technique.
One that would destroy both her cultivation and her future.
She slowly closed her eyes.
Softly...
She whispered the final incantation.
"Dragon of the Heavens..."
"Tiger of the Earth..."
"Collide..."
"...Become the Void."
Crack!
A horrifying sound echoed from within her body.
Her dantian shattered.
Inside her spiritual sea, the Azure Dragon and Divine Tiger ceased their eternal dance.
They crashed into one another with overwhelming force.
The resulting energy exploded outward.
A scorching sphere of destruction erupted from Xiao Sui's body and shot toward the head assassin at an unimaginable speed.
The assassin's face turned pale.
He tried to escape.
Too late.
BOOM!!
The explosion engulfed him instantly.
His body was annihilated.
His soul was erased.
Even his consciousness ceased to exist.
There would be no reincarnation.
No afterlife.
Nothing remained.
The dazzling light slowly faded.
The once-beautiful village had become a blackened wasteland.
Xiao Sui collapsed onto the scorched earth.
Her breathing became shallow.
Her complexion turned pale as marble.
The Shattered Horizon had won the battle.
But the price...
...had been everything.
Her dantian was gone.
In its place remained only an endless emptiness.
She slowly looked at her trembling hands. Burn scars covered them completely. She had protected the Dragon-Tiger Inheritance.
But she would never cultivate again.
Nor would she live long enough to watch her son grow into the man she believed he would become.