Long Shenyu landed several dozen steps from the gate.
Long Shenyin touched down beside him. The stone beneath her feet cracked lightly.
Mei Qingxue and Shen Lanyue landed smoothly under Long Shenyu's Qi. Mei Qingxue's face was pale from the sudden flight, but her eyes were bright. Shen Lanyue quietly adjusted her sleeve, regaining composure almost instantly.
Ning Huang descended last, lightning fading under her feet.
The crowd near the gate backed away.
The Qin captain stepped forward with six guards behind him. Two were 4th layer Origin Core. One was 5th layer Origin Core. Three were peak Nascent Essence guards used mainly to pressure merchants and weaker travelers. Lu Jianheng remained several steps behind, deliberately allowing the Qin captain to speak first.
The captain smiled.
It was a polite smile, but not a respectful one.
"Young masters, young ladies. River Ridge requires registration of all high-grade weapons and foreign experts. The Qin Family maintains order here under Verdant Edge approval."
Long Shenyu looked at him once.
"Move."
The captain's smile faded.
"You may not understand where you are."
Long Shenyu's gaze drifted past him and landed on Lu Jianheng. Then he smiled slightly.
"So that weak envoy is what gave you courage."
The air went still.
The captain's face darkened.
The guards behind him immediately gripped their weapons.
Lu Jianheng's expression turned cold. He had expected arrogance, but not this level of dismissal. He was a 2nd layer Sky Lord envoy of a Noble Domain sect. In River Ridge, even the Qin patriarch would greet him with formal courtesy.
This Origin Core junior had called him weak in front of the gate crowd.
Long Shenyin scoffed, not even trying to hide her disdain.
"A mere low Sky Lord came out, and this is the trouble you promised me? Worthless."
Long Shenyu shrugged. "People around here see Sky Lords as important. Let them enjoy it."
Mei Qingxue's lips pressed together. She wanted to say this was too provocative, but the words died before they formed. This was exactly how Long Shenyu operated.
Shen Lanyue understood that better than anyone.
Ning Huang understood too, but her reaction was different. A faint, unwilling thrill moved through her chest.
Lu Jianheng stepped forward at last.
His Sky Lord aura spread outward. The pressure was sharp, layered with wood-wind sword intent. Loose leaves near the gate rose from the ground and spun around him like small blades. The weaker travelers retreated further. Even some Qin guards felt their skin sting.
Lu Jianheng looked directly at Long Shenyu.
"You speak loudly for someone borrowing power he does not own."
Long Shenyu smiled. "You talk too much for someone I have not decided to kill yet."
Lu Jianheng's eyes narrowed.
The Qin captain snapped, "Impudent!"
Long Shenyu ignored him completely and glanced at Mei Qingxue.
"Qingxue."
She looked up. "Yes?"
"Those two."
His gaze indicated the 4th layer and 5th layer Origin Core guards standing to the captain's right.
"Kill them."
Mei Qingxue's breath caught for a fraction of a second. Not because she was unwilling. Because this was the first time he had ordered her to kill in a public confrontation before so many eyes.
Long Shenyu's voice softened slightly. "Do not think. Your Qi is quieter than theirs. Your control is better than theirs. Their realm is higher. Their foundation is worse. Show them the difference."
That steadied her.
Mei Qingxue nodded. "I understand."
The Qin guards heard him and were momentarily stunned.
Then the 5th layer guard laughed in anger. "You want a 2nd layer Origin Core girl to—"
Mei Qingxue moved.
She did not rush forward like a sword cultivator. She stepped lightly, almost silently. Frost Qi thinned around her fingers, gathering into Moonfrost Veil Needles. The needles were so fine that most people did not see them until they caught the light.
The 4th layer guard drew his sword.
The 5th layer guard released his aura and tried to cut through her approach with a heavy slash of Verdant Severing sword Qi.
Mei Qingxue's eyes became calm.
The Glacial Mirror Heart Sutra made her Qi clear and still. The incoming sword Qi reflected in her perception like a line across a frozen lake. She saw the flaw at the center of the attack—the tiny gap where the guard's Origin Qi failed to connect with his wrist movement.
Three needles left her hand.
The first struck the 4th layer guard in the throat.
The second entered beneath his ribs.
The third curved around the 5th layer guard's sword light and pierced the meridian beneath his shoulder.
The 4th layer guard died instantly. Frost spread from his throat to his eyes before he hit the ground.
The 5th layer guard roared and tried to force his Qi through the needle wound, but Mei Qingxue's cold force had already entered his circulation. His sword Qi stuttered. His arm stiffened. In that single moment of failure, Mei Qingxue passed him like a drifting snow shadow and pressed two fingers against his chest.
A final needle entered his heart.
His body froze from the inside out.
He collapsed beside the first guard.
One move.
Two cultivators above her minor realm were dead before the crowd understood the exchange.
The gate erupted in shock.
"She is only 2nd layer Origin Core!"
"How did she pierce their defenses?"
"That was not brute force. Her Qi entered through the weak points!"
"A lower-domain girl killed Qin guards like that?"
The Qin captain's face twisted with rage.
"You dare murder Qin Family guards at River Ridge's gate!"
His sword came out with a green flash. Origin Qi surged into the blade, carrying layered wood-wind sharpness. The Verdant Severing Sword Canon made his sword light split into multiple overlapping arcs. Each arc clung to the air, creating cutting lines that aimed not merely at the body, but at circulation paths.
He charged toward Mei Qingxue.
Long Shenyu did not move.
Shen Lanyue did.
Her Mirror-Ice Straight Sword left its sheath with a clean, quiet sound.
She stepped in front of Mei Qingxue and raised her blade.
There was no flourish. No wasted motion. Her cold Qi condensed inward until the blade looked almost dull, as if all its sharpness had vanished.
Then she cut once.
The Qin captain's layered sword arcs met her strike.
They shattered.
Not exploded. Not deflected. Shattered.
His Verdant Severing sword Qi broke apart like thin glass struck at the exact point of weakness. Shen Lanyue's blade continued forward, carrying a line of cold light so compressed it seemed almost gentle.
It touched his armor.
The armor split.
It touched his innate defenses.
They opened.
It touched his body.
The captain flew backward, blood spraying from his chest in a thin arc. His sword arm hung uselessly. Frost spread along his wound, sealing some blood but freezing his meridians at the same time. He slammed into the ground, rolled twice, and stopped at Lu Jianheng's feet.
He was alive.
Barely.
But crippled.
The crowd fell into a heavier silence than before.
This was more shocking than Mei Qingxue's kill.
A Perfection Origin Core was stronger than a 9th layer Origin Core, but not so much stronger that a Qin captain should be crippled in one sword. Under normal logic, he should have exchanged several moves, fallen back, adjusted, then lost after being overwhelmed.
Instead, Shen Lanyue had cut through his cultivation art, armor, defenses, and body in a single strike.
Lu Jianheng's face finally changed.
Rage remained, but caution appeared beneath it.
These women were not ordinary.
The maid-like one killed above her realm with frightening precision. The cold one's sword control was far beyond Lower Domain standards. The two Origin Core siblings had not yet acted. The Heaven's Edict woman still stood silently, and her expression did not show surprise at all.
That was the worst part.
Ning Huang had seen this coming.
Lu Jianheng realized that perhaps the Moonwatch reports had not been simple exaggerations.
Long Shenyin looked at the crippled captain and then at Long Shenyu.
"You let her leave him alive."
Long Shenyu said, "Witnesses are useful."
"She cut too shallow."
Shen Lanyue calmly replied, "I cut exactly as ordered."
Long Shenyin's mouth curved faintly. "At least one of you has discipline."
Long Shenyu looked amused. "Do not praise my wife like you discovered her."
Shen Lanyue's ear reddened slightly despite the blood on the ground.
"This is not the time."
"It is always the time."
Mei Qingxue, still standing behind Shen Lanyue, lowered her hand. Her expression was calm, but her breathing was slightly uneven. It was not fear. It was the aftershock of realizing she could now kill people who, not long ago, would have been untouchable.
Long Shenyu noticed and reached back, brushing his fingers lightly over her wrist.
"You did well."
Those three words hit her harder than the fight.
Her face flushed, but she nodded. "Thank you."
Lu Jianheng's killing intent rises, but he does not immediately attack. He is enraged, humiliated, and disgusted that Qin Family guards were killed and crippled in front of the city gates, but he is still a Verdant Edge envoy. He has seen enough sect conflicts to know that strange geniuses are rarely simple. Mei Qingxue's precision was too clean. Shen Lanyue's sword was too calm.
So instead of rushing in like the Qin captain did, Lu Jianheng takes one slow step forward.
The crowd feels the change first. Sky Qi spreads out from him, thin and sharp, like green leaves turning into blades in the wind. The dust at the gate is pushed away. The broken blood on the ground trembles. The wounded Qin captain tries to lift his head, sees Lu Jianheng moving, and forces out a hoarse laugh.
"Envoy Lu… kill them…"
Lu Jianheng does not look at him.
His eyes remain on Long Shenyu.
"You let your women act first," Lu Jianheng says coldly. "You watched them kill Qin guards, cripple a gate captain, and now you still stand there smiling. Are you confident, or are you hiding behind them?"
Long Shenyu's smile barely changes.
"You are trying to make me explain myself."
Lu Jianheng's gaze hardens. "You are an Origin Core cultivator who dares act above Sky Lords. Explanation is the least you owe."
Long Shenyu tilts his head slightly, as if the idea amuses him.
"Owe? To you?"
The words are casual, but they slap the entire gate silent.
A Verdant Edge envoy is still a sect envoy. Even Qin Family elders would speak carefully to him. But Long Shenyu speaks as if Lu Jianheng is only another man blocking the road.
Lu Jianheng's hand settles on his sword hilt.
Ning Huang's eyes narrow slightly. She understands Lu Jianheng's caution. He is angry, but not stupid. He wants to see whether Long Shenyu's confidence comes from real strength, hidden backing, a talisman, a weapon, or Ning Huang herself.
Lu Jianheng glances toward her.
"Excuse me miss," he says, his voice becoming more formal but not humble. "This matter concerns Verdant Edge and River Ridge. Heaven's Edict has no reason to intervene."
Ning Huang looks at him with cool disdain. "Did I say I would?"
That answer settles part of Lu Jianheng's worry. In his mind, this disciple's pride works exactly as expected. Heaven's Edict disciples do not casually lower themselves to protect Lower Domain disputes unless their own dignity is involved. If Long Shenyu dies, she may dislike it. She may even be irritated. But she will not necessarily move.
Long Shenyu notices that conclusion forming in Lu Jianheng's eyes and smiles a little deeper.
At that exact moment, Long Shenyu senses Long Shenyin shift.
It is almost nothing to anyone else. A slight change in her grip. A tiny lowering of her shoulder. The Black Sun Tyrant Spear is still resting lazily across her back, but her killing intent has already chosen Lu Jianheng's throat.
Long Shenyin is bored of the discussion. She has no patience for careful probes, sect face, or political concealment. To her, Lu Jianheng is a 2nd layer Sky Lord who has already shown killing intent toward them. That is enough.
If she moves, she will not wound him.
She will erase him.
Long Shenyu's gaze flicks toward her for the briefest instant.
Long Shenyin's eyes meet his.
Her expression says, Move aside.
His expression says, Not yet.
The entire exchange lasts less than a breath.
Long Shenyu understands the danger clearly. Killing Lu Jianheng openly with their real strength would create the wrong kind of shock. A 3rd or 4th layer Origin Core cultivator killing a 2nd layer Sky Lord without relying on visible external means would not merely anger Verdant Edge. It would terrify them. Verdant Edge would not send hot-blooded elders to reclaim face. They would send cautious investigators, hidden observers, and perhaps even a Sage Ruler to discover what kind of monster could cross that gap.
That would slow everything.
Worse, it would make other Noble Domain powers look over too early.
Long Shenyu does not want fear yet. He wants greed.
Greed makes people stupid. Greed makes sects send forces they think are enough. Greed makes them believe the treasure is the threat, not the hand holding it.
So before Long Shenyin can take one step, Long Shenyu moves first.
He does not unleash his full aura. He does not let his Dragon Soul pressure leak outward. Instead, he wraps his personal Qi so tightly with soul energy that it becomes nearly invisible, like a blade hidden inside black cloth.
Then he draws the Sky-Severing Narrowblade.
The moment the narrowblade leaves its sheath, the gate changes.
A thin, vicious sound spreads through the air. It is not loud. It is worse than loud. It slides into the ears like metal scraping bone. The sword's edge becomes pale and bright, and the cutting force around it condenses into a line so clean that even the dust drifting nearby splits apart without being touched.
Long Shenyu feeds soul power into the sword, but he does so in a way that disguises the source. He does not let anyone feel the soul. He lets them feel only the weapon.
The Sky-Severing Narrowblade's aura rises violently.
Low Heaven Rank pressure becomes heavier.
Sharper.
Deeper.
To Lu Jianheng's senses, it no longer feels like a mere Low Heaven Rank sword.
His pupils contract.
"Mid Heaven Rank…"
The crowd hears him.
The reaction is immediate.
"A Mid Heaven Rank sword?"
"No wonder!"
"An Origin Core with a Mid Heaven Rank weapon… that could explain it!"
"Can he even activate it?"
"He must have a talisman, or some blood sacrifice art!"
Lu Jianheng's greed appears before he can suppress it.
Long Shenyu sees it. So does the Qin captain, half-conscious on the ground. Even through the pain, the captain's eyes shake with hatred and desire. He no longer sees Long Shenyu as an impossible monster. He sees him as a lower-realm junior carrying a treasure far beyond his station.
That is exactly what Long Shenyu wanted.
Lu Jianheng attacks. At that moment, he employed a genuine Sky Lord cultivation art from Verdant Edge.
His sword comes out in a green arc, and Sky Qi gathers around him in layered wood-wind patterns. The air fills with countless thin sword leaves, each one carrying cutting intent. The leaves rotate into a spiral, then collapse inward into a single compressed strike.
"Verdant Thousand-Leaf Severance!"
The technique is designed to overwhelm body defenses. The outer sword leaves cut movement paths. The inner sword leaves cling to meridians. The final sword line enters through the opening and tears the opponent's circulation apart from within.
Against an ordinary Origin Core cultivator, even a prodigy, the art is overkill.
Against Long Shenyu, it is an opportunity.
Long Shenyu steps forward.
Not backward. Not sideways.
Forward.
The Hollow Night Empty-Veil Step activates beneath him, but he keeps it subtle. His figure blurs just enough that the crowd sees the sword more clearly than the man. His aura thins. His presence fades behind the weapon's rising edge.
The Sky-Severing Narrowblade cuts once.
It does not meet every leaf.
It does not need to.
Long Shenyu's blade enters the one point where Lu Jianheng's Sky Qi spiral folds back into itself. It is the art's circulation hinge, the hidden place where the outer leaves, inner leaves, and final sword line all borrow strength from the same breath of Sky Qi.
A normal cultivator would never see it.
Long Shenyu sees it the instant the art forms.
The narrowblade flashes.
The Verdant Thousand-Leaf Severance breaks.
Not in a grand explosion. Not in a dramatic clash. It splits apart with a clean, terrifying simplicity. The sword leaves lose connection. The spiral collapses. The final killing line is severed before it can fully emerge.
Lu Jianheng's expression changes from cold anger to disbelief.
Long Shenyu's blade continues forward.
It cuts through Lu Jianheng's sword aura.
Then his shoulder defense.
Then his chest.
A thin line opens from shoulder to ribs, and for half a breath nothing happens.
Then Lu Jianheng's internal circulation erupts into chaos.
The Sky-Severing Narrowblade's special force enters his meridians and disrupts rhythm. It does not merely injure flesh. It cuts timing. It cuts flow. It makes Sky Qi move out of sequence, causing Lu Jianheng's own energy to slam against itself.
Lu Jianheng is thrown backward.
His feet carve two trenches through the stone. He stabs his sword into the ground to stop himself, but his arms tremble so violently that the blade cracks the paving beneath him.
Blood spills from his mouth.