The air between them was taut with killing i, the battlefield around them an afterthought as Cai Feng and the white-robed man locked gazes. The world seemed to shrink, leaving only the two of them—their battle the only thing that mattered.The faint flicker of firelight from burning houses cast dang shadows across the vilge, illuminating the trast between them.Cai Feng, his body rooted like an iron fortress, bde steady in his hands. His essence surged with a golden glow, flickering like a raging sun.The white-robed man, his expression eerily calm despite the iy of their fight, his crimson eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. The red dot on his forehead pulsed faintly, his emerald-hued Qi flowing like a whispering serpent around him.Then, they moved.A sharp gust of wind exploded outward as their figures vanished from where they stood, colliding in the instant with a deafening csh.Their bdes met mid-air, gold against emerald, sending sparks and streaks of Qi into the night.Cai Feng pressed forward, his strikes heavy aless, his movements precise. His bde cut through the air with the weight of a thousand battles behind it—each swi to kill, not just i his oppo was no fool.The white-robed ma his blows with fluid grace, his owwisting at unnatural angles, redireg each strike just enough to minimize impact. His footwork was swift, elegant, moving like a phantom just outside the reach of death."You fight like a man with nothio lose," the white-robed man ughed, his voice calm even as their ons cshed in rapid succession. "A warrior who no longer has a try, a general without an army."Cai Feng’s bde sshed downward, missing by inches as his oppo sidestepped effortlessly.But he did not reply.Words were meaningless now.He had long discarded his past, his rank, his title.But he was still a warrior. And warriors did not waste breath on battlefields.The white-robed man flicked his fingers, and three emerald orbs materialized in the air, swirling ominously before shooting forward with unnatural speed.Cai Feng lifted his bde, Essence Qi ing around him as he deflected the first two, his body twisting just in time to avoid the third. The energy crashed into the ground behind him, tearing through the earth like a meteor.Without hesitation, Cai Feng surged fain.He lowered his stance, shifting his weight—a feint.His oppoook the bait, his bde flickering out to meet the expected attack.But Cai Feng had never inteo strike with his bde.Instead, his free hand shot folden Qi exploding from his palm as he smmed his fist into the white-robed man’s ribs.A wet, siing crack.The white-robed man stumbled, his body skidding back from the force of the blow, his breath ing in short, sharp gasps. His left side sagged unnaturally."Well… that was ued." He coughed, crimson staining his lips. "You broke my ribs."Cai Feng did not let him recover.With a siep, he on him again, his bde a streak of golden light as he struck downward.The white-robed man’s expression flickered—his body moving just fast enough to avoid being cleaved in two. But the goldeill bit deep into his shoulder, severing muscle and bone.A strangled gasp left his lips, but he did not cry out.Instead, he grinned."Iing."Emerald Qi burst outward from his body in a desperate terattack, f Cai Feng to leap back. The momentary distance allowed him to repose himself, though his form was visibly faltering.The battle had turned.And he k.The once amused gleam in his eyes was now ced with something else—frustration, perhaps even wariness.Cai Feng raised his bde once more, stepping forward—but then, something ued happehe white-robed man exhaled sharply and suddenly thrust his palm against his ow, sending a trolled surge of Qi through his injured body.Immediately, his breathing steadied.His gaze lifted, sharp and assessing.Cai Feng stopped in his tracks.Something was wrong.The air around the white-robed man shifted—a pulse of energy so faint, so trolled, that it was almost imperceptible.Then, without warning—He vanished.Not by speed. Not by illusion.He simply ceased to be there.Cai Feng’s grip on his bde tightened, his senses sharpening as he braced for the iable.He did not have to wait long.The attack came from behind.Instinct alone saved him—his body twisting just in time, bde whipping upward to meet the ining strike.The white-robed man had reappeared without a sound, his own bde inches from pierg through Cai Feng’s back.The two ons cshed in midair, the force behind them sending another wave of Qi rippling through the battlefield.Cai Feng pushed forward, f his oppo back.Their movements blurred together, a whirlwind of steel and energy, her gaining ground, her bag down.But then—Cai Feng saw it.A tiny gap in his oppo’s stance.A subtle, minuscule weakness.His injuries were slowing him down.And Cai Feng would not waste the opportunity.He moved.Feint. Step. Pivot. Strike.A perfectly calcuted sequence, executed with the precision of a master.His bde sliced through the air, finding its mark—The white-robed man’s throat.A single motion.The body stilled.Then colpsed.Silence.For a moment, Cai Feng simply stood there, watg as the life drained from his oppo’s eyes.The red dot on his forehead flickered, then dimmed.And just like that, he was dead.Cai Feng exhaled slowly, his bde still dripping with blood.His body ached, his wounds burning, but he did not falter.He had won.But there was no time to rest.His gaze lifted back to the battlefield, where the militia and the remaining bck-clothed attackers still fought.The fight was not over.And until every st enemy was dealt with, he would not allow himself to fall.—The battle raged on, but something had shifted.Feiyi it before he saw it.A pulse in the air, a sharp tremor in the frequencies around him, as if something heavy had just dropped into the flow of the world. A disturbane that sent a shudder through the very fabric of the battlefield.Then, a single moment ter, he saw it.A figure moved through the chaos like a specter, his long, curved bde streaked with crimson, his gray eyes cold as the night itself. Cai Feng had returhe pressure he exuded was undeniable, an overwhelming presehat made even the most hardened militia members stiffen, their bodies instinctively reag to his killing aura.But it was the ehat truly froze.The bck-clothed attackers who remaiumbled back, some hesitating, their eyes darting toward their fallen rades. They had not expected this.Feiyie the burning exhaustion in his limbs, felt something deep inside him steady at the sight of his father.Cai Feng wasted no time.His bde flickered, disappearing and reappearing mid-motion as he moved through the battlefield like a stiven form.He cut down two oppos in an instant, their bodies colpsing before they even realized they had died.The militia, sensing the shift in momentum, surged forward.Jiang Hu let out a roar, his saber crashing against an oppo’s on with such force that the enemy’s arms buckled uhe impact. He followed up with a brutal strike to the ribs, the crack audible evehe din of battle.Suill rec from his earlier injury, moved with measured strikes, not as aggressive as before but just as lethal. He darted between two batants, slig one across the thigh before finishing him with a precise stab.Feiyin himself felt the ge in his body, his muscles no lorembling from his first kill. The adrenaline had settled, and now, only sharp awareness remained.He sidestepped an enemy’s downward strike, slipping past the attad driving his owo the unguarded fnk.The bck-clothed man gasped, eyes wide in shock, before slumping forward.Dead.Another one down.But Feiyin had no time to dwell on it.The remaining enemies were now fully retreating, their coordination colpsing uhe relentless militia terattack.Cai Feng saw this—and did not let them go.His bde flickered once more, his movement precise, calcuted.A single sweeping ard three more enemies fell, their bodies colpsing into the bloodied dirt.It was over.The st few enemies were quickly subdued, ons kicked away, their bodies pio the ground by militia members.Breathing heavily, Feiyin surveyed the aftermath, his chest rising and falling with each steadying breath.He g Sun Ke, who was leaning on his sword for support, his face smeared with sweat and dirt. Their eyes met, and without a word, Sun Ke grinned weakly.They had survived.But somethi wrong.Jiang Hu, standing over one of the captured enemies, scowled. “Strip them of their ons and secure them,” he ordered, his voice still edged with battle tension.The militia plied, binding the wrists of the bck-clothed men, keeping a close eye on them.Cai Feng, who had been ing his bde with a piece of cloth, finally stepped forward, his expression unreadable.“We’ll start with you,” he said, his voice steady but firm, his eyes log onto one of the captured men.The man, still panting heavily from exertion, merely lifted his head.His expression was… calm.Too calm.Feiyin’s breath hitched.Something was wrong.Then, before anyone could react—The captured man bit down hard.A muffled crack.Then, froth bubbled from his lips, his body vulsing violently.Poison.Cai Feng’s eyes narrowed immediately, his grip on his bde tightening. “Stop them!”But it was too te.The other captives followed suit, each of them biting down on something hidden in their mouths.Within seds, the entire group colpsed, lifeless.A heavy silence desded over the battlefield.Feiyin’s stomach twisted.They had choseh over capture.Jiang Hu cursed under his breath, his expression grim. “Cowards,” he spat, kig the lifeless body o him.Cai Feng, however, remained silent, his eyes fixed on the fallen enemies, his mind clearly rag.Feiyin, his heart still pounding, swallowed the lump in his throat.This was no ordinary attack.These people… they had never inteo leave here alive.Which meant—There was a far bigger pn in motion.