Rolling away to the side, the large Song cultivator soon stopped to see the faraway azure-blue aura. Diminutive shards of cold ice sprinkled over his sky-blue robe. White lightning fanned out overhead. The illusion magic and reverberation of dark storm clouds could only mean one person.

“Shifu!” He cried out. “I…!”

Mei Ying grabbed the person’s arm. Her older cousin quieted. Slowly, the huntress shook her head.

“They’re returning, Young Miss.” murmured Xiao Li. The black-cladded servant had remained by the young woman’s side. In a flash, the glaive presented itself in his grip. “Best to be on your guard.”

Despite the maiden’s calm expression, her jaw clenched at every gesture made. While her bare arm was not as red as before, the prickling injury persisted.

Shortly, the four other martial brothers rushed back, rippling in smoke-reeked blue robes and blood-splotched silver jewelries. Immediately, they gathered near the pudgy cousin. One of them went to heal the relative’s leg, with a ball of water-like spiritual aura.

“Why is Shifu attacking him?” asked a disciple. Stupefied, he watched Kong strike his sword against the other’s in the outlying field. “Th-This sister and her friends saved us…”

“Did you forget that we are all in a battle royale tournament…?” Another reminded his shidi. “His motto is—”

“Strength brings fear and respect—while kindness spring tears and reject.” For more than thirteen years, Mei Ying remembered the old person screaming these words at his disciples for all the Cheng Xiu villagers to hear. “To be honest, it is such an old-fashioned saying, ah.”

“You…” The shixiong arched a brow, only to turn his head at the sudden red glare of light.

In the middle of the dark forest clearing, walled by monumental trees, spring blossoms, and several shrubberies, the group observed a pair of blurred figures flashing near one another, bouncing off, and reappearing, only to vanish once more. Their speed was inhuman. It was impossible to follow each person as they collided again and again from different angles, lit by silver moonlight.

“YOU SEEM AWFULLY FAMILIAR!” Kong clenched his teeth together. “CARE TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF?!”

Outlined by blue light, the man swiftly charged into the cultivator with his other incoming palm. Instantly, the surrounding air moisture hardened into a thousand ice bullets that traced the direction of his hand. Just as the sharp-edged crystals sped toward him—Jian Yu drew out his sword. With a swipe of red flash—all the serrated ice melted back into air.

Vermilion fire hungrily whipped around the young man’s gleaming sword. But as soon as the fire veered—Kong was nowhere to be seen.

From Jian Yu’s blind spot, the shifu rushed in, alongside with his flying bright sword. With a flicker of his blue sleeve, Kong seized hold of the weapon’s silver handle and plunged its sharp point toward the other’s abdomen. In a blink, Jian Yu calmly stepped aside. The man missed, and when he whipped around, his opponent had disappeared. Kong spun back—only to crash swords—steely ice against roaring fire! The strike of blades resounded far and wide for all to hear.

With one corner of his red lips curling into a smirk, Jian Yu’s irises glinted. Flames of ruby lit up in his eyes.

Not long afterward, both swords were locked in a searing stalemate. Gold sparks spilled.

“Your face reminds me of a brat!” Kong tightened his brows together. “All the more why I do not care about sparing you!”

“My kind friend came out all this way, and yet, you show no mercy toward those who had saved your disciples.”

“KINDNESS DOES NOTHING!” The needle in Kong’s soul had been pricked. His voice brimmed with acidity and revulsion. “But power—” His expression twisted into a cruel and deranged one. Even his wide smile was rather bewildering and rigid. “…IS EVERYTHING!”

“What a pity.” With nonchalance, Jian Yu lowered his eyes and lazily added, “Then, remember…this.”

The Song cultivator watched the young man’s red lips move. Side by side, the blue ribbon around his forehead rippled from the crisp night wind. His eyes widened. All the pink hues of his entire face faded. His breaths quavered. The throat closed up.

Kong began to turn paler by the fleeing second.

The other smiled. Regardless, the way he had held himself seemed perfectly effortless, with not a hot drop of sweat on him. His eyes shined. Steadily, his blade began to push toward the shifu’s direction.

“We will win.” A baleful shadow swept over the Jian Yu’s face as the frigid wind began to pick up its speed. His crimson outer robe wavered back and forth. “And you—”

“SHUT THE F*CK UP!”

Kong broke out of the stalemate by curving the flaming edge away from himself. He sprang aside, creating some distance between him and the other person. His blast of ice forced the other to block it with the flaming sword. A glowing talisman was tossed into the wind.

But Jian Yu snapped his fingers, only for a large ring of roasting fire to encircle the shifu. Grimness clouded over his handsome face even more. His irises flashed red as the flying scroll burned and rolled into ashes.

The young cultivator frowned. “Where do you think you’re going?”

From afar, all five Song disciples, though frozen until now, dashed into action. “SHIFU!”

A cold tingle slid down the napes of the men’s necks. Their chest tightened. With a quick whistle, the young men hopped onto their flying swords that glistened and shot forward in the dark. The Song cultivators’ muscles were tensed, but their conjoined intuitions shuddered from that red-robed stranger. Their senses told them that if they did not help, though Kong would not die, whatever may happen next would fall on them.

As she was about to give chase, someone grabbed Mei Ying’s sleeve. She glanced his way. It was the servant.

He solemnly asked, “Where are you going?!”

“I’m going to help, ah!”

Xiao Li jolted. Though dumbstruck, he squeezed his grip against the young woman’s soft sleeve. “H-He can take of this by himself! Should near death occur, the stadium’s sounder will warp Kong out of this secret realm!”

“Do you think I care about that old relative—more than you two?!”

Pulling away, Mei Ying soon curled her gold-gleaming hand into fist. She winced from the aching burn. A brilliant gold light emitted from the young woman in white.

“Us two…” Staggering a bit, the youth blinked a few times. His dark eyes shifted around. “You care about us…that much?”

Just then, the huntress raised her fist, and the earth beneath their feet shook. The ground soon split off into tall, raging pillars. The rupturing row of rocks and clay trailed all the way from where the maiden stood—and in between the two distant cultivators.

“Of course.” Mei Ying replied, softly. She did not meet Xiao Li’s bright vision. “I’m going to help Jian Jian!”

The maiden strode forth, whistling for Fa Guang to fly out of its sheathe.

For the meantime, a trajectory of sky-high earth columns blocked Kong off from his opponent. The man retreated and turned to look, already forming a hand seal with his fingers. His silver irises dilated.

The shifu’s far-sighted detection locked onto the young woman, glowing in gold aura from faraway. As she approached them, soft wisps of bangs brushed across her pearly forehead.

“That can’t be.” Kong furrowed his brows, going through the hand motions of completing the summon. “She looks like…”

Suddenly, a monumental tiger of water swooped down from the diamond-scattered skies and shadows, illuminating in blue spiritual energy.

The creature roared, causing all the Song disciples to halt short of their shifu and drop down to the grass. Their levitating swords fell. Together, the young men covered their ears from the tiger’s uncontrollable cry that caused the nearby trees, flowers, and shrubberies to tremble. The massive beast then sprinted down toward its master, with strong, gushing wind rolling out across the high grass. The overbearing strokes knocked the disciples away and onto their backs.

I will worry about that later. With a tugged smirk, Kong tipped his chin upward as the gigantic-scaled beast knocked down the clay masts with its massive paws. His long, night-black hair rose with the frigid night wind, whipping out and seeping into the void.

Although the tiger’s tail of white ice fell over the circle of flames—it only unveiled the current of fire to be slithering against the cold ground. Fortunately, the summoned creature of water whipped back its tail. It growled, rumbling the land. Around and around, the blazing spring wound about the arrogant mortal and his insolent creature.

“If I did not know better…” The man’s lips broadened into a dark sneer.

Jian Yu did not bat an eye and crossed his arms. His lengthy dark locks flowed back, revealing the deepening frown in his red lips.

In a short distance away, Mei Ying descended from the streaking magical sword and stumbled onto her feet.

Again, the great tiger of water bellowed. Its paw that had clutched hold of the coiling fire has transmuted into sizzling steam. Infuriated, the creature let go with gnashed teeth of ice and backed down.

All the surrounding green foliage quaked. With ears covered, the huntress was cut short of her path toward the red-robed cultivator. The sight of hot fire flowing around Kong and his tiger of water evoked the old shamans’ prophecy:

When the heavens rain swords

and the springs flood with fire…

Her heart hammered on and on. Lowering her hands, the young woman felt that her friend’s air was amiss. Mei Ying picked up her shimmering sword from the grass and, wielding it, continued to sprint.

…the earth shall bleed to ash.

Peculiarly, the weaving ruby-and-gold fire that surrounded Kong began to stretch. Legs emerged of the long, stupendous river of broiling flames. In one heap, the burning neck lunged toward the Heaven and molded out a reptilian head and a pair of huge stag-like horns. A tail of considerable length arose from the scorching fire.

Lest the child of Red Omen

ascends time of great dire…

From the corner of his eye, Kong noticed a white-robed maiden running toward her friend.

…keep a promise…

and cut the clash…

To the veteran, it was clear that if the young man dropped out of the tournament, the other would not stand a chance at all. Without the wolf, the person would be a helpless rabbit for all to trample over like a tiny frail flower.

Useless people do not belong on the field.

Kong felt his mind wander, submerging back into the deep lake of memories. Why, he remembered a blazing field of littered burnt, decomposing corpses… There was also the blue of their flaming flag and the ashes falling from the milky-gray clouds, mixed with unscathed snow during the Ghost War.

Yes, there was once also a girl like her, a little white flower that had blossomed in the wrong place and time of a battle over a hundred years ago.

Whispering an incantation, the shifu reached one hand toward the sky. Bright stardust gathered, and in its place, a familiar sapphire-studded bow emanated into his grasp. There was a swift flick of his wide sky-blue sleeve, cueing the astronomic tiger to fly over the transmuting fence of fire.

“Doesn’t this seem…” Pulling the radiant bowstring, the blue-robed person readied his stance with the three gleaming arrows. “…rather familiar?”

Mei Ying held her breath. Without turning to the young man by her side, she asked, “Do you…know each other?” Slowly, the white-robed huntress moved her fingers.

Perhaps, it was her imagination—but the red-cladded cultivator shifted a bit and cast his eyes to the ground.

In that moment—the colossal dragon collided into the mighty tiger and swept it up into the ink-black skies above. An almost deep, earsplitting cry escaped from the flaming serpent’s mouth. Just as the dragon bit into water beast—the tiger hardened itself into white ice. Quickly, the animal latched its long, frozen claws into the dragon’s snout as the long-necked serpent shook it all over in the air.

Together, the two opposing creatures fought in the sky, fire and ice melded and interconnected for hundreds of other contestants to witness from afar. Both roared and screeched below Heaven as the red burning serpent wrapped itself around the large white ice tiger, fracturing its diamond-glistening skin. Claws tore. Fangs consumed.

Coinciding in time, a thousand blue irradiant arrows were then released toward Mei Ying—only for a wide-ranging clay wall to rise from the ground. Straight away, the shafts all flew back from the sudden ascending surface! The bolts snapped. The arrows were unable to penetrate the hard exterior.

“No, I do not know him…” Jian Yu laughed, but he did not look at the person next to him.

“Jian Jian...”

“Hmm?” His eyes were still avoiding contact.

Mei Ying’s chest felt strained by heavy remorse. “When Xiao Li asked me that question back in the camp…I hesitated.”

The wall cracked. A vivid blue light cut through the sediment.

“Why?” The young man asked.

“Because you are…” Noting how the other’s lashes trembled, Mei Ying nearly paused but pressed on, “…an unorthodox cultivator who disagrees with the Heaven realm’s way.”

Jian Yu tugged hold of the maiden’s broad white sleeve. A second later—and already, they both had flashed out of the way as the metal wedged through the barrier.

“And yet...” The young woman added, absent-mindedly. Her eyelids fluttered. “I do not mind.”

Turning to her, Jian Yu tightened his red lips together before echoing, “You…do not mind?”

“I do not care. Even if you cannot tell me everything now, I hope that you will...one day.”

The other person remained silent.

“Jian Jian.” A sheepish smile spread into the huntress’ mouth. "You are strange." Her next words were rather embarrassing. “As long as you are here, somehow...it feels that there is no right or wrong path.”

Kong shot his way toward the pair. His eyes were large, with red veins. The cultivator seethed, seeing nothing else but red.

Stepping out of the person's way, both Jian Yu and Mei Ying separated. The young man spun on his foot, ready to strike from the left.

“As long as I—” On the right side, the maiden slipped her lustrous sword out of the white sheathe. “—can move forward!”

Then, in a blur, two circles of red and gold lights manifested from each side of the Song cultivator. Blood splashed all around—however, Kong drove his sword forward before swinging it toward Mei Ying at the last second.

The young woman ducked the keen edge, allowing the blade to snip off a few black hairs by her left ear. Swiftly, she leapt back. It was a close call!

Before Mei Ying could breathe again though, she caught a silver gleam gliding back the other way. Immediately, the huntress whirled her sword to crash it head-to-head with the blade.

Gold sparks scattered as metal grinded against one another.

“Can you though?!” Kong hissed. “After your defeat here?!”

Above their heads, the cultivators could still hear the howls of the ice tiger clashing with red scalding flames. Fire swirled against the cool breeze, spreading itself further out. Seeing this, the enormous beast leapt off the mountainous creature’s back. The soaring serpent continued to grow, snapping its sharp fangs forward. In response, the monumental tiger flew away, trying to outrun the dragon. Unwilling to let go, the serpent launched itself toward the beast, and the animal turned to deflect off the other. There was one swipe. Two blows returned. One scratch—and then, the tail of fire striking the tiger’s eyes.

Unexpectedly, the humongous beast dove from the dark airspace. On its way down, a lucid glaive with red tassels tore through the billowing flame in a sweeping tornado of wind. The blade struck the ice tiger on the head. At the next second, water whisked away with the scurrying cold currents. From afar, Xiao Li was sprinting into his friends’ direction. He whistled for his weapon to warp back into his hand, and within a breath, the glaive did.

Water sprayed everywhere. Mei Ying’s white robe was wet and cold to the bone, hanging more heavily than usual. Soon, she caught a sudden silver flare of Kong’s blade. She blinked, and before the huntress could leap back—a crimson mist emerged from behind the opponent.

Another blink—and ice was already permeating from Kong’s illuminous blue spiritual energy, stretching out toward the young woman. Five dark shadows swept around them, flashing out their shimmering swords.

A sharp blade tip was pointed at Kong’s back, holding the cultivator as a hostage, whereas five others surrounded both Mei Ying and Jian Yu like petals of a flower.

Just then, a great black shadow oozed over the cultivators, all standing still and locked in a draw. The five Song disciples shuddered slightly, with the tubby one closing his eyes. His breaths shook from the slight chill of Shifu’s ice and warmth of fire looming over them.

“Are you all sure…” Dripping in water from head to toe, Jian Yu sneered. The sword brushed against the damp cloth on Kong's back. “…that you want to do this?”