A dark silhouette dashed through the back alleys leaving behind a faint gust of wind. His stature and face were covered by the black, hooded cloak. Not a single step was wasted as each turn of the corner was smooth and swift. This was a person that knew the roads like the back of his hand.

“Going somewhere?”

The silhouette abruptly stopped at those words.

In front of him, a young teen stood in the way.

“Get out of my way, kid.”

A masculine voice sounded out.

Ye Tian raised an eyebrow.

“You think I’m letting you go after you blasted my friends like that?”

The cloaked man raised his eyes to focus on Ye Tian, a previously insignificant piece of trash lying on the road. Even with the murderous glint in the former’s eyes, Ye Tian merely looked onwards as if there was only empty space.

It was well into the night. There was almost no one on the streets.

The standoff had a similar rising pressure which reminded Ye Tian of those old cowboy duels. The only difference was that there were no guns, and one side was stronger than the other.

“So you’re another one of those investigators. I thought I killed all of you. I’ll give you one chance. If you tell me how many investigators are left then you will die a painless death like your buddies. I don’t know why you have the balls to face me, but nothing will work against me.”

As soon as the cloaked man finished, his aura, formed from extremely pure qi, had permeated throughout the air which stifled Ye Tian.

No wonder. This man is in the elemental realm.

With some difficulty, Ye Tian let out a few words, “I’m only an investigator.”

With that said, Ye Tian let out a few gasps of air while the cloaked man let out a confused noise. Another aura, even purer yet gentle, enveloped Ye Tian which allowed him to breathe. A growl came from the shadows.

“Commander Lu She of the garrison, you’ve made the wrong choice in joining Lu Ka’s faction.”

The growling figure came out of the shadows to reveal a rugged face man with long hair, but the usual silver armor was covered in a black cloak.

“... Hao Nan.”

The cloaked figure no longer had a reason to keep a hood on thus he revealed his face. A young and gentle face was exposed.

This was an alarming surprise to Hao Nan as there were only 5 elemental realm cultivators along with the city lord who was a higher realm cultivator. The five were Hao Nan, Lu She, Lu Fan, Lu Ka, and Lu Bu, the father of Lu Yin and Lu Fan, who was dying.

The betrayal of Lu She meant that Lu Ka’s faction was essentially slightly stronger than the city lord’s faction. Although Lu She was the only elemental realm that was not peak level, the old city lord and Lu Bu could be taken alone by Lu Ka while Hao Nan could be kept occupied by Lu She.

As for Lu Fan, he was off in an entirely new faction.

“Why?! The master never mistreated you.”

“It is not a matter of mistreatment or fair treatment, Hao Nan. The times are shifting. Join us instead of dying with the city lord.”

“I’ve misjudged you, Lu She.”

“You don’t know what I’ve seen. I’m sure you would change your mind if Lu Ka was to explain everything.”

“I, Hao Nan, have been raised as an orphan by the master. I would never betray him. My life belongs to my master.”

“Then you can burn with your master.”

Hao Nan gave a quick glance to Ye Tian.

“Leave. It is dangerous for you here.”

Lu She figured out most of the details from looking at Hao Nan’s appearance. The investigator, Ye Tian, must have tracked him, Lu She, down before reporting to Hao Nan.

But how?

“So, this is the person who exposed me? How? How can a mere bone stage...”

Ye Tian maliciously smiled, “You may have covered up your tracks again by killing off the poison dealers, but it was a grim fight that left marks everywhere.”

“Ah, yes. They actually dared to jump me with 4 soul stages. But I did destroy the place.”

“You were careless and left behind a few nicks with abnormal lengths. Who doesn’t know the trademark of Serpentine Blade Lu She? It is said that your blade swings so fast that it leaves behind marks everywhere due to the air pressure. Add on your wind element and you can do wonders.”

Lu She sighed.

“Who would’ve known that the underworld was so unified. Four soul stages attack when I killed the dealer. More were coming too. If only I had more time… But, as far as I know, you don’t have any more time.”

Lu She’s expression viciously changed as he launched a blade of compressed air towards Ye Tian. However, Hao Nan’s silver hand reached out from the cloak and blocked the wind blade.

Lu She’s eyes narrowed.

“Silver Wall Hao Nan… What a fitting name. I’ll make sure you take off your armor for once… By ripping you apart.”

Ye Tian didn’t need Hao Nan’s reminder to know that it was time for the two elemental realms to fight and for weaklings to leave. From here on out, it was going to be catastrophic.

***

Boompfff

Lu She, covered in dust, crawled back up while Hao Nan walked over to where Lu She was sent flying through multiple walls.

“Not bad, Hao Nan. Not ba-."

Before Lu She could fully get back up and finish talking, Hao Nan threw a powerful backhand punch towards Lu She’s chin which sent him flying again. By now, the destruction had caused multiple families to wake up and run in fear. The less fortunate were killed by collateral damage.

This time, Lu She got back up with some blood coming from his mouth.

“I haven’t even gotten started.”

“Me neither.”

Both had swords appear out of midair from their spatial rings, and they went at it again.

Lu She’s paper-thin, long blade transformed into multiple flickers of green light which left a flurry of sparks flying everywhere. Hao Nan merely readied his giant, silver broadsword like a baseball bat and swung at Lu She’s side with the edge.

A green light shimmered around Lu She’s body when the blade arrived. However, the sheer force caused this light to bend inwards. Seeing this, a look of horror appeared on Lu She’s face as he stopped attacking to quickly block the silver broadsword.

The green light, at the point of contact with the silver broadsword, cracked and shattered into pieces. The remaining force of the silver broadsword slammed into the Lu She’s thin sword and, once again, sent him flying.

Hao Nan was no longer going to wait and directly jumped on Lu She as soon as he crashed through another wall. The silver broadsword came down from the sky with Hao Nan’s full force. Meanwhile, the edge was covered with a shining, silver light.

Lu She roared with his wind qi surging out to form a dense, green bubble. The same thing happened again where the bubble began to curve inwards from Hao Nan’s force. Unwilling to die, Lu She quickly forced out all the wind qi in his body.

Multiple layers of bubbles were formed, but they all curved inwards. The shields swiftly shattered in the blink of an eye.

Lu She raised his sword to block and slow Hao Nan down. While Lu She tried to shift his body to the side, Hao Nan’s silver broadsword cut through Lu She’s sword and arm like butter.

Lu She held his stump of an arm and screamed in agony, “How?!”

Seeing the silvery light on Hao Nan’s broadsword, Lu She came to a realization.

“The city lord gave you the resources to cultivate Extreme Yin Earth?!”

There were five elements of fire, water, earth, wood, and wind while there were two attributes of yin and yang for each element. This elemental realm was all about using resources which all had an attribute and element.

Most people did not have a choice in resources and had to use various mixtures of yin and yang which results in impure cultivation. The richer clans allow their members to only use resources with a single attribute which could cultivate an extreme quality in qi.

For example, Hao Nan had been specially cultivated by the city lord to solely cultivate earth elements with yin attributes. This had allowed Hao Nan to gain a new form of elemental qi.

The power from extreme yin earth, metal, amplified the power of Hao Nan’s broadsword which was both inscribed with rank two inscriptions and made from quicksilver. Of course, Hao Nan’s peak elemental realm power had also played a huge role in trashing the mid-elemental realm Lu She.

“I… I refuse to accept this defeat!”

Lu She took a sphere out of his spatial ring which caused Hao Nan to try to cut Lu She’s remaining arm before he does anything.

“Too late!”

The sphere was thrown into the sky right before Lu She’s other arm flew off.

“Lu She! What did you do?”

“HAHAHA! It’s over for you and the city lord, Hao Nan!”

The sphere exploded into red dust that was shone on by the moon and also lasted for a while.

“What did you do?!”

“HAHAHA!”

Wholly convinced that Lu She had gone insane, Hao Nan ended Lu She’s life.

***

Two white-robed guards, on top of the city wall, were playing a game of go while on night duty. It was the usual boring stuff that guards did for cultivation resources. Suddenly, one of the guards, with a scar on his nose, noticed something in the sky.

“Hmm?”

The other guard, with one eye, scrutinized the board for the next strategic move.

“What?”

“What’s that red cloud over there?”

“What cloud?”

The guard, with a scar, pointed over to the red cloud in the distance.

“That on-”

Blood spurted from the mouth of the guard, with a scar and a knife in his throat.

He weakly croaked, “Why…?”

The one-eyed guard shrugged, “Sorry dude. You were a great friend, but orders are absolute. It’s a shame that we weren’t on the same side.”

***

Knock Knock

A white-robed guard opened up his courtyard gate while yawning.

“Who is it? Little Yu? What do you-”

The guard looked down in shock as a blade was inserted through his heart.

***

Scenes of soldiers turning on each other were prominent throughout the city. Some attempts succeeded while others failed. No one could trust each other.

Ye Tian walked down the military sector to his courtyard when a courtyard door opened in front of him.

A white-robed guard walked out.

“Hey, I just woke up. Is it time for morning duty?”

“Is it?”

Ye Tian looked up at the sky to see if it was almost dawn.

Hm? What is that red cloud doing up there?

After taking a look, Ye Tian stepped to the side.

The white-robed guard missed his lunge.

“Hey, you’re going in for a kill. What’re you trying to do.”

Carrying the virtue of repetition, again, the guard lunged at Ye Tian.

By now, Ye Tian knew something was wrong and quickly disarmed the guard by casually tripping him.

The guard lay on the floor groaning, “We’re both bone stages. How?”

“Experience. I’ve got plenty of experience in torture too. You wanna try?”

It was a lie, but Ye Tian could still remember some of the torture techniques from his youtube recommendations. Everyone knew some, right? Something like the iron maiden.

Ye Tian crouched beside the guard and smiled with a kind, reassuring expression, “I’m going to stick a bunch of needles in you, okay?”

The guard trembled in fear, “No! Please don’t!”

What a weakling.

“Then tell me. Who made you do this?”

“Some of us are under Elder Lu Ka, and he told us to kill everyone that was not a part of his faction when the red smoke is in the sky.”

It’s beginning.

“How do you identify each other?”

“This earring.”

Taking a look, Ye Tian noticed a tiny piece of metal that reflected enough light that one would only know by actively looking for it.

“I see… You can die now.”

“No! Please! Please, I have a family!”

“Everyone does.”

“I can serve you! I can be your follower! Anything! Please don’t kill me!”

Deciding that it would be a blasphemy to douse his sword in a coward’s blood, Ye Tian decided to let this guard become a follower.

“What’s your name?”

“Zhang Qiang.”

Soon, the two arrived at Ye Tian’s courtyard. The only anomaly was that the courtyard doors were broken down. Ye Tian rushed to the front to see what was going on while Zhang Qiang meekly followed suit.

There were 5 white-robed guards lying in pools of blood inside the courtyard. Ye Tian cautiously walked forward while Zhang Qiang vomited by the side. It was questionable how he even had the stomach to try to attack Ye Tian.

The door to Ye Tian’s house opened and Nan Feng stepped out.

“More of you guys? You all just want-”

“It’s me.”

“Ye Tian! You’re back! Hurry! Come indoors! These colleagues of ours are turning against us.”

“I know.”

“Who’s this?”

“A subjugated attacker. His name is Zhang Qiang and will be following us from now on.”

“Is he reliable?”

“No. But, he does know more than us."

Ye Tian and Zhang Qiang walked into the house to find Yu Ling dressing some light cuts.

“They outnumbered us,” Nan Feng explained.

“I can see that,” Ye Tian replied.

“What’s going on?”

“Zhang Qiang will explain.”

Zhang Qiang’s face was slightly flustered, “Err… Umm… This whole event was planned by....”

***

“... all to take over the city.”

The room went silent. Nan Feng and Yu Ling looked towards Ye Tian for answers.

“It’s obvious. We need to leave.”

Nan Feng hesitated, “The city lord has treated us well.”

“It’s not like we can do anything.”

Yu Ling asked, “When do we leave?”

Ye Tian looked outside the window at the dark skies. It was an hour or two before dawn.

“Now.”