As the final attack faded, the golden barrier surrounding them slowly crumbled into countless particles of light before disappearing entirely.

Fang Yuan exhaled quietly.

The defense of his technique was monstrous but the qi consumption was equally terrifying.

That single barrage alone had devoured nearly sixty percent of his qi reserves.

If this continued, he would eventually be worn down to death.

So instead of waiting, he decided to move first.

Boom!

His figure shot forward like a streak of lightning, sword flashing with blinding radiance as he appeared before one of the black-clad cultivators.

Without any sort of a warning, he instantly used, "Tyrant Light Sword: Divine Line."

A thin streak of light flashed across the sky.

The cultivator, before he could react, his body split cleanly into two perfect halves and blood scattered through the air.

Silence fell for a brief moment.

Even Fang Tian's expression changed slightly.

Was that… a fluke? 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

But the answer came almost immediately.

Fang Yuan stared at the corpse for a split second, and suddenly, it felt as though something had clicked within his mind.

As if that single strike had given him the final answer he was searching for.

Slowly, he raised his sword once more.

The remaining assassins instantly sensed danger.

"Stop him!"

They charged forward desperately from all directions, spiritual qi exploding wildly as they attempted to interrupt the attack before it could form.

But Fang Yuan ignored their attacks completely as his sword descended.

"Tyrant Light Sword…: Spatial Cut."

As the slash fell, the world itself seemed to split apart.

For a single instant, everything became eerily silent.

And then six bodies were severed in half simultaneously, divided as though space itself had erased them.

Fang Yuan's vision immediately blurred.

An overwhelming exhaustion slammed into him as his senses dulled violently, almost causing him to collapse on the spot.

Yet amidst the haze, he still saw Fang Tian stumbling backward in panic.

His right arm was gone.

Blood sprayed endlessly from the severed shoulder as disbelief filled his face.

Fang Yuan looked at him quietly.

In the end, you still survived…

And in that moment he recalled the information the system gave him regarding Fang Tian in the form of a reward.

[The longer you fail to kill him, the stronger he will return to kill you.]

A distant roar suddenly echoed through his fading consciousness.

"What are you doing?! Kill him!" Fang Tian screamed hysterically.

The surviving assassins hesitated in terror.

"We—we don't have any qi left!"

"Then self-destruct!"

Fang Yuan almost laughed hearing that.

How stupid…

His consciousness was already sinking into darkness.

But then, his eyes widened slightly.

Because they actually listened.

The remaining three cultivators rushed toward him without hesitation, their bodies swelling violently as unstable spiritual energy surged out uncontrollably.

Fang Yuan gritted his teeth and forced out every remaining strand of qi within his body.

Golden light flickered weakly around him.

"Golden Shell Armor…"

The barrier barely formed before dissapearing into thin air.

He didn't even have enough qi for Bravery, let alone Cowardice.

At that moment Zhu Huan, who had remained behind him this entire time, suddenly stepped forward.

Before Fang Yuan could react, she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

He felt her trembling slightly.

Yet her voice remained strangely gentle.

"We'll be fine."

And then—

BOOOOOOM—!!!

A deafening explosion erupted across the heavens.

A massive pillar of fire and spiritual energy soared into the sky as the world itself seemed to collapse beneath the blast.

____

"Fuck… fuck… FUCK!"

Fang Tian's mind was in complete chaos as he fled through the mountains at full speed, clutching his severed arm tightly against his chest.

Blood dripped endlessly behind him.

Pain tore through his body with every movement, but he didn't dare slow down for even a second.

That slash…

That monstrous slash…

The image of six Hollow Spirit cultivators being split apart in absolute silence replayed endlessly in his mind.

The moment he escaped the mountain range, he immediately bit down on a talisman clenched between his teeth while activating it with his remaining hand.

Rip!

Space twisted and his figure vanished instantly.

The next moment, he appeared inside a dimly lit cave.

The cave walls flickered under the glow of spirit lamps, casting distorted shadows everywhere.

The instant Fang Tian arrived, his legs gave out beneath him.

He slammed onto the ground heavily, breathing raggedly as cold sweat poured down his face.

"Shit… shit… how…"

His voice trembled violently.

"How does he already know that technique…?"

His pupils shook uncontrollably.

"This isn't supposed to happen…"

He stared at the severed shoulder.

Normally, losing an arm was nothing to cultivators of their level. As long as the limb remained intact, reattachment was merely a matter of time and resources.

But this cut was different.

Faint traces of void law still lingered around the wound, continuously devouring the surrounding flesh and spiritual energy.

The injury wasn't healing, instead it was worsening.

"Damn it!"

In a burst of rage, Fang Tian grabbed a nearby wooden table and hurled it straight into the cave wall.

BOOM!

The table shattered into splinters.

"I need to calm down…"

He pressed a trembling hand against his face.

"I need to calm down…"

Again and again.

Slowly, after several deep breaths, the madness in his eyes finally lessened slightly.

Silence returned to the cave and Fang Tian slowly stood up.

Then he walked deeper into the cavern until he reached a secluded corner hidden behind several stone pillars.

There, he pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper.

His expression twisted with confusion and disbelief as he began writing furiously.

Brother, you weren't supposed to learn Spatial Cut until sister-in-law was severely injured.

His writing paused and the brush trembled slightly. Then he slowly wrote another line.

What changed?

A massive question mark was scrawled across the paper.

Fang Tian stared at it silently.

His breathing gradually became uneven again.

"Has the future really changed this much…?"

His voice sounded almost broken.

"All I did…"

"…was kill a mere mortal who got on my nerves…"

His expression distorted violently.

"Why?!"

Boom!

His fist smashed into the stone wall hard enough to crack it apart.

"Why did you have to banish me for THAT?!"

Veins bulged across his forehead as fury and grievance exploded from him at once.

"You chose outsiders over me!"

"You were my brother!"

His breathing became heavier and heavier.

Then his expression suddenly crumbled.

The anger vanished almost instantly, replaced by panic and desperation.

"Ah… Fang Mei…"

His voice became hoarse.

"I need you…"

He slowly slid down the cave wall, clutching the bloodstained paper tightly in his hand.