Chapter 288: Rescuing Disciples

Yu Xuan did not use lightning.Instead, his left eye normally golden now — darkened, swirling with an abyssal gleam.

Then.

FOOOOSH—

Darkness Chaos Flames burst into existence around him, devouring the light, birthing black fire that bent the surroundings.

With a single flicker, those flames swept across the battlefield.

Every one of the beast’s ice clones ignited.

They didn’t melt.

They didn’t crack.

They simply ceased to exist consumed by a fire that erased rather than burned.

The real beast froze, shock flickering in its blue eyes as its army was annihilated effortlessly.

Then.

CRACK—!!

It vanished.

Reappearing beside Yu Xuan.

And slammed its bone-spined tail toward him with enough force to shake the entire mountain peak.

Yu Xuan stepped aside calmly, the tail smashing into the snow where he stood.

A shockwave rippled out, snow exploding in every direction.

But then,

RUMBLE—!!

The snow beneath Yu Xuan erupted, forming a massive icy hand that tried to crush him like a bug.

BOOM—!!

An explosion blasted through the peak as Yu Xuan broke free, shooting into the air.

The beast followed instantly, leaping upward with monstrous power.

The swirling mist around them hardened, transforming into thousands of razor-like icicles.

They shot toward Yu Xuan like a storm of silver needles.

Yu Xuan didn’t even blink.

He activated his Telekinetic Field.

The icicles stopped mid-air, frozen inches from his face.

Then, with a casual wave, he returned them.

The icicles streaked toward the beast and shattered on its hide without leaving so much as a scratch.

Yu Xuan raised a brow.

Ice immunity. No surprise.

He then disappeared.

Reappeared in front of the beast.

And punched.

KRA-THOOOM!!!

The beast’s huge body rocketed downward, smashing into the ground and sending up a crater of blue snow.

"GRARRRR—!!!"

It yelped, its first sound of pain.

Its bones were strong.

Its flesh reinforced.

It should not have felt this much agony from a single blow.

But it did.

Because Yu Xuan wasn’t striking flesh.

He was striking body, spirit, and soul simultaneously.

One of the utilizations of the Martial Ancestor’s [Unity Arts]

Yu Xuan hovered above, studying the creature as they fought.

He could have killed it at any moment... but he was curious.

The beast roared in fury.

Its tail elongated and twisted, forming a bone exoskeleton that wrapped around its body like armor.

It hurled itself at Yu Xuan, claws, limbs, and tail moving in a blur.

Yu Xuan didn’t dodge.

He let the beast strike him.

Over and over.

THUD. THUD. CRACK. THUMP.

But the attacks might as well have been raindrops on a fortress wall.

The beast grew increasingly desperate.

As its attacks were doing nothing.

Finally, it roared, a sound filled with rage and fear.

All the snow in the surroundings compressed violently, merging around its fists until they formed colossal, jagged knuckles of shimmering blue ice dense enough to penetrate any Tier Four defense.

With everything it had the beast punched.

Yu Xuan mirrored it.

He punched back with equal force.

BOOOOOM!!!!

The mountainside trembled.

A shockwave spread across the peak, knocking snow off cliffs dozens of meters away.

The beast flew backward, slamming into the frozen ground, rolling through the blue snow like a ragdoll.

When it stopped, its glowing eyes flickered and began to lose clarity.

Savagery, pure, instinctual beastliness returned to them.

Its reason was slipping.

Its fear rising.

***

"Damn... why is he not using lightning?" Number One muttered, bewildered.

Tuoba Jun stayed silent.

The clash ahead of them was so intense that the entire mountain shook with every exchange.

Snow avalanches tumbled down the cliffs, cracks spread across the ice, and the air vibrated as if two calamities were fighting.

Then they saw the beast twist its own body, bone stretching, tail extending, forming a horrifying skeletal exoskeleton.

Number One’s eye twitched.

"This is too perverted," he whispered.

Tuoba Jun didn’t disagree he nodded.

A few minutes later, after Yu Xuan punched the beast into the ground with terrifying ease, Tuoba Jun exhaled and spoke.

"We should go save those disciples while he’s busy."

Number One groaned.

His entire soul protested.

Charging into a battlefield like this was suicidal.

But...

He was now a member of the Discipline Committee.

He needed redemption.

He had responsibilities.

"Fine..." he said through clenched teeth, "but if we die, I’m haunting you."

Tuoba Jun rolled his eyes and lifted his brush.

With quick, precise strokes, he painted the air around them, their colors shifting into dull whites and icy blues until their bodies blended almost perfectly with the snow.

A stealth technique.

"Move quietly," Tuoba Jun whispered.

The two slipped through the battlefield shadows, creeping toward the cages that held the unconscious disciples.

Meanwhile.

Yu Xuan hovered calmly, watching the beast below thrash in a rising frenzy.

Its earlier intelligence was fading rapidly.

The gleam of awareness in its eyes flickered and was slowly devoured by primal savagery.

It was becoming a mindless calamity.

Yu Xuan’s expression cooled.

He had deliberately avoided striking near the captive disciples earlier.

But now that the beast had lost its sanity...

He needed to end this.

Fast.

Yu Xuan’s eyes sharpened.

[Immortal’s Gaze] — Annihilation.

A golden-red beam erupted from his eyes, a condensed pillar of destructive intent.

SHRRRRAAAAAAA—!!!

It pierced straight through the beast’s skull, drilling a molten hole clear through its head.

The beast staggered, trembling violently.

But it did not fall.

A Tier Four creature’s vitality was monstrous its lifeforce tenacious, stubborn, refusing to die from even lethal injuries.

With a roar, the beast ran, bolting across the peak with desperate speed, trying to escape the killing pressure behind it.

Yu Xuan raised one finger.

KRA-KOOOOOM!!!

A bolt of black lightning crashed down onto the fleeing monster, slamming it into the snow with such force the ground cratered beneath its body.

Yu Xuan appeared behind it in the blink of an eye.

His hand crackled with controlled Black Lightning.

Without hesitation, Yu Xuan thrust his arm forward.

CRACK—!

His hand pierced straight through the beast’s exoskeleton armor, tearing into its chest cavity.

Flesh and bone ruptured around his arm.

His fingers closed around something warm and beating.

The heart.

Black Lightning surged through his arm and into the beast.

ZRRRRRRT—!!!

The creature convulsed violently.

Its eyes rolled up, its limbs spasmed uncontrollably.

The lightning didn’t stop at its flesh, it burrowed into its spirit, then deeper, into its soul.

The beast felt its consciousness unraveling.

For the first time, genuine terror surfaced in its fading gaze.

Death.

Cold, absolute, inevitable stood before it.

The beast sensed the end approaching and in a final act of madness, it burned its life force.

Its aura exploded like a tidal wave.

Muscles swelled.

Fur bristled.

Its eyes turned blood-red.

Yu Xuan still held its heart in his hand.

He casually tossed the organ to the ground.

THUD.

That sound broke whatever reason the beast still had.

With an unhinged, suicidal roar, it lunged at Yu Xuan with the ferocity of a dying star.

Yu Xuan exhaled softly.

He decided to end things cleanly.

A small kitchen knife materialized in his hand simple, almost mundane.

But it wasn’t just any knife.

It was the "108 Knives in One – Kitchen Edition."

[A/N: First appearance Ch 204]

The blade shimmered, then morphed into a massive butcher’s knife, its edge glowing with blazing red aura.

[Magic Swordsmanship of the Avalon Imperial Family] — Basic Move

Consecutive Normal Slashes.

Yu Xuan swung.

Then for an instant, the world was dyed completely red.

Dozens of slashes.

Hundreds.

A storm of cuts so fast the eye couldn’t follow.

Then.

SKREEEEE—!!!

A terrible final scream tore through the mountain.

The beast’s body split apart, hundreds of pieces falling across the blue snow like crimson petals.

Its final breath escaped.

Its eyes dimmed.

Life vanished.

Yu Xuan descended calmly to the mutilated corpse and inspected it.

No core.

No unique treasure.

Nothing worth harvesting.

"Shame," he murmured.

He summoned ordinary fire — letting soft, orange flames pour from his hand.

He burned the remains with quiet respect, offering a simple prayer.

’My first boss fight after leaving seclusion... Not the greatest challenge, but acceptable.’

From the distance, Tuoba Jun and Number One stared at him as if watching a lunatic.

Number One swallowed hard.

For the first time, he was truly relieved he hadn’t antagonized Yu Xuan further.

His survival instincts — honed by the infamous Bear Beast of his home world named Daoist Grills, screamed that staying polite was the only smart choice.

Yu Xuan then floated over to them.

They had already dragged out the unconscious disciples.

All of them were alive, but their blood essence was frighteningly depleted.

"We’ve learned something, though it might raise more questions," Yu Xuan said.

"The beasts here can cultivate and even break through realms, yet the gate’s entry barrier only allows Tier Three cultivators. For now, let’s regroup with the others."

With that, the three of them descended the mountain.

Yu Xuan carried the unconscious disciples through the air with his [Telekinesis], floating them gently behind him.