Kang Zhu crashed into a shining formation barrier. Chen Fei’s art faded, and the great boar unleashed a series of broad, sweeping cuts with his cleaver. Between the Spring Rain Mirror and the barriers called with the Seventy-Two Blessed Symbols, He Yu and Chen Fei turned the attacks aside. Things still weren’t looking great by He Yu’s estimation, though.

  Yan Shirong had dragged himself well away from the fight. He’d hunkered down among some boulders, seeking what protection they could afford him. Judging by the flow of his qi, he’d at least taken some medicine. The Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment couldn’t provide insight to how long it would take for Yan Shirong to restore himself, so He Yu mentally counted him out of the fight.

  Similar for Li Heng. His right arm hung limp and useless at his side, dislocated by the look of it. Not the most serious injury a cultivator could take—Sha Xiang had broken his back, and he’d recovered from that well enough—but he’d also lost his jian. Once he’d jammed his arm back in its socket, he’d have to go looking for the weapon down in the ravine. No telling how long that would take.

  Another activation of the Stone Jungle technique sent spires of stone and chunks of dirt flying into the air. Chen Fei formed up a barrier around herself, dealing with the worst of it. Still, she was only at Golden Core. The barrier broke, and jagged obsidian blades ripped through her leather and felt clothes, opening bloody wounds. A flaring of mountain qi accompanied her presence as she poured her cultivation base into her techniques. One by one, the layers of the White Mountain Body Art rebuilt themselves around her.

  Chen Fei’s presence expanded. Once more, she towered to the heavens. The earth rose to embrace her even as she reached deep into its heart. Strength and vitality surged through her meridians, so powerful that even without the Peerless Judgment He Yu’s qi sense was enough to follow their flow.

  With the Eternal Mountain Root reformed and feeding her qi from the earth at her feet, she activated the Iron Fortress Redoubt. Her skin grew hard and took on a dull iron gleam. The countless wounds she’d taken smoothed over, filled in as her skin became ever more like metal.

  Finally, she called forth the Titan Panoply. The great suit of armor forged of metal and mountain and earth built itself around her. The stitched plates of layered steel hung down to her knees. Boots strapped with iron greaves protected her lower legs, and the ornate pauldrons decorated with roaring lions adorned each shoulder. A pair of iron bracers encircled her forearms and extended down to cover the backs of her hands. White fur trimmed the armor, a fitting decoration for the White Mountain art.

  The last portion of the armor to re-form was the helm. Similarly to the pauldrons, it was fashioned into the likeness of a lion, its mouth open in a defiant roar. The faceplate that formed to completely cover her was fashioned with the visage of a vengeful mountain spirit.

  “I am the fist that shatters the earth.” Chen Fei’s voice sounded hollow and distant, coming from within the wrought helm. Qi surged around her, and the mortal world faded under the weight of her spirit.

  A great mountain towered to heaven. For an unfathomable distance in every direction, smaller peaks covered the barren land. Her mountain was peerless. A gleaming locus of qi gathered above the summit. A swirling mix of earth and metal fed down into the peak, transforming into mountain qi within the titan’s roots. Heaven and earth held their breath in silence. Above, the firmament stopped its eternal dance. A single star fell. The mountain broke, and the earth below shattered.

  Chen Fei’s punch caved in Kang Zhu’s chest. The force of her blow blasted away what little remained on the field of battle and left them both standing in a ruined crater. Kang Zhu wheezed, his hateful gaze furious even as he coughed up another mouthful of blood.

  “You man-things dare to challenge the God of the Green Mountain! I will shatter your bones and grind them to dust. I will spread them to the four directions, and I will devour your cores. For ten generations, I will hunt your bloodlines, and none of your kin will survive my wrath.”

  He Yu slammed into Kang Zhu with the fury of heaven. Whatever that technique of Chen Fei’s had been, it had created an opening and He Yu wasn’t about to waste it. With wind and heaven, He Yu carved his way back into the fight.

  Countless pillars of stone exploded around him. Chen Fei cast barriers almost as quickly as the pillars appeared, but she couldn’t protect him from them all. Some he turned away with the Spring Rain Mirror. Others he veered away from with the mobility given by his body enforcement and his movement technique. A few, he simply allowed to strike him.

  He shrugged off the wounds he took in his clash with Kang Zhu. He’d taken plenty worse in the past. Calling the wind, he struck out. Lightning split stone and sky, and the howling gale blasted away great chunks of earth. Chen Fei fought at his side, half his shield, half a battering ram—an immovable object and unstoppable force, both at once.

  Together, they fought. Together, they turned the tide.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  A massive, meaty fist flew at He Yu. The Spring Rain Mirror turned it aside easily, and a band of silver formation characters appeared around Kang Zhu’s wrist. His arm jerked down toward the earth, and chains of silver reached from the formation to the ground.

  He Yu wasn’t about to waste the opportunity. Lightning crackled along his guandao. He infused the Sweeping Wind with the power of Heaven’s Descending Blade. A great arc of heaven extended from his guandao.

  Kang Zhu howled. Blood sprayed from his shoulder where He Yu had severed the sealed arm. One-armed and furious, the great boar’s spirit exploded with pain and fury and rage. The great cleaver shone with killing intent as he rushed He Yu, swinging the blade in erratic, frenzied slashes.

  A second formation dragged Kang Zhu’s remaining arm to the ground. He Yu drew back his guandao, forming another heaven-infused strike. This time, he layered all his killing intent into the technique. A cold sharpness pressed down upon the world, like an executioner’s blade held their victim’s throat.

  A burst of moonlight and a scattering of snow announced Li Heng’s return. His jian, once again faded to mist, swept through Kang Zhu’s one good arm. The Darkmoon Strife turned the limb frostbitten and necrotic. The cleaver fell to the earth with a heavy clang.

  He Yu adjusted. He met the great boar’s eyes, and he struck. The massive boar’s body slumped over and heaved its last. Kang Zhu’s lifeless eyes stared at the empty sky above as his head rolled to a stop.

  Falling to his knees, He Yu sent his guandao back to his storage treasure. Then he pitched onto his back and stared up at the sky. Relief flooded him, and he simply allowed himself to breathe now that the fight was over.

  Chen Fei’s head filled his vision. “Everything okay?”

  He flashed her a smile. “I’m fine. Just a bit tired. What was that technique, by the way?” They’d spent fifteen years training together during their stay at the Thunder God’s Shrine. He’d never seen her use it until today.

  “Oh, that. It’s been something I’ve been working out in my spare time.” She looked a bit embarrassed. “I’d never really gotten the hang of it. I still don’t think I did it right. I wanted to get it perfect before I showed anyone. It’s called the Falling Star Strike, by the way. I’m not sure about the name yet, though.”

  “Speaking of new techniques,” Li Heng said as he approached, still cradling his dislocated arm. “What was that one you used? The punch, I mean. You’ve never really been one for hand-to-hand.” He gave a pointed look at He Yu as he asked.

  “Um, I’m not sure,” he admitted, getting back to his feet. “Need help with your arm?”

  “I do, but don’t think I’m letting you off the hook on this one,” Li Heng said.

  “I’m fine, by the way,” Yan Shirong called. “Thank you all for asking. Your concern is truly touching.”

  Li Heng grunted as He Yu shoved his arm back into the socket. “You know I can tell you took medicine, right?”

  “That’s beside the point,” Yan Shirong sniffed. “But I am glad you at least noticed. Anyway, shall we claim our spoils?”

  They all turned to the corpse of Kang Zhu. He Yu had shattered one of the boar’s tusks with his punch, completely ruining it. The second one would make for fine ingredients, though. Chen Fei set about to carving out the beast’s core. An awakened beast that had advanced all the way to Nascent Soul and could partially assume human form was a prize indeed. The earth aspected core, even unrefined, would be a tremendous boon to her cultivation.

  It took them the rest of the afternoon to process the beast’s corpse. Although they skinned it and took its organs and bones and sinew, they left the meat. They all agreed that it was too close to human, even if it were still a boar, for them to feel comfortable eating it. The parts had been grisly enough work. But they were too valuable to pass up.

  “The lair should be close,” Yan Shirong said as the sun dipped behind the western peaks, casting shadows across the ruined site of their battle. “There’s likely some good treasure in there, given the thing’s advancement. At the very least, it’ll give us a place to restore ourselves.”

  Treasure or no, the prospect of spending the night in cultivation was a good one. They didn’t know what lay ahead still, but the reputation of the Jade Mountains had already proved itself. It would be foolish to press on in the state they were in. Although they’d taken some medicinal pills after the battle, their qi reserves were all low, and they still had wounds that needed a bit more time to recover.

  After some discussion, they spread out and search the area. Yan Shirong’s assumption that the lair would be close made sense. They hadn’t sensed Kang Zhu’s spirit until they were right on top of him. He’d likely been inside when he sensed their approach and waited until they were close to block their path.

  He Yu dropped down into the ravine. Bones of animals and humans alike littered the floor. Some were fresher than others, but it looked like Kang Zhu’s meals had been few and far between. He Yu swept the ravine’s floor with the Peerless Judgment in hopes there might be some lost treasure here. Unsurprisingly, he found nothing. If Kang Zhu’s victims had carried anything of value, those valuables would now be in the boar’s lair, most like.

  For another twenty minutes or so he searched the bottom of the ravine. Twilight’s gloom deepened, and he’d just decided to head back to the top when a shout from Yan Shirong above caught his attention. He Yu was the first to arrive, and the others shortly followed.

  Tucked back behind a now-ruined stand of trees was the entrance to a cave. It was barely visible, as a massive boulder had been rolled over the opening, and the detritus of the battle further concealed the already well-hidden opening. Boar tracks were abundant in the area, and even with the stone in place, He Yu sensed the qi inside the cave.

  With a wordless glance shared between them, Chen Fei shoved aside the boulder. A passage opened up, leading deeper into the side of the mountain. The sensation of rich earth qi was already stronger than anything He Yu had felt in the Shrouded Peaks. More exciting was the abundance of unaspected qi. It was exceedingly rare to find unaspected qi out in the wilds, especially in an area already so dense with a particular type. It could only mean one thing—spirit stones.

  Little wonder Kang Zhu had made his home here. Yan Shirong’s eyes gleamed at the prospect of what awaited them in the great boar’s lair. He Yu couldn’t deny his excitement either. Together, they headed into the cave.