The moment the sigils ignited, the world constricted.

The jade platform glowed with blinding gold as the ancient execution formation awakened, rings of light spiraling outward from beneath the prisoners' feet. The air warbled, humming with the sound of souls trembling.

Li Wei moved.

Not as a man, but as a streak of emerald thunder splitting the plaza.

His feet struck the tiles before the glow reached its peak. Emerald qi wildly burst outward from his core in a violent pulse, distorting the air like heat against metal.

BOOM—!

He slammed his palm into the outer edge of the golden ring. The array shrieked in protest, pulsating like a feral beast resisting capture. Arcs of golden lightning whipped out, lashing at him in retaliation.

Pain exploded up his arms causing his skin tear, blood misted as the young master simply refused to falter. "Tch…" he hissed under his breath. "An imperial-grade suppression array… This old man prepared well."

Behind him the fifty prisoners screamed, the sigils beneath them growing brighter with every passing breath.

Tang Li was somewhere in the crowd watching and waiting with a terrified expression.

Li Wei gritted his teeth.

I will not let you see another massacre.

He stepped deeper into the golden glow and pressed both palms flat against the ground.

[Emerald Heart Compass — Meridian Reversal]

A spiraling emerald rune burst from his hands, clashing against Yun's execution sigils. The plaza shook as two opposing forces collided—gold versus green, order versus defiance.

"Hold… HOLD—!!" Li Wei roared.

The emerald rune spread, attempting to overwrite the formation's core.

But Yun only smiled.

A small, amused, deadly smile.

"You are strong," Yun said calmly. "Too strong for your age. But your understanding of formations…" He lightly tapped the golden air once more.

"…is incomplete."

The jade platform exploded with light.

WHOOOOOOOM—!

Li Wei's emerald sigil shattered instantly. The backlash flung him across the platform, smashing him against a stone pillar carved with Oolong crests. The impact shook the rooftop above, sending cracked tiles raining down like shattered starlight.

Li Wei spat blood, staggering to his feet.

The execution sigils continued to intensify. The prisoners writhed, screaming in terror as spiritual fire began wrapping around their ankles like hungry serpents.

"NO—!!" Li Wei surged forward again.

However, Magistrate Yun appeared in front of him without a sound.

His presence was suffocating.

"Li Wei," Yun whispered. "You cannot save them and fight me at the same time."

Li Wei's hand tightened around his war rod.

"Then I will kill you first."

Yun's eyes gleamed.

"Try."

The magiistrate struck with no wasted movement.

A single palm.

Deceptively simple, yet carrying the weight of a mountain's wrath.

Li Wei met it with the war rod, qi surging.

BOOOOOOM—!!

The ground beneath them crumbled. Dust spiraled. Echoes of the impact rippled across the entire plaza, knocking weaker soldiers off their feet.

Li Wei slid back several meters, boots carving trenches in the stone floor.

Yun did not move an inch.

He tilted his head.

"Good foundation. Your bones have been tempered with rare medicine."

Li Wei wiped blood from his lip.

"You speak too much."

He launched forward.

The war rod struck like falling stars—fast, unpredictable, layered with hidden feints. Yet Yun countered each blow with casual elegance, redirecting the force as if moving silk across a loom.

CLANG—!!

CLACK—!!

BOOM—!!

Their duel was too fast for mortal eyes.

To Tang Li, watching from the shadows of a rooftop, their silhouettes flickered like twin spirits dancing between realities.

Each strike from Yun distorted the air with resonant force. Each counter from Li Wei erupted with emerald sparks that illuminated the plaza like fireflies.

"You fight like a man carrying the weight of others," Yun remarked coldly. "Burden cultivates desperation, not parity."

"Desperation," Li Wei growled, "keeps men alive."

He swept the war rod low—emerald qi exploding outward.

Yun stepped into the attack, letting the force slide past his sleeve like water off jade.

He whispered:

"Not enough."

A finger strike pierced Li Wei's chest.

CRACK—!

Li Wei stumbled backward, clutching the wound. Blood seeped between his fingers.

The plaza gasped.

"Th—that magistrate… he pierced him with one finger!"

"He's too strong!"

"Li Wei cannot win—!!"

"Then… the prisoners… they're doomed…"

Tang Li gripped the child tightly, eyes trembling.

"Senior… please… stand up…"

Li Wei staggered but did not fall.

His breath grew ragged, but his eyes burned brighter.

"Is that all?" he asked quietly.

Yun paused.

For the first time… he looked truly amused.

Golden fire crawled up the prisoners' bodies. Their screams reached a fever pitch.

The sigils beneath them pulsed with killing light—

Thirty seconds remained.

Li Wei glanced at them, then back at Yun. "You planned this," Li Wei said. "You wanted me to divide my focus."

"It is the first principle of governance," Yun replied, hands behind his back. "Control where the enemy must look. Redirect where he wishes to act. Suddenly—his strength becomes irrelevant."

Li Wei exhaled. A bitter laugh escaped him. "You think I can't handle two tasks?"

Yun smiled.

"No. I know you can't."

Li Wei lifted his war rod slowly.

Emerald light swirled around him like a rising storm.

"You're right about one thing," he said. "I can't face you and the formation at the same time."

Yun nodded. "Good. Acceptance is the first step toward—"

Li Wei cut him off. "That's why…"

He slammed the war rod into the stone.

CRACK—!!!

The jade platform split down the middle.

Shockwaves flung soldiers off their feet. The golden execution sigils sputtered and dimmed.

They did not break, but were rapidly destabilizing.

Yun's eyes widened. "You…!"

Li Wei roared, channeling every ounce of qi into the fissure. The ground beneath the prisoners buckled as the execution array destabilized.

But Yun moved faster.

He appeared beside the formation, hands weaving golden seals.

"Oh no you don't."

Each seal reconnected the array.

Li Wei cursed under his breath, the magistrate was trying to stabilize the sigils faster than he could shake them apart.

He needed to divide Yun's attention.

And he saw only one way.

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