The jade platform groaned beneath the weight of two clashing wills of emerald and gold. Every single breath in the plaza hung in shock withstanding a suffocating pressure, while Li Wei's grip tightened around his war rod as the fissures widened beneath his feet. His chest burned, ribs cracked in three places, and blood seeped into his robes with every breath. His vision wavered at the edges, but the center remained sharp.

It was a reckless path that held lethal repercussions, but this was a path forged by his own making.

His gaze flicked to the weak prisoners, that were still trembling. Others were gasping for air and thoughts about freedom, though they were barely conscious . The execution sigils surged again, as if the array were trying to knit itself back together after withstanding the sheer verocity of the young master's martial power.

Then he looked at Tang Li in the distance with trembling hands. The child clinging to her sleeve had terror within his eyes.

A man who fought alone had to be both blade and shield.

His jaw clenched. "Then so be it." Magistrate Yun's killing intent sharpened into a tangible blade. His golden aura spiraled upward like the rising sun. His calm voice carried a fatal tone. "You choose death, then. So be it." He stepped forward, but the step swallowed an entire street's worth of distance.

The magistrate vanished causing the wind to implode, as space tightened.

Li Wei barely tracked the movement.

Yun reappeared in front of him, palm already descending.

"Die."

The force behind that single syllable shattered the air. Golden ripples spread outward, turning dust into powder.

Li Wei reacted by instinct, not sight.

He raised his war rod horizontally, emerald qi erupting along its length like wildfire.

BOOOOOOOOM—!!

His feet skidded backward, carving deep trenches into the jade. The platform's left half collapsed entirely, tumbling into the plaza below in a storm of debris. Li Wei coughed blood, while Yun stood largely unblemished.

"Your body is already weakening," Yun remarked, voice as indifferent as drifting snow. "Your qi frays. Your footing falters."

Li Wei wiped his mouth with the back of his wrist. "You talk more than a widow in."

Yun's eyes narrowed.

Li Wei flicked his wrist.

Emerald sparks danced around his fingers.

A distraction.

A single moment.

A single breath.

That was all he could afford—and all he could hope to steal from Yun.

Li Wei inhaled sharply.

Qi spiraled through his battered meridians—chaotic, wild, but still loyal.

He slammed the war rod down again.

CRAAACK—!!

The remaining half of the jade platform shook violently. More fissures split outward, destabilizing the execution array even further.

Yun's eyes sharpened.

"You persist in this foolishness?" he said coldly.

Li Wei's answer was a snarl.

"Watch."

He thrust his palm outward.

[Emerald Compass : Fractured Reflection]

A fragmented emerald sigil burst outward, scattering light in a hundred directions.

Mirrors.

Reflections.

Illusions made of half-formed qi.

To an untrained eye, they were flickering shadows.

But Yun was no untrained eye.

He instantly read the technique.

"Cheap distraction—"

Except it wasn't.

Li Wei wasn't aiming for Yun.

He was aiming for the execution array.

The flickering illusions bounced through the debris, creating false signatures, false targets, false disturbances.

Dozens of emerald "Li Weis" moved erratically around the prisoners—some striking the ground, others feinting toward the magistrate, still others shattering talismans embedded within the platform.

The array trembled.

Yun's gaze sharpened.

He understood.

"You are forcing me to divide attention," he said. "Pitiful."

"Dividing is enough," Li Wei muttered.

He leapt backward, gathering qi into his war rod—

—but Yun anticipated him.

Golden sigils erupted beneath Li Wei's feet, binding chains shooting upward.

"Caught," Yun whispered.

Li Wei smirked.

"No."

He slammed his war rod down—

SKRRRIIIIIINNG—!!

His rod shattered the golden chains but also fractured the jade platform beyond salvation.

Half the plaza sank as the foundation gave way. Soldiers screamed. Buildings trembled. Civilians scrambled away in terror.

Yun's composure cracked.

His eyes flashed with killing intent sharp enough to slice bone.

"ENOUGH!"

His robes flared. Golden light erupted from his core. The plaza brightened as if dawn had descended prematurely.

Li Wei braced himself, but—

He wasn't the target. Yun extended just a single finger, not toward Li Wei. It was toward the prisoners behind him.

"No—!!" Li Wei roared.

A golden beam shot toward them.

He had no time to think.

Only to move.

His body screamed. His ribs cracked again. His wounded chest burned like molten ore.

He dashed forward as he was barely faster than the beam, the foolhardy youslamme his rod into the path of the attack.

The collision detonated

KAAAAAAAAA—BOOOOM!!!

A tidal wave of light engulfed the platform.

When the dust settled—

Li Wei lay on his side, coughing blood.

His war rod… was fractured.

The prisoners were alive, but barely.

The magistrate stared at Li Wei, incredulous.

"You are insane," Yun whispered. "You would shatter your own weapon to save them?"

Li Wei spat red onto the broken jade.

"Better my rod… than their lives."

Yun's aura surged.

"A cultivator who places strangers above his own survival is not noble," he said slowly. "He is simply unfit to survive this world."

Li Wei pushed himself up on shaking forearms."Funny," he rasped, "I was about to say the same about you."

Tang Li trembled atop the rooftop.

She had remained still until now largely frozen, terrified, powerless.

But seeing Li Wei collapse with his blood begining to pool.

His war rod cracked.

His breath painfully thin.

Her heart clenched.

She stepped forward instinctively.

"No," she whispered, "I… I won't just watch…"

The child grabbed her sleeve.

"Don't go… he said to stay…"

Tang Li's knees buckled.

Her eyes burned.

She wanted to run and to scream.

The maiden had even thought about hiding.

But her voice cracked in a whisper:

"He saved us once…

Now he saves the city…

If I watch again, doing nothing… I will never forgive myself."

She stood at her spot trembling and Terrified. She gripped a small talisman Li Wei had given her.

Her throat tightened.

"…Senior Wei… hold on…"

She stepped off the rooftop.

Leapt.

And ran.

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