“I, Xian Shi, came up from less than nothing.”

  BOOM, BOOM.

  “A mere parentless dancer from a group of traveling entertainers turned hero,” Xian Shi added.

  CRASH, BOOOOOOM.

  Terrifying explosions and earth-shattering combat were taking place outside of the Jade Palace that Xian Shi was presently inside of.

  “Now that you’ve finally shown yourself, you ask me who do I think I am to defend my home?” Xian Shi stroked his black beard, staring daggers through the golden robed individual in front of him.

  The golden robe man scoffed, “Your home? To put it into terms that you would understand... You’re merely a fat sheep on my farm. I am here to collect my wool.”

  The air in the room began to twist as Xian Shi’s brow furrowed, “You still have the nerve to say rubbish like that!”

  Space itself began to vibrate as the roof of the palace shattered into a million pieces, sending rubble and debris everywhere, revealing a beautiful spear that hummed and moved with a mind of its own.

  Xian Shi stood up, his red cape billowing behind him due to the immense aura that was building within the room.

  The golden robed man raised his hand as well, and three lights formed behind him. They flickered, glowed, and rapidly expanded as the remainder of the building was reduced to rubble and ash.

  Ggggrraahh!! Xian Shi lunged forward, his movement flowing like silk. Black and white lightning burst forth from his spear as he thrust it into the chest of the golden robed man.

  “Heaven Defying Annihilation Lightning!” Xian Shi bellowed.

  One of the lights from the golden robed man blocked the blow from Xian Shi, creating a blinding light as the two men took to the sky.

  Below them lay a city that was reduced to rubble.

  There were cultivators fighting everywhere, even going over the horizon, too much to count.

  The flashing lights and loud explosions faded as the two men broke through the clouds, headed out into the starry sky.

  Innumerable blows were exchanged in this brief period of time.

  By the time they had stopped moving in the void, they both looked at each other with shock and horror in their eyes.

  Starlight glimmered around them, and it was completely silent.

  There was a deep wound on Xian Shi’s shoulder, revealing his bone.

  The golden robed man was not happy in the slightest, however.

  Xian Shi’s ‘bone’ appeared to be a metal that was even harder than his spear!

  The muscles that wrapped around said bone released steam with how hot they were, and they were black, unlike ordinary muscles.

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  Lastly, the skin around the wound looked ordinary, but wriggled like it was alive to connect and shut the wound.

  “What the fuck are you?! Where did you come from? How did you get into this dimension?” The golden robed man shouted and cursed, the lights that he summoned now looking like stars, spinning around his body in a halo formation.

  There was a wound on his temple that was healing rapidly with the starlight shining upon him. His bone, muscles, and skin were much more normal compared to Xian Shi.

  Xian Shi merely smiled, “Did you not hear that I am a dancer from a group of traveling entertainers? You, invader, must not have known what you’ve gotten yourself into. You’ve taken countless lives, now I will take yours.”

  Xian Shi began to do bizarre movements, appearing to be some sort of ritualistic dance. Although they were floating in space, he hopped and bounced as though he were on solid ground once more.

  The golden robed man’s brow creased as he thought, ‘These are the same strange movements that have allowed this Xian Shi to remain alive for so long.’

  Just then, his face warped, and the three stars around him look like they were hit by a massive invisible force, causing them to rock back and forth.

  Space itself began to look red as a dreadful domain burst forth from Xian Shi, shrouding several thousand miles at first and then condensing into just a few miles.

  “Dao of Slaughter... Kill him,” Xian Shi spoke before looking at the golden robed man with pity.

  “Such an intense slaughter aura! You must have slain an uncountable number of individuals to amass this level of killing intent! You don’t care about the price, huh? I’ll show you reckless abandon!” The golden robed man shouted as the three stars around him dramatically expanded in size.

  “HEAVEN’S MANDATE!”

  The last thing Xian Shi and the golden robed man saw was the blinding white light from the three stars and the blood red space around them clashing, bending space and time as they knew it.

  WEEEEEEEEEEEEEENGGGG.

  ...

  An eerie silence took over after the deafening boom.

  “Ughk,” Xian Shi vomited two mouthfuls of blood after turning his head to the side. He was lying on a random asteroid, unable to move his body. His spear was lost during the explosion and his connection with it severed.

  He sensed that the end was near and commanded his Qi force to inscribe a message. He was unsure of what would happen after his death, but he had an idea. Tears welled up in his eyes as he finished inscribing his message, casting it down to earth with the remainder of his Qi force.

  He wasn’t afraid of death, nor was he feeling sorry for himself. He was feeling sorry for letting humanity down.

  He closed his eyes and awaited his end.

  Step, step.

  The golden robed man staggered over, bleeding from all the orifices on his face.

  “Stupid fool,” he said, a fierce expression on his bloodied face, “Was mutual destruction the best you could think of?”

  Xian Shi replied without opening his eyes, “The heavens will change owners someday. Mark my words. Now... Do your worst.”

  The golden robed man roared in anger as he raised his foot and stomped on Xian Shi’s head, causing it to explode in gory bits of flesh, blood and bone.

  “I’m running out of time,” the golden robed man said, his vision turning hazy and black.

  He waved his left hand, retrieving his three stars which took everything out of him.

  Falling to one knee, he then waved his right hand, and nothing appeared to happen.

  He collapsed onto the face of the asteroid, right next to Xian Shi’s corpse.

  Suddenly, hundreds of millions of souls broke through the atmosphere on earth and were absorbed by his three stars.

  The three stars floated there with intelligence, not willing to follow his final instructions but eventually they darted away from the earth, away from the asteroid and up, aiming for the heavens.

  BOOOOOOOOOM.

  They crashed through a small, nearly invisible opening and disappeared.

  The force that they generated with their propulsion launched the asteroid down to earth.

  The asteroid was witnessed by none but humans, as all cultivators had been wiped from existence moments before. This was the result of the golden robed man's right hand gesture.

  Once the asteroid hit the land explosively, it burrowed deep into the earth, finally stopping at the Earth’s core.

  Xian Shi’s body was tossed off of the asteroid at some point, but the golden robed cultivator remained on it. He had fallen into a deep, deep slumber. It was unknown whether he would wake up again or not.

  That would hinge entirely on the last plan that he enacted, and many years would pass before the plan came to fruition.