The heavy stone doors of Elder Kong's meditation chamber shattered inward, fragments of the door scattering violently into the dimly lit space. Kai Feng stood framed by the doorway, his chest heaving slightly from the rapid sprint, adrenaline surging like molten fire through his veins. The sight that met him stopped his heart in a brutal instant of horror.
Elder Kong lay sprawled upon the chamber floor, blood pooling darkly around his battered form, trickling sluggishly from numerous deep wounds. His skin had grown frighteningly pale, breath shallow, coming in strained gasps. It was clear that his condition was dire, possibly even beyond the reach of healing. Anger and dread churned within Kai, knotting his stomach into a tight fist of emotion.
Standing above the fallen elder, silhouetted ominously against the chamber's flickering crystalline lights, was Han Long. He stood poised, his hand raised high, fingers curled like a beast's claw, bestial Qi crackling menacingly around his fingertips. Elder Kong lay helpless beneath him, utterly defenseless before the impending strike.
"No!" Kai roared, his voice erupting like thunder in the confined chamber, the powerful shout echoing fiercely off the cracked stone walls.
Han froze abruptly, his clawed hand mere inches from Elder Kong's throat. His head turned slowly toward Kai. Recognition gleamed instantly within his dark eyes.
"It's you again," Han drawled, voice dripping with icy scorn. "You must enjoy testing death. Since you managed to survive last time, you should have stayed away from me, not returned willingly to your grave."
Kai's eyes hardened, narrowing fiercely as he stepped cautiously forward, metal Qi already stirring deep within his meridians. He positioned himself protectively between Elder Kong and Han, making it unmistakably clear that the injured elder would not fall easily under his watch.
"You've gone too far this time," Kai said, his voice dangerously quiet yet simmering with barely restrained fury. "You've hurt enough people."
Han paced slowly around Kai, his gaze coldly analytical. "Have you already forgotten how our last encounter ended? You barely escaped alive. Do you truly think yourself capable of facing me now?"
Kai's expression remained stony, his resolve unshaken. "Let's find out."
Han's bestial Qi rose ominously once more. "Very well, if you're so eager to embrace death, I shall fulfill your wish."
Without further warning, Han lunged forward, his bestial Qi erupting violently from his core, taking monstrous shape with terrifying speed. A colossal lion surged to life, its mane composed of blazing flames that licked the air with savage hunger. Beside it, a massive serpent unfurled its coils, glittering with venomous Qi, fangs glinting with lethal promise. Circling around Kai like predators closing in, a pack of shadow wolves emerged, their eyes glowing with primal fury, their movements a blur of sharp fangs and faster claws.
They moved in unison, a tide of feral Qi, wild and overwhelming, designed to overwhelm and consume.
Kai Feng did not retreat. He stood firm, shoulders squared, hands calmly rising as his breath deepened. With absolute clarity, he summoned his cultivated Metal Qi. His cultivation in the ancient Shrine had reshaped his techniques, forging a purer, sharper expression of his Celestial Eclipse. The techniques, which embodied balance and flux, are now enhanced with the cutting edge of metallic resolve.
As the beasts surged forward, Kai's hands moved swiftly through a series of intricate moves, the forms of the Celestial Eclipse techniques flowing seamlessly into one another. But where once the energy had shimmered like twilight, now it blazed silver and gold, resonating with the cutting intensity of refined Metal Qi.
His palms glowed and blades of metallic energy arced into being. These were not crude weapons but radiant constructs shaped by the discipline of the Celestial Eclipse: precise, forceful, and unyielding.
Han's lion Qi Manifestation roared as it pounced, flames engulfing its massive form. Kai stepped forward, unshaken, and struck with his right hand. A single crescent of metal Qi lanced outward—silent, gleaming, absolute. It split the beast through the center, severing fire and fury alike, leaving only drifting embers in the air.
The serpent lunged next, fangs stretching toward Kai's neck with venomous promise. Kai's response was fluid, unhurried. He swept his left arm upward, Metal Qi shaping into an elegant crescent shield—the Moonsteel Guard technique, a unique fusion of defense and counterattack. The serpent's fangs struck the shimmering surface, but its venomous form dispersed on contact, dissipating into wisps of inert shadow.
Han snarled audibly, pouring deeper reserves into the wolf pack. The shadows leapt from all angles, jaws snapping, claws poised to tear through skin and bone.
Kai inhaled slowly, then exhaled—a single breath that anchored his stance.
The air around him shimmered. His Qi pulsed.
A spinning disk of silvery light burst to life around him, orbiting with fierce momentum—a technique drawn from the Celestial Eclipse's Rotating Cycle, now hardened and honed by metallic intent. The wolves collided with it and vanished, their bodies erased upon contact with Kai's flawless defense.
The chamber shook with the force of it, as if even the stone recognized the power at play.
Han's eyes widened in growing frustration. "You… this isn't the same power as before," he growled, grinding his teeth.
"No," Kai said calmly, his voice like forged steel. "This is the Celestial Eclipse tempered in metal."
Enraged, Han unleashed a fresh wave of bestial manifestations. A thunderous bull with horns of Qi flame stampeded toward Kai. A falcon of searing shadow dived from above, wings trailing smokey talons. A skeletal dragon rose behind them all, its body pulsing with the essence of venom and hate.
Each one was more savage than the last consisting of blunt force, overwhelming speed, corrupt cunning.
Kai adjusted his stance. He felt the weight of his energy solidify in his bones, not heavy but grounded. Where Han's Qi was wild and untamed, Kai's was deliberate like a hammer striking only once, but with precision enough to break mountains.
He let them come.
The bull charged first, Kai stepped aside, flicked his wrist, and a thread of metal Qi coiled like a whip. It sliced cleanly through the beast's knees, sending it crashing before it could even roar.
The falcon dived next. Kai raised a single finger. From its tip shot a narrow spike of hardened Qi, no wider than a reed but impossibly dense. It pierced the bird's center, dispersing it mid-air.
The skeletal dragon opened its jaws to unleash a torrent of poisonous Qi but Kai was already moving.
He raced forward, vanishing in a blur. Han saw only silver light flash once through the dragon's spine—then the creature crumbled, its vertebrae dissolving in sequence like a line of falling dominos.
Kai landed in a slide, his palm trailing sparks along the stone floor.
"You're forcing it," he said, standing slowly. "Your Qi is cracking under its own weight."
"Shut up!" Han snarled. His form surged with more power—but it was no longer graceful, no longer measured. His beasts began to distort, their outlines flickering. The wolf pack reformed—but their bodies were frayed at the edges. The serpent returned—but coiled erratically, unstable. Han's focus was fraying.
Kai notice every stutter of motion, every misaligned stance. Han was losing control over his techniques.
With a flick of his wrist, he cast out dozens of tiny metallic shards, the Eclipse Scatter Technique, a variant that exploded outward, embedding into every summoned creature.
With a sharp snap of his fingers, Kai detonated them simultaneously.
The beasts burst like glass sculptures struck by hammers.
Han reeled, stumbling under the backlash. His Qi sputtered and cracked around him, his breath coming in harsh, ragged bursts.
Kai exhaled slowly. Then he surged forward.
Not reckless. Not in anger.
He moved with the certainty of polished technique, a single perfect strike, the essence of the Celestial Eclipse's philosophy of precision and force, all in one motion.
Han tried to summon another beast, but Kai was already there.
His hand shot forward, shaped like a blade of pure Qi, honed to a lethal edge.
He drove it directly into Han's chest.
Not to kill. But to break the flow of his Qi completely.
Han froze. His eyes widened in horror. His bestial energy shattered like glass underfoot, collapsing in on itself.
The chamber quieted instantly.
Han staggered back, stumbling once, then again, before falling in a heap. His body hit the ground hard, his eyes fluttering shut.
Unconscious. Defeated.
Kai stood tall, breathing evenly, Metal Qi still humming faintly across his arms.
He turned immediately, rushing to Elder Kong's side. Kneeling beside the elder's battered frame, he began stabilizing his breathing, pouring Qi into his core to prevent collapse.