Top Elites

With a burst of lightning-imbued Qi, Miao Ying vanished in a flicker of golden light, reappearing dozens of meters away in the space between heartbeats. 

His speed was breathtaking, bordering on the supernatural. This was the power of his Lightning Qi Seed, coupled with the unparalleled Speed As Supremacy technique - granting him a divine swiftness that few could hope to match.

As he dashed through the training realm, Miao Ying's senses suddenly screamed a warning. 

A razor-sharp blade of wind whistled toward his neck, fast as thought and twice as lethal. An instant later, three more followed suit from different angles, each one powerful enough to dismember an ordinary cultivator.

But Miao Ying was no ordinary cultivator. His lips curved into a lazy smile, even as his eyes blazed with an almost manic focus. 

Four threads of scintillating Sword Qi leaped from his fingertips, each one imbued with the full might of his Sword Intent comprehension. They sliced through the wind blades like a red-hot knife through snow, reducing them to fading motes of light.

As quickly as it began, the exchange was over. Miao Ying strode forth along the shimmering path, his steady and unwavering pace a reflection of his indomitable will. 

Ethereal sword phantoms materialized before him, spectral guardians conjured to bar the way of the unworthy. 

Yet to Miao Ying they were mere trifles, dispatched with the same nonchalant ease as swatting aside bothersome insects. Broken remnants littered the ground in his wake, shattered testaments to his sublime mastery of the blade.

As Miao Ying blasted through the training realm, his attention was soon distracted by something of note.

In the distance, auras of notable potency caught Miao Ying's eye - fellow disciples of the exalted Blazing Sun Sect. 

The pulsing might of two heralded their attainment of the 9th Stage of Qi Establishment, the pinnacle of what mortal flesh and soul could aspire to. 

One was a youth of surpassing handsomeness, yet his mien was suffused with insufferable arrogance, as if demanding obeisance from the very heavens themselves. 

The other was a glacial beauty, her loveliness marred only by the wintry chill of her eyes, chips of unyielding ice utterly devoid of human warmth. Paragons of the 9th Stage, their presence would have overawed all but the most elite disciples of the Sect.

But it was the other two that seized the fullness of Miao Ying's interest, for theirs were existences straddling the boundary between mortality and myth - half-step Houtian experts, individuals who had all but seized the legendary realm beyond the grasp of mere mortals. 

In a world where the masses would count themselves fortunate to achieve even rudimentary Qi Establishment in their fleeting lifetimes, for ones so young to approach the very cusp of the Houtian realm was a feat nearly beyond conception.

The first was a maiden as beautiful as she was deadly, her delicate features belying the lethality coiled within each graceful motion, an exquisite human serpent poised to strike at the faintest provocation. 

The other was possessed of a stately majesty that seemed to warp the fabric of reality by her mere presence, her royal bearing demanding that the world itself bow to accommodate her grandeur.

Faced with a gathering of such rarified elites, even the peerless Miao Ying felt the stirrings of intrigue pierce the impenetrable veil of his composure. A sliver of a smile tugged at his lips. 

Would any here prove a match for his blade? 

There was but one way to determine the truth of it.

The arrogant disciple regarded Miao Ying with narrowed eyes, recognition sparking within those haughty orbs. 

"You…You're Miao Ying, aren't you? That so-called rising star of the Earth Abode?" Contempt dripped from every syllable, a sneer twisting his comely features into a mask of disdain.

Miao Ying came to a halt, dark eyes unfathomable. "I am. And you are?" Calm infused his words, betraying not a hint of wounded pride at the scornful address.

Incredulity flickered across the gathered disciples' faces, taken aback by his frank admission of ignorance regarding their vaunted identities. 

In the rarefied circles of the Sect's elite, their renown was so ubiquitous as to be all but taken for granted. For this upstart to profess obliviousness to their august personas was a slight that would not be soon forgotten.

"You would do well to mind your words when addressing your seniors, whelp." The voice that cut across the burgeoning tension was sharp and biting, colder than a moonless winter's night. It originated from the lips of the icy beauty, her bearing as gelid and unforgiving as a glacier. 

"We stand at the apex of the Earth Abode, exalted even amongst the elites. You may have garnered some meager acclaim amongst the lower rankings, but to us, your accomplishments are less than nothing. Especially in the eyes of Senior Sister Xue, ranked amongst the top 15 in the entirety of the Sect."

Miao Ying graced her with an unperturbed smile, not a flicker of indignation manifesting in the face of her naked provocation. 

But before he could formulate an appropriately irreverent retort, the aforementioned Senior Sister Xue intervened, interposing herself between the beauty and Miao Ying with a staying gesture.

"Peace, Junior Sister Bai," Xue Qingcheng chided, her musical tones carrying an undercurrent of gentle reproach. "We are all disciples of the Blazing Sun, scions of the same glorious lineage. Fractious bickering amongst ourselves ill befits those of our rarified station."

Luminous eyes turned to regard Miao Ying, their placid depths betraying not a hint of ruffled composure, yet beneath that tranquil surface lurked a hint of keen appraisal, the evaluating edge of a peerless blade glimpsed through still waters. 

"Junior Brother Miao, well met. I am indeed Xue Qingcheng. I trust I am correct in surmising that you too have come to test your skills upon this exalted Path of the Sword?"

Her mellifluous words seemed to check the aggressive momentum of her fellow disciples, giving them pause as they processed the import of Miao Ying's presence at this final stage of the Path. 

Reaching this point with the cultivation of a mere 2nd Stage Qi Establishment bespoke a talent that could not be casually dismissed, however unthinkable. 

And yet doubt still flickered in their eyes at the prospect of Miao Ying proceeding any further. The gap between a 2nd Stage Qi Establishment and the legendary Half-Step Houtian was something impossible, not even the heaven-defying geniuses would think of it when they were in Miao Ying's realm.

The arrogant young man sneered, haughty features twisting into an expression of utmost disdain. "2nd Stage Qi Establishment and you presume to test your meager skills here? The utter arrogance!"

His companion took an imposing step forward, the force of her baleful sword intent crashing down upon Miao Ying like an oppressive wave, a blatant attempt to crush Miao Ying's inferior cultivation base beneath the ponderous weight of her Qi. 

"Enough of this farce. Begone from here and scurry back to your adobe, little worm, before you embarrass yourself any further. We have not the time to indulge the delusions of insignificant dregs such as-"

Her haughty tirade terminated in a strangled yelp as Miao Ying turned the full force of his frigid gaze upon the disciple, the intensity of those dark eyes seeming to freeze her in place more effectively than any blade of ice.

"'Dumb shit' is an apt evaluation of your character," Miao Ying pronounced, his voice colder than the void between stars. "And I have even less time to waste on the likes of you."

Then, without so much as a flicker of warning, Miao Ying exploded into motion.

Thunder roared, riving the very air asunder as he burst forth with explosive power. The ground cratered and shattered beneath his feet, the unrestrained potency of his Qi birthing a typhoon of ravening shockwaves that blasted out in all directions with indiscriminate fury.

The Half-Step Houtian experts rocked back on their heels, eyes widening in disbelief as they found themselves buffeted by the edges of Miao Ying's aura. That they were compelled to employ the full measure of their profound cultivation to withstand the mere leavings of a 2nd Stage Qi Establishment disciple's power was unthinkable.

As for the 9th Stage experts, they scarcely had time to blink before Miao Ying's thunderous Qi was upon them. Savage gale-force winds tore at their hair and robes and staggered their stances, hurling them back a half-dozen steps before they could muster a defense. 

Expressions of outraged disbelief twisted their faces, unable to process the reality of a junior so completely beneath them wielding power sufficient to treat them like mere chaff upon the wind.

But Miao Ying's onslaught had only begun.