Chapter 94: Farewell to a Warrior

Han delivered blow after blow on Elder Kong. Still, Elder Kong rose to face his opponent.

A kick to the ribs sent him sprawling but he pushed up again, coughing red, eyes narrowed in determination.

"Why do you still stand?" Han growled.

"Because I must," Kong replied. "For Kai. For the sect. For the world you're about to unleash chaos upon."

Han's lips curled. "Then die with your duty."

He raised his hand, and demonic energy surged into a spiraling glyph in the air behind him. The temperature dropped as an unnatural wind blew through the chamber. The technique he was forming was not one taught in any manual. It was something born from darkness itself.

"Bestial Howl: Soul-Rending Strike!"

From behind Han, a phantom beast roared—a nightmarish chimera of fang, horn, and wing, its form constructed entirely from Chaos Qi. It howled and surged forward.

Kong formed a final barrier of water, his arms shaking. "Tidal Final Aegis!"

The two forces met.

For a heartbeat, the world froze.

Then, the barrier cracked. Fractured. Shattered.

The bestial technique slammed into Kong, the impact flattening the area around him. Stone buckled. The chamber's back wall caved inward. Kong's form was hurled into the far end of the chamber, crumpling amidst a splash of blood and broken tiles.

Smoke and steam hissed from the crater.

Han landed lightly, slow and deliberate. His breathing steady.

Elder Kong did not rise.

Han stepped over the fractured stone and scorched earth, his gaze settling on the crumpled form of the elder who had once been a pillar of wisdom and unwavering support to Kai—a man who had embodied balance, order, and the quiet dignity of true guidance.

"I warned you," Han said softly.

Kong's eyes fluttered open one final time. There was no hate in them, only sorrow.

Han knelt beside him and pried the water ring from his finger. It slid off without resistance, gleaming faintly even in the darkness.

With it, Han now possessed all five of the elemental rings.

He stood, gaze distant, expression unreadable.

As he turned to leave, the pendant pulsed once more, quietly—almost approvingly.

The shadows swallowed him as he vanished through the cracked threshold.

Moments later, wind howled down the mountain corridor, and Kai burst into the chamber, breath ragged, eyes wide with dread. He had sensed a disturbance in the balance and traced the surge of Qi to Elder Kong's Meditation Chamber.

"No…" he whispered.

The air still crackled with residual energy. Water pooled at his feet. He rushed to the fallen figure of Elder Kong, collapsing beside him. The old man was still alive—barely.

"Elder Kong!" Kai cried. "Stay with me!"

Kong's eyes fluttered open. The light in them was dim, fading like the last embers of a fire. He raised a trembling hand and placed it on Kai's shoulder.

"Kai… I always believed… you would bring the Obsidian Peak Sect to greatness," he whispered. "You carry the same fire… as our Founder Mo Xuan."

"Save your strength, old man," Kai said, voice shaking. "We can heal you. I'll call the elders—"

Kong was fading, slipping through Kai's fingers like water through a sieve. His hand fell limp. His eyes closed.

Kai's hands trembled as he cradled Elder Kong's body, the weight of grief beginning to press down like a mountain. The old man's breathing was shallow, the light behind his eyes flickering like a dying lantern.

"Stay with me, old man," Kai whispered, voice hoarse. "Don't you dare leave now. Not like this…"

Kong's lips curved weakly, the ghost of a smile appearing beneath blood and bruises. "Still as stubborn as ever…"

Kai gave a shaky laugh, tears streaking down his face. "That makes two of us, old man. Remember when you refused to yield during that farce of a debate with Elder Huo? You lectured the man for four hours straight until he faked fainting."

Kong gave a rasping chuckle that turned into a cough. Blood flecked his lips, but his eyes found Kai's.

"You always knew how to talk back," Kong murmured. "Even when you were just a brat with little cultivation and too many questions."

Kai's chest tightened. "You were the first one who took me seriously. The first who didn't treat me like some lost wanderer with delusions of grandeur."

He swallowed hard, fingers tightening around the elder's. "You kept pushing me, guiding me and still had the nerve to scold me for not improving fast enough."

A fresh wave of tears welled up in Kai's eyes as memories rushed back—sparring beneath moonlit pines, laughter over cups of bitter tea, strategizing late into the night while the sect's disciples slept.

"And that time we fought the Alliance of Righteous Sects?" Kai said, attempting a laugh that cracked in his throat. "You had four cracked ribs, I was half-dead from that rat Shen Zhenhai's attacks. We still turned the tide. That was a glorious battle, wasn't it?"

Kong coughed again, more violently this time. His grip weakened.

"Kai…" he said, barely audible. "You… must carry it forward. The peak… the balance… it's up to you now."

Kai's breath hitched. "Don't talk like that, I still need your help."

"Be careful… of Han," Kong whispered. "He has changed. He is not the same man as before. The techniques he used—there was something familiar. I… I've seen them before…"

Kong's voice faltered. His gaze grew distant.

The old man's breath slowed. His eyelids fluttered.

Kai gripped his hand tighter. "Don't go. Please. I'm not ready."

A final exhale left Kong's lips—quiet, peaceful, as though he were finally releasing a burden too long held.

And he was still.

The chamber grew deathly quiet.

Kai sat frozen, staring at the man who had been more than a mentor—who had been his foundation, his anchor, his compass in a world that made little sense. The chamber, once vibrant with power and legacy, now felt hollow.

He lowered his head slowly, resting it against Kong's cooling shoulder. For a long moment, he didn't move.

Then, in the silence, grief turned to fire. Not a chaotic blaze of vengeance but a steady, forging flame.