Fight.

  The command pulled at the strings of their scattered, imprisoned consciousness. It melted gently and simultaneously seared them with its uncompromising, reckless imposition.

  Fight… not for survival. That was a bygone conclusion. How could they resist Sovereign beasts? Zhu Xuelian called unto them unlike a general commands the troops to assemble, but like a goddess of death calls the lost to the shores of the other side and dares them to throw one final defiant glare at the heavens.

  Fight for dignity.

  But they were not like Zhu Xuelian. They were cowards until recently. In fact, to say they stopped being cowards, after a few words Zhu Xuelian spoke to them, would be entirely dishonest.

  They were inspired to be better, but that was all it was.

  To begin with, Zhu Xuelian was a sword cultivator. In the eyes of many, sword cultivators were maniacs who didn’t understand the meaning of the word “surrender”. Though sects and bonds of responsibilities bred these fundamental traits of sword cultivators out of the recent generations, Zhu Xuelian did not have any such ties and could embody these principles freely.

  She could fight to the death to maintain her dignity. But for others, the concept of death terrified them. They found the idea of surrendering appealing, and if there was no hope for victory, then, in their estimation, why even bother? If they had the strength to lament their fate, but not the strength to overturn it, then they couldn’t find it in themselves to do anything but lament.

  And lamentable their fate was.

  They were all top prospects of the continent, and geniuses born once in many years. Their future was supposed to be as wide as the ocean, and as vast as the sky. Now, they were going to be extinguished by forces beyond their comprehension — forget their ability to resist them.

  It was incredibly unfair.

  What bravery? What talent? What future? None of that mattered anymore.

  Most of them have never even seen a demonic beast, and their first encounter with one was a Sovereign. Their sects pampered and protected them — sheltered them from the jungle of the outside world where the concept of ‘fairness’ never existed in the first place.

  They never once had to fight for anything.

  Except that one time when they put everything on the line for Zhu Xuelian, and almost died for it.

  Caught in between the tragedy of their fate and their pride for standing up for what felt right, a thought emerged in all their minds.

  If they did not retreat back then, why would they simply roll over and die now?

  Their eyes suddenly blazed in the darkness, as they gripped their weapons and pushed themselves to their feet.

  No, not for dignity. Not for bravery. Not for survival. Those things didn't matter anymore either.

  They misunderstood.

  In this jungle, only one concept existed. It didn’t care for dignity. It didn’t care for bravery. It didn’t care for one’s background or future. It didn't care for the strong or the weak.

  Fight!

  Carve! Bathe in blood! Become a devil!

  Kill the heart that knows lament! Silence the mind that dreams of fairness! Extinguish the light in the eyes that seek the future!

  Fight!!

  An altar to violence lay before them, and who were they but unwitting followers of a god of defiance? If the edict of heaven was for them to die here, then may the heavens burn and fall.

  Mu Jingyu’s sword plowed into the deck of the Ark and kicked up a cloud of precious treasure-grade particles into the eyes of the bird that still possessed both wings.

  It was its own fault for having such large eyes.

  The beast howled in anger and its tail swung around to blindly strike the entirety of the deck, producing a sharp, whistling sound as it cleaved the air but found naught more.

  A point of light glimmered in the flying debris, then took the shape of a spear as it came flying out of the cloud and crashed into the blinded bird. Other than producing a torrent of sparks, it failed to inflict any damage to the bird.

  Then, Lei Yangming came flying through the cloud, now relieved of his spear, and in his hands he held the severed wing of the other demonic beast. His hands bled where he gripped the wing, each feather cutting him down to the bone, but he held on to it with all his might and determination and thrust forward.

  The tip of the wing struck the beast’s chest, the feathers threw off sparks, and then they drank the beast’s blood.

  “Maiden’s Ice Prison!” Yuan Qiuyue shouted and reverted to her sect’s expertise — not the swordsmanship of the Pure Maiden’s Swordsmanship or the incredibly difficult Glacier Breaking Sword, but the internal arts that all of the Frozen Peak Palace disciples practiced and focused on.

  Spires of ice trapped the feet of the bird, and even the tips of its wings, but with one twitch of its muscles, the bird broke all of the spires.

  “Do it, Jinhai! Do it now!!” Lei Yangming screamed as he struggled to push the tip of the wing into the bird’s breast beyond the bones, but couldn't force it deeper even one bit.

  Ren Jinhai frowned and raised his left hand, drawing symbols with the glowing tip of his finger.

  “Sevenfold Prismatic Barrier!” Ren Jinhai shouted, as a formation — the expertise of his former sect — materialized from both sides of the bird, casting off the glimmering lights of its geometric designs, and two spinning discs of scripture pressed against the bird and Lei Yangming, crushing them together.

  The bird roared as the wing sunk deeper into its body, crushing bones and organs. Lei Yangming screamed, too, as the formation crushed his organs and broke his limbs like they were dry twigs. Together, they sang a two-part harmony that revered and lamented the coming demise.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Meanwhile, the other bird lashed its tails at Wu Yulan and pecked at her, but the white-haired girl parried each blow, aided by the fact that the bird was unable to balance its fat body with only one wing.

  Another bird then fell from the sky and impacted the deck with enough force to cause a dent in the surface. However, it lay flat and twitched uncontrollably, its eyes completely white as a purple miasma rose off its body. Even at a glance, one could tell that the miasma was a terrifying poison, further evidenced by the fact that it could incapacitate even a Sovereign beast.

  In the sky above, many more birds swarmed the Ark, but not one of them would dare to cross into the purple cloud that shrouded the deck, lest they end up poisoned to near-death like the beast that now puked blood all over the deck, and its body began to melt into glowing metal.

  Yun Fei stared at the sky, left hand stretched out as strings of purple qi emanated from her fingers, feeding the cloud of poison, promising more offers on the altar of inevitable death.

  Suddenly, the wings of the bird that was being crushed in Ren Jinhai’s formation began to glow, and blasts of qi emanated from them, laying to waste large sections of the deck. Everywhere the light struck, it melted treasure-grade material like it was something ordinary, and then ejected the slag from the vaporized craters. The formation keeping Lei Yangming and the bird trapped disappeared, as one of those globs of molten material grazed Ren Jinhai and sent him flying.

  Lei Yangming fell to the ground, like a sack of meat, and the bird picked him up with its beak. Its eyes were entirely bloodshot, and if anyone ever doubted that even demonic beasts could feel hatred and humiliation, today they would learn a harrowing lesson.

  A spire of twisted metal and razor wires emerged from the top of the deck, and the bird lifted its beak and Lei Yangming, about to impale him on the spire of its metal hate.

  The deck erupted with debris once more, and this time, Zhu Xuelian’s form came flying through from below, and she impacted the bird like a flying fist. Lei Yangming’s body fell to the ground, and he made his survival known by groaning in pain.

  On the other hand, Zhu Xuelian and the bird tumbled across the deck, rolling and flailing, and to everyone present, it seemed as though the Qi Condensation cultivator was grappling for control with a Sovereign demonic beast. It was an unthinkable scene. In a hysterical sense, it made them want to laugh madly; but they didn't give in to the temptation. Weren't they doing the exact same thing, in a way?

  Even more unthinkable was the fact that Zhu Xuelian did manage to climb on top of the bird, winning the contest of strength either through sheer luck or stubbornness. They didn't feel like laughing hysterically anymore when they saw Zhu Xuelian lift her sword over her head, and drive it through the beast's chest, and the deck of the Ark.

  Did they even dare to have hope?

  Effortlessly, the sword managed what Lei Yangming's spear and the bird's wing could not. But this was not Zhu Xuelian’s strength, though no one could tell the difference or care.

  Her sword had cultivated its vessel to a realm comparable to that of a Sovereign demonic beast. And it was a Divine-grade treasure. Even in the same realm, the difference in grade was like comparing an ocean to a pond. It was not even close.

  When it came to sharpness and hardness, the sword could cut gods, nevermind one little, tiny Sovereign demonic beast.

  The bird howled and screamed and thrashed as the blade pierced its heart — provided it had a heart. Zhu Xuelian stabbed again, unleashing sheets and torrents of blood each time her blade left and re-entered the beast’s breast, which it did several more times after the first two thrusts.

  Yet, no matter what, the bird didn’t show any signs of slowing down, or losing its vitality. It thrashed wildly, each attempt at throwing the maniac sword cultivator off its body coming closer and closer to achieving just that, and putting an end to this futile charade of misplaced effort.

  With no other options left, Zhu Xuelian used her control over the bird’s body to press its head over the precipice of the Ark’s deck and shouted:

  “The Siege Formation!”

  It took them a moment to understand what Zhu Xuelian was asking for, but Mu Jingyu was the first to act. She jumped toward the center of the deck and pressed her hand to the control jade.

  A howling sound filled the air, glittering lights scattered off the Ark, and then a brilliant beam of energy shot out from the front of the Ark, banishing the darkness of night and illuminating the dozen or so birds flying in the sky above.

  Though they were dozens of steps above the origin of the beam, both the bird and Zhu Xuelian were suddenly sucked into its path. The bird dug its claws and tails into the deck, carving long trenches into the treasure-grade material, and had its claws and tails been just a little bit weaker, maybe that could have saved it; as it were, it easily cut through the most indestructible material these cultivators knew of, and then fell into the path of the beam.

  Just before Zhu Xuelian also fell into the beam, Ren Jinhai appeared next to her, thrust his spear into the deck of the Ark, and grabbed her arm, holding her steady for the dozen or so seconds that the Ark unleashed its entire offensive might into the bird alone.

  When the beam faded out, Zhu Xuelian almost collapsed. Her entire body was covered in blood, half of it hers — from the first impact she received — and the other half belonging to the bird.

  Zhu Xuelian chuckled coldly, and the sound made everyone’s heart freeze.

  “See? What did I tell you?” she whispered, using her sword for support to remain standing. “Unfathomable treasures. Unmeasurable opportunities.”

  Somehow, they knew that Zhu Xuelian genuinely meant every word.

  Law of the jungle?

  No.

  The rule of her empire!

  Demonic beasts — Sovereigns or Tyrants — were merely materials and stepping stones to the apex. If these beasts did not kill her here, the only thing unfair would be how the light of her defiant dawn would drive these creatures all to extinction.

  Missing half of its body, the bird that was struck by the beam landed on the deck in front of Zhu Xuelian. Its eyes were red and bleeding. It had only a part of one wing left, and the upper half of its body. In those places where the beam had disintegrated its body, gold blood shimmered in the moonlight.

  This was not unexpected.

  Creatures — beast or man — that cross the boundary and step into semi-immortality do so by severing their mortal bodies. In this state, even fatal injuries could be recovered from. Unless the soul was destroyed, or, in some cases, the majority of the body, killing them was not so simple.

  Moreso, demonic beasts cultivated their bodies first, and their spirit second, meaning that a Sovereign’s body cultivation was even more advanced. What benefits this could provide, no one knew, as body cultivation was not popular among people due to its extreme difficulty and slow progress.

  True immortality? Indestructibility? Rebirth?

  At that time, the bird Wu Yulan was fighting finally fell to her sword; cut down the middle, and split open, and its true blood — gold in color — spilled onto the deck, transforming the material into even higher-grade treasure.

  It was not that Wu Yulan was holding back, but that she was learning during her battle. She was learning how to cut again — how to cut a beast that had a body that, in terms of material, exceeded the grade of her sword; not her sword aura, though.

  Not wasting a single moment, Wu Yulan cut off the other wing and all three tails from the corpse and stored them in her ring — to be reforged into a treasure sword later.

  Then she looked up at the sky, regarding each bird like a cut of meat, window-shopping further contributions to her arsenal upgrade.

  This was a sword cultivator.

  However, at that moment, Wu Yulan’s expression darkened. Everyone’s hearts fell into the abyss of their stomach. Even Zhu Xuelian narrowed her eyes.

  Something terrifying was approaching at immense speed, and the swarm of birds quickly scattered.

  “T— Tyrant… We are doomed…” Tian Li whispered.

  Within the blink of an eye, a towering form appeared behind the bird that was missing half its body, and two giant arms grabbed the creature, and tore what remained of it in half with a ripping and shredding sound that made them all feel ill. Organs and gold blood burst forth like a wave that washed over the deck like a wave.

  In the darkness, they could see three red eyes on the towering, shrouded form, one in the center above and between the other two. Its body radiated such awesome power that even the three stars of their nascent hopes — Wu Yulan, Zhu Xuelian, and Yun Fei — looked helpless.

  Then, the towering form spoke.

  “Sword friend… return. I… bad friend… could not follow. Now… happy…”

  Zhu Xuelian blinked. It could speak?

  The towering form turned around, and jumped off the deck, discarding the pieces of the bird’s corpse into the abyss below.

  “Friends of sword friend… follow. Bad friend… lead good friends... home. Bad friend... protect.”