Wizard: I Have a Cultivation System

The wind began to die down, and the sand and dust that had blotted out the sun started to slowly settle.

The two soldiers looked as if they’d been dredged from a mud pit. Covered in a thick layer of sand, they collapsed against the parapet, coughing violently and dry-heaving. Tears and snot mingled with the grit, smearing their faces.

They struggled, using trembling arms to prop themselves up, and stared blankly toward the southwestern horizon.

There, the sky was still a brilliant blue, the sunlight dazzling.

It was as if that apocalyptic scene was nothing but a shared nightmare.

The soldier who had been whittling wood wiped the grime from his face. He stared blankly in the direction the stream of light had vanished, his lips trembling. Finally, he uttered a single word, filled with boundless terror and bewilderment:

"...God?"

The sentry who’d been playing with the Copper Coins didn’t answer. He just instinctively reached for his waist.

That’s where his shiny, well-worn lucky Copper Coin used to hang.

His fingertips met only an empty leather clasp and a handful of grit.

The coin itself had long been swept away, lost to the winds.

...

The very instant he took the hit, Murphy’s form transformed into a streak of sword light. He rode the immense, irresistible force of the blow, rocketing toward the southwest!

In the blink of an eye, he had already fled a hundred miles away!

"Running?"

The Ironspine Duke’s furious roar followed him like a clinging curse, booming from behind:

"Where do you think you can run, Murphy!"

"Now that you’ve shattered my shell and glimpsed my true form, you are destined to perish here! This sky, this land, the very laws of the Old Realm itself—none will offer you sanctuary!"

From within the fleeing Dark Gold Sword Light, Murphy’s detached voice emerged, betraying no hint of panic despite his desperate flight for survival:

"One minute."

"For an existence such as yourself, one who has glimpsed the ’Dawn,’ the laws of the Old Realm will utterly reject you after one minute due to your over-manifestation. If you haven’t resealed yourself by then, you will face true annihilation. You won’t even get the chance to escape to the New Realm and live on borrowed time."

The Ironspine Duke let out a cold, derisive laugh, a sound mixed with fury and contempt:

"That’s right, ’one minute’! But can you, a mere insect that got lucky and broke my shell, even survive that long?"

"Don’t think for a second that just because I called you ’great,’ you’re actually my equal! An insect is still an insect! Now..."

"Die!"

The instant that final word left his lips—

VMMMM!

The empty space ahead twisted violently without warning!

A colossal palm of light, even more solid and immense than the last, materialized from thin air as if it had been lying in wait. Its five fingers splayed wide as it slammed down viciously upon the fleeing Dark Gold Sword Light!

The sword light that was Murphy seemed to anticipate it. The instant the giant palm appeared, the blade shuddered violently!

Instead of retreating, the sword light surged forward, narrowly scraping past the very tips of the fingers!

Simultaneously, the light of the blade flared. Countless intricate Dark Gold Dao Patterns instantly blazed to life, and like the slickest of fish, they skillfully deflected the vast majority of the palm’s force!

BOOM!

Even though it was only a glancing blow, and he had successfully shed most of the force, the remaining, terrifying impact still struck the sword light dead-on!

The Dark Gold Sword Light dimmed abruptly, like a candle sputtering in the wind. The immense force sent it accelerating once more, tumbling and hurtling toward the southwest at an even more frenzied pace!

The aftershock was funneled downward toward the relatively flat plains below.

The ground buckled violently, rolling like an ocean wave!

A thick layer of the solid earth was violently scoured away. Turf, soil, and rock were flung high into the air, forming a terrifying tidal wave of earth, mixed with splintered wood and dust, that rolled onward into the distance!

Everything in the earthen wave’s path was devoured.

A creek meandering through the plains was instantly dammed. The wildlife that called it home were buried by the cataclysmic force before they could even cry out.

The Ironspine Duke snorted and resumed the chase.

And so the long-distance chase continued.

The two of them became a moving apocalypse, carving a horrifying scar across the land.

The Dark Gold Streaming Light fled onward, and with every booming strike from a colossal palm or fist, Murphy’s light dimmed further.

He streaked over densely populated towns, altering his trajectory at the last possible second to divert the destructive shockwaves toward uninhabited wilds or mountain ridges.

The rampaging Energy tore through the clouds and warped the light. Thunderstorms erupted, hurricanes howled, and the earth trembled in their wake.

"You still have the strength to avoid the populace!" The Ironspine Duke’s form of pure radiance followed close behind, his rage and killing intent washing over the tenacious sword light like a physical tide. "I underestimated you, Murphy! It seems that so-called ’guardianship’ of yours still has some instinct left!"

"But soon, you’ll have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide!"

On the horizon ahead, the humid air unique to the Jade Coast already drifted in on the wind.

The silhouettes of three towering peaks emerged faintly on the skyline, like silent giants guarding the fertile basin at their heart.

The Holy City. They had arrived.

The Dark Gold Sword Light ahead had now dimmed to the point of near extinction. Its glow was as faint as a firefly’s, and against the brilliance of the "little Sun" at its back, it looked even more fragile, as if the very next blow would shatter it completely.

"I was never," Murphy’s voice issued from the dimming sword light, "running away."

"Oh?" The Ironspine Duke’s sneer grew even more grating. "Not running? Then why fly straight to the Holy City? Don’t tell me you have some trick buried here, something that can stand against me? With nothing but your fading remnant of a body and those clueless ants down below?"

"Then show me! Murphy! Let’s see what pathetic little tricks an insect who got lucky can pull at the end of its life! You’ll never truly understand the realm one enters after stepping into the ’Dawn’! Back when you had just achieved Elementalization, you could overwhelm the Holy City and call yourself the strongest on the Continent. But I..."

The radiant figure’s light flared intensely for a moment, and its terrifying pressure made the forests on the edge of the Holy City Basin below bow in silent submission.

"I have walked the path of ’Dawn’ for ages untold! The gap between us is far more desperate than you can possibly imagine!"

He paused, his brilliant yet cold gaze locking onto the dim sword light.

"Oh, and a reminder. You have... ten seconds."

"After ten seconds, the laws of the Old Realm will utterly reject me for over-manifesting, and I must reseal myself. But crushing you before then? More than enough time."

The dim sword light had arrived above the Holy City Basin. Below, the white buildings, winding streets, and the towering Tower of Revelation were all clearly visible in the midday sun.

The sword light paused for a moment.

Murphy’s figure manifested once more.

He still wore the same dark robes, their hems untouched by dust, but his face was pale from overexertion, and his form was even more illusory than before.

And yet, his eyes were preternaturally calm, even more profound than when he had first appeared in the Holy City Plaza.

It was at this exact moment that the brilliant, dazzling radiance surged, lunging straight for Murphy.

Indeed, all the talk of "showing him" and "tricks" was just a ploy, a ruse to make Murphy lower his guard.

The Ironspine Duke had been itching to kill Murphy long before they reached the Holy City, to strike him down midway.

The reason he hadn’t succeeded...

...was not for a lack of trying, but a lack of ability.

Thus, the moment Murphy halted and his form manifested, the Ironspine Duke pressed his advantage, intent on striking the killing blow.

But Murphy’s expression remained indifferent.

He didn’t look at the destructive radiance closing in from behind, nor did he spare a glance for the crowd below, which was just beginning to stir at the strange phenomenon in the sky.

He simply lowered his gaze, looking down upon the land where he had spent eleven years—a land he had tried to change, and upon which he had indeed left a profound mark.

Then, he raised his right hand. His fingers slowly closed, as if grasping something unseen. Reaching toward the Holy City below, he made a soft grasping motion and calmly uttered two words:

"Sword, come."