A/N: Back in Chapter 200, I mentioned that I wanted to improve the pacing and overall feel of the story. Since then, I’ve been making small adjustments… but now I’ve taken things a step further.

Up until now, I was using the free version of ChatGPT to help plan and refine the story — and honestly? I was squeezing every last drop out of it. But as helpful as it was, it had some real limitations. The biggest issue was memory. The free version just isn’t capable of remembering much, which meant that whenever I asked it to go over my writing to fix grammar or clean up the text, there were often consistency issues — simply because it didn’t know the full story, only the small snippet it had in front of it.

So… I finally gave in and upgraded to the paid version.

I’d known for a while that it was probably the right move, but paying for something I still consider a hobby always left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. That said, with more people following and supporting the novel, I decided it was time to bite the bullet.

Now I’m using GPT-4 Turbo, which comes with actual long-term memory — and I really hope that starts to show in the upcoming chapters. Better pacing, tighter story flow, and stronger consistency… that’s the plan.

That said, this is the first real test. If it makes a noticeable difference? Amazing. If not?

Well… that would be mildly frustrating, to say the least. Especially considering I spent a couple of hours feeding it all the background, plot, characters, and worldbuilding — things the free version could never retain properly.

Anyway, enough rambling. I hope you enjoy the chapter — happy reading!

At least, that was true for Shoulie and Wusheng.

As for Fengmu… he was different.

His eyes lingered on the panicked and pleading mortals below, a hint of sadistic glee dancing in his gaze.

But beyond that, there was something else—lust. It gleamed openly in his eyes, especially when they settled on the more beautiful women in the city.

“Tsk, a pity,” he clicked his tongue, knowing he wouldn’t be able to enjoy them. With one last glance and a muttered, “What a waste,” he took his position as well—ready to sacrifice the city.

Just then, as they were about to begin the ritual, a lone figure flew out from the soon-to-be-doomed city.

“A 1st layer Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator?” Fengmu murmured in surprise, eyeing the approaching figure clad in plain, commoner’s clothing.

The conclusion came to him instantly—loose cultivator. No backing. After all, who else would dress so plainly?

A smile curved the lips of all three brothers.

If they had been bandits, the sight of a powerful cultivator protecting the city would have been bad news.

But they weren’t bandits.

They were Demonic Cultivators.

And that changed everything.

To them, this unknown loose cultivator was a gift delivered straight to their doorstep. The life force of a Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator—especially one at the first layer—was far superior to that of mortals, making him an ideal sacrifice.

Valuable enough to accelerate their progress… but not strong enough to pose any real threat.

A wonderful gift.

“Fengmu, you take care of him,” Wusheng said, waving a hand as though the loose cultivator were already dead.

And he may as well have been.

Normally, Demonic Cultivators were weaker than their orthodox counterparts due to the nature of their path—faster, but built on unstable foundations. By that logic, Yan Fengmu, at the 2nd layer, should have strength comparable to the 1st layer loose cultivator.

But in this case, the opposite was true.

Yan Fengmu was confident he could kill most 2nd layer loose cultivators with ease and even battle those at the 3rd. His unusual battle prowess stemmed from the legacy passed down by Yan Wusheng—a complete inheritance from a Core Formation senior, filled with excellent-quality Cultivation Methods and Techniques.

Fengmu’s comprehension wasn’t strong enough to master the highest-level arts, but he had still managed to learn several of relatively high quality.

They might not rival the Cultivation Arts taught to Inner Disciples of the Three Overlord Sects in the Suncrest Region, but compared to what a loose cultivator could access, he was leagues ahead.

“Leave it to me,” Yan Fengmu declared, licking his lips, a bloodthirsty glint shining in his eyes.

“Are you ready to die?” he called out arrogantly, flying toward the loose cultivator—who had frozen midair at the sight of them.

“D-Don’t come closer,” the loose cultivator stammered, trembling as he took a shaky step back and drew a black longsword with a blood-red edge.

Fengmu’s grin deepened at the scent of fear in the air—but the moment his eyes landed on the man’s face, his smile froze.

A vein throbbed on his forehead.

“Handsome bastard,” he spat, all amusement vanishing in an instant.

The cause of his sudden fury?

Simple. The cowardly loose cultivator was too fucking handsome.

‘This cowardly bastard looks like that while I’m just average?’ Fengmu cursed inwardly, closing the distance between them with growing irritation.

“Change of plan—I’m gonna skin you alive!”

The loose cultivator took another step back in midair, seemingly just a second away from fleeing.

“Don’t let him escape and stop playing around. We don't have time,” Shoulie reminded sharply.

Just as the words left his mouth, Yan Wusheng—who had been watching the scene with detached disinterest—felt it.

That same life-threatening calamity he’d been sensing for days… only now, it was different.

Heavier. Closer. Pressing down like a guillotine above his neck.

It wasn’t approaching anymore.

‘It was here!’ he realized, eyes widening.

His gaze snapped toward the loose cultivator—and in that instant, he understood.

“FENGMU, BE CAREFUL!!!”

A small, mocking smirk appeared on the loose cultivator’s face.

“Huh?” Fengmu turned his head toward Wusheng, understandably confused.

Their eyes met—Wusheng’s wide with fear, locked not on Fengmu, but behind him.

‘He’s not looking at me… he’s looking behind me.’

Fengmu understood—but too late.

Sceelch.

All he saw was a flash of silver moonlight before a black longsword with a blood-red edge pierced through his heart.

And with it came a current of silver energy—serene in appearance, yet violently rampaging within. It tore through him in an instant, destroying his heart and beginning to annihilate the rest of his body from the inside out.

“Grrugg, Wh–”

He didn’t have time to finish the word.

The Lunar Qi imbued in the sword surged through his body like a tidal wave. His own Qi rose to resist, but he’d been completely unprepared. And Lunar Qi, with its piercing nature, bypassed what little defense he had left.

Unopposed, it tore through everything—obliterating every organ in his torso in the blink of an eye.

From the moment the blade pierced him to this very instant, not even a full second had passed. And yet, Fengmu’s internal organs had already been shredded beyond repair.

Death came instantly.

Yes, the previously arrogant, lustful, and sadistic Fengmu died in a single second—without even understanding how.

In his now-glassy eyes, only confusion and regret remained.

But sadly for him, there is no medicine for regret.

“FENGMU!!!” Wusheng and Shoulie’s anguished screams rang out, their earlier indifference obliterated by the death of their younger brother.

“Catch,” the loose cultivator said coldly, flinging Fengmu’s lifeless body toward them.

Instinctively, both brothers’ eyes followed the corpse.

It flew with force, arcing through the air—until it neared the Soulreap Skull.

The artifact, sensing the lingering life force, activated on its own.

Crimson mist began to pour from the body toward the black skull. Flesh dried and shriveled at an unnatural speed. Bones pushed forward beneath skin. Fengmu’s corpse quickly became gaunt—then emaciated—then skeletal.

Shoulie watched with horrified eyes, wanting to look away but unable to.

This process, so banal when done to mortals, had taken a horrifying turn now that it was happening to his brother.

And while Shoulie stood entranced by the morbid sight, Wusheng—more composed by nature—snapped back to clarity in moments. He tore his gaze away from Fengmu’s corpse quickly.

But even that fraction of a second was enough.

The loose cultivator had vanished.

‘Where is he?’ Wusheng’s eyes darted about, searching frantically. A cold sweat formed on his back as the sense of calamity—foretold by the Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate—crashed down on him heavier than ever before.

***

Minutes earlier.

Mikael had been hidden in the shadows, quietly refining his energy control. Every breath, every moment, was dedicated to suppressing his presence so thoroughly that even the Demonic Cultivators’ mysterious sensing method wouldn’t detect him.

Then it happened.

A subtle shift in the atmosphere. Three powerful auras approached.

‘Hmm?’ He tilted his head, glancing up at the sky.

It didn’t take long. Moments later, three flying cultivators appeared—each of them cloaked in a sinister aura, the mark of their path etched in every motion.

Cry of terrors began to echo throughout the city where Mikael was hidden. He paid them no mind. His attention was entirely locked on the three figures in the sky—cultivators he instantly recognized.

The three Demonic Cultivators that were his target.

‘Finally I found them,’ he thought with a smile.

Through the urge to burst from his hiding spot and cut them down surged through him, Mikael held back. He was more cautious than that.

Instead, he took his time to analyze the situation.

‘All at the Spiritual Foundation Realm. One at the 2nd layer, one at the 3rd, and the last at the 4th. Matches the intel from the mission.’

His gaze narrowed as the trio moved into formation above the city.

‘Should I use them like I did to the bandits… as sharpening stones?’

The temptation was there. That method had proven itself extremely effective. But after a moment, he shook his head.

‘Too risky. I’ve never fought with a Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator, so I don’t know how they fight. Sparring with Renjiro doesn’t count, as those were just sword duels, so I’m truly inexperienced on this front.’

‘The way cultivators fight is unknown to me, so better to be careful. Especially considering they’re Demonic Cultivators—they could use unique techniques that could fuck me, like some kind of blood curse or something using the lives of the tens of thousands of mortals they refined?’

He exhaled softly.

‘If anything like that exists—and works—I could be screwed fast. Better not to tempt fate. Just kill them cleanly and be done with it.’

He nodded to himself.

‘But how? An ambush? No, that wouldn’t work. The one at the 4th layer looks relaxed, but he’s actually on guard. A straight ambush would fail. I need to make them lower their guards first.’

With that thought, Mikael left the shadows and rose swiftly into the sky.

As he emerged from hiding, he immediately noticed that the brothers didn’t take him seriously. Especially Fengmu. They dismissed him based on his apparent cultivation realm. But his eyes caught something else—Wusheng, the one at the 4th layer, was watching him with a flicker of hidden caution.

To disarm that wariness, Mikael slipped into a role.

The frightened loose cultivator.

He played it well, his posture uncertain, his aura suppressed. And it worked. Even Wusheng gradually lost interest, lowering his vigilance toward the unknown Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator.

Until—

“FENGMU BE CAREFUL!!!” 

That was his signal.

Fengmu was distracted, turning his head toward the voice. It was the perfect opening.

Moonpiercer Sword Art – Fourth Movement: Nightfall Piercer

Lunar Qi surged to life, swirling around Sangrelia as the blade cut through the air with devastating force. A streak of silver light shot forward—straight through Fengmu’s heart.

Nightfall Piercer, as its core, was a technique focused on devastating a small area with a single, powerful thrust. Under normal circumstances, that alone wouldn’t be enough to kill a Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator—their enhanced vitality making even a hole in their heart survivable.

But these weren’t normal circumstances.

His Moonpiercer Sword Art was no longer at Entry—it had reached Small Success. That not only gave him access to the strongest movement of the Moonpiercer Sword Art: Celestial Moon's Embrace, but also enhanced the power of his Lunar Qi and altered its proprieties, turning it into a far deadlier force.

And that lethality revealed itself in the next second.

The Lunar Qi didn’t just destroy Fengmu’s heart. It rampaged through his body, obliterating nearly every internal organ and killing him on the spot.

“Catch” Mikael said coldly, flinging Fengmu’s corpse toward the remaining brothers.

As their eyes reflexively followed the body, he moved.

He executed his Cloudbreaking Stride.

His figure blurred, vanishing from sight as he surged forward at extreme speed. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared behind the two remaining cultivators.

In that instant, he saw the strongest of the two brothers left alive frantically scanning his surroundings, while the weaker one remained frozen—his gaze locked on the corpse of his younger brother, still being refined.

Not wanting to give them a chance to react or snap out of their stupor, Mikael didn’t hesitate. He gathered all of his bloodlust and killing intent, condensing it into a wave of pure malice, and directed it entirely at Wusheng.

That torrent of murderous intent slammed into Wusheng like a hammer. For a brief moment, it froze him in place—an opening. Not long enough to strike him down, since he would break free the moment a life-threatening attack was launched his way, but long enough to prevent him from interfering as Mikael went for the other Demonic Cultivator.

Moonpiercer Sword Art – Fifth Movement: Celestial Moon's Embrace

At that instant, Mikael seemed in perfect harmony with the moon. Even though she remained hidden behind the clouds, it felt as if he stood within her protective embrace.

An immense amount of Lunar Qi gathered around Sangrelia—far more than ever before. The blade, once obsidian-black with a blood-red edge, now gleamed entirely silver under the falling night, shining like a beacon in the dark.

And then—

He swung.

💬 I read every comment, and your thoughts genuinely shape Mikael’s path.

📚 Chapters ahead await on Patreon: www./SDASLUMMY

⭐ A single rating or follow helps more than you’d expect. 

Glad you’re walking this path with me.

— End of Chapter —