Chapter 107: A Friend Worse Than an Enemy

"Wave Breeze!"

"Phoenix Strike! Second Form!" Timing it perfectly, Mo Fan deflected a massive wave built from Waterenergy. The instant the two attacks collided, frost spread across everything nearby, and even Mo Fan felt the temperature around him drop by a good ten degrees.

"This is all your fault! Your greed! Your immaturity! My brothers, my sisters! And my junior sister! Hart Alia! You took advantage of her naivety, her innocence! She followed you, and in the end, she died! What am I supposed to tell our Master?! How am I supposed to face him?!" Rage burning in his eyes, the disciple in white robes, already soaked through with fresh blood, never once looked away from Mo Fan.

"Gentle Rain! Frost Dance!" Channeling Qi into his hands, he clenched them, and dozens of water-formed crosses, tipped like spearheads, materialized around him and shot toward Mo Fan all at once, freezing everything in their path.

"Shield of Life!" Without a flicker of panic, a membrane of energy wrapped around Mo Fan. Watching the crosses close in without a hint of fear, he felt total confidence in his own strength.

"UGH!" Taking the full force of the freezing attack head-on, Mo Fan didn't so much as step back.

"Is that it? The supergenius of the Primordial Purity Sect? Is that all you've got? If so... then it's my turn now!" Pride and arrogance filled his eyes as Mo Fan looked down on his opponent.

"Black Dragon Step! Drughono's Flame!" Taking a single step forward, he appeared directly in front of Ray Elion, who was already running low on stamina, his Qi reserves nearly spent.

"N-no! Water Shield!" A silhouette wrapped completely in black flame appeared right before his eyes in an instant. Caught off guard for a split second, Elion's body activated his defensive technique on pure instinct.

"AGH-AAA!" Two heavy fists, wreathed in black flame, slammed into his body like battering rams, hurling him back several dozen meters.

"A-AH! Ptooh!" Pouring every last bit of his Qi into the shield, Elion spat out a clot of blood. The impact alone had left deep, caved-in gouges across his body, hiding severe internal injuries beneath. 'I-if this keeps up, I'm finished! I-I need to do something!'

"Your shield's useless against my Immortal Flame... Strange that you didn't know that. Ha! The heir of the great Ray clan, and you don't know something even a commoner like me knows?"

"Drughono's Flame!" Grinning through the humiliation, Mo Fan attacked again without giving his opponent a single second to collect himself.

"AAH!" Not expecting the second attack to hit even harder than the first, Ray Elion lost his footing and fell onto his back, carving a groove several dozen meters long into the floor behind him.

'Th-this is my chance!' Blood covering his face, hands shaking, feeling like he'd hit his absolute limit, he realized getting knocked back had actually given him a chance to regroup.

Gathering every last bit of strength he had left, he sprang back to his feet and thrust both hands forward. "Godslayer!" A massive sword materialized in his hands, its blade serrated like a saw, its hilt wrapped in cloth strips faintly glowing with runes.

"Wait... ElementalSword?" Seeing the sword, Mo Fan's eyes widened, and he actually took a step back.

'Master Gu Bai told me the Upper World confiscated the last Elemental Sword more than three hundred years ago... So how does he have one?' The shock in his eyes gave way quickly to greed. The longer he stared at the sword, the brighter his eyes burned. "Black Dragon Step! Eternal Darkness! Second Form!"

Giving him no time to prepare, Mo Fan attacked with everything he had. He understood a sword like that could completely change the tide of the fight, if his Master's words held any truth, he needed to end this as fast as possible.

"Flowing Blade Current!" Fully aware of Mo Fan's plan, to keep him from ever setting up a stronger technique, Ray Elion pinned every last shred of hope on the sword itself and activated a technique built around simple, rapid strikes.

Crack! Crack!

Every swing tore out a wave of energy that devoured everything in its path, reducing thousand-year-old metal floors to ash. The dried husks of beasts nearby exploded into sand from nothing but the pressure of ordinary swings.

After a few strikes, Elion had deflected every attack thrown at him without any trouble, and in that same instant, he gathered every ounce of his Qi and aimed straight for Mo Fan's heart.

"Wave Breeze!" As Elion swung the sword, the veins across his entire body bulged and darkened under enormous pressure, his eyes flooding red. All because of the ElementalSword, which didn't just amplify the strength of an attack, it burdened its wielder in return. Every new swing boosted its power, but the toll it demanded kept climbing right alongside it.

The exact limit varied cultivator to cultivator, each one could manage a different number of swings before either their mind or their body gave out. 'I-I can only manage f-five more sw-swings... and after that, I-I'm not sure I can even hold onto my own consciousness... I-I have to win! HA!'

Watching massive waves of water energy crash down toward him, Mo Fan's face went pale. 'I never imagined that sword could boost his strength this much... Damn it, if I take that attack head-on, I'll regret it badly!'

Activating his movement technique, Mo Fan barely managed to dodge in time. In the final instant, he could feel the skin on his back prickle as the wave of energy roared past, just barely missing him.

"Eternal Darkness! Second Form!" The moment he cleared the attack, Mo Fan spun around and swung his sword, unleashing several black waves that shot toward Elion at tremendous speed, his face already taking on an ashen blue tint.

"W-Water Shield!" Veins bulging, his back drenched in cold sweat, Elion hesitated for just a moment, watching the black waves tear through the remaining dried corpses in their path, devouring more and more of the light around them.

"GHAAA!" Like an arrow shot loose, Elion was thrown backward again, coughing up a massive amount of blood while still airborne.

He hit the ground and plowed straight into a pile of dried corpses, tearing them apart on impact.

"Agh!" Finally coming to a stop, he tried to get up, only to realize something was badly wrong. Feeling intense pain in his left arm, he looked down and saw bone jutting straight out of it. 'T-this is the end! N-no! I don't want this! NO!'

Gripping the ElementalSword as tightly as he could in his right hand, he tried to drag himself free of the massive dried-out body he'd landed in, when he heard a shout just a few meters away.

"Phoenix Strike, Enriched with Drughono's Flame!" Settling into position, Mo Fan, recognizing this as his chance to end the fight, poured a massive amount of his Qi into both palms.

Whooosh!

Two enormous energy palms, shrouded in black flame, shot straight toward where Elion lay.

Tearing through everything in their path, even melting the metal floor itself, the attack finally reached its target.

The energy detonated, forming a massive sphere entirely wrapped in black flame. Metal, dried-out beast corpses, everything melted like ice on a scorching summer day.

"Agh! A-A-AH!" Ear-splitting screams rose from inside the sphere, loud enough to cut clean through the raging flames.

Before the echo of those screams even had time to fade, a silhouette shot out of the black fire, completely wrapped in a water shield.

"Agh!" Hitting the ground, Elion barely found the strength to roll himself onto his back.

His entire body was burned raw, part of his scalp completely gone, exposing a blackened skull underneath. Most of his clothes had burned away, partially fused into his own skin.

Lying there, staring up, he clenched the sword in his hand with everything he had, straining with all his remaining will to get up, but the pain of his burns, combined with his completely drained Qi and mental reserves, wouldn't let him scrape together even the last crumbs to move.

His mind kept giving way, more and more, every corner of his thoughts collapsing down to a single wish: for the pain to stop, for all of it to finally be over.

"This ElementalSword... Don't worry, Brother Ray, in my hands it'll become legendary. And the legacy... don't worry, once I claim it, I'll pour everything into fighting the demonic path. Every swing, every enemy I cut down with this sword, it'll carry a piece of your glory too, your own achievements..." Standing directly over him, Mo Fan looked straight into his burned eyes, wearing the expression of a man mourning a fallen comrade, a friend he never wanted to lose.

"AgH!" Seeing that expression, every thought of surrender vanished from Elion's mind at once, replaced by a savage fury, a desperate need to tear that vile head clean off the shoulders responsible for so much suffering, his own, his brothers', his sisters'.

Mo Fan frowned, disliking the look in Ray Elion's eyes. In one sharp motion, he stepped down on his wrist and bore down with all his weight, forcing the hand open.

"I-I was right ab-about you! P-pathetic bastard! Because of you, hundreds of dis-disciples died! MY junior sister H-Hart! MY brothers and sisters! All dead because of you! You're pathetic, w-worthless!" His grip going slack, the sword slipping from his hand, Elion stared up at Mo Fan with pure contempt.

"Don't worry. Their sacrifice wasn't for nothing... The only one, Sister Hart Alia, hm... That sweet smile of hers, the way she moved during training. Sigh..." Pulling the Elemental Sword into his own hand, Mo Fan lifted his foot off the wrist, taking a chunk of burned flesh along on the sole of his boot.

"P-pathetic excuse for a h-human... rotten to the core inside... I hope... No! I know you'll meet your end under someone's blade one day... What a shame... that I won't be there to see the fear on your face in that final moment... the moment your pathetic life finally-" Letting out his last breath, Ray Elion passed with the faintest trace of a smile on his lips.

"Who are you calling pathetic? Hm?! I'm Mo Fan! The future of the Righteous Path! The future of this entire world! Even the heavens themselves will bow before me! Who's pathetic?!" Frowning, Mo Fan drew back and kicked Ray Elion's already-cooling head with everything he had.

Crack!

His head burst apart like a watermelon, scattering across the ground.

"Hah! Says the headless corpse... So who's pathetic now? Who's the worthless one, huh?!" Crouching beside the body, Mo Fan started searching for anything of value.

Pulling off two rings and a bracelet, he checked the rings first. "Oh! Jackpot! Techniques suited for the ElementalSword, and a ridiculous pile of spirit stones! Being rich really isn't so bad after all!"

….

In the shadows, tucked into a corner of that massive chamber, leaning against the wall, An watched the whole thing unfold.

'Hm, who would've guessed he had a personality like that... It's honestly a little strange, feels more suited to a second-rate villain than a protagonist... Or maybe that's just what they have to be like? Either way, they've got to claw their way to the top of cultivation somehow, one way or another... I suppose.' Watching as Mo Fan stood up, tucked away the rings and the strange bracelet, and lifted his new ElementalSword, eyes burning as he studied it.

'Thanks to his system, I can't read anything off him except his cultivation level. His emotions, how his Qi actually flows during his techniques, all of that's completely blocked from me. I always assumed he'd be the standard protagonist type: overly righteous, strong-willed, all the usual trappings... But honestly, he might be even stranger than I am.' Looking at the headless body sprawled on the ground, An tilted his head slightly to one side.

'Guess my very first, most important rule for surviving in this world, stay far away from this world's protagonist, Mo Fan, was the right call after all.'

'With a friend like that, who even needs enemies...' An turned his attention to the ElementalSword and started studying it.

'Oh? They got here faster than I expected.' He turned toward the staircase leading up, sensing two energy signatures making their way down.

….

"Now no one can stop me from claiming the inheritance!" Raising the sword over his head, Mo Fan grinned wide.

"Brother Mo Fan? Where are you?" A woman's voice called out from the direction of the staircase.

Hearing it, Mo Fan instantly tucked the sword away into his ring, and the grin vanished from his face, replaced by a look of worry and grief.

"Mo Fan!" Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, two young women stepped through the doorway: Mi Mili and Lin Xue.

Rushing over to him, Mi Mili looked him over from every angle. "Brother Mo? Are you alright? What happened?" As if not even noticing the body lying nearby, her full attention stayed locked on Mo Fan.

"I'm fine, Mili." Trying to smile, his face only came across looking more sorrowful instead.

Taking her hand and looking her in the eyes, he reassured her he was fine.

Feeling the warmth of his touch, Mi Mili lowered her head slightly to hide her reddening cheeks.

Standing beside her, Lin Xue was looking at the body on the ground. "What actually happened here?"

Hearing her blunt question, Mo Fan let go of Mi Mili's hand and stepped forward, closer to the body and to Lin Xue. "He didn't leave me any choice... The chance to claim the inheritance clouded his judgment. Sigh..." Shaking his head slightly, he glanced back over his shoulder, toward the staircase leading further down. "I tried to reason with him, tried to get through to him... but in the end, greed won out. He attacked me, and all I could do was defend myself."

"I knew it, that Ray Elion was never worthy! Always going after you for no reason! Always throwing accusations around, ugh!" Standing beside him, Mili frowned, her eyes darting between Mo Fan and Lin Xue, and every time her gaze landed on Lin Xue, her frown deepened.

Looking over the body on the ground, Lin Xue met Mo Fan's eyes. "What about the inheritance? Where's it leading you?" Changing the subject entirely, seemingly forgetting the body at their feet, she asked with a neutral face and a cold voice.

"We need to go down another level. I can feel it pulling me further down." He answered, half-closing his eyes as if trying to read the information the inheritance was feeding him.

"Alright. We should hurry, before the Demonic group finds their way in here..." Lin Xue nodded.

"She's right. Who knows how long Shepor Dunt and the others can hold them off... We don't have much time!" Mili agreed at once and turned, starting to walk slowly toward the staircase leading down.

Mo Fan simply followed her in silence.

Lin Xue took one last look at the body, sighed, and followed after them. "Who would've thought the entrance to that famous tomb would be sitting right on the border between the inner ring and the central one..."

"Every scrap of information gathered over hundreds of years pointed to the tomb being right at the heart of the Sacred Land. I'd bet whoever spent all that time collecting it would be tearing their hair out if they found out everything they thought they knew was wrong! Haha!" Walking ahead, Mili started giggling to herself.

….

'They think they're standing in a tomb... Though really, this is just one of this Bo's laboratories.' Watching them head toward the staircase leading to the incubator chamber, An turned and started walking slowly along the wall toward the exit. 'Maybe the so-called inheritance just gets drawn to the nearest teleportation point, which is what brought them here.'

Climbing a few floors up, he sensed someone approaching again, coming down the stairs from above this time.

"Faster!"

"Don't let him get away! After him!"

A crowd of about ten people came pouring through the floor, heading for the staircase leading further down. An, once again hugging the edge of the room, kept walking, making sure no one spotted him.

Even though he recognized a few of the energy signatures among these disciples, he ignored them completely and kept heading for the exit.

Climbing up to the first floor and reaching the middle of the chamber, he suddenly stopped and looked up. 'Hm? Is this how they got in here?'

Directly above his head was a massive hole, more than twenty meters across, winding its way upward.

Glancing back at the main entrance, where his own tunnel was, he decided to use this new passage instead, the same one everyone who'd arrived after him had used.