Chapter 86: Stoneborn battle spirit

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Stoneborn battle spirit

The guards arrived before Jason could leave the chamber.

There were twenty of them.

They came through the arch in disciplined formation, spreading across the chamber’s exits and taking up positions so that he could not simply run past them. Jason let his Perception brush across the front rank and read the same answer twenty times.

Fourth Level.

Behind them stood five more cultivators, calm and still, with the settled weight of people who had been fighting for decades. His senses touched them and recoiled.

Fifth Level, Intermediate Stage.

And farther back, almost lost in the shadow of the doorway, waited two more.

Fifth Level, Peak.

Jason took in the whole formation in a single breath.

He had faced opponents stronger than himself before. This was different. The Fourth Level guards were numerous enough to choke his movement.

The Fifth Level cultivators were strong enough to punish any mistake he made. And the two at the back were the real danger.

They were not merely higher in cultivation. Their reserves of essence, their experience, and their ability to control the tempo of a fight could make them lethal even if he somehow dealt with everyone else.

He had only just reached the Intermediate Stage of the Third Level.

His body had not finished adjusting. The pill’s energy had stopped pouring through him, but the aftershocks still echoed in his Core and his bones.

’I can’t afford to fight carelessly here.’

---

One of the Peak Fifth Level cultivators stepped forward.

He was a tall man with a narrow face and a long sword hanging at his waist. His gaze traveled from the ruined platform to the warped puddles of metal around Jason’s feet. Then it settled on Jason himself.

"Where is the pill?" he said.

The man studied him.

"You were not authorized to enter this chamber."

"Then you should have locked the door," Jason said.

A few of the guards exchanged glances.

The tall man did not smile.

"You are coming with us."

Jason looked at the ring of armored figures around him.

"That depends," he said.

"On what?"

"On whether you can make me."

The Fifth Level cultivator drew his sword.

The others followed.

---

Jason reached for the Stoneborn Spear.

It appeared in his hand with a familiar, solid weight. The shaft was dark and dense, its rough surface seeming to drink the light around it. The spearhead carried a muted sheen, and faint lines ran along the length of the weapon like the grain in an ancient stone.

It was heavier than an ordinary spear. He knew its balance.

But something was different now.

Battle Spirit responded to it.

He concentrated, and a thin film of will spread along the shaft, gathering at the head. The weapon did not blaze or glow. Instead, the air around its point seemed to sharpen, as if the space ahead of the blade had been drawn finer.

The guards noticed.

One of the Fifth Level cultivators narrowed his eyes.

"What is that?"

Jason did not answer.

He had owned the skill for minutes. He did not know its limits. But he understood one thing with absolute certainty.

The spear would be more dangerous so long as he kept his will focused.

He adjusted his grip.

Then he moved.

---

The Fourth Level guards advanced together.

Their formation was designed to bury a single opponent beneath coordinated attacks. The front rank swept forward in a shallow arc, forcing Jason to choose a side to defend while the second rank waited to pour through any gap.

Jason did not retreat.

He watched their feet.

The first guard committed to a thrust. Jason shifted the spearhead just far enough to redirect the blade, and the attack slid past his ribs.

He drove the Stoneborn Spear forward.

Battle Spirit gathered at the tip.

The point sank through the guard’s armor with an ease that startled him. The reinforced plate parted like cloth, and the spear struck the man’s chest. Jason pulled it free before the body fell.

The second attacker came in. Jason turned, caught the sword against his shaft, and forced it out wide. He stepped into the opening and struck the guard’s shoulder.

The blow hurled the man sideways into his companion. Two more guards had to break formation to avoid being toppled.

Jason used the confusion to move toward the center of the chamber.

He did not want to be surrounded near a wall.

---

The guards adjusted quickly.

They stopped attacking one at a time and began using their numbers properly. One group pressed from the front. Another slid to his right. A third waited, patient, for him to commit.

Jason saw the trap.

He could have tried to break it with a broad, sweeping technique. But the chamber was crowded and unstable, and a powerful attack might shatter what remained of the formation and bring the ceiling down on everyone.

So he chose precision.

He used short thrusts and controlled sweeps, aiming the Stoneborn Spear at gaps in armor and joints in defensive gear. Battle Spirit sharpened every motion. The spear did not simply hit harder. Its point seemed to find the intended line more reliably, and the will woven into it let him hold his technique even when the guards struck against the shaft.

A sword slid down the haft.

Jason turned his wrist.

The blade was diverted.

His counter struck the guard’s knee, and the man dropped. Jason followed with a thrust that sent the next guard stumbling back.

He was not winning through force alone.

The tyrannical energy he had redirected into tempering his body was already showing its effects. His muscles carried more power than before, his bones felt denser, and his movements possessed a solidity that had been absent even when his cultivation was higher. Every step was more stable. Every strike carried greater physical force.

Beneath that improvement was another change.

The dragon bloodline within him had evolved.

Its power had spread through his body, reinforcing his physical strength and giving him a foundation that no longer relied solely on the level of his cultivation. The transformation was still settling, but he could feel the difference whenever he moved.

He was dismantling the formation, one opening at a time.

---

The Fourth Level guards understood that he was becoming difficult to contain.

Their leader raised a hand.

The formation changed.

Several guards released their essence at once, and the pressure rolled over Jason like a wave. His steps grew heavy. The air around him thickened, as if the room had filled with water.

A guard struck from the front.

Another struck from the left.

Jason blocked the first sword, but the second cut across his upper arm, a hot line of pain that bloomed and began to bleed.

He retreated.

The guards followed, pushing him toward the center of the ring.

His face stayed calm. But he had learned something important.

Battle Spirit did not make him invulnerable. It strengthened what he did. He still had to be able to do it. If the guards restricted his movement, his precision would suffer. If he let them dictate the range, the advantage of the spear would fade.

His improved physical strength could help him resist their pressure, but it did not make him immune to their coordinated attacks. Their combined essence could still restrict his movements, and their numbers meant that even a small mistake could leave him exposed.

He needed to break their coordination.

---

Jason drew a slow breath.

He stopped trying to hold Battle Spirit across the whole weapon. Instead, he pulled it in and gathered it around the head.

The manifestation narrowed.

It grew tighter, denser. The tip of the Stoneborn Spear seemed to sharpen, not physically, but in the way he perceived the space ahead of it.

He chose a single guard.

The man stood slightly forward of the others, maintaining the formation’s pressure.

Jason stepped toward him.

The guard attacked.

Jason twisted the spear aside and thrust into the man’s chest.

The strike broke through the guard’s defensive essence. The man was hurled backward, crashing into the line behind him and scattering it.

The force behind the strike surprised even Jason.

Battle Spirit had concentrated his will at the spearhead, but the physical strength behind the thrust had come from somewhere else. His newly tempered muscles had delivered a force that would have been impossible for him before consuming the pill. The evolution of his dragon bloodline had reinforced that strength further, allowing him to drive the weapon forward without sacrificing his balance.

The formation began to unravel.

There were still many Fourth Level guards, but their coordinated pressure had weakened. And Jason had found a way to use the new skill without wearing himself out trying to reinforce every movement.

---

The five Fifth Level cultivators finally moved.

Until now, they had watched the Fourth Level guards try to contain him. They had seen enough.

One stepped forward carrying a heavy blade. Another held a short spear. The rest carried weapons suited to close and middle range. They spread out slowly, approaching Jason from separate angles.

The Fourth Level guards backed away just far enough to stay out of the way.

Jason understood.

The Fourth Level cultivators had never been expected to defeat him. They had been sent to tire him, to restrict his movement, and to force him to show everything he had.

The Fifth Level guards would exploit whatever weakness remained.

The man with the heavy blade attacked first.

His strike carried enough force to shake the floor.

Jason blocked with the Stoneborn Spear, and the impact drove him backward. His arms trembled. The man followed with a second blow, then a third, and each one forced Jason to spend more essence just to hold his defense.

Yet he remained standing.

The impact had been powerful enough to shake his arms, but his strengthened muscles and reinforced bones had prevented the blow from overwhelming him completely. Before consuming the pill, an exchange like this would have left him struggling to maintain his grip.

Now, despite the difference in cultivation, he could withstand the force long enough to respond.

He turned aside the fourth strike and slipped out of range.

The guard’s blade cut through empty air.

Jason countered with a thrust toward the man’s ribs. The Fifth Level cultivator caught the spear shaft with his weapon and drove it downward.

Jason released the pressure before the spear could be trapped, stepped aside, and struck toward the man’s knee.

The guard withdrew in time.

For the first time, Jason faced an opponent who could answer his precision without losing control of the exchange.

---

He could not simply overpower the Fifth Level cultivators.

Their cultivation gave them deeper reserves and stronger defenses. But the changes to Jason’s body had narrowed the physical gap between them. His tempered muscles and bones allowed him to produce greater force, absorb heavier impacts, and recover his balance more quickly than his cultivation alone would suggest.

The evolution of his dragon bloodline had strengthened him further, reinforcing the physical foundation beneath his techniques.

Battle Spirit changed the nature of the fight in another way. When Jason committed to a strike, his will went with the spearhead, helping him hold the exact line he meant to follow.

The Fifth Level cultivators could still block his attacks.

They could not afford to block carelessly.

A single slip would let the spear through.

Jason began to use that threat. He attacked high, and the guard raised his weapon. Then he changed direction and drove toward the lower ribs. The guard backed away.

Jason used the space to reposition.

Another Fifth Level cultivator struck from behind. Jason felt the movement and turned just enough to avoid a direct hit. The sword cut across his back instead of entering his body.

He answered with a short thrust that forced the attacker to retreat.

It cost him blood.

But it taught him something he needed. Battle Spirit was not merely a way to increase damage. It was a way to make his intent harder to interrupt.

---

The battle had spread across the whole chamber.

Several Fourth Level guards lay on the floor. The rest had pulled into a wider formation, waiting for the Fifth Level cultivators to open a gap.

Jason’s breathing had grown heavier.

The pill had given him tremendous power. His body was still learning to carry it. He could not afford to waste a drop of essence.

Yet his physical condition was improving with every passing moment. The energy he had redirected into tempering his body had not vanished after the process ended. Its effects had settled into his flesh and bones, strengthening them from within. Alongside the evolution of his dragon bloodline, it gave him a level of physical strength that his Intermediate Third Level cultivation could not ordinarily support.

That was the advantage he had chosen to preserve rather than force another breakthrough.

The five Intermediate Fifth Level guards regrouped.

Then the two Peak cultivators finally stepped forward.

One carried a long sword.

The other wore reinforced gauntlets and had no visible weapon.

The swordsman looked at Jason’s spear.

"Interesting technique," he said.

His companion surveyed the damage around the chamber.

"You destroyed the refinement platform," he said. "You absorbed the pill. You killed the personnel assigned to protect it."

Jason adjusted his grip.

"Sounds as though you already know what happened."

"We know enough."

The swordsman raised his weapon.

"Let us see whether that new power can save you from us."

Jason lowered the Stoneborn Spear.

Battle Spirit gathered along its point.

The next exchange would decide whether he left this chamber alive.