The Final Choice

Shatter had struck Duong Quang head-on, shattered his inner armor, and left him with serious injuries.

Yet he was still standing.

Hao Nhien looked at the Black Dragon Spear in his opponent’s hand and quickly reviewed everything he still had left to use.

The Hoa Ky Jade had not yet been pushed to its limit.

Rage had not yet been activated.

And Thunder Burst still remained inside his storage ring.

But the battle had reached a point where every choice carried a price.

Thunder Burst was the first option he discarded.

Hao Nhien had already witnessed its true power and had just twice forced out an extremely small portion of the Lightning sealed within it. If he detonated the weapon fully here, whether Duong Quang died would no longer matter. The arena, the square, and perhaps even part of Hoa Van itself could be dragged into the destruction.

Rage was different.

It would not directly destroy Hoa Van, but if Hao Nhien used the Hoa Ky Jade to forcibly raise his combat power another level and then collided head-on with Duong Quang at full strength, the signs of spatial instability already appearing around the arena might no longer merely flash and disappear.

Hao Nhien raised his head.

Duong Quang stood more than thirty zhang away, slowly rotating the Black Dragon Spear in his hand. He made no move to advance, only watched Hao Nhien with cold eyes, as though he had already guessed what Hao Nhien was weighing.

Outside the arena, several hair-thin black lines suddenly flickered through the air and vanished again.

Lieu Thien Van immediately stood.

This time, he did not wait.

His flying sword rose and carried him into the air.

“Everyone, listen!”

His voice, reinforced by spiritual qi, thundered across the square.

“Evacuate the arena area! Civilians and children first. Cultivators, help clear the routes. Do not crowd!”

The people below froze for an instant before movement spread rapidly through the square.

Luu Thanh immediately took command, splitting the guards into teams to open paths toward the south and east. Those closest to the arena were moved first, while the elderly and children were directly assisted by cultivators. The stalls around the square were nearly all abandoned where they stood.

Hao Nhien watched the crowd begin withdrawing from the central area, and some of the pressure in his heart eased.

But only slightly.

Tens of thousands of people could not disappear within a few breaths.

Even with the routes cleared, evacuation would still take time.

Duong Quang would not give him much of it.

Sure enough, a hoarse laugh came from across the arena.

“Only now you start moving them?”

Duong Quang glanced at the retreating crowd before looking back at Hao Nhien.

“Too late.”

Hao Nhien did not answer.

Duong Quang flipped his hand.

A black pill appeared between two fingers.

Its surface reflected almost no light. Instead, the surrounding spiritual qi seemed to be drawn toward it in thin circles.

Lieu Thien Van’s gaze immediately darkened.

“A forbidden pill.”

Duong Quang did not deny it.

He raised the pill before his eyes, looked at it briefly, then threw it directly into his mouth.

And swallowed.

Boom!

The aura around Duong Quang erupted instantly.

His spiritual qi, already at peak Foundation Establishment, surged another level higher, cracking the stone beneath his feet. Every scale-like rune across the Black Dragon Spear lit up at once, and a deep vibration rolled through the weapon like the suppressed growl of a beast.

Hao Nhien saw it clearly.

Duong Quang had still not entered Golden Core.

No Golden Core had formed, and no qualitative transformation of realm had occurred.

But the forbidden pill was forcibly driving his body and spiritual qi beyond their normal limits.

Crack!

A thin black line appeared beside Duong Quang’s shoulder and vanished.

Somebody copied this chapter from and reposted it here; the author did not agree to that.

Then a second one appeared.

Longer.

The space around him began to distort slightly.

Hao Nhien narrowed his eyes.

That pill could not possibly be without cost.

To force a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator close to the level of power at which the Western Wastes itself began reacting, something more than spiritual qi had to be burning.

“Just to kill me?”

Hao Nhien asked.

“Is it worth it?”

Duong Quang tightened his grip on the Black Dragon Spear.

The usual coldness in his eyes was gone, replaced by a fanatic intensity that bordered on madness.

“Anyone who stands in the God Lord’s path must die.”

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“Even if it costs you your foundation?”

The corner of Duong Quang’s mouth lifted.

“That is not a price.”

He raised the spearpoint.

“It is an honor.”

Hao Nhien fell silent.

He had met men who gambled their lives for power, wealth, clan, or survival.

Duong Quang was different.

The man before him truly believed that destroying himself to fulfill Hoang Sam’s will was a form of glory.

That made him far more dangerous.

The crowd below continued evacuating.

Shouts echoed continuously through the square.

“Move!”

“Quickly!”

“Do not stop!”

Hao Nhien glanced over.

Quan Nha, Tieu Lan, and Tieu Nhan still had not left. Luu Thanh was directing the guards as they opened routes, while Lanh Hoa and Hoa Duong led the Hoa Ky people away from the areas closest to the arena.

No one rushed inside.

The Huyen Bang battle had already been confirmed and the barrier remained active. More importantly, the space around the arena was moving closer to an unstable state. If Lieu Thien Van, Cat Thanh, or any other powerful cultivator forcibly added another major source of power to the battlefield now, they might not save Hao Nhien before the surrounding space was pushed beyond what it could bear.

Duong Quang understood that as well.

He looked at Hao Nhien.

“You want to wait until they are all gone?”

A smile appeared on his bloodstained face.

“I do not have that much patience.”

Hao Nhien looked at the retreating crowd one final time before drawing his gaze back.

If he continued fighting in his current state, he would die.

After taking the forbidden pill, Duong Quang had widened the gap between them yet another level.

If Hao Nhien died here, three Heavenly Eye armies would still be waiting outside Cat Loi. Hoa Van would lose the man standing at its center, and everything he had only just begun reconnecting would immediately be pulled into a larger war.

But if he abandoned every restraint and traded one victory for a shattered Hoa Van, then that victory would have no meaning either.

There was no perfect choice left.

Only one he could accept.

Hao Nhien slowly closed his eyes.

Two images passed briefly through his mind.

A Hoa Ky child standing before the newly built houses, looking up and asking whether that place could truly be called home.

And the lights of Hoa Van stretching across the desert after nightfall.

Hao Nhien opened his eyes.

The hesitation was gone.

“Do not worry.”

His voice was not loud, but the formation still carried it toward the front rows.

“I will come back.”

Quan Nha immediately stepped forward.

“Hao Nhien!”

Tieu Lan tightened her grip around the Life-Vitality Pill.

“Young Master…”

Tieu Nhan’s eyes had already turned red.

Hao Nhien did not look again.

His hand tightened around the Fire Spirit Sword.

Inside his dantian, the Hoa Ky Jade began to tremble.

Once.

Then harder.

The Fire spiritual qi in his body was immediately pulled along, its circulation accelerating until every meridian began burning.

Hao Nhien did not suppress it.

He drove the Hoa Ky Jade deeper.

Boom!

Orange-red fire erupted from his body.

Behind him, the phantom of the Hoa Ky Beast slowly appeared.

This time it was no longer faint as it had been during ordinary bursts of power. The enormous figure gradually became clear within the sea of fire, layers of dark red scales like heated rock covering its body. Four hooves stood within the flames as its eyes slowly opened.

ROAR!

The sound shook the barrier.

Hao Nhien raised his head.

“Rage.”

The Hoa Ky Jade erupted to the limit his body could still endure.

His seventh-layer Foundation Establishment aura surged sharply.

It was not a breakthrough in cultivation.

But his combat power, physical strength, and Fire all rose together into an entirely different state.

The transformation rapidly spread down both arms.

Layers of dark red, magma-like scales emerged from the backs of his hands, covering his forearms and climbing toward his shoulders. Firelight flowed through the narrow gaps between them, while his fingers lengthened into sharp claws resembling those of the Hoa Ky Beast.

Outside his body, Wind qi was immediately drawn in by the Spirit Wings and wrapped tightly around him.

Fire within.

Wind without.

Hao Nhien did not let the power spill outward wastefully. He forced everything close to his body, using the Spirit Wings and his own control to keep the eruption concentrated around himself and the Fire Spirit Sword.

The price appeared almost immediately.

His already-injured meridians felt as though they were being torn apart. Old wounds began bleeding again, while the shoulder and back regions carrying the load of the Spirit Wings burned so fiercely that every movement felt like needles driving deep into flesh.

A line of fire had barely brightened across one arm before the flesh beneath the scales split.

Yet Hao Nhien remained standing straight.

The presence around him had changed completely.

Duong Quang looked at the Hoa Ky Beast phantom behind him, and for the first time, a clear change appeared in his expression.

“The Hoa Ky Jade…”

A moment later, he laughed.

“So it really was you.”

Hao Nhien said nothing.

Duong Quang laughed louder.

“You were the one who destroyed Heavenly Eye’s plan at the Hoa Ky Tribe!”

He tightened his grip on the Black Dragon Spear.

“Good.”

“Then there is even less reason to let you live today.”

The spiritual qi forced beyond its limits by the forbidden pill began pouring into the Black Dragon Spear.

Hum!

Every scale-shaped rune across the shaft lit up.

Black qi spilled from the spearhead, spiraling into rings before rapidly extending behind Duong Quang.

A Black Dragon phantom slowly took shape.

The dragon lowered its head.

Black horns pointed forward.

Its body stretched dozens of zhang, formed from black qi and spear intent, and every movement distorted the surrounding air.

Dark red eyes opened.

Grrr!

A thin spatial crack immediately flashed beside the dragon’s body.

Hao Nhien looked at it and instantly understood.

This was the Black Dragon Spear’s primary killing move.

Duong Quang was holding nothing back.

He lowered his center of gravity, the spearpoint aimed directly at Hao Nhien’s chest.

“Quan Hao Nhien!”

Boom!

Duong Quang launched forward.

Man and spear nearly merged into a single black line, while the Black Dragon phantom behind him dived at the same time. The air on both sides exploded continuously, and the stone beneath his path shattered apart.

Hao Nhien did not retreat.

The Fire Spirit Sword slowly rose.

The Hoa Ky Beast behind him lowered its head.

The invisible Spirit Wings spread wide, forcing Wind qi tight around his body before driving it backward.

Thirty zhang.

In one beat, less than ten remained.

The roar of the Black Dragon nearly filled the entire arena.

Duong Quang did not change direction.

Neither did Hao Nhien.

When barely more than one zhang remained between them, Hao Nhien suddenly lowered his center of gravity.

The Spirit Wings erupted.

Boom!

His body shot straight forward.

No dodge.

No retreat.

The Hoa Ky Beast behind him roared at the same time. The Fire Spirit Sword drew all the surrounding firelight with it, but the angle was not that of a slash.

Nor was the blade being raised to block the Black Dragon Spear.

Outside the barrier, Quan Nha’s expression changed.

“Hao Nhien!”

Tieu Lan stepped straight forward.

“Young Master!”

Tieu Nhan’s cry came almost at the same instant.

“Don’t!”

But the distance between the two men had already disappeared.

The tip of the Black Dragon Spear and the Fire Spirit Sword were now less than a chi apart.