The Upright Brush Peak lived up to its name — a standing brush, straight as a pillar, impossibly sheer.
Only one crude trail led up. Standing at the foot, the party could picture how the cultivators of Three Mountain City had hacked it out.
Especially when beasts had covered the mountain.
Every step had cost blood. Every stair had claimed a soul.
The dead built the steps with their flesh; their spirits shielded the living. The living climbed on, and at last they cleared the peak.
Two years later, new beasts wandered here. New cleaners came to match.
Jiang Chen was no stranger to beasts. But this was his first time at a legendary beast nest.
Because of the rich rewards, many cultivators had come to Three Mountain City. Most threw in with the city's main force against the Jade Balance Peak.
Only a handful of teams chose the Upright Brush.
Li Yun had set out early, so the trail held no other travelers.
The party climbed under Li Yun's lead. The first half of the road was safe — nothing but scattered beast bones.
The trail spiraled up the mountain, cliff on one side, precipice on the other. Strange howls echoed through the valley, raising goosebumps.
"Careful!" Li Yun called out a warning. But he did not act.
From the cliff edge burst a snake-shaped beast. Snake it was, but it wore scales the color of the rock. That armor made it nearly invisible when still.
Jiang Chen's sword was out first. The first killing form of the Violet Dawn Sword Art swept across the instant the beast opened its jaws, slicing off its tongue.
His other hand had been forming a seal all along. He slapped a Flame Pellet into the snake's mouth. Body following the sword's turn, he drifted back onto the trail as the beast tumbled off the cliff.
The whole sequence was clean, economical, not a wasted motion. A pleasure to watch.
With Dao arts woven into his combat system, Jiang Chen's strength had more than doubled.
"This beast is called a Rock Serpent. Its scale armor is extremely tough; the mouth and belly are the weak points." Li Yun walked on, lecturing as he went: "Well handled, Junior Brother. If this is the strength and density of the beasts on the Uprush Brush these days, we might reach the summit today."
"Senior Brother seems to know this place well?" Zhao Yan asked.
"Been here before." Li Yun's reply came from ahead.
He had deliberately held back just now — to size up the group. The result satisfied him.
Zhao Yan reacted fast, adjusting his position. If Li Yun read him right, his sword-drawing stance matched Jiang Chen's to the letter. Both had trained in that transcendent sword scripture making waves everywhere — the one Jiang Chen had used to win the three-year champion title at the Three-City Trial. Hard not to notice.
Huang Azhan, usually all jokes, had his Dao arts ready within moments.
But the biggest surprise for Li Yun was Jiang Chen. He had known the foundation would bring a qualitative leap. He had not expected so much. Jiang Chen now stood far above his Three-City Trial self.
This team might not be the strongest around. But at least no one would hold him back.
Ahead, the trail turned. The moment Li Yun's figure left their sight, violent Dao essence fluctuations erupted from beyond.
Jiang Chen hurried around the corner — and found only a centipede-shaped beast corpse, chopped into sections, scattered on the ground. Li Yun stood there, twin blazing flame swords in hand.
"Wind Centipede. They fly." Li Yun explained, then said mildly: "If there were many of them, it would be trouble."
On this narrow trail, surrounded by flying beasts, they would indeed be hard-pressed. For now, only one Wind Centipede had appeared.
Beasts appearing one after another meant they had entered the beasts' territory. Everyone sharpened their guard.
Huang Azhan cautiously piled buffs on himself — Stone Skin, Solidify, a whole stack of arts. Not content with himself, he layered them onto Jiang Chen and Zhao Yan too.
Finally Li Yun gave him a helpless look: "Do you have enough Dao essence for that?"
Huang Azhan sheepishly stopped.
Halfway up the mountain.
A woman's waist is graceful. A man's waist is powerful. The waist of the Upright Brush Peak... was treacherous.
The trail ended here. No road ahead — only jagged rocks and twisted trees.
And in the trees, among the rocks, crouched and lurked no fewer than twenty beasts. Wolf-shaped, snake-shaped, bird-shaped. All of them hideous, all of them savage.
Beasts had no wits, so this was no ambush. More precisely, the party had walked into their resting ground.
And of course, they exploded into action at once.
Four lumps of tender, fresh flesh so close — they were mad with hunger.
Li Yun drove into the pack, twin flame swords reversed. Blades whirled. Flesh and blood flew.
Zhao Yan swung out to one side, cutting at an angle. Unlike Li Yun's reckless charge, he kept the beasts facing him at three or fewer. One sword flashed left and right, always finding the vital spots.
Huang Azhan's seals flew. Jiang Chen had noticed earlier how fast his hands were. Now flame pellets streamed like beads — a single-target D-Rank high-grade art wielded like an area effect.
Jiang Chen was not about to be outdone. His sealing left hand pulled, and a vine wrapped the wolf-shaped beast ahead just in time. His sword swept — the wolf's head left its body.
He kicked the corpse into another tiger-shaped beast.
Then he used the force to launch himself backward, arching his whole body into a line parallel to the ground.
He was a sword, and his blade was the tip.
The Violet Dawn Sword Art's power shivered through the common iron, cutting through the snake-shaped beast like paper.
The snake split in two. Jiang Chen shot through the spray of blood, blade and man together, and by a hair's breadth, came out without a single drop on him.
An eagle-shaped beast dove at him — and slammed into the airborne snake blood. It screamed, corroded on contact.
Jiang Chen spun, hurled his sword. It punched through the eagle's slender neck and took its head.
The common sword, unequal to this level of battle, exploded midair.
Jiang Chen had expected it. His hand had been working a seal all along; with a flick, he condensed a flame sword.
Only now did the snake blood hit the ground, eating pits into the rock.
Flame sword at an angle, Jiang Chen charged. He collided with the tiger-shaped beast he had kicked before.
The flame sword pierced its heart. Jiang Chen grabbed its neck, hurled it aside.
The whole fight was fluid, seamless. Only the Essence Control Art's mastery of his Dao essence let him move like this.
By now, Li Yun had cut two full sweeps through the pack. Of nearly twenty beasts, only two lived. Two Wind Centipedes.
They knew no fear — and no thought of fleeing. Side by side, they dove savagely.
Li Yun launched off the ground. The twin flame swords crossed midair. Two Wind Centipedes fell in four pieces, landing with him.
Zhao Yan had already sheathed his sword. No strain at all.
Huang Azhan...
"Senior Brother Li is mighty!"
Still energetic enough for flattery. His state was fine.
Jiang Chen snuffed his flame sword with a flick. His Dao essence could not match Li Yun's reserves; he saved where he could.
His nebula vortex gave birth to nine Dao essence orbs a day, and his own surges added more. His essence accumulated fast. But in a fight this intense, it would not last long.
Li Yun stepped over the corpses and walked on.
With the beasts cleared from view, Jiang Chen noticed a great boulder ahead. Something was carved on its face.