C5: Three Days of Slaughter and Breakthrough

Lin Xiao sat cross-legged in the deepest chamber of the Hidden Family Vault, now completely claimed as his personal cultivation room. Thick walls reinforced with ancient formations surrounded him, and the air was thick with dense spiritual energy from the piles of high-grade spirit stones he had arranged in a perfect gathering array.

His long black hair, tied in that signature high ponytail, spread slightly across his back. Faint threads of red and black chaotic lightning occasionally sparked across his skin as he circulated the fully unsealed Primordial Chaos Breathing Method.

【System Notification】
【Closed-Door Cultivation Quest Issued: Reach Spirit Condensing 5th Stage or higher within three days. Reward: 8000 System Points + Random High-Grade Technique Draw. Penalty for failure: None — but weakness means death.】

Three days, Lin Xiao thought, his inner voice filled with cold determination. In the past, I couldn’t even dream of advancing one minor realm in three months. Now I will crush through multiple realms. Every breath I take is another step toward making the entire continent regret my existence.

He swallowed a fistful of high-grade spirit pills plundered from the vault and began cultivating in earnest.

Flashback – Four years ago, this very vault area.

A fourteen-year-old Lin Xiao had discovered the hidden entrance by accident while being chased by Lin Feng’s lackeys. He had hoped to find something — anything — that could help him grow stronger. Instead, his uncle’s men had caught him at the entrance.

They dragged him out and beat him senseless in front of the entire outer court. Lin Feng had stomped on his fingers one by one while laughing. “Even the rats know their place better than you, trash. This vault belongs to the real Lin Clan now.”

His uncle had watched from afar, a slight smile on his face, before ordering Lin Xiao thrown into the pig pen for the night as punishment.

The memory ignited a fresh wave of rage. The chaotic energy inside Lin Xiao surged violently. Red and black lightning exploded outward, cracking the floor around him. He used that fury as fuel.

Hours turned into a blur of intense cultivation.

By the end of the first day, he had broken through to Spirit Condensing 2nd Stage. His body felt reborn — meridians wider, dantian vast like an ocean, and the chaotic energy growing thicker and more destructive.

On the second day, he activated the newly acquired Chaos Emperor Sword Art fragment. God-tier Comprehension allowed him to master the first three forms at terrifying speed. He practiced inside the vault, his iron sword now replaced by a better spirit sword from his father’s collection. Every swing left trails of red-black lightning that could corrode and destroy anything they touched.

【Plunder Module Synergy Detected. Repeated use of chaotic energy increases plunder efficiency by 30%.】

Good, Lin Xiao smirked inwardly. The more I kill, the stronger I become. This system was made for someone like me — someone who has nothing left to lose and everything to take back.

While he cultivated, reports came in from loyal servants he had spared. Some outer clan branches were plotting to flee and report the massacre to the Heavenly Cloud Sect. Others were trying to hide remaining treasures.

Lin Xiao paused his cultivation only once on the second night.

He emerged like a demon from hell, red lightning crackling around his body. He personally hunted down the traitors. The detailed slaughter that followed was merciless.

One elder who had hidden in a remote courtyard tried to beg for his life, offering his young daughter as a servant. Lin Xiao remembered how that same elder had once forced him to kneel and lick the floor after spilling tea.

He cut the elder apart piece by piece while the man screamed, then plundered everything.

Another group of five inner disciples who had often participated in his public humiliations tried to ambush him with a formation. Lin Xiao walked straight through their combined attacks. His chaotic energy corroded their formation like acid. He then executed them one by one, forcing each to watch the others die first.

“Feel it,” he whispered to the last one as he crushed his skull. “This helplessness. This despair. Multiply it by eighteen years and you might understand a fraction of what I endured.”

By the end of the second night, the Lin Clan’s remaining ambitious elements were completely eradicated. The survivors now looked at him with pure terror and worship — the only emotions he cared for.

On the third day, Lin Xiao pushed even harder.

He consumed rare treasures that boosted spiritual energy absorption. The Primordial Chaos Breathing Method roared inside him like a primordial beast awakening. Red and black lightning filled the entire chamber, forming violent arcs that danced across the walls.

His body trembled as he approached another major breakthrough.

Pain. Excruciating pain.

But pain was an old friend. He had endured broken bones, public beatings, starvation, and humiliation. This cultivation pain was nothing.

【Warning: Chaotic energy overload detected. Host’s body is under extreme stress.】

“Shut up,” Lin Xiao growled. “I will not stop.”

Memories flooded him again — every single humiliation playing like a cruel movie in his mind. The times servants spat in his food. The beatings during clan competitions where he was used as a live target. The night his mother’s grave was desecrated by Lin Feng on his uncle’s orders just to “test his reaction.”

Each memory became fuel.

Boom!

Spirit Condensing 4th Stage.

He didn’t stop. He forced another circulation.

*Boom!*

Spirit Condensing 5th Stage.

The reward notification rang loudly.

【Quest Completed!】
【+8000 System Points. Random High-Grade Technique Draw initiated…】
【Congratulations! Acquired: Heaven Defying Slaughter Domain (Earth Grade – Peak).】

Lin Xiao opened his eyes. The red and black lightning around him had condensed into a visible domain-like aura. He tested the new technique.

A small domain expanded around him — ten meters wide. Inside it, everything felt heavier, slower, and corrosive. Even the air itself seemed to bleed killing intent.

Perfect for grinding multiple enemies at once, he thought with dark satisfaction.

He stood up. His body had grown taller and more imposing. Sharp, handsome features that once looked weak now radiated cold dominance. The high ponytail made him look like a young war god drenched in demonic energy.

When he exited the vault, the entire Lin Clan — what remained of it — was waiting in the main square.

They knelt as one.

“Clan Head!”

Lin Xiao scanned them with his Enemy Scanner function. A few still had disloyal thoughts. He marked them mentally for later.

“We leave for the Heavenly Cloud Sect tomorrow morning,” he announced, voice echoing with power. “Those who follow me will share in the spoils. Those who hesitate… will stay here as corpses.”

No one dared object.

That night, before departure, Lin Xiao claimed two beautiful clan maids who had once mocked him but now begged for his favor. There was no tenderness. Only dominance. He took what he wanted, treating them as rewards for his power, just as the old Lin Clan young masters had done to others.

No guilt. Only the cold satisfaction of reversing roles completely.

_*_*_

The next morning, a small but elite force of thirty loyal cultivators marched out of the Lin Clan under Lin Xiao’s banner. He rode at the front on a powerful spirit horse, black robes flowing, ponytail whipping in the wind, red lightning occasionally sparking across his body.

Halfway to the Heavenly Cloud Sect’s outer territory, they encountered a patrol group of twenty sect outer disciples led by a core outer elder named Mu Chen.

Mu Chen, a Spirit Condensing 7th Stage expert with a cruel reputation, had come to investigate the strange silence from the Lin Clan. When he saw the small group and recognized Lin Xiao from Zhou Wei’s report, he laughed mockingly.

“So you’re the mad dog who crippled Young Master Zhou? A mere backwater insect dares challenge the Heavenly Cloud Sect? Today I will capture you alive and let the entire sect use you as a human punching bag for a year.”

The battle began instantly.

Lin Xiao activated Heaven Defying Slaughter Domain for the first time in real combat.

A twenty-meter radius of red and black lightning exploded outward. The sect disciples inside it felt their movements slow down dramatically. Their spiritual energy became chaotic and hard to control.

“Kill them all,” Lin Xiao ordered calmly.

His followers charged, but he himself became the main force of destruction.

He blurred forward using Shadow Step. The first three disciples died before they could react — heads severed cleanly, their essence instantly plundered. Red lightning chains shot from his domain, impaling several more and dragging them toward him.

Elder Mu Chen roared in anger and unleashed a powerful mountain-crushing palm technique. The attack was impressive — strong enough to kill most Spirit Condensing cultivators.

But Lin Xiao met it head-on.

He used the first form of the Chaos Emperor Sword Art — Chaos Severing Slash. His spirit sword, infused with chaotic energy, clashed violently with the palm strike.

Boom!

The explosion sent shockwaves through the forest. Mu Chen staggered back, blood leaking from his mouth. His palm was corroded and blackened.

“Impossible!” Mu Chen shouted. “What kind of monster are you?!”

Lin Xiao’s inner monologue was ice-cold:

*Monster? I am what you all created. Eighteen years of building this hatred. Now reap what you sowed.*

He pressed the attack. Detailed sword strikes rained down. Each clash produced beautiful yet terrifying displays of red and black lightning. Mu Chen fought desperately, using every technique and even burning his blood essence, but inside the Slaughter Domain he was at a massive disadvantage.

After a brutal exchange of over thirty moves, Lin Xiao feinted and drove his sword through Mu Chen’s abdomen. He twisted it slowly.

As the elder screamed, Lin Xiao activated full Plunder.

【Major Plunder successful!】
【+5600 System Points. Gained Earth Attribute Talent. Cultivation base significantly increased.】

Lin Xiao broke through to Spirit Condensing 6th Stage on the spot.

The remaining sect disciples tried to flee. None succeeded. The massacre was complete and efficient.

Lin Xiao stood among the corpses, breathing calmly as his domain receded. Blood dripped from his sword, but not a single drop had touched his face.

He looked toward the distant peaks where the main Heavenly Cloud Sect stood.

“Soon,” he whispered arrogantly. “Very soon, all of you will understand true fear.”

His followers looked at him with fanatical loyalty now. The weak Lin Clan force had just annihilated a stronger patrol without losing a single man.

The Eternal Grind marched forward.

And the Heavenly Cloud Sect had no idea that a demon was coming for them.