Kaze stepped out of a spatial rift on the side of the mountain, overlooking Meridian City. Only a day before, it was in chaos but still standing. Now,rge sections of the city were on fire.


    Skyscrapers had toppled from the recent air bombing, creating a distinctively jagged appearance in the distance. It was a terrifyingly dystopian sight.


    "If they attacked the city, it meant the Killian faction cultivators created chaos for the military." He muttered pensively, "That must mean there''s an event near the city."


    After a deep breath, he panned his gaze to the West. Following the main highway out of Meridian City would lead him to a smaller city 100 miles away called Markwood, where a cultivator-sponsored "game" would get held in two hours.


    Kaze had to run there and would bete. He was performing a covert operation to steal the Ergo Seeds for treasure cultivation and didn''t want to attract attention with flight.


    He also didn''t know how many cultivators would arrive. Therefore, he wanted to conserve his Qi and thus couldn''t use [Empyrean Rift].


    With time running short, he had to choose: should he bete to Markwood and run the risk of failure? Or should he try finding the closer event site but run the risk of not finding it in time?


    "It''s worth using Qi to find someone." Kaze pondered aloud, "The Killian cultivators broadcast the event announcements, so everyone should know. Let''s see if I can find anyone close."


    After scouring the area from the mountaintop, he found a ramshackle settlement ten miles away.


    "It''s a clear path needing only two hops to get over debris." He confirmed, "Let''s go."


    …


    "W-Wait! I-I already told you, I d-don''t know anything about this event or whatever." A terrified man with a recently grown beard stuttered.


    He wore a torn white button-up shirt, indicative of his life as a clean-shaven white-cor worker a month before. Currently, the shirt was strained by its need to hold the man in ce.


    He was currently dangling off the edge of a two-story building 30 feet above the ground, with a pair of vibrant green eyes gazing into his soul.


    "Ick humanity for those who cannot think to save their lives." Kaze scoffed in disgust, loosening his grip on the man''s cor, "Let me rephrase this simply.


    Flying humans. Sky. Announcement. Chaos. Bombing. Surely you remember that sequence of events, yes?"


    The man looked to the ground in a panic, then looked up with wide eyes and quivering lips. "T-The cultivators'' a-announcement?"


    "Herein lies the problem with parroting questions." The emperor scoffughed, "I cannot tell if you''re seeking death or rification with that question.


    I haven''t the time for lengthy replies, let alone echoed banter. So speak, you fool!"


    He loosened his hand again, making the man rock by the fibers of his shirt.


    "W-Wait! The cultivators, t-they said they told everyone to show up s-somewhere." The man said in a panic, pleading with his eyes.


    "Hoh? It seems your head is functioning again." Kaze mused sarcastically, "Now that it is, I suggest youprehend your mortality and reference it before responding thoughtlessly.


    Let''s practice. Where did they ask everyone to congregate."


    The man''s eyes teared up with ragged breaths. "I-I don''t—"


    "Nch, nch, nch." The emperor clicked sinisterly, waging his finger, "That''s an immediate denial and thereby thoughtless. Now, think about it and reply—where did they ask people to congregate?"


    "I-I…." The man stuttered before pausing, "T-They said to the east somewhere. I''m not sure where, as I was running. Farnd. I don''t know… something about an earth-grade technique being there."


    "How wonderful." Kaze grinned sarcastically, gripping his shirt to stabilize him, "It seems you have the faculty to think.


    You did well with our exercise; keep it up, as this was your only practice. Do you understand?"


    "Y-Yes." The man said, grateful to feel bnced again.


    "Excellent." The emperor smiled, "Let''s continue. Think very hard; do you remember them giving any clues? Distance? Type of crop field? Landmarks?"


    After being asked, the man divulged everything he knew, like a water faucet. Though much was frantic, he presented useless details he thought could be helpful.


    Once he finished, Kaze pulled him to the edge of the building.


    The relief on the man''s face faded when the emperor stopped pulling him forward after the balls of his feet touched the edge. His position was just enough to feel stable but equally deadly if dropped. He looked down and then back hesitantly. "W-What else?"


    "What did the cultivators say to trigger Malta to drop the bombs?" Kaze asked coldly, "Think about it.


    They incited a panic, a riot, or a rebellion. Did they ask the popce to attack the soldiers?"


    After hearing the prompt, the man closed his eyes with gratitude, getting help. "They said there would be food for only two hundred people.


    A-Additionally, everyone would be fighting and killing each other for the technique. So the more people that showed up, the deadlier it''d get. Something like that."


    He winced in fear when he saw the emperor''s expression turn grave, preparing himself for death. However, he felt airborne the next moment before—


    "Gah!"<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    —he hit the pebble-lined rooftop with a thud, coughing.


    Panicked, he prepared to say sorry or thank you. However, the emperor was nowhere to be found.


    …


    "Such barbarity." Kaze growled, running under a masking illusion technique at full speed. He was moving around 60 miles per hour on t ground, with the scenery flying past him. "Seeding treasures requires immediate proximity.


    You''ve ordered a ughter without purpose!"


    The emperor jumped over a 30-foot river leading to the ocean. Meridian City was a harbor city with multiple rivers leading to the ocean. There were dozens of these rivers leading into the main estuary, arge river separating the north and south side of the city.


    The sun was setting, giving the world red and orangeish hues. It was particrly stunning over the waterways as he jumped over them, weaving between cars when he couldn''t run on the roadside.


    Kaze wasn''t in the mood for sightseeing, however. He was in a foul mood and was trying to calm his raging emotions before he caused the people he cared about unnecessary trouble.


    A death match was taking ce east of the city in rural corn fields. The prize for the three survivors was the [Fertility of Growth] technique, the same he had taught everyone in Immortal Skye.


    While the [game] was cruel, it had a defined purpose. That night, cultivators would nt Ergo Seeds, a treasure nt known for profound body-cleansing properties.


    Ergo developed cleansing properties by absorbing Soul Qi to nourish its innate properties. Therefore, to nt it, a person needed a significant amount of Soul Qi to fertilize thend.


    Thus, the Killian cultivators were gathering mortals to fertilize the fields for treasure growth, which they wouldter use for future trials.


    While it was a disturbing practice, Kaze didn''t mind it. In fact, he appreciated it.


    They were living in the apocalypse. Giving people a [voluntary opportunity] to win a cultivation technique, thus increasing their survival, was a benefit. Later down the line, those strong enough to contend for the Ergo treasures would benefit.


    He held that perspective because he obtained [Fertility of Growth] five millennia ago in the Markwood event. Moreover, if it weren''t a deathmatch, he wouldn''t have had a chance to snipe it from one of the winners.


    No, he wasn''t angry at the event itself. He was angry because the cultivators triggered a massacre for no reason.


    "How many died?" Kaze scoffed, running alongside a highway, avoiding cars. "How many died because the cultivators imed everyone was participating?


    Most people are trying to hide from the sick and stay sane. They couldn''t even move!"


    The cultivators implied that the event had limited food and tens of thousands ofpetitors. As a result, it was best to massacre the people around each contestant to preventpetition.


    While it was logical if there were that manypetitors, more than half of the poption in the city were already insane.


    As a result, nearly every person was simultaneously avoiding vicious mobs of people attempting to kill them and trying to stay sane with their breathing technique.


    There were probably less than a hundred people in the entire city [capable] of joining. Therefore, the massacre was offensively meaningless.


    "For what?" Kaze growled, his eyes shing with murder, "Entertainment? Feelings of superiority? Simply because they''re strong, so they can do as they like?"


    The emperor ominouslyughed as he jumped onto another highway. Once he started, he continuedughing. He didn''t know how many centuries it had been since heughed so hard.


    There wasn''t a brilliant joke in his mind.


    It was the irony ying out.


    Being there at that moment, running toward the event, held an unrivaled grade of satire.


    "I''m sick of this buffoonery!" Kazeugh-scoffed vitriolically, "People treat the world as if the strong do whatever they want—as if there is now to the world.


    However, there''s something critical that these unhinged swine always forget!"


    He beganughing again, increasing his pace to a greater extent, jumping over cars.


    "There is always someone with the most power!" Heughed caustically, "That person does [almost] whatever they want, and that person makes the rules.


    Anyone that breaks those rules gets punished—such is the nature of power and w]!"


    Hisughter increased with murder shing in his eyes. Without realizing it, he was reliving his early years again, seeing it from another perspective. Hearing that the cultivators didn''t exhibit professionalism in their war recruiting effort made him sick. Theymitted genocide and didn''t even do their job!


    "Yet time and time again, menial simpletons [sent to nt seeds] will massacre tens of thousands to prove they''re stronger than [someone]." The emperorughed in a craze, "To y out a foolish fantasy that they''re thew. Pathetic."


    The cornfields came into view as he ran. Seeing them, he casually jumped forty feet off a bridged highway and hit the ground running.


    "Well, they''ll learn tonight that I''m the strongest." Kaze chuckled with a twisted smile, "That I''m thew—and I condemn them!


    They''ll learn tonight that there is no ce on any ne where a person is free to act without fear of decisive retribution!"


    The emperor watched dozens of cultivators descend from the skies above the fields with a terrifying glint in his eyes. All were preordained to get wiped out in a horrifying ident.