Balance Keeper

The morning mist over Red Willow Valley had not yet lifted when it was shattered by the sound of hooves.

Ye Ningzhou had just finished applying medicine to Su Muyao's wounds when he heard a dense clatter of footsteps outside the forge, like a rainstorm smash on the sand. Shi Laoshuan suddenly dropped his hammer, the tin stump of his arm clanging against the anvil: "They're here!"

He rushed to the back room, lifted the stone slab covering the cellar, and growl to Ye Ningzhou: "Take the girl down there! The spirit-tempered iron spikes I buried under the shop will give them a taste of hell!"

Ye Ningzhou didn't move, gripping the Rend Evil Axe tightly. The glowing red patterns of the explosive talisman on the axe blade shimmered in the morning light—drawn with powder ground from the array fragments of the Quicksand Mystic Realm, three times more powerful than ordinary talismans.

"Uncle Shi, your spikes can't stop a hundred men," he said, glancing outside. The top of the red willow tree already revealed the flag of the Demon-Slaying Alliance: black background with white characters, embroidered with a blood-dripping sword. "Xiao Wanlei is here in person."

Su Muyao's fox tails tensed instantly, and foxfire surged in her palm: "My illusions are weak, but I can still conjure a sandstorm." Her voice, though weak from injury, held a fierce edge. "You cover me, and in half an incense stick's time, they won't know up from down."

Shi Laoshuan stared at Ye Ningzhou, then suddenly grinned, revealing his yellow and black teeth: "Old Wang 诚 (Wang Cheng) didn't misjudge you." He dragged a sack from beside the furnace and poured out a pile of spirit-tempered iron spikes—three-inch-long spikes glowing with cyan light, inscribed with evil-breaking patterns, designed to counter the protective spiritual energy of cultivators. "Let them taste how hard mortal iron can be!"

Before he finished speaking, the shop door was split open by a giant axe. Xiao Wanlei's figure emerged from the smoke and dust, the pressure of his peak Qi-Convergence Realm surging like a tide. Behind him were a hundred cultivators, their swords and blades glinting in the morning mist.

"Ye Ningzhou! Demon girl! Old cripple!" Xiao Wanlei propped his giant axe on the ground, the bloodstains on the blade still uncleaned. "Today is your last day!"

Shi Laoshuan suddenly whistled.

"Puff! Puff! Puff!"

The first thirty cultivators rushing forward suddenly screamed and fell, their ankles pierced by the spirit-tempered iron spikes under the sand, blood staining the quicksand. The evil-breaking patterns on the spikes erupted with cyan light, scrambling their spiritual energy into chaos.

"Cowardly trick!" Xiao Wanlei roared, swinging his axe at Shi Laoshuan.

Ye Ningzhou's Rend Evil Axe met it. At the moment the two giant axes collided, the explosive talisman was triggered. He shouted "Split!", and the axe blade suddenly burst into red light, sending Xiao Wanlei reeling back three steps, blood oozing from his tiger's mouth.

"A mortal body can take my full strength?" Xiao Wanlei's eyes turned red. "So you really got the array fragments from the Quicksand Mystic Realm!"

Taking advantage of the gap, Su Muyao's nine tails swept hard at the ground. Her foxfire exploded on the sand, instantly roll up a all over the sky sandstorm, wrapping the hundred cultivators in it. Her whisper mingled with the wind, her illusions seeping into the cultivators' ears through the sand grains: "The red willows devour people…"

The cultivators in the sandstorm fell into chaos, some slashing at phantoms, others accidentally injuring their companions. Screams filled the wind.

"Demon girl, court death!" Xiao Wanlei's flame talisman suddenly erupted, crimson flames tearing through the sandstorm, burning toward Su Muyao. Having seen that the fox demon was the key, he ignored Shi Laoshuan's entanglement and lunged straight for her.

Ye Ningzhou's Rend Evil Axe blocked the way, the explosive talisman detonating again. Red light collided with crimson fire, sending sparks flying everywhere. He retreated using the recoil, only to see a small figure rush out from behind the red willow—a boy, Butcher Zhang's son, Stone. The twelve-year-old raised a rusty wood-chopping knife and hacked at Xiao Wanlei's leg.

"Stone, get out of the way!" Ye Ningzhou's heart jumped to his throat.

Xiao Wanlei swung his axe back, not even glancing at the mortal boy.

At that moment, Shi Laoshuan suddenly lunged forward, using his tin-stump arm to shield Stone.

"Crack!"

The tin stump was split by the giant axe. The old man's half-body flew like a broken kite, crashing into the forge wall, blood foam mixed with bone fragments spurting from his mouth.

"Uncle Shi!" Ye Ningzhou's eyes were splitting with rage.

Xiao Wanlei raised his giant axe again, this time aiming at the stunned Stone.

Ye Ningzhou's Dao Seal suddenly exploded.

Not the previous warmth, but scalding heat! Rage! A blazing fury that would turn heaven and earth upside down!

The merged Dao Seal fragment on his chest blazed with a dazzling cyan light. The completed pattern of the character "衡 (balance)" suddenly floated in the air, actually drawing in both Xiao Wanlei's flames and Su Muyao's sandstorm at the same time.

"What is this?!" Xiao Wanlei's flames suddenly went wild, dragged by the cyan light into the sandstorm.

Su Muyao's sandstorm faltered too. Yellow sand whirled in the cyan glow, tangling with flames in a chaotic knot.

Ye Ningzhou was stunned. He could feel the two forces colliding and dissolving within the Dao Seal's light, finally morphing into gentle mist—fire's heat and sandstorm's dryness, neutralized into water, the mildest of elements.

This... was the Law of Balance?

The "rudimentary law" mentioned in the manual had awakened at last!

Xiao Wanlei reeled back, choking on the mist, his eyes wide with horror. "How can a mortal body channel laws?!"

Shi Laoshuan lay on the ground, staring at the cyan light, and with his last strength shouted, "Smash his knee!"

Ye snapped back to his senses. Rend Evil Axe sliced through the air, still glowing with residual cyan. No explosive talisman this time—just pure Mountain-Crushing Fist, 800 catties of force amplified by the Dao Seal, and a rage burning for vengeance.

Thud!

The blade crushed Xiao Wanlei's knee. The peak Qi-Convergence spiritual shield shattered like paper. The crack of breaking bone echoed sharply through the mist. Xiao screamed, dropping to his knees, his giant axe clattering away.

The sandstorm's cultivators froze at the sight. Su Muyao seized the moment, dispelling her illusion, her foxfire erupting into meteor showers: "Kill them!"

Ye didn't pause. Rend Evil Axe hacked upward from Xiao's knee, its Demon-Breaking Glyphs purging the old villain's spiritual energy like scouring dirty iron.

"A mortal... dares..." Xiao's words gurgled into silence as the blade slit his throat.

The remaining cultivators fled. Ye didn't chase. He rushed to Shi Laoshuan, lifting the growingly heavy body.

The old smith's eyes stayed open, fixed on the forge's furnace, a smile tugging at his lips. "Tell Wang Cheng... I didn't shame him..."

His hand fell limp. The tin stump clanged against the ground, a dull toll like a funeral bell.

Ye held him, the Dao Seal still burning with leftover law energy. He understood now: balance wasn't submission. It was standing firm when needed—even a mortal body must bear heaven and earth's weight.

Su Muyao stepped beside him, her foxfire gently covering Shi Laoshuan like a soft quilt.

"We should bury him," she said quietly. "Beneath the red willows. He liked their scent."

Ye nodded, hacking a grave with Rend Evil. Stone clutched the old smith's hammer, tears spilling. The twelve-year-old suddenly said, "I'll learn blacksmithing too. Make mortal talisman weapons."

Ye looked at him, then at the "Rend" on his axe. Shi Laoshuan hadn't left. His iron, his blood, his resolve—all fused into this axe, into Red Willow Valley's sand.

Red Willow Valley's sand, soaked in blood, felt sticky underfoot like an unhealing wound.

Ye piled red willow soil over Shi Laoshuan, planting the hammer he'd wielded half a lifetime as a grave marker. Stone knelt, placing his rusted cleaver beside it. The boy didn't cry, but his shoulders shook violently, like a red willow bent by gales.

"We must go," Su Muyao said, weary. Her foxfire nearly exhausted, her face as pale as paper. "Alliance reinforcements will arrive in half an hour. Staying means death."

Ye took one last look at the smithy. The furnace still smoked; Rend Evil's mark scarred the anvil; the tin stump hung by the fire, swaying faintly—a silent farewell. He pocketed leftover spirit-tempered spikes. Mortal iron would be his amulet now.

"To Broken Boundary Cliff," he said, lifting Stone onto his back, slinging Rend Evil over his shoulder. "The miasma there will block pursuers."

Su Muyao followed, her crimson skirt brushing the grave, stirring sand that settled again like a soft veil. She glanced back. "The old man mixed his own blood into those spikes."

Ye paused. No wonder the spikes resonated with the Dao Seal. They'd been tempered not just with Spirit Void Stone, but a mortal smith's lifeblood.

Broken Boundary Cliff's miasma was vicious—gray fumes coiled like venomous snakes, stinging skin on contact. Rend Evil's Demon-Breaking Glyphs flared, stretch a faint barrier keeping miasma at bay. Stone huddled on Ye's back, whispering, "Brother Ye, can we ever return?"

"Yes," Ye said firmly. "When you master blacksmithing, we'll rebuild the forge."

Su Muyao's tails rippled through the miasma. She stopped, pointing at shadowy forms ahead. "Someone's there."

Three figures emerged from fog. The leader, one-eyed, bore a wolf tattoo and a silver Alliance token—higher rank than Xiao Wanlei's bronze.

"Lord Bloodthirsty大人's vanguard found the right place," the one-eyed man licked his lips, eyes fixed on Ye's Dao Seal. "That fool Xiao Wanlei couldn't handle a mortal. Waste of our time."

Ye gripped Rend Evil. These three exuded stronger spiritual energy than Xiao—all peak Qi-Convergence, the one-eyed man verging on True Condensation.

"Surrender the Dao Seal, and we'll let you die whole," the one-eyed man's lone eye glinted greedily. "Lord Bloodthirsty master promised: its bearer joins the Northern Domain headquarters. Wealth beyond measure."

Su Muyao's tails bristled. Illusions exploded through the miasma—countless Ye Ningzhous wielding Rend Evil charged. But the vanguard was prepared, slapping yellow talismans to their brows, shattering her illusions instantly.

"Tricks," the one-eyed man sneered, flinging three flame talismans. "Burn it all—miasma included!"

Three fire dragons twisted through the fog, crackling as they incinerated mist. Heat singed Ye's hair. He shoved Stone toward Su Muyao. "Take him to the cliff base! There are crevices to hide in!"

"Are you mad?!" Su Muyao glared. "Three peak Qi-Convergence—you'll die!"

"Rend Evil's explosive talismans can detonate three more times," Ye said, the Dao Seal burning, faint law energy stirring. "I'll lure the miasma to entangle them. Run while you can." He met Stone's gaze. "Remember: Red Willow Valley's iron waits for you to forge it."

Stone clung to his sleeve, tears finally falling. "Brother Ye..."

Su Muyao dragged Stone toward the cliff, her tails brushing Ye's back one last time—as if leaving a charm. The one-eyed man moved to chase, but Ye blocked him with Rend Evil.

"I'm your opponent," Ye growled, triggering an explosive talisman. "Rend!"

Red light burst as he deliberately sliced into the miasma. Gray fumes ignited into green venomous flames, spreading along the axe's path to engulf the three.

"Coward!" The one-eyed man's spiritual shield sizzled under poison fire. "Die!"

His saber slashed at Ye's neck, its aura brushing True Condensation, splitting the venomous flames. Ye's Phantom Steps dodged sideways, only to be cornered by the other two. Blades wove a net of light in the fire, trapping him.

Rend Evil hacked and slashed, two more explosions buying moments—but barely. His mortal body, though tough, couldn't withstand peak Qi-Convergence attacks. A sword gashed his arm to the bone; blood dripping into the miasma fed the venomous flames.

"Mortal bones stay mortal!" The one-eyed man closed in, saber glinting. "Die!"

Ye stopped evading. Staring at the approaching blade, he let the Dao Seal blaze—this time balancing venomous fire with his own spiritual energy, channeling it through Rend Evil's Demon-Breaking Glyphs.

"Mutual destruction?" The one-eyed man paused, then laughed. "You're not worth it!"

As blade and axe neared collision, Ye changed course—slamming Rend Evil into the ground, detonating the venomous fire. Green flames erupted skyward, forming a vortex that sucked in the three cultivators' spiritual energy.

"Laws?!" Fear finally entered the one-eyed man's voice.

Ye fled through the vortex, hit by the blast wave, spitting blood but running faster. Shi Laoshuan's spikes still hid in his sleeve; Su Muyao and Stone waited below. He couldn't die.

The vortex exploded behind him, shaking loose rocks that crashed down the cliff. Reaching the crevice, he found Su Muyao warming Stone with foxfire, new wounds marring her crimson dress.

"You're alive?" Surprise—and faint relief—tinged her voice.

Ye leaned against the rock, coughing blood onto Rend Evil, but smiled. "Mortal bones... don't break easy."

Gazing at the miasma outside, he understood Shi Laoshuan's lesson. Mortal iron's strength came not from Spirit Void Stone, but from the smith's unyielding will. Mortal bodies defied fate not through the Dao Seal alone, but through a resolve tougher than any spiritual vein.

Water seeped through the crevices of Broken Boundary Cliff, dripping onto Rend Evil Axe with a clinking rhythm. Ye Ningzhou leaned against the stone wall, watching Su Muyao dry Stone's wet clothes with foxfire. The boy huddled in the corner, eyes wide as he stared at the dancing pink flames, too timid to reach out.

"Lord Bloodthirsty's vanguard didn't chase. They're probably crippled by the venom fire vortex," Su Muyao extinguished her foxfire, the glow fading from her fingertips. "But they'll send word. Within three days, the Alliance's Northern Domain main force will surround us." She looked at Ye. "How many times can your Dao Seal's rudimentary law hold?"

Ye touched his chest. The Dao Seal's cyan light had dimmed; detonating the vortex had nearly drained his spiritual energy. He tried stirring the law, but felt only emptiness—like a gutted furnace.

"Once, at most," he admitted. Rend Evil's explosive talisman patterns had gone completely dark. "The array fragment powder is used up. I need new materials."

"Deep in Broken Boundary Cliff lies 'Nether Yin Stone'," Su Muyao said, voice weary. "My clan's texts say it nurtures spiritual energy and counteracts Lord Bloodthirsty's evil arts. But…" She hesitated. "The depths hold 'Bone-Eating Miasma'. It can corrode even nine-tailed fox fur."

Ye glanced at the miasma outside the crevice. Gray fumes oozed through cracks, blocked half a foot away by Rend Evil's Demon-Breaking Glyphs. He suddenly remembered Shi Laoshuan's hammer—hadn't its dents held specks of Nether Yin Stone?

"I'll go," he said, standing and hefting Rend Evil. "Wait here."

Stone grabbed his sleeve. "Brother Ye, I'll come! I'm not afraid of miasma!"

Ye pressed a hand to the boy's head, pressing Rend Evil's handle into his grip. "You stay. Protect Sister Su. Old Uncle Shi carved this handle—wards off evil."

The boy clutched the handle, knuckles white, and nodded.

Su Muyao watched Ye's retreating figure. "Bone-Eating Miasma slips through spiritual gaps. Shield your heart meridian with the Dao Seal. Don't resist it with spiritual energy." She pulled the silver hairpin from her hair, tossing it to him. "The fox engraving warns—grows hot when miasma thickens."

Ye caught the pin, still warm from her touch. He didn't look back, vanishing into the miasma beyond the crevice.

Bone-Eating Miasma was a hundred times worse than outer poison fog. After half a li, Rend Evil's Demon-Breaking Glyphs flickered violently, threatening to extinguish. Ye pinned the silver hairpin to his collar; its tip soon burned scalding hot. He dared not use spiritual energy, forcing a path through the miasma with sheer late Body-Tempering brute strength.

The Dao Seal pulsed weakly in his chest, like a dying heart. He felt a cold aura seeping through his pores, stinging his skin—yet mortal resilience held it at bay. As Shi Laoshuan had taught: "Mortal bones lack spirit, but gain armor in rough skin and thick flesh."

After what felt like ages, the miasma thinned ahead, revealing a glowing stone wall. Ye rushed over—it was a massive Nether Yin Stone, pale blue light seeping from its veins, dissolving surrounding miasma with a hissing sound.

"Found it," he breathed, leaning against the stone. Cool energy seeped into his back, and the Dao Seal's cyan light flickered back to life. "It truly nurtures spiritual energy."

He raised his axe to chip off a piece, when heavy footsteps sounded behind him. Spinning, he barred Rend Evil across his chest—there stood the black robe - cloaked figure, the vanguard's one-eyed man. His exposed hand was skeletal, nails blackish-green.

"Mortal boy, has a knack for finding good spots," the one-eyed man's lone eye wept blood—proof of the vortex's damage—yet held a maniacal grin. "Nether Yin Stone heals nicely. Pity…"

The two cultivators behind him were also gravely injured, their spiritual auras flickering, but still raised their swords.

Ye gripped Rend Evil, knowing escape was impossible. He palmed his last five spirit-tempered spikes—Shi Laoshuan's legacy, his final trump card.

The one-eyed man burst into laughter, echoing eerily through the miasma. "Think I'm here for the stone? Wrong! I'm Lord Bloodthirsty master's guide!" He tore open his black robe,revealing a blood-red jade pendant embedded in his chest. Its patterns flared to life. "This 'Blood Guidance Talisman' lets headquarters teleport directly here!"

Ye's heart plummeted.

The blood pendant blazed crimson, overshadowing the Nether Yin Stone's blue light. A crisp crackle of spatial rifts sounded. Countless shadows emerged from void, led by a tower-like brute wielding a blood-stained saber carved with skulls—Lord Bloodthirsty himself!

"Found you, Dao Seal's heir," Lord Bloodthirsty's voice grated like grinding stones. True Condensation pressure crashed down like a mountain, making Ye's knees buckle. "Surrender the seal, and I'll make it quick."

Ye suddenly smiled. He planted Rend Evil, forming hand seals to stir the last thread of Dao Seal law.

The Nether Yin Stone's blue light tangled with the Dao Seal's cyan, weaving a spinning shield before him. Alliance cultivators pouring from the portal slammed into it, slowing to a crawl as their spiritual energy was neutralized—even True Condensation Lord Bloodthirsty was blocked three feet away.

"Balance Law?!" Lord Bloodthirsty's eyes reddened. "How can mortal bones grasp such power!"

Ye said nothing, driving the spirit-tempered spikes into his thigh. Agony jolted him awake; the Dao Seal's cyan light surged. The shield reversed rotation, rebounding Lord Bloodthirsty's pressure and sending Alliance cultivators sprawling.

"Rend!"

He wrenched up his axe. Explosive talisman patterns blazed anew in the Nether Yin Stone's glow—no powder this time, but his blood, the Dao Seal's light, and the stone's energy, forcing one last strike!

The blade split the miasma, slashing for Lord Bloodthirsty's face. Lord Bloodthirsty's saber met it. As weapons collided, the shield detonated, waves of balancing energy rippling outward, driving Broken Boundary Cliff's miasma back.

Ye fled in the blast's cover. He didn't know if Lord Bloodthirsty lived, or if Rend Evil had wounded him. Only that two people waited in the crevice.

Stumbling back, his thigh soaked in blood, the Dao Seal had dimmed to darkness. Su Muyao 扶住 him, foxfire illuminating his pale face. She cursed softly: "Madman."

Ye leaned against the wall, staring at Rend Evil's chipped edge, and smiled. "At least… blocked them at the Nether Yin Stone."

Lord Bloodthirsty's enraged roar echoed outside, muffled by re-closing miasma.

Su Muyao treated his wound with foxfire, her trembling fingers betraying her composure. Stone squatted nearby, dabbing blood from Rend Evil with a cloth.

"Where next?" the boy asked, voice still childish yet unshakable.

Ye looked at the miasma outside, where gray fumes thinned enough to glimpse sky. He thought of Shi Laoshuan's forge, Wang Cheng's shop, Su Muyao's charred tails, Stone's white-knuckled grip on the axe handle.

"South," he said quietly. "To Ten-Thousand Wood Ridge. Find the Ten-Thousand Demons."

Su Muyao's hands paused. She met his gaze, warmth finally softening her amber eyes.

Rend Evil leaned against the wall, a sliver of Nether Yin Stone caught in its chip, glowing pale blue in faint light. Ye knew the siege wasn't over. Lord Bloodthirsty's hunt had only begun. But he wasn't afraid.

For his bones, though mortal, could withstand True Condensation pressure. His axe, though mortal iron, chipped with dignity. And beside him stood a tsundere yet steadfast fox demon, and a boy who dared ward off evil with just an axe handle.