"Inner Strength Master?" I asked, my voice carrying clearly through the tense silence. "Are you sure?"


    The circle of Grandmasters tightened around me. Their faces showed confidence returning, bolstered by Melvin''s words and the blood seeping from my wounds.


    I almost felt sorry for them.


    "Don''t be deceived by his bluff," Melvin ckthorne sneered, raising his hand to signal the others. "He''s wounded and desperate. Strike now!"


    I closed my eyes and let out a soft chuckle. "You poor, deluded fools."


    The air around me began to shimmer. The temperature in the room plummeted, frost crackling across the floor in expanding circles around my feet. My wounds stopped bleeding as my skin knitted itself back together.


    Burton Griffin, the youngest of the Grandmasters, took an involuntary step back. "What''s happening?"


    "Something impossible," whispered another.


    I opened my eyes. They now glowed with an unearthly blue light.


    "You''ve been chasing a shadow of what I truly am," I said, my voice resonating with newfound power. "Allow me to introduce myself properly."


    I released my firstyer of concealment. My spiritual energy erupted outward like a tidal wave, shattering tables and sending smaller objects flying across the room. The pressure alone drove several weaker cultivators to their knees.


    "Grandmaster?" Melvin''s face drained of color. "But how—"


    "Not just any Grandmaster," I corrected him, enjoying the shock spreading across their faces. "Great Grandmaster, Third Rank."


    The revtion hit them like a physical blow. Some stumbled backward. Others froze in terror. To jump multiple cultivation realms wasn''t just rare—it was virtually unheard of.


    Conrad stood in the corner, a rare smile ying on his lips. He''d known all along what I was capable of.


    Melvin ckthorne''s eyes bulged. "Impossible! No one can hide their cultivation to such a degree!"


    "Many things are possible," I replied coldly, "when you''ve walked the path I have."


    Burton Griffin, panicked by my disy, charged forward with a desperate battle cry. He was young, talented, but utterly outmatched.


    I didn''t even bother to move.


    My spiritual energyshed out, invisible to the naked eye but devastatingly precise. It pierced through Burton''s defenses like they weren''t there, striking vital points with surgical uracy.


    He stopped mid-stride, confusion crossing his features. Then blood trickled from his nose, ears, and eyes.


    "I''m sorry," I said softly, genuinely regretting the necessity of this demonstration.


    Burton copsed to his knees, coughing blood onto the polished floor. "What did you—"


    The rest of his question died as his internal organs failed simultaneously. He toppled forward, dead before he hit the ground.


    The remaining Grandmasters backed away, horror evident on their faces. One thing was to fight—another to witness such effortless killing.


    "Let this be your final warning," I announced. "Leave now, and you may live."


    But I knew Melvin wouldn''t back down. His pride wouldn''t allow it, especially not with his brother''s life at stake.


    "He''s just one man!" Melvin shouted, desperation creeping into his voice. "We attack together or die separately!"


    I sighed, genuinely disappointed. "So be it."


    I knelt beside Burton''s still-warm corpse. The room fell silent as I ced my hand on his chest and activated the Heaven Swallowing Skill.


    Dark tendrils of energy flowed from his body into mine. His skin withered before their eyes, desating until it resembled ancient parchment stretched over bone. The horrifying process took mere seconds.


    When I stood again, renewed vigor flowed through my veins. My eyes burned brighter, and the air around me crackled with heightened power.


    "Evil arts!" someone screamed. "He practices forbidden techniques!"


    Fear transformed into hatred. In their eyes, I was no longer just a powerful enemy—I was an abomination.


    "KILL HIM!" Melvin roared, desperation and revulsion driving him beyond reason.


    The remaining Grandmasters attacked as one, unleashing their most devastating techniques. Light of various colors illuminated the room as energy sts, spectral weapons, and elemental attacks converged on my position.


    Conrad retreated to a safe distance, watching with analytical eyes. He knew what wasing.


    I gathered my energy,pressing it into my core before releasing it in a single, explosive burst. A dome of pure spiritual power expanded outward, meeting theirbined assault head-on.


    The resulting collision shook the foundations of the building. Windows that had survived earlier sts shatteredpletely. Support beams cracked under the strain.


    But my power didn''t just match theirs—it overwhelmed them.


    The shockwave reversed, sending their attacks back at them with redoubled force. Bodies flew in all directions, smashing into walls and columns with bone-breaking impact.


    When the dust settled, I stood untouched at the center of destruction.


    Melvin ckthorney crumpled against a broken pir, blood streaming from his mouth and nose. Around him, his allies groaned in pain ory unconscious, their proud bodies broken by their own reflected power.


    The reference version of this chapter is on *.


    "How?" Melvin wheezed, struggling to sit up. "You''re a Great Grandmaster Third Rank. We''re all at simr levels. This shouldn''t be possible."


    I walked toward him slowly, each footstep echoing in the devastated room. "The difference between us isn''t just cultivation level. It''s understanding. You follow the prescribed path, never questioning, never deviating. I forge my own."


    His eyes widened as I approached. "Stay back!"


    "Your arrogance blinds you," I continued, unmoved by his panic. "You believe titles and family names grant you dominion over others. But true power recognizes no such boundaries."


    I stopped before him, looking down at his broken form. The feared hunter had be the hunted, the predator now prey.


    "What are you?" he whispered.


    The question hung in the air between us, heavy with implication. What indeed? Even I sometimes wondered.


    "I am what this world made me," I finally answered. "And it wille to regret that creation."


    Around us, the surviving cultivators stared in shocked silence, witnessing the impossible. A single man had defeated eight Grandmasters simultaneously, revealing the fragility of everything they believed about power hierarchies.


    The hunt was over. But the nightmare—their nightmare—was just beginning.