Shadow Over the Heavenly Throne-Chapter 36: Tell the others… the Ruler of this world has returned

The sky above the Iron Dragon Sect stood still, as if it had forgotten how to breathe. Elder Lang stood at the center of the courtyard. Every disciple watched him.

And across from him... He stood there.

Kaen.

He didn’t move. He didn’t need to. His presence was heavier than the entire courtyard. Some disciples thought the ground beneath his feet slightly caved, as if the world itself agreed he shouldn't walk on equal ground with anyone else.

Lang moved first. No words. No warning. His Qi erupted upward like a flame, and his body blurred with speed.

The first strike—sharp, fast, precise—hit nothing but air. Kaen was no longer there.

Lang clenched his teeth. He spun mid-air, shortened the distance, and unleashed a flurry: elbow to the jaw, fist to the ribs, knee to the thigh. Each blow carried the strength to shatter stone walls.

Kaen didn’t block. He watched. Hands still in his pockets, he weaved through the strikes like a dancer drifting between raindrops.

"You're fast," he said, voice dull. "But still pointless."

Lang snarled, leapt back, and gathered Qi into his palms. Energy thickened, forming a spiraling sphere—a technique he had honed for twenty years.

"Crushing Gale!"

He hurled it like a spear. Qi detonated across the courtyard, kicking up dust, debris... and dread.

The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on freёnovelkiss.com.

When the smoke cleared—Kaen stood untouched. Arm raised, as if he'd stopped it with one hand.

"That was supposed to be threatening?"

Lang didn’t reply. He charged again, even faster, even angrier. Kicks, sweeps, slashes. Sometimes, even he couldn’t track what his fury made his body do. But Kaen saw everything.

Lang spun, launching the "Whirling Wind Blades" technique. His steps stirred dust, and swirling Qi turned into slicing arcs sharp enough to cleave iron.

Kaen tilted his head. The blades missed by inches.

Without pause, Lang slammed his palms into the ground, invoking "Shadow Thunder Seal". A ring of runes lit up beneath them. Thunder fell from the sky, wrapped in purple flame. The wave of force surged outward.

Kaen stood in the center. Wrapped in light. Unmoved.

Lang, panting, extended his hand and formed his latest technique—"Tears of the Iron Mountain."

Dozens of Qi spears burst from his shoulders, each fast as lightning, aimed at pressure points.

Kaen tilted his head, admiring the show.

"With every second, you get more pathetic," he said, dodging again without ever removing his hands from his pocket. "Your Qi is like a child’s tantrum. Loud. And utterly irrelevant."

Lang froze mid-step. Panting hard, as if Kaen’s words struck deeper than any blade.

"Shut up," he hissed.

Kaen yawned.

"Come now, Elder Lang. Show me you're not just another disappointment," he said, voice quiet yet absolute. "One clean hit. That's all I ask. Can you manage that?"

Lang burned with rage. His veins pulsed with Qi, feet sinking into the stone. Blood dripped from his lips.

"Open your eyes!" he roared. "THIS is real power!"

The mightiest technique in his arsenal. "Titan's Maw."

Air condensed. Oxygen vanished. Disciples stumbled back, choking on the pressure.

Lang moved.

He vanished.

The earth began to crack, unable to handle the weight of what was to come. Stone tiles split with deafening pops. The courtyard walls began to fracture. Torches extinguished despite no wind. Some disciples collapsed to their knees, not in fear—but from primal instinct, like prey before a quake.

Lang reappeared in front of Kaen. The punch descended like divine judgment. A hell compressed into a single fist.

Then came the impact. A blast so immense it ripped chunks of the courtyard skyward. A dust cloud erupted, swallowing Kaen, Lang, and the sun itself.

For a breathless second, there was silence.

Only the trembling earth spoke.

And then...

The dust began to settle, swirling through the air like a suffocating mist after battle. At first, nothing was visible but blurred light and shifting shadows. Then... a shape began to emerge.

Some disciples held their breath. Others instinctively took a step back, as if afraid to witness the truth.

As the view sharpened, all eyes widened in disbelief.

Kaen's finger. One. Had stopped the entire technique.

Lang felt his body seize. His mind refused to comprehend.

"Impossible..." one young disciple whispered, eyes stretched wide, clutching at his comrade's sleeve. "He... really stopped it with one finger?"

The Sect Master turned pale, his eyes wide in denial. Beside him, one Elder unconsciously stepped back. Another crushed the wooden railing beneath his grip.

No one spoke. No one dared. Their faces were frozen masks—shock, fear... and something else. Something closer to reverence.

Then a voice broke the silence, trembling as if each word weighed more than the man who spoke it:

"It's been so long... I forgot why the world feared this man."

Kaen looked at him with something close to pity.

"You train your entire life... and you still don’t understand what Qi is."

"True Qi... doesn’t need to scream. Doesn’t need theatrics."

"But I’ll admit, you entertained me. For a second, Elder Lang—you really did act like a screaming clown who thought his tricks could amuse the King. You made me pull one hand out of my pocket. That doesn't happen often.

So allow me to show you something too. What Qi truly is."

He raised his hand, fingers loose—then slowly curled them into a fist.

And the world changed.

Not the sky. Not the ground. Something deeper.

Lang froze. Not because he wanted to. His Qi refused to obey him. Like it suddenly remembered who truly ruled here.

Everyone around felt the same. Their Qi... trembled.

A hush fell. Not silence—but a void where energy should have been. As if life itself had paused, awaiting judgment.

Kaen took one step forward.

And everything happened.

The air shattered like glass. A wave of energy burst from his fist—not an attack, but a fundamental shift in the laws of existence.

No explosion. No light. Lang simply... ceased to be.

He didn't shatter. He wasn't destroyed. He was erased—as if he had never existed.

Only a sound remained, like a quill scratching through a sketch.

Kaen drew his hand back and looked at it with bored eyes.

"Qi isn’t just energy. It’s something far more."

He looked to the dumbstruck crowd.

Then his gaze found the Sect Master.

"That's all from me," he said calmly. "Pleasure meeting you... under friendly terms."

He turned, as if the entire spectacle was just a pause in his day.

"Tell the others... the Ruler of this world has returned."

And with that, Kaen vanished. No sound. No flash. As if he'd never been there.

For a long moment, no one moved. The silence was so thick it could be cut with a blade.

Only after several heartbeats did someone finally inhale—the first breath in minutes.

Slowly, realization dawned. They hadn’t just witnessed Elder Lang’s death. They had witnessed the reemergence of a legend.

The Sect Master finally lowered his arms. He let out a slow, almost grateful sigh.

"Only him..." he whispered. "I thought we were all going to die."

The Elder beside him nodded, still pale. "We were one breath away."

The others began to quietly disperse, their faces tense and contemplative. Their eyes no longer held only fear—but reflection. They tried to make sense of what they had just seen, what had been said about Qi... and hoped this was the end of Kaen’s interest in their sect.

And that he would leave them in peace.