"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Leader! Long live the Great Japan Empire!"

Suddenly, in the final moments when Hua Xiaotian didn’t press the attack, a heart-wrenching roar erupted from the armored vehicle.

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Leader! Long live the Great Japan Empire!"

Following that roar came two more, each sounding as if it was tearing a throat apart.

By now, Qin Fan had walked up to Hua Xiaotian’s side. Hearing the repeated roars, he chuckled. "Well, it looks like they’re about to kill themselves."

"Kill themselves?" Hua Xiaotian asked, an eyebrow twitching in confusion.

"These Japanese love their little rituals. Alright, let’s go." Qin Fan shook his head with a smile, placed his hands behind his back, and began to walk ahead of Hua Xiaotian.

Just as he finished speaking, three gunshots rang out from inside the armored vehicle, just as expected.

When Hua Xiaotian walked over to the armored vehicle and peered inside, he saw that all three men had shot themselves through the forehead. Their wide-open eyes clearly showed they were not resigned to their fate, unable to die in peace. But no matter how unwilling they were, their journey had reached its end.

A single man had slaughtered thousands of military police, even those armed with rocket launchers. This was the might of the Gang Realm.

It was just as Qin Fan had said before: stepping into the Gang Realm was merely the first step into the ranks of the truly powerful.

Hua Xiaotian likely never imagined that this single battle would carve his illustrious name into the secret history of Huaxia. Future generations would never forget the Martial Artist who invaded Japan—a single man with a single blade who slaughtered thousands of Japanese military police. That man’s name was Hua Xiaotian.

He was Huaxia’s number one, truly the number one.

As for Qin Fan, his name vanished from the annals of history, becoming a taboo. No one spoke of it, no one dared to speak of it. Even his title, the "Young Grandmaster," was wiped from the history of Martial Arts.

But that is a story for another time, better left for now.

*** 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The night air in Japan carried a biting, desolate chill. A sudden gust of cold wind fanned the flames consuming the Jingguo Society. In that unsalvageable inferno, how many hearts were breaking, how many were filled with despair, and how many were exultantly thrilled... Qin Fan and Hua Xiaotian had no time to care about any of it.

Without a second glance at the burning Jingguo Society, they walked out onto the streets, which had long since been emptied of every last person.

Hua Xiaotian suddenly said, "Master Qin, I think I should find some clothes."

"Good idea. Let’s find a clothing store," Qin Fan replied with a nod.

With that, silence fell between them once more. A middle-aged man and a youth, one impeccably dressed, the other blood-soaked and bare-chested, walked down the empty street, searching for a clothing store.

Soon, their eyes fell upon a clothing store with a glass display window, gleaming under the streetlights. Without a word, they both turned and walked toward it.

BANG!

Reaching the display window, Hua Xiaotian, without a moment’s hesitation, shattered the tempered glass with a single palm strike. He walked in with a cool indifference, casually picked out an outfit, and put it on.

When he walked out, however, he found Qin Fan watching him with a deeply amused smile. Puzzled, Hua Xiaotian asked, "Master Qin, is something wrong?"

"No," Qin Fan chuckled. "I was just marveling at how the dignified Director of the Guardian Institute has become such a hooligan."

Hooligan? Is he talking about me breaking in and stealing clothes?

At this thought, Hua Xiaotian gave a slightly sheepish laugh. "In Huaxia, my conscience would never permit such an act. But this is Japan! It doesn’t matter. A hooligan it is, then! Haha!"

"In that case, should we burn this place down, too?" Qin Fan teased.

But something he never expected happened. At his words, Hua Xiaotian glanced around, walked over to a nearby car, and punched a hole in the gas tank. With another palm strike, he sent the car crashing into the clothing store through the shattered storefront. The air instantly filled with the stench of gasoline.

"You’re actually going to burn it?" Qin Fan asked, stunned as he watched this completely different Hua Xiaotian.

"I told you, Master Qin. Wherever your blade points, I, Hua Xiaotian, will be there to follow your lead!"

With that, Hua Xiaotian sent another car flying into the store. The impact of the two vehicles scraped out a spark, which caught the spilled gasoline on the ground.

WHOOSH!

Flames erupted instantly.

"Holy shit!" At that moment, it was the only curse Qin Fan could muster.

He knew this wasn’t Hua Xiaotian’s style. This has to be a side effect of the slaughter.

After all, annihilating thousands of Japanese military police in such a brutal fashion would leave anyone in a state of extreme, frenzied agitation. In this state, never mind burning down a street, he probably wouldn’t even blink if asked to raze an entire city. It was a state Qin Fan had experienced before, back on the Cangqiong Continent.

BOOM! RUMBLE!

The store was full of flammable clothing, and fueled by the gasoline, it was instantly engulfed in a sea of fire. The two cars then exploded inside the shop. Seeing this, it seemed entirely possible that the fire would spread and burn down the entire street.

At this prospect, Qin Fan merely smiled faintly. Let the bastards’ things burn. They can have them back as ash.

"Master Qin, is our next stop Mount Fuji?" Hua Xiaotian asked, licking his lips with bloodthirsty zeal, feeling the restless power of the Gang Realm surging within him.

"Yes, Mount Fuji. Find a car. We’ll drive straight there," Qin Fan said calmly as he turned and started walking. Although Mount Fuji was only a hundred-odd kilometers away—a distance he could cover in a few leaps—he couldn’t be bothered.

Hearing Qin Fan’s command, Hua Xiaotian didn’t hesitate. He forcefully ripped open the door of a nearby car and hot-wired it.

"Master Qin!"

At Hua Xiaotian’s call, Qin Fan pulled open the passenger door and got in. The security cameras captured the nearly new sedan as Hua Xiaotian floored the accelerator and tore off down the street.

Who could have imagined that the Director of Huaxia’s Guardian Institute—the reserved yet proud Grandmaster heralded as the number one in Martial Arts, Hua Xiaotian—had a side like this? Is this the same Director Hua, the man who seemed so detached from the mortal world? No! This is the very picture of a thuggish brute! Only Qin Fan, who knew this was merely a psychological high brought on by the aftermath of a massacre, could understand. Anyone else who knew Hua Xiaotian would have sworn they were seeing a ghost.

Hua Xiaotian slammed the accelerator to the floor. Guided by the GPS navigation from the center console screen, the sedan flew through the night at speeds approaching two hundred kilometers per hour. For the Hua Xiaotian of this moment, traffic laws like red lights simply didn’t exist. Fortunately, it was late and the streets were sparse with pedestrians; otherwise, there would have been a trail of innocent casualties in their wake.

***

Mount Fuji is an iconic landmark of Japan. But before Qin Fan and Hua Xiaotian arrived, deep beneath the mountain and hidden from the world, an eerie, cold miasma swirled relentlessly within a massive cavern several acres wide.

It was so pitch-black you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Yet, an incessant, bizarre language flowed from the mouths of more than fifty people arranged in a circle.

In the center of the circle, a colossal creature lay coiled.

HUUUFF.

HUUUUFFFF.

HUUUUUUFFFFF.

The steady sound of its breathing mingled with the strange chanting, creating a scene of unnerving dread.

Outside the cavern, the area was brightly lit. Several middle-aged and elderly men paced back and forth, their faces fraught with anxiety. Beside them, a giant crystal ball displayed the scene at the Jingguo Society: a field of corpses and a raging sea of fire.