Playboy Cultivator in the Apocalypse

Renton puked, realizing he was swimming in a lake full of blood. He immediately tried to make it to the shore, swimming erratically. "I need to warn everyone! I knew this place was evil!"

As he swam, streaks rippled across the lake, following his movements. Feeling the vibrations, he quickly grabbed the earth and pulled himself out, crawling on his hands and knees.

"Ouch!" He cried, feeling something sharp cut into his hand.

The scruffy man pulled his hand back and saw a beautiful flower, seemingly wrapped in silver leaf. It glimmered in the setting sun, light reflecting off his blood.

"Wait, how didn't I smash you?" Renton asked in confusion, realizing the erect flower looked unperturbed despite him placing his palm on it, "WAIT!"

He looked at his hand and found that the flower had punctured a hole through it!

"I-I have an earth-grade cultivation technique!" He cried, scrambling away. When he got a few more feet away, he looked back and saw the plant had disappeared, "What the fuck is going on!?"

He looked up and saw the metal gate ahead and decided to move. However, when he looked down, he saw the silver flower playfully growing out of the ground in front of him.

"N-No...." Renton stuttered, shaking his head, "No-no-no-no-NO!"

The man scrambled to the right to go around it, but another one popped out of the earth. So he moved to the left, and the same thing happened.

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" Renton yelled, creating a guided arrow and pointing it at the ground, "I'LL KILL--"

However, a tendril wrapped around his neck and pulled him back before he could release the arrow.

Renton's vision became red and blurry, watching the clouds as his body got dragged across the ground and into the blood lake.

🟇🟇🟇

Kaze explained simple rules for the Lainwright soldiers to be at Immortal Skye.

They shouldn't talk to anyone. If they get forced to talk to someone, they must deny they were from Lainwright Military Base. And under no circumstances were they to use the term [family].

He and his cabinet members still had to explain why they knew of the family members but had not announced it. So no leak about it could come out.

After that, he rifted them into a guest house, locking them in a bunk room. He brought them delicious food and allowed them to sleep, something they hadn't gotten in a good while.

The next morning, the emperor stood before them with a slight smile.

"Now then, let's get you into disguise." Kaze said, waving his hand above each of them. Everyone watched in a daze as their appearances changed, "I'm giving you new names--use them."

Each retained their race and skin color so their culture and accents wouldn't break their guise. However, their appearances were very different.

After getting their new names and appearances, the emperor started their tour.

🟇🟇🟇

Ratatat! Bang-bang-bang! Ratatat! Ratatat!

"GahHHHhHHh! THIS NEVER GETS BETTER!" A man groaned, getting pelted in the side with three SMG bullets. They were now wearing pierceable Soul Qi-reinforced clothing. However, the bullets didn't get less powerful and still broke the skin.

"Did I just see that muthafucka shoot that muthafucka with an uzi?" Chen asked dumbly, pointing at the groaning man from behind a concealment barrier.

"While that isn't an [uzi], you are correct." Kaze replied, suppressing a deep-seated desire to mock the man, "The ex-military members are using APC9K SMGs with real bullets to [tag] the ex-civilians."

The Lainwright soldiers were stunned into disbelief, watching the gunfight unfold.

"Those are r-real bullets?" Jackson swallowed nervously.

"Cor~rect." Kaze smiled, "Every Immortal has a sky-grade technique and has been going through accelerated Soul Qi fortification, living on this mountain. As a result, low-caliber guns cannot pierce through their muscles unless they get hit in the eyes or throat."

Everyone became slack-jawed after hearing his words. They didn't understand how Soul Qi fortification worked, but they could see the results.

"I wouldn't recommend trying it." Kaze added, seeing Jackson look at his pistol, "Most organisms on Earth died before they could create Soul Qi, so it's weak.

However, Immortal Skye is a graveyard of past enemies and Sky Plane cultivators, and I've concentrated their Soul Qi in the area with techniques.

As a result, passive Soul Qi fortification and sky-grade techniques have hardened their bodies.

Our situation is special. If you shoot yourself, it will put a hole through you."

Eric's team shuddered, hearing the undertone of the message. The Immortals could shoot each other because they were bathing in their dead comrades--that was the message.

-

Ratatat! Ratatat!

"What the fuck is that!?" A [cultivator] yelled, firing his SMG at a group of twenty Immortals, wearing white coats and masks, holding their ground around their base's ammo crate.

His bullets crashed into a five-foot wall of warping Qi, bouncing off mid-air.

-

"Is that a shield!?" Moe asked in shock, watching the phalanx of soldiers protecting their ammo cache.

"Crude as it may be, that is indeed a shield." Kaze smiled mysteriously, "It's a technique called [Qi Wall]. It's one of the three techniques I'm teaching in private classes.

The skill is remarkably simple. One just summons a wall of compacted raw Qi, which acts as a barrier.

It is a dreadfully wasteful technique for beginners, as they're making a wall of Guided Arrows. However, they are practicing it strategically to protect their supply line."

-

"I need ammo!" An Immortal yelled from the forest.

"Roger!" The phalanx yelled, walking in unison to the man to give him bodyguards, "Phalanx, move out!"

Bang! Bang! Bang-bang-bang!

A team of ten with guns stood in the phalanx, shooting outside the warping shields.

Ratatat! Ratatat!

"This isn't fair!" A cultivator yelled, "You've already figured out our flaws, and now you're adding to them!"

"You're doing this too, you jackass!" An Immortal scoffed, "Everyone with this technique is doing it! It's what the Emperor taught in class!"

"Oh...." The cultivator froze, "I guess--GahhHHhhHHHh!"

A gunshot hit him in the knee, dropping him down.

-

"Is it strange that this doesn't bother me?" Chen asked dryly, "It was strange at first, but it's actually less brutal than what we go through--by a mile."

"Come to think of it; I'm also over it." Denzel said in amazement.

"Right?" Jackson said, joining in.

Layla nodded with a strange smile, and Moe remained silent, observing objectively.

"It's not different from getting hit with an ice ball... so why is that?" Eric asked pensively.

"You mean compared to Evalyn's training?" Kaze chuckled amusedly, "It's because this training is a strategy game with rewards and bragging rights.

Evalyn's training is a battle between life and death, where the only reward is living another day."

The Lainwright soldiers shuddered, hearing him lay it out bluntly. It was clear that they'd rather shoot each other with guns than continue her training.

"Why are the people with shields wearing those... hazmat suits?" Denzel asked curiously, "Is that Qi poisonous up close?"

"No, it's because they're playing against other minor pieces." Kaze smiled mysteriously, checking his watch, "They'll be free for development in a few more minutes."

Everyone swallowed nervously, hearing [minor] pieces. They didn't know what would happen, but it was clear that stronger opponents would show up.

Evalyn flashed across their minds, followed by Kiera collapsing a skyscraper with a single attack. They wondered if they were Rooks or Minor pieces.

Everyone knew they were the latter, as they had met Crux and the mysterious Emperor teaching everyone, but they still didn't want to believe it.

"And here we go." Kaze smiled mysteriously, watching the forest.

Black flashes cut across the battlefield, moving toward the base.

"Combustion!" A cultivator yelled, SMG still holstered on his side.

A bubble of warping Qi developed in the center of the phalanx. A split second later--

"SPREAD OUT!" An Immortal yelled.

BOOOOOM!