The mountain winds screamed through jagged peaks, carrying with them the scent of impending doom. Long Qi stood at the pinnacle of his domain, his robes torn but defiant, fluttering like tattered banners against the reddening sky. Below him stretched the ranks of cultivators, their banners marking them as champions of the so-called righteous path. Their faces were pale, some with lips trembling as they stared up at the lone figure who had defied them for decades.

Long Qi's lips curled into a sardonic grin. He could practically taste their fear beneath their bluster. "Hypocrites," he muttered, his voice low but cutting.

One of the sect leaders, an older man with a flowing silver beard, stepped forward, his voice amplified by a talisman. "Long Qi, surrender now! The heavens have decreed your end. No amount of resistance will spare you. Face judgment, and perhaps your soul may be spared eternal damnation."

Long Qi barked out a laugh, the sound echoing off the cliffs like thunder. "Spare me?" He looked at them with an arrogant smirk and ridiculing gaze.

"You come here with your blades, your armies, your sanctimonious speeches, and you dare speak of mercy? I owe none of you an explanation, but let me clarify something for your tiny, self-serving mind. I am no saint, but I am no sinner either. The treasures I claimed were ownerless, their guardians long dead. The Qi I wield is my own, torn from the world as every cultivator does. If that is a crime, then you're all guilty as well."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Some of the younger cultivators hesitated, shifting uneasily. But their leaders stood firm, their glares unwavering.

"Enough of your lies!" another sect leader shouted, a woman clad in golden armor with a blade glowing ominously at her side. "You are a demonic cultivator. That alone is proof of your corruption. Stand down, or we will cut you down!"

Long Qi tilted his head, his dark eyes glinting with mockery. "You don't want me to stand down. You want the treasures I carry. The moment I walked out of that realm, you decided I had to die, not for any sin I committed, but because I hold something you covet. Well..." He extended his arms, as if to embrace the carnage to come. "...if you want what's mine, you'll have to take it from my corpse. Let's see how many of you survive the attempt."

The crowd surged at his provocation, spells lighting the air in flashes of blue, green, and gold. Swords, talismans, and spirit beasts lunged forward, the air humming with lethal energy. Long Qi moved like a shadow, his body blurring as he dodged a flurry of attacks. His laughter echoed across the battlefield, sharp and maniacal.

"You think numbers will save you?" he taunted, slamming his palm into the ground. The earth cracked, a surge of black Qi exploding outward. Several cultivators screamed as the force sent them flying, their bodies slamming into rocks with sickening thuds.

Despite his bravado, Long Qi knew the truth. They were too many. Even with his unparalleled skill, his unconventional methods, and the power he had painstakingly cultivated over decades, the sheer weight of their numbers and the treasures they wielded made survival impossible.

The mountain beneath his feet rumbled, responding to the seals he had already begun to activate. Each peak in his domain pulsed with ominous light, arrays carved into the stone centuries ago sparking to life.

From below, panic began to spread.

"What is he doing?" a young disciple shouted, his voice cracking with fear.

"Stop him!" one of the sect leaders barked, his face pale. "He's activating a formation!"

Long Qi's grin widened, his teeth bared like a predator's. "Ah, you're quick to notice," he called out, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "But too slow to stop me."

He raised his hands, dark energy coiling around his fingers like serpents. The arrays flared, beams of light shooting into the sky and linking the mountain peaks with crackling energy. A barrier formed, its surface shimmering like molten glass, trapping every cultivator within.

"You bastards wanted my death so badly," Long Qi snarled, his voice low and venomous. "Well, congratulations. You all can have it. Your welcome~" he grinned once again, mischevous, playful and sadistic. Eyes glinting with pure morbid delight.

The air grew thick with killing intent, so oppressive that even the strongest among them felt their knees weaken. The sect leaders hurled themselves at the barrier, their weapons and spells colliding with it in vain. The array held firm, a testament to Long Qi's meticulous preparation.

"You're insane!" the woman in golden armor screamed, her blade bouncing harmlessly off the barrier.

"Perhaps," Long Qi admitted, his tone almost playful. "But I've always found sanity overrated."

He turned his gaze inward, feeling the torrent of Qi within his body. It raged like a storm, threatening to tear him apart. He would give it a push, ignite the fire that would consume him and everything around him.

For a brief moment, a flicker of sadness crossed his face. This mountain had been his home, a sanctuary where he had defied the world and lived on his terms. Now, it would become his grave. But there was no room for regret.

Closing his eyes, Long Qi began to chant, his voice resonating with a power that shook the very foundations of the mountain. The Qi within him surged wildly, his meridians burning as he pushed past the limits of his cultivation.

Below, chaos erupted. Some cultivators screamed in terror, others hurled themselves at the barrier in desperation. A few even fell to their knees, praying to the heavens for salvation. But there would be no mercy here.

The mountain trembled violently, cracks spreading across its surface as the arrays reached their peak. Long Qi opened his eyes, dark mischief dancing within them.

"Let this be my final gift to the cultivation world," he said, his voice barely above a whisper but carrying across the battlefield. "May your greed and arrogance burn with me."

With a final, deranged grin, Long Qi slammed his hands together, the force of the motion ignitin force within him. His cultivation core chaotically swiringling with Qi like dark vortex that is constantly met with the same opposing force.

"Baaang!!!!" The explosion was cataclysmic.

The mountain peaks collapsed inward, a vortex of Qi and raw destruction tearing through everything within the array. The cultivators' screams were drowned out by the roar of the explosion, their bodies and treasures disintegrating in an instant. The earth itself seemed to wail, the force of the blast rippling outward and leaving a massive crater where the mountain domain had once stood.

From the outside, all that remained was silence. The barrier flickered once, then vanished, its job complete. The land was barren, scorched black, and lifeless.

Long Qi was gone, his body and soul consumed by the inferno he had unleashed. But his laughter lingered in the air, faint and haunting, a final reminder of his defiance.