Multicolored lights swirled around Cheong. The five elemental hues—water, wood, fire, earth, and metal—glowed, but the red resembled blood, the blue looked like stagnant, rotten water, the green was sickly, the metallic shine had dulled to an ashen gray, and the yellow was stained and scorched.

Normally, the harmonious colors of the five elements symbolized balance, but the hues before the martial artists were ominous, sinister even. The gathered warriors, confused by this sight, began to retreat, gripped by a primal fear of the unknown. The three Transformation Realm experts, however, stood frozen, their faces grim. They knew exactly what …