After all, till now, the only deity in their world was thought to be the Sentinel Grandmaster, so suddenly coming across another one, and one who seemed to have hostile intent on top of that, was quite shocking.

Wu Xiao nodded in response to his senior sister's question. "Yes, that is exactly what I meant. The ancient barrier, layered on top with my reinforcement, should have been able to withstand even the pressure of a demiG.o.d. For it to break, it can only mean that a deity was behind this."

Just as Liu Xue was about to ask more, Jing Shui's voice cut in. "Master, Wu Xiao, look at the cliff sides!"

The two sect masters immediately redirected their attentions towards the sharp cliffs surrounding the arena. The others had also noticed that something strange was happening and turned to look.

From between the cliffs, several blank-faced people slowly shambled forward, their eyes unseeing yet their gait remaining steady. Some of their robes seemed old to the point of being tattered and rotten, and yet a few others' seemed new to the point of looking crisp and starched, but all of their bodies were clean and whole, making them seem alive except for the waxy tint to their skin.

Gathered near the center of their foreheads were fingernail sized uneven splotches of grey, the clear mark of a ghoul that was raised from the dead flesh of a human. A thin film of translucent green seemed to cover their dull eyes, a sign of them currently being under the control of a pract.i.tioner of demonic arts.

Like ants, an unceasing stream of the ghouls began slowly and steadily pouring into the Battle Arena.

After a moment of shock, alarmed shouts immediately rang out.

"Are those…people?! Why do they seem so strange?"

"T-They're not alive!"

"Ghouls! These are ghouls!"

"So many… Where did they all even come from?"

"These ghouls, there's something wrong with them! They're emitting too much demonic energy!"

"There must be a strong demonic pract.i.tioner nearby!"

"It can't be… It's a demonic deity?!"

Standing on the platform with his opponent, Qinghe frowned.

Such a large number of these creatures couldn't have just appeared out of thin air, so there must have been some signs beforehand. For example, signs of missing bodies.

Qinghe recalled that back when he'd first entered the Sentinel headquarters, one of Wei Xing's lieutenants, Zhou Lang, had clearly said something about a large number of bodies disappearing from their graves. Then, just recently, Chen Xiande had told him as well about how Hei NingYu was also investigating this matter with the Sentinels.

It only took Qinghe moments to put together these pieces. The simple conclusion would be that someone had purposefully stolen all those bodies to create these ghouls.

But for what purpose?

Shaking his head to clear all speculations, Qinghe decided to focus on the present situation.

"Let's stop here. We should go and join our sects," Qinghe advised the other person on the platform who he'd just discontinued fighting with.

With a nod, his opponent descended the pillar and quickly disappeared.

Just as Qinghe was about to do the same, a strong wave of spiritual force suddenly pressed down on the arena, forcing most of the disciples and even some of the Elders to their knees. Power converged over in the skies, from the same direction as the previous attack that had broken the barrier.

And then, all the gathered power condensed into a thin crescent, and like the decisive fall of an executioner's blade, shot down at a particular point in the arena in the form of a giant black arc.

With horror, Qinghe realized that it was heading towards the place designated to the Heavenly Peak Sect. Several small groups of his sect's disciples had congregated there to take a break, along with a few Elders and the sect master.

Just as the huge black arc of energy was about to hit the group of horror-struck disciples, Zhen YiLan leapt up and landed in front of them with a grim expression as immense power shot out of him.

A giant chimerical lion made of fire immediately came into being, turning its ma.s.sive head towards the sky defiantly as it roared in fury. Its mane bristled with waving licks of golden fire, its molten eyes sparking with dauntless rage. The hooves of a bison tipped its feet instead of paws and feathered wings extended from its back. Nine s.h.i.+ning white horns crowned its head and glowed brightly.

The arc of black energy hit the lion head-on and caused its form to waver as the two powers battled for dominance.

The size of the clas.h.i.+ng energies visibly grew smaller as they expended their strength in trying to triumph over the other. But the one who had sent the black arc was after all a deity, and it soon became apparent that the fiery lion could not hold on much longer.

And yet, the faces of all those who looked at the sect master of Heavenly Peak Sect were tinged with open wonder and awe.

The fact that Zhen YiLan, despite being at tenth realm, could stand against a deity's direct offensive for this long already spoke much about his strength. After all, the person considered to be the head of the entire righteous faction would have to be stronger than all the other sect masters to stand above them.

After withstanding the might of the deity for so long, the light of the giant golden lion finally dimmed before its huge body burst into sparks. Since his elemental construct was broken apart so forcefully, Zhen YiLan ended up suffering severe internal injuries due to backlash.

Having its obstruction disappear, the greatly weakened arc of power pushed forward and continued shooting in the direction of the Heavenly Peak Sect's designated area that had, by now, fortunately been cleared of all people thanks to Zhen YiLan buying time.

The arc hit the bare ground and sent up a shower of rocks and dirt, but failed to injure anyone, causing everyone to let out a sigh of relief.

Heaving out a heavy breath, Zhen YiLan was about to collapse when a pair of steady hands held him up.

"Master, are you alright?!" Chen Xiande called out in worry.

As soon as he'd seen where the deity's attack was headed, Chen Xiande had already set off in that direction as quickly as he could while carried in between the flying twins.

Spitting out a torrent of blood to the side to avoid staining his white beard, Zhen YiLan nodded. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. Xian-er, stay and help me protect the other disciples in case we are targeted again. Jin-er, Yin-er, you both go and see if you can help your second martial brother with something."

"Yes, Master," Fei Jin and Fei Yin replied and immediately sped off to search for Qinghe.

Meanwhile, Chen Xiande had been searching frantically in his storage s.p.a.ce and finally took out several high-level healing pills and held them out towards Zhen YiLan. "Master, please take these. Your body has suffered a lot of damage, you should heal it quickly."

Zhen YiLan looked up at his head disciple with an inscrutable gaze.

Just a few months ago, he had still been looking down on him thinking that this disciple of his was a disappointment. But after having seen him working so hard and reaching his current level so soon with his junior brother's help, Zhen YiLan had finally begun to doubt his own a.s.sessment.

If he or the other Elders had helped Chen Xiande advance sooner, then how much greater would his level have been by now?

These past few months, Zhen YiLan had started to pay more attention to his head disciple, and seeing this earnestly cultivating child rise up like this, seeing his tentative care and gentleness revealed between guarded words and sharp looks, Zhen YiLan couldn't help but think that his reticence and apparent unfriendly character was his fault. He should have spent some time with his other disciples as well rather than just leaving everything to his second disciple to manage. He should have personally taught his first disciple right from wrong rather than blaming him for being his father's son.

If he had stayed by his side and taken proper care of him, would this child have turned out much happier and openly kind? Would he have not started hiding himself under barbed words and a perpetually sullen expression? Would he have taken better care of his junior brother rather than resorting to bullying due to his jealousy and loneliness?

"Master? What's wrong?" Chen Xiande asked the dazed old man. "Please take the medicine soon or you'll risk worsening your injuries when you move."

Looking at the concern in his eldest disciple's face along with the confident set of his shoulders and his straight and unbending back, Zhen YiLan finally realized that the child he had once neglected had grown on his own into a dependable young man with a steady heart.

Since that was the case…

After carefully receiving the pills held out by his disciple, Zhen YiLan quickly swallowed them down and looked at Chen Xiande solemnly.

"Xian-er, in the future, Master will leave the sect to you. You must work hard to prepare yourself for taking that responsibility. Do you think you can do it?"

Chen Xiande stared at his master with blank shock, then stuttered, "M-Master, y-you really… Are you sure?"

"Yes, your Master is sure. I might not have contributed anything to your growth, and I might have even hindered you, but you became such a fine man on your own. Your master will feel rea.s.sured if I can leave the sect to you."

Saying so, Zhen YiLan lifted a hand to pat his disciple on his head affectionately. What care he hadn't given him before, he would give him from now on. He just hoped that it wasn't too late and that his disciple hadn't already grown to hate him.

"So, Xian-er, will you accept the position of being my successor?" Zhen YiLan asked with both hope and trepidation.

Slowly coming out of the shock, Chen Xiande finally nodded his head frantically and exclaimed, "Yes, Master! It would be my honor!"

Seeing such an enthusiastic response, Zhen YiLan couldn't help but smile warmly.

And seeing such a smile directed towards him, Chen Xiande felt as if he was dreaming.

Just how many years, how many centuries, had he yearned for his master to show him the tiniest bit of affection? And now that it was happening, Chen Xiande could hardly believe it.

"In the future, your Master will teach you about the sect's affairs. Are you willing to learn from me?"

Chen Xiande once again nodded fervently. "Yes!"

Zhen YiLan felt his heart easing. It seemed that his eldest disciple really didn't mind giving him a second chance to atone for his prior ignorant negligence. This time, he would make sure to do it right.

Setting aside these thoughts for now, Zhen YiLan nodded and said, "Good, now let us go and ascertain everyone's safety before we think of what steps to take next."

And so, the master and disciple pair set off towards where the rest of the sect had moved.

In the meantime, in the sky over the arena, the grey clouds seemed to darken and grow thicker. Suddenly, a circular wave of diffused power spread from above, barely discernible when compared to the previous violent bursts as it washed over the Battle Arena.

Seeming to have been spurred on by this as if receiving a signal, the lumbering ghouls in the cliffs abruptly sped forward and crossed the boundary of the Battle Arena. Like a violent wave cras.h.i.+ng against the sh.o.r.e and churning up the sand, the horde of ghouls broke into the ranks of the cultivators and caused chaos.

Though they had seemed inert before, right now, they were actively chasing disciples with their hands extended. Predictably, the disciples fled in terror, nimbly and easily evading the somewhat clumsy ghouls as they tried to find a reliable and powerful senior cultivator to crowd around.

Meanwhile, Qinghe had already gotten down from the platform and was rus.h.i.+ng towards where he sensed his master to be.

Plucking a couple of swords from where they had been embedded into a pillar as if thrown, Qinghe coated them with spiritual force and swung them in wide yet precise arcs to slice off the heads or hack in half any ghouls that he came across. Since they were already dead and insentient, he had no qualms in ruthlessly cutting them down.

The blades in his hand danced through the air, slicing through flesh and bone with swift exactness and efficient motions. The thick smell of old blood and the sour stench of ruptured intestines permeated the air around him as he hacked through the bodies of the ghouls, and yet his white robes stayed pristine, not a single drop of red having managed to stain it.

All around Qinghe, the hectic whirlwind of battle raged as the disciples either fled away from or charged towards the ghouls.

In this vast area of land spread out under the grey skies, rotten blood misted the air as torn off limbs with waxy skin flew around. People both dead and alive churned with uncontrolled frenzy, painting a picture of chaos and violence as far as one could see.

Surprisingly, even though they took the initiative in chasing after the cultivators, the ghouls didn't offer much resistance at all even when attacked. However, since they currently outnumbered the cultivators a hundred to one due to their unceasing flow into the Battle Arena, their presence certainly served to be an unpleasant hindrance. But though the waves of demonic energy they emitted might make the junior disciples slightly sick, they didn't seem to be able to do anything else.

As Qinghe swept through the hordes of ghouls while cutting a b.l.o.o.d.y swath, he kept collecting the weaker juniors and asked them to stick close behind him. Putting up a wind barrier around the people under his protection, he used both physical and spiritual attacks to dispatch the approaching ghouls.

Many of the other senior disciples and Elders had begun to do the same. Some of them had even started setting up traps and formations to gather and annihilate the ghouls in large numbers. Yet the tide of incoming ghouls was endless. It seemed that unless they were cut off at the source, they would be unceasing.

As his mind churned with thoughts while his body worked to cut down every ghoul in his path, Qinghe suddenly heard a piercing scream from a bit ahead.

Increasing his speed and pus.h.i.+ng through a dense swarm of ghouls, Qinghe saw a junior disciple from his sect struggling on the ground as a ghoul held his arm in place with its hands, its jaws unhinging and descending hungrily over the terrified young man.

Vicious teeth chomped onto his forearm with a wet crunch as the junior disciple let out a shrill shriek in pain and horror.

Gritting his teeth at the distance between them, Qinghe was nonetheless about to rush ahead when two quick blades flashed bright blue and sliced cleanly through the ghouls near the young disciple, reducing them to pieces.

As the ghouls fell, two figures were revealed.

The twins had arrived.

Qinghe finally made it beside the young disciple even as he asked the twins, "How are Master and Senior Brother?"

Fei Jin quickly spoke to ease his worry, "The both of them are fine. Eldest Martial Brother is taking care of Master now, so don't worry, Senior Brother!"

At the side, Fei Yin also nodded rea.s.suringly.

Letting out a breath in relief, Qinghe said, "Then that's good."

Redirecting his attention to the young disciple, Qinghe widened his eyes in recognition. This was the same junior who had the ability to wield the mist element and had asked for Qinghe's help with using his cultivation just the day before during training.

The wound on his arm where the ghoul had bitten him had turned a glistening black as if oozing tar. Black veins slowly crawled up from the wound as if indicating the spread of infection.

Using his spirit sense to probe along the black veins, Qinghe quickly understood the situation. It seemed that the ghouls' bite could infect the spiritual pathways of a cultivator with demonic energy and cause it to spread through the victim's body. Even in the best case, this could lead to a loss of cultivation due to a corrupted core, but in the worst case, it could cause a torturous and agonizing death.

Having such a painful wound on his arm, the junior was sobbing and trembling. Looking up at that familiar face of the kind senior he admired so much and who had so patiently guided him just yesterday, the junior disciple managed to gain some measure of composure as he called out, "S-Senior B-Brother Feng? I-It hurts…can you p-please h-help…me?"

The corners of Qinghe's eyes were pinched in distress. Since he didn't know enough about this sort of infection to administer appropriate medicine, he simply retrieved a handful of different types of cleansing and healing pills, feeding them all to the young disciple. But though this slowed the climb of those black veins, it still didn't halt it.

Pressing his lips together, Qinghe finally had to come to a difficult conclusion.

"Jin-er, Yin-er, hold down his arm," he commanded softly.

"Yes, Senior Brother."

Without hesitation or questions, the twins did as they were told, already guessing what was about to happen.

The young disciple looked up with a confused and dazed expression. "Senior Brother Feng, w-what are you…?"

Qinghe braced himself and lightly patted the young man's head to offer comfort. In a gentle voice, he advised, "It will be okay. Just bear with the pain for a bit."

And before the junior could understand what he meant, Qinghe retrieved a clean blade from his storage s.p.a.ce and sliced down, cutting swiftly through the skin and sinew, flesh and bone, decisively hacking off the disciple's infected arm just below the shoulder.

Blood sprayed out in spurts and dyed the edge of Qinghe's sleeve with a shocking scarlet. The junior disciple immediately screamed, his body arching and thras.h.i.+ng.

Using his lightning ability, Fei Jin turned the severed and infected arm to ash while Fei Yin used his ice ability to freeze the stump over the junior's shoulder to decrease blood loss and desensitize the injury.

The brutal agony abating somewhat, the disciple slumped down and began to weep, his chest and stomach heaving in heart-wrenching sobs.

Qinghe quickly took out several more pills to heal the wound, speed regeneration, and to numb the pain completely. And even though his fingers were stained with the disciple's own blood when he held the pills to his lips, the junior disciple still trustingly opened his mouth even as he continued to cry at the agony.

As he finished swallowing all the pills, the bleeding and pain slowly stopped and his pale white cheeks began flus.h.i.+ng with restored blood. Finally able to think in the absence of pain, the disciple looked with wide eyes at the small stump extending from his shoulder.

"M-My arm… Senior Brother, m-my arm! I-It's g-gone…"

Carefully lifting up the junior disciple, Qinghe spoke in a soothing and calm voice, "You are a cultivator. You can re-grow it later, so don't panic now, alright?"

"…O-Okay…" came the trembling reply.

And then, with blank eyes, the young man clutched tightly at Qinghe with his remaining arm and pressed closer. Though Qinghe stiffened instinctively, he didn't push him away. Soon, the junior disciple drifted away into restless sleep due to shock and exhaustion, his eyes twitching under his closed eyelids.

Walking back to where he had left the disciples he'd been protecting, Qinghe was relieved to see that his wind barrier was still holding up and that no one seemed to have stepped outside its confines.

As the disciples in the barrier looked with alarm at the one-armed disciple in his arms and the blood staining the edge of his sleeve, Qinghe smiled as pleasantly as usual and rea.s.sured. "There was a matter that needed handling. It's alright now. I'm sensing that someone has set up a large defensive barrier formation a bit further ahead, so we will now be heading there."

The disciples all nodded with relief.

And so, the group set off, with Qinghe holding the junior disciple close with his hands as he used his sharp wind blades to swipe the way clear, while Fei Jin and Fei Yin used their spiritual artifacts to get rid of the ghouls at the sides and rear while rescuing anyone who needed help and adding them into the group of disciples in the wind barrier.

Fei Jin's spiritual weapon was a straight dagger with a long and thin blade while Fei Yin's was almost exactly the same as his twin's, except for the blade being curved.

With their expressions lacking any hesitation or mercy, the twins cut through every ghoul approaching their vicinity with swift and vicious moves.

In this way, the group pressed forward and soon came across a giant bluish silver barrier that b.u.t.ted up against a cliff face.

This was the large scale defensive formation that Wu Xiao, despite his injuries, had taken the time to carefully set up to s.h.i.+eld the weaker junior disciples and the wounded cultivators. This formation was currently supported from the inside by four of the Silver Moon Sect's disciples who specialized in barriers as they stood positioned in the four cardinal directions.

Within the barrier, there were several people from the Lightning Sky Sect—including disciples, Elders, and even the sect master himself—all busy with treating and administering medicine to the injured.

Approaching the nearest Silver Moon Sect disciple who was holding up the barrier from within, Qinghe courteously bowed while carrying the one-armed junior securely within his arms.

"I am Feng Qinghe from Heavenly Peak Sect, here with a few injured and noncombatant disciples for treatment and shelter."

Giving a short nod, the silver-haired disciple created an opening in the barrier so that Qinghe could enter with his group.

After everyone made it inside and the opening in the barrier drew close again, Qinghe dissolved his wind barrier and the disciples he had been protecting dispersed after thanking him profusely for his help.

Qinghe and the twins then quickly strode towards where several rows of soft pallets with injured people were placed, guessing it to be where the medical personnel of the Lightning Sky Sect was treating the wounded.

As Qinghe looked around for one of the disciples, a familiar voice called out to him with surprise, "Brother Feng, is that an injured person in your arms?"

Turning in the direction of the voice, Qinghe bowed and greeted, "I am glad to see that you are well, Sister Lei. Yes, this is a disciple from my sect who had the misfortune of getting infected by a ghoul. I had to remove his arm to stop the spread of infection. May I trouble Sister Lei to watch over him and treat his wound?"

With concern pulling down her brows, Lei Zihua accepted the junior disciple and placed him onto a nearby empty pallet. A group of younger disciples from the Lightning Sky Sect immediately converged around him, one taking his pulse, another opening a box containing an arrangement of silver needles, and yet another sending out their spirit sense to diagnose any problems.

Seeing that her juniors were attending to the one-armed disciple well, Lei Zihua turned her attention to Qinghe, "Brother Feng, what do you mean by him being infected by a ghoul? How is that possible?"

Realizing that Lei Zihua didn't seem to know about it yet, Qinghe sighed in relief, since it meant that such cases were not yet common.

But before he could begin explaining, Qinghe was interrupted.

"Yes, I also wish to know," another voice chimed from the side. "If there is such a risk, then I would like to take precautions in advance."

Qinghe and Lei Zihua turned to see that the speaker was a serious-faced An YaLing approaching them with several of his junior disciples from the Drifting Clouds Sect following behind.

After nodding to him in greeting, Qinghe began, "Very well then, let me recount what happened…"

In a solemn tone, Qinghe thus began explaining everything he saw and the discovery he made while trying to treat his sect's junior disciple.

The two head disciples silently listened to him, their expressions turning graver with every word. If people weren't made aware of this soon, then they would have a lot more righteous cultivators getting infected and either losing their cultivation or dying in suffering.

From An YaLing's side, his junior brother Li Yingzi, clad in a dark blue robe with a pearly white flute dangling from his waist, spoke up, "Senior Brother, it would be better if we can ask one of the others in our sect who practice voice enhancement to broadcast this message. It would be troublesome if people got infected due to ignorance."

Hearing this sensible suggestion, An YaLing nodded at his junior brother and praised with an elegant smile, "Yes, that's a great idea. We should spread this information to as many people as possible."

And so, a young man from the Drifting Clouds Sect was tasked with broadcasting this message, his clear voice soon ringing throughout the Battle Arena.

"All cultivators, please pay attention. Take heed to not get bitten by the ghouls. It has been revealed that their bites inject demonic energy into spiritual pathways and cause the spread of infection around the wound. This may lead to a loss of cultivation or even death if not treated in time. However, if you do happen to get afflicted with a bite wound, please make haste to the defensive encampment situated by the northeastern cliffs for medical treatment. I repeat: All cultivators, please pay attention…"

This message was thus repeated several times to make sure that the information was etched firmly into the minds of all the fighting cultivators.

Meanwhile, Qinghe and the twins exited the defensive barrier and began cutting down the ghouls again as they steadily made their way to where Qinghe sensed the rest of his sect was gathered.

But just as they made it halfway through, they felt a sudden rush of power wash over them. Every cultivator who could afford to s.h.i.+ft their attention turned their heads in the same direction.

From the clouds in the darkening sky, a black streak suddenly descended like a smear of ink, quick to the point of being nothing but a blur. It landed on a ledge on one of the cliff faces, high enough that most cultivators could make out its details with their sharp vision.

It was a gigantic black dragon and a person clad in stark black.

Against the dark grey rock face, the large dragon looked like a long and l.u.s.terless black shadow, its form coiled protectively around the black-clad man, hiding most of his features.

Though the sight of an actual dragon shocked quite a few cultivators, what they felt at seeing this rare being was not awe, but dread and fright. The scarred dragon with its dull scales and keen eyes looked more menacing than majestic, causing many a people's hearts to palpitate with fear.

Cradled within the coils of the black dragon, the demonic deity waved a hand, and as if taking the place of the ancient broken barrier, a thicker layer of demonic energy quickly formed a bubble over the entire Battle Arena to trap everyone inside.

Suddenly, the heavy and power-saturated voice of the demonic deity issued out, rolling throughout the Battle Arena as he called, "Which one of you is called Feng Qinghe? Come on out! I've been asked by a mutual acquaintance to take care of you."