Settling in the pond, he looked into the jade slip.

"Devil's cage?" he found himself in a scene that he suspected was a memory. The name; devil's cage rushed into his mind, as he saw a man in black execute a skill. s.p.a.ce distorted around the man as everything in a twenty kilometres radius of him was locked in a s.p.a.ce. Everything paused, as though frozen in time. Locked inside with him, were enemy cultivators spanning far as the eyes could see. Ed looked closely, he noticed that it was not that they had paused, their movements had slowed down. Those with higher cultivations could still move somewhat freely.

The man in black went on a killing spree. No spirit energy leaked into this s.p.a.ce. Everyone was it his mercy. Only pure physical combat could be used in the fight. The man in black, being the only one able to use sense his spirit energy and manipulate it, killed them all. It was a blood bath.

After the image finished, Ed found himself in a dark room. Black walls to all sides, locking him in. The man in black appeared before him.

"Who are you?" Ed asked.

"You wish to learn the devil's cage? You must break out of this room." the man said mechanically and disappeared. Ed almost sighed. He had not decided to learn this skill, yet he was already stuck inside. He could withdraw his mind from the jade slip, but he was suddenly interested in getting this skill.

Folding his hand into a fist, he pounded at the walls from all directions, hoping to find a loophole.

In the great spill, many were preparing for their entrance into the astral roots. People had already formed groups and pledged allegiance to different elders.

There were three great spills in the demon lands. They too were preparing to enter. All the great spills were connected to the astral roots. They were sure they would meet other cultivators from different great spills.

In the south side city, many powers from outside the demon lands had started arriving. They all came with high ranking martial artists preparing to get their young ones back to their sect in one piece. The hostile feeling in the air was strong. In the city lord's residence, a large banquet for great powers from outside the demon lands was taking place, but not all powers showed up. Many did not want to let others know they were around.

The Tze sect had arrived the demon lands and went straight to the Ah clan. Seeing their form, the entire clan froze. Someone rushed over to call the new clan head. The Tze sect on the other hand, frowned at the nature at which the clan behaved. They had arrived the demon lands, not only for their young master who was in the great spill, but because disciples had died here. Other disciples, it would have been ignored. But amongst those that had died, was Elder Diye's G.o.d-daughter, who he gave a sect skill; s.h.i.+fting s.p.a.ce.

"Ah Dise! Get out here!" Elder Diye ordered. The new clan head was seen rus.h.i.+ng towards them in haste.

"Welcome, honoured guests. I..." he started to say.

"Shut up and tell Ah Dise to roll out here!" Elder Diye ordered.

"Ancestor Ah has been banished from the clan, honoured guests. If there is any issue, please tell me. I am the new clan head, I will be enough." his words caused the Tze clan members to pause.

"Banished? What about his son and grandson?" another elder asked.

"They died in the salt bed." the clan head said.

"My G.o.d-daughter was with his grandson. Was it the same person that killed her?" Elder Diye fumed.

"Yes." the clan head had a bad feeling about this. All the Tze clan disciples that were with Ah Didia were killed with him. He did not know that the elder's G.o.d-daughter was amongst them. His entire being froze.

"And you did nothing?!" Elder Diye raged.

"Our clan head and two elders went up there to kill him. He killed clan head, one elder came back an invalid and died a few days later, the other is myself." the clan head immediately explained.

"Then what about Ah Dise? Did he just sit and do nothing?" the elder's words caused the Ah clan members to cower in shame. What do they tell them? That they banished their ancestor because he insisted on going after the culprit? That they refused to do anything?

"Speak!"

"Ancestor Ah is out there looking for the culprit." he hurriedly said. "There was a survivor; Ah Fude. He was with your niece when it happened and was the only one who escaped. Someone! Call Ah Fude here!"

A little while later, Ah Fude was led out to meet them. From the look on his face, one could see that he was really scared.

"You are Ah Fude?" Elder Diye asked.

"Greetings, Elder Diye." the elder looked at the slightly fl.u.s.tered boy and frowned.

"You are an outer sect disciple correct?" the elder asked.

"Yes."

"Tell me about this person that killed my niece and you better think carefully about your words." the elder warned.

"We heard of an etheric tree in the salt bed and adventured there. When we got there, some people had already arrived before us. We asked that they hand it to us, but they refused. Young master Didia led us to kill them all. It was easy, except for one. He did not seem at all interested in the fight nor bothered with it. He took all the fruit and when we attacked, he killed everyone. I only escaped because of the talisman the clan had given me." Ah Fude explained.

"And this person killed my niece?" the elder asked.

"Yes. It was a ma.s.sacre. He was too strong."

"The clan went to kill him and he killed your clan head? How strong was he?" the elder turned to new clan head and asked.

"Ah fude and I were there when he killed the clan head. He was a spirit picking junior." the new clan head said and the Tze sect frowned at his words.

"You said that you had banished the ancestor, yet you claim that he is out there looking for the culprit. Do you think me a fool?" Elder Diye said with a hair raising laugh.

"We could not fight him. I am ashamed to say that we refused to hunt him down. This boy could kill the clan head by just touching him. One of our elders felt the backlash of his technique and was brought back crippled. He started to rot while alive, so we had to kill him. We were too scared. A spirit picking junior that can do this, we are not his match." the new clan head said and saw the look on Elder Diye's face and hurriedly continued.

"You have met Ancestor Ah before. He is not a rational person that can be reasoned with, so we banished him. It was all a plan to better the clan while getting our revenge. Ancestor Ah, who is the strongest of us all will be hunting him down. If he fails, the clan would be spared."

"Am I supposed to be happy you used such despicable means to avenge my niece? You wish to be sparred? That will never happen!" Elder Diye said and took a threatening step forward.

"We respect you, Tze sect, but you must not break the laws of the demon lands." the new clan head said tensely. It was taking all his strength to remain brave right now. The Tze sect were not happy with his words, but they could not go on a killing spree in the demon lands. The demon land treaty with the two clans and two alliances is clear. No power above grade two could enter the demon lands and establish dominance. Below the nine powers, there were nine grades and their Tze sect was a grade three power. They could not kill off an entire clan in the demon lands, they could only kill those who have done them wrong. The only way they could kill off the entire Ah clan was if they had all contributed to kill their sect members. Pinning such a crime on them was easy. After all, power is everything. But this was a bad time. Many powers were arriving the demon lands, awaiting their young geniuses to emerge from the astral roots with treasures.

Elder Diye scuffed and turned away. It matters not. They could come back after those powers have gone to kill their entire clan. The Ah clan members sighed a relieve as the Tze sect left. They all turned to their clan head in fear.

"Prepare to leave the demon lands." he instructed and they all sighed in despair and dispersed. The clan head was suddenly surrounded by the elders, who looked as worried as he was.

"Are we really leaving?" one of them asked.

"We still have a hand to play. My grandson as well as most of yours, are in the great spill. They will enter the astral roots. If they come out with a treasure, we can offer it to powers greater or on par with the Tze sect in return for their protection." he said and they all nodded in agreement.