The first of the zombies steps into the firelight.
Then another.
Then dozens more.
They emerge from the trees and broken ground, their movements stiff yet unnervingly swift, their eyes dull, their skin pale as ash.
Merin's gaze sweeps over them once and sharpens.
Their strength is uneven.
Some move with the crude force of Blood Seal Realm warriors, bodies reinforced but clumsy.
Others radiate a deeper pressure, with refined inner organs, clearly at the Inner Five Organ Realm.
Normal.
Minor.
Even a few at major refinement, bronze and silver glints flickering faintly beneath rotting flesh.
This is no uniform force.
It is a tide stitched together from whatever the ritual consumed.
The captains, lieutenants, and the three members of the Golden Lotus Sect step forward together.
Their strength sits firmly at the ninth stage of the Blood Seal Realm, enough to dominate ordinary foes, enough to kill elites.
They form lines.
They brace.
Merin does not speak.
Commander Di steps to his side, Blood Qi flaring as he completes his seventh refinement, light gold radiance spilling from his skin.
Elder Lin plants her staff.
Lin Qiansu stands just behind her, lips pressed thin, eyes burning with restraint.
The zombies charge.
The impact is immediate and brutal.
Steel meets rotting flesh.
Qi slams into dead muscle.
Heads are severed, limbs torn free, bodies smashed apart.
Yet they do not stop.
A zombie with its chest blown open continues forward, fingers clawing, teeth snapping.
Another with half its skull gone grapples a captain and drags him down.
Screams erupt.
Merin moves.
Where he passes, the pressure vanishes.
His blade flashes in precise arcs, decapitating, dismembering, erasing.
A zombie at gold-stage inner refinement lunges for his throat.
Merin sidesteps, twists, and splits it cleanly from shoulder to hip.
He is calm.
Efficient.
Unhurried.
Thousands of years of combat guide every motion.
Around him, the situation collapses.
The captains fight back-to-back, killing dozens, but exhaustion creeps in.
One lieutenant is pierced through the abdomen by a silver-stage zombie and torn in half.
Another is crushed under sheer numbers, buried beneath grasping hands until he stops moving.
The Golden Lotus Sect members unleash fire and talismans, but the tide only thickens.
Commander Di roars and charges, light gold Qi blazing as he refines his power further in battle, mimicking Merin's path.
For a moment, he stands like a war god.
Then, three zombies strike together.
One pins his arm.
Another bites into his shoulder.
A third slams into his chest, cracking bone.
He is hurled back, blood spraying.
Elder Lin fares no better.
Her staff shatters bodies, golden waves erasing dozens at a time, but her movements slow.
A zombie at gold inner refinement slips through her guard and drives a clawed hand into her side.
She staggers, blood staining her robes.
Lin Qiansu screams.
She steps forward, reaching for a restraint that no longer matters.
Another zombie lunges for Elder Lin, jaws wide.
Something breaks.
Golden fire erupts.
Not as a flame.
As judgment.
The near-Saint treasure awakens.
A lotus of pure gold blooms above Lin Qiansu, its petals unfolding across the battlefield.
Golden fire cascades outward in silent waves.
It does not burn allies.
It does not scorch the ground.
It seeks only corruption.
Zombies ignite instantly.
Their bodies collapse into ash before they can scream.
Corpses burn.
Black mist evaporates.
Within breaths, the battlefield is cleared.
Crystals fall from the ashes, clinking softly against stone.
Then the lotus dims.
Lin Qiansu sways.
Her knees buckle.
She collapses unconscious, vitality drained, face pale as snow.
Silence returns.
Of the many who stood, only four remain alive.
Merin.
Commander Di, wounded and kneeling.
Elder Lin barely remains standing.
Lin Qiansu lies unconscious at their feet, her breath shallow, her face pale, the golden lotus mark on her brow dim but intact.
Merin turns.
The moment his gaze settles on them, the air changes.
Killing intent—cold, sharp, absolute—rolls outward from him like a drawn blade.
Commander Di feels it instantly.
So does Elder Lin.
They understand without words.
They have seen too much.
If they leave these mountains alive, Merin's secret will no longer belong to him alone.
And secrets like his do not survive exposure.
Merin takes a step forward.
Then another.
Each footfall is slow, deliberate, final.
Commander Di, kneeling in the blood-soaked earth, raises a trembling hand.
"Stop," he says hoarsely.
"I know what you're thinking."
Merin does not slow.
"Killing us won't solve your problem," Commander Di continues, forcing the words out.
"If only you walk out alive and we die here, the world will not believe a coincidence."
"They'll say you survived where we didn't."
"They'll dig."
"They'll suspect."
Merin stops three steps away.
His expression is unreadable.
"I will say," Merin replies calmly,
"That you sacrificed yourselves to stop the descent of an outer god."
Elder Lin lets out a short, breathless laugh.
"You can kill us both," she says, wiping blood from her lips.
"But you cannot kill Qiansu."
She gestures weakly toward the unconscious young woman.
"The Golden Lotus protects her."
Merin knows this.
To kill Lin Qiansu through the lotus would require mobilising his Virtual Engine Dao.
That would poison this body.
Force reincarnation.
Waste this life.
It is not an option.
He exhales slowly and lowers his blade a fraction.
"Then tell me," Merin says,
"What must I do to keep my secret?"
Commander Di and Elder Lin exchange a glance.
They do not hesitate.
"We will take a Heavenly Oath," Commander Di says.
Elder Lin nods.
"One that binds us beyond death."
Merin's killing intent recedes like a tide pulling back from shore.
A faint smile touches his lips.
He had known this would be the outcome.
Killing them would only deepen suspicion.
Binding them is cleaner.
Safer.
He lifts his sword slightly and gestures with it.
"Do it."
Commander Di straightens as much as his injuries allow.
Elder Lin braces herself against the ground.
Together, they speak.
"Heaven and Earth as witness," Commander Di declares,
"I, Di Yuanheng, swear that I will not reveal Duan Merin's true cultivation realm to anyone."
"Heaven and Earth as witness," Elder Lin follows,
"I, Lin Shuyun, swear that I will not reveal Duan Merin's true cultivation realm to anyone."
The air trembles.
Thunder rumbles distantly, rolling through the mountains despite the blackened sky.
The oath is accepted.
Merin nods once.
His gaze shifts to Lin Qiansu.
Elder Lin follows his look.
"She will take the oath when she awakens," Elder Lin says quietly.
Merin inclines his head.
"That will be enough."
He turns away and begins collecting the dark-gold crystals scattered across the battlefield.
Thirty in total.
He keeps twelve.
The rest he places on the ground between Commander Di and Elder Lin.
"Divide them," he says.
"You'll need them."
Elder Lin reaches down and gently presses her palm against Lin Qiansu's chest, channelling Qi.
Moments later, Lin Qiansu stirs.
Her eyes flutter open.
Confusion flashes across her face, then memory.
She sits up sharply—and winces.
Merin is already seated nearby, refining.
Golden light flows around him, deepening second by second as he begins his eighth Blood Qi refinement.
Lin Qiansu listens as Elder Lin explains quickly.
She does not argue.
She does not hesitate.
"Heaven and Earth as witness," Lin Qiansu says weakly,
"I, Lin Qiansu, swear that I will not reveal Duan Merin's true cultivation realm to anyone."
Thunder answers again.
Merin opens his eyes briefly and nods.
Minutes pass.
Then Lin Qiansu's expression tightens.
"We need to leave," she says urgently.
"The Golden Lotus is trembling."
"There is danger."
Commander Di forces himself to his feet.
"Yes," he agrees.
"Staying longer is unwise."
Merin ends his refinement and rises.
"Then let's go."
They move quickly down the mountain, pushing their injured bodies to the limit.
Within minutes, they reach the lower slopes—and the barrier.
A wall of black mist churns ahead, thick and oppressive, pulsing with alien pressure.
Elder Lin steps forward and strikes with her palm.
Golden fire erupts.
The barrier ripples—but holds.
The recoil sends Elder Lin staggering backwards.
Lin Qiansu clenches her fists.
"I haven't recovered enough," she says.
"I can't force the lotus again."
Commander Di turns to Merin.
"What do we do?"
Merin steps forward and places his palm against the barrier.
He closes his eyes.
The world quiets.
Lines form in his mind.
Layers.
Interlocking structures.
The array is vast.
Ancient.
Powered by the Dao of a Saint.
It cannot be parted by force here.
Only one way remains.
Destroy the source.
Merin opens his eyes and looks toward a distant peak, where the mist coils thickest.
"There," he says.
"That's the source."
He turns and starts walking.
"Follow me."
Without question, they follow him back into the mountain's shadow.