"Get ready for the last wave!" Li Sifeng growled.
As the person with highest cultivation in his group, Li Sifeng led other Jindan Cultivators along with Deng Yaping, ensuring that other Foundation-level Cultivators could fight low level demonic cultivators without facing mortal danger. They had already picked all the strongest Demonic cultivators to kill and clear the field.
A wide swath of evening sky had clouds dispersing, billowing with gusty winds. The abrupt rain had ceased, the clouds cleared revealing two forces lunging at each other's throat. At the center, Grandmaster Wen Haiming was holding his Celestial-bone Rope Dart, entangling the Demonic General within it. Li Sifeng heard the shouts and immediately gave a brief look to see if it was real—the demonic general really took out a demonic relic and was preparing to explode his soul!
Li Sifeng, clenched his teeth and warned others, "Don't get distracted! Focus on your own fights."
He scattered his Redborn fire-Lilac seeds, watched them explode one by one, killing hundreds of corpses and reducing them into dust creating a wide circular clearing around himself. He watched Late stage Foundation Building Monks gather together and handle a Golden Core Demonic entity. He himself attacked a Jindan Puppet. His Sativa vine-whip leaped towards the puppets neck, at the same time he successfully released his secret move, crushing the main core of the puppet, reducing it into smithereens.
Li Sifeng watched almost achingly as many young flames died. Sect disciples, companions and friends—some were killed by animated corpses, some murdered by enemies.
"Brother Deng, we need to do something."
Hearing his voice ringing in his mind, Deng Yaping gave him a covert glance. He throttled a demonic cultivator, crushing his early stage Golden-Core to pieces. Only then did he turn to ask Li Sifeng, "What do you want to do?"
"I have an ancient Formation. If you're willing to believe me, that formation can clear the field completely. Apart from being restricted by my Golden-core level, I'm sure all these corpses and Golden-core Demonic cultivators can be killed in one move."
"Killing Formation?"
"Yes. What do you think?"
Deng Yaping's eyes fell on the shocked and angry face of one of his sect members who had just lost his brother. He thought for a moment then nodded. He flew closer to Li Sifeng and instructed, "Send the details to everyone. I will share and coordinates with my sect members."
Li Sifeng looked at the sweat and blood covered Deng Yaping and nodded. His own bleeding arms hadn't been treated. He swallowed a healing pill. Looking at the worsening state of the clash, he still wished he could end the fight quickly. He stared down at his red whip, then at the desert underneath that left no trace of anyone falling down on it, swallowing them all like a gaping mouth of abyss. He sent a copy of the Communication talisman to everyone immediately.
It didn't take time for others to organize. Both the Wuji sect and his own Tianlan sect members, in an incredible speed, fell into their designated places and started casting hand seals and chanting mantras.
"Brother Li! The Array flags are ready," A junior hurriedly reminded him.
Li Sifeng nodded at him, coming out of his own chants. He sacrificed his spiritual energy to release his hidden treasure, reinforced the Protective Array over his head, then started weaving the core of the formation around himself. This was the last step. Once this Killing Array was enforced they just needed to see it didn't get breached by enemy forces.
"Once the formation is in place, keep supplying spiritual energy to it, don't stop!" He said, holding the Talismans ready in his hands. "Stay at your places and just read the incantations. Others will protect you. I repeat, no one strays from their original position or we will all die. Bear this in mind when you think about stepping away. Everyone's life is on the line."
"Yes!"
"Don't worry Li Sifeng, our group will not let anyone approach your people," Deng Yaping assured him.
Li Sifeng nodded at him, then quickly threw the flags. Invisible yet, tangible orange lines rose one by one, weaving a huge spherical pattern in the sky, looking rune-like and enigmatic. Many demonic cultivators who were adept in the art of Formation immediately recognized the Formation and started warning and attacking. The group led by Deng Yaping however, didn't let anyone come close to the Formation's center.
"Protect them even if you have to die! Don't let anyone slip near here."
"We know brother Deng!"
***
"It's really a trap!"
Above the ship, fifty demonic cultivators met their General, forming a huge human formation. The demonic relic, a black Lotus, was released. Then the five demonic cultivators took their own lives.
"Human sacrifice…," Someone whispered.
Red blood splattered and the lotus sucked it all inside its unfurling petals.
The general roared as if in great pain. His mask cracked, his red eyes became visible to all. Behind the dark tattoos squiggling over his face, he kept roaring in pain. Something menacing was breaking inside of him. Before anyone could see clearly, Wen Ruofeng cast another layer of Protective Barrier over the two conjoined main ships.
By the time he did that, the body of General hung limp, suspended contortedly. Digging out from him, a red eyed, potbellied Asura growled. His gigantic body transformed into a Dancing Asura, burning his bronze Sacrificial Drum alight, he started jumping loudly over his enormous drum and beating his chests. Wei Zhiruo foolishly tried to look at his face, but she experienced such a deep fear and pain that she didn't dare to raise her head again.
The dance resonated with everything, drowning everyone in its primitive sense of rhythm.
"They summoned an extra-terrestrial demon!! How dare they!" A female cultivator yelled angrily.
"It's insane, they are insane!"
"Sister Tan, its Grandmaster Ruofeng. With him here, don't worry, none of them can escape. In fact, this is the only way in which that Demonic General could have had any impact whatsoever."
Wei Zhiruo clenched her fist, not daring to look up. But the otherworldly sound penetrated everywhere. But soon, a blinding sun covered everything in its radiance. Its warmth penetrated her cells, making her feel calm and safe. She lingered in the cozy feeling for a long time, felt a tingling resonance in her own huadian, which unfurled yet another petal. She was so busy tasting the exhilarating warmth that she didn't notice how the blinding sun successfully choked and throttled the Dancing Asura, burning him till there was nothing left.
There was just an otherworldly lamentation which made her feel like she was listening to an abyss voicing it's discontent. She felt her goosebumps and reviewed how that behemoth had affected her mind. Did it have maddening attribute, or was it just a creature of higher order that couldn't be seen by humans or they might go insane?
"Are we going to be okay?" Ning Fei asked, disrupting Wei Zhiruo's ecstatic state.
"Probably," Ning Yizhuo whispered back, "I guess, we are safe now…that thing didn't even last a minute. He is very powerful."
Everyone knew she meant Lord Ruofeng.
***
"Surrender." Wen Ruofeng's voice echoed at this moment. "Accept your defeat. Go tell your Demon Lord his ambitions are known to the rest of the world and no one will suffer his insufferable demands anymore."
"Ptuah!!" The General's closest confidante had taken the leader's place in confrontation. He spurted out red blood from his mouth. Despite the dribbling line of red down his mouth's corner, he never stopped talking overbearingly. "Is that how you'll deal with us, your esteemed Lordship? Send us away so that you can track where our master hides? Never mind us, kill us today, wipe us all out. But there will be no traitors in our midst!"
"If that is your wish." Wen Ruofeng replied softly, without betraying any emotion. He raised his hand to direct the Rope-dart to end everything, but stopped when he heard the new leader laugh mockingly.
"Do you…think it is just us, Ruofeng?" The leader broke out into a derisive laugh. "Do…you think you'll avenge your clan's young master by killing us? Isn't that why you were called out from your hermit cave? You are so clueless, hahaahaa!"
Blood dribbled down his broken forehead, his skull was showing, a gash looked painfully fatal open near his chest, yet the man woodenly endured and kept laughing menacingly.
"You orthodox cultivators…you believe by killing us here you'll stifle our ambitions but you forget…many, many demons are spawning in your hypocritical bodies, hundreds of them are answering to my Lord! Hundreds of them were monks who claimed to strive for truth in your sects some years ago. Now they run errands for our Demon Lord. How many will you kill?"
"Kill as many as my fate might direct me to. Heaven is just. I will wipe out every single one of you I lay my eyes on. Just be prepared to face the consequences of your action," Wen Ruofeng declared calmly.
The man broke into another burst of laughter, "You will kill even your beloved young mistress, Wen Yue, who is now one of us? Will you kill her too?"
Wen Ruofeng felt the uproar this news caused. Faces of cultivators on the ship and around him, went pale in an instant; some people were so shocked that they faltered in their steps.
True Lord Ruofeng didn't show any reaction. He still uttered coldly, "Anyone found falling into the devil's path will be found and dealt with accordingly. There will be no exceptions. I will personally behead Wen Yue if she dares to walk in front of me one day. The dao of Just Killing doesn't see blood relations or ties, we kill every unjust tyrant."
True Lord Wen Ruofeng clutched his weapon, didn't indulge his opponent anymore and gave him a final blow.
The moment he did that successfully, he saw a huge Killing Array spring into action, dragging every corpse and stray Demonic cultivators into its whirlpool—with both the Sect's members coming together and supplying the huge Formation with their spiritual essence, soon, the shouts and cries of burning demons filled the air.
Wen Ruofeng appreciated the intricate formation for a second before he looked around himself. The eternally shining sun on his back disappeared finally.
He jumped over the ship's mast ready to retreat. His task has ended with the death of the Demonic General. He was even glad the sect decided to send him to oversee these children on their way back. He was pondering on the nature of that Black Lotus; the records of such exotic flowers had never been seen in any Ancient or contemporary records of herbs and panaceas, or even in poison records. Or maybe something slipped through his hands or it was one of those highly rare poisonous plants. In any case, he needed to report this new finding to the sect. A lotus that could make extra-terrestrial demons successfully form and appear in the real world, such an ominous plant needed to be cleared completely.
Wen Ruofeng heard the cries of demonic Cultivator burning in the Killing Array and sent a message to the Sect Master.
"It's done. He just sent a couple slaves he owned. The highest of them had just reached late stage Nascent soul."
"Late Nascent soul? It's good you are there! Come back early. There are too many things for me to manage right now. I might need your help, junior brother."
"You said I could go back to seclusion once I came back from this trip." Wen Ruofeng's eyes twitched. He didn't like where everything was going. "Don't forget, you are the sect Master and you cannot throw your duties on me. I will send my disciples instead."
"Wen Haiming?! Is he back? How is he? He isn't hurt too badly, is he?" The sect Master sounded genuinely happy for his junior brother's sake.
"He is recovering here with me. A little girl protected him in his weak state so I will have you reserve a spot for her in some Secret Realm openings. I will remember this favor, brother. She will take the Sect's entrance along with others."
"Okay, okay. I will take care of all that for my nephew's sake. Don't worry, come back early. It's good that you were there when the ambush happened."
Wen Ruofeng also agreed with this. If it wasn't for their preparations, or how his senior brother had taken a step further and decided to send him along without telling anyone else, this scene would've been completely different.
Instead of finding his lost disciple, and saving these sect juniors, he would have heard of their complete annihilation in his cave. A report recording their brutal massacre would cradle on a jade slip and remain gathering dust, with no way for him to change anything. He was really glad he had heard the voices of his heart and followed. He suddenly recalled the weak, almost nearing death state of his small disciple and felt really grateful for this chance.
As for Wen Yue, and how to deal with her…that was his brother's headache. He wasn't so selfless as to forgive a traitor in the family. It didn't matter how closely related they were. She dared to betray her brother, sent his location to demonic cultivators, how could he not avenge his disciples' loss? But it will have to wait. He knew Haiming. He would beg him to deal with this issue on his own. He thought of these and shook his head to rid himself of other plaguing worries.
There was a bigger issue than revenge in front of them. The ugliness breeding in the hearts of cultivators everywhere was becoming perverse. Who knew how those thoughts of greedy cultivators breached into the desolate realm of Mortals. But the heavens' wrath isn't something their generation could deal with. If the mortals kept being abused like this...whether the major Sect's and associations were the actual perpetrators or not, or just mere bystanders, when the Heavenly calamity strikes it never picks and chooses! Cleansing. The whole cultivation realm needed a deep cleansing from such filths! He thought about the ancient ones waking up one after another and grimly looked at the horizon full of smoke. Things were changing. Perhaps the calamity was already staring them in the face?
True Taoist Lord Wen Ruofeng looked down at the group of children lost in thought. Suddenly, his eyes met a pair of blue eyes looking up at him. He was shocked to see such a deep and rich colored pupil. He observed the girl who stood tall, with no traces of tears running down her face, her back straight, without shivering. He subtly nodded to himself, appreciating the young one's courage. This year's Disciple Choosing Ceremony was indeed going to be a spectacle, he thought as he disappeared towards the Eastern Tower. The heaven had already subtly given them a head start. With so many talents being suddenly shoved into the lifeline of different Sect's, it didn't matter what kind of catastrophe it was going to be a thousand years from now. There will be many who can support the falling sky by that time…
'Didn't senior brother send an invitation for this ceremony? Let's join this time. If not for anything, one can satisfy the curiosity by watching gossips,' Lord Ruofeng remembered the invitation from the Sect master to join this year's ceremony and finally decided to go. 'I cannot decide…whether so many geniuses are good omen or a sign of something troublesome looking past the horizon.'