The echo of the spatial pop faded, leaving behind only the rhythmic patter of the cold rain against the shattered stones of the canyon. The grey light had vanished, taking the blood-stained youth with it, and leaving the ruined basin in a heavy, suffocating silence.
For several breaths, no one moved. The remaining cultivators from the Green Bamboo Sect and the Heavenly Sword Lake stood frozen, their eyes locked onto the empty patch of mud where the body of Shen Mo—now revealed to be Fang Lin—had lain just a moment prior.
"Explain this, Elder Feng!"
The silence was shattered by the roared accusation of the leading Heavenly Sword Lake elder. His face was twisted in a mixture of disbelief and fury, his sword tip trembling as it remained pointed directly at Elder Feng's face. The Qi around him flared with a cold, threatening light, cutting through the falling rain. "Your own disciple! A disciple of the Green Bamboo Sect was the rogue Shen Mo who swept the ruins and hunted our alliances! And you stand there pretending ignorance while he escapes under your nose?!"
Elder Feng did not flinch. He stood tall, his white hair damp with the rain, his posture as imposing as the Rising Phoenix Mountain. The initial shock that had paled his face was slowly replaced by a grim, stony resolve. He looked down at the sword pointed at him, then at the scattered corpses of the Demon Suppression Temple elites.
"Lower your sword, Elder Duan," Elder Feng said, his voice quiet but carrying a weight that caused the surrounding rainwater to ripple. "Accuse my Green Bamboo Sect of what, exactly? Fang Lin is indeed a disciple of our sect. He is a young cultivator of this region who entered the Demon Sealing Ruins to seek his path. Since when is it a crime for a disciple to defend himself against a coordinated hunt?"
"Defend himself?!" the Heavenly Sword Lake elder hissed, his eyes widening. "He slaughtered five Core Formation elders at the gates of Rivercloud City! And here, he has slain seven Core Formation cultivators of the Demon Suppression Temple! He killed Heng Wuchen, the top legacy disciple of the Temple! This is an act of war against the major sects!"
"What are the elites of Demon Suppression doing in our Green Bamboo County? Are you again going to say that they were searching for the traces of demon?
If the Demon Suppression Temple chooses to send seven Core Formation elites and their top legacy disciple to hunt down a single junior at the Late Spirit Foundation Realm, and they fail, that is their own shame," Elder Feng countered, his tone turning freezing cold. "A junior in the Spirit Foundation Realm was forced into a sealed canyon, trapped under a spatial net, and hunted for his life. What did you expect him to do? Stand still and allow himself to be executed to preserve the Temple's face?"
"You—"
"If the Demon Suppression Temple wants to demand answers, they can take it up with the Thousand Leaf Immortal Sect," Elder Feng interrupted, his aura flaring slightly, forcing the Heavenly Sword Lake elder's sword tip to drift backward. "But the Green Bamboo Sect will not accept blame for a junior surviving an unfair slaughter. Do not forget where you stand, Elder Duan. This is still the territory of the Thousand Leaf Sect's subsidiary alliances."
Before the argument could escalate further, the sky above the canyon rippled.
Several powerful streaks of light descended from the clouds, landing at the edge of the basin. The newcomers were the local patrol guardians—Spirit Manifestation and Domain Forging experts from the major camps stationed outside the ruins. Having finally detected the massive energy fluctuations of the battle's final moments, they had rushed over to investigate.
The leading Domain Forging expert, a middle-aged man in grey robes, stepped forward, his eyes sweeping over the devastated terrain. The shattered bronze staff, the frozen mud, and the corpses of the Temple elites painted a clear picture of a catastrophic clash.
"What happened here?" the Domain Forging expert demanded, his voice echoing through the canyon. He immediately closed his eyes, releasing a vast, oppressive wave of divine sense to sweep across the region, attempting to lock onto the spatial residue left by the teleportation array.
The other arriving experts did the same, their divine senses weaving through the air like invisible nets. However, within moments, the Domain Forging expert opened his eyes, his expression turning into one of utter bewilderment.
"How is this possible?" he muttered, looking at his hands.
His powerful divine sense, which could normally trace a spatial transition for hundreds of miles, was completely blocked. It was as if a wall of invisible, chaotic static had severed the local space, erasing all directional traces of the teleportation. There was no thread to follow, no karmic link left behind.
"Did you find anything, Senior Cao?" the Heavenly Sword Lake elder asked quickly in a reverent tone, lowering his sword but keeping his gaze fixed on Elder Feng.
"Nothing," the Domain Forging expert replied, his brow furrowed in deep frustration. "The spatial residue is completely severed. A mysterious force has blocked our tracking. Not only that, but a battle of this scale—with a legacy disciple striking down and a domain of absolute cold—should have alerted our monitoring arrays long ago. Yet, we sensed nothing until the very end. The local space was completely blinded."
The experts were flabbergasted. None of them could comprehend how a Late Spirit Foundation cultivator, even one with extraordinary secrets, could possess the means to completely block the senses of Spirit Manifestation and Domain Forging experts. They could only stare at the empty crater, realizing that the youth had slipped away into the vast continent, leaving them with no way to pursue.
With no spatial trail to follow, the atmosphere in the canyon remained tense and heavy. The cultivators associated with the Demon Suppression Temple silently stepped forward to collect their dead. They gathered the bodies of the seven elites and the shattered pieces of Heng Wuchen's bronze staff, their faces grim and silent. They knew that when this news reached the Temple's grand hall, the rage of the elders would shake the southern region.
Without another word, the Temple faction departed, their flying treasures disappearing into the rainy sky. Elder Feng turned to the remaining Green Bamboo disciples, including a pale and silent Feng Jiu'er.
"We return to the sect," Elder Feng commanded, his voice heavy. "The storm has only just begun."
The news of the canyon battle did not take long to reach Rivercloud City, and when it did, it was as if a massive boulder had been dropped into a calm pond, sending shockwaves through every clan and tavern.
In the grand hall of the Zhao Clan, the clan head sat at the main table, his hand trembling so hard that the tea in his cup spilled onto the polished wood. Several elders stood before him, their faces pale and their breathing shallow.
"Say that again," the clan head whispered, his voice cracking.
"The... the wandering merchant at the city gates," the leading informant stammered, his eyes wide with terror. "The youth who killed the five Core Formation elders of the three sects... his disguise collapsed in the canyon. It was a disciple named Fang Lin from the Green Bamboo Sect. And... and he was the one who went by the name Shen Mo in the ruins."
"Shen Mo..." the clan head murmured, the name tasting like lead in his mouth. "The monster who swept the Blackstone trials. The one who slew the heirs and forced the River Sword Sect to pay compensation."
"Yes, Patriarch. And it is worse. The Demon Suppression Temple sent six Core Formation elites and a Legacy Disciple Heng Wuchen to capture him. In the canyon, Fang Lin killed all seven of them. He... he shattered Heng Wuchen's Mount Sumeru strike and slew him on the spot. He did all this while still at the Late Spirit Foundation Realm."
A suffocating silence descended upon the grand hall. The elders of the Zhao Clan looked at each other, their minds filled with a sudden, freezing dread. They had set up a web of informants to track this monster. They had scanned him at their gates. In the future when he matures, if he decides to turn his full wrath on Rivercloud City, the entire city will turn into a graveyard.
-
In the headquarters of the River Sword Sect, the reaction was one of pure, unadulterated panic.
Even Xu Hanjiang, who had previously tried to scheme against Shen Mo by using the Heavenly Sword Lake's searchers, sat in his private chamber, his eyes blank. He felt a cold sweat soaking through his robes. He had demanded compensation and plotted to corner a disciple whom he thought was just a lucky rogue.
Now, he realized he had been playing with a dragon. A Late Spirit Foundation junior who could slaughter elite Core Formation cultivators and a legacy disciple of a major sect was someone who could erase the River Sword Sect from the map if he ever returned in the future. The arrogance that the secondary sects had carried for years was completely shattered, replaced by a desperate prayer that Fang Lin would never seek revenge.
-
High on the peaks of the Green Bamboo Sect, the atmosphere was thick with tension. The defensive arrays of the sect had been fully activated, their green light humming softly against the mountain mist, shielding the valley from any sudden external attacks.
In a quiet courtyard near the Rising Phoenix Mountain, several disciples of the Green Bamboo Alliance were gathered.
Xuo Mu sat on a stone bench, his head buried in his hands. Xue Ji stood beside him, her fingers gripping the edge of a wooden railing so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Li Shan, Luo Chen, and the others stood in silence, the weight of the news pressing down on their chests.
"Fang Lin... is Shen Mo?" Xuo Mu whispered, his voice filled with a profound, disbelieving awe. "The friend who walked down the mountain with us, the one who shared a picnic in the forest... he is the monster who shook the entire trial ground?"
"He hid it so well," Li Shan said, a self-deprecating smile appearing on his face. "We thought we were protecting him. We thought he was lucky to survive the collapsed tunnel in the valley. All this time, he was operating at a level we can barely comprehend."
"But the battle..." Xue Ji spoke, her voice trembling slightly. "The reports say his disguise collapsed because he was completely spent. His arm bones were shattered, his meridians torn, and he was covered in blood when the spatial light took him. He was unconscious."
Luo Chen stepped forward, his hand resting on the hilt of the spear Fang Lin had gifted him. His eyes were steady, though filled with a deep, silent worry. "He survived. A spatial array activated and took him away from the canyon. He is alive, but he is wounded and alone."
"Who might have activated that Spatial Array? He must be having an extremely powerful master behind him right?"
"The major sects will hunt him to the ends of the earth," Xuo Mu said, looking up, his eyes filled with anxiety. "The Demon Suppression Temple will never let this go. How can he survive against the entire continent?"
Before anyone could answer, a loud, resonant chime echoed from the main peak of the Green Bamboo Sect. It was the signal indicating the arrival of an official envoy from the overlord sect.
On the main plaza of the Green Bamboo Sect, the Sect Master and the Grand Elder stood with their heads bowed slightly, greeting the arriving guest.
A massive flying vessel, adorned with the golden leaf patterns of the Thousand Leaf Immortal Sect, floated above the plaza. An elder in luxurious golden-yellow robes descended from the vessel, his aura vast and stable, indicating a Late-stage Spirit Manifestation cultivation.
The Green Bamboo Sect Master stepped forward, his heart hammering against his ribs. He feared that the Thousand Leaf Sect had come to demand they hand over Fang Lin's family, friends, or resources to appease the Demon Suppression Temple.
"Greetings, Envoy Chen," the Sect Master said, bowing. "The Green Bamboo Sect is ready to cooperate with the main sect's instructions. Regarding the disciple Fang Lin—"
"The disciple Fang Lin is a pride of our Thousand Leaf lineage!" Envoy Chen interrupted, his voice booming across the plaza, carrying a tone that was completely unexpected.
The Sect Master froze, blinking in confusion. "Envoy Chen?"
Envoy Chen smiled, his eyes flashing with a sharp, proud light. "A Late Spirit Foundation junior of our subsidiary sect has slain seven Core Formation elites and the top legacy disciple of the Demon Suppression Temple. The Temple has always looked down on our eastern region, claiming their disciples are superior in every way. Now, one of our juniors has slapped their faces in front of the entire continent!"
"But... the Temple's wrath..." the Grand Elder ventured carefully. "Will they not demand retribution? They may threaten war."
"Let them threaten," Envoy Chen scoffed, waving his sleeve. "The rules of the continent are clear. The major sects are forbidden from sending a Spirit Manifestation or Domain Forging experts to hunt down subsidiary juniors without a valid, public trial. The Temple broke the covenant first by deploying their elites to assassinate a junior under a false pretext. If they want to start a war over a fair duel that their legacy disciple lost, the Thousand Leaf Immortal Sect will meet them on the battlefield."
The Green Bamboo leaders listened in stunned silence, a wave of relief washing over them, followed by a sudden realization. The Thousand Leaf Sect was not going to punish them; they were going to shield them.
"The Sect Master of the Thousand Leaf Sect has issued a decree," Envoy Chen announced, pulling out a golden jade slip. "The Green Bamboo Sect's borders are now under the direct protection of the main sect. Any external cultivator who attempts to cross into your territory to seek revenge for the canyon battle will be treated as an enemy of the Thousand Leaf Immortal Sect."
He turned his gaze toward the inner mountain paths. "Furthermore, Fang Lin's friends, family, and associates must be treated with the highest respect and protected from any covert assassination attempts. We will find Fang Lin. A genius of this caliber, capable of crossing realms to slay a legacy disciple at the Late Spirit Foundation stage, must be brought into the main sect as a legacy disciple of the Thousand Leaf Immortal Sect."
The decree was clear. The political landscape of the region had shifted overnight. The danger of immediate destruction had been averted, replaced by a defensive wall erected by their overlord.
Yet, as the golden vessel floated quietly above the mist, the question remained in everyone's mind.
Where was Fang Lin, and would he survive the injuries that had forced him to flee?
-