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What happened next could not be described as killing a chicken to scare a monkey. It was more akin to slaughtering a herd to eradicate a disease.

From my position in the faction enclave, I could see tens of thousands of warriors encircling both mountains of the sect. As I watched, their formation slowly closed around each mountain’s base.

It was more difficult for me to see what was happening at the Martial Peak, but I could see those around the Alchemy Peak clearly enough. Their first target was the city of the nominal disciples. As the circle of warriors closed in upon it, some wrapped around to form a complete barrier, blocking any possible escape.

The attackers didn’t even bother entering the city to fight man to man. Massive waves of energy rippled out of their formation and tore apart buildings one by one. The large apartment buildings, like the one I used to live in, collapsed like they were built out of mud and rotten sticks.

The attacks didn’t come from a single element. There were bursts of all five basic elements. Gouts of fire, blasts of ice, giant slashes from invisible swords, huge swaths of earth overturned, and creeping vines attacked both structures and humans, but this was only part of the devastation. Buildings were also struck by thick columns of lightning, hurricane-force winds, and other attacks I could not see.

I had never seen what warriors from the sect’s Martial Peak were capable of, and I didn’t know if they were able to cause this level of damage, but this was far beyond what I had imagined a grandmaster could do. If a Grandmaster could easily destroy a building single-handedly, what would a Lord, King, or Emperor be capable of?

The encroaching armies paused their march toward the mountain as the city of the nominal disciples was attacked. They wanted us to see, to bear witness to, their vengeance. It was hard to see many details from my vantage high up the mountain, but even as far away as I was, I could still hear the screaming of a hundred thousand souls. They knew they were doomed. They had no way to defend themselves, no way to fight back. All they could do was wait to be slaughtered.

As building after building was demolished, slowly, trickles of blood that turned into small streams began flowing down the streets.

While I didn’t know that this attack was coming, I was prepared. I had long ago placed everything I needed in my storage space, read all the technique manuals I could, and pushed my alchemy to its limits. I was ready, but I didn’t want to die immediately. The longer I survived the more I would learn. At this point, anything I could learn might be of dubious value, but I still wanted to try.

Staying in my workshop gave me nothing, and going down the mountain was just another form of suicide, so I decided to go up. I began walking the path to the Great Hall. If anyone was going to tell me anything, it would be there.

The mountain paths were crowded with frantic people scrambling to get to the peak. Everyone seemed to have the same idea, get to the hall and let the Sect Master tell us what to do. Even if they knew he couldn’t do anything about this calamity, it was the only thing people could think to do.

Just outside the Great Hall, I saw someone who had faded from my life over the past couple of decades, Elder Jiao. She was in a frantic state. I had become used to seeing her as a proper, composed elder. She had become the epitome of a well-groomed and dressed lady. Now, though, her hair was in a tangled mess and her robes were dirty and disordered.

“Jiao,” I said, “what’s going on? Do you know why they’re attacking us?”

“What… who are… Su… Deacon Su…” she said. Her eyes were wild, and she was shaking. “The Sect Master is gone, and all of the top elders have vanished. No one knows what happened. We’ve been abandoned.”

“Where did they go?” I asked. I was shocked that the leaders would disappear. What did that mean? If the entire sect was to be held liable for TianLei’s actions, shouldn’t they be the first on the chopping block?

“We don’t know,” she said, “they may have been taken, or they may have escaped. Those bastards had to know this was coming. They knew, and they abandoned us to save themselves!”

Panic had set in, and Jiao wasn’t the only one feeling it. High atop the mountain, as everyone came to realize that the leaders of the sect were gone, people were going crazy. If this had been my only life, I might have joined them.

“Elder Jiao,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm, “what do we do now? We just need a plan. What are we going to do?”

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“There’s nothing we can do!” she screamed. The façade of a sect elder had completely vanished at this point.

“We can fight. We can defend ourselves,” I suggested.

“No one knows how,” she said with a mirthless laugh.

“What about the illusion formation? There are illusions guarding the sect from outsiders. That should at least slow them down, right?”

“Those were built by the Flowing Mountain Sect. They were disabled before this even began,” she said, losing all hope.

Jiao collapsed on the ground and started crying, but she wasn’t alone. Left with no other option, others also began falling to their knees in defeat.

“I know what comes next,” Jiao sobbed. “I won’t let that happen.”

She stood up and looked around. Spotting a small outcropping that stuck out over the mountain, Jiao began to run and didn’t stop. With all the speed she could manage, she threw herself off the cliff.

As she did, I just stood there and watched. I could have stopped her, could have saved her life. I had martial techniques that would have allowed me to move far quicker than she was running, but I just watched. I knew what she was afraid of. While I didn’t know what it was like to be a woman in this world, I knew what happened to women in wars, and so did Jiao. This was her choice to make. I couldn’t stop the oncoming army, so I wouldn’t stop her.

Would such a fall kill a Martial Grandmaster? Normally, maybe not. But as she was falling, Jiao worked to sever her meridians and disperse her qi as much as possible. When she hit the ground, she was no stronger than an average mortal.

I stepped up to the edge of the cliff and looked down. I didn’t focus on the broken body below. I looked only at the army making their slow march toward the peak. The sect village had already been overrun, and all that was left was the mountain itself.

I expected the advance to slow significantly at this point. The mountain paths were narrow, and there was no way to march an entire army up them. I believed that if people made a concerted effort, they might be able to form last stands at the various chokepoints.

I was wrong.

As the army approached, the earth moved. New paths and stairways appeared out of nowhere as if welcoming the invaders in. In qi vision, I saw thick streamers of earth qi carving the entire mountain at a frantic pace. This wasn’t the effort of just a few individuals. Platoons of earth qi cultivators rotated one after the next to quickly build a patch forward.

The advance was not quick, but it was relentless. Enclave after enclave was wiped out until only the peak remained. I couldn’t fight an army, but I wanted to see where I stood. I had only trained martial arts in private and only sparred with significantly weaker opponents. I was ready to see how I compared with trained soldiers.

When the first enemy crested the cliff face, I charged. My goal was to knock him back. I would use a technique to send a burst of qi which should have a strong enough force to blow him away, like I had with the disciples of the Martial Peak.

I channeled my qi and sent it out.

The soldier didn’t show any reaction on his face. He just swiped his arm and let loose his own qi. It wasn’t a type I recognized, but it instantly dispersed the energy I had sent at him and created a gust that threw me to the ground.

As I struggled to get to my feet, another soldier walked forward dispassionately and stabbed me in the gut. His attack destroyed my dantian, crippling my cultivation, and severed my spine so I couldn’t move. He didn’t kill me instantly, though. He left me there so I could watch as the army moved forward and dispatched the sect members one by one.

As I lay dying, I looked out over the cliff and down at the ruins where the Twin Mountains Sect had once stood.

A member of the sect had destroyed the Su Clan. In retaliation, the entire sect was laid to waste.

I could understand the actions of TianLei. He wanted more power for his family. For his clan to rise, the Su Clan had to fall. I didn’t agree with what he did, but I could understand it. There was just no way he could have understood the magnitude of the firestorm he would unleash. After the sect was destroyed, I had no doubt the families of those who participated would meet a similar end.

I could also understand the response of the powers that destroyed the sect. Someone in the sect broke a pact that all powers involved abided by. As a result, the sect had to face swift punishment. If they didn’t, the next such agreement would be significantly less powerful. Again, I didn’t necessarily agree with it, but I could understand it.

There was one thing that troubled me, though. One aspect of the destruction I couldn’t quite understand. There was only one place I could turn to for an answer. Did I need the answer? No. But I wanted to understand.

“System, the blessing TianLei receives has changed multiple times through my lives. It looks like he is being adjusted to be as destructive as possible. This is the work of the Earthly Dao, right? Why is the Earthly Dao working so hard to destroy everything?”

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“Stagnation,” said a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time. It was the voice of the incarnation of the Earthly Dao I had met many lifetimes ago. “This entire place has stagnated. To better this world, all beings must strive to advance. The accords protecting this area made everything here too peaceful. Will this war change things? I do not know. You have yet to live long enough for me to see the effects of my efforts here. Until then, I can only work on making the conflict itself as momentous as possible.”

It made sense. It was ruthless and cruel, but I could understand it. Years ago, Elder Mu had told me: “Nothing matters unless it helps me reach my goal. If you get in the way, I will kill you.” This was the exact same logic. The Earthly Dao wanted the world to advance, and the people here got in its way.

Could I stop it all? Prevent this tragedy from happening? Probably. I could try to stop TianLei early before he gained any strength. If someone else rose to take his place, I could stop them too, but that would be putting myself directly at odds with the Dao. It wanted this to happen. If I tried to stop it, I would be the one standing in the way.

I owed the people of the sect a debt. For all that I had been used to further the goals and schemes of others, they had taught me earnestly and provided a vast amount of knowledge and guidance. That was something I would need to repay in the future.

I was not willing to oppose the Earthly Dao for their sake, but I would find a way to repay all my debts in the future.

You have died. Calculating…

You died as a Martial Grandmaster Peak. 1,000,000 credits awarded.

Total Credits: 1,000,790

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End of Volume 1.