The Nine Heavens Alliance was built to prevent chaos. But it had grown soft—bloated with ceremony and full of sects that feared losing power more than losing honor.
The Demon Sect was a threat not just to their power, but to their model of cultivation. It defied everything they taught.
They gathered their greatest forces. Five Sword Saints, each with a lineage over a hundred years. The White Jade Monk, whose chants could stop a man's heart. Divine Beasts captured in wars against the South. Armies clad in spiritual armor.
They marched on Black Sand Valley.
Mu-Won stood alone at the valley's mouth, watching the clouds swirl.
"I told you to come," he said.
The Sword Saints charged. The monk raised his staff. The beasts roared.
Mu-Won raised one hand.
The valley shook. The sky darkened. A black lotus bloomed beneath his feet, absorbing the spiritual energy of the land. When his hand fell, silence followed.
A crater remained where the army once stood.
The Five Sword Saints were gone. The beasts turned to ash. The Holy Monk had no body left to bury.
The Nine Heavens Alliance had gambled everything.
They lost.