The rip in the world grew larger, and a young man stepped through causing everyone in the courtyard to become uneasy.
He appeared to be about twenty-five possibly twenty-eight at most. His attire was costly—the type of purple silk robes that cost more than most people earned in their lives adorned with gold rings and a jade pendant that buzzed with energy. Every aspect of him oozed wealth and status, from his groomed hair to his stance that suggested he owned all he saw.
But his facial expression unsettled everyone. Total apathy. He surveyed the ruined courtyard—the blood, the crumbled stones, the frightened disciples—as if he was inspecting insects in a container.
When his gaze landed on Xiao Hei, he stopped. The young man examined him, his spiritual sense extending and finding nothing. That caught his interest.
"Interesting," he remarked, his voice carrying the refined accent of aristocracy. "You don't hail from this insignificant realm, do you? Either you come from a place of much greater significance, or you're employing simple deceptions to conceal your true nature."
Feng Tianlan still covered in blood and on his knees amid the debris, saw a glimmer of hope. He crawled forward on his hands and knees.
"Lord Shen!" he cried out bowing his head to the ground. "I'm so glad you're here! This abomination wrecked everything. He slaughtered the elders, shattered our formation, and I failed to stop him even after taking your pill—"
The blow landed swift and merciless.
Feng Tianlan's head jerked to the side, his teeth flying across the rocks. The impact sent him tumbling across the yard.
"Worthless," Lord Shen said looking at his hand with revulsion. "I gave you a pill to break through worth more than this whole world, and you still couldn't resolve even a single matter?"
Feng Tianlan touched his swollen face, tasting blood. "But Lord Shen, this guy isn't ordinary. His strength—"
"Be quiet." The words silenced everything else. "I'll handle your mistakes later."
Lord Shen turned to Xiao Hei pointing at him. "You. What brings you here? Where do you come from? And why are you interfering with my affairs?"
Xiao Hei had stayed silent throughout, merely observing. Now he spoke up.
"So you're behind those tainted pills and spirit stones."
It wasn't a question.
Lord Shen raised an eyebrow. "And if I am? What can you do about it?"
The atmosphere between them thickened. All around the courtyard, others were afraid to breathe.
Lord Shen straightened himself, his luxurious robes flowing freely. "I am Shen Wuji, Third Prince of the Withered Bone Dynasty from the Fifth Realm. You don't understand what you're truly meddling with." His voice carried the authority of one to whom all others bowed without question. "The Fifth Realm stands far above this pitiful Third Realm you inhabit. I could turn this entire place to ash with a single gesture. You would do well to reconsider."
That name hung in the air with the weight of the implied threat behind it. A prince from the Fifth Realm explained everything: the arrogance, the cruelty, his contempt for everyone in this Third Realm, treating them as insects. Fifth Realm cultivators were terrifying not only for their power, but for their indifference toward a 'lesser' realm.
But Xiao Hei didn't seem impressed.
"I've wasted enough time in this miserable realm," he replied in that same monotone voice. "Now that the root of the problem has delivered itself to me, I no longer need to hunt it down; I can go directly to the source for answers."
Everything shifted in an instant.
Xiao Hei's killing intent hit like a crashing wave. The very air seemed to turn on them, as if something intangible pressed down with relentless weight. Not merely weight—the sensation that the very order of nature was bending, buckling beneath a burden it was never meant to bear.
At the eruption of killing intent, Lord Shen's smug expression collapsed. In that heartbeat, his face paled and his legs gave way. The prince was on the ground, spinning, his knees slamming into the stones with a force that tore his fine garments.
"What manner of existence are you?!" he gasped, struggling to form words. Blood streamed from his eyes and nose as his body fought against the crushing pressure.
The curses in his mind did not stop. Damn those Purple Moon Pavilion wretches! What kind of fiend did they draw me against? This is not merely the strength of a higher realm—it is something that defies the very laws of this world!
Yet the words could not escape his lips. The killing intent was so pure it seemed to freeze his soul.
Two figures were lying close to the ground in a pine grove miles away from the Purple Moon Pavilion, with a clear view of the sect compound.
Liu Feng was a thin man with scars and the emblem of the Storm Phoenix Sect, a storm-cloud, on his robe. His eyes were sharp and clear as if he had spent years observing and memorizing everything.
Next to him, Elder Mei Lian of the Jade Serpent Clan, holding her spyglass with unsteady hands, had just lowered it. Her green robe bore the serpent emblem, and her normally composed face was taut with worry.
They had been watching each other's backs for weeks while spying on the Purple Moon Pavilion. What they saw tonight had shaken their resolve.
"Liu Feng," she whispered. "Are you seeing this?"
He still looked at the distant courtyard and gave her a dark nod. "That fiend reduced their ancestor to the state of a helpless child, unfortunately, yes."
"And this prince..." Mei Lian shook her head. "We finally know the true hand behind the veil."
Both reached for the communication jades at their waists. Their faces briefly lit by the soft glow as they sent urgent messages back to their sects.
This overturned everything.
In a hall carved out of mountain stone, six representatives from various sects sat around a massive stone table. The tension within was so heavy it seemed to weigh upon the chamber.
The alliance had been somewhat shaky, but it had been gradually strengthening for a few months, as it had been made clear by the influx of reports of tainted pills. Since the Purple Moon Pavilion's power had expanded into their territory, the times had become so grim that only such an alliance could bring a solution.
"Every day, it gets worse with them," Elder Zhang, of the Storm Phoenix Sect commented in a low voice, his old face writing out the lack of hope. "Within this month, three more minor sects have fallen under their influence. Their disciples are advancing at a pace defying reason that it is next to impossible to keep."
Matriarch Su of the Jade Serpent Clan expressed her agreement and said, "The information I have is that the outer disciples of Ironback Mountain Sect have jumped from mid-Qi Refinement to peak Foundation Establishment stage within a few weeks. It is not cultivation; it is corruption, in my eyes."
Elder Li of the Azure Wave Palace inched his body forward. "What frightens me the most is their progenitor, who was two hundred years ago at his most powerful Golden Core stage but became stagnant. We say his position hasn't changed, but just because he is there, it doesn't allow us to act."
"Our ancestors barely made it to mid-Golden Core realm before disappearing into the mountains," said Elder Qin of the Heavenly Sword Sect. "If Feng Tianlan were to get out of his seclusion..."
"Then we would be doomed," agreed Elder Wu of the Moonlit Grove Sect in her usual straightforward manner. She was small with silver hair and cold eyes, but her reputation for straight talk was legendary. "We shouldn't fool ourselves. A top Golden Core specialist against our mid-level ancestors? It would be a slaughter."
They spoke of the corruption that was infecting their world, of followers whose eyes had an odd purple shine, of pills that raised cultivation by annihilating their very foundation.
The senior of the Golden Tiger Sect voiced what everyone was thinking, "Can we do anything? Alone we might be able to take on the Purple Moon Pavilion's forces, but their ancestor will..."
That was the moment the communication jades started to shine.
The storm-cloud sealed slip and another one with a serpent emblem started glowing, and Elder Su and Elder Zhang began reading the message with their spiritual senses.
This continued for a stressful minute.
When Elder Zhang looked away, his complexion was ghostly pale. "The Purple Moon Pavilion is being attacked!"
Matriarch Su said, "Their ancestor has... been defeated, in utter disgrace."
An uproar spread through the hall, but Elder Zhang was able to calm them. "A member of the Withered Bone Dynasty, who calls himself a prince, is revealed to be the true master behind the Purple Moon Pavilion."
"A higher world prince?" Elder Li had also gone pale. "So that's where the unbelievable resources and the tainted pills come from…"
"Wha-what did you.." Elder Wu said. "You said their ancestor was defeated. If the prince is truly the one in charge, then who—"
"That's the problem," Matriarch Su said grimly, still reading. "The person who defeated Feng Tianlan... my spy can't identify him. Complete mystery. Black robes, immense power, and he's facing down this prince right now."
The implications hit them all at once.
Elder Chen was the first to voice what they were thinking. "This is our chance." His old voice carried desperate hope. "Whatever's happening there, it's the first real threat they've faced. If we send everything we have—"
"Everything," Elder Zhang agreed, already standing. "Every disciple who can fight, every elder with cultivation. This might be our only shot to end this before it consumes our entire world."
Around the table, jade slips began glowing as urgent messages went out to sect compounds across their world. Within minutes, the alliance's full strength would be racing toward the Purple Moon Pavilion.
Behind their desperate hope lay a simple, terrifying truth: if they failed tonight, if this mysterious black-robed figure couldn't handle both the prince and whatever was left of the Purple Moon Pavilion's power, their world was finished.
The corruption would spread until nothing remained but puppet sects dancing to a higher world prince's tune.
But for the first time in months, they had hope.
And sometimes, hope was enough to make people do impossible things.
"That's the problem," Matriarch Su said grimly, still reading. "The person who defeated Feng Tianlan... my spy can't identify him. Shrouded in mystery. Black robes, immense power, and he's facing down this prince right now."
They all stared.
Elder Chen was the first to say what they were all thinking. "This is our opportunity." His old voice was full of hope. "Whatever is happening there, it's the first true danger they've faced. If we send everything we have—"
"Everything," Elder Zhang agreed, already standing. "Every disciple capable of battle, every elder with cultivation. This might be our only shot to end this before it consumes our entire world."
Around the table, jade slips began to glow as messages went out to sect compounds across their world. Within minutes, the alliance's full strength would be hastening to the Purple Moon Pavilion.
Behind their hope lay a simple, terrifying truth: if they failed tonight, if this mysterious black-robed figure couldn't handle both the prince and whatever power remained, their world was done.
The corruption would spread until nothing remained but puppet sects bound to the will of a higher world prince.
But for the first time in months, there was hope.
And sometimes, hope was enough to make people do desperate things.