To the west, four additional presences rose to meet the Sunset Empress. He Yu only recognized the ancient forest of Elder Wen, but the other three had to be sect elders as well. Only an elder would be capable of standing against a monster such as Jin Xifeng. He Yu didn’t bother to look. The outcome had been decided when Leader Zhou and Elder Cai fell—the Shrouded Peaks Sect was lost.

  He Yu raced through the sect, following one of Yan Shirong’s shadow and bone constructs. All around him, the once pristine grounds of the sect lay in ruin. Immaculate gardens ripped out or burned. Pavilions lay in rubble. The dead littered the paths and plazas. Although he’d only lived here for a few short years, He Yu’s heart ached. The sect had come to feel like home to him—a place where he could achieve all the things he’d once thought out of his grasp. Now? Now it was gone. Taken by a force too powerful to resist.

  As they searched, neither said anything. From the expression he wore, it was clear Yan Shirong had his own response to the sect’s destruction. His own response to the death around him, to the loss of something he’d come to value. He Yu chose not to dwell on the day’s events. There would be time for processing things later. The first thing to do was to find the others. Find the others, and escape. Escape, and live.

  Soon they arrived on the highest of the outer sect peaks. Chen Fei stood a short distance away, facing down three Fourth Realm cultivators. Her sturdy outfit of leather and fur was bloodied and torn. Most of her hair had come out of its braid. Her expression was one of determination even as she faced down three enemies, each of them easily her equal.

  Behind her, huddled nearly a dozen Third Realms. Outer disciples that had somehow escaped the madness and devastation of the battle. Formation scripts shone all around the disciples and Chen Fei. An activation of her family art—the Seventy-Two Blessed Symbols. Her presence, though fatigued and on its last breath, was that of a solid mountain, imposing itself between those it protected and those that would do harm.

  He Yu slammed down between Chen Fei and her three opponents. Heaven’s fury surged out from him, carried by the Bracing Wind. Despite his lower advancement, Yan Shirong joined in as well. Chen Fei rallied, and the three of them met the attackers. The fight was as brief as it was brutal. Chen Fei slammed her foes with punches and kicks that each carried the force of an avalanche. He Yu swept the wind, and brought down heaven. From the edges of the battle, Yan Shirong peppered their foes with an unending barrage of poisoned daggers and shadowy thorns.

  When the last of the attackers had fallen, He Yu turned to the gathered outer disciples. “Go,” he said, “the sect has fallen. It isn’t safe here.”

  Thankfully, the frightened cultivators obeyed. They scampered off without even so much as a salute or a bow. Better, in He Yu’s opinion. Every moment someone delayed was a moment they could have spent trying to escape. The four remaining elders would fall soon enough, and He Yu didn’t want to be around to find out what Jin Xifeng would do to the surviving members of the Shrouded Peaks Sect once that happened.

  “We need to find Tan Xiaoling and Li Heng,” Chen Fei said once she’d taken some medicine. It wasn’t a very potent pill—they’d been taking so many pills over the past few days that anything strong would surely cause a backlash by now.

  Yan Shirong pointed to a mostly ruined path that would lead them toward the inner sect. “The heavens have some mercy, at least. They’re together.”

  He Yu gave a brief nod, and they headed down the path. They passed yet more devastation. More ruin. More of what Jin Xifeng’s desire brought.

  “What will become of the Dragon Empire?” Chen Fei asked as they made their way through the now mostly ruined sect.

  That wasn’t something He Yu had considered before now. What would become of the empire? The vision of the past had showed him a battle at the empire’s edge. A battle that had taken place after a long campaign against Jin Xifeng and her followers. A campaign that had claimed an entire generation of experts. With the empire’s first line of defense against her return gone, who would stand against her now? The Dragon Emperor himself? He was supposed to be of the Ninth Realm—a Heavenly True Immortal—but he’d not been seen in years. The only talk He Yu had heard was that he’d entered closed-door cultivation. Ninth Realm cultivators could disappear for centuries at a time. Would he be able to respond to this threat? If he could, would he be enough?

  Any further speculation fell to the side when He Yu caught notice of two familiar presences. Tan Xiaoling and Li Heng were close by, and judging by the feel of their spirits, they were engaged in battle. The black desert sun and the endless winter crashed against a presence of blood and flame. A member of the court, judging by the feel, and firmly in the late Fourth Realm.

  He Yu and the others wasted no time. Even with the boost their enemy had received by absorbing the cultivation base of his allies that had already fallen, the five of them were simply too much. Chen Fei bound their opponent with her family art and Yan Shirong supported her efforts with his shadows. He Yu and Li Heng launching a coordinated attack possible after hundreds of hours of training together. Tan Xiaoling stepped in to the opening that they’d created and unleashed a flurry of slashes with her paired dao.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  With no foes in the immediate area, Tan Xiaoling banished her dao sabers to her storage treasure. “My thanks, Sect Brother He. Your timing was perfect,” she said over a bow. The wry humor that usually would have been present was absent, replaced with fatigue. She looked in much worse shape than she’d been before Jin Xifeng’s attack, and her spirit seemed to flicker. She must be as tired as He Yu was. And the rest of them.

  Li Heng turned to He Yu. “What now?” he asked.

  He Yu shoved his surprise, and discomfort, at the question aside. If the others were going to look to him for direction, now wasn’t the time to doubt himself. “We need to get away from the sect,” he said. “Elder Cai and Leader Zhou are dead. The sect is no more. I don’t know what Jin Xifeng and the court will do to any survivors they find, but we can’t stay.”

  He didn’t tell them about his last moments with Zhang Lifen. They still weighed on him—her worry and the uncertainty if he’d ever see her again. Despite the complicated, and at times frustrating, relationship he’d formed with her, she was still his martial parent. She was the reason he was here at all. The reason he’d first truly set his feet upon his way. He did his best to quash his worry for her. If there was anyone who could make it out of this, it was her.

  To his suggestion they flee, nobody disagreed. After a brief discussion, they agreed the best route would be to head down to Xu Xiang. The sect town would likely be abandoned by now, if not completely ruined. They’d face little resistance, and once out of the foothills of the Shrouded Peaks, they could head in whatever direction was safest.

  A wave of qi that could have only come from Jin Xifeng broke over the sect. It passed over them all and continued out into the world beyond. An answering call of countless presences flared up. Beasts and spirits and cultivators all—and they all headed directly for the sect.

  Or what was left of it.

  “Perhaps Xu Xiang isn’t the best approach,” Yan Shirong said with a grimace.

  He Yu looked around, letting his gaze fall on each of his friends. They all looked as exhausted as he felt. For the past three days, at least, they’d been fighting. Fighting a battle that would never end. Whatever strength they could still muster wouldn’t be enough. Freed from her imprisonment and unrestrained by experts who could match her, Jin Xifeng could simply bring more foes under her sway. He Yu supposed she’d run out of minions eventually, but could he gamble his life—and the lives of his friends—on such a faint hope?

  No. He couldn’t. They couldn’t stand and fight anymore. They were all exhausted. Even if they could find the opportunity to rest and take some medicines, their stores would deplete before much longer. Assuming none of them suffered a backlash, of course. They couldn’t run either. Judging by the presences they’d felt answering Jin Xifeng’s call, the next wave would come from all sides. They’d be ringed in. Any escape would only come after they broke through.

  “Any suggestions?” He Yu asked. “We can’t stay here, that’s certain. Fleeing is our only real option, but I can’t say I’m confident in my chances of breaking past whatever’s coming.” Nobody else was, either. Even Tan Xiaoling was aware she’d reached the edge of her limits. Yan Shirong looked as though he were about to collapse, and Li Heng was struggling to maintain his poise.

  “What about the cave?” Chen Fei asked.

  There was only one cave she could mean. “The waterfall,” He Yu said.

  “Will it provide an escape for us?” Li Heng asked.

  “Cave systems often have more than one entrance,” she said. “Even if it doesn’t, the spirit stone veins will help us recover.”

  “And we could hide down there while we wait for things to blow over on the surface,” He Yu added. The more he thought about it, the better the idea sounded.

  “What if the cave mantises have fallen under the Sunset Empress’s sway?” Yan Shirong asked.

  “No different than staying outside, if you ask me,” Tan Xiaoling said. She’d already started off towards the path that would take them to the waterfall.

  He Yu fell in next to her. “I agree with Tan Xiaoling. Besides, the beasts down there were all Third Realm. We shouldn’t have nearly as much trouble handling them as we did last time we explored.

  I’ve fought a few that have wandered to the surface since. We’ll also be protected from everything else that’s coming. So we’ll only have to deal with the cave beasts.”

  “Assuming there’s not some Ninth Realm hive queen or whatever,” Yan Shirong replied with a grimace. He’d joined them along with all the others. Despite any misgivings, he clearly thought it was their best option, too.

  That’s exactly what it was. Any direction they went, they’d run into members of the court or the endless hordes of spirits and beasts that had fallen under Jin Xifeng’s sway. At least if they went underground, there would be some limit to how many enemies could come after them at once.

  “And if we get lost?” Li Heng asked as they walked.

  Chen Fei answered him. “I think between my sense for earth and mountain qi, Yan Shirong’s constructs, and He Yu’s perception art, we should be okay.”

  It was more or less what He Yu would have said. As they were all already headed toward the cave, it was clear the decision had been made. They were out of options, and this was the least worst. If they were lucky, they’d come out of the cave system somewhere far enough away from the sect proper that they could then escape.

  Where they’d escape to, He Yu couldn’t say. He looked over his shoulder at the blood-red sunset behind them. The Shrouded Peaks sect had fallen, and for all he could tell, the empire was next. Maybe heaven would smile on them, and a hidden master of the Ninth Realm would emerge. If this were one of the legends, that’s what would have happened. But He Yu had learned that in forging his own legend, the truth was often far harsher than the stories made it out to be.