Dongxing City lay deep in the stillness of night, with only the occasional bark of a dog or the wail of an infant breaking the silence.
Beneath the moonlit sky, Yang Kai stood at the pinnacle of a tower, his gaze sweeping over the city below like that of a hawk.
Beneath that tranquil surface, dark currents surged.
Vast numbers from both the Haqi Hall and the White Lotus Sect lay hidden within this small city, and it seemed each side had already become aware of the other's presence.
When the second watch arrived, the first clash erupted — quick to ignite and quick to subside, barely spreading beyond its immediate vicinity.
But then came the second, and the third...
By the third watch, both sides had committed the greater part of their forces, and throughout every street and alley of Dongxing City, the sounds of battle could be heard.
The residents of Dongxing City kept their doors sealed tight, not daring to so much as breathe too loudly.
A piercing shriek suddenly rang out from somewhere to the east. Yang Kai's gaze sharpened as he turned toward it.
He saw a barrage of rumbling thunder in the distance, spiritual energy surging wildly as a dozen or so figures darted through the air. Secret techniques unleashed one after another, their radiance flashing in rapid bursts.
Even from that considerable distance, Yang Kai immediately spotted the figure of a middle-aged woman clad entirely in white.
The White Lotus Crone!
The White Lotus Sect's history stretched back even further than the Haqi Hall's, and its current leader was none other than this White Lotus Crone. Brutal in method and ruthless in heart, no one on the continent knew how many sects had been annihilated simply for offending the White Lotus Sect.
The Haqi Hall had organized several assassination attempts against her over the years, but the White Lotus Crone was meticulous by nature and her movements shrouded in mystery, so every attempt had ended in failure.
This time, having offered Dongxing City as a sacrifice, the White Lotus Crone had actually appeared in person.
At this very moment, she was leading several White Lotus Sect elites in a breakout attempt, but the Haqi Hall had dispatched several Vice Hall Masters to block her path in concert, and for the time being she could not break free.
Still, the White Lotus Crone's strength placed her among the very peak of the continent. The Vice Hall Masters of the Haqi Hall were formidable in their own right, but they would not be able to hold her for long.
After only a few exchanges, one of the Vice Hall Masters had already been grazed by a sword strike. A violent burst of energy detonated inside his body, instantly robbing him of the ability to fight — whether he would survive, no one could say.
Yang Kai leaped from the top of the tower, his body soaring through the air like a great roc spreading its wings, gliding down with effortless grace.
Still in midair, he thrust his spear forward in a single decisive strike.
A sudden chill shot through the White Lotus Crone's entire body. She whipped her head around, and when she saw him, her expression shifted dramatically. With a savage burst of force she shoved aside those nearest to her, her long sword blazing with light as a streak of sword energy lanced toward Yang Kai.
The spear arrived in a blur. The sword energy shattered, and a line of blood sprayed from Yang Kai's cheek — he had been cut by the residual sword qi.
He did not so much as blink. The momentum behind his spear only grew more ferocious.
In the next instant, the White Lotus Crone coughed up a mouthful of blood and went flying, the power in her body nearly collapsing in its entirety.
In terms of sheer strength, both Yang Kai and the White Lotus Crone stood at the absolute pinnacle of this world, roughly equal to each other. The difference was that Yang Kai's opening strike had carried a whiff of ambush — attacking where she least expected — so in that single exchange the White Lotus Crone had suffered a severe disadvantage.
Before her body could even hit the ground, Luo Tinghe had already appeared behind her, standing precisely where she was about to land.
No one knew when she had arrived. She had come in utter silence, like a phantom, the sword in her hand singing without cease.
It looked as though the White Lotus Crone were hurtling herself straight into that blade.
In that critical moment, the White Lotus Crone wrenched her body sideways, managing to dodge the vital point, but she was still wounded by Little He — the sword nearly pierced clean through her chest.
Yet in her desperation, the White Lotus Crone struck back with a palm that sent Luo Tinghe tumbling away into a nearby residence, her fate unknown.
Having endured strikes from two peak-level powerhouses in succession, the White Lotus Crone had narrowly escaped with her life, but her condition was abysmal. Her face was pale as paper, and her white dress had been soaked through with crimson blood.
She fixed her gaze on Yang Kai, a ferocious grin twisting her lips. Her hands shifted through a series of seals, and then she suddenly gritted her teeth and barked, "Activate the formation!"
She crouched down and slammed both palms against the earth. A torrent of power erupted from her body.
Yang Kai moved to stop her, but it was already too late.
The entirety of Dongxing City shuddered as though the ground itself were splitting open, and everyone struggled to keep their footing.
The blood that had been flowing across the ground now seemed to have been granted life by some unseen force. It writhed and streamed, quickly tracing out the shape of an enormous formation across the city.
A bizarre crimson glow enveloped all of Dongxing City, and in every ear there rose the sound of ghostly wailing and howling. Waves of chilling wind swept through, enough to freeze the blood in one's veins.
The Vice Hall Masters' faces drained of color. Xia Hongtao of the Emerald Smoke Gate cried out in alarm: "The Ten Thousand Souls Formation!"
And in the opening that had created, the White Lotus Crone had already drifted backward, her figure rapidly vanishing into the night. Her voice carried from afar: "Haqi Hall, the gift you have bestowed upon this old woman today — she will remember it. The day shall come when it is returned a hundredfold!"
Yang Kai hesitated for only a single heartbeat between pursuit and rescue before reaching his decision. "Break the formation! Save the people!" he commanded in a sharp voice.
If this formation was allowed to keep running, the hundred thousand souls in Dongxing City would all be sacrificed. The White Lotus Crone deserved to die, certainly, but there would be other opportunities to kill her — right now, saving lives was what mattered most.
White Lotus Sect remnants still lingered within the city, desperately defending the formation's various nexus points.
But with the White Lotus Crone gone, these White Lotus Sect fighters were leaderless, while the Haqi Hall operated in disciplined coordination under the command of each Hall's masters.
One nexus point fell after another, and the operation of the great formation within the city grew steadily more sluggish.
Yang Kai was already charging alone toward the core of the Ten Thousand Souls Formation — the single most critical nexus of the entire array. If he destroyed it, the formation's power would be cut by more than half in an instant.