Abdin frowned in shock and confusion. He understood where the men and livestock came from - since there were villages and towns and also the farmlands and the livestock they kept - but he couldn't comprehend where the four hundred thousand demon beasts and the six thousand ghouls originated.

Only the dark side used creatures called ghouls. They were mostly undead creatures but could also be found in any living.

For the past ten years, he had not seen any cultivator with the dark pol around this region. Six thousand ghouls meant about sixty cultivators were wielding that kind of dark power since ghouls couldn't move without the control of nearby cultivators.

And where did the four hundred thousand demon beasts come from, and so near human towns? There wouldn't be peace with any thousand demon beasts around humans, as they would always attack and devour humans. Human flesh enhanced their cultivation growth, just as their flesh helped human cultivators in their search for the great dao.

How was it possible that four hundred thousand demon beasts lived so close to humans without giving off any hints?

Abdin silently watched the curtain of mist around the castle. He felt some dampness on the front of his shirt, and when he looked down, it was the blood from the side of his mouth.

He quickly pushed some pol to block the veins that were still bleeding.

His body wasn't as strong as it ought to be, despite his long adventures. He had stronger skin and bones than any normal person, but not as strong as that of other cultivators.

The reason was, every time the loop reset, his body would return to new. Every injury would vanish, and every training for body tempering he underwent would reverse. This was why his body wasn't as strong as the body of other cultivators.

Abdin stood and walked to the end of the wall. New buildings had sprouted around the castle. A new, towering wall as well had appeared and encircled the castle, as though it had been there all the while.

A bitter smile escaped him at that moment. What had already happened couldn't be helped, and the most important thing to do now was to decide his next move.

Would he leave the thousands of Nanila and Wuran citizens dead, or would he go back in time to save them at the risk of losing sixty years from his cultivation?

He had 246 years, so he would still have 186 remaining even after losing sixty. He would eventually regain what he lost, but without going back, the dead would remain dead. Though he didn't have any familiarity or kinship with those people, he still couldn't just kill them.

More so, he now understood that the castle would expand when he reached 246 years, as opposed to the 250 he was familiar with. That would give him the chance to ready himself when he returned in time and successfully evacuate those people.

But before then, he needed to understand some things. First, the origin of the demon beasts and ghouls that had entered Biyakis and how the citizens and authorities didn't notice. And the reason the castle expanded before its appointed date.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Abdin leaped down the wall. This time, nothing blocked his way, as the force that flung them earlier was gone. Juwaira along with the others went after him.

The new buildings were bigger and finer than the older ones. Most of them were tall and grand. One building would sometimes look like five to ten houses molded into one. Everywhere was moped clean and shining. It was a magnificent view for everyone present except, maybe, for Abdin.

He had seen several expansions in his previous adventures and he knew just how splendid the castle could get. This was nothing compared to that.

"Spirit ki..." Denyanu halted in his tracks. He had just checked the ki with his spiritual sense and that had attracted his attention even more than the buildings. They weren't gone for ten minutes yet, but already the ki in their current location was stronger and better than the one they left behind at the old castle.

The others had felt it too, and all of them turned to look at Abdin for an explanation. Abdin didn't say a thing but kept walking at a much more rapid pace.

They walked for an hour before they reached the westernmost end of the wall. Abdin knew it would take them hours to reach the new entrance, so he transversed them to that end of the wall.

"It's enormous..." Juwaira mumbled, gazing toward Abdin. "Biyakis would notice it in no time..."

Abdin gave her a wry smile and said, "It would take Biyakis hours to arrive, but right now, there are intruders in the castle."

His soul disc would always alert him when there was an intruder. Right now, there were about forty men at the southeasternmost end of the castle. And with them was a horde of demon beasts, all of which came through the entrance.

Abdin wasn't in the least bit ready for the castle's expansion at this moment - that was why he dallied raising his cultivation to two fifty years all this while. There were planning and organizing to be done before a castle expansion, to avoid this kind of problem.

"Already?" Asked Juwaira. "Is the gate wide open?"

Abdin nodded. It was as good as wide open since it wasn't locked. All it would take was a light push to open it.

"What are we going to do?" The princess asked.

"It's a couple of hours away from here to the new gate. Biyakis would have arrived before we get there. We should split."

Abdin thought that splitting up would give one half the chance to guard the gates against more intruders, while the other half rounded off those already in the Castle.

But at that moment, his soul disc glowed and presented him with another series of alarms.

[800 cultivators have entered the castle. 3,403 demon beasts have been brought into the castle.]

Abdin opened his mouth to speak but no sound came. Another message reached him even before he could comprehend how that could have happened.

[1,500 cultivators have entered the castle. 2,018 ghouls have been brought into the castle.]

Abdin stood rooted to the spot, unable to move. He was certain they weren't coming through the entrance gate. They'd all appeared at different parts of the castle and there was no way those many people and beasts could come in through the gate at one instance.

Did they all fly over the wall, are all of them at the core formation stage or what? A rally of all the core formation experts around this region wouldn't be as much as the number currently inside the castle. Only one explanation remained: they came from underground.

His facial frown deepened the more he thought about it.

It seemed the army was hiding beneath the ground when the castle expanded. That was why no one noticed them.

But who were they hiding from? And why didn't Abdin's spiritual sense pick them? The spiritual sense could reach beneath the ground and inside walls, and Abdin ought to have felt them no matter how far underneath they were.

That aside, the number of men in the castle at the moment, along with their demon beasts and ghouls was enough to overrun the castle. Especially as Abdin didn't know their strength. The more powerful they were, the more of his cultivation he would have to burn to defeat them. If he faced too many enemies with too much power at the same time, he ran the risk of running out of pol and dying.