Merely ten minutes later, I was on the deck of my flying ship, hidden behind an illusion formation and waiting. Underneath me, lay a city built atop a sharp cliff, easy to defend but hard to reach.

The wilderness at night was eerily quiet, but not enough to alert the guards. While their numbers were high due to the general unrest, their attitude was lax. Maybe it was their martial cultivation that made them courageous. Even the weakest guard was at Skin Refinement, but the majority was already at Bone Forging, mixed with not an insignificant number of Connate martial artists.

Before the war, it would have been a shocking force in any city, especially one smaller than Markas, but as the war progressed, the forces supporting the cities received more and more support from the forces that supported them — be it cultivation families or sects — turning the existence of higher ranking martial artists a common sight rather than semi-legendary existences.

And, I knew they were pushed higher with pills rather than improving naturally, as I was too capable as an apothecary to miss the signs of forced breakthroughs, induced by people not capable — or caring — enough to maintain their future growth.

However, it wasn't the damage from the forced breakthroughs that prevented them from noticing the approaching threat, but something simpler.

Arrogance.

Every single one of those guards of the walls had broken two realms at a minimum recently, which made them overconfident. It meant that, they were unaware of the dark shadows that were approaching the city.

And, they had no excuse, as the approaching attackers were not the demonic cultivators, but a group of martial artists they had raised. The martial artists they raised were nothing more than bandits they had collected before I discovered their presence.

Admittedly, the number of bandits was nowhere near enough to take down the city, but I had a feeling that it didn't matter, or the demonic cultivators wouldn't have been waiting nearby, their numbers higher than I expected.

There were almost fifty of them, but the only three I had followed were at the peak of Qi Gathering. The rest was still in the early stages, and showing signs of being itinerant cultivators.

I turned my gaze toward another hiding spot, one that held a hundred young women, each strong enough to contend against Foundation Establishment cultivators, let alone the ragtag army. Yet, I couldn't help but feel worried. After spending months — before and after I had let them switch to Burning Ice — teaching them, I couldn't help but feel responsible for their life.

Not the same way I felt responsible for Aisnam and Pearyin, but more like a teacher. After all, despite all the layers of obfuscation in between, I was still their teacher and their general, and with that, came a sense of responsibility.

I trained them well. And, tonight, they would need every ounce of that training.

I had to admit, the demonic cultivators had chosen this night well. The moon was hidden behind a thick veil of clouds, allowing the bandits to rush toward the city without being noticed even if the guards were as careful as they were supposed to be.

It was the time to throw a wrench in their plans. I took two simple actions. One, I created an illusion of a noise. "Enemy attack. Everyone on the walls," a shout without a source alerted the guards, who then started to ring the bells and shout as they had been taught, unaware that they were the only ones who heard the first shout.

The second action was a little flare of Qi, giving the Burning Ice team the order to move against the cultivators.

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I had done that deliberately. This way, not only my team would prevent the demonic cultivators from accessing the city, but also it would effectively switch the ambush. As for bandits, it was the responsibility of the guards.

After all, what I was looking for was not a fair fight, but a proper field test. The first that was against the cultivators.

I didn't plan to hold it against the sect cultivators, but I wasn't complaining about it either. I moved the boat closer, still invisible.

"What's going on!" several weaker demonic cultivators, who had spread as scouts, shouted before their voices had been cut short. I looked at their bodies with absolutely no pity. From their aura, I could feel that they had already sacrificed hundreds of people for power.

The way they were dressed reflected that. Their robes, black and crimson, seemed to absorb the little light the moon was able to generate from behind the clouds, and their masks were grotesque enough to show they were not trying to hide their true nature.

At least, not tonight.

The hundred-strong team moved deeper with a speed the rest of the cultivators were unable to match, mowing through their numbers with a contemptuous ease. The cultivators that they faced couldn't even begin to match my army.

So, I shifted my attention to something else. The response from the Heavens.

It was … spectacular. I had expected that killing demonic cultivators would have counted as a good deed, but I wasn't ready for the scale. Just by killing a weak demonic cultivator, they were able to get almost as much as what they collected dealing with regular bandits and other scum since the time they had started.

It was still a drop in the bucket compared to what Forest Dance collected … but considering the growing number of martial artists that were a part of that particular path, it was an inevitable conclusion.

As the fight started to turn, the three leaders tried to escape, only to realize they were trapped by a formation.

"We can't escape," one of them said, looking shocked. "A formation is here."

"Why are there second-grade martial artists here," another replied, and suddenly, I was glad that I was eavesdropping. The ease they recognized the Blood Essence realm martial artists was telling. "I thought they couldn't return back to this world without destroying their cultivation."

"Maybe they have artifacts to block the detection of karma," the other replied.

"Impossible. They are worth a fortune. There's no way—"

"Not if he's the one that's betraying us. I told you it's a mistake to trust an inner sect disciple. We should have —"

"It doesn't matter," the first one cut in. "Regardless of who sent them, it's clear that they are here to deal with us. And, they went a long way to remove any evidence. We need to decide what to do."

As they discussed, I considered capturing them, but I decided against it … for two reasons. First, I had more urgent things to do than trying to catch an inner sect disciple of Kartpa Valley. Considering the clannish behavior of the cultivators, they would never even consider the words of an outsider. And, that was assuming any information I would collect from them would be accurate.

As my own adventures suggested, tricking people with disguises was trivial.

Then, I wasn't sure if I could keep them hidden. It was one thing to take people that assumed to be dead prisoners, but three of them were a part of a conspiracy, and the masterminds behind them would inevitably search for them.

I had no idea who was behind them, and their exact capabilities. It was the same reason I was reluctant to just destroy the base for the Everdawn martial artists. I

I was starting to feel like I was in a room filled with domino tiles, with one wrong touch creating an avalanche…

I hated the feeling.

Yet, instead of doing anything, I watched the first batch of my students, a team of five, battle with the three demonic cultivators, suppressing my desire to intervene. They were ready for a fight, but my sense of responsibility interfered with it.

However, it was a challenge to do when one of them had been injured with a cursed dagger, radiating an aura of decay that spread through her body. Since she could survive the damage, I focused on something more important.

A message from one of them, telling their contact that they had been attacked by second-grade martial artists. I let that pass, but just delayed it by five minutes, something that was possible because he used a talisman.

I had been planning to let that go … when I felt a little tug, followed by an inspiration. Changing a portion of the message. I modified the message, so the attack was pointing at Everdawn Martial artists.

It was inevitable that the other members of the conspiracy would start searching, potentially triggering a hidden war between the two groups. I would have never done it on my own, but the tug from the Providence was too clear.

Unfortunately, that scared me even more.