The reflection of the full-moon shines brightly around the myriad of lakes, a thin pink shade appears as it's figure is distorted with blood.

Suddenly, the skies darkened, a shade of dark-blue tainted the clouds, altering them in an irreversible way.

The clouds now tainted and corroded, dropped tiny ice-cubes onto the lakes and rivers.

As they descended the ice-cubes absorbed the surrounding Qi, with this the red mist surrounding the sect grew dimmer and dimmer.

The temperature of the water diminished slowly and steadily, when anything touched the tainted water of the river, an abrupt change took shape.

Slowly, any creature who took even if a sip of this water, began to cool down steadily, in an unthinkable way.

No matter what they did, no matter if they went to caves or drowned in the water, their temperature did nothing but diminish.

Inside their bodies there was a corrosive substance which fused and attracted the Ice Qi at the surrounds, thus, no matter their efforts their body temperature decreased.

The effects of this substance lasted for 7 days, for 7 days straight the creatures had to endure the process of slow freezing death.

As for those who survived?

Well, their Fate varied, however the substance inside their bodies turned into a slight corrosive substance that adhered to their proteins and tissue, a useless substance that did nothing but hinder their bodies.

This substance adhered to their bones, to their muscles and even their brains and souls.

Lead and thallium were some of the heavy metals used for the creation of this poison, together with a few spiritual materials and other toxic substances.

If that wasn't all, this substance had the ability to produce necrosis on the target, through the necrosis small portions of Dead Qi were produced, which further harmed the target.

But, that was merely one of the many tactics employed to further harm the surrounds, through the use of the ice's friction, many sparkles of light appeared, together with lighting.

That wasn't all, by rapidly changing the environmental temperature he cooled down certain air particles, producing cold and hot wind tides.

This naturally resulted in the existence of many growing tornadoes, that were expanding in size by the second.

A hooded figure looked at this while sighing.

"Nothing can last forever.

All the dreams, all the hopes, vanish like dandelions with the wind.

Everything and anything decays, dies and roots over time.

A hopeless world, where entropy and depravity are the norm.

That is the truth you revealed before my eyes.

But now that I've stared at the abyss, that I embraced it.

I'll show you the same inexorable Fate that you have so desperately avoided.

Death."

The inexorable's figure vanished.

"What the hell is going on?" Gu Ten Long said frustratedly, while looking at the storm and ever rising tides of wind.

"Maybe the end of the world." Wu Yong muttered, dazed.

While sniffing the surrounding air, Gu Ten Long shook his head.

"There it is!

That goddamn rotten smell.

In the last three days, this rotten smell has only grown stronger, together with the increase of Death Qi, and an strange subtle coldness hanging on the air.

Wait, is there someone attempting to create an horde of zombies?

But then what will be left for me?

Ehem, I mean, how are we going to survive this crisis?"

Suddenly, from seemingly nowhere a golden ray passed close to his ear.

Instinctively, Gu Ten Long raised his arms to block, however the ray of light was long gone.

Wu Yong's eyelids twitched for a moment.

After a long pause, only a few words came out of his mouth.

"M-My Clan, they have finally decided to attack this sect!"

Gu Ten Long turned his head towards him and said.

"R-Really?"

The red fog surrounding the sect suddenly began to change of shape.

Many incomprehensible whispers were heard in their heads, until finally they became coherent.

"THE COALITION...

THEY FINALLY HAVE STRUCK BACK, MY DISCIPLES, ACT QUICKLY OR YOU SHALL PERISH, EITHER BY THEIR OR MY HANDS.

REMEMBER; IF YOU SURRENDER TO THEM, THEY'LL INTERROGate you, torture you and kill you.

They won't spare you, no matter how much you beg for your life.

FOR THERE IS NO VALUE TO HOLD YOU HOSTAGE, NOR IS SAFE TO KEEP YOU, AS YOU'RE HUGE POTENTIAL THREAT IN THEIR EYES, because you're a demon, just like me."

Million of ember particles appeared from the ground, they began to fuse with the red fog, which began to tremble violently.

"FOLLOW MY INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU WANT TO LIVE.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

FIRST; IT SEEMS WE HAVE BEEN STRUCK BY A LIGHT PATH METHOD, THE ATTACKERS ARE NOWHERE TO BE SEEN, CHANCES ARE THEY'RE ATTACKING FROM A LONG DISTANCE.

DON'T EVEN ATTEMPT TO PURSUE THE ATTACKERS, OR EVEN PREDICT THEIR PROJECTILES AS THEIR SPEED SEEMS QUASI-INFINITE.

INSTEAD, PROTECT YOUR VITAL SPOTS WITH YOUR HANDS AND LEGS, YOUR TECHNIQUES AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

ALSO, MY RED FOG WILL MONITOR YOUR ACTIONS, GIVE YOU FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS AND HEAL YOUR WOUNDS, IF ANY OF YOU DO SOMETHING I REGARD AS TREACHEROUS MY AID WILL CEASE AND YOU'LL BE DEEMED AS TRAITORS."

Even more strange things began to happen.

The ground around them began to tremble, and even palpitate.

Suddenly, many heart-like shapes appeared in the soil beneath them, that were connected to a thousand of river-channels and even vein-like earth constructs.

A viscous yellow liquid could be seen leaking onto the surface.

"The sect leader is using the ground, as if it was a blood channel!" Gu Ten Long immediately realized.

Explosions occurred anywhere and everywhere.

With not many places to hide, Gu Ten Long used the echolocation of his bat to find a proper place to hide, all while dragging his dazed friend with his arm.

Upon reaching the entrance of a cave, he then proceeded to move the rocks inside the cave.

He pushed so many rocks that he managed to cover the entrance, for all except for a small peephole to let the air flow through and to comprehend more or deeply their current circumstances.

"Wu Yong, could you use your Shiny Eyes technique to help me discover what is happening?"

Wu Yong turned his head slowly, his expression was still dazed.

"Alright, but I don't think I'll figure out too much with this red fog."

He moved towards the peephole with clear curiosity on his eyes, he moved his eyes side to side while observing the environment.

"I see...

Luckily, they took the bullet for us."

He saw many corpses, of many Cultivators, they were at their 14 to their 19's.

"It seems that they're targeting the inner disciples or at least those who have grown up enough, I suppose that they're planning to aim for those Cultivators who are neither too powerful to survive easily their strikes, but not those who're weak enough that they're not worth killing.

Basically, we were not even worth killing in their eyes."

He frowned lightly and said.

"Of course, there is also the possibility that they decided to spare our lives because I'm a clansmen-" Wu Yong paused, with his eyes squinted he looked at the lingering red fog, that even inside of a cave remained visible.

"Former clansmen of the Wu Clan."

After arriving at this conclusion, he shrugged and said.

"No matter what, we cannot go out and make them change their minds.

Hopefully, by the time we are forced to come out due to a lack of water, food or air, they'll be long gone and we will be able to find some food easily."

Of course, he was not that optimistic, one of the most basic strategies on war was to cut the opponent's Cultivation and food supplies, by doing this you can starve them out and weaken them, but most importantly you're forcing them to fight in predictable ways.

They cannot abandon an area, they cannot use certain techniques, etcetera, by forcing and molding the battlefield you can limit the power of the opponent while maximizing yours.

Gu Ten Long frowned.

"They may not let a human to escape, but what about a bat?

We can use this bat to look for fish or what not, and it wouldn't be that suspicious, I mean some bats eat fishes, right?"

Wu Yong's eyes shone with hope, he nodded.

"You're right!

We can use your leeches and bats to find some food, however you must split your 'army', if there are too many animals on the same area it'd be too suspicious."

"Though, before we do that we're going to need to wait a few more hours, until the dawn."

The two kept discussing a bit more until suddenly, Gu Ten Long suddenly stood up.

"Hey, I have an idea.

HEY, SECT LEADER ARE YOU HEARING ME?

IF YOU DO, COULD YOU TELL US WHERE ARE OTHER SURVIVORS, WE WANT TO REGROUP TOGETHER TO PROTECT OURSELVES."

He shouted loudly.

"..." Wu Yong looked at him blankly.

Meanwhile.

The sect leader was observing the battlefield, currently his appearance was very different from before.

Now he had 6 arms and legs, he was touching his chin lightly.

"I see, see...

They have used this strategy, somewhat surprising but not outside my calculations.

Very well, then.

If you want to fight 'safely' from a long distance, I'll have to use this."

With a snap of his hand, there was a sudden change.

Hundreds of kilometers outside the sect's territory, millions of mushrooms began to explode, releasing their spores and a dense red mist.

Immediately, anyone who was nearby realized the hidden threat.

"Don't breathe them, they'll go to your brain and-" His body trembled for a few seconds, before he was possessed by the sect leader.

The sect leader despite the fact he specialized mostly on the Drowning Crimson Moon Sutra had also delved into the other two paths, principally on Leech Swarm Sutra.

The Sutra had many disadvantages such as removing the intelligence of it's target, many of their life experiences, memories and talents, however it's advantages were also obvious.

Infiltration was one of the clearest ones.

But the inexorable who noticed his actions, didn't remain still either, he activated another technique.

The clouds began to gather and within their insides they began to form massive ice clusters.

The ice clusters shattered into countless ice shards, that descended from the atmosphere and headed directly to the ground like meteors.

Those ice shards collided directly with many of the disciples of Zhen Yiyi killing them on the act.

However, Zhen Yiyi barely if even was affected by this method, he simply looked at some of his elders and said.

"Go and hunt down whoever is sniping our forces, if my calculations aren't wrong they must be at least a thousand kilometers away from us.

That distance, heh...It may be enough to create a mid-sized country within that area, it seems they're that afraid of a direct confrontation against me.

Heh, both of you, give them a real reason to be afraid of.

Pursue the intruders."

A small petite woman who was wearing thick purple glasses nodded, her hair was divided in three areas, at it's left it was brown and each hair was as thick as a branch of a tree, at it's right his hair was of a dark-blue shade and looked like foam, and at it's middle side it was a dark-purple tainted with many drops of crimson.

Her purple eyes shone intensively.

"Your desires are orders, sir."

She said.

The other person was a fat man with a husky voice he licked his lips while saying.

"Am I allowed to eat them when I find them?"

The sect leader nodded, then waved his hands in dismissal.

This conflict had just begun, yet both sides had already revealed many of their trump cards.

Zhen Yiyi frowned lightly.

"Even if I have to lose a few of my advantages, such as my superiority on the terrain and a control over the local fauna, it'd be worth it, as long as I can keep more of my trump cards hidden than them.

through them i shall claim victory.

that is why even if a few of my subordinates die, even if i lose my terrain even if it seems that they're overwhelming me, my will must not be shaken.

they're living on borrowed time, and they know it, it must be them who are forced to use their trump cards and who must grow anxious.

then, through their anxiousness and desperation i'll force them to reveal a weakness.

likely they already figured this much.

however, so what?

even if they know my intentions they still must play my games."

Void Cultivators were entities completely different from lower-tier Cultivators.

Their understanding of the Dao was so deep that they could manipulate their environment with ease, they could prepare a ten-thousand traps with ease.

At their level, most fights aren't decided on direct confrontations but rather through massive schemes to slowly pressure the opponent to reveal their arrangements, when either side runs out of arrangements, the other will be able to use their remaining tricks to get rid of them, all while exposing themselves to minimum risks.