Yu Chen frowned as he surveyed the shattered expanse of destruction that stretched out before him in every direction. Such a scene of devastation could only have been caused by the clash of many powerful cultivators. The acrid stench of scorched earth still lingered in the air, mingling with the rusty scent of old blood. An oppressive silence smothered the battlefield, broken only by the soft trilling of birdsong, the normalcy of their tune underscoring how indifferent the world was to the struggles of man.

Cycling his movement technique, he made for an area where the fighting appeared particularly dense. His eyes went up as the first of the dead began to appear, strewn carelessly across the land like ragdolls left out to play, and a bitter taste crept into his mouth at the sight.

No one had bothered to inter them, leaving them to rot under the summer sun.

The fight had been a brutal one, and the ground all around him was covered in scars. Some powerful attack had gouged out deep, pockmarked holes, creating pits that had already begun to fill with water, and Yu Chen could see the series of picturesque ponds it was destined to become once time took its toll. There seemed to be no end to the devastation. A nearby forest was entirely gone, the area it’d once been now black and ashy, burnt to the ground by some ferocious fire that had blazed through the area.

Crushed fragments of jade were pressed into the dirt, alongside splinters of wood and jagged shards of metal, the remnants of broken weapons and shattered artifacts that now littered the ground, their once-brilliant glow as dim and lifeless as the corpses they lay beside. It appeared the cultivators had fought desperately, using every hidden trump card they’d possessed in the hopes of surviving.

The battle had taken place on the northwestern edge of the valley, relative to where he’d first arrived. Yu Chen paid close attention to the corpses that littered the ground, puzzling over them as he attempted to put the pieces together. He recognized the symbols on the robes of some of the dead cultivators, their insignias marking them as members of certain demonic sects he’d been warned about.

After all, before they’d entered the Secret Realm, the sect had gone to great lengths to warn them about the demonic cultivators they’d meet within and provided them with information on what to look out for. He’d never seen any of the demonic cultivators, although he had, as it turned out, run into some demonic cultivators.

They just hadn’t been the ones he’d been warned of. The local sects had been nowhere to be seen, and Yu Chen now knew why.

This must have been the portal the reavers had used to enter the Secret Realm, and it appeared they’d begun their killing spree before even entering, ruthlessly slaughtering the other demonic cultivators without regard. Many of the black robed cultivators strewn around had been marked with that bloody insignia, and it appeared their sect showed as little concern for their corpses as they had the others.

A thought struck him then, and he dashed towards the small mount his own sect had arrived at. It was fairly far away, but if the reavers were as insatiable as Cang Wuji had said…

His heart dropped as he approached. The stretch of clear land was quickly becoming riddled with scars again, only increasing in number the closer he came to the mountain.

The dead began to appear, the closer he came, and every one of them was a black-robed cultivator. Somehow, they must have been forewarned, causing the reavers to pay dearly for their assault. Perhaps some survivors had fled, warning the others, or perhaps some sign from the other battle had set them on edge, such as an entire forest going up in flames.

A chasm appeared as he ran, and Yu Chen leapt across, landing and leaping again as another appeared. The ground around him was torn to shreds, as though some mad butcher had decided to hack away at the earth itself. He could feel a deep intent emanate from each, so sharp and vicious he felt liable to cut himself just from leaping across.

It was nothing, however, when compared to the intensity of intent radiated by that giant palm strike.

Patches of blue had begun to appear as well. From a distance he’d confused them for small lakes, glistening under the sun, but as he approached, he found the ground to be covered with frozen patches of ice so conceptually sound they still emanated a freezing coldness weeks later, each one containing a still frozen corpse.

At this point weren’t they nearly a spiritual treasure? Yu Chen gulped, imagining the level you had to reach to be able to produce treasures with a simple attack. This was the level of the truly powerful, one where the aftermath of their attacks, be it the swing of a sword, or the remnants of a spiritual attack so profound it refused to disappear, could be a treasure for those who found them.

He shook the thoughts away as he entered a forest, leaping through the treetops. Even here, there were great sections missing, with many ancient trees cut down and destroyed.

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With a last leap he left the treetops, arriving at the base of the mountain. He raced forward without stopping and leapt up the side, taking light steps that launched him upwards dozens of feet. He put mountain goats to shame, finding impossibly small footholds and using them to quickly climb the sheer face of the mountain, arriving at the top in no time at all.

His eyes narrowed as he took in the scene of devastation.

There were more black robed cultivators lying dead atop the flat mountain top, but there were others mixed in as well. Many of those among the dead bore the insignia of the sword cultivators, and it appeared as though they’d fought to nearly the last man.

Only a few of the icy cultivators lay among the dead, and perhaps most of them had managed to escape in time.

But Yu Chen scarcely noticed this, only briefly taking in the situation before racing towards the area his own sect had been standing.

The dead were scattered thickly here. He ignored the ones in black, as he began turning over those wearing his own sect’s robes, looking for faces he knew. The first few were strange and unfamiliar, although one he somewhat recognized as a Foundation Establishment disciple who’d arrived traveled with them.

Approaching another body, he grabbed it, and felt his heart drop when he turned it over.

The eyes were missing, the cheeks ripped to shreds by the scavengers that had eaten away at the soft tissues. What remained was desiccated, having been exposed to the elements and dried out in the long weeks since. But even so, Yu Chen recognized the face. A soft sigh escaped his lips as he gently sat the man back on the ground, rocking back on his heels as he shook his head.

It was Ji Rong, and Yu Chen was pained to find the rotund man in such a state. He had always been friendly, and he was the one who had helped him get adjusted to the inner sect. He’d been an affable fellow who loved to talk, often stopping by to visit, bringing with him messages from Elder Gu or sometimes simply sharing the latest bit of news he’d heard.

And now he was left dead and lifeless, food for the vultures. Yu Chen stood up, and his fists unconsciously began to ball as he approached the next corpse.

Even from behind he could recognize the fine robes covering the man, despite the blood and gore that covered them, and the fact they were half missing. If seeing Ji Rong had caused his heart to drop, it now sank like a stone, and a soft curse escaped his lips before he could prevent it.

Yu Chen hurried forward, dropping down and touching a trembling hand to the shoulder of the sect leader. He tried to turn him over but stopped as he felt a slight resistance. Frowning, he pulled harder, tearing apart the long crusted blood and viscera that had bonded the corpse to the mountaintop.

With a sickening sound it rolled over, revealing the gaping wound that had destroyed most of his midsection, taking with it an entire arm, leaving him half the man he once was. Yu Chen let out another deep sigh at the sight, and he worried whether or not the Golden Mist Sect could survive the loss.

He left the man behind, resuming his search as he examined the others, but he found no one else of note. Neither Xue Lan or Ling Xia were present among the dead, nor were any of the elders, Elder Gu included. Well, he hadn’t seen Xue Lan in the secret realm either, and it was possible she hadn’t survived the bloodbath within.

But he still remembered her formidable stealth skills. She had made it out, he was sure of it, but a small part of his mind still held a tiny sliver of fear that she might be dead.

To his relief there were only a handful from the sect among the dead. He harbored hopes that most of the others had survived, escaping with the elders while the sect leader and a handful of others held the demonic cultivators back.

Cang Wuji was right, he thought, shaking his head as he observed the number of corpses littering the mountain top. They truly were like locusts, swarming across the land and cutting down all in their way. They hadn’t stopped there, looting the dead, and in many places defiling the corpses as well.

The reavers were a terrifying force, and he could see why the other boy had been so fearful to see them. He could only hope that Cang Wuji had managed to escape the destruction they’d brought with them.

Walking over to the edge of the flat mountain top Yu Chen looked off, seeing signs of battle marring the land in all directions, although the massive valley in the middle was untouched. The time controlling formations remained unbreached despite the devastation that had been wreaked across the land.

He didn’t know how many there were, but it must have taken a small army to kill so many cultivators. It appeared they’d attacked all four portals, determined to kill everyone in their path in order to advance their cultivation.

Yu Chen couldn’t help but shake his head at the brutality, feeling there was something obscenely wrong with this method of cultivation. He’d always been skeptical, and would never call himself a righteous man, unconcerned as he was with such things, but if this was the path of demonic cultivation then it rightly deserved to be wiped out.

They were like men with rabies, mad animals that had to be put down before they could infect all else.

Yu Chen let out a low sigh, and a helpless chuckle escaped his lips as his body relaxed.

He’d been ready to storm off that very moment, charging forward blindly to put an end to them, but his gaze lingered on those patches of still frozen ground in the distance. He was still an ant, despite his strength, and there was nothing he could do in the face of this horde.

For now he could only keep his head down and stay out of the way, hoping he didn’t run into some powerful being that could end his life. His eyes turned towards his sect members who lay littered the ground, dead behind him, and they lingered on Ji Rong’s lifeless corpse.

It wouldn’t always be that way. There’d come a day of reckoning, and Yu Chen always paid in full.