'Who...who was it that found and exposed my secret?' At a loss, Bai Renyi blanked out, staring absentmindedly into the distance with no care for the horde making its way to his sect's doors.
To preserve this secret, Bai Renyi went to extreme lengths, framing, killing and erasing all the traces that could lead to him. Qiu Meng aside, Bai Renyi didn't believe that his secret had leaked to anyone. So how did these disciples find out the truth?
More importantly, why did his sneak attack fail to destroy their leader's soul?
'It's the Heart-Wrenching Cult. Though the two of you are the last remnant of the Celestial Hall's direct inheritance line, Moxie cannot forgive you for being willing to slaughter your own disciples for personal growth. So, he had his infiltrated agents reveal your deeds to those disciples, who all lost beloved relatives to your crimes, then set up spells, seals, and schemes to help them expose you to the sect.' Qiu Meng's voice rang in Bai Renyi's mind, giving him the answer that his confused brain craved.
'Grand Master...you knew? But since you knew, why didn't you intervene?'
Why indeed? By letting those disciples expose Bai Renyi, Qiu Meng had basically given the Heart-Wrenching Cult the tools to destabilize the Nameless Sword Mountain. Worse, those disciples' actions against the nearby villages' mortals gave the Myriad Beast Gang the perfect excuse to mount a large-scale invasion.
Could the Nameless Sword Mountain resist the 29th Horde? Bai Renyi didn't believe it. After all, no matter how resourceful, Qiu Meng's current cultivation base was just at Pulse Condensation.
So why?
The answer came promptly.
'My Venerable Self can forgive you for fleeing the Celestial Hall at its darkest hour. After all, unlike Feng Jian's other disciples, you chose to flee rather than participate in the extermination of the Celestial Hall. I cannot blame you for your master's betrayal and thank you for preserving the Nameless Sword Mountain for me. But just like Moxie, you've strayed from the Celestial Hall's teachings, not only cultivating foul methods, but going as far as to harvest and ruin innocent lives for personal gains.
However, at least Moxie had his bottom line, and wouldn't turn against those he ought to protect. You, on the other end, wouldn't even spare the ones that tied their bodies, souls and dreams to the growth of your sect.
On account for protecting the Nameless Sword Mountain, I can spare your life. But for dishonoring the Celestial Hall with those heartless and wretched deeds, you will have to pay a corresponding price — and go through a complete reeducation,' taking the ancient and austere tone that he concealed from the likes of Zuixian and Haoyue, Qiu Meng said.
Bai Renyi couldn't imagine that, all along, Qiu Meng had been preparing to punish him for the crimes he'd committed. A part of him wanted to rebel against this speech. The cultivation world was a heartless place. With limited talent and no resources, without practicing heresy, how could Bai Renyi prolong his life long enough to protect the Nameless Sword Mountain?
Without his crimes, by now the mountain's secrets would have been exposed, and it would have long fallen into enemy hands. But they wanted...to punish him?
Especially Ren Moxie! How dare that corrupt calamity bringer critic his actions?!
A part of Bai Renyi refused to accept Qiu Meng's judgment. But another, the one that stayed glued to the memory of the Celestial Hall, submitted to its grand master's will.
That part won the internal clash, and as the beasts of the 29th horde reared their head, Bai Renyi dropped to his knees, kowtowing towards the mountain peak where Qiu Meng currently played the zither.
'Grand master, your disciple...will defer to your judgment!'
'Good. We will save your sentence for after this war. Don't worry. The Nameless Sword Mountain isn't so weak that the 29th Horde alone can run amok at its gate,' Qiu Meng said, and pulling his fingers from the zither strings, rose from his seat. Hundreds of gray, translucent time runes manifested around him, rotating at an absurd speed as the variations of the future took shape in his mind.
'Hengye Zhen. The Nameless Sword Mountain and Haoyue are waiting for you to save the day. I know you can't resist. Were I in your shoes, I wouldn't be able to either. But don't worry, we won't give you an enemy as insignificant as the 29th Horde.
The Glorious Eye of Heaven or your life...you will lose one of these here.
Come, I'm waiting. Let the Nameless Sword Mountain...become your burial ground.' Qiu Meng kept these thoughts to himself and spread out his Spiritual Sense, seeking the Nameless Sword Mountain's enemies.
The other disciples did the same, too concerned by the imminent dangers they faced to consider their sect master's wrongdoings. But they needn't bother. Before the first salvo of Spiritual Sense could exceed sect borders, the twelve gigantic figures leading the 29th Horde appeared above the Nameless Sword Mountain, looking down at the hundreds of disciples like a pesky colony of ants that ought to be wiped out.
12 Anointed Holy Beasts: the leaders of the 29th horde.
At their back, 100 million mysterious beasts followed. Be it in the sky or on the earth, they advanced with remarkable military order, sprawling across an immensity of land, and becoming the sole focus of all throughout the Dongli state. Cultivators of various factions, mortals perched on watchtowers, as the 100 million beast army made its way through the state, all shifted towards them, both awed by the numbers and shocked that they managed to move without causing any infrastructure damage.
"In a bid to terrorize the Dongli state's mortals and prevent them from seeking their fortune in better lands, the disciples of the Nameless Sword Mountain have assaulted mortal villages and murdered innocent lives. The Myriad Beast Dominion cannot tolerate such evil deeds. The Emperor mourns these innocents, and by their decree, the 29th Horde has arrived...to erase the corrupt Nameless Sword Mountain from the face of the Dongli state.
Try your hardest. Though you stand no chance against the horde, I still hope that you can die with glory." The strongest of the Anointed Beasts, a colossal lynx with lustrous silver fur, opened his mouth. A beam of dark-gray lightning formed between his jagged fangs, marking the start of the hostilities.
