Zi Shou De exchanged a bemused glance with his wife, Zi Da Ji, and then scratched his head. Noticing the horrified expressions on the Great Elders, and Hai Rong's vengeful scowl, he sought to choose his words carefully, but in the end he couldn't help but ask.

"Um..sorry if this sounds stupid, but who is Yan Chi?"

"Didn't I already tell you?" Hai Rong frowned, annoyed while still lying on Hai Mo's lap. "He's Master's adopted son, and was originally the successor to taking over as the vice-commander of Blood Blades instead of Lang Xie."

"Oh, yeah. You already mentioned that. I'm sorry, but his name still doesn't ring a bell." Zi Shou De scratched his head. "I guess he must be someone from before I took over the sect." he glanced at his wife. "Do you know him?"

"No," Zi Da Ji admitted with a shrug. "Doesn't sound familiar. And I don't ever remember his name being put forward as the vice-commander before Lang Xie took over. Actually.." she scrunched her face a little. "Lang Xie was already the commander before I was promoted."

"Yeah, Lang Xie decided to step down and be deputy because he didn't want to handle all the administrative work, and preferred to go into the field and fight. He felt as if he wasn't suited to be the overall commander." Hai Rong nodded. "This all happened before you took over."

"But even before I took over, when I was a member of the Blood Blades, I don't remember the two of you having a master. And I don't remember having met this Yan Chi before."

"Well, this isn't Spirit Realm, so you wouldn't have." Even as I muttered under my breath, I wondered just how different reality was from that story. There were obvious similarities, since this scenario was based off Spirit Realm, but there were also a lot of differences.

"You both only joined twenty years ago. We only managed to get rid of both Master and Yan Chi a couple of years before you joined." Hai Rong had a sour expression on her face, and I didn't miss the glare she shot in the direction of the Great Elders. "A lot of things happened before then, but a particular group of old men chose to cover them up."

"We had no choice!" the second Great Elder shouted defensively, but Zi Shou De held up a hand to forestall him.

"So you're saying you eliminated both your master and Yan Chi before Da Ji and I joined the sect? Then how is he still alive?"

Hai Rong turned a shade paler than she already was, what with her ghastly complexion and all. "I don't know. We all saw him burn in the molten lava inside the center of Flame Volcano." She was glancing at the Great Elders when she bitterly said this, and almost all of them nodded in agreement. "But evidently he found some way to survive inside the molten lava and even escaped. Now he has return, alive, and is even more terrifying than before."

The Great Elders shuddered uncontrollably. Having experienced the potent qi and murderous aura of Blood Shadow firsthand, I didn't blame them.

"Well, this is what happens when you don't check for a dead body," I muttered under my breath while suppressing the urge to roll my eyes. "They always somehow survive and return in the future to bite you in the ass."

Zi Shou De swiveled toward me. "Fei Wu, you have something to say?"

I cleared my throat and pretended I wasn't indulging in sarcasm and breaking the fourth wall. "I was wondering who this Yan Chi is, or Blood Shadow, or whatever he's called now. Why did Instructor Hai and Lord Lang Xie want to kill him so many years ago?"

"I want to know too." Zi Shou De nodded in agreement as he turned his attention back to Hai Rong. "Please tell us."

"Everything," Zi Da Ji added, just in case Hai Rong didn't get the message. The Blood Blades instructor looked exhausted, but she couldn't overrule a direct order from her commander. She took a deep breath.

"It's all in the past." She snuck a glance at the Great Elders, all of whom were bearing looks of consternation on their faces.

"We don't have a choice." Luo Zhi Chang sighed heavily. "Now that it has come to this, you might as well tell them everything, Hai Rong."

"Who's your Master, by the way?" I asked. It hardly could be Jiu Wei Hu. That guy lived over nine hundred years ago, and neither Lang Xie nor Hai Rong were that old. "Is he You Hong Zhi?"

"..who?" Hai Rong repeated, perplexed. I quickly shook my head.

"Never mind."

"Well, Rong'er's master is Xue Jian, I believe." Hai Mo glanced at his wife, who was still on his lap. "But I don't know the other details."

The Great Elders stirred and made the sign of the Aquila when they heard the dreaded name of the foul heretic, muttering benedictions under their collective breaths. This Xue Jian must have been quite the character to provoke such a reaction from them.

"If we want to deal with the current crisis, especially with this Blood Shadow attacking us, then I strongly advise that we be informed of the relationship between Blood Blades, Xue Jian and Yan Chi, and how it led to the enmity between you." Zi Shou De glanced at his wife, and then at me. "Especially since both Da Ji and Fei Wu are members of Blood Blades, they have a right to know about the sort of circumstances that led to Blood Blades' current crisis."

"I wouldn't say we're in that much of a crisis, though," Zi Da Ji pointed out in amusement. "But otherwise I concur. If this has something to do with Blood Blades, then I – the commander, and my successor, Fei Wu – should know about it. In fact, you should have informed me about this when I took over Blood Blades a decade ago, not now when we're suddenly confronted with a ghost from Blood Blades' past."

"I understand, but it was not my decision to make." Again, Hai Rong shot a look at the uneasy Great Elders, who mumbled an excuse or two under their breaths and turned away, unable to look her or the Zi couple in the eyes.

"Well, no point assigning blame now." I quickly stepped in and mediated the situation. There was no point pointing fingers right now, not when we had more important things to worry about. "So what happened in the past?"

Hai Rong contemplated for a moment before sweeping her gaze across us. A feat that was pretty impressive, considering she was lying her head on Hai Mo's lap.

"First, I'm going to assume that you don't know anything about Master." Hai Rong sighed heavily. "The most relevant thing is that..Lang Xie killed Master."

"I gathered as much," I replied. "But can you tell us why?"

"Xue Jian went insane," Luo Zhi Chang replied in Hai Rong's place. He glanced at the Zi couple, and then at me. "He was going beyond orders and killing other martial artists, even when we requested for him to take a gentler approach. For example, there was one time our shipments were raided by a few members of the Mountain Bandits Sect. Even though we told Xue Jian to apprehend the perpetuators responsible for the crime and bring them back to compensate for the damages we suffered, he headed straight to their base and exterminated the entire sect, leaving no survivors."

"That's going a bit far, isn't it?" I remarked. A vast understatement, to be sure, but I wasn't sure how else to respond to this. Tang Qi Hong, Lian Rou and Tong Xue were suitably horrified, while Zi Shou De and Zi Da Ji looked grim.

"I see why you covered it up now," Zi Da Ji said.

"Even though we punished him by imprisoning him in the Fire Cliff Prison, Xue Jian refused to repent." Luo Zhi Chang shook his head as he sighed heavily. "If anything, he got even more violent and more powerful." He suddenly frowned. "That increase in power actually coincided with that time after he spent a few months meditating under the Spirit Engraved Pillars."

"But he didn't trigger any reaction from the Spirit Engraved Pillars," the third Great Elder pointed out. "So are you sure there's a connection?"

"It's too much to be a coincidence," the fourth Great Elder argued. "He did little else during that period of time."

"Even so, it's hard to believe that the Spirit Engraved Pillars are related if he didn't trigger any response from them," the fifth Great Elder countered. "It definitely is a coincidence."

"A coincidence with what?" Zi Da Ji cut in impatiently, clearly in no mood to listen to the Great Elders bicker. "With Xue Jian's increase in strength?"

Luo Zhi Chang nodded warily. "Yes and it was a drastic increase. His cultivation and power increased by leaps and bounds, and he ended up taking over the commander of Blood Blades at that time. Not only did he become tremendously powerful, he was also charismatic and persuaded many martial artists to follow him. Martial artists being as they are.." he glanced at me and Zi Da Ji. "No offense, but you seem to admire the strong. This was what happened with that incarnation of Blood Blades. When Xue Jian surpassed the then commander in strength, he directly challenged him and defeated him in combat." Luo Zhi Chang swallowed. "He actually killed the previous commander in combat, and took over as the undisputed commander of Blood Blades."

"And the Sect Leader at that time just allowed it to happen?" Zi Shou De asked in disbelief. Luo Zhi Chang nodded sadly.

"Blood Blades is a martial arts and military branch of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, where strength was imperative. As long as you're strong, no one will challenge you. It was several decades ago, so things were a lot more..straightforward then."

"I would never have allowed it to happen under my watch," Zi Shou De said simply. Inwardly, I was relieved. This whole "the strong can do whatever they like" principle never sat well with me. It was too open to corruption and abuse of power. And I hated bullies who justified their bullying of the weak with such stupid rhetoric.

Strength and power came with responsibility. I wasn't generous enough to spout nonsense like they should protect the weak or use their strength for the greater good of the people – I wasn't a na?ve ally of justice or hero – but at least abide by the laws set in place. The moment you violated those laws and started killing whoever you liked because you were "strong", society would collapse. And no matter how powerful one was, he or she couldn't survive on his or her own. No man was an island. You need the food that those "lowly" farmers produced or daily equipment that those supposedly common factory workers manufactured. Killing them off because they were weak and you were strong was a sure path to destroying yourself.

"The sect has improved by leaps and bounds under Sect Leader Zi's leadership," Luo Zhi Chang acknowledged. "But back then..that was how things operated. After taking over Blood Blades, Xue Jian began aggressively recruiting martial artists and teach them the martial arts techniques that he cultivated. He was the one who pioneered the dense qi and absorption techniques that current Blood Blades members practice in the Will'o Wisp Forest. That allowed all Blood Blades to massively increase their strength. Under his leadership, Blood Blades grew much stronger, which led to most of the sects in the Great Zhou Empire to fear its reputation."

At this point, Luo Zhi Chang glanced at Hai Rong. "Yan Chi, Lang Xie and Hai Rong are among the last generation who learned under him, several decades ago.Yan Chi was the senior of Lang Xie and Hai Rong, but he was slightly less talented than Lang Xie in terms of martial arts. However, his character was practically identical to that of Xue Jian's. They were almost like father and son. That was why Xue Jian regarded Yan Chi highly, and Yan Chi respected him greatly."

"He's a bit more talented than me in martial arts," Hai Rong confessed, not at all ashamed.

I listened in rapt attention, intrigued by the history of Blood Blades. However, Zi Da Ji did not share the same fondness for history and narratives as I did, and she impatiently raised a question as she leaned in her chair.

"That's interesting and all, but that doesn't answer the real question. Why was he killed by Lang Xie?"

This time it was Hai Rong who spoke up, her eyes glazing over as she recalled a horrific memory.

"That's because Lang Xie discovered that Master had transformed into a demon. Lang Xie witnessed with his own eyes Master draining the blood of human victims. I also saw Master feeding on human flesh once, during a battle. Drinking human blood and eating their meat to absorb their qi! The more he indulged wantonly in such demonic practices, the more his physical appearance was grew monstrous!"

Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou gasped, turning so white it looked as if the blood had been drained out of them.

"What? He became a cannibal?" I demanded, unable to wrap my mind around this. Even Zi Shou De and Zi Da Ji looked disturbed.

"Lang Xie was right to destroy him," Zi Da Ji murmured quietly.

"No wonder you kept all this a secret." Zi Shou De directed a glare at the withering Great Elders. "If this gets out, it'll be a scandal, and Nine-Tailed Fox Sect would be labeled a demonic sect. At least Blood Blades would, anyway."

"That wasn't the worst thing. Master was losing his sanity and becoming too easily irritated. Many of my seniors who failed their tasks were cruelly executed by him." Hai Rong shuddered involuntarily. "It got to the point where everyone was so scared that they attempted to escape Blood Blades, only for Yan Chi to hunt all of them down and kill them under Master's orders." Her lip curled. "I should have known that Yan Chi would be only too happy to obey Master."

Birds of the same feather, and all that. Somehow I wasn't surprised.

"When Lang Xie found out that Master was feeding on human blood, he resolved to kill him. Both Lang Xie and I told the then Sect Leader and the Great Elders about Master's loss of sanity and humanity and how he was becoming a monster." she glanced at Luo Zhi Chang and the other Great Elders. "We all agreed that Master had become too dangerous and how he has already lost control, so we decided to act for the sake of the sect."

She then paused, glancing down. Luo Zhi Chang didn't step in this time, so Hai Rong resumed speaking after half a minute of suspenseful silence.

"First we weakened Master with poison, then we caught him off guard when he was cultivating and killed him after a long, arduous battle. When Yan Chi learned of Master's death, he slaughtered his way up Flame Volcano to take revenge against the then sect leader and the six Great Elders. However, both Lang Xie and I defeated him and blasted him off a cliff."

And into the molten lava of Flame Volcano. The rest, as they said, was history.

Glancing around, I noticed that many of the inner sect elders looked pretty shocked and had turned incredibly pale. Most of them had joined the sect much later, just like Zi Shou De and Zi Da Ji, and so Blood Blades' past was news to them. This was the first time they heard of this. I sympathized with them. Unlike them, I had only joined the sect a little over a year ago, but these guys had been here for many years, even decades, without knowing about this.

Zi Shou De nodded thoughtfully, and after a long silence, he finally spoke up.

"I understand why you did this, and I fully agree with your decision to eliminate Xue Jian. But.." he glanced at the Great Elders sharply. "I wish you've at least informed me that such a dreadful incident occurred in the sect, instead of keeping it under wraps."

"Yeah," Zi Da Ji agreed as she folded her arms. "At least we now know what we're dealing with, and who this Blood Shadow is, and why he harbors such a deep hatred and powerful grudge against Blood Blades and our sect."

Watching Hai Rong, I suddenly remembered the last time I saw her, when she was dueling desperately with a heavily wounded Blood Shadow. At that time, she told me and Tong Xue to leave everything to her.

"Did you succeed in killing Blood Shadow..Yan Chi?" I asked. Everyone fell silent and turned to stare at Hai Rong expectantly.

Hai Rong's eyes darkened and she shook her head.

"I failed. Yan Chi is still alive, and I'm the one who was injured instead. The current Yan Chi is no weaker than Lang Xie! I can't believe he still possesses such combat power even after suffering such a fatal wound." She glanced at me apologetically. "Sorry for wasting the chance that you gave me. That was the best opportunity to slay him and I let it slipped." She closed her eyes briefly. "All those years in Divine Shadow Sect, he must have obsessed over revenge, and resorted to all manner of methods to increase his strength as much as power."

I couldn't help but be humbled when I saw Instructor Hai Rong admit to no longer being Yan Chi's match.

Everyone fell into a dark mood, contemplating seriously what they had just heard. Many of them looked very fearful. I didn't blame them. Yan Chi was someone hellbent on revenge, and unlike Di Shi Jiu, Liang Yang Zu or Yuan Tian Ya, he had no intention of allowing the Great Elders or the high-ranking members of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect to live, especially after they decided to kill Xue Jian. He had no intention of capturing them alive or imprisoning them to forge Spirit Artifacts, but would slaughter every single one of them on the spot.

Right now, Hai Rong had admitted that she wasn't Yan Chi's match. The only other person who could fight against Yan Chi was Lang Xie, and he was currently missing. Well, that wasn't true. We still had Sect Lady Zi Da Ji, who looked completely unmoved. In contrast to the almost panicking Elders, she maintained a calm and composed fa?ade, her expression thoughtful.

"If you want, I can go hunt down this Yan Chi," she volunteered.

"If you do so, then who's going to protect us..I mean Sect Leader and everyone here?" the sixth Great Elder riposted frantically. Typical. Even at this stage, he was still only thinking of his own skin. To be fair, anyone would under the circumstances.

"Never mind Yan Chi, with Lang Xie missing and uncontactable, and Hai Rong wounded, we might need you to defend the sect." Sect Leader Zi Da Ji glanced at me with a nod. "We're holding with the battle-automata that Fei Wu brought back for now, but I can't guarantee it'll stay that way for long."

"No, indeed," Zi Da Ji agreed with a sigh. "You have a point there."

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"We should prepare to evacuate the civilians and the sect as well." Zi Shou De reared up in his seat. "Give the order. We will gather all of our blueprints, manuals, data, resources, equipment and safekeep them in every available spatial storage device. Even if we're forced out of our home, we will not allow ourselves to be destroyed. We will preserve the sect, and keep its future and hopes alive! We will escape and seek shelter with the royal family – even these bastards wouldn't dare attack the royal estate and the Imperial Guard! Then we'll slowly rebuild and restore our sect from there!"

All the inner sect elders and Great Elders nodded in complete agreement. Zi Da Ji also looked as if she approved.

"Blood Blades will still be able to hold out against the ten invading sects for a while. We'll be able to withstand the siege for months if needed. Even so, I'm not taking any chances. We will use the time available and pack up our most precious belongings and resources as soon and as quickly as possible. Once we're ready, we'll leave."

Everyone nodded in unison. The alternative was to wait for the Imperial Guard to arrive and relieve our beleaguered forces, but we didn't want to count on that. Every second spent besieged would increase the danger and the chance of losing someone.

However..

"Um..how do you plan on leaving?" I asked as I raised a hand. "The Martial Arts Alliance has Flame Volcano and our sect surrounded."

"We'll use the underground passages to evacuate," Zi Shou De replied without missing a beat. I sighed, not wanting to disappoint them, but I had no choice.

"About that..I'm here to report the breach in the tunnels."

Everyone's head swiveled to stare at me, their expressions filled with dread, despair, dismay and fear.

"What?" Zi Shou De repeated, somewhat dumbly, as he stared at me in disbelief. I lowered my head apologetically.

"The underground passageways are infested by demons. You've probably heard of how I managed to return to the sect through them..and I'm not sure why they haven't informed you that I encountered demons inside there. They are too dangerous for civilians to evacuate through..at least not without a sizeable escort. And even then, a few stragglers would be picked off if we aren't careful. We'll need to clear the tunnels."

I then gave a report of what I encountered in the underground pasageways and a description of the demons I fought. The elders listened, paling when they heard about the horrors, gripping the armrests of their chairs tightly.

Zi Shou De looked as if he had aged a few years as he listened, and he sank into his seat wearily after I finished.

"Then evacuating through the tunnels is not an option."

"With respect, Sect Leader." Luo Zhi Chang snuck a glance at me. "Fei Wu escaped through the underground passageways and survived on his own, defeating an army of those demons. Surely, if we dispatch the Blood Blades to escort the evacuees, we should be able to fight them off. We'll sustain casualties inevitably, but it has to be better than being slaughtered and imprisoned by the Martial Arts Alliance."

"Even so, it'll only be a last resort. We'll try to hold out here as long as we can, and put off the evacuation until we really have no choice." Zi Shou De sighed, and I could see his fingers whiten as he dug them deeply into the armrests of his throne-like chair. "I don't want to risk going through the demon-infested tunnels unless absolutely necessary."

"We might not have a choice if this siege drags out," Zi Da Ji said quietly.

I chewed on my lip, feeling very pessimistic about our chances. Right now, everything hinged on the royal family responding to this illegal invasion and sending the Imperial Guard to save us. But if the royal family abandoned us, then we would be sitting ducks, trapping ourselves inside a cage as the Martial Arts Alliance tightened the noose around our necks. And given the number of demons prowling in the underground passageways, I was sure we would suffer heavy losses and casualties if we tried to evacuate through them, even with the armed presence of Blood Blades. I was lucky because the whole brood of demons didn't come after me at once.

"Write a report and submit it to me," Zi Da Ji told me and I nodded obediently. As a member of Blood Blades, writing after action reports was part of my duties, but I didn't look forward to that.

However, an idea occurred to me before I was dismissed, but I didn't voice it out. Instead, I turned to Luo Zhi Chang.

"You mentioned that Xue Jian became much stronger after he meditated in the plaza under the Spirit Engraved Pillars for a month?"

"A few months," the first Great Elder corrected. I nodded, a little chagrined.

"A few months," I amended. Then I turned toward the Zi couple. "Do you mind if I give it a shot? Perhaps I might find something just as useful, just like the martial arts manuals that I received when communing with them that other time."

Zi Shou De shrugged. "Can't hurt to try."

"Make sure you write the report first," Zi Da Ji chided. "Don't use that as an excuse to run away from homework."

"Yes, ma'am."

After that, I was dismissed. Following Tang Qi Hong, Lian Rou and Tong Xue, we returned to the dormitory. Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou went their separate ways and returned to the inner sect disciple area while Tong Xue and I returned to our dormitory building.

"What was that all about?" Tong Xue asked, still pale and frightened from hearing all those things during the briefing. I wasn't sure what he was most disturbed by – Blood Blades' horrific past under the demonic Xue Jian, Yan Chi apparently returning from the dead to seek revenge on the sect, or my encounter with the ghastly monsters in the underground passageways, which made any effort to evacuate a perilous one.

"Just a normal day in the life of a xianxia protagonist," I replied dryly, and he glared at me, as if telling me to be serious. I sighed. "You've to be more specific. What part of that discussion did you not understand?"

"..never mind." It was Tong Xue's turn to sigh. "I just can't wrap my head around all this. It's just so unbelievable, you know?"

"I know what you mean," I agreed vaguely.

"Qi Hong and Lian Rou too..they were so disturbed." Tong Xue shook his head. "I can't believe such a thing happened in the past." He looked at me seriously. "Do you really think it's possible to become a demon through cultivating?"

"That's why the Martial Arts Alliance are so vehement on hunting demonic sects and eradicating them," I said quietly, but couldn't resist pointing out the irony. "However, the Martial Arts Alliance themselves are indulging in demonic acts and atrocities. Makes you wonder who the truly evil one is, doesn't it?"

Tong Xue chuckled uneasily, though I could tell that he was far from amused. "I guess it really does," he mused.

We both climbed up the stairs for a bit, and then Tong Xue suddenly turned to me.

"I know you're telling the truth, and I've heard the rumors before you actually told Sect Leader and the committee about it, but.." he swallowed. "Did you really encounter a swarm of demons in the underground passageways?"

I understood he was asking not because he doubed me, but because he was still mired in disbelief and horror. Even so, I didn't relieve him of it and nodded.

"Yeah."

"Ah, I see." Tong Xue's shoulders fell. "Yeah, I guess we have no choice but to put off the evacuation until it's absolutely necessary."

"Nine-Tailed Fox Sect won't fall," I declared fiercely. "We will not be defeated. Not by those bastard sects, and not by that fucking Martial Arts Alliance. The Imperial Guard will come, and we will prevail. Even without them, we'll drive them off, by ourselves if necessary."

Tong Xue snorted. "I wonder where you're getting that confidence from."

I summoned my Castellax battle-automata, and Tong Xue's jaw dropped somewhat. I cocked my head and smiled faintly.

"Don't tell me you've lost your Thallax battle-puppets already?"

"No, I haven't." The fight was returning to Tong Xue's eyes now. "You're right. We might just be able to turn this around."

He then spun around on his feet, poised to head downstairs. I was taken aback by his sudden change in motion.

"What happened?"

"I'm going to join the frontlines. We were originally supposed to be doing that before Lian Rou called us to the peak of Flame Volcano, remember?" he reminded me. I nodded, recalling that was indeed the case.

"I've to write a report for Sect Lady. I'll join you when I'm done."

"See you then."

Bidding Tong Xue farewell, I hurried back to my room and began writing the report immediately. It took me three hours, but I submitted a copy to Zi Da Ji's email, and then rose out of my chair and left my apartment.

As I promised Tong Xue, I headed toward the frontlines, but before I reached the gates and walls, I decided to make a small detour. Passing by the plaza that sported the Spirit Engraved Pillars, I paused and turned toward them.

"Let's do this," I muttered under my breath, and then proceeded toward the Spirit Engraved Pillar with demon motifs. Sitting down at the base, I closed my eyes and concentrated. Within seconds, my spirit consciousness entered the malevolent Spirit World inhabited by the emaciated old man. He looked up at me and smiled.

"I knew you will return," the old man said ominously. I grinned back, unable to hold back a sarcastic response.

"I'm sure you did."