It didn’t take long for everyone to vent their anger on the three monks … or what was left of them. They might’ve been sky-realm experts, but that didn’t mean they were invincible. Thanks to Lucia’s impurities, I was able to drag out the confrontation long enough to exhaust them. They chased us for a month; it’s a shame they didn’t know the meaning of quitting while they were ahead. Our ancestral grounds were looted by them, but they didn’t get to keep anything, and in the end, they lost their lives too. As Lucia always used to say, bad things happen to bad people—that’s why only good things happen to her.

“Here are their interspacial rings, Vice-Sect Leader.”

Someone passed me three rings embedded with high-class spirit stones. Weren’t Buddhists supposed to practice humility? I searched through them, destroying the wisps of will that were left behind to protect against thieves. It’s not difficult to do when the other party is dead. Inside the rings, there was … a lot of stuff. The pile of treasures that they took from my sect’s ancestral grounds were just that, a pile. Compared to the mountain of items inside the rings, anyone would think my sect’s accumulation of over a thousand years was trash picked up off the ground. With this many resources, maybe the Shadow Devil Sect can produce another sky-realm expert. We have to grow stronger to continue following Lucia when she returns.

“Will the Righteous Buddha Sect send more people to attack us?”

“I don’t think so.” I really don’t. The sect leader was killed when Smiling Pig used their divine treasure bell to draw out Lucia’s impurities. And now they lost three of their sect ancestors as well. A sect ancestor usually doesn’t take action, saving and focusing all their energy towards becoming an immortal. “Store their bodies in an interspacial ring. We’ll gift them to Sister Ilya.”

“She’ll certainly be happy with three sky-realm experts’ corpses,” Junior Cloud said as he grabbed the three monks and stored them away. “With this, it’ll be fine if we don’t give her the corpses of the elders who died, right?”

“Probably?” I’m not sure how to feel about Sister Ilya’s penchant for dead bodies. She can convert them into alchemical ingredients or turn them into spiritual treasures. I’m sure the elders would be happy knowing their bodies were used to help the younger generation, but at the same time, they wouldn’t want to be defiled after death. “From now on, should we have a waiver that allows our sect members to opt in or out of having their bodies turned into weapons after they die?” People greatly frown upon the corpse-reanimating sects, even more so than my Shadow Devil Sect. How would we be any different from them if we turned our elders into weapons after their deaths?

“That’s … a bit morbid,” Junior Cloud said. And I agree. Who told Sister Ilya to have such a morbid hobby? I wonder how she’s doing. She must be happy, being all alone with Lucia for ten years. Ah, I wish I was there instead.

“I see them! They’re gathered in that small city up ahead!”

Huh? Small city up ahead, isn’t that us? “Did a scout really just announce their location after discovering us?” Where did that voice come from, the west? Over there, there’s … a lot of people coming our way. I flew up to get a more accurate check on their numbers, but there were too many to count. The massive crowd was being led by a giant clam. It was floating above the ground, barreling forward past the trees and rocks and everything in its way.

The clam’s shells flapped open, and a booming voice rang out. “I found you! Shadow Devil Sect, you murdered my son! And according to his underlings, you, you, you … ate him!”

Is this the father of the guardian beast of the Little Clam Sect? I vaguely remember that clam saying its father was a sky-realm expert who would get revenge for it…. It was actually true? We just can’t catch a break, huh? I suppressed the sigh that wanted to leave my chest and reached into my interspacial ring. I drank another vial of Lucia’s impurities to recover the qi that I had expended on my fight with the monks. Judging by the different designs and colors of the robes the people behind the clam were wearing, they must’ve been part of the sects that Lucia robbed when she went on her crusade to placate them. Well, it wasn’t just Lucia who robbed them: all of us who went with her are guilty too. I feel bad dragging the rest of the sect members and elders who weren’t a part of the crusade into this, but it’s not like they didn’t benefit off the vast resources we plundered.

“So what if we ate your son? Clams are born to be eaten! We’ll eat you too!” Junior Cloud shouted. “Do you think we’re afraid of you just because you’re a sky-realm expert?” Three bodies appeared on the ground in front of him. “Look here! These three sky-realm experts thought they could take advantage of us. Look at them now!”

The large clam stopped in midair. If clams had facial expressions, I’m sure his would’ve been plastered with fear. “Those…, aren’t those the ancestors of the Righteous Buddha Sect!?”

“What about them?” Junior Cloud asked and sneered. “Regretting coming here now?”

“Fuck! Which one of you bastards told me the Shadow Devil Sect had no sky-realm experts?” the clam roared and turned around. “Which one of you dared lied to this father!?”

“T-that report was from eleven years ago! If you had arrived earlier, they wouldn’t have any!”

“You think this father is rich enough to use a gate!? The Deepwater Province is thirteen years away and you have the audacity to criticize me for getting here in eleven!?” The clam smashed down into the throng of people, turning a whole section into a bloody paste. Is this … infighting? The clam smashed up and down on the screaming crowd a few times before floating into the air, rising up to the same height as me. “Heh-heh, sky-realm expert of the Shadow Devil Sect, there seems to be a misunderstanding between us. Shall we have a chat?”

…Well, I suppose clams don’t have faces. It’s no wonder why this one is shameless.