Great Elder Yi Rong was old, truly old. From times when the overlords were considered just mere top-tier powers, his history would require rooms over rooms filled with scrolls to be related. That if someday it would be of general knowledge. After all, nearly no stories of his or the clan were known.

At least not before Yi Rong, with four relatives of his, had claimed ownership over the island.

From that point on, some battles against cultivators, hostile groups, beasts, and a couple of local Saint Beasts were known, but for the rest? It remained a mystery to most, with hardly the direct descendants of the first [Zihoadao] lord, Yi Zheng, privy to some details.

The only things known were that Yi Rong had never been the strongest or the wisest of the original five founding members. And yet it was he to brave all the dangers along with the others while surviving all of them to remain alive to this day. Now, he remained in seclusion, watching over what he and his relatives had created.

A seclusion that, with a few periods of leave, had already proceeded for over two hundred years. Rumors about the reasons were many, but the trusted circle of the clan knew the truth. Yi Rong had been wounded during one of the first battles against the, at some time, hostile [Steel Fang] Beastmen. A wound that was so grievous even his Warrior Emperor cultivation could not heal it entirely without expending lifeforce, reducing the usual thousand years of life to half.

Since that moment, Yi Rong found himself unable to advance his cultivation which was the only way to correct some of the damage and extend his life. Thus, he had to enter the pocket realm. Where for nearly 200 hundred years, he had remained in meditation, attempting to find a way to resolve his plight.

With only one year passing for each eight outside, it not only served as a chance for him to prolong his remaining years but also to watch over the clan, and help it in the counted, with one hand, occasions when Yi Rong chose to do so.

Hearing Yi De's report, Yi Rong's eyes opened, sending a flare of aura which would be felt not only inside the empty space of the pocket realm, but even outside it. His outburst, stemming from the true reason for extending his remaining life surfacing in his mind.

The preparations to break out from such a long seclusion would take time, even with the Great Elder planning to rush them as he may. "Go, return to the city, resist until death." Yi Rong spoke up as Yi De remained, waiting for an answer.

But regretfully, to the knowledge of neither of them, Great Elder Yi Rong would not get the chance to influence the battle, to save [Zihoadao].

***

Five dead Warrior Kings laid before Cai Zhenkang. It had taken him only a few breaths to clear the area, and even if one of the attackers had managed to escape, with the Warrior Emperor choosing not to chase, the situation appeared resolved.

At least it seemed so, with Grandmaster Yuan activating the formation just a moment ago.

"Wha..? What is this?!" Cai Zhenkang roared out, feeling the spreading protective formation, hearing Lord Yi's words, confirming that the latter would not be able to enter it, unable to clear the city from the filth attacking it, as the original plan was.

"The formation has been damaged! Someone tampered with it! Nothing short of a 5th level Warrior Emperor will be able to leave or enter!" Yuan Mei, inwardly shivering at the thought she had failed to notice such, exclaimed with notable panic as she rushed out of the Palace doors.

Cai Zhenkang was on the verge of exploding on the feeble formation Grandmaster but restrained himself, only asking if she could restore it. Receiving a positive answer, although one that stated it would take time, the Warrior Emperor ordered Yuan Mei to do whatever she had to, as his mind changed tracks towards his own plans.

Aware that he could lose even the current strength at any moment, his cultivation-passing method demanding long recharge periods after his spirit-heir fought or received wounds, Cai Zhenkang decided on the only sensible thing. To concentrate on the city while he could change something,

But as Cai Zhenkang decided on his actions and was about to fly off towards the several peak Warrior Kings he had felt, a familiar aura reached him.

Yet, again, it looked as if the heavens were out to crush any budding hope of the [Zihoadao] defenders. Cai Zhenkang had not even finished his thought as he felt how the Great Elder's aura vanished.

And as the old cultivator asked himself in shock and worry, emotions he hardly expected to feel so many times today, another aura reached his senses.

"Everyone, run away!" Cai Zhenkang would only manage to shout out a single phrase as he felt Yi De's death, an event that followed the abrupt disappearance of the Great Elder's aura.

***

As the events in the City's Palace took place and several other battles raged around the city, five figures approached the Main Arena entrance, stopping a hair from the layers of protective formations surrounding the enormous building.

*Shatter*

The formations, capable of withstanding attacks from Warrior Emperors, fell to a single sweep of the foremost figure. A single qi-less attack of a Warrior King shattered them, opening the way inside.

Bai Qi's conqueror challenge, announced just a day before, had still gathered several thousand people. Many were locals, and many others were visitors of [Zihoadao] who had come to bet, fight, or else. Yet, from this exorbitant amount, one comparable to a third of the city's population, only a tenth were cultivators or followers of the Martial Path. Furthermore, only a part could be called experts. Advanced and experienced Warrior Lords, battle-scarred Warrior Kings, they had come to fight themselves or as escorts for the ones who could afford their services.

A few other renowned rogues or foreigners had arrived merely to pass the time, to stay away from the region's raging war, and ended up drawn to the event without anything better to do. And a small number of actual regional experts had come to the island to solve some grudge in the life-or-death stages, only visiting the Main Arena as they waited for their own battles.

Among the first group - people like Pei Shang and Teng Liuxian, rogue cultivators who had come as guards for wealthy patrons. Among the last one - [Heibei] Xu Wen and his adversary, Lai Luoyang from the [Shimmering Earth] sect.

The general public had previously panicked and nearly rioted but had been calmed down, not without some help from Bai Qi himself. The situation had remained stable, even as they caught up on the Warrior Emperor clash above the city or remained unaware of what was going on. They had even taken the words of Lord Yi, ones that had entered their ears just sometime before calmly, believing that the City Lord had everything under control. Yet, as the formations around the Main Arena shattered, most would scream in alarm.

Five individuals cloaked in black robes, their faces hidden by cowls, even their aura blurry under the effect of concealing talismans or other methods. In a usual setting, they would hardly be enough to send thousands over thousands panicking. But their aura revealed them as 9th level Warrior Kings, two of them at the very peak of the realm, and nearly no one in the arena could boast a similar level.

"Who are you?" Xu Wen had not planned to intervene in the situation. Not without being asked to do so, considering it wasn't his call to make. Yet, with the formations shattered and the five evidently hostile cultivators breaking in, he was the first to stand up.

Xu Wen's question was echoed by a few more experts right away. Then it was Yi Bingwen to ask the same. The latter, while far weaker, was the only remaining senior member of the [Yi Clan] present.

But the five figures responded nothing, at least with words, their actions speaking for them.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

A few low-level cultivators standing at the very entrance, not getting a seat by either bad luck or having arrived late, fell to the ground, the newcomers' combined aura pressure enough to knock them out.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" Xu Wen was the first to explode in anger. As a City Lord himself, and one that had even gone so far as to accept a fight to the death caused by him stopping similar actions, he could not simply sit idle.

But as Xu Wen was about to launch forward, another figure beat him to it, a person he hardly expected to see jumping to defend anyone, Lai Luoyang.

Yet, as the words came out from the [Shimmering Earth] vice head, Xu Wen froze on the spot, his teeth gritting against each other.

Starting with pleasantries and asking for permission to approach, Lai Luoyang did so after one of the cloaked men nodded. "I am Lai Luoyang, Vice-headmaster of the [Shimmering Earth] sect. I am unsure what kind of grudge you have against [Zihoadao] cultivators or the [Yi Clan], but here in the arena, there is hardly any of either."

Having named his power and spread a bit of his aura to reveal his cultivation of a peak 8th level Warrior King, Lai Luoyang apparently intended to negotiate with the unknown attackers. And all would be fine if the attackers were planning to, or maybe if he didn't continue speaking, to that no one could say. Still, the result was the same, as Lai Luoyang followed up, bringing up the name of the [Sea Forest Palace], the possible consequences of hostile actions, and even requesting safe passage out of the city for the uninvolved, basically for him and his people. In response, the cloaked figure that had nodded to him before, allowing him to approach, lunged forward.

*Splatter* *Plop*

"You..?" At first moment, it didn't even register for him. Lai Luoyang would dumbly stare at the bleeding stump of his left hand, which he had raised to point toward the exit.

With blood shed, and the blood of one of the strongest present cultivators to the booth, the already blooming panic exploded. People moved away from the entrance, ignoring everyone and everything, pushing away, stepping over others, only attempting to create distance between themselves and the cloaked figures. Some experts would also choose to flee towards the other exits, only Xu Wen and a few others remaining behind, in a haphazardly organized attempt to slow down the killing. To stop the crazed fiends! Of calling them out as such, no one would object, indeed.

[Chaos, Blood, and Death] That would be the three things to overtake the insides of the Main Arena as the five Warrior Kings would clash with the few experts to try and fight them. Regretfully, from the latter, only two, one being Xu Wen and the other a cultivator from outside the region, were of a similar level.

*Boom* *Splatter* *Shatter* *Crack* *Boom*

While the defenders attempted to force close combat, aware of the surroundings, the attackers had no qualms in releasing skill after skill. Not caring about how many innocent bystanders, escaping non-cultivators, arena personnel, and so on would be affected, wounded, or even killed.

***

In all the ensuing chaos, no one noticed how two Warrior Kings, actually Saint Beast presences, as well as a lone Warrior Lord one, had vanished just as the formations disappeared...