Man Ling, as she dealt with another of the still surfacing points of resistance, had taken into account nearly everything that could happen. Indeed, with complete information on the [Yi] cultivators remaining in the city, how could she not? And yet, as a sudden, Void-using transmission sent towards her previous location before rushing out to deal with a few Warrior Kings that were about to win their bout against the [Shi] and [Hai] clans following her, Man Ling felt herself feeling surprised.

Initially, Man Ling felt interested to know just who was so daring as to try and contact her, but the message's contents quickly won over that. The latter didn't matter much, but the former? It was not only somebody from the power somewhat responsible for all the events that made them come here, but if allowed to leave, that elder could be a threat indeed!

Perfectly aware of how it should look and how they planned to disguise this attack, Man Ling dropped everything else, hid her aura, and quickly, nearly instantly, moved to the teleportation formation. As for the message source, this so-called [Void King]? It could hardly be a Warrior Emperor, or he would have stayed. As for Warrior Kings escaping, even if using the Void, Man Ling worried not.

The pair of cultivators left to block and overwatch the approach between [Zihoadao] and [Heibei] were peak Warrior Kings and would definitively detect someone's leaving the island. After all, no cultivator, not even a half-Saint, could make the entire trek without leaving even once.

And to be sure they would not miss this man, giving no chance for reinforcements to arrive to [Zihoadao] before it was time, Man Ling sent a single transmission. A command even, {Cai Wuying, if you want to live or even leave this city, make sure Hai Long and Shi Sa find out the direction of the Void-using cultivator to break out of the formation!}

Man Ling and her older sister, Man Xian, had acted right as they learned of Man Long's death. Gathering a team of [Shi] and [Hai] Warrior Kings, as well as two of the latter's Warrior Emperors, the sisters ventured out of their region, moving to [Zihoadao], all while avoiding teleportation formations, powers, and even the main roads of the [Great Forest] region. And they had managed to arrive without being discovered. Then, still, without revealing their identities, or even their presence, they had prepared and launched this attack, in which they risked everything.

After all, if caught or their identities found, the [Great Forest] Sect would have all the rights to ask for an explanation from the [Man Family] they were part. And in the case of such face off, neither Man Ling nor Man Xian held any hope for their family or the other nine that made up the overlord of the [Ten Families] region to protect them.

Here one could only ask, why would two geniuses, and who else but them two Warrior Emperors that were younger than 30 could be, risk everything they obtained until now? And even while ignorant of the actual reasons, any cultivator would think of status, power, and similar greed-filled reasons. This latter? The absolute truth, as indeed - Man Ling and Man Xian were acting with nothing but such thoughts.

29 years ago, from an unknown father, a servant of the [Man Family] bore a kid. The servant herself was also a [Man], her position caused because of birth, in the third, weakest branch. A kid from an unknown father, Man Xian, would later meet the same fate as her mother, serving the ones of the paramount family. Yet, her life would hardly turn out as her mother's one, as Man Xian was no average individual, managing to reach the Warrior King realm without formal training or the resources to the heirs of the bloodline had access.

23 years ago, again from an unknown father, Man Hua gave birth to another girl. Man Ling's fate would have been the same as her mother's if not for her older sister, Man Xian, showing genius-tier prowess, reaching the Warrior King realm at just 17 years of age.

"Such rare talent!" Such were the words of Man Liuxian, the clan's patriarch, who Man Hua served.

"Such rare talent!" Such were his words later when he ordered Man Xian to move into the main branch, and he saw Man Ling, only 11 years old and with neither training nor actual cultivation, resist his aura without breaking a sweat.

The girls' lives would change on that fateful day 12 years ago. The best resources, teachers, and anything Man Liuxian could supply - were provided to them on his orders. And in just a few years, Man Xian would rise to the 3rd level Warrior Emperor she was now, while Man Ling would surpass even her own sister, reaching the 4th level of the same realm while being six years younger.

Surpassing most, if not all, of the younger generation of the principal branch, one could have expected the sisters to become significant enough to change their position, but it never happened. Not even the patriarch's protection helped them with it, making them take the hardest, dirtiest, and most unwanted tasks. It all would even change for the worse when the patriarch perished some three years ago, their status dropping to nothing else but the servants they were by birth.

And yet, there would be a man to notice and even improve their position, Man Long, the late heir of the patriarch. From servants to guards and personal attendants, the jump was one expected as it wasn't. Regretfully, before Man Long would have the chance to induct them into the main branch, something he had planned and announced just a month ago, he would perish, fighting the [Demon Worshippers] in an unrequired bid to confirm the rightness of his status.

By a strange play of fate, the sisters had not followed Man Long on that expedition, tasked with removing one of the many enemies of the [Man Family]. So, even now, they harbored guilt regarding his death. Guilt gave birth to anger, as they would find out something very significant during the funeral's preparations or, in all truth, confirm what they had suspected. Man Liuxian was not just a backer but their actual father! And so, they should have been considered part of the main branch but potential inheritors!

The [Thunderbird Talons], the proof of inheritance, Man Ling and Man Xian managed to find their location after skimming through the possessions of their so-called late benefactor, actually half-brother, Man Long. And then, they risked everything, ready to even arrange for the killing of Man Long's only son or to act while disguising themselves as demonic cultivators. Indeed, their reasons were birthed by greed, one for power and status, and still, who could say they weren't in the right?!

As Man Ling confirmed the mysterious, introduced as [Void King], cultivator's words, she inwardly thought, her aura expanding, catching the five or seven if one counted the unconscious, cultivators unaware, giving them no chance to escape.

[The Heavens do not help without asking for repayment.] Bai Qi's mind replayed this so-well-known truth as he found himself frozen on the spot by a Warrior Emperor's aura. Did he feel anger? No, he didn't. [A cultivator's life is brittle, and while one overcomes challenges on the path, the path itself can kill one at any time.] - Yet another well-known truth.

He couldn't think or feel any possibility of them escaping an Emperor, so as Ma Su and He Delan, who received the brunt of the suppression impact, Bai Qi found himself thinking about nothing but the death that would follow. An unexpectedly furious thought in a calm mind, Bai Qi knew that he had nothing to do or offer to save them. And so, he accepted the cold truth - they would die, no matter what he did, with not even Kui Mulang's incarnation able to face a Warrior Emperor.

***

The others, conscious members of Bai Qi's group, found themselves thinking on the same line as Bai Qi, even if the rest of their thoughts were far from calm.

And indeed, except for Ma Su, who merely regretted the fact, He Delan and the Bai sisters inwardly raged with their bodies forced down on the ground, a 4th level Warrior Emperor pressure making them painfully aware of their weakness.

He Delan, who had not only recognized the title but the voice of the man who accepted, reveled in setting a Warrior Emperor on them, inwardly cursed, desiring nothing but the chance to kill Song Lin, even if she would die herself right after.

As for Bai Rui and Bai Ze, their thoughts were the same, something that rarely happened, Not that they didn't feel furious at the culprit of this deathly crisis, but still, what else but rage could they do? In a situation when just an aura had downed them? And with the aura's owner not even in the range of their senses?!

***

Man Ling rarely chose to reveal herself, even during her deals with the [Man Family] hiding her face. Although, the latter because of the connections witnesses could make between her looks and several of the deaths she was responsible for by using them. Yet now, the cover of their mission was based on impressions, so she had to do it.

A flowing, long robe that allowed no hint at her actual build coupled with an Earth-tier treasure to mask her image and aura, such was her planned appearance. Several chaos-qi-infused orbs on herself, a designed strategy to leave several witnesses and a few words, would all leave enough hints for the coming, unmistakably so, elders and geniuses from the region's powers. Indeed, how could the latter not come if she had even made sure for people of the overlord to die? And luckily, as she now thought, examining the two Saint Beasts trapped in her aura, Her actions could have appeared absolutely uncaring for the consequences to some, but it was far from the truth. Man Ling, as her sister Man Xian, desired nothing but the best for the [Man Family], even if that included taking over the main branch, or using their power to cleanse it from, what, in their mind, was keeping the great family at the bottom of the ten.

"[Void Palace] wench, seeing you here is unexpected, but you will pay for what you brought to our Sisterhood!" Her qi-infused and qi-changed voice resounded to at least half of the city's residents to hear it. Man Ling's words also left yet another hint, pointing to the only power with such a title in their name, the [Duan Zhou Sisterhood]. This latter, the only all-female power between the four making the current [Demon Worsipper] overlord top, and one that had raided their family lands, including the [Shihai Wetlands], several times before.

Feeling nothing, Man Ling thought about what she was about to do and increased the pressure of her aura, intending to crush Bai Qi, the two Warrior Kings, two Saint Beasts, and the two unconscious Warrior Lords. Massacring the seven and some of the several residents she felt inside the surrounding buildings.

Yet, as she did, the weakest of her victims already exploding in nothing but a cloud of blood - Man Ling suddenly stopped, her senses moving upwards, where, above the formation, she suddenly sensed a Warrior Emperor's aura. One that she very well knew, the Lord of [Zihoadao], Yi Lao!

At that moment, with Man Ling about to kill Bai Qi and his companions.

A figure barely recognizable as a human, covered in blood, lacking both legs, and with a gaping hole where one's, if human, heart would be, laboriously flew out of a Void rip that opened just a few feet above the [Zihoadao] protective formation's boundary.

To say that Yi Lao had sacrificed much to win an otherwise unwinnable battle would be to say nothing. And no scholar, foreign expert, or even Yi Lao's most bitter enemies could say otherwise. His cultivation was barely there. Meridians and even dantian cracked, and his body, which was now nothing but a chunk of bloodied meat, barely gave any signs of life. Yet, he did win, as no one would exit the Void-created battlefield, none except him.

How did Yi Lao win? How did the City Lord, at a peak 3rd Warrior Emperor level battle, surpass and give death to someone of his, if not above strength, accompanied by two weaker but still Warrior Emperor allies, and still remain alive? It would remain unclear, now and forever, as Yi Lao would never talk about what this battle was. Not after the events and not even during meetings with the head of the [Great Forest Sect]. Not even on his, with no cultivation remaining, mortal deathbed, as it's written, several years later, in the scrolls about the [Red and Green Blood Reaping].

***

Man Ling felt how a sudden wave of anger overtook her. No Warrior Emperor would allow emotions to dictate their actions, but now?! Man Ling held not even a wisp of desire to contain them. Yi Lao's, alone, emerging from the Void, could only mean one thing..!

"Cai Wuying! You damn dog, open the formation!" Uncaring to anything but the bloodied figure in her sight, Man Ling commanded, not even noticing that she did so in voice, not the qi transmission she intended to use.

*Glimmer*

Cai Wuiying, Grandmaster Yuan Mei's apprentice, would have never dared to go against the wishes of his true master. And while he shook in fear, his name and participation revealed, he still commanded the formation to disable as told.

Usually, such would be impossible, the formation requiring the City Lord or the clan's patriarch's command. But now? It glimmered and shut down, showing that Yi Lao was not in a state to control or notice anything.

*SWOOSH*

Leaving behind the ones she had meant to kill, ignoring all of a Warrior Emperor movement methods, Man Ling flew forwards, soaring towards the unresponsive Yi Lao.

***

One could only imagine the result of such an anger-filled charge, especially with both parties' observable conditions. Yet the expected result never came, with Man Ling suddenly stopping, frozen, just a few feet from where she was before.

Her state hardly allowed to acknowledge what was happening, but still, Man Ling's mind immediately told her what had occurred. She had been suppressed, stopped in her tracks, someone far above her taking the stage, sending their aura to block her from killing her mark!

"I would have never acted, no matter what you planned to do in [Zihoadao]." An aged voice, so cold that it didn't leave any doubt to the words it spoke, pronounced. And a moment later, a figure crashed through the roof of the Main Arena, reaching Man Ling in less than an instant. It was then that the aged woman, as it wasn't anything but one, continued, now standing nearly some feet from the suppressed Man Ling, a peak 4th level Emperor!, "But your dogs, the men you ordered to their death, they dared to attack HER!"