Master Sixth had been a pitiable person. He started out like Master Seventh, as a shining star in Seven Blood Eyes. Normally speaking, he should have progressed beyond the Nascent Soul level.

But at a key point in his life, he lost his true love. She was his daoist partner and also his Junior Sister, but she died in an accident. What was more, she perished saving his life. Master Sixth, who had been a very romantic and idealistic person, was quickly overwhelmed with sorrow and regret. In fact, he nearly went insane with grief and indignation.

However, he clawed his way out of that mental state, and eventually placed all of his hopes and dreams in the child of his dead wife. His own son. His son was a hard worker and an assiduous cultivator. He was naturally talented, and his growth and progress drove Master Sixth’s grief away.

But fate can be cruel. One day when his son went out for training, he never came back. His life slip shattered, indicating that he had perished. It was a worse blow to Master Sixth than when his daoist partner perished. It created an unrelenting pressure that forced him out to sea looking for his son. However, even after all the years that passed he found no clues. Eventually, Master Sixth sank into sorrow, and spent his days drinking. Sometimes, he would weep to the moon, his heart overwhelmed with pain. The people in Seven Blood Eyes who knew him wished they could do something, but in the end, could only sigh in regret.

That was why, after Xu Qing found the clue leading to the killer, Master Sixth had gone absolutely crazy. It didn’t matter that Sir Bloodsmelter had declared war on the Seazombies, Master Sixth had to take action.

It was also why Master Sixth had treated Xu Qing differently.

After that event, Master Sixth had worked hard to further the interests of Seven Blood Eyes. When Seven Blood Eyes reached a higher level and joined the coalition, it moved to Emperor-Receiving Prefecture.

Master Sixth already felt his pain easing, and had thus focused all his energy on Seven Blood Eyes. He had also quietly kept an eye on Xu Qing, and was waiting for an opportunity to pay him back for the great favor he had bestowed. To this day, he was still ready and waiting for that moment to arrive. Unfortunately… it all went up in smoke.

Master Sixth had perished.

His death was a massive shock to all of Seven Blood Eyes.

During the war two years before with the Seazombies, though Seven Blood Eyes had suffered casualties, not a single Nascent Soul peaklord had fallen. In fact during the last two hundred years in which Sir Bloodsmelter led the sect, and especially after Master Seventh started working with him, the sect had been on a constant rise to prominence. They had never experienced the death of a Nascent Soul expert.

The last time a Nascent Soul expert died was two hundred years before, and it led to the first vicious war with the Seazombies.

During that war, the Seazombies nearly managed to invade Seven Blood Eyes itself. The first generation patriarch had been wounded, and half of the peaklords died. Sir Bloodsmelter had been out of the sect traveling for so many years that many people had forgotten about him. Upon his return, he unleashed a cultivation base power that few people could have expected to see. It was the great circle of the Spirit Trove level. During that critical time, he saved Seven Blood Eyes. From that moment on, he became the nominal leader of the sect.

After that, Seven Blood Eyes made a lot of progress. Nascent Soul experts popped up like bamboo after a spring rain. Of course, to most cultivators, reaching that level was an incredibly difficult process, so there weren’t a huge number. The current First Peaklord and Fourth Peaklord were original members of the peaklords, while the others were new. Master Seventh and Master Sixth had joined the sect together, and had once been rivals among chosen.

When Master Seventh watched as Master Sixth’s corpse fell from the sky, collapsing into pieces, becoming a blood rain that fell onto the sect below, his eyes turned uncharacteristically bloodshot. He was no god that could turn a blind eye to such things. Neither was Sir Bloodsmelter. They had viewed the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect as a potential calamity, and also had an idea of where the president stood on the matter. They had predicted that a dangerous threat to the sect could arise. They had even considered that traitors could rise up. They had even factored in the possibility that such traitors might be related to Torchlight.

Master Seventh had thought of all that. He had devised many contingencies, even plans if the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect activated their taboo treasure. As a result, they had followed through with those plans, and even taken advantage of the situation to try to steal the other sect’s taboo treasure and add it to their own reserve power.

But… they had not considered that Torchlight would actually be far stronger than they had anticipated.

Master Seventh and Sir Bloodsmelter weren’t to blame. The great powers in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture had mostly forgotten about Torchlight. Little did anyone know that, because of the arrival of one specific person, Torchlight had changed.

When that shadowy figure struck down Master Sixth, the battle prowess on display was that of Void Returning. That was something that not one single intelligence report from any of the great powers had mentioned.

It indicated that this entire event had been planned out in detail. It had been set up specifically to kill Master Sixth. Steps had been taken to assure that Master Sixth’s defenses and lifesaving items would be negated so that he could be killed.

That shadowy figure hadn’t truly been trying to kill Xu Qing. He wasn’t the target of the mission. When you killed a chicken, you didn’t need to use a giant saber. It didn’t matter if Xu Qing fled or not. The whole point had been to kill Master Sixth, and that mission had been accomplished. Everything else was secondary.

Master Seventh trembled as he looked at the shadowy figure. His eyes were so bloodshot everything around him looked red, and the whole world reeled. The reason for his reaction was that there was nothing he could do. He had to stay with the patriarch to keep the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect’s taboo treasure in check. If he abandoned the plan, it would fail, and the taboo treasure would inflict serious damage on Seven Blood Eyes.

Sir Bloodsmelter’s eyes were also filled with grief, and he shouted in rage as he suppressed the taboo treasure. The other peaklords also trembled, but could only watch in disbelief as Master Sixth’s corpse transformed into a blood rain. The Gold Core elders and the disciples from the various peaks were silent. That was especially true of the highnesses from the Sixth Peak, who trembled and howled inwardly. Unfortunately, no one could do anything.

The patriarchs and matriarchs of the other sects looked on with very serious expressions. Some of them performed incantation gestures, causing the coalition’s grand spell formation to lock down the area. Up in the air, the president’s face looked incomparably grim as he looked first at Seven Blood Eyes, and then the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect.

Eventually, his gaze came to rest on the eaves of one particular building.

The air there rippled and distorted as Sir Bloodsmelter and the other coalition patriarchs and matriarchs also looked in that direction, causing immense pressure to weigh down there. Their intense killing intent was all focused on the same area. The air suddenly cracked and split, and then collapsed.

Revealed on the eaves of the roof was a person in a black cloak, with a mask that resembled the broken face of the god. He lay back with his hands behind his head, looking up at Master Shengyun and Chu Tianqun.

A moment later, the air next to him rippled as Night Dove appeared.

“Lord,” Night Dove said respectfully, “I gave the gift to Seven Blood Eyes.” It didn’t matter that the coalition patriarchs and matriarchs had locked down that area with their killing intent. Night Dove’s voice didn’t quaver at all. It was as if he didn’t even notice what was happening. All he cared about was his lord and master.

“This performance was middling at best,” the young man said, sounding a bit bored.

“Yes, Lord. Shall I take back the mask?”

“There’s no need. The performance wasn’t amazing, but it was at least a bit entertaining.” The young man sat up, looked in the direction of Seven Blood Eyes, and smiled. Then he stood. “I’m done watching. Let’s go.”

With that, he hopped off the roof and onto the street below.

As the gazes of the patriarchs and matriarchs focused on the area, the air shattered, and the ground crumbled and sank down. Killing intent proliferated, making it so cold that snowflakes started falling. The pressure weighing down grew greater and greater, making the air so thick it seemed like it would be impossible to walk through.

However, the young man in the mask just strolled forward. It didn’t matter to him that powerful experts had locked down the area. Just like the coalition president up above, he was in the second stage of Void Returning, so such things didn’t affect him. They were so meaningless that, wherever he wanted to go, he would go. No one could stop him.

Night Dove followed quietly.

In that moment in which the swords were drawn and the arrows were nocked, the young man in the mask happened to walk past a vendor stand selling candied fruit. The mortals had long since scattered, leaving the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect’s city mostly emptied. However, they had left many things behind. The young man looked at the candied fruit, and then his eyes seemed to flicker with reminiscence. He picked up a skewer. “Lil’ bro likes these.” 1

Everyone watched with very serious expressions.

This event had already escalated to the very highest of levels.

At this point, Seven Blood Eyes had finally managed to fully suppress the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect’s taboo treasure. When that happened, Master Seventh and Sir Bloodsmelter instantly shot out of Seven Blood Eyes.

The president of the Eight Sect Coalition had cold eyes as he said, “Torchlight, are you trying to declare outright war on the Eight Sect Coalition?”

The young man heard him and looked up. His eyes were visible through the broken god face mask. He smiled.

“Night Dove.”

“Yes, sir!” Night Dove took out a simple wooden box that was currently closed. Being very gentle, he opened the lid.

Then… a beam of light shot out from the box! It had no specific color or shape, and in fact, it couldn’t be seen. It could only be felt. But as soon as it appeared, something changed in the dome of heaven. An intense rumbling sound echoed out. The Forbidden Sea screamed, and the sun and moon went dark! 𝑜𝘷𝑙.𝘰𝑟𝑔

Everyone in Seven Blood Eyes, from mortals, to disciples, to the leaders, all reacted with shock.

That was because, that light…

Was the same light that came when the eyes of the broken god face opened!!

1. Callback reference to 👈