The final structure of the tower collapsed like a dead building.
Energized stones fell like teors, the ground trembled nonstop, and the sound of the collapse echoed like thunder long trapped.
At the center of it all, Kyrian’s crimson do remained stable, solid, and unmoving.
The last crash marked the end of the tower. The remaining walls gave way. The ceiling vanished. Leaving only the open sky, dust, and debris.
Kyrian took a deep breath. The condensed blood that ford the do pulsed softly before retracting, returning into Kyrian’s body like water flowing back into a lake.
Shen Yu exhaled, blinking with relief as he felt the solid ground under his feet again.
"We managed to get out," he said, observing the rubble around them.
But there was almost nothing to see besides the dust. The cloud was so dense it looked like a wall before his eyes.
For Shen Yu, there were no shapes, no shadows, and he could not see anything even a hand’s length ahead.
Kyrian, however, saw everything with absolute clarity through the crimson red of his eyes.
The dust did not hinder his sight in any way.
Kyrian imdiately turned his gaze to the sides, searching for Tianhai and the others.
It didn’t take long.
To the north, about fifty ters away, Elder Han erged among the gigantic stone blocks, slightly breathless, supporting himself with his sword.
Around him were more than twenty huge stones cut in half, all split with clean enough cuts to shine.
Behind him, half-hidden between two fallen columns, were Mo Tianhai, Mo Xia, and Wu Jian.
The three were breathing with difficulty.
Mo Xia bled from her forehead, a wound that would leave a scar. Wu Jian had half his clothing torn at the chest, exposing fractured bones.
Tianhai, however, drew more attention. His left arm simply did not exist from the elbow down. The spilled blood had already stopped, but the cut was uneven, showing that a stone had crushed it before completely severing the limb.
Kyrian saw Tianhai bite his lip until it bled to stop himself from groaning in pain.
"Co, follow ," Kyrian said, calling Shen Yu.
The two advanced through the debris without further hesitation, Kyrian guiding him quickly.
Elder Han noticed them a second later. His gaze seed to relax for just an instant, as if a weight had been lifted off his back.
"You two... I’m glad you’re alive," he said as he sheathed his sword and let out a long sigh.
"I looked for you everywhere, but you seed to have vanished," the elder added.
Kyrian then imdiately looked at Tianhai.
"How are they? Will they survive?"
"I’ve already given them pills. They’re circulating Qi to recover enough to move, but not to fight."
Shen Yu nodded silently.
Elder Han’s urgency was obvious. He looked around like a cornered beast.
Kyrian noticed this and asked directly.
"What’s the situation?"
Han made a short sound, almost a humorless laugh.
"The situation is complicated for us, to say the least."
Before he could continue, Tianhai opened his eyes. Mo Xia and Wu Jian also woke up and stood slowly, still unsteady.
"What happened outside the tower?" Mo Xia asked, having heard the conversation while recovering.
Elder Han answered briefly and objectively, like soone reporting an ambush.
"Yan Hui ca out before you. He invented a version that I believe is distorted of the test. He said you let everyone die and stole the two inheritances."
"Besides that, he said Kyrian cultivates an evil path."
Kyrian, hearing those last words, frowned slightly. Everyone had seen his new eyes, so they could feel the blood Qi within him.
But no one had comnted on it until now, to the point Kyrian had even forgotten it was an issue.
But Elder Han did not elaborate, so Kyrian would leave it for later.
The others, upon hearing Elder Han’s words, imdiately understood their situation at the mont.
To the other two sects, leaving them alive was a risk they could not afford.
Tianhai clenched his teeth, his remaining arm trembling slightly.
"So... we’re dead if we stay here, right?"
"Exactly. We need to flee from here sohow. My only objective is to get you out of here in one way or another," Elder Han said seriously.
The dust around them suddenly began to dissipate.
Kyrian imdiately noticed the silhouettes erging at the edge of the dust curtain.
He saw, with perfect sharpness, what Shen Yu and the others could not yet see.
"Elder Han," Kyrian called.
"Hm?"
"We’re already surrounded," he said coldly.
Everyone fell silent imdiately.
"How many?" Mo Xia asked, tense.
Kyrian observed calmly.
"Three elders from the Scarlet Sun Sect. Three from the Six Poisons Sect. They’ve closed the periter of the tower from all directions. And..."
Kyrian then turned his gaze to the east.
"There are two more elders positioned near i Ran."
Elder Han did not respond imdiately, but his gaze hardened.
"So the two sects decided to act together..." he said.
"If it were just , I could handle so of them with relative ease, they are not that strong individually. But with all of you together... that complicates things."
His mind was already racing behind so strategy.
Call the flying beasts? Impossible. Any movent from them would be interpreted as escape, and the elders would attack them imdiately.
Fight? Not while he had to protect so many disciples, especially with three incapacitated.
They also couldn’t flee through the rubble. They would be intercepted as soon as they took a few steps.
Elder Han frowned even deeper.
anwhile, Kyrian observed everything around them, tracking every micro movent.
Then he saw it.
Three elders of the Six Poisons Sect simultaneously raised their hands.
Small, round, dark objects appeared.
Their trajectories were clear to Kyrian. One of them flew directly toward him.
Kyrian didn’t need to think to know what it was.
Poison.
"Get together! It’s poison!" Kyrian shouted.
Mo Xia, Wu Jian, and Tianhai, even injured, ran without hesitation. Shen Yu was already beside Kyrian.
A second later, the crimson do appeared around them. Thicker, more solid, and denser than before.
At the sa mont, the three vials hit the ground.
A light explosion occurred. But the explosions were not of fire, but of mist.
A purple smoke spread violently in all directions, covering the debris along with everyone present.
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