Ling Qi rubbed his face slightly in an attempt to wash away the heaviness he felt.

"When Wu Shen made the offer, though I appreciated it, I didn't think it would come to that. I thought despite everything else that happened when it came right down to it, our collective safety and well-being would take priority over everything else.

It was from such naive thinking that I thought I could change our sect master's mind so I left my sect and rushed toward the Hua Clan.

I did try to contact Hua Ying as I was heading there but she didn't pick up.."

Ling Qi paused as his gaze fell on the sobbing Xin Zephyr.

"Zephyr called me to tell me that most of the hierarchy of the Xin clan had already left to join up with the leading figures of the Hua Clan to pick some more blood crystals.

We agreed that we would both meet up at the Hua Clan and maybe with Hua Ying's help we could convince our respective leaders to order an immediate evacuation.

But when we finally arrived at the edge of the Hua Clan's territory, it was already too late.." Ling Qi said as his gaze darkened.

I met Zephyr, half a ways away from the territory of the Hua Clan. But even at such a distance, we could hear the terrified wails mixed in with roars filled with anger and the clash of attacks.

The closer we were the thicker the stench of the blood became. I applied a few sensory masking ointments on me and Zephyr, who also used her clan's obscuring spell to add to its effect.

We were able to cover some distance thanks to it, but we still couldn't reach the gates of the Hua Clan. We stopped about a kilometer away from the place, and the scene.."

Ling Qi's pupils trembled along with his hands."It was pure carnage. Thousands of bodies ripped to shreds were strewn all over the place and a river of blood flowed from the hilltop where their grounds were located and it had even trickled down to where we were.

The whole place looked like a meteor had descended on the area bearing heaven's fury. Nothing was left unscathed, neither the people, nor the buildings, nor the trees, even the hill itself had given way to the terror that befell.

Just four..." Ling Qi said as he smiled in despair and disbelief.

"It took just four spirit beasts to wreck the foundation of the Hua Clan to bits and with our luck we arrived just in time to see my sect master and the Hua Clan leader being shredded to pieces and their bodies devoured by a black lighting metal tiger

It toyed around with them before dismembering them and eating their limbs one by one while they watched before it finally devoured their torsos and heads.

We decided to leave the area and warn our respective organizations lest we draw attention and with our conditions, we would be lambs waiting for slaughter.

Zephyr and I agreed we would first go to her clan since it was the closest to us before making our way to mine.

When we reached there...it was just the same as the Hua Clan. The stench of blood filled with the roars of beasts covered every inch of their territory.

Zephyr wanted to go and save her clansmen, but..." Ling Qi paused with guilt washing over his face.

"I am sorry Zephyr.." he weakly said.

Xin Zephyr's body trembled slightly before she looked up with reddened eyes. Her gaze paused slightly on Ling Qi before she said,

"I don't blame you. If I did things my way..." she paused as she bit her lip in pain.

"Then I would have implicated you too.." she softly said before burying herself in his chest while tightly clutching his robes.

Ling Qi lowered his head as he stared at her for a brief moment with countless emotions washing over him before he looked up and continued with the tale.

"We left the area and made our way to my sect. From what we had seen, some part of me expected to see the same scenario of horrid devastation happening at my sect, and my guess proved to be true.

Over a dozen spirit beasts had already flooded the area and flattened my sect. My home for the past 400 years had been converted into a ravine overflowing with dismembered corpses and blood.

The spirit herb farms we cultivated dearly, the alchemy halls where we spent the better part of our days in, toiling, discovering, screaming in frustration when a brewing failed, jumping in joy when we succeeded. The place where we discovered the romance of alchemy.." Ling Qi said with a sad smile as tears slowly trickled down his cheeks.

"It is all gone now. Nothing of the Hua Clan, Xin Clan, and the Moon Essence Cauldron Sect remains now.." he said with dejection.

"With nowhere else to go, we decided it would be better to meet up with Wu Shen and take him up on his offer.

But with our horrible luck,it turns out the tricolored white-eyed tortoise had been among those spirit beasts that attacked my sect. It somehow managed to sense our presence, even with all we had done to mask ourselves.

Upon realizing it had noticed us, we made a break for it... with all our bases destroyed, the only place we thought was safe, was here, but because of our conditions, the trip was harder than normal with us not being at a hundred percent because of the curse.

We both had to burn our blood essence to get away from the tortoise and its cohorts. We managed to escape with a few injuries, as they headed back when we reached about five kilometers from this place.."

When he reached this point, Ling Qi paused as he bowed his head.

"I am sorry Branch Chief Yang Qing for imposing on you like this. I know what has happened is because of our greed and recklessness and we do deserve what has happened to us, but....

please help us, i know it's shameless of me to even ask, but I don't want Zephyr to end up torn apart and devoured by some spirit beast, and I don't want to die either.

Please help us, any help will be welcomed, even if it's just to escort us to the border. Please!!" Ling Qi pleaded.

"Please help us.." weakly said Xin Zephyr who tore herself from Ling Qi to bow her head in plea.

Yang Qing sighed when he saw this as he said,

"Fine.. I will escort you to the town Wu Shen said he would wait for you.."

"Thank you.." the duo said with relief in their tone.