Lingering Regrets

MMmm, as my mind woke up, I lazily reached over to pull my darling into my embrace. Yet, all I felt was empty air. I opened my eyes and realized that Ling'er was already gone. I knew I shouldn't have slept! Regret filled me as I realized that I let Ling'er slip out of my hands again, but I know we have plenty of time now as we are at the same Sect.

I strolled out in a bright mood as I headed back to the Sect; however, when I reached the gates of the Sect, I remembered I didn't have any proof of identity that would allow me to take the shortcut. So, I had to line up; however, there seems to be a problem as the guards weren't allowing anyone into the city. The line of merchants and commoners were complaining, but no heed were paid to their complaints.

Yea, screw you losers. I activated {Ghost Emperor's Voyage} and strolled through the gate. I was surprised there wasn't any barrier preventing entry. When I passed through, I noticed how quiet the streets were as the usualy bustling crowd was no longer there. Hell, there wasn't even a single person outside. I had an ominous feeling as I made the smart decision to come back later;however, when I tried to walk back out of the city, I was blocked by an invisible barrier. An ominous feeling arose in me as I realized that there was a barrier, but it was meant to trap people inside. I regretted cheekily stepping into the city unprepared.

I hurriedly stroll through the quiet streets, finally nearing the Ma mansion; however, I instantly froze. There was currently a barrier surrounding the Ma mansion as an army of black cloth cultivators were bashing it with abilities; however, the barrier already had many cracks as if it was about to be destroyed.

In the midst of the cultivators, a grey robed old man stood with his hands clasped behind his back. As if he knew that the barrier was about to collapse, he boomed in a deep voice, "Elder Ma. You know you can't hold on any longer. Just tell us the location of the secret weapon and I may perhaps spare you your life."

After a while, there was still no response from within the barrier. The grey robed man humphed before stating with a sinister voice, "Break it. Capture the young master and kill everyone else."

Then, the group of black clothed cultivators all crashed into the barrier like a wave, causing the barrier to shatter to pieces. A harmonious "KILL!" resounded in the air as cultivators from inside the mansion dashed out to meet their enemies. I recognized some of their faces as the servants of the mansion. Surprisingly, although they were outnumbered, they were all slaughtering black clothed cultivators left and right.

"Humph, trifling ants. Die for me!" the grey robed man finally made a move as many of his subordinates had perished; however, another grunt resounded from the mansion, "Elder Jia, I believe your opponent shall be me!"

Then, I saw Master Ma flash out of the mansion, meeting the grey robed man head on. With the clash of their Qi, a heavy force blasted out with them as the foci, knocking many cultivators back and even injuring some; however, those cultivators simply continued their slaughter after stabilizing themselves.

"Heh! You finally show yourself Elder Ma. I want to see how you can kill me when I have learned most of your secrets already!" Elder Jia stated with a vicious voice as he sent palms of Cyan Qi at Master Ma who fought back as they slowly lifted into the air.

I knew I had no power to intervene in that fight, so I looked around for Jia Chun and Fatty. Not long after, I saw Fatty sneakily trying to escape the mansion; however, he was easily discovered by a black cloth cultivator. Although the servants of the mansion tried to hold most of them back, some of the black cloth cultivators still slipped past, causing the Fatty to pale with fright.

I saw Fatty activated his divine ability before swiftly dashing through all his pursuers; however, a "humph" came from the sky before a glowing cage of Cyan Qi sprung up around him, preventing the Fatty from running further.

Although Master Ma tried to intervene hurriedly, his attempt were stopped as a two more streaks of Cyan Qi flew across the sky to attack him.

"Ahahaha! Elder Ma, did you think I would come alone? Although this is still not enough power to kill you, but all we have to do is delay you until we secure your grandson. Let's see if you dare to ignore our orders when your grandson's life is in our hands!" Elder Jia laughed in a sinister voice as multiple golden beams on the ground zoomed towards the Fatty's location.

I knew I had to make a move, hence I began to dash over as well with {Ghost Emperor's Voyage} activated. The golden beams stopped in front of the cage, revealing multiple cultivators in black robes. They all pulled out talismans and began to chant in some obscure language as black ancient characters slowly began to float from the talismans over to the pale Fatty.

Luckily, before the ominous letters could land on Fatty, I slipped through the cage with void form, grabbed Fatty, and slipped out of the cage. As there were no space lock barriers to stop me, we easily escaped, leaving the black robed cultivators in shock as they only saw the Fatty disappearing into thin air.

Master Ma laughed uproariously as if he understood it was me before saying with a booming voice, "Brat, wait for me at the gate closest to the port!"

Of course to prevent mishap, I did not reply and hurriedly dragged Fatty along to our waiting spot. The old fox should be fine.

"Hahaha, I guess I should finish this a bit quicker," Master Ma's voice boomed, "Since you have all come, there's no need for you to leave alive."

Then, a tremor rose behind me and with a glance back, I saw a circular dome filled with swirling green smoke. I managed to catch a glimpse of the edges of buildings, that were trapped within the dome, dissolving as they came into contact with the green smoke.

After reaching the gateway, we hid in an alleyway as we watched the dome, waiting for Master Ma to come out. Not long after, we heard a thundering boom as cracks appeared on the dome; however, besides a couple strands of green smoke escaping, that was it. Then, the dome gradually shrunk before it disappeared, leaving a deep valley of open air. Surprisingly, the servants of the mansions were still okay as not long after, they already dashed over to slaughter the guards of the gate, which caused the line outside to scatter.

Not long after, Master Ma glided over. Although he looked a bit pale with tattered cloth, he told us he was fine. Fatty and I stepped out as he told us to follow before he swiftly attacked the gate barrier, causing a visible hole to appear in the transparent barrier. The group hurriedly filed through and escaped towards the port.

However, about halfway there, there were visible distortions in the air a heavy pressure descended upon us causing us to freeze as if bounded by the space around us. A deep voice boomed, "Aii~ In the end I still have to do things myself. Such a useless bunch of rice bucket elders."

With a distortion in the air, a black robed middle aged man materialized.

The black robed middle aged man grinned as he said, "Hah? Why aren't you all paying your respect to your Sect Master?"

I watched as Master gritted his teeth in anger while exerting Qi to free us from being bounded. As soon as the servants were freed, the servants then took out a black band which they tied around their head and aimed their weapons at the black robed middle aged man. They then swiftly surrounded Fatty and me before harmoniously stating, "We live for the Ma Family, we die for the Ma Family."

"It seems that I will have to execute divine punishment on you fools. Don't worry, I'll make sure some of you enjoy a ... very painful death. No one shall escape! Ahahaha!" the Sect Master laughed in a sinister voice before waving his hands, causing the space around the ground to distort, separating us from the outside dimension.

My only lingering regret was not holding my Ling'er's hand longer. It seemed I may not have the chance anymore.