Prologue: Another World

Thousands of swords rained down from the heavens, reducing the once verdant meadow into a barren wasteland.

"Careful! They are coming!"

"Activate the Nine Heavens Defensive Array!"

"We won't make it!"

"If you don't, we all die!"

Below, in a crater, about a dozen or so men and women in blue and white robes were stumbling around, trying to infuse their qi into the runes they had inscribed into the soil. A shimmering bluish-white dome of energy materialized above them, reverberating as countless swords struck against its sturdy surface.

"Ugh!"

Several of the men and women within coughed out blood, unable to endure the tremendous impacts. While they struggled, a swarm of demons pounced upon their position. Horned creatures clad in armor that was harder than the scales that naturally protected their reptilian bodies, the demons screeched as they slashed with their claws and blades.

"Don't give up! Stay strong!" the leader of the group shouted, raising his hands and determinedly reinforcing the barrier. "Don't let the demonic cultivators break through!"

The tide of demons crashed against the barrier, screeching wildly, their voices full of bloodlust. The group of men and women in blue and white uniforms shuddered when they were greeted with the sight of these monsters hammering away at their barrier. It was difficult to believe that the vast majority of the demons used to be humans.

Alas, but that was the demonic way. In exchange for power, these cultivators had sacrificed their humanity.

Even so, these were but the cannon fodder. The group of orthodox cultivators could see the real masterminds in the distance – the commanders. Beautiful women in sultry robes, whose bewitching appearances were enough to charm even the most stoic of male cultivators, whom they often preyed upon like succubus. Handsome men in luxurious robes, whose eternal youth was bought by the blood of thousands of innocents.

The celestial realm had been locked in war for many years now, with no end in sight. And it was these stunning demonic cultivators who schemed and plotted their way to the top, their perpetual youth and beauty paid for by the sacrifices of their victims.

"Hold still! The sect leader will be here soon!"

The man in charge gritted his teeth and drew his sword, perspiring profusely as he watched the barrier slowly crumble under the relentless onslaught of countless foes. The demons at the front might be fodder, unwitting pawns thrown into the girder by uncaring commanders to wear the orthodox cultivators down, but the weight of their numbers was undeniable.

Worse, he could see lumbering behemoths come into play. The horrifying Cyclops Tribe, whose hulking frames were over three meters tall. Winged wyverns with slavering jaws. Calamitous chimeras, anthropomorphic wolves, majestic lions and deadly tigers.

Not just former humans, but even the demonic beasts had joined the fray.

"They really are throwing everything at us, eh?" one of his comrades asked, looking extremely pale. Despite the fear in his quivering voice, he forced a smile.

The squad leader shook his head and clenched his fist. Raising his sword into the air, he yelled his resolve.

"Till death!"

"Till death!" his fellow sect members echoed. Then the barrier slowly cracked, and the demons to begin to trickle in…

They never got far. A golden wave of qi washed over them, obliterating a hundred demons in just a single blow. Several waves followed, decimating the demons and leaving no survivors. The behemoths at the back skidded to a stop, keeping their distance cautiously as they eyed the new attacker.

The squad leader's eyes widened and he whooped in delight. Punching the air with his free hand, he turned to his comrades.

"The sect leader! He's finally here! I told you he'll come!"

"It's not time to let your guard down yet, Kai Li Si."

The sect leader, a relatively young looking man in his late twenties or early thirties, arrived a top a roaring azure dragon, a sword in each of his hands. Of course, his youthful appearance was deceptive – one could never guess the real age of immortal cultivators. He could be centuries…even millennia old, but his cultivation allowed him to adopt whatever appearance he deemed fit.

Interestingly enough, he was wearing glasses. Kai Li Si never understood why. Surely there was no problem with the sect leader's eyesight? Even if there was, he could have consulted a divine doctor or an alchemist to concoct some medicine to cure his myopia. But the sect leader had either refrained or was just wearing them aesthetically rather than practically.

Then again, the sect leader had always been eccentric.

"Kai Li Si, are you paying attention?"

"Ah? Yes, Sect Leader! Sorry!"

"Activate the Seven Stars Sword Array. I'll leave the demons and demonic cultivators to you."

"Understood!" Kai Li Si immediately got to work, leading the rest of the squad to draw a fresh array. This time, with the help of his fellow cultivators, he arranged the runes in the constellation of the Big Dipper, or Bei Dou Qi Xing.

While they did so, the sect leader bought time by swinging his sword and unleashing more of those golden waves of qi again.

"Heaven and Earth Strike," one of the sect members whispered in awe. "The technique that slays a hundred demons with a single swing of the sword."

"Don't get distracted," Kai Li Si reprimanded him. "Focus on creating the Seven Stars Sword Array or we'll end up being a burden."

"U…understood!"

As if to prove his point, several of the demonic cultivator commanders surged forward, crossing the vast distance in just a few seconds. Kai Li Si glanced up and saw his sect leader fend them off with his sword, golden qi glowing brightly around him.

"Traitor!" one of the demonic cultivators – a handsome young man with long, silver hair – spat. "You are the successor to the Heavenly Demon, the sole heir to the Heaven and Earth Sect! How could you side with the orthodox cultivators?"

"You deserve death!" another demonic cultivator, dressed in black and red robes, growled. He brandished a massive crimson saber, the demonic weapon seeming to roar ferociously as tendrils of serpentine qi coiled around the huge blade. "I'll kill you myself."

The sect leader merely gave the guy a glance before he shrugged. "Do you have the ability to kill me, Nue Sha?"

"Die for me!" Nue Sha shouted as he charged at the sect leader, swinging his crimson saber. A multi-headed dragon, formed from fiery red qi, materialized and appeared to coil around the sect leader. With a single swing of his sword, he decimated the dragon with a blast of azure qi. Nue Sha clicked his tongue, but continued to charge.

The azure dragon that the sect leader was riding on lurched forward, only for a red hydra to burst out of the ground. Hissing venomously, the crimson hydra tackled the azure dragon and both behemoths crashed onto the ground with earthshaking impact.

Meanwhile, Nue Sha clashed with the sect leader. The moment saber meet sword, the ground around them disintegrated and they sank into a crater. Azure qi collided against crimson qi, dragons forming around the dueling pair.

"Don't be reckless, Nue Sha! I'll help you too!"

The silver-haired man charged forward, bearing a scythe. He wasn't the only one, five more demonic cultivators – three women and two men – joined in, wielding spears, swords and axes, and they crashed upon the sect leader's position.

"Sect leader!" Kai Li Si shouted.

"Don't be distracted!" the sect leader snapped at him. "You have your own problems to deal with, don't you?"

Incredibly enough, the sect leader was fighting off all seven enemies by himself, his two swords moving so swiftly they vanished into silver blurs and gave the impression that he was wielding a hundred swords. No matter what angle the demonic cultivators struck from, he parried and fended the strikes off. Not effortlessly, though. It was clear that the battle was taking a toll on him.

With a yell, the sect leader swung his sword upward. His azure qi transformed into a colossal blast of golden energy, the violent eruption hurling his seven opponents away.

Kai Li Si bit his lip and forced himself to tear his gaze away to finish the last of the runes. The Cyclops, orcs, chimeras, werewolves and other beasts were descending upon his position. He nodded at his comrades.

"Activate the Seven Stars Sword Array now!"

There as a brilliant flash of light, and suddenly thousands of swords materialized in the sky. Like comets, they streaked across the horizon before descending upon the charging demons, tearing them apart and obliterating the behemoths. Once again, Kai Li Si couldn't help but marvel at the potency of such arrays.

"Sect Leader really taught us some incredible skills," he whispered.

"You're right. They are amazing."

Kai Li Si spun around, catching sight of an old man in blue and gray robes. He smiled, stroking his white beard and nodded at the stunned youngster.

"You did a great job. Now we're here to help."

"'We'?" one of Kai Li Si's comrades asked, astonished. The old man nodded.

"The orthodox sects have chosen to make their stand here as well."

At his words, several dozens of martial artists emerged, jumping off their flying swords or spirit beast mounts. The old man waited for eight more similarly robed cultivators to join him before he placed his palms together.

"Shall we show these evil demons the power of the Nine Heavenly Spirit Sword Array?"

"Yes, Sect Leader!"

Kai Li Si watched as the nine cultivators generated nine gigantic golden swords that then lanced into the thick of the demonic cultivators, cleaving them apart indiscriminately.

"The Heavenly Sword Sect is as amazing as always," he murmured.

"Not as impressive as your sect leader, though." The old man chuckled, nodding toward the fierce battle erupting behind the demonic commanders and the sect leader. "I'm so glad the successor to the Heaven and Earth Sect defected to our side instead."

"It took a while." Another cultivator in red and golden robes swooped down, accompanied by dragons. Kai Li Si recognized him as belonging to the Celestial Dragon Sect. "But your sect leader managed to rally most of the orthodox sects to help him in this battle. We agreed to give him a chance."

"He is the true leader of the resistance." A female cultivator in blue and silver robes agreed, dropping down to accompany the leader of the Celestial Dragon Sect. Kai Li Si realized that she was the leader of the Heavenly Phoenix Sect. "We are indebted to him…without him, the demonic sects would have conquered the whole of the Celestial Realm."

"And they might still do so," the old man from the Heavenly Sword Sect said grimly. "The battle isn't over yet."

"That's why we are here," the cultivator in red and golden robes said with a confident grin. "We'll tip the scales of the battle back to our favor."

"We owe the Heaven and Earth Sect too much," the cultivator in blue and silver robes agreed, slipping her hand into his and entwining her fingers with his. Red and golden qi merged with blue and silver qi, and the phantom forms of a colossal dragon and massive phoenix materialized behind the both of them.

Kai Li Si's eyes widened in awe. The qi that the couple was currently emanating was not inferior to that of his sect leader's.

The Celestial Dragon Sect and Heavenly Phoenix Sect were actually two halves of the Dragon Phoenix Palace. The male members would learn the techniques of the Divine Dragon while the female members were taught the skills of the Heavenly Phoenix. Apparently there was some dual cultivation thing going on between the male and female members of the Dragon Phoenix Palace, but Kai Li Si wasn't very clear about that.

He was very clear on their strength, though, and was about to witness it once more. The couple immediately sprang forward to join his sect leader in his battle against the demonic commanders. They crashed into the crater, fire and ice erupting from their bodies and killing one of the demonic cultivators outright. The burly demon didn't even get to scream, dropping his axe to the ground and he was consumed by mystical flames and arcane ice.

The surviving demonic cultivators scattered, wary of the reinforcements.

"How dare you perform a sneak attack on us!?" Nue Sha shouted, waving his saber angrily. "Do you have no honor?!"

"Are you kidding me?!" The Celestial Dragon Sect leader snorted. "You guys are ganging up on the leader of the Heaven and Earth Sect, seven against one, and you want to complain about us not having any honor?"

"Don't bother arguing with them, dear," the Heavenly Phoenix Sect leader said coldly. "They are hypocrites."

"I'll kill you all!" Nue Sha roared and charged forward.

"Not if I can help it," the bespectacled leader of Heaven and Earth Sect replied, dropping in to parry his strike. An enormous explosion ensued, blotting everything out from view, but Kai Li Si could feel his sect leader's qi potently overwhelming the enemy's. A smile spread across his face, and for the first time in a long while, he felt hope.

"We might just be able to win this war!"