Chapter 27: The elders join the fight

"Yi Ren?" Stick-old-man asked, his voice had a hint of suspicion.

"Elder Li, help me out! A Second Realm guy is chasing me!"

"Don't play dumb boy! Drop the bag and I'll let you continue with your little act!"

The tall man caught up to Yi Ren and tried to cause trouble. He punched, aiming to hit the yellow bag and destroy it once and for all, but the green-eyed boy jumped, putting his face in the way of the fist.

It appeared as if he was sent flying more than a hundred meters away; however, the man knew he didn't have the strength to send him that far.

Stick-old-man's eyebrows furrowed intensely when he saw this happen right in front of him.

"Dare to hurt a disciple of Gray Grass Sect in my presence!?" He shouted, hitting the middle aged man, whose name was Li Pao, unconscious with his stick.

He disappeared from where he was and reappeared behind the tall young man, but before he could do anything, he was enveloped by a giant, green leaf that appeared out of nowhere. Stick-old-man was sealed, he couldn't even react.

"Where is it?"

An old man stood above the green bud that had captured Stick-old-man and immediately asked, revealing his impatience. He had a gray beard, but the rest of his face resembled Ling Zhou.

"The kid that got thrown in that direction! He might've already escaped!"

Yi Ren had disappeared into the fog long ago, so the people here couldn't follow him with their eyes.

"He won't escape!" The old man spoke, raising his arms. Thousands of green leaves appeared in all directions, maybe coming out of his sleeves, and drowned the smoke with their color.

A green tornado formed around them, it was a spectacular sight. The uppermost leaves rotated clockwise, while the ones below rotated against it.

All of the dust particles flying around were sucked in, concentrating in the center of the clashing, flying leaves. A few seconds later, the tornado calmed down and a huge portion of the sect's territory was cleaned; visibility was regained, but it only reached a two-kilometer radius.

The Gray Grass Sect had a big territory, similar to that of a medium sized city of the time, around ten kilometers in diameter. The majority of its area was still in darkness.

The destruction and misery caused by the raid was revealed fully, the sun was still up so it shone upon it. There were dozens of dead bodies and even more ruined structures. Craters adorned the ground as if it was cheese and debris was scattered in a way that it resembled seasoning.

The people fighting stopped for a moment, trying to figure out what had happened. Some even took advantage of this moment of confusion to defeat their opponents.

"Tch! If I hadn't wasted my spiritual energy fighting that brat Sect Leader, I would blast the entire sect down with my Leaf Tornado!"

The gray-bearded old man complained. Both him and the tall young man looked in all directions, searching for the boy in black clothes that had run away.

It didn't take long; he was easily distinguishable, and was running away towards the center of the sect, just about to go through another screen of smoke more than nineteen hundred meters away.

A heavy, gray disc fell on the ground, which was the object formed by the collected dust. The gray-bearded old man jumped above a floating leaf, ready to pursue the little thief.

"I'm not done yet, Ling Yor!"

A childish voice was heard. Tens of gray blades were directed at the man standing on top of a leaf, but he easily deflected them, reusing the leaves of the tornado.

An eight-year-old looking boy with an angry face came out of a distant gray wall, from where the dust hadn't been removed. His clothes were stained with blood and he seemed pale, but he was moving on top of an ever-growing blade of gray grass, so he didn't have to move too much.

He was the Sect Leader of Gray Grass Sect, the one Fang Chang and Yi Ren had seen when they were in the dungeons. Both him and Ling Zhou's uncle were Fourth Realm experts

"Give up, Sect Leader. Tomorrow is the last day someone is going to mention the name 'Gray Grass', because today… I'm going to destroy it."

"Impudent!"

The wounded kid didn't come alone, a man wearing a long hat was following behind him. He was the Vice Sect Leader of the sect, the one who gave a speech at the tournament's area, trying to motivate the disciples a little more.

But, as if it was some sort of introduction, more and more new people started appearing. An old woman dressed in light gray, a bald man with a single long hair, a woman that only had an arm…

All sorts of eccentric people made their way towards the center of the open space; some even intercepted each other on the way by throwing all sorts of earth-shaking attacks, each causing loud explosions, making the air go wild.

A lot of the disciples died in the aftermath; they were too weak to be just a few tens of meters away from a fight between Third Realm cultivators.

A man with an inverse mohican haircut going from ear to ear invoked a brown, burning ring and threw it to a female disciple who was just passing by. The brown ring broke down like mud after hitting her, but it continued burning.

"There's no need for you guys to play. Just quietly wait until we're done, we will find you."

The girl burnt until she didn't move anymore.

"You say we colluded with evil sects, yet you're here acting like one!"

An old woman wearing a mask rapidly approached the man, taking out a pink fan with which she attacked him from behind. She couldn't inflict fatal damage, but she was able to cut the guy's arm; he didn't react on time.

"AGHH! You old bitch, I'll kill you!"

Similar fights had started all around the clear circle, bringing immense chaos to the situation. They had been fighting separately, so the damage wasn't focused in one place. But now that they were all inside a relatively small area, it was clear it wouldn't be long before the whole sect was reduced to ash.

The ones from Gray Grass Sect couldn't let the attackers reach the inner zones, but the latter's goal was just to kill everybody, they could wait. A few of them died, but when one did, another would replace them.

However, everything changed when they saw the signal.

It was a way to communicate to the elders that the object they were looking for was found, so they could put their efforts into obtaining it; it was the priority.

The disciples didn't know of this. They were told that it was a precious relic of the Evil Sects given as a payment for their collaboration, and that it would serve as proof of Gray Grass Sect's misdeeds.

The Evil Sects were organizations that would teach forbidden cultivation techniques; groups of people who would do anything to grow stronger even if they had to commit heinous crimes.

That's what everyone thought, but they were just unregulated groups of cultivators. They were hidden and mysterious, and would cause a lot of trouble once in a while.

"Get the boy, don't let him get away!"

Ling Zhou's uncle spoke, still standing on the flying leaf. Every elder of the Flaming Swamp Sect present turned their heads to where the man pointed, but no one was there.

"What boy?"

"He crossed the wall of fog! We have to go after him!" The tall young man who stopped Yi Ren before said, expecting a chase.

He knew it was impossible for him to obtain the object in Yi Ren's possession, but he had to try. His only choice was to rely on the sects he was pretending to be a disciple of, else he wouldn't be able to do anything. He didn't even know where the rest of his companions were.

"You won't go anywhere." The kid Sect Leader and the Vice Sect Leader blocked the gray-bearded old man's path; they couldn't let the enemies reach the place where most of their disciples were gathered.

"You kid, what's your name?" Ling Yor, the gray-bearded old man and Ling Zhou's uncle, asked the calm-looking tall man, he hadn't attacked those blocking him yet.

"I'm Ziro." The latter replied without caring much.

"That's a strange name… Whatever. You do know what will happen if your report ends up being false, don't you?"

"I'm aware."

"Good. Everyone, our goal is to capture the boy holding a yellow bag!"

After Ling Yor's orders, the earth-shattering battle resumed. The air seemed to solidify, break and melt as many old people ran and attacked, some even ran fast enough to look like they were teleporting.

It didn't take much time for the whole battlefield to be filled with fire and holes, the fight was like a natural disaster.