Lin Yun seized every moment of every day to cultivate. He paid no mind to anything concerning Tang Wushuang, letting them do as they pleased. In his heart, there was one saying he firmly believed in: it takes a villain to deal with a villain.

Lin Yun’s life was peaceful and monotonous. Besides cultivating, he did almost nothing else each day. However, a week ago, the outside world was suddenly thrown into turmoil.

Throughout Yanhuang Country—or more accurately, the entire Southeast Domain—a group of people had suddenly appeared. They brutally slaughtered civilians, and no one knew where they had come from. Each of them wore a Ghost Face Mask, their cultivation levels ranged from the Opening Realm to the Primordial Ocean Realm, and their numbers were great.

"Have three towns already been massacred?" In the Main Hall of the Academy, the mood was grim. As the most powerful faction in Yanhuang Country, the Academy naturally had a responsibility to protect the nation’s civilians.

In just three days, three towns had been annihilated, and nearly fifty thousand people had been slaughtered. It was a horrifying number.

Aside from Yanhuang Academy, the Yanhuang Royal Family also dispatched troops to do everything in their power to eliminate these Martial Artists in Ghost Face Masks. However, the movements of these people were elusive and unpredictable.

They only ever attacked small towns. After the slaughter, they never lingered for a fight. By the time the army of Yanhuang Country arrived, all traces of them were already gone.

"These are no ordinary Martial Artists. They must be cultivating some kind of Evil Technique. Every civilian they kill is completely drained of blood, left as a desiccated corpse," a beautiful woman said. Even she, who always wore a smile, now had a grave expression.

If this matter wasn’t handled properly, it could very well turn into a catastrophe. A force that could slaughter fifty thousand civilians in a single week was terrifying, and this was only what was happening in Yanhuang Country—the Nan Feng Kingdom was facing the same situation.

"Has this been reported to the higher-ups?" the Dean asked, his expression serious.

Hearing this, Elder Bai replied, "We have. But the entire Southeast Domain is facing the same situation. For now, all the major powers can only fend for themselves."

"In the entire Eastern Domain, only a handful of powers are capable of orchestrating a massacre across the whole of the Southeast Domain. Who on earth could it be?" a Primordial Ocean Realm expert muttered.

"Perhaps it isn’t a power from the Eastern Domain. What if it’s an outside force?"

Listening to the murmurs of discussion, the Dean finally spoke. "Regardless of which power is behind this, we cannot sit idly by while they so brazenly slaughter civilians in Yanhuang Country."

"All Academy students, teachers, Stewards, and all of you here—go to the four County Cities. Cast an inescapable net. You must find these people and then eliminate them."

"I don’t care what methods you use. In short, I do not want to hear news of any more civilian deaths," the Dean said in a heavy voice.

With a single command, the entire Yanhuang Academy roared to life like a machine. Eighty percent of the Academy’s students, teachers, and Stewards were divided into four teams and dispatched to the four County Cities to assist the Yanhuang Country army in hunting down the Ghost-faced Masked Men.

Furthermore, of the ten great Primordial Ocean Realm experts, all but the Dean and two Vice-Deans were deployed. According to intelligence reports, there were Primordial Ocean Realm experts among the Ghost-faced Masked Men, and only those of an equal realm could hope to confront them.

In a single day, the entire Yanhuang Country was plunged into an atmosphere of fear and tension. The nation’s army and its strongest experts were mobilized in full force with a single objective: to hunt down and destroy these Ghost-faced Masked Men.

"Let’s go. Lin Shan will be fine. He’ll come find you when he gets out," Lan Xi said comfortingly, seeing Lu Bingning’s reluctance to leave.

As students of the Genius Class, they too had to follow their teachers to the front lines and do their part.

It wasn’t just them; Qin Feng, Li Tian, and even the Princes all followed their respective teachers to the front.

In just half a month, the four County Cities had become hubs for Martial Artists. Every day, countless Martial Artists set out from the cities, heading to the surrounding towns to prevent attacks by the Ghost-faced Masked Men.

Meanwhile, in the Capital City, a court minister arrived at the mansion where Lin Xiaotian was being held under house arrest. With him, he brought an imperial edict from His Holiness.

"Lin Xiaotian, receive the imperial edict!" the minister boomed upon entering the main hall.

At his words, Lin Xiaotian knelt on one knee, awaiting the edict in the minister’s hands.

"By decree of His Holiness: An external enemy invades our lands. General Xiaotian, a pillar of our nation and one of its three Grand Generals, is hereby immediately reinstated to his former post. He is to lead his men, annihilate the invading foe, and protect the peace and security of our Yanhuang Country."

Upon hearing the edict, Lin Xiaotian declared in a loud voice, "Lin Xiaotian accepts this decree."

After accepting the edict, Lin Xiaotian, who knew nothing of the Ghost-faced Masked Men due to his house arrest, immediately asked the minister, "Has the Nan Feng Kingdom invaded our territory?"

Hearing this, the minister, who had been acquainted with Lin Xiaotian previously, replied with a grimace, "General Xiaotian, this matter is far, far more troublesome than the Nan Feng Kingdom..."

Through the minister’s explanation, Lin Xiaotian learned the full story. Indeed, this situation was many times more troublesome than an invasion from the Nan Feng Kingdom.

According to the minister, the power wielded by these Ghost-faced Masked Men was likely on par with that of the overlords of the entire Eastern Domain.

After all, the massacres weren’t just in Yanhuang Country; they were happening all across the Southeast Domain. A rough estimate put the total civilian death toll in the Southeast Domain at over three hundred thousand.

After the minister left, Lin Xiaotian set out for Iron Gate Pass the very next day. The matter was of grave importance, so he did not take Zhang Jingxiang with him.

As time went on, the whereabouts of the Ghost-faced Masked Men were discovered more and more frequently, and the two sides clashed in several major battles. However, the forces of Yanhuang Country were never able to completely annihilate their opponents.

Every few days, there would still be news of a civilian massacre, which greatly infuriated both the Yanhuang Royal Family and the Academy.

These Ghost-faced Masked Men were extremely cunning. They always operated in separate groups, so even when one was surrounded, it consisted of at most a hundred or so members. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

They were like phantoms; Yanhuang Country found it nearly impossible to track their movements, and they always managed to escape.

Moreover, two months had passed, and the much-rumored Primordial Ocean Realm experts among the Ghost-faced Masked Men had yet to appear. In other words, those killed by the Martial Artists of Yanhuang Country over the past two months were merely small fry.

Lin Yun, still on Celestial Net Peak, was completely oblivious to the turmoil in the outside world. After two months of non-stop cultivation, supplemented daily with Qi Essence Pills, his progress had been enormous, and he was finally on the verge of a breakthrough.

’It’s time for a breakthrough.’ Late that night, Lin Yun silently slipped out of his cave

His last breakthrough had caused a huge commotion. Having learned from that experience, Lin Yun wanted to avoid attracting attention this time. After all, breaking through on Celestial Net Peak was indeed strange, as the Heaven and Earth Primordial Power here was far too thin.

"Alright, this place will do." Having found a deserted cave in the outer area, Lin Yun calmed his mind, focused his spirit, and began the process of breaking through.