With the darkness of the night as cover, the icicle attack came quickly and without warning. None of the targets were able to escape their fates and neither were there any innocent casualties caught in the middle of it.
It was quick, subtle, lethal, and so overwhelmingly precise that even among Transcendents, not many are able to pull off.
Shortly after the hail of icicles barraged a single city and wiped all the disciples of the Bloodfiend Sect, The Durham's Overseer voice trickled through the air, "One city is enough. The rest is yours."
The Valaran's Overseer froze after sensing the Durham's Overseer was gone for good that he proceeded to sigh.
"Wasn't I asking for your help precisely because you are skilfully undetected in your attacks? What's the point of only saving one city?"
The Overseer shook his head.
"Aish, forget it. It was my oversight that led to this situation. Those other geezers are going to question me for it anyway."
With that, the figure kicked against the air and disappeared, before reappearing in the sky of a different city under attack.
A wave of his hand and a sudden downpour rained on the city before all the disciples of the Bloodfiend Sect rampaging in the city died mysteriously.
The people originally screamed and ran with fear, but the moment the wicked laughter suddenly halted, they glanced back and found their motionless body dropped dead with a single pin-size hole in their heads.
Upon investigation of the deaths, nothing would be found inside their heads except a few drops of water.
The Overseer did not stop and repeat the same process until he cleansed every rampaging disciple of the Bloodfiend Sect in every other defenseless city and town.
There were some outer disciples that he did not kill. These lucky survivors were the minority few that still had a conscience and did not mercilessly kill innocents, nor had they refined human blood before.
That was the only reason they still had a conscience.
[Blood Refining Art] was a cultivation art with two existing methods. One was to cultivate with human blood, and the other was through beast blood.
The refinement of human blood offered steep growth in their cultivation but also corrupt their minds negatively with the resentment and despair of the dead, twisting their morality and principles.
Beast blood also contains the resentment and despair of the dead, but a blood cultivator would have an easier time purifying it through refinement.
Of course, this only applies to the blood of less intelligent beasts. The blood of highly intelligent beasts is no different from humans.
Once upon a time, the Bloodfiend Sect was once a sect that the Kingdom of Valaran respected and treated as an orthodox sect, but as the Bloodfiend Sect grew and expanded, so did their lust for power.
The allure of quick cultivation growth was hardly something they could resist, which ended up making them what they are today.
Even if the descendants of the Denholm Royal family wanted to destroy the Crawford Kingdom, they would not have involved the innocents as they did.
Their twist beliefs and vengeance-driven minds when corrupted by the resentment and despair of the dead they refined, they were pushed to new extremities.
"We… we are still alive?"
The outer disciples muttered in shock are seeing all the inner disciples in his surrounding suddenly fall dead silent.
At the same time, every other Transcendent in the Crawford Kingdom sensed the disturbance in the energy of heaven and earth due to their heightened perception of the Laws as Transcendents.
…
Grassland Region.
Elder Evergreen looked to the west with a profound light in his eyes, before shaking his head. "That boy most likely has no idea the Human Domain had such terrifying experts. A Paragon was it? No… but that person is infinitely close.
"Humans are not to be underestimated." The elder sighed, before directing his gaze to the far east.
…
Capital City.
Grandmaster Don stood up with shock and looked towards the eastern sky. Shortly after, it was shifted to the south, the west, and finally the north. Each change was closer than the last.
The Overseer's traveling speed between the cities was nothing to scoff at.
Don had no idea who was causing the disturbance in the energy of heaven and earth, but he instinctively knew that this person was much stronger than him.
Ever since he reached Transcendence, he knew there was a higher realm, but he never imagined the difference would be so great and felt so inferior.
The Overseer's full power could not be determined with his casual act of cleansing the filth from the Crawford Kingdom, but his mastery over the Water Law was enough to put pressure on those who had yet to reach the same level of mastery.
At the same, the Overseer wanted the other Overseer to act precisely because he was not good at masking his usage of the Law like the other.
On the top floor of the luxurious apartment building in the central district, The Supreme Elder's body stiffened.
Princess Faelyn looked over questioningly.
"Haiz…"
"Supreme Elder?"
"That alliance… we must definitely go through with it." The Supreme Elder said firmly.
Princess Faelyn widened her eyes in surprise as she had no idea what had suddenly caused the Supreme Elder to change his attitude from 'quietly observe and accordingly' to 'ally with the humans at all cost.'
Nevertheless, if they could avoid any form of conflict, that would be great. The Princess smiled sweetly. "That would be for the best."
The Supreme Elder nodded and watched the outside scene with rekindled interest, but his mind still lingered on the power he felt in the distant skies of the surrounding cities.
'The Human Domain really cannot be underestimated. That expert is still not at the level of the chiefs of the high-rank tribes, but at the very at least, that expert is stronger than me.' The Supreme Elder silently thought.
Little did he know that expert was not a person affiliated with the Crawford Kingdom, but he would not act in a manner that would make them hostile against humans even if he knew.
That person was willing to help the Crawford Kingdom when humans are fighting amongst themselves. There was no reason why they would not help again if the Crawford Kingdom was suddenly invaded by a foreign race.
…
"Your Majesty?"
A high-ranking soldier looked at the Queen questioningly, while the rest looked around with alert, thinking her Majesty's sudden pause was due to her having detected nearby enemies.
Elizabeth was looking back but could not see anything but mist and tall trees. She shook her head afterward.
"It's nothing. Let's continue. I can sense a dense smell of blood up ahead. Be on alert."
"Yes, your Majesty!"
The Queen and her army followed along the Azure River running through Extreme Misty Forest.
Soon, the shadow of a bridge was seen, and Elizabeth narrowed her eyes into slits, but not because of this bridge.
The bridge was something she had already anticipated after receiving information that the enemy would be sneaking through the cover of the forest.
What caused her to narrow her eyes were the large shadowy mountains and the sudden pervasiveness of blood in the area.
"There's something up ahead. Be careful of an ambush."
"Yes, sir!"
As the army drew closer, the shadowy mountains became clear. They were mountains of corpses. Strings of webs also tied numerous dangling corpses in the air and blood soaked the ground like running rivers.
"What in the world… happened here?"
"This is the enemy army that secretly tried to invade us? Who could have done this? Or rather… what could have done this?"
"I'm sure everyone would also like to know that."
"No… not really…"
The army broke into a commotion immediately. Many gulped with shock and fear as they had never seen such a more gory sight.
It was like they had just stepped in the lowest level of icy hell and could not help but shiver with chills running down their spines and in their hearts.
An army of 20 thousand Durham soldiers was wiped out just like that, and no one knew the answers to how they died.
This was an army led by a Transcendent!
Everyone's instincts were practically screaming 'danger' and 'get out' immediately. Their nerves were tense and felt like any sudden movements would scare the shit out of them.
The howling whispers and screams of the vengeful spirits of the forest only served to put them further on edge.
Anyone who grew up in the northern parts of the Crawford Kingdom would know about Extreme Misty Forest and the stories surrounding it, ghosts!
They can fight beasts and enemy soldiers without fear because that was what they had trained for, but no one had taught them how to fight ghosts!
Who do you even fight something that was intangible to the physical touch?! Unless you were Awakener, the words 'you are fucked' could not be said enough times.
Elizabeth could sense danger, but not to the level that her own life was threatened.
"Check the corpses. Make sure they aren't pretending to be dead." She said grimly, although the chances of this being the case were practically zero.
"Yes, your Majesty!" the soldiers complied with gulps of fear.
The smell and rivers of blood cannot be faked, and the mountain of corpses would crush those beneath.
"Dead…"
"They are all dead."
The soldiers confirmed.
As if sensing one of the corpses suddenly moving, one of the soldiers nearby flinched.
"Hahaha! Look at your scared look! You are so paranoid, brother!" A soldier teased.
The surrounding soldiers joined in and laughed, but laughed nervously.
"I wasn't paranoid! I swear something just moved!" The paranoid soldier refuted.
"Something just moved? Are sure it wasn't one of us moving?"
The surrounding soldiers began to laugh harder like it would ease their tension and nervousness.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Hahaha… aaaAAHHHH!"
Midway through their laughter, one of the soldiers suddenly screamed with fear after a half a body belonging to one of the corpses dangling in the air suddenly dropped on him.
The laughter soon died down completely, and the place was filled with nothing but silence. Only the distance howling and wailing of vengeful spirits were heard, and a greater fear gripped their hearts.
Finally, growls were heard and the mountain of corpses began to move... even the dangling corpses began to struggle from their bind.
"The corpses… The corpses are coming to life!"
"Ghouls!"