Lex had agreed with Rin Er's request to resurrect her brothers and the elders. 

Like Rhuu Yen, she was happy to relinquish the role of the leader of the Phoenix Clan to her brothers. 

However, as her former corpse puppets, both her brothers and elders who were her corpse puppets were won over by her leadership abilities. 

They didn't think that even her father the Phoenix King would have been able to keep them safe during the time the Shadow Queen was on a rampage. 

Although all Rhuu Yen and Rin Er did was hole up in their sect, they both had led the sects and withstood wave after wave of attacks by the Shadow Queen's forces.

If there was any doubt, they only had to look at the other of the 12 Righteous Sects who were led by the other Righteous Swords. They all fell to the Shadow Queen, even the Invincible Sword Kai Shin. 

Both Rhuu Yen and Rin Er were undecided whether or not to remain as leader of their sects. 

It will all depend on this final battle with Wai Ling and/or Zhang Meng, as well as what Lex decided to do after the battle, should they win.

--

Lex and his group, including the Phoenix Clan, the Ice Fairies and the 4 Heavenly Kings followed the path of destruction.

In every village they passed, the men were chopped to pieces, the women raped and murdered, even the old women. Zhang Meng didn't have a preference. 

True enough, he seemed to be heading directly to the headquarters of the Shadow Queen, who had the reputation of being the most beautiful woman alive, even more beautiful than the Ice Fairies. 

Lex wondered about that. It's true that Wai Ling was very beautiful. But he could think of several others that were her match as he looked at his entourage.

Now the Shadow King and Shadow Queen's abilities are different from Lex's shadow abilities. 

While Lex could use his shadows like the Shadow King, things like teleporting through shadows, killing the shadows as a substitute, controlling the shadows to be used against the original, or even sending out shadows with orders to spy or assassinate etc, their shadows are different from Lex's shadow clones. 

Shadow Queen's shadows cannot function independently. They are like corpse puppets that can be given simple commands. 

The Shadow Queen's shadows have advantages over corpse puppets in the sense they are intangible and immune to damage, but they were all the same, while corpse puppets had the memories and abilities of the original. 

Lex's shadow clones on the other hand have the power of necromancy mixed in with them, and they hold the souls and memories of the original, which means they had all the advantageous of the shadows and corpse puppets, as well as had the ability to be independent and act on their own.  

As such, the Shadow Queen ruled by fear, controlling the members of all the fallen sects, as it was meaningless to be the ruler of all the land and rule over only shadows. 

This was why there were so many dead people killed by Zhang Meng on the way to the base that was called the Shadow Realm. 

They were littered all over the place, village after village, town after town. They were all dead, killed and raped without mercy. 

"Mad man. The Sword Monster is a madman, just like in the secret records of the Heavenly Kings" the Flame King Hua Tian said, seeing all the raped half bodies of women, young and old along the way. 

Lex couldn't agree more. But he knew this was his fault. He didn't expect the person he was indebted to, the person he considered his master, was such a monster. 

But of course Zhang Meng's own journal wouldn't admit all this. Of course he would write of himself in a glowing light. 

In fact, in the Imperial Library, there was mention of a Sword Monster, he just never connected Zhang Meng with him. It's just that before this, he only knew of Zhang Meng as the Sword God. The Imperial records did not mention the name of the Sword Monster, who was no less a threat than figures like the Enchantress, the Demoness or the Poison Lady.

The fact these legendary monsters needed all the masters of the Jianghu to gather and put them down was a indication of how powerful they were. And Demoness and the Sword Monster nearly won too.  

The scene of carnage along the way seemed to be too much for even the grizzled warriors of the Ice Fairies and Phoenix Clan. Some had to stop to puke, while the rest went ahead without them. 

Finally, they arrived at the borders of the Shadow Realm. 

It was as if, by magic the whole land was covered in shadow. 

The mountains were covered in shadow, the trees were covered in shadow, everything was in shadows as if the sun never shone here and light did not exist. 

The moment anyone stepped a single foot on the land, their bodies became covered by shadow too. 

This is what made the Shadow Queen so powerful 

Once you were in her shadows, she can detect your presence instantly, and knows and controls your every movement using your shadow.

This made her invincible in her own land. 

"So, once we step in, its a battle to the death" Rhuu Yen said

"This is our final battle, sister. And we have Quan Yu here with us. Don't be afraid" Rin Er said

Lex smiled, still in the guise of Quan Yu. 

Suddenly, his body's shadows revealed his nude body

His dick shrank as his breasts grew and hair turned blonde

"The shadows don't scare me. I am the master of shadows" Lex's voice could be heard from inside borders. 

Rhuu Yen and Rin Er smiled. 

Heather looked at Jasmine and Anna and nodded to each other too. 

They knew victory was at hand as the contingent charged into the Shadow Realm. 

While everything was dark, surprisingly they didn't meet any resistance at all.

They were soon at the central building, and sounds of a furious battle could be heard.