“Kill, kill them all!”

A ferocious scream escaped from the toothy humanoid that resembled a disfigured human. It was about two meters and had crimson leathery skin. Small spikes were coming out of its back and its hands looked more like black claws. Similar creatures like this one descended towards what looked to be a temporary settlement composed of tents.

“H-how did they follow us this fast…”

“R-run, spread out, it's our only hope of survival!”

There were women and children that were only a few months old here. The mothers were covering them with their bodies while running away while the men grabbed their weapons. Yet this did not amount to much, the creatures were much stronger and faster. The small protrusions from their bodies grew out slightly before being shot off like projectiles.

These bone bullets traveled in an arc and descended on the panicking people. They pierced through their legs and lodged themselves into their bodies causing a lot of critical injuries. While the humans cried in agony the monster-like humanoid creatures relished in it. Their grotesque faces had massive smiles plastered over them as they continued to torture their prey.

Yet as all seemed to be lost something miraculous happened. As the projectiles were traveling through the air they suddenly stopped. It was as if time had stopped for the monsters as they could not move a muscle. The men that were still able to stand up noticed the strange phenomenon and quickly realized what was happening.

“A master?”

He appeared from the sky, his spiritual energy washed over the entire area disabling all of the creatures without a single exception. The man was wearing a white robe and on his back, an embodiment of a golden dragon could be seen. When looking closely there were characters of the sect that this man belonged to, the United Element’s Sect.

With just a motion of his hand, the creatures began being sucked into the middle of the encampment. In just about ten seconds a large ball composed of monster flesh was assembled. The monsters that were laughing and parading around were now squirming around without being able to get away.

By pointing up into the sky the ball of monsters was thrown upwards. While it flew there the man started gathering energy in his fingertip. Lightning crackled and was followed by a thunderous roar before the energy attack escaped from his pointed-out digit. A wide beam of energy flew forward, it engulfed the trapped monsters and quickly extinguished their existence.

The people were injured but the spectacle that they had just witnessed made them forget about the pain. The man floated like some kind of diety without saying anything but soon he turned around to open his mouth.

“Tend to the injured!”

“Yes, Patriarch!”

A group of men and women in similar robes and patterns quickly flew in after him. They quickly used some spiritual healing arts on the people that were hit by the bone fragments. The people here knew who the man was, the tales of his generosity had reached far and wide. It was him that they were trying to reach as it was known that only the United Element Sect could turn the tide against the strange invaders.

…

“Just as you have ordered, we have captured one of the demi-humans.”

“Good, did the interrogation arts work on them.”

“Yes, Patriarch, please follow me.”

It was of course Zhang Dong that appeared to save these refugees. After some deliberation, he decided to stick to the border regions where his forces were stationed. With not much time on his hands, it would be best to first lower the danger in his own area of influence. The other bridges between the empires were too far, splitting his forces was also unwise. Only he could handle the tribe leaders that possessed those horns with Huo Qiang having some chances of winning a one-on-one battle if no one else got involved.

Apparently, after he had driven the vampire monsters out they had managed to evacuate a large chunk of the population. There was far too much space to cover though and many settlements that did not believe in the losses that were being reported. This resulted in situations like this with people being unable to escape far enough when the monsters were at their doorstep.

‘The information should have spread enough though, even these cultivators recognize our sect's character…’

His fame was slowly growing as he was the only high level nascent soul master that was willing to lend a hand without asking for anything in return. The legend of the Golden Dragon was spreading slowly but surely. Some recognized him as Long Dong, some as the Golden Dragon and others used his other name of Zhang Dong. One thing was clear though, whenever he appeared the people would cheer and then bow.

“Do we know what tribe this one belongs to? Is it the same one that those pale demi-humans were from?”

Zhang Dong asked the interrogator what was done with hypnotizing the prisoner. Since the monster-like humanoids didn’t have a proper name he decided to go with a popular trope name from novels that he had read before. He already knew that they were just humans that had their biology altered by various body refining techniques which made the name fitting.

“The demi-human claims to be from another tribe, as you have ordered, here are the answers to the questions you requested, Patriarch.”

The member from his clan handed him a scroll where he had written down the answers. Zhang Dong nodded and quickly left as he did not have any time to waste. After going through everything he could see that these people were closely related to the white demi-humans he had managed to force back.

It seemed that their tribes shared an ancestor. They had split off into two tribes that had many similarities but some differences. The prisoner informed them that the two tribes were always trying to prove themselves as the superior successor to their ancestor’s will. It seemed that if they managed to defeat the ‘golden one’ they would be able to prove once and for all that they were the true descendants.

‘I see, they hope to bring me to their emperor after their sister tribe has fallen. They probably still feel that the other tribe was part of them so if they had failed they probably see it as a loss of face due to the similarities between them…’

If he compared them to cultivators it was as if one section of the same sect had been eradicated by an outsider. Even though they were from different factions they were still connected by something.

‘Their movements are somewhat erratic, they have been vigorously pushing closer to our borders, they really are battle-hungry monsters… it's as if they are trying to provoke the battle even if they are suffering losses.’

It didn’t seem that there was much reason and logic in the way these red spiky basterds moved. They were just killing anyone that they came across and throwing bodies against it. Sometimes they were victorious but in other cases, they were eradicated by his own sect members like Huo Qiang that was constantly patrolling these areas.

‘Either they are stupid or … they want to lure me out by killing more people… did they realize?’

Zhang Dong frowned as it seemed that the enemies had figured out that he had a weakness. This weakness was his humanity that he did not want to abandon. If he had the chance he would put himself in danger to save other people of this empire. If they wanted to deliver the golden one to their emperor then by killing civilians they could lure him out.

It was true, while floating away from this temporary encampment he took some time to look at the people that were mostly affected by this war. He had not been able to get here in time and the sobbing of women could not be ignored. Many people had laid their lives down for their loved ones in hope of getting to their lands. To them it seemed to be the only hope as traversing half of the empire to arrive at the lands of the Long Clan was impossible.

Even if they managed to travel to their borders, there was always a chance that they would not be allowed to get past their walls. The Long Clan was known for not allowing people to traverse their lands, the war would probably not change their minds either.
When he was ascending he could see the survivors follow him with their eyes. They were quick to prostrate themselves before him as usual. Yet there was a difference, they were not doing this out of force of habit before strong cultivators. No, they were thanking him for allowing their families to see another day.

‘Those bastards are going to continue killing and enslaving everyone in their path unless someone stops them…’

While he tried to get over his hero complex it wasn’t that easy. He could not see any other cultivators or sects moving towards the battles unless they could gain something. Perhaps if they saw worth in the lands there they would be charitable but he could not see them doing that. These were the lower lands of the empire, resources were sparse and the strongest people living here would barely make it into his sect.

It didn’t seem that unless he acted there would be any change. While his borders would probably be strong enough to block the demi-humans from invading that didn’t mean they wouldn’t continue with their slaughter. They could easily clear out the border regions and continue bringing destruction to the empire.

‘But as the leader, I can’t just send in my people…’

This was the troubling part, he was the sect leader and his people depended on it. If he decided to send his forces out they could be victorious but there would always be deaths. It might be possible to save millions at the risk of losing thousands of his sect brothers and sisters. Even without asking, he knew that his people would agree with anything that he decided on. If he told them to raid the enemy stronghold this instant then they would do it.

‘Sometimes I wish they would question my decisions instead of blindly following every word that I say…’

He gave out a sigh while floating up. His mind was already made up, even though he could go back and wait it out he still thought that getting rid of the fortress where the vampires waited would be the right move. The enemies were still missing their strongest card, the emperor was not here. If he wanted to recapture the bridge between empires then this would be his best chance. While this war did not truly begin he needed to seize victory so that a brighter future awaited all of his people.