Chapter 102 - Cultivators Creed (1/2)

At first, Shin Sumi didn't even see the massive tower erected in the middle of the valley. Even though the tower was large enough to house an entire village on each floor and tall enough to pierce the few clouds that blotted out the night sky, Shin Sumi's eyes only caught a glimpse of it after a long while.

What she saw first was the rest of the valley. There had obviously been a town and fields full of fragrant spirit plants surrounding the tower, but the touches of greens and yellows from the plants and houses was tinted a dark red, almost brown.

Like flecks of dust in the rays of the sun, an array of colored spots sometimes broke the red cover where cultivator robes and bodies lay there, dead.

From a glance, it was hard to tell the number of casualties but it easily ranged in the dozens, and that was without considering what must have happened inside the tower. Entire pans of walls had fallen off and heavy black smoke rolled out constantly from the openings.

Shin Sumi had expected to find the Sky Earth Sect at least a few days before the battle against the massive Blue Fire Sect. Her objective had been to patiently wait, hidden within the sect, and then arrange to be taken prisoner along with the members of the sect.

Only now, seeing the remains of the Sky Earth Sect in front of her, she realized two things.

First, the attack had been much more sudden. Even with their large numbers, the Blue Fire Sect had managed to move at an insane speed to surprise the Sky Earth Sect in the middle of their preparations.

Secondly, Shin Sumi realized that the plan had been foolish.

Despite knowing that a war was brewing, Shin Sumi had never seen such a thing. In her young girl's heart, she had failed to imagine the atrocity of the scene laid out in front of her.

What had made her think that she would be able to ensure her own safety with her previous plan? She had not thought about it much ever since the Patriarch suggested the idea.

The Patriarch had seemed confident enough, was he simply relying on her ability? Or did he not think about that either? Was it a test?

Either way it seemed hard to swallow for Shin Sumi.

Her head started spinning, forcing her to sit down on the mountain top and look away from the bloody valley.

Circulating her cultivation technique to calm her heart and mind, she waited for the time it takes an incense stick to burn before opening her eyes again and daring to look at the remnants of the Sky Earth Sect one more time.

”No matter what was wrong with the first plan, there's no time to dwell on it. I have to decide what to do now.”

Past the first shock, Shin Sumi was now calm and collected, at least on the surface. Focusing her eyes, she started to analyse the scene in front of her.

”There are people still moving about. They are all dressed in black robes, I think it is fair to assume that they are part of the Blue Fire Sect. Some of them are bringing the corpses of the Sky Earth Sect disciples to the west end of the valley.”

Shin Sumi's eyes shifted, now directed towards the base of the massive grey tower.

”A large number of people are leaving the tower. I think most of them are Sky Earth Sect members and judging by how close they are together and the black robes around, they should be enchained. War prisoners.”

Lastly, Shin Sumi looked towards the east of the tower where a swarm of black robes looked like the inside of an ant colony.

”Their forces are overwhelming. If the Patriarch's information is true and the Sky Earth Sect had double the firepower of the Dark Sky Starry Sect, then the Blue Fire Sect has dispatched at least twice as many people.

Considering all of that, my guess is that the attack began when the sun disappeared last night. Six hours was all it took for the war to be over.”

Based on what she knew of war tactics and military strategy from teachings of the Dark Sky Starry Sect and her readings in the sect library, Shin Sumi had quickly estimated the duration of the battle and the state of the situation in the valley.

Six hours was not a long time for a battle, but definitely plausible considering the disparity in power between the two parties. In any case, the main assault was already over but it was too short of a time to fully declare the end of the war.

”They must now be starting to explore the tower, finding all the hiding disciples, putting an end to the bravado of the rebellious fighters. With such a large sect in the massive tower, it should be at least a few more hours until the Blue Fire Sect leaves the place. By the end of it, nobody will remain here, and all the treasures and resources will have been looted.”

Standing up from her crouching position, Shin Sumi breathed in and out a few times.

”Right. I know what I can do.”

The Copper Bell rang once, reverting her to her own appearance instead of Yan Yan's. Not as foolish as before, her new plan was still risky and she would need all of her attention and focus. The Copper Bell was a treasure she had used constantly for so long that it barely used even one percent of her power but just in case, Shin Sumi decided to make sure she could give it her all.

”Invisible Crane of Oblivion!”

In the place where Shin Sumi stood, a strange breeze picked up, only to silently disperse after a second or two, Shin Sumi nowhere to be seen.

She bit her lip, hoping that the slight Shinsoo movement of activating the technique had not been felt below in the valley. Having only learnt the skill the day before, she was still far from having perfected it.

Slowly, Shin Sumi moved to the very top of the mountain and waited for a while. In the valley under her, nothing indicated that her presence had been revealed, which reassured her.

”Let's get going. Invisible Crane of Oblivion won't last for more than twenty minutes.”

The whole crux of her plan lay on the fact that Invisible Crane of Oblivion was a very powerful technique based on wind Shinsoo that allowed one's presence to completely disappear as well as distract any onlooker.

Shin Sumi didn't know exactly how it worked, but the technique was described in a page of Nuan's book form. The more someone tried to concentrate on the spot where she, the caster, was, the harder it became.

Unlike other stealthy movement skills, Invisible Crane of Oblivion was very slow, however. The slower Shin Sumi advanced, the more undetectable she would be to higher cultivation levels.

Shin Sumi's plan she had elaborated on the spot solely relied on the risky balance of being slow enough to not be detected but fast enough so that the technique would last the right amount of time.

The red fields had mostly been cleared of the corpses by now, and Shin Sumi heaved a sigh of relief when she reached a small hut that had been left standing at the end of the farms.

”I can feel the divine sense of powerful experts passing by. This is where I need to slow down but I've already walked half of the way to the tower in five minutes.”

Shin Sumi hoped that upon reaching the immense grey tower, the constant flow of people would make her detection less likely.

Not stopping for a second, Shin Sumi simply reduced her speed until she was walking even slower than a mortal.

Past the fields, the land flattened into a grassy plain. A large amount of rubble still glowing with Shinsoo indicated to her that the gate of the sect had probably been here up to a day ago.

In only one day, a centuries old sect had been wiped out, its infrastructures reduced to ashes and its disciples to prisoners, just like that. Such was the strength of the opposing party, the Blue Fire Sect.

At crawling speed, Shin Sumi made her way through the rubble and waited for a group of Blue Fire Sect disciples to pass in front of her.

Without even realizing, she held her breath, waiting for the moment their divine sense would alert them of her presence. But the moment never came even as she herself sent her divine sense towards the group.

Invisible Crane of Oblivion was an incredible technique, made even stronger thanks to Nuan's refining. Shin Sumi had only briefly read the technique's description at the time and so didn't know exactly what Nuan had changed from the basic technique.

In any case, Shin Sumi seemed undetectable for a group of a dozen Liquid Realm cultivators, all of them between the second and the sixth realm.