The moment he said that, even more people were dying elsewhere. The killer was even lashing out against normal divine moonrace in a wild killing spree.
"Huiye Shi!" somebody cried out. Tianming turned back and saw a middle-aged man in a dark-blue robe entering with a pained expression.
"Uncle Huiyue Hai?" she said, stunned.
"Go back to your parents' mansion. There has been a battle there. I'm afraid your parents are gone," Huiyue Hai said.
"What?" She felt herself blackout and almost faint as she slumped weakly to the ground like her soul had left her body. The death of her parents hit far harder than that of her friend. Not only had she lost two people that cared dearly for her, she had also lost the ones she relied upon.
"Bring… bring me back…." She turned to Tianming and pulled on his sleeve with a pleading gaze as if she was clinging to her final lifeline.
"Alright, let's go." She didn't even have the energy to walk, so Tianming carried her on his back. They weren't too far from Duyue Mansion now, so they arrived soon enough. Once they were inside, Tianming set her down.
There were only traces of blood, but no corpses. A few servants stood blankly there. When they saw her return, they kneeled harrowingly and said, "The lord and lady are both gone…."
Huiye Shi slumped down to the ground in the yard. The petals of the cherry blossoms continued indifferently falling after being ruffled by the wind. During that day itself, she had been coquettishly pestering her parents to get her way to get Tianming some status. Little did she know that it would be her last time talking to her parents.
"Waaah…." She began sobbing uncontrollably.
Tianming patted her shoulder, not sure of what else he could do to console her. This had all happened far too suddenly. But at that moment, his body shuddered when he felt a deathly threat nearby.
He immediately turned back and looked in the distance, spotting the white-robed man on top of a tall tower. While his face was obscured, Tianming could tell that he was looking straight at him and Huiye Shi. He couldn't recognize the man, thanks to the distance, but the man was already menacingly charging toward them the next instant.
He's going all out. Is he targeting someone in particular?! Right as he thought that, a large group of people from the Huiyue Clan appeared. There were a few elders that seemed particularly strong.
"Animal!" They finally found the killer. The white-robed man charged toward the mansion's flank as more elites of the Huiyue Clan surrounded him. They had finally found the elusive killer that had been wreaking havoc the whole night.
Countless totems in the sky charged toward the man. This was a battle of the gods that blotted out the entire sky in an instant. Tianming was worried for Feiling's safety, and some paranoid part of him was thinking that she could have been killed without him knowing. As the man was engaged, he dragged Huiye Shi and ran back to the Shiyu Compound.
The sounds of battle continued ringing out behind them as they left. While Huiye Shi was still crying, Tianming was deep in thought. Why did I have a feeling that he was looking at me differently?
Soon, they snuck back to Shiyu Compound. Thanks to the chaos, Feiling had been waiting at the entrance. When she saw Tianming’s safe return, she finally relaxed. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but she isn’t."
Huiye Shi was still crying.
"What happened?"
Tianming told her of the day's events. Though he got his identification, Huiye Shi's parents and even Liu Yizhao were now gone. Logically speaking, Tianming should already be safe, but he felt a threat from the man in the white robe even though he only looked like he was targeting the divine moonrace. Tianming looked toward the Duyue Mansion, where the battle was still ongoing, but it was quickly moving from one part to another. The enemy was fast, if nothing else.
"Let me console her for now," Feiling said.
"Alright, I'll leave her to you. I’ll go cultivate!"
The chaos didn't have anything to do with him, strictly speaking. He thought back to the matter of Ye Lingfeng. Now that his heavenly will had grown once more, he continued absorbing the stellunar source as the battle raged on. The silvery moonlight began fusing with his tribulation force until he finally reached the tenth-level death phase.
"Only four phases left to go." He couldn't wait to reach the Ascension stage.
"The divine moon hall of the Huiyue Clan should have enough insights for me to reach the twelfth-level death phase, but I'll still have to rely on myself to ascend. Now that Huiye Shi's parents are gone, nobody will know that I came from the Flameyellow Continent, and nobody will care about Huiyue Yin's matter anymore, so I no longer need to hide my power. I just hope this killer doesn't interfere with my plans!"
His mind was sharp and clear from the recent breakthrough. Despite the cruel slaughter that was going on, there was nothing he could do to help. "With so many elites there, they should be able to handle it."
……
The next day, Tianming appeared much gloomier than before, thanks to being in the death phase. Huiye Shi was still soullessly huddled in a corner of the courtyard, with Feiling beside her.
"Are you better now?" Tianming asked.
"How could I be?" Huiye Shi said.
"Have they caught the killer yet? Is he dead? Who is he?"
"We got nothing," she said, biting her lip. "He escaped, and we still don't know who he is."
"Then it's going to be worrying. He might just continue his slaughter again."
"We're fine for now."
"What do you mean?"
"Just look above."
Tianming did as he was told and saw a formation encompassing the sky above them. It looked like a pink dome with blooming cherry blossoms, each of them representing countless heavenly patterns.
"Is this a protective formation?" Tianming asked.
"Yes. It's Huiyue City's Veneramoon Formation. Since that person escaped yesterday, the city went under lockdown. No matter who it is, they won’t be able to reenter. Anyone that tries forcing their way in will immediately be detected and attacked. Now, anyone outside won't be able to enter," Huiye Shi explained.
"That sounds like a decent plan. What level is the barrier?" The formation looked a little average on the surface, but it was far more complex if one paid close attention. The formation had been passed down over millions of years in the city and was powered by the stellunar source, so it was bound to be powerful.
