Severing Ties: The Sect Regrets My Departure

Chapter 228: Did You Hear That? The Peak Master Seems to Be Cheering!

“Stop! You… stay back! I am a Peak Master of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land, a direct disciple of a Supreme Venerable! You cannot harm me, don’t come any closer!”

Facing the predatory glint in the Demon Beasts’ eyes, Lu Qingyao’s heart plummeted. Crushed under the absolute suppression of their bloodline aura, she couldn’t move a single muscle. She was a fish on a chopping block, utterly at their mercy. All she could do was scream, her throat tearing as she desperately tried to halt their advance.

But the Demon Beasts weren’t there to negotiate. They lunged, throwing themselves at the grand formation protecting her. Once, this barrier boasted an impregnable defense; vengeful beast spirits had thrown themselves at it like moths to a flame, failing to leave even a scratch. Now, however, the spirits had completed their Body Seizing, claiming physical forms. Compounded by the catastrophic destruction of the bloodline channels, the formation’s defenses were a hollow shell of their former glory.

After only a handful of frenzied strikes, terrifying, spider-web cracks splintered across the dome of light enveloping Lu Qingyao. It groaned, on the verge of total collapse.

Panic seized her. “My Senior Sister is right outside!” she shrieked. “The moment she steps in, you’ll die without a burial place! My Master is a Mahayana Supreme Venerable! Harm me, and there won’t be a corner of this world where you can hide! And my Junior Brother—my little Junior Brother is a descended Immortal! If he finds out what you did, he’ll make sure you can’t even beg for death! Let me go! Let me go!”

Her hollow, desperate threats fell on deaf ears. If anything, they only spurred the beasts into a greater frenzy. Through the fracturing barrier, she could feel it—a suffocating, sky-piercing Killing Intent pressing down on her.

True terror finally broke her. Her previous arrogance evaporated, replaced by pathetic, groveling desperation. “I was wrong! I know I was wrong! Please, spare me just this once. Give me another chance! I can compensate you! Yes, compensation! My Spirit Beast Peak has thousands of disciples, and they raise countless spirit beasts! You’re Demon Beasts; you won’t turn down human flesh as blood food! I’m the Peak Master—I can order them inside to feed you! And my Fourth Senior Sister! She’s the strongest beneath the Supreme Venerables! She cultivates Source Arts; her source power is incredibly potent! Eat her, and your strength will soar! I’m innocent! I’m just an ignorant girl! I can swear a Heavenly Dao Oath! Damn it, it’s all Master’s fault! That bitch taught me to do whatever it takes! Spare me, and I’ll poison her for you! A Mahayana Supreme Venerable—imagine the nourishment she’d provide!”

Lu Qingyao was completely unhinged. She refused to die. Her little Junior Brother had promised her she was a child of destiny, blessed with heaven-defying Fated Chance. She was supposed to ascend to the Immortal Realm! She couldn’t end up as meat between a beast’s teeth.

“Scared? Regretful?” The silver-clawed wolf demon leading the pack sneered, its voice dripping with contempt. “Do not listen to this human’s drivel. She feels no repentance. She is only acting this way because she knows… she is about to die! Hear my command: break this formation! Make her pay her blood debt in blood!”

A deafening, unified roar erupted from tens of thousands of Demon Beasts. Surging with peak morale, they slammed into the fragile, heavily fractured array.

CRACK. The grand formation shattered like glass.

Without a second of hesitation, the monstrous tide of fur, fangs, and claws surged forward. They swarmed over Lu Qingyao’s paralyzed body, their jaws unhinging.

“No—! Senior Sister! Fourth Senior Sister, save me! SAVE ME!!!”

Agonizing, blood-curdling screams tore through the cavern as teeth sank into soft flesh. The sensation of being chewed alive—of her muscles being ripped from the bone while she remained entirely, horribly conscious—flooded her mind. She could feel the hot breath of the beasts, the tearing of her own tendons, and the sickening crunch as they began to digest her piece by piece. Her transition from an arrogant Beast Tamer to a literal platter of meat was absolute.

Outside the cavern, however, her horrific screams went largely ignored.

“Did you hear something?” a disciple murmured. “It sounded like the Peak Master yelling. Could something have gone wrong? Should we go check?”

“Are you out of your mind? Did you forget the lesson from earlier?” another scoffed. “The Peak Master possesses heaven-defying power and unparalleled foresight. What could possibly go wrong? Stop disturbing our morale! She must be on the verge of perfecting her divine technique and is just cheering in excitement. Stop making a fuss over nothing.”

The chaotic tremors echoing from within the array were intense, but thanks to Lu Qingyao’s earlier strict orders, everyone assumed it was part of the plan. Some eager disciples even started brown-nosing.

“Should we start preparing the celebration banquet?” one suggested. “Once Master finishes her cultivation, she’ll definitely want to host the other elders. Better to have it ready than to scramble later.”

“Great idea! There’s actually a batch of disobedient Demon Beasts in the pens. Let’s slaughter them for the main course. The energy fluctuations from the array are dying down; she should be finishing up soon.”

Wasting no time, a group of disciples bustled off to prepare the feast. They knew their Peak Master loved grand displays of status. A well-timed banquet would surely earn them her praise, and perhaps a casual reward that could amount to a life-changing Fated Chance.

Amidst the excited chatter, Shi Siling stood apart, her brow deeply furrowed. Something is wrong. Why has the internal defensive barrier shattered? And Junior Sister’s aura… why is it fading so rapidly?

As a master of Source Arts, Shi Siling’s senses were razor-sharp. Even through the obscuring veil of the grand formation, she could detect a profound wrongness. This was no simple cultivation breakthrough. Her Junior Sister was in dire peril.

Acting on instinct, Shi Siling formed a sword-seal with her fingers, preparing to slice the formation open. But halfway through the motion, she froze.

“If I do not explicitly ask for help, I need you to promise that no matter what you hear, you will not open the grand formation. I need you to swear a Heavenly Dao Oath!”

Lu Qingyao’s prior demand echoed in her mind. Shi Siling had sworn that very oath. If she intervened without a direct plea for help, she would violate the Heavenly Dao Oath, permanently marring her cultivation foundation. Even if her intentions were pure, the backlash would be unavoidable.

After a painful internal struggle, Shi Siling lowered her hand. I’ll wait a little longer. Perhaps my senses are deceiving me. From what I saw earlier, she had absolute control over the beasts. Unless an intruder slipped past the grand formation to subdue her, it’s impossible for her to be silenced before sending a distress signal. Yes… Junior Sister is the most cunning of us all. She wouldn’t just vanish without a word. She must have a backup plan.

Forcing down her anxiety, Shi Siling chose to wait.

An hour slipped by. The banquet preparations were in full swing, but the disciples who had remained near the array were growing visibly uneasy.

“Do you guys smell that?” one whispered. “There’s a sickening stench of blood leaking from the array.”

“It’s the silence that’s creeping me out,” another shivered. “It’s dead quiet in there… except for this awful crunching noise. It sounds like someone chewing on raw ribs.”

“Is the Peak Master… actually in trouble?”

Panic rippling through their ranks, they turned to Shi Siling. The Fourth Senior Sister’s eyes were locked onto the array, her expression dark. Yet, she only shook her head. “If she needs us, she will signal.”

Another agonizing hour passed. The banquet was fully prepared, the tables laden with food, waiting only for the guest of honor. But the eerie, graveyard silence stretching from the formation was suffocating. The air inside felt completely devoid of life.

“Fourth Martial Aunt,” a disciple pleaded, unable to bear the tension. “Shouldn’t we go in? It’s never been this quiet. It’s like… it’s like nothing is alive in there.”

Shi Siling clenched her jaw so hard her teeth ached. “Wait for her signal!”

The disciples exchanged terrified glances but swallowed their protests. Shi Siling was the strongest cultivator below the Supreme Venerable realm and Lu Qingyao’s direct Senior Sister. Despite her cold demeanor, surely she wouldn’t just stand by and let her own junior die?

They didn’t have to wait another hour. Barely thirty minutes later, a disciple sprinted down from the back mountain, his face pale with terror.

“Disaster! A disaster!” he shrieked, stumbling into the clearing. “The spirit beasts! The personal spirit beasts the Peak Master keeps in the back mountain… they just dropped dead! All of them, for no reason!”

The crowd erupted into absolute pandemonium. The sharpest among them instantly whipped their heads toward the silent grand formation, their blood running cold.

“Wait… those beasts in the back mountain were bound to the Peak Master by a life-and-death contract,” someone stammered, their voice trembling. “If they all died violently at the exact same time… does that mean the Peak Master is…”

Cold sweat drenched the disciples. In the path of Beast Taming, it was common practice to forge life-and-death bonds with core spirit beasts. If the master perished, the beasts died instantly. The implication was horrifyingly clear.

BOOM!

Without warning, the supposedly impenetrable grand formation ruptured violently from the inside out. A horde of Demon Beasts, their maws dripping with fresh, steaming blood, burst through the barrier and scattered in all directions, fleeing into the wilderness like frightened rats.

But nobody chased them. Every single pair of eyes was glued to the gaping hole in the grand formation.

Gasps of pure horror choked the clearing.

In the center of the array, where Lu Qingyao had been sitting in haughty meditation, the proud Peak Master was gone. All that remained on the blood-soaked stone were shredded scraps of bloody robes, scattered bits of chewed flesh, and a pile of gnawed, splintered bone fragments.