Anger and guilt - such were the emotions that filled Bai Qi as the poisonous and weakening talismans flew at him. On one side, it was anger at his opponent, the current events, and the city itself. Yet, there was also anger at himself, one intermixed with guilt, for placing the faithful Bai sisters in harm's way because of his actions and inability to take action himself.

Irrational and unlike him, such were the thoughts that assaulted him as Bai Ze's and Bai Rui's signatures disappeared, covered in the dozens over dozens of talismans activating around them.

Many sources of anger - that was what he felt - were enough to overwhelm the barrier Bai Qi had put over his feelings, meant for nothing else but containing his rage, the fuel, and the domain of his demonic part, Kui Mulang's Soul and essence.

*Throb*

The gathered qi in Bai Qi's left arm pulsated, not even the long sleeve hiding the dark, sinister, demonic-feeling energy gathered in there.

*Throb*

Bai Qi felt how the scales on his chest, which had grown in quantity from one to three, beat in rhythm with his left arm.

Loaned power; No matter from what source it came, a price would always exist, and one would have to pay it, nothing, be it situation or self, mattering.

Bai Qi may have taken over Kui Mulang's essence and even his Soul, but the fact remained - Kui Mulang was a demon.

And no demon was a cultivator.

Bai Qi used this power and refused the cost, which was the transformation, so Bai Qi had to pay with something.

And he did, his left arm, now hidden from everyone, being far from the original.

Without reason or anchor to hold him, sensing the fatality of the situation, Bai Qi didn't even try to resist the rising wave of fury. But why would he? After all, at this moment, Bai Qi's only thought was,

Yet, a moment before Bai Qi gave in to the wave, allowing himself to release whatever Kui Mulang's part of his contained, a furious roar reached him, bringing him back to a semblance of control, "DON'T!"

One accompanied by another, from a different voice, which, angry and growling as the previous tone, held some softness, "We are not to break here, and you shouldn't either!"

Sometime before the attack on [Zihoadao], near the city's entrance, inside the courtyard of the [Budding Lake] manor.

With Fan Jia and Chun Hua resting inside the healing formation, with the awakened Ma Su watching over them, He Delan found herself without anything to do.

"I wonder how his fights are going." For no reason but boredom, at least as she told herself, He Delan muttered.

Yet, opposing her inner words, He Delan found herself returning to Bai Qi's image, no matter how well she hid it. So while she didn't accept it, He Delan was, somewhere deep inside, lamenting she had not gone to watch and support him as he undertook a challenge nearly unheard of being successful.

"I wonder how Bai Qi is doing." The approaching Ma Su said. It was unknown if she heard He Delan's words or if she actually said them on her own, but such were her words, and He Delan jerked in response.

Yet, as Ma Su's reasons remained unknown, so would He Delan's answer, as at this moment, three Warrior Emperor auras expanded over [Zihoadao].

"This is bad!" Being a Warrior King, one who had just survived an assault on her own power, He Delan immediately understood the implications of such a reveal.

"It is no friendly visit, of that I am sure." Ma Su, a Warrior King in her own right, nodded in response, expanding her aura to follow up on the developments.

"No, don't!" He Delan, who had been sitting near the small lake, not more than a big puddle, quickly rose up as she growled at Ma Su, her own aura being recalled entirely in turn.

"But..?" Ma Su obeyed He Delan's words and retracted her aura, yet she couldn't help but question.

"If they are hostile, they will not check if we are local before attacking in response to an open provocation." Experienced in her own right, He Delan, living through the attack on the [Void Palace], had also changed, taking a far more careful approach than the one she would have taken before.

"So, what do we do?" He Delan was stronger, more experienced, and an elder of an actual power, so with her being the only non-follower in the group, Ma Su didn't hesitate to ask her for orders.

"Wait for what happens." He Delan, having expected anything but a direct question, answered after a short delay.

Thinking so, a couple of breaths later, He Delan added, "If battles start, we take the girls and move to a safer zone. Bai Qi will contact us sooner or later, and hopefully, he will know what is going on."

***

Sometime later, as the city-enveloping formation activated, He Delan and Ma Su, carrying Chun Hua and Fan Jia, would find themselves running away from the manor. For this, there were two reasons; First, the [Budding Lake] location, just some streets from the city's entrance and hardly a quarter of a mile from the teleportation formation, both objects of attack. As for the second, He Delan's senses - which had caught on several peak Warrior King signatures and the deaths they caused.

The [Void]; Considered something so hard to master that nearly no cultivator, except the powers specialized in its usage, attempted to master it.

One of the requirements, and the main part of a Void-specialized power, was the training of one's senses, as the chaotic expanse of the Void was deadly, at least if one could not locate himself while identifying all of the dangers around. Also, with aura being impossible to expand at the maximum, one had to train the senses while separating them from everything else. This latter was something martial path cultivators rarely did, considering it a loss of time, time better used to improve one's prowess instead.

Thus, the [Void Palace] cultivators were always at the maximum of their realm's sense capacity, giving them the ability to see inside the Void and, as a consequence, a fairly noticeable advantage in fighting or locating other cultivators.

{The safest zone should be the city's outskirts, where no important targets are.} Explaining their direction, He Delan started towards the western wall as soon as she felt the battles taking place near their location.

Yet, she would only make a few steps, with Ma Su after her as she suddenly turned around, {I just felt the aura of the beastmen sisters!}

***

"Forget about keeping our aura down! The tiger-sisters aura disappeared! Let's go!" Feeling as the Bai sisters' aura disappeared, He Delan commanded, dropping any pretense of caution.

Bai Qi's assumed final bout.

"DON'T"

"We are not to break here, and you shouldn't either!"

With the words replaying in his mind, Bai Qi forcefully restrained the rage about to overtake him.

*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*

Yet, while he had saved himself from losing his entire self to emotions, the talismans were still flying towards him and were far closer than he could even expect to avoid.

*Tear*

First, the unseen natural qi around Bai Qi was torn apart by an unseen force.

*Tear* *Rip*

Then, as if it wasn't enough, the same force tore the plane's space until an enormous rip appeared.

*Sweep* *Tear* *Tear* *Tear*

An enormous claw, built of the purest, refined qi, having torn qi and space, torn most of the talismans.

"We are the successors of the [White Tiger]. Some low-grade talismans would never stop us!" Bai Rui roared, if one could recognize her inside the enormous aura-construct that resembled a gigantic tiger, roared, her words enough to send the rest of the talismans flying in pieces, torn apart by the sheer power of her roar.

"And their user, our offender, merits nothing but death!" Another roar resounded, coming from nowhere but everywhere at the same time.

***

Qiao Jingyi was sure of his plan. And why wouldn't he? The talismans he placed during the battle to kill every opponent were far over what he would usually use. Yet, the Warrior Lord, whose aura had briefly changed to something strange, dark, and frightful, had suddenly stopped any resistance as two roars sounded from where he had trapped the female beastmen.

And as the Warrior Lord stood there, open to the attack of the [Last Shine] and [Soul Eating] talismans, Qiao Jingyi heard two more roars. One came just before the high-Spirit tier talismans, just as he felt their destruction. As for the other, it came from behind him.

"And their user, our offender, merits nothing but death!"

*Tear* *Tear*

Qiao Jingyi barely managed to react as the space behind himself was torn apart by a pair of claws.

*Tear* *Tear*

And yet, he was late, his half-turned body being nearly cut apart by ten blades of pure qi.

"Damn..!" Qiao Jingyi intended to swear, to curse with his dying breath. And yet, he would be unable to, mere parts of his body falling on the ground, his consciousness and Soul disappearing, as the ten qi-claws destroyed not only his body but everything that made up a cultivator.

***

"Martial Soul!" Bai Qi's exclamation could be understood as the Martial Soul was an ability even peak Warrior Kings found hard to develop, preferring it to occur naturally, as their domain, during the Warrior Emperor realm opened. And yet, both Bai Ze and Bai Rui had activated it while being far below the requirements, their 4th level Saint Beast core only comparable to a beginner Warrior King.

"It is a blessing. One that you have much to do with." Bai Rui half smiled as the aura and qi construct, one resembling their forefather, the [White Tiger], receded.

"Indeed, so do not blame yourself for this battle. It only made us improve." Bai Ze, stepping over the remains of Qiao Jingyi, smiled as well, her fangs showing.

"Our link..?" Bai Qi had stopped feeling the bond, at least as it was before, right after the [Lightning Baptism]. And since he had reforged his Soul by using the three, it had dimmed even more, only indicating the location and allowing a semblance of communication.

"It weakened, but we two know you, at least when you are yourself." Bai Rui's words hinted at Bai Qi's use of Kui Mulang's Soul, and he immediately understood it.

"I see, so I take you do not feel this?" Bai Qi wryly smiled, the sleeve over his left hand brought back by him raising his arm.

No matter how battle-hardened was a cultivator, or Saint Beast, in this case, the view would be enough to make one shiver. Yet, Bai Ze and Bai Rui only growled as they saw what Bai Qi's arm had become, a scaled monstrosity. One which discharged demonic flames as it moved and had warped Bai Qi's hand into something far from the original, as even ignoring the black blazes and the scales releasing them, the three-inch-long nails were far from human ones.

"You are still yourself." While it sounded forced, such were the words of the Bai sisters in response to Bai Qi's revelation.

***

"How are you two holding up? Do you need me to set up a concealing array for you to recover?" Bai Qi asked as they started away from the battle scene, only stopping for Bai Qi to store Qiao Jingyi's body and possessions in his [Void Ring].

"No need to worry." While Bai Ze forcefully shook her head and her sister nodded in agreement, Bai Qi knew that these words, were only meant to not worry him.

Qiao Jingyi had not been a weak opponent, and his talismans were of superior quality. The ones used against the Bai sisters were truly enough to deal with a pair of 4th or even 5th level Warrior Kings. Adding to it their activation of a [Martial Soul], a power far above what their capabilities should allow, Bai Ze and Bai Rui had received their share of wounds, inner and outer alike, and were absolutely spent out.

Even if Bai Qi couldn't feel them through the link, just looking at them, feeling the few strands of aura they had at the end of the fight, it was clear that their state was anything but good. And as further confirmation, as they moved, it was only Bai Qi on the lookout, both sisters barely managing to move.

{While we are on the move, try to digest at least some pills.} Bai Qi had allowed himself to release his senses for a bit more than before, and thanks to it, he caught on to the approach of at least two presences, which, while concealing their aura and qi, were intending to intercept Bai Qi's group.

*Throw* *Throw* *Gulp*

Summoning several qi and aura restoring pills, Bai Qi threw them to both sisters, himself gulping a similar set as they did. Yet, while he did so, Bai Qi knew they wouldn't be apt to meet any opponent, so he inwardly prepared to lure the enemy away, whatever it would cost him. And to make sure that neither sister did something stupid, he mixed a couple of poisonous pills into the ones he threw them. It was a simple low-grade paralyzing medicine, which would hardly affect even a peak Warrior Lord, but enough to impede them from rushing into combat, at least for enough time for him to act.

Bai Qi thought, accepting that even Kui Mulang's incarnation would be an acceptable price, discarding all of his cautions and worries.

*Swoosh*

"Wait here. I will go scout around."