All of the villagers bowed down before him as if he was some kind of divine being. He had healed their sick and even set up a small defensive formation to keep them safe from harm. In their hearts, he was already an unfathomable being worthy of worship and devotion.
When he was about to remove himself from this village one of the elders spoke up. It was an old man that used to be the village head before this all happened.
“P-please honorable senior, grace us with your name, we will be sure to repay this favor in the future!”
The man’s eyes were sparkling with devotion and Zhang Dong could already tell that he was in full worshiping mode. This happened from time to time when he pulled off stunts like this so he was used to playing the part.
“There is no need to know my name… but if you ever come across someone from the United Element Sect or one of their allies, please give them aid. Now I bid you farewell.”
He left on that note. Maybe in the future, these people could repay him by helping one of his sect members. The world was vast and even these people could end up entangled with his sect. One of the young ones could grow up to be a powerful master that aids them in the time of need.
‘Think I’ve read too many novels…’
He chuckled to himself while flying away as the scenario that he just thought about sounded like your generic fantasy setting. A mysterious master saves a village, someone from it then sets out on a grand adventure to find this benefactor and then they meet up many years later.
‘Karma is a thing here, so getting a lot of it might be a good idea. As long as it isn’t bad karma…’
He continued with his journey, the village was like a tiny dot without any mist around it now. He could only hope that the people living there would be fine from now on.
There were many other villages along the way towards the main city the Divine Fist Sect was stationed. He couldn’t make a stop at each one of them, he would spend days clearing this mist himself like this.
‘I need help… ‘
Zhang Dong realized that doing this alone would only cause more casualties to happen. He could very well see himself going from village to village, city to city, and helping people out by placing formations against the mist.
This would be like putting a bandaid on a severed leg. The true source of this miasma was elsewhere and even if he visited every single city in this region nothing would be solved. The fog would probably increase in its intensity and cause the lesser formations to crumble.
He activated his secret technique, the Embodiment of the Thunder God saw the light of day again. His entire body was covered with lightning bolts and his muscles expanded.
The increase in holy energies in the area caused this mist to vanish almost instantly as he propelled himself forward. What was left behind was a hundred-meter wide tunnel, golden arcs of lightning crackling inside of it as he flew forward.
It pained him but he decided to turn a blind eye to the people in the immediate area he was in. He saw the bigger picture but this would probably cause some of the people here to be lost. He would need to live with this decision but in the long run, it would save more lives, at least that is what he was telling himself while gritting his teeth.
He shut off his senses from the surroundings, knowing well that if he felt someone in need calling out that he would stop in his tracks and intervene. The fastest way of solving this problem was by taking it out at the root.
While flying forward he activated his system window. He needed to send a message to his wife and sect. Their help would be needed soon. He previously thought that he would be fighting the monster at the location it was recuperating. A mistake was made, the mist was an unexpected variable with which he would be needing aid from his people.
“Liena I need you to do something…”
After sending it he pushed his cultivation to its limit and propelled himself towards his destination. Everything blurred and lightning crackled as he booked it. With this speed, he was finally able to arrive at his destination, the Divine Fist Sect’s main location.
He stopped while looking at the waypoint on his system map. His glowing lightning form subsided and he let out a sigh. He had gone through quite a bit of his spiritual energy to arrive here this fast. Even though his body was already past the old human limitations he was still sweating.
‘This doesn’t look good either…’
He was floating a couple of kilometers away from the main sect site. Below him was a peculiar sight though. Many monsters and beasts were slowly walking towards where the sect was located. There were all types of beasts and monstrosities down there, even ones that were previously humans.
All of them were heading in one direction and that was a sect covered in a defensive formation. It was just like he had presumed, the sect was still there but it wasn’t quite untouched.
The city he was seeing here was built into some kind of giant rocky formation. It was as if the whole place was placed in a hole after a meteorite hit. The middle spot was slightly elevated and that was also where the main castle-like structure was. There was a large tower standing tall, he could even feel powerful divine energies coming off from it.
The rest of the city was below ground level and it was surrounded from all sides by natural rocky walls. He could see that the people living here had inserted their own structures into those natural walls. There were two giant towers constructed with a main gate in the middle. It looked like this city only had one main entrance.
The structures had the usual eastern fantasy vibe to them. There were giant pagodas and buildings with slanted roofs everywhere and there was a staggering amount of them. The whole area where these structures were was surrounded by a faint golden barrier that exuded divine energies.
These energies were similar to his own holy elemental but they were of lesser quality. They were from a lesser dao of the divine which took its might from the greater dao that he was still learning.
‘That divine aura is faint… it’s not going to last more than a day unless they recharge it somehow…’
He wasn’t sure how things looked on the inside but from his standpoint, it was looking grim. There were millions of monsters going towards this defensive formation and at the front, he could even see them slamming their bodies into it.
The mist was everywhere, its concentration was higher than the one back in the village he saved. This meant that he was probably a lot closer to the source.
Zhang Dong had arrived here in a flashy way so the monsters and the people in the city were very much aware of his presence. It didn’t take long for some of the beasts that had flying capabilities to say hello.
“Not so fast ugly face…”
A monster that looked like a pterodactyl approached him. The most characteristic part besides the long beak and the webbed wings were the mass of tentacles sticking out of its head. They had clearly pierced this creature’s brain and were now in charge of its motor functions.
It was quite large, the size of a truck. It opened its large beak to reveal razor-sharp teeth and even more tentacles. It had chosen its opponent poorly though as before it could reach Zhang Dong it found itself cut into a thousand tiny pieces by his blade.
The monster wasn’t alone, there were many similar ones right behind it with more odd-looking companions. Some he recognized as altered flying beasts, there was even one that looked like a phoenix just instead of the fire it was made from more black tentacles.
There were many opponents but none of them was above the core formation level. They weren’t his match and after a couple of swings of his blade, they were turned into sashimi. Their body parts landed down below to only be devoured by the mass of monsters on the ground.
Some of the beasts even fused with the body parts that he had sliced apart. They created new fused monstrosities that looked like they were straight out of a horror flick.
Zhang Dong was like a light bulb in the dark, the monsters that had previously focused on the Divine Fist Sect’s defenses quickly turned around. They focused on the person in the sky and tried to devour him. Luckily for him, they had only numbers on their side.
He flew towards the city at a moderate pace while taking out anything that got in range of his blade. With his sword heart, nothing could stand in his way. The beasts and creatures on the ground clamored, the tentacles from their bodies extending upwards but when they got close to his radiant aura they crumbled into dust.
The people inside the city could clearly see him approaching slowly. He also made sure that he was flashy in his movement that they would take notice.
Zhang Dong had a bit of a flashback to the old times. To the time he aided his clan members during the fight against the other clans. This had a very similar feeling to it, but this time around he didn’t need to be careful he could just force his way in without any reservation.
………………………….
“W-who is that person? The beasts stand no chance and he can move in that demonic mist without a problem!”
A Divine Sect elder that was standing on one of the watchtowers said while looking at Zhang Dong flying over. A disciple had already been dispatched to alert the grand elder who was the only nascent soul elder capable of fighting.
Fang Heng was this person, he was Fang Meili’s grandfather that Zhang Dong had rescued not so long ago. He appeared at the watchtower next to the core formation elder that was responsible here. Even before getting a report, he shouted out so that everyone here could hear him.
“Lower the power to the formation and open a path for Senior Dong!”
The man looked tired and had bags under his eyes. He was also a lot thinner than the last time Zhang Dong had seen him. He thought that all hope was lost and that no help would be coming but now there was some light at the end of the tunnel.
“Well? What are you waiting for!”
He barked out the order once more as the sect elders weren’t sure about going through with this. They knew that opening up the barrier would weaken it exponentially. There would be no next time after that and the monsters would invade the city. Their elder knew this man though and he was exuding a tremendous amount of divine spiritual energy, he looked like an ally.
A small human size hole opened up for Zhang Dong who promptly sliced up the remaining flying enemies and dove inside. The people that greeted him started bowing but before they could finish and before Fang Heng could greet him, Zhang Dong waved his hand for them to stop.
“Yeah, yeah… honorable senior this… esteemed elder that. Stop wasting time and show me the way to your grand defensive formation, we have some work to do!”
He said in a commanding voice while descending down. It was time to bring his sect members over and take the fight to these monsters.