Teacher by day, Farmer by passion
Chapter 289 - 289: Trouble at the walls.

Ace glanced at the woman still standing stiffly before him, her shoulders trembling slightly.

"Lady," he said, voice calm but firm, "do you have a name?"

She flinched slightly, then replied, "Lilith."

Ace gave a small nod. "Lilith, aside from this fool," he gestured again towards the sliced remains of the village chief, "does he have any family?"

Her eyes widened. "No. But… what are you planning to do with them?"

Her panic was almost palpable.

A faint stream of glowing script slid across Ace's vision, his system activating again, as it always did when someone under his care harbored strong emotions.

[Please... Is he trying to kill off their family too? They've suffered enough already. That was the only man who earned in the family…]

Ace sighed internally. Right… since they'd officially sought shelter under the Sky High Sect, the passive ability that let him read surface thoughts had kicked in again.

"Lilith," he said, his tone gentler this time, "I have no intention of escalating anything further. I don't want to kill anyone else."

[Is he lying? He has to be lying. Cultivators aren't to be trusted. We're just livestock in their eyes…]

Her lips trembled, but she nodded quickly. "I'm sorry. I don't know what you're implying. He… he had no family left. He was alone."

Ace didn't press the issue, no point pushing.

"Fine," he said. "Then tell me, do you know why your village suddenly decided to seek shelter here? Your village has been hostile to us as far as we recall."

Lilith hesitated. "B-because… the war is coming?"

Ace let out a short, humorless chuckle. "And what would you have done if I had rejected your request outright?"

She paled. "B-but… b-by the country accord, you're supposed to—"

"Oh? There's a law like that?" Ace tilted his head, genuinely amused. "Interesting. I'll have to look that up in my free time."

From the side, Lily raised a hand like a student in class. "Master, can I go now?"

Ace waved a hand. "Sure. Take the mother with you."

Lily turned to Alucard and knelt down, looking him in the eye. "That man over there," she said, pointing to Ace, "is our sect master. You remember him, okay?"

Alucard blinked. "It's not you?"

"Nope," Lily said, ruffling his hair.

She stood and motioned for Lilith to follow. The woman hesitated but obeyed.

As they left, Ace folded his arms, his gaze drifting back to the stained dirt where the village chief had fallen.

He turned away, eyes narrowing.

Something wasn't right.

The war hadn't even officially begun… yet someone had already dared to challenge the authority of his sect directly.

Someone was testing the waters.

And Ace had a feeling that this was only the beginning.

For the next several days, there was nothing but peace.

None came to bother him, no elders, no villagers. It was simply him and sleep.

Then, on the eighth day, all serenity shattered.

The White Snow Sect arrived.

A sea of white-robed disciples marched to the Sky High Sect's gate, their formation crisp, their expressions grim.

At the front rode the branch sect leader, puffed up with righteous fury.

A man with a bounty of 100,000 gold taels on his head.

"Open the gates, or we'll blast them down!" he bellowed, clearly proud of his dramatic entrance.

A young Sky High disciple peeked over the wall, visibly paling. "T-there's so many of them…"

From within, Elder Mati emerged, bald head gleaming like a polished pearl. Sunlight bounced off her scalp and struck the branch leader directly in the eyes. He staggered back with a yelp.

"Stop that!" he shouted, shielding his face.

But Elder Mati didn't stop.

Trailing calmly behind her was a massive wolf, padding along like a house pet, its ears twitching lazily It even let out a low whine.

Then the beast made eye contact with the branch leader.

It growled.

And bared its teeth.

The man froze, legs trembling.

"That's… that's a peak legend-rank demon beast!" he screamed internally, a single bead of sweat trailing down his temple. Why am I even here…?

He regretted everything.

Grand Elder Lily strolled up to the walls, arms folded, watching the sea of white robes below with a faint frown.

"Elder Mati," she said, glancing sideways at the bald woman beside her. "Do you think the formation will hold?"

Mati didn't even blink. "Probably."

she scratched her chin, "Or we can send Shan Yifeng's soul-bond out to test the waters."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "And if the wolf dies?"

"Serves the boy right," Mati grumbled, not missing a beat. "Had the audacity to steal right under my nose. Pretending to be all sick and innocent. 'Elder Mati, I'm dying!'"

she mimicked, voice high and mocking. Then groaned, "What's even worse is that I actually bought it! Ugh."

Lily offered no comment to that, just a slow nod and a perfectly blank expression.

Then she turned and called down, "Bryan, go out and fight them."

The massive Spirit Sovereign-rank wolf beside Mati twitched, ears perking in confusion.

Its bright eyes darted between the two elders. Then it let out a low whimper, one that unmistakably said: Me? Why me? You both are wah stronger!

Mati glanced at the beast and snorted. "Don't look at me like that. Blame your soul-bonded idiot of a master. Now go."

The wolf let out a long, suffering groan like a soldier being asked to march on an empty stomach. Still, it padded reluctantly toward the gate.

Watching the beast trudge off, Lily spoke again, voice a tad hesitant.

"You know, Elder… we haven't technically declared war yet, right?"

Mati blinked. "Oh. Right…"

There was a long pause.

"…So if we attack first, that would make us the bad guys?"

Another pause.

Mati sighed. "Well, if that's the case, I suggest we skip the small stuff and hit their branch sect directly. If we're going to be blamed, let's make sure it's for something we actually did, yeah?"

Lily gave her a sideways glance. "You know, that's… surprisingly logical."