I Am Supreme

On the top floor of the Tower of Martial Keeping, Hong Changtian stared at the mess that lay before him with a flat expression; however, his whole being shaking uncontrollably.

“Who is it? Who did this?”

Everyone stood in silence, the color draining off of their faces. Each one of them felt chills running through their bodies.

The school’s elites were all here, yet they had been aggressively invaded by the enemy and the tower was completely ransacked. Their martial art literature that was collected over thousands of years was thoroughly raided, not one book left!

Still, this was not the main point. What was worse was that they had so many people, yet no one had seen what their enemy looked like since the beginning nor did they know which force or sect their enemy had come from!

The devastation was all-consuming.

“The attack*was intangible. There isn’t a trail to trace at all…” The sect’s senior uncle who guarded the Tower of Martial Keeping’s top floor was noticeably more upset. He had fought his entire life only to stumble upon such an obstacle in his old age.

He was the only one in the Cangwu Union who had confronted the intruder, but he had gained nothing from it. It was allowing the enemy to escape unscathed after plundering their arcane treasure from right under his nose!

The old man was so close to giving in to his impulse of committing suicide as redemption for his failure.

“Intangible? No trail to trace?” Hong Changtian frowned and murmured, “Could it actually be… the Raiders of All But God?”

The Swallow’s Hill that the Raiders of All But God ravaged was right within Cangwu Union’s territory. As the leader of Cangwu Union, he knew certain things that others did not. For example, the Raiders of All But God would sometimes execute an incredibly bizarre vanishing technique that was immune to all forms of attack.

“However, it doesn’t look like it… The Raiders of All didn’t vanish completely like what happened today…”

“Leader, what should we do? There must be a countermeasure put in place!”

The others were in distress. The matter at hand now was to chase after their enemy and regain their arcane possession to salvage their loss – but why was their leader in a trance instead?

“Of course we must get to the bottom of this, but give chase? It’s impossible!” Hong Changtian sighed and said, “To be able to stay hidden under senior uncle’s series of attacks and sweep our Tower of Martial Keeping clean, it would mean that this person is not an easy one to tackle at all.”

“Just the fact that he could still insist on taking away all our arcane valuables while being under the pressure of senior uncle’s Heaven and Earth Cage speaks of this person’s confidence. It’d be as hard as ascending to the heavens to want to capture him now. Pursuing him will only be a waste of our energy…”

Hong Changtian continued saying, “Let’s not make a fuss out of this first… Deploy all our disciples to check out the surroundings. Many of the cultivation methods robbed are strikingly characterized… Pay attention to this and don’t miss out any clues.”

“As for the four who went after the Yao cat today…” A flash of grim anger washed over Hong Changtian’s eyes as he said, “Their mistake of falling so easily into the enemy’s trick is unforgivable! Each of them is to take a hundred beatings of the Venomous Dragon Whip!”

A hundred Venomous Dragon Whip beatings!

All of those who heard him could not help sucking in a cold breath.

The Venomous Dragon Whip was a whip made from the tendons of mystical beasts specifically to punish disciples who had broken the sect’s rules. It would have been fine if it were only a whip, but the entire length of the Venomous Dragon Whip was barbed. A whip would tear off a big piece of skin and flesh altogether – it was not a punishment one could take lightly!

In addition, the victim had to seal his cultivation base during the process, suffering the pain only with his physical form.

Even if they did not die from a hundred Venomous Dragon Whip beatings, they would already be half dead after that!

In spite of this, the leader was unwavering. The incident was indeed an unforgivable mistake as well. The group dared not simply plead for mercy despite having the intention to do so as the mistake caused them the sect’s cementing foundation!

Everyone was silent throughout the Cangwu Union.

“Right, remember to watch the recently established sects. They have enough motives to do this too.”

Hong Changtian looked icy and desolated, sighing softly, “It’s been two thousand and seven hundred years since the ancestors built Cangwu Union for us to finally acquire the Celestial Luck Banner… Three thousand years have passed now but not only did our sect not move forward an inch, but we’ve also lost our sect’s very core. When I have passed on to the Nine Springs then, how am I supposed to face our ancestors and masters?”

Those who were around shared the same disheartened look.

What the leader said was what they were they were thinking.

Had the Cangwu Union finally come to… it’s end?

“If we can’t reclaim these arcane items…” Hong Changtian heaved a long sigh shaking his head, no longer bothering to even finish his sentence.

…

“Report to leader, Ma Xingyun and Yan Tang have returned. They say that they have urgent matters to discuss with you, leader.”

“Let them wait.”

How could the leader be interested to see his members and listen to the so-called urgent matters during a moment like this… Hong Changtian gave a series of orders and instructions before leading a few elders back to the sect’s hall.

What happened today must not be disclosed, at least for the time being; even the sect’s disciples had to strictly keep the episode to themselves. Otherwise, the members would panic, or worse, break down in terms of their unity; if their resolve were to crumble before the grand contest, that would serve as their end.

Outside, Ma Xingyun and Yan Tang, who were waiting to meet the leader, were puzzled.

In the past, when they had gone out and discovered newly erected schools, the leader would meet and reward them when they returned to report it. The sect would take immediate action as well to eradicate any possible threat.

Why was the sect authorities indifferent to the matter now when an extremely potential school had established its standing right before them? There was not even a higher status sect elder who came – they were ignored directly!

What was going on? This was important intelligence!

Perhaps, it did not even cross these two men’s mind that their sect were met with the ill fate solely because they had gone out and provoked a small sect.

If Hong Changtian had known that his sect was ransacked because these two members had caused trouble and attracted the attention to turn to Cangwu Union as target, he would probably skin them alive and pick their tendons on the spot.

A storm was still raging in Cangwu Union.

The leader’s temper finally exploded after being suppressed for so long. He did not want to lash out in fury but he really could not hold himself back.

Not only was he enraged, but he was also heartbroken – his heart ached for his sect. Luring the tiger away from his mountain… How could his members be tricked with such an obvious gimmick? It was ridiculous!

It was more infuriating when said members were insisting upon their innocence.

“We have been wrongly accused…”

“Wrongly accused? How? Did you catch the kitten?”

“… No…”

“Did you manage to keep up?”

“No…”

“Then why did you chase it when you can’t keep up? Are you still aware of your responsibilities? Do you all think that you have nothing to do?”

Hong Chang tian finally erupted, feeling that his rage was about to make him sick.

“One question – don’t you think it’s odd for a cat to appear out of the blue at such an important place?”

“One more – do you think that the kitten is cute, you’re all interested… But a Yao beast like this that’s obviously a pet – have you never thought that it has an owner?”

“And all of you went to chase after it without a second thought? Where are your brains? Fed to the dogs? How dare you shout about your innocence now?”