For a time!
Panic, resentment, fury, and bewilderment spread wildly through the crowd.
Similar thoughts churned endlessly through the minds of every cultivator left behind at the Blood Fiend Gate.
Hearts were thrown into complete chaos.
The already gloomy sect was instantly filled with an atmosphere of anxious dread.
Just as everyone descended into confusion, at a complete loss for what to do...
A voice brimming with indignation and urgency suddenly rang through the Blood Fiend Gate, drowning out every clamor of discussion:
"Fellow disciples, don't panic!
The Cultivator Association has given us only a quarter of an hour. Time is pressing—we cannot sit and wait for death!
Come with me now to the main peak of the Back Mountain Forbidden Area and demand an audience. We'll see whether the peak masters are truly still in the sect. We have to get the truth out of them!
Any fellow disciples willing to come and investigate, follow me at once!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the cultivator who had spoken leaped up first. Spirit Light surged around him as he transformed into a streak of light and flew toward the Back Mountain Forbidden Area.
The other demonic cultivators also came to their senses one after another.
They turned into streaks of light and rose from all corners of the Blood Fiend Gate, vaulting over the grim watchtowers on either side of the mountain gate, shaped like savage fangs, and raced desperately toward the Back Mountain Forbidden Area.
Clearly, the panicked demonic cultivators all wanted to uncover the truth as well.
Not long after...
That familiar voice echoed through the Blood Fiend Gate once more.
Nothing remained in its tone but bone-deep despair and coldness.
It utterly shattered the last sliver of hope in everyone's hearts:
"Everyone, stop searching. The Cave