The Lord of Heaven's Great Mandate

Nan Huaijing's words might have been somewhat unrealistic, but they won the approval of the other four present.

As True Disciples, the five of them had descended the mountain to undergo trials and fight for their lives, to bolster the fortune of their Fate Grids—but it was also to better understand the nature of this world and the powers they belonged to.

If one knew only battle and slaughter, then there was no essential difference between man and the Heavenly Demon.

A True Disciple ought to possess such a spirit: to regard the sect as their own and carry the momentum to remake heaven and earth.

But they could not remain in the Jue'er Tribe any longer. After discussing matters for a while, they went to the other prison areas, brought out the other Mingjing Sect Inner and Outer Sect disciples, and prepared to return to the sect.

They could not be bothered to care how General Jue'er would wrangle with the sect afterward. So long as the Heavenly Demons had been driven back, that was enough. There were plenty of battles among the Hundred Tribes; they had no shortage of places where they could keep fighting.

Yet quite a few of their junior brothers and sisters were wounded, and there were no conditions for treatment out here. The five decided they should return to the sect first to regroup, then consider what came next.

A caravan traveled along the desolate, broken country roads of the Hundred Tribes. Villages scarred by war, their people weary and numb, were struggling to recover from the wounds of conflict. Columns of smoke rose through a deathly silence—whether cooking smoke or the lament of old homes set ablaze, none could say.

The summer sun blazed. Some wounded Mingjing Sect disciples had grown thirsty, so