"The Beast God has been resurrected!"
Those words struck Li Xiaoyu and Lu Xueqi like Nine Heavens Divine Thunder.
Their minds went blank.
The Beast God had been resurrected? How was that possible?
Before they could recover, the doors of the Jade Purity Hall burst open.
Sect Leader Daoist Daoxuan and the Chiefs of the various peaks emerged from the hall, their faces grave.
They held the Blood-Colored Sound Transmission Talisman, and had clearly already learned the terrible news.
"Xiaoyu, Xueqi, you're back." Daoist Daoxuan looked at them. Even his usually calm and dignified face was now shrouded in gloom.
"Come inside first. We'll talk there."
Li Xiaoyu and Lu Xueqi nodded, then helped the gravely wounded disciple into the Jade Purity Hall.
The atmosphere inside the hall was oppressive.
Daoist Daoxuan sat upon the Sect Leader's throne, his face dark.
The Chiefs of the various peaks stood below, equally solemn and silent.
"Tell us. What exactly happened?" Daoist Daoxuan asked hoarsely, looking at the disciple Li Xiaoyu had revived.
The disciple struggled to his feet and knelt before them.
His voice still trembled with fear.
"Reporting to Sect Leader Daoist and the Chiefs."
"Half a month ago, in the deepest reaches of the Hundred Thousand Mountains in the Southern Border, the Ancient Demon-Suppressing Cave—where legend said the Beast God had been sealed—suddenly erupted with a towering fiendish aura."
"That fiendish aura blotted out the sky, turning all of the Southern Border blood-red."
"Soon afterward, a mysterious Lich claiming to be the Beast God Envoy appeared among the Five Tribes of the Southern Border."
"Using supreme sorcery, he bewitched the Li Tribe, turning them against the pact of the Five Tribes and driving them to launch a frenzied assault on the other four tribes."
"The Five Tribes of the Southern