The sun had just risen, draping the desert in a layer of golden light.
Song Wen stood inside a dilapidated house, gazing through a hole in the roof at the figure high in the sky. A flash of alarm crossed his eyes.
A woman stood suspended in midair, her white robes snapping loudly in the slightly chilly morning wind.
Her expression was frosty, her gaze sharp as she stared fixedly at a fissure on the distant horizon.
The mortals in the city below saw her as though an immortal maiden had descended to the world, as though a savior had arrived.
Many fell to their knees and kowtowed, muttering prayers.
"Merciful Immortal Maiden, please send down sweet rain to nourish the earth."
"Divine Maiden, reveal your holy power! Please grant us water and food, so that we may live."
...And all manner of prayers to gods and Buddhas.
Yet a powerful sense of unease rose in Song Wen's heart.
He knew the woman overhead. She was Bai Wei of the Jade Spirit Palace.
Besides Bai Wei, there were five other figures in the sky, though they stood rather far apart.
These people formed an encirclement around the Rift Valley three hundred li away.
None of the six concealed their auras. Even from such a distance, Song Wen could tell that they were all righteous-path cultivators, and all of them were Body Integration Realm Cultivators.
Six righteous-path Body Integration Realm Cultivators had gathered in this barren desert where spiritual qi was nonexistent. Their purpose was obvious.
While silently lamenting his terrible luck at somehow stumbling into a war between the righteous and demonic paths, Song Wen turned and ran wildly away from Six Baleful Hall.
Fearing that his identity would be exposed, he did not dare use even a trace of