A day passed in the blink of an eye.
After rampaging across the island for so long, the demon cultivators finally became spent arrows at the end of their flight. They gradually lost ground in the positional fighting organized by the guild, and with experts stationed elsewhere arriving as reinforcements, they had no choice but to retreat.
Yet after their uproar, they left Northsky Island riddled with devastation. The Market Gathering on the main island had been smashed to pieces, every merchant had suffered casualties, and their goods had been plundered. The losses were severe.
Li Ling sent someone to inspect the Incense Market and discovered that it, too, had been destroyed.
The one blessing amid the misfortune was that the spirit materials had been put away in time and the personnel evacuated promptly. Only the storefronts themselves and ordinary goods had been pillaged.
The guild had always guarded more closely against internal trouble than external threats. In such dangerous chaos, the smashing, looting, and burning committed by grassroots rogue cultivators and even mortals caused more destruction than the invaders. That was a lesson learned from experience.
"We've already investigated how this began. That merfolk wasn't lying. Women of his people really were abducted and brought here."
Li Ling was still well informed. He soon learned what he wanted from the Shang Family, and Shang Yuxian even came of her own accord to report the relevant details.
Mu Qingsi was astonished. "How could this happen? Have those people really grown so bold they would defy heaven itself?"
Shang Yuxian shook her head. "Perhaps they grew tired of ordinary pleasures and wanted the thrill of something forbidden and dangerous."
"Did Elder Shang say how the guild intends to handle this?" Li Ling asked after a long silence.
Shang Yuxian said, "We