The moonlight was cool as water.
The Earth Pill Sect, Council Hall.
Chen Shi'an sat in the central seat of honor, with the sect's senior members seated on either side.
Outside the Council Hall, more than a dozen Blood-Clad Guards stood with sabers in hand, their gazes watchful as wolves and sharp as eagles.
Everyone had arrived, but Chen Shi'an remained silent for a long while, sitting quietly in his high-backed chair with his eyes closed, resting his mind.
The other senior members sat stiffly upright, not daring to breathe loudly.
The silence in the Council Hall lasted a full half an incense stick's worth of time.
Sweat had begun to bead on some of the senior members' faces. They were deeply worried that the Blood-Clad Guard had found something else to hold against them, and that they would face another purge and crackdown.
At last, Chen Shi'an opened his eyes and slowly swept his gaze over the senior members' faces. "Today, I went to the place in the city where Desolation is suppressed."
Everyone was shocked by these words.
By now, word of Desolation had spread throughout Desolate Suppression City.
Everyone knew how powerful and terrifying Desolation was, as well as how savage and bloodthirsty. They also knew that experts of the upper three realms had arrived in Desolate Suppression City.
They also knew that nearly fifty Ranked Martial Artists had died at Desolation's hands, and more than a hundred had been injured.
They need look no further than the Earth Pill Sect itself: ten Ranked Martial Artists had gone to provide support, only for three to die and five to be injured.
That alone showed just how perilous today's battle to suppress Desolation had been.
When the battle began, the tremendous noise from the city center had carried