The silence in the Silent Hollows was heavy and oppressive. It was broken only by the hum of the distant array pillars and the aggressive crackle of Sect Master Yin’s aura. Off in the distance the array masters had stopped their work briefly to see what was going on.

  However, when they saw what was happening they carried on with their work. They didn’t want to get involved in such affairs. They were protected by the Five Mountain Alliance and any attack on them is an attack on the whole organization. Even Sect Master Yin wasn’t brave enough for that.

  Li Yu stood calmly between the enraged Sect Master and the terrified coalition of smaller forces. He was only thinking to himself that the alliance was still much too fragile. If Li Yu wasn’t here right now it could have marked one of the fastest alliances to exist and then be destroyed.

  That was the trouble with being weak in such a cruel world. The greatest sin you can commit is to be weaker than those around you. Li Yu had learned that early on and it has been one of the constants that remained in the world wherever he went.

  "So," Li Yu said calmingly. It was as if a battle wasn’t about to break out in front of him at any moment. "Let me get this straight. You’re here with two thousand fresh troops, fully armed and riding a nice war chariot no less. You must be the reinforcements sent by the Five Mountain Alliance to help defend this place, right?"

  He looked at them thoughtfully and spoke again before he got an answer. "That's commendable. You heard your men failed miserably to do their duty so you rushed over to fill the gap. That’s good initiative you have. I will let the alliance know about this so you can get additional merit points for your actions."

  Sect Master Yin’s face twitched. The vein in his temple throbbed dangerously. "Do not mock me, boy. I am not here to reinforce you. I am here for justice. For my sect and my people."

  "Justice?" Li Yu tilted his head. "For who?"

  "For my disciples!" Yin roared as his spiritual pressure flaring outward. It caused the ground to crack beneath his boots but couldn’t travel more than that. It was being held back by another force which surprised the Sect Master.

  "I ask you again. How did they die? Elder Guo was a Mid-Stage Soul Formation expert. He had life-saving artifacts. He had a group of elites from our sect. How did they perish while these... these rats..." He gestured contemptuously at Patriarch Han and everyone else behind Li Yu. "...survived?"

  "I told you," Li Yu said. "They died because of poor decision-making. First, they walked into a trap that wiped out sixty percent of their force. Their forces and the forces of those that had to follow their orders. Then, when I rescued the survivors and moved them to a secure location, your Elder panicked."

  Li Yu pointed a thumb over his shoulder at Tekton. The massive centipede was currently staring at Yin’s spirit-eagles with hungry eyes and his mandibles clicking softly. ‘Those little chickens would make a fine meal. One I deserve after all that fighting.’ Tekton thought to himself.

  "We were ambushed at the medical camp," Li Yu explained. "My beast, Tekton, held the line. He acted as a shield for everyone. The survivors behind me? They stayed behind the shield. They lived."

  Li Yu took a step closer to Yin. "Your men? They didn't trust the shield. No… they didn’t trust anyone around them. No… they only cared about themselves. They ran. They broke formation and fled into the woods to save their own skins. They ran straight into a pack of beasts waiting to ambush them once again. The end."

  "Lies!" Yin spat. " The Silver Sword Sect does not run! We are warriors of the blade! We fight to the last breath!"

  "They fought to the last breath," Li Yu agreed. "Just... while running away. You can go check the bodies. I buried them in a trench over there but the dirt should still be loose. You'll find most of the fatal wounds are on their backs."

  The accusation hung in the air. To a cultivator, a wound on the back was the ultimate mark of shame—or treachery.

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  Sect Master Yin’s eyes narrowed into slits. A cold serpentine smile twisted his lips.

  "Wounds on the back," Yin repeated softly. "Yes. That makes sense."

  He raised his voice and was now addressing his two thousand disciples.

  "Do you hear him? He admits they were struck from behind! But it was not beasts who struck them!"

  Yin pointed his sword at Li Yu, then swept it across the gathered alliance leaders.

  "It was you! You envied their strength! You coveted their treasures! In the chaos of the beast attack, you struck them down from behind! You murdered my Elder and my disciples to steal their rings!"

  Patriarch Han stepped forward and his face red with indignation. Where he got his courage from he had no idea. "That is insanity! We didn't have time to kill anyone! Your men led us all to our deaths. Their leadership caused the failure of the mission for the Alliance!"

  "Silence, traitor!" Yin bellowed. "The proof is in the result! You live while they die! You hold their storage rings, do you not?"

  Sect Master Zhou instinctively touched the hand where he held the collected loot. This action was not unnoticed by the Sect Master. It really didn’t matter as they had already made their minds.

  "Thieves! Murderers!" Yin screamed. He was whipping his disciples into a frenzy. "They admit to holding the property of our sect! There is no need for further investigation! The Silver Sword Sect demands blood for blood!"

  "Blood for blood!" the two thousand silver-robed disciples chanted, their killing intent coalescing into a massive sharp blade of energy above the canyon.

  Li Yu sighed. He looked at the sky, then back at Yin.

  "You really are reaching, aren't you?" Li Yu said with his voice dropping the casual facade. "You know the truth. You can feel it. But you can't accept that your 'elite' sect is filled with cowards, and you can't accept that these 'rats' are better people than your own. So you're going to kill the witnesses."

  "I am executing traitors!" Yin corrected. He raised his sword high. "Silver Sword Disciples! Prepare to—"

  "Are you sure about this?" Li Yu asked.

  His voice wasn't loud but it cut through the chanting like a razor. Li Yu reached into his robe. He didn't pull out a weapon as many expected. He pulled out a token.

  It wasn't the standard Alliance token made of bronze or silver. It hummed with an authority and was clearly different from the ones the others had owned.

  Li Yu held it up.

  "Do you recognize this?"

  Sect Master Yin’s sword wavered. He stared at the token. His eyes widened. He had seen that token before. It was the Commander's Seal. It carried the personal spiritual imprint of Shen Tu, the Alliance Leader. When the Alliance Leader wasn’t there, this token represented himself and the authority of the Five Mountain Alliance.

  "That..." Yin swallowed as his throat suddenly went dry. "That is Lord Shen Tu’s personal token."

  "It is," Li Yu confirmed. "He gave it to me. He told me that if I ran into any... administrative difficulties... I should show it or I could call him directly."

  Li Yu infused a strand of Qi into the token. It began to glow brighter, projecting a golden hologram of the Alliance crest into the air.

  "I can call him right now," Li Yu said while his eyes locked onto Yin’s. "And we can let him decide who is a traitor. We can let him decide if killing the army that just secured a critical sector is a good use of your time."

  Sect Master Yin hesitated. The sweat on his forehead was visible now.

  If he attacked Li Yu while that token was with him, let alone be activated, it was tantamount to attacking Shen Tu himself. It was treason. The Five Mountain Alliance would hunt the Silver Sword Sect to extinction.

  But if he backed down... he would lose face. His own and his sect. He would lose his revenge. Li Yu watched him hesitate and a small but cold smile touched his lips.

  "I see," Li Yu said softly. "You talk big about honor and bravery. You bully the weak clans because you know they can't fight back. But show you a piece of metal from someone stronger than you and you freeze."

  He stepped closer, holding the token like a weapon.

  "That's the difference between us, Yin. I don't need a token to know I'm right. You do."

  Bzzt.

  The token vibrated. A voice boomed out and was amplified by the array within the jade so that it echoed off the canyon walls. It was a voice familiar to every high-ranking cultivator in the region.

  "Alliance Commander Li Yu."

  Shen Tu’s voice was weary but carried the undeniable weight of supreme authority. Yin flinched. His disciples lowered their swords and were terrified. Not of the man himself, even though he was incredibly powerful. They were scared of the entire Five Mountain Alliance and the power they had.