"He... is here?" Lan Tian, who previously seemed very nonchalant, suddenly reacted like he had just heard terrifying news. His face turned grim and he even looked fearful.

"This is just my guess. The beast horde has come so abruptly that there are probably changes to the rest of the plans as well," Hon Kong said gravely and he looked more solemn than ever. "I didn't notice this before but now that I think about it, the beast horde have only appeared at Deer City and nowhere else. This has happened on three occasions and the first two occasions aside, this time they've appeared after Ye Qingyu had already exterminated the desolate beasts and their nests. There's something fishy about it, so I'm guessing it's very likely that the beast horde is after you."

The terror in Lan Tian's face faded as he relaxed and said with a laugh, "It doesn't matter whether it is him or not, what would change even if he came? We are the same ent.i.ty anyway, so how could he kill me?" He sounded very flippant, but even a child could tell that this was just an act he was putting on.

The person that they referred to seemed to have some kind of terrifying ability that turned the normally playful and irreverent Lan Tian into a completely different person. He was clearly frightened of this person.

"He might not be able to kill you but he could destroy the entire world," Hon Kong said, emphasizing each word clearly.

Lan Tian shrugged and threw up his hands as he said, "Fine, why don't you tell me what should we do then?"

Hon Kong did not answer but looked around the confession courtyard and said loudly to no one in particular, "We've already come this far, so are you still not going to show yourself?"

Moments later.

Tiny ripples appeared in the air behind Lan Tian as a tall and thin figure emerged from the air, who slowly walked toward Lan Tian's side. This figure was as tall and skinny as a bamboo pole and the long black robes hung loosely on his frame, just like a walking clothes hanger. He looked cold and proud, as though everything that happened in this world had nothing to do with him.

If Ye Qingyu was present, he would have definitely noticed that this tall and skinny figure was the mysterious expert who had pretended to be a disciplinary teacher and entered his confession courtyard when he had been locked in it on the guise of delivering food. This mysterious expert had beaten him so badly that there were injuries all over his head, torturing him for ten days straight. Ye Qingyu had suffered a lot under this mysterious man's hands because of his sharp tongue, but had unexpectedly benefited from this beating—his yuan qi's circulation had become smoother and his physical body and yuan qi worked even more harmoniously together, resulting in a surge in his strength. Later, he had tried many times to search for this mysterious man but to no avail. After Ye Qingyu's techniques had matured and he held a high status within the Heaven Wasteland Domain, he had tried asking Hon Kong to search for this man on several occasions, but had received no other clues. It seemed like Hon Kong was aware of this mysterious expert's presence all along, but had withheld the truth for reasons unknown.

From the way this mysterious expert revealed himself, it was clear that he had always been within White Deer Academy, and that Hon Kong had always known about his existence.

"What should we do?" Hon Kong asked the mysterious expert.

The mysterious expert immediately replied, "Leave."

"Leave?" Lan Tian repeated in shock. "Didn't you say that you had to continue waiting here?"

"We'll leave if we can't wait any longer," the tall and slim mysterious expert said, "This was a matter from eons ago and even the Divine King couldn't possibly have such accurate prediction abilities, so there might have been a deviation in his predictions. I can already smell the impending scent of slaughter, so if we continue staying here, we'll perish along with the rest of the city. All these lives are worthless but you can't die. So, we'll have to leave."

The corners of Lan Tian's mouth twitched as though he wanted to say something but he ultimately muttered something before he said, "Very well, I'll follow your plan."

The tall and skinny mysterious expert looked at Hon Kong and said, "You'll have to go along with him to protect him."

Hon Kong turned pale and asked, "Why can't you be the one guarding him? The situation is not so dire to the point that we'll have to travel together, right? Moreover, as the head of White Deer Academy, if I abandon the teachers and students of my academy, then wouldn't I be..."

The tall and skinny mysterious expert scoffed coldly and pointed at Lan Tian, "White Deer Academy aside, even the lives of the entire Heaven Wasteland Domain added together are not worth as much as a strand of his hair. I'm sure you're well aware of that fact."

Hon Kong was suddenly at a loss for words.

He knew that the mysterious expert spoke the truth.

However, he wanted to do his best to salvage the situation. If he abandoned White Deer Academy and Deer City in their time of need, firstly, it wouldn't sit well with his conscience, and secondly, he would not be able to give Ye Qingyu an explanation for his actions—he felt that Ye Qingyu was a crucial determining factor in deciding who died and lived in this world, and he did not want to lose such a formidable ally.

"Since he has already commanded the beast horde to attack Deer City on several occasions, this means that he has detected something fishy. The gap between each attack was so long because he was probably only testing us, which means that he isn't absolutely certain yet. If the three of us flee together, he would definitely suspect something and if he launches a full-scale attack on us, we'll just be sitting ducks," Hon Kong said.

Lan Tian's eyes lit up when he realized what Hon Kong was trying to do.

Frankly, he preferred Hon Kong to that tall and skinny mysterious expert Guardian who was so aloof all the time. However, he had to respect and obey his words at all times because he knew that the Guardian would always have his best interests at heart and would never harm him. Yet, despite how well-intentioned the Guardian was, he was so aloof that he didn't care about anything else and didn't mind even if everything else were to be destroyed; Lan Tian found the Guardian's ways a little hard to stomach. After spending such a long time at White Deer Academy, he felt that he had already grown accustomed to the way of life in this world. He loved everything around him and didn't want to bring disaster and pain into it. The possible incoming disaster was because of him, and he truly didn't want to see the familiar faces and things of this world be destroyed by the beast horde.

The mysterious, tall and skinny expert looked at Hon Kong and said, "What do you mean?"

"I want to take the entire White Deer Academy along and bring Lan Tian together with the student population. We should try to make everything appear as normal as possible so that we don't arouse any suspicion," Hon Kong said, trying to frame his words in such a way that it sounded like he was doing this for Lan Tian's sake.

The mysterious expert scoffed coldly and said, "I know what you're trying to do... but, I approve of your plan. Start making preparations to leave."

Lan Tian's and Hon Kong's faces broke into smiles.

"We'll go get ready right away," Lan Tian said happily and hurriedly dragged Hon Kong outside.

After the two men disappeared from view, a small smile danced across the mysterious expert's face, who was icy cold just moments before; it was as though snow had melted. He had never been a cold and ruthless person, but was forced to become this way due to the circ.u.mstances. If it weren't for the fact that he was trying to protect the final ray of hope for this world, why would he have acted in such an aloof manner the entire time? He was also a man with feelings.

...

...

No one could have predicted that Deer City's defenses fell to the attacking horde of beasts that very night, even before the reinforcements from the empire could arrive.

Everything happened so quickly.

When the angry growls of the desolate beasts could be heard throughout Deer City, its residents were completely terrified and people could be seen fleeing down the streets, their clothes in disarray. The desolate beasts that could spit fire out of their mouths set fire to the land that was known throughout the Vast Thousand Domains as a sacred place. Endless mournful wails and shouts could be heard and firelight shot up toward the sky as countless residents became food for the desolate beasts in their sleep.

The endless swarm of black desolate beasts continued to charge into the city from the west, like a black sea of destruction.

This had happened far quicker than anyone had expected.

The commander of the western gate who had been a picture of confidence earlier rose from his bed with a start and angrily organized his troops to stage a counterattack in an attempt to drive these beasts out of the city and repair the breached areas. Unfortunately, both he and his four thousand soldiers didn't even last minutes on the battlefield before they were completely consumed by the beast horde, until there was no trace of them to be found.

There were more than twenty thousand regular soldiers from the empire stationed at Deer City and a portion of these soldiers had been a.s.signed to guard it. Now that the city had fallen, they could only engage in street battles along with the Human Race experts. Battling desolate beasts on the streets was a nightmare since these beasts had naturally sharp claws and fangs, so they roamed around the streets like harbingers of death. It was impossible to ward off their sudden attacks.

The G.o.d of death descended upon Deer City in the midst of the endless wailing and crying of its countless residents.

It was a brutal battle.

Many civilians were killed and countless buildings had been damaged.

All kinds of formations within the city had been activated and they frantically worked at killing the beasts but it wasn't enough. There were far too many of them and they surged into the city like an angry flood; these formations ultimately broke down. As for the military that tried to organize counterattacks, they failed time and time again due to the sheer number of vicious beasts.

Many creatures and experts who had come to Deer City to have a glimpse of Deputy Spokesperson Ye Qingyu's martial way were also swept into the fight and fierce battles broke out everywhere. There were many experts from different parts of the Vast Thousand Domains throughout the city and their angry shouts filled the night sky as terrifying yuan qi energy waves exploded, instantly killing countless beasts. However, these experts were soon killed by even more powerful beasts. There were extremely powerful beasts hidden in the beast horde that attacked Deer City this time.

There was a ma.s.sacre unfolding in every part of the city.

Death, blood, bones, pain, and mournful wails all intertwined to form a death march.

When dawn was finally about to break, ninety percent of Deer City had fallen to the beast horde.

Countless experts had perished.

The beast horde continued its frenzied attacks.

The n.o.blemen area had turned into a land of the dead. It was nothing more than a pile of rubble.

Burnt smells and the metallic scent of blood hung in the air all around the city; the survivors looked numb and sorrowful.

"Father, we can't hold them back anymore. We have to retreat," Qin Wushuang said, his body covered in blood. He had spent the entire night fighting these beasts, fainted several times and was almost eaten by them, but his personal guards had risked their lives to save him. He had finally regained some strength but he knew that they couldn't win this battle; thus, he proposed to beat a temporary retreat.

Qin Ying was also covered in injuries.

Despite his exhaustion, there was a determination and calmness in his gaze that wasn't there before.

He was surrounded by Qin Wushuang and the core strength of the Qin clan, the experts from the military, and many experts who had come on a pilgrimage from the foreign domain. Together, they were a fighting force of several thousand and this was probably the last line of defense for Deer City. The head of White Deer Academy Hon Kong had visited him last night and after their meeting, Qin Ying had proposed that he would lead those from the City Lord's residence, his personal soldiers, and military strength to bring up the rear so that Hon Kong could flee with several outstanding students and teachers of White Deer Academy. There were several students and teachers who volunteered to stay behind and fight, but they had basically all perished in battle.