The Beast God Sanctum and the eastern frontier had experienced monster invasions for as long as people could remember. It was a fact of life. It was like clockwork. Every twenty years, there would be one without fail. Sometimes it would be serious but most of the times it was manageable.
This year was the first time in recorded history where everything was different. It had only been fifteen years since the last recorded monster invasion. The number and ferocity of monsters were also at an all-time high. In some areas, it was ten or twenty times more than ever before.
It was clear the three beast kings were not playing around this time. The exact reason was unknown but they were truly enraged and going all out. The commands to their underlings were equally as harsh and extreme. Millions of their own had already been thrown at the front lines but there were even more waiting and ready.
Monsters were intelligent, especially the immortal demons and wisdom beasts in command. They would not sit by and do nothing while their hard-earned gains were slowly wiped out by the humans. They were conserving their forces and preparing a surprise.
---
The first attack came in the darkest hour of a moonless night. The camps of all three immortal sects were attacked at the same time. A black cloud of vampire bats, a sea of steel clawed rats, and an army of green goblins laid siege to the Glacier Palace camp. They were especially hard hit because even monsters recognized that the most tender and tasty prey were virgin women…
Five hundred women were surrounded and the storm of battle soon engulfed everyone.
"Lanyi!" Li Yuechan yelled into the darkness as she emerged from her tent.
She slashed apart two rats the size of dogs that lunged at her legs. She looked around and saw familiar face.
"I'm here!" Xu Lanyi came into sight, with the twins and the four junior sisters in tow.
"Let's go, Wushuang went in that direction towards Sister Long."
They nodded and followed Li Yuechan, forming a shield around the junior sisters who were only at the upper levels of the Mind Focusing Realm. Although only about a hundred of the best Glacier Palace disciples were actually participating in the competition, they, like other sects, brought a lot of weaker disciples as support staff to setup camp, cook meals, and gather supplies. While the competitors were powerful and could handle themselves during this attack, these weaker disciples were now in the most danger.
The juniors watched in awe as four sisters and four sets of sword blades cut a bloody path through the sea of rats that were tearing apart the camp and eating everything in sight including the steel pots and plates. All five of the sisters had in fact chosen the sword as their weapon, much to Chen Wentian's annoyance. They could not get used to the myriad of strange and fantastical weapons in his inventory. He also did not have any other immortal swords on hand so they had to make do with top level Spirit Initiate Realm swords. Against the enemy tonight, this was fortunately enough.
"On your left!"
"Sis!"
"Take this!"
They fought their way towards the center and the source of the most intense fighting.
Their combat style had now changed into an amalgamation of both fist and sword arts. They used a rudimentary First Movement from Dugu's 10th Sword to keep enemies at bay and employed their palm arts when they got too close. Chen Wentian didn't teach them this, it was merely a habit that formed from necessity. It could also be blamed on him for not paying them enough attention. His focus in the past month was on Jasmine first and his first three disciples second. He hadn't even visited them in almost four weeks... what an irresponsible master.
"Wushuang!" Li Yuechan yelled as they approached the center of the camp.
She could see hundreds of white clothed Glacier Palace disciples in a battle line, holding back wave after wave of green goblins. Rays of light illuminated the battlefield as icicles and hail stones shot towards the black clouds of man-sized bats in the sky.
"Yuechan!" Song Wushuang rushed over, "I was worried."
"We're fine." Li Yuechan said, "What's going on, where is Sect Master Murong?"
"Sister Long said the sect master flew off right before the attack, saying there was an immortal beast nearby. It's probably directing the attack. We managed to form a defensive line in time. They aren't too strong but there's just too many of them!"
Li Yuechan listened intently as she ran and finally reached Long Yifei. The Snow Fairy still looked ethereal and beautiful as always, even in this dire situation with disciples falling under the fangs and claws of monsters. The fairy was in in her element, commanding the entire contingent of women with full authority as the first disciple. Li Yuechan wondered if anything could possibly make this woman flustered or agitated.
"Sister Long." Li Yuechan greeted her.
"Sister Li, I'm glad to see you and your sisters are alright." Long Yifei said calmly, "The situation is urgent, can you all go support the right flank."
"Yes!"
Long Yifei thanked them curtly and returned to commanding her elders. There was no time for idle chit chat, it was time for action!
Li Yuechan left the four juniors under a random elder and set off with her sisters towards the right. They rushed along the rear, watching the female disciples, strong and weak, try their best to fend off the attack. It was mostly Spirit Initiate Realm ones that held the front, thinning out the waves of goblins and bats, letting the weaker disciples finish off those that were weaker or wounded. A strong goblin or bat would occasionally get through and cause havoc before being brought down. It was a dangerous situation and they could already see scores of casualties that had been pulled to the rear.
Li Yuechan paused, "Xue'er, Yue'er, give your spatial bags to Wushuang. Wushuang, stay and treat the wounded. We have more than enough supplies. Rest of us will go the right flank!"
"Yes!"
"Let's go!"
---
The battle lasted until dawn when the bulk of the monsters were killed and the remaining fled. Murong Aiyin was still nowhere in sight, but the Glacier Palace disciples could not worry about that. A fight between immortals was beyond their control and all they could do was cleanup the battlefield and take care of their casualties.
Song Wushuang emptied all the medicine and pills in the three spatial bags as well as Xu Lanyi's bag and she was able to save a lot of lives. More than half the disciples were wounded, some severely but only twenty-four lost their lives in the end. If it wasn't for Chen Wentian's stored wealth and his disciples' quick actions, that number might have been two or three times greater.
Li Yuechan returned to the center under many grateful and reverent gazes. Their efforts during the attack had not gone unnoticed and many disciples no longer saw them as offenders of the sect's laws but as sisters once again.
Li Yuechan saw that Long Yifei looked a little more tired around her eyes but her spirits were still good and she was holding a meeting with the first and second elder. "Sister Long, First Elder, Second Elder." She bowed slightly as she arrived.
"Sister Li." Long Yifei bowed as well, "First, thank you for your efforts. It saved many lives"
"Naturally, it was our duty as former members of the sect." Li Yuechan replied.
The first and second elder looked at each other but stayed silent. It was unclear what they were thinking.
Long Yifei continued, "I was just telling the elders about our situation. I received a message from master, she is still fighting the enemy immortal beast and cannot return right now. We have to stay put until she returns. It is unfortunate, all we can do right now is stabilize the wounded and treat them the best we can. Sister Li, if may I ask, do you have any more medicinal pills?"
Li Yuechan shrewdly said no. She still had supplies in her own spatial bag, enough for herself and her sisters, but she was not that generous as to give that up.
"No matter. You've already helped us greatly. We are truly grateful." Long Yifei thanked Li Yuechan once again.
Li Yuechan left after that and returned to her destroyed camp and helped with the cleanup. The sisters chatted idly, discussing the possible origins of the monster species as well as any benefits they could gather from the monster corpses. They hadn't managed to get much done before they were distracted by a loud commotion coming the edge of camp.
"What now!" Su Xue cried out.
"Look, flames!" Su Yue screamed.
"What!"
Sure enough, they saw flames shoot into the sky, clashing with ice. It came from a different direction than the monster wave. They rushed over and saw a menacing sight… Divine Blazing Mountain disciples! The number of red robed men outnumbered them two to one and they had half the camp encircled. Unlike the Glacier Palace women, those men did not look battle worn and seemed full of energy.
The twins were scared. Li Yuechan and Song Wushuang had dark looks on their faces. Xu Lanyi cursed up a storm.
Shit! This was even worse than facing monsters!