Yang Bai's Calculations: Planning in the Shadows
Yang Bai, recently released from the Coiling Dragon Stream after years of being sealed away, had wasted no time in rebuilding the Evil Sect and setting his sights on the Central Capital. His release had been unexpected, but his fury and thirst for power had only grown during his long imprisonment. In the months following his escape, he had quickly consolidated his forces, gathering the remnants of his sect and recruiting new disciples through fear and power.
From his hidden base deep within the wilderness, Yang Bai had begun plotting his revenge on the Eight Great Families—those who had once cast him out and sealed him away. Now, with the families weakened from the Inheritance War, he saw the perfect opportunity to strike. Their power was fractured, their focus divided, and their resources depleted.
Yang Bai (addressing his commanders): "The families are distracted by their petty infighting. They don't even realize how vulnerable they've become. We will strike swiftly and decisively, before they have a chance to recover."
He had spent the past few months carefully observing the Eight Great Families, learning about their weakened state and their reliance on the ongoing Inheritance War to determine the next generation of leaders. But while they were focused on internal struggles, Yang Bai had been amassing his army of dark cultivators and demonic beasts, preparing for an all-out assault on the Central Capital.
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Instigating the Fall: A Swift Manipulation
Though Yang Bai's time since his release had been short, his dark influence spread quickly. His spies had infiltrated the Central Capital within weeks of his freedom, instigating small conflicts, sowing seeds of discord, and ensuring that the families would be too divided to properly respond when the time came.
It wasn't difficult to push the families toward conflict—after all, the Inheritance War had already left them on edge, their nerves frayed and their alliances fragile. Yang Bai used this tension to his advantage, planting doubts and spreading rumors, ensuring that the families would never unite in time to counter his attack.
Yang Bai (smirking as he reviews the reports of internal strife): "Their arrogance blinds them. They fight each other while their true enemy grows stronger every day."
His dark forces moved in silence, positioning themselves around the Central Capital, waiting for the moment when the city's defenses would be at their weakest. The families, too distracted by the final stages of the Inheritance War, were oblivious to the trap being set around them.
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The Trap Sprung: Massacre in the Cracked Abyss
The plan came to fruition when the families' forces were drawn into the unstable region known as the Cracked Abyss. It was an area that had long been abandoned due to the dangerous energy that permeated the ground—a place of treacherous terrain and chaotic residual forces. But Yang Bai had used his knowledge of the region to his advantage, setting up a trap that would obliterate the families' remaining forces in one swift blow.
The families had believed they were closing in on Yang Kai (Shiv), following the trail left by his movements in the Thousand Layered Peaks. Little did they know, they were being led into a death trap of Yang Bai's making.
As the bulk of the families' forces entered the Cracked Abyss, Yang Bai's dark cultivators struck. The ground itself seemed to rise up against the families, shaking violently as the ancient energies within the earth were unleashed. A sudden explosion of dark energy tore through the landscape, swallowing battalions of warriors in an instant.
Yang Bai (watching from a distance, his eyes cold and unfeeling): "Let them fall. They will not be remembered."
The massacre was swift and brutal. Dark cultivators moved through the chaos like shadows, cutting down anyone who survived the initial explosion. The once-proud warriors of the Eight Families were slaughtered, their screams of terror echoing through the abyss.
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The Families' Despair
Back in the Central Capital, the news of the massacre reached the families like a death knell. The few survivors who managed to escape the massacre arrived in the city, bloodied and broken, their words barely coherent as they recounted the horrors they had witnessed.
Survivor (gasping for breath, his eyes wide with terror): "They're… they're all dead… the abyss… it's a trap… we were slaughtered…"
The families, who had already been divided by their internal conflicts, were thrown into complete disarray. Their remaining forces had been wiped out, and the realization that they had been outplayed by a force they hadn't even seen coming sent waves of panic through the city.
In the great halls of the Yang Family and the other powerful families, the once-confident leaders now stood in stunned silence, their faces pale as they tried to comprehend the enormity of what had just happened.
Elder of the Gao Family: "Our forces… they're gone. How could this happen? We've been blindsided."
Elder of the Xie Family: "We're defenseless. The capital is wide open to attack."
It was clear that the families were now vulnerable in a way they had never been before. Their internal strife had left them blind to the real danger that had been lurking on the horizon.
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Yang Bai's Entrance: The City Under Siege
As the families struggled to come to terms with their losses, the sky above the Central Capital darkened. A storm of dark clouds swirled overhead, and from within that storm, the figure of Yang Bai emerged, his presence casting a shadow over the entire city.
At the head of his army of dark cultivators and demonic beasts, Yang Bai marched toward the city, his cold eyes filled with the promise of destruction. The streets of the Central Capital were soon filled with screams as his forces began their assault, tearing through the city's weakened defenses with ease.
Yang Bai (surveying the chaos from above, his voice cold and devoid of mercy): "The time has come. The families will fall, and this city will burn."
Chaos erupted as Yang Bai's forces stormed through the city. The streets were filled with the sounds of battle and the cries of the innocent, as the Evil Sect's dark power overwhelmed everything in its path. The families, realizing too late that they had been led into a trap, scrambled to mount a defense, but it was clear that they were outmatched.
Yang Bai (raising his hand, summoning a massive wave of dark energy that envelops the city): "Let them know despair. Let them know the power of the Evil Sect."