Long Yi's worst fear had been confirmed by reason of the dragon's words. Who was Lin Xi that even a dragon from the Celestial World acknowledged as a threat. As if the dragon could read his thoughts, its ancient voice came again;
"Where's she who wields the Purple Sword? If we both combine our powers together, we can be sure to defeat her."
Long Yi's facial expression dropped even further below his already sad countenance. His worries were enflamed by the nagging questions in his mind;
"Does this mean that Lin Xi had attained the stage where she could go toe to toe with a Celestial Being? What sorcery is that? Who is this succuba exactly?"
He decided to face the issue squarely by asking the Dragon exactly what he wanted to know. Although he already knew the answers, he still wanted to clear his doubts;
"What? Are you saying that even you can't vanquish this succuba?"
The Dragon answered vaguely; "A succuba at her stage in the Mortal World is truly unprecedented."
Long Yi was down casted. This singular act of summoning the Golden Dragon had been his last resort, the only ace that was left up his sleeve. He was an excellent warrior but even he was at his limit after days and days of no sleep and no appetite for food. He had hoped with all his heart that the Dragon would at least destroy Lin Xi then the rest of the skilled senior cultivators and elders would handle the remaining demons.
Another problem crossed his mind and he instantly recoiled with a sense of abject littleness; Lin Xi hadn't even displayed or flexed a little bit of the demonic power she had acquired for herself over the course of time. This disturbed Long Yi, he didn't even want to think of the depth of her Qi or the impact of her attack spells if she ever decided to go all out. No, she had to be dealt with now that her guard was down and she was still cocky.
As if the Dragon could read his thoughts, he spoke to him encouragingly;
"Boy, you have my protection."
Long Yi almost smiled but the Dragon's ensuing words that followed his encouragement set him back even further;
"But I cannot guarantee that of your fellow disciples, they should pray that heaven helps them- because no one can."
Long Yi's blood ran cold at the Dragon's chilling revelation. It was of no value if his own life was spared and Purple Mountain and all its disciples were destroyed. To him, it was a fate worse than death. Worse still, if his master were to return and learn off it
It didn't matter, either way he looked at it, he was well and truly screwed. Unless a divine hand intervened (and he didn't see the likelihood of it happening), the situation felt like it was going to end badly. The only thing to do now was to go out in a blaze of glory. "Yes!" he thought; "The honor of the Purple Sect will be defended to the last man!"
Then with a new found zeal, he turned to the other beady eyed cultivators who looked to him for guidance and charged them in his best rallying voice;
"Brothers! It has come down to this! We are the last wall of defense of this great sect!"
Pointing to those standing close to him, he barked;
"Men will sing praises of your heroism today! Do not be afraid! If we are to die, let us do so holding down the fort!"
Holding up his sword high above his head, he turned in the direction of the succuba and her lieutenants and shouted a single word that echoed in the hearts of every single warrior under his command at Purple Mountain;
"GOOO!!!"
The effect was surreal. All of Purple Sect's warriors charged with the fire that Long Yi had lit in their hearts for loyalty was the primary virtue in the Purple Sect and second to it was honor. In absence of their master, their loyalty to Long Yi burned even brighter. His speech had reminded them of who they were and no one could take that from them, so they forgot about the sleepless nights, they forgot about the fact that they were vastly outnumbered, they forgot about the fact that their master was missing, and instead, every single patriotic warrior focused on one objective only; DEFEND PURPLE MOUNTAIN.
Long Yi in turn mounted the dragon, and with the Dragon Sword in his left hand, he soared high into the air space above the battle and charged at the succuba on the peak. She smiled mischievously and thought to herself;
"Ah Long Yi, don't think I don't see what you are doing. You have taken the battle between you and I to the sky just so you can save your puny little comrades on the ground from being collateral damage."
She chuckled to herself at Long Yi's self-righteousness.
"Ha! Your honor will be your end!"
Just a few miles south of the battle, a form suddenly blazed across the heavens. It was too quick for the normal eye to follow, but any gifted cultivator who had been on the ground, gazing at the clear blue sky would have seen the slender figure of a young girl dashing through the clouds on a beautiful sword at a terrifying speed. It was the hero of the hour; Wang Yan. Almost as if she could tell the situation at Purple Mountain was dire, she flew at lightning speed on her sword, as she headed swiftly in the direction of the sect.
Even though she the wind in her favor as she made her way across the heavens, Wang Yan was drenched in sweat as her thoughts raced wildly within her. She had only one prayer;
"Please! Let it not be too late!"
She was already going at a terrifying speed and yet, she felt she was moving too slow. Something pricked her senses within her and soon, she began to pick up the repugnant stench of a cloud of foul Qi marinating in the horizon just ahead of her. Wang Yan's heart sank in despair as she saw that it was in the direction of Purple Mountain. Right ahead of her, at the intersection between sky and land, a thick black haze overclouding the top of Purple Mountain obscured her vision. Suddenly, to make matters worse a chilling omen accompanied the dark cloud and further worsened the already deadly scene playing in Wang Yan's mind, it was almost as if the fates were acting in unison and were determined to put her in a state of catatonic shock.
The chilling roar of a Dragon reverberated through the surrounding, enhancing the already ominous atmosphere. It had sounded like a death dirge, Wang Yan felt like little worms were physically crawling underneath her skin and were actively eating her slowly from within. Such was the pain and anguish that came with the feeling of hearing the agonizing roar of a Celestial Being.
Wang Yan felt as if the light in her soul had been put out;
"NO!" she screamed aloud in a sorrowful sob.
Just then, when she thought it couldn't get any worse, an overwhelming feeling of gloom overcame her.
She was still a little distance off, so Wang Yan concentrated more Qi into her flying sword and it responded by speeding up at a dangerous angle. Everything around her seemed to slow down as she came close to ultrasonic speed. The jade in the hilt of the sword glowed brightly as the speed of her flying sword turned her into a blur, fast as lightning she went.
"Whew!"
All the while, she kept repeating the same prayer over and over again in her mind;
"Please let it not be too late! Please!"
A few moments later, she arrived at the place her memories called home and discovered that just about everything about its landscape had changed. The once intimidating palace that stood majestically had be besieged on all sides by a band of ugly demons and beasts. The disciples on the other side had been backed up in a circle with their hands outstretched in front of them in defensive mode. By the looks of things, none had died during the course of the attack. But the once powerful protective barrier over them appeared to be dangerously close to breaking to pieces. It was a surprising homecoming.
But even more surprising was another battle scene a short distance away. She willed her sword to go closer as a familiar form appeared a short distance away. To her horror, her mind soon confirmed what her eyes had initially seen as soon as she got close enough. On the ground below, drenched in blood and with his robes shredded, Long Yi dropped The Dragon Sword which he had never done before in his lifetime. There was even a rumor once that Long Yi even went to bed clutching the sword. Even subconscious, he never let go of his sword. That was just how attached he was to it. Long Yi's Qi raged inside his body, trying desperately to find an outlet. Wang Yan gasped as she took the whole sight in. even her nightmares could never produce such a grotesque scene.
And then, her world stopped when she saw an even more intimidating spectacle on the other flank of the battle; A golden dragon, completely worn out from battle, lay dying in the jungle section of the valley and right above them. Wang Yan took a minute to gaze upon the Celestial Being for moment as she struggled to reconcile her theories on what had happened. One question raged above all the others;
"Who could possibly be this powerful to have humbled a terrible entity from the Celestial World?"