The next night, the Demon sect gathered. Their meeting hall, which could accommodate hundreds of people, was buzzing with excitement.
When the members saw Bella's broken arm, they were furious and indignant as they waited for the decision of the leaders, who were in a room outside the hall.
Everyone had expected that Bella and the five warriors would be able to deal with Alex easily. They had been confident in their sect's strength, and now they were astounded by what had happened.
They had heard of Alex, and they knew that many powerful men supported him, but they still hadn't expected to be defeated.
Bella was enraged, and her eyes were flashing with fire. Her subordinates were angry on her behalf, and they spluttered with outrage.
"Sawyer must die!" One of them smashed his fist on the tabletop, hitting it so hard that the surface cracked.
"The Demon sect has suffered a great disgrace," Bella said. "It is lucky Sawyer only broke my arm. He could easily have killed me." She looked around. "He will come to visit us in three days. Do we have a plan for how to deal with him?"
Nobody answered.
"I know why you're silent," Bella said. "What can we do but fight to the death? For thousands of years, that is the spirit by which the Demon sect has lived and died."
"Don't worry. We are not nobodies," one man said. "We have all kinds of tricks. Sawyer has been out of the game for more than twenty years, and he spent much of that time in a hospital bed. Nobody has even spoken his name for a long time. Now he's back, and he wants to quickly establish his reputation. But he has underestimated us. Our elders are powerful, and our top ten warriors will easily defeat him."
He shook his fist in the air.
"Of course, our top ten warriors are powerful," Bella said, rolling her eyes. "But Sawyer will be prepared. If he didn't think he could defeat ten of our warriors, then why would he challenge us? We must not take it lightly."
Several of the top ten warriors were more powerful than Bella, who had inherited the leadership of the sect.
Suddenly, a booming voice came from outside.
"What are you all chattering about?"
A man strode into the room, and when everyone saw him, they all stood up to greet him.
"You made it," Bella said, tears welling in her eyes.
"You lazy brats!" Lachlan said. "Since I retired from the position of leader, I've helped you get to the top, but this time, I will not assist you at all. I was in power for twenty years, and the Demon sect thrived every day. Who knew that, in just a few years, you would cause such a scandal!"
He stared at Bella. "Our members are better than this," he said firmly. "You created this mess, and then you failed to defeat Sawyer—a man who has only recently recovered from being paralyzed for years! Then you begged for mercy and fled." His eyes narrowed. "You didn't just embarrass me; you humiliated the whole sect. Including our ancestors!"
All the subordinates bowed their heads, feeling ashamed. Lachlan had overseen the Demon sect for twenty years, and he was very different from Bella. His martial arts powers were extremely strong, and out of his entire family, he had been the one to become the leader. During his leadership, the sect had grown to more than a thousand members, and nobody had been able to stand against them. That was why Lachlan had been happy to retire. Now, he usually didn't care what was going on in the sect, but he did care that Sawyer had broken Bella's arm.
When he spoke again, Lachlan's tone was steely. "A piece of trash who has been out of the game for twenty years? Why are you so scared of him? What's the problem? Why are you so worried?"
Everyone began to feel better when they saw how angry he was.
"It's my fault," Bella said sadly. "I screwed up. I failed, and I got those five warriors killed. As the leader of the sect, I'll take the blame, and I'm willing to suffer all punishments, including dismissal. The reason I didn't fight to the death was so that I could pass on information to the rest of the sect. We should not underestimate Sawyer. He will stand in the way of us obtaining the Golden Health powder."
"Golden Health powder? What is that?" Lachlan asked, frowning.
"A kind of miracle cure." Bella paused. "The recipe is thousands of years old, and it will be of great benefit to us." She rubbed at her arm. "I knew Sawyer twenty years ago, and I don't think he has fully recovered yet. He's definitely not at his peak. Nevertheless, if he gets angry and attacks us, we will suffer heavy losses, even though he will come alone. We must prepare for his arrival. He's coming in three days."
Lachlan scratched his beard. "I have controlled the Demon sect for twenty years," he said. "I haven't heard of anything like this before. This Sawyer broke your arm, but I won't go looking for him. I'll wait for him to come to us. But do you really think he's invincible? I hope that this piece of trash does come here and then we'll see what he's really made of."