Tong Gao sat alone in his study, infront of him was an array of martial techniques alongside a large jug of wine. After taking another chug from his jug Gao staggered to his feet while listening to the screams and shouting coming from outside. He looked outside the window of his palace looking down at the courtyard where his most loyal servants tried their best to protect the families of the clan who took refuge at the estate. They were mercilessly butchered by their former allies and kinsmen.
Gao took the techniques and placed them in his robes before he grabbed his sword from beneath his desk and after taking a deep breath leapt down into the courtyard, the impact of his landing throwing back several of the traitors and saving group of servants about to be butchered.
"Patriarch Gao! Are you happy with what you've caused?!" Tong Shu yelled as he landed a few feet away.
"You're greed has blinded you all, stop this madness and leave before you cause more needless bloodshed." Tong Gao said with his sword raised
"Look around you fool!, This is the end of the great tong clan!" As Tong Shu shouted as Tong Gao became surround and before he could react a sword had already pierced his back.
Tong Gao coughed up blood and in his shock turned his head to see one of the servants holding the sword that had pierced his back and behind him the other servants were laying in a pool of blood.
"W-When?"
*Slash*
His sword arm was chopped off in an instant and while struggled in pain countless more swords pierced his body and the 7th Generation Patriarch of the Tong Sword Family stood lifelessly.
As Tong Shu walked over to his former Brothers corpse expecting to collect the clans famous and most valuable techniques from Gao's body but when he reached for is robe Gao with his last breaths grabbed Tong Shu's hand and released all his remaining ki causing his cores to expanding causing an fiery explosion.
"Damn you, you fool!" Tong Shu shouted as he tried desperately to get away only to be caught in the explosion.
That night the Six Great Families of the orthodox faction became Five, No traces were left behind by the true masterminds and the destruction of the Tong family was believed to have been caused by an internal feud by many Clans and Factions around the continent, it was near impossible for anyone to know otherwise, As the Tong clan was as solitary as they were strong with most only knowing of them on the battlefield. The remaining known Tong descendants were scattered, some were taken in as disciples of great Sects or residing in the families they married into.
Those unlucky enough to have lived in the Gao territories on the night of the attack were all either killed or unknowingly to the rest of the Murim enslaved by the unknown masterminds behind the Family's demise.
Somewhere in the eastern outskirts a group slaves are being transported on carriages, many were injured and all of them were hungry and tired after being unable to sleep due to the trauma they had witnessed. Their captors wore familiar clothing they all were used to seeing as symbols of protection but now imprinted fear and anger into their hearts.
The slaves were mostly children and young maidens of the Tong family who were to be offered to the mysterious cult which snared their fellow kinsmen with promises of wealth and power. The boys were to be indoctrinated into cult members and the girls would be offered to prominent members of the cult.
At the front of the convoy was a separate carriage which inside lay Tong Shu, grievously scarred and on the brink of death the leader of the rebellion had no choice but to offer a consolation to master after failing to retrieve the hidden arts which were now lost forever alongside the Patriarch and his palace which he destroyed forever erasing the families most famous and feared techniques.
As they travelled through the canyons into the ashen lands the group was unable to sense the entity which watched them from above with it's reptilian eyes piercing through the shadows. It's gaze filled with a mix of malice and desire wasn't directed at the warriors or the women but at one of the children who despite all that was happening around him did not cry like his peers around him and instead had his own sights set on the warriors who walked alongside the carriage. The boy oozed with killing intent and unbeknownst to the warriors was filled with a violent and sickening flow of ki which despite it's small quantity enough to capture the entities attention who licked it's lips and smiled wickedly.
The convoy was almost through the canyons however just when they lowered their guard and the sight of an open area came into view the sound of hissing could be heard from above. As the warriors tried to get into a defensive position around their leaders carriage a fiendish figure partially covered in smoke descended behind them but instead of attacking he went to one of the slaves carriage.
"What is your name boy?" the fiend hissed while looking at the boy who attracted his attention.
The other slaves cowered at the other side of the carriage and the boy who was also fearful managed to gather his courage, crawling closer to the fiend while avoiding the monstrous gaze set on him and spoke with a trembling voice "Tong Ryu" he muttered
A hand grabbed Tong Ryu's head lifting it up and forcing his gaze to meet with the mans. While this happened the warriors had surrounded the man and prepared to launch their attack however as one of the men stepped forward the man turned his head and when his gaze landed on the warrior he began to bleed from his eyes before dropping to the ground, the other warriors backing up in surprise.
The man turned back to Ryu who looked at the man on the ground with fear in his eyes as his head was still in the fiendish man's grasp, however despite the fear he was feeling Ryu was also feeling joy and excitement as he watched the man who was now clawing at his throat as blood poured from every orifice.
The fiend smiled at Ryu sensing the feelings which stirred his ki.
"Well this is a surprise, well I hope you enjoy the first gift I will present you my disciple."
Looking up at the fiend Ryu was confused especially at the word disciple however he only became more bewildered as the fiend quickly vanished before appearing infront of the warriors and before they could react began to cleave through their bodies, weaving through their attacks and sending their organised and usually unbreakable defensive position into disarray.
In the chaos Tong Shu's carriage which also held carried members of the mysterious unknown cult rode off abandoning the a large portion of the remaining Tong traitors.
It only took the fiend a few minutes to wear down the warriors and slowly kill them like a predator playing with it's food.