The dragon looked down at the ocean and saw the scores of bodies that floated with their blood almost dyeing the dark waters crimson.
"You're finally awake," Mo Lingtian said before dropping. The dragon slowly raised its massive body, allowing Mo Lingtian to rest on its back.
"Master, thank you," the dragon said as it softly grunted.
Wang Ping and the others flew from the far mountain back to the clash scene, appearing directly in front of the dragon.
"You still want to fight?" the dragon said, releasing a forceful pressure which bent all of them down to their knees in the air.
"N....No! You have gotten it all wrong!" one of the cultivators said as he struggled to even breathe.
"We....just want to apologize for acting against you earlier. We were too blind to see your immense dominance," another of them said as they all started to cough blood under the weight of that pressure.
"Release them," Mo Lingtian softly said to the dragon beast, and it immediately retracted the pressure. They all slowly stood on their feet with their hands on their chests.
"We want to invite you to our sect. Our ancestors would be more than glad to aid you in recovery," they all said, bowing slightly.
Every one of them wanted Mo Lingtian to pick them. On one hand, their sects would be spared if he truly was from one of the great twenty-two factions. On the other hand, they would be greatly rewarded by their masters if such a great person became affiliated with their sect because of them.
"Wang Ping? Is that your name?" Mo Lingtian said, much to the shock of everyone. Wang Ping's sect was the one demon sect everyone saw as hypocrites and were biased against. If he truly wanted a safe haven to recover, why choose a place everyone hated?
"Yes," Wang Ping replied, bowing down slightly. He dragged his junior to also bow as they both buckled their knees in fear.
"What is the name of your sect?" he asked again.
"Eclipsed Sun," Wang Ping replied.
"Can I bring him along?" Mo Lingtian asked, pointing down weakly at the Dao Realm elder who could only fight for five breaths as he floated on the ocean, both arms severed, both eyes withered.
"Absolutely. Senior, please," Wang Ping said, using his arm to point the way.
Then, with a casual wave of his hand, Mo Lingtian controlled a gust of wind to carry the Dao Realm elder to rest on the top of the dragon's body. Together with Wang Ping and his junior, they ventured deeper past the ocean into the depths of the wilderness.
A few seconds after they left, sixteen experts suddenly appeared at the center of the ocean where the clash had happened, with two of them stepping directly out of a space fold.
"What a bloody scene," one of them said, stretching his hands. All the bodies on the ocean resonated and got lifted up into the sky.
"Captain, the wounds on their bodies are very strange. They seem to be caused by different people," another said after sweeping his divine sense through all the bodies in the sky in a split second.
"Especially these ones. The piercings on their bodies are needle-like, and they were all punctured in one strike," one of the sixteen said, controlling some dozens of the bodies closer to him.
"Whoever did this must have been a strong person in the immortal pathway," said the vice-captain, one of the two who stepped out of a space fold.
"Indeed. This person's strength is no weaker than me," the captain, the other of the two who had also stepped out of a space fold, said, causing the rest of the squad to widen their eyes in shock.
"That's enough for today, we will report back at the base," the captain said before stepping back into the space fold, leaving the scene.
"Lu San," the vice-captain said as he turned around, also walking back into the space fold.
"Yes," he replied, bowing slightly.
"Take the bodies back with you. We'll meet at the base," he said, stepping completely into the space fold, also leaving the scene.
"Yes, vice-captain," Lu San replied, and immediately collected several scores of bodies into his space ring.
"Let's set off!" Lu San said, and immediately all fourteen of them swiftly disappeared from the scene.
"Senior, we're already halfway through the journey. We will arrive by midnight if we continue," Wang Ping said, holding his junior disciple who was already fast asleep.
"Let's rest here then," Mo Lingtian said as he closed his eyes. His body was still very weak and his sea of consciousness a total wreck.
"Thank you, senior. We can rest in a cave down there," he said, pointing at a staggeringly huge and tall mountain they were flying past. It was full of several caves, and most of them already had practitioners occupying them.
"This place doesn't seem to have anymore space left, everywhere has been occupied," the dragon beast said as it flew amongst the clouds past the mountain.
"We could try that place, no one seems to be going there," Wang Ping said, pointing at a secluded area at the back of the mountain.
"Ah? Do you want to die there? That place is obviously full of extremely malicious Yin energy," the dragon beast replied, halting its flight in the air.
"We could have lost our lives if you didn't spot that on time," Wang Ping said with a sigh.
"There's no problem. The Yin energy there is a kind of very concentrated death energy, it's not like the ones demons usually practice," Mo Lingtian said, slowly sitting up.
"Master, how did you know the kind of Yin energy there is of death?" the dragon asked as it flew down from the sky toward the mountain.
"I...I don't really know, I..I just knew," Mo Lingtian replied, giving much thought as to how he knew what was in there.
"Wait!" Wang Ping yelled, stopping their descent to the mountain.
"There are cultivators here," he whispered. Mo Lingtian's eyes widened; he had utterly forgotten about it. The dragon's newly ascended aura had acted like a beacon in the night sky, drawing out the predators residing in the mountain.
"Quick, go into that mountain range now!" Mo Lingtian yelled, much to the confusion of the dragon beast.
"But that place is filled with death energy just as you said, why the rush?" the dragon beast replied.
"Quick! I'm seriously injured. We won't be able to leave here alive if we don't go in there now!" Mo Lingtian yelled, looking down at the cultivators in the cave who had already noticed them, especially the dragon beast they were riding on.
The dragon beast immediately caught on when he saw where Mo Lingtian looked. In one swift dive, it thrusted its body down toward the secluded area of the mountain. Just as they were about to enter the secluded area, several Dao Realm practitioners suddenly appeared around them; they had been silently waiting and were ready to strike.
Mo Lingtian's dark green-hued eyes immediately glinted.
Through a sudden, profound spark of enlightenment, everything and everybody came to a halt, including himself. Everything was paused at that moment; only his mind was active at this point.
Like an all-seeing eye, he could see the Dao Realm practitioners closing in on the dragon as it dived toward the mountain. He could see Wang Ping holding his junior tightly. He could see hundreds of cultivators flying from the caves toward them. He could see everything, and from his enlightened observation, it was impossible for them to reach that mountain range without dying. They were simply too close to them.
"We have to take a hit."