Intercept

The golden scroll burned by the Grand Elder was a unique item that had a soul imprint sealed within it. When used, it could alert the person that had created the scroll that something had happened, no matter how far away it was when activated. This had been given to the Grand Elder by the Leader of the Searing Sword Palace with the intent of alerting the massive organization if someone tried to poach their new Spiritual Lands.

With the soul imprint ignited, the Leader of the Searing Sword Palace, Li Shimin, immediately gave the order to mobilize their forces. He even led the group personally as, when the imprint had been released, he could feel an overwhelming sense of dread. Since he would not allow the Abyss to fall into the hands of their enemies, he would not risk sending a small force and entrusting the matter to another.

What Li Shimin never anticipated was that, not even a quarter of the way to their destination, what appeared to be a violent storm made its way toward them. Unlike normal storm clouds, however, it was formed from a billowing, bluish-black, cloud which, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a massive wave of wolf-like monsters, the smallest of which was more than five meters in length.

For a brief moment, Li Shimin felt like he was experiencing a waking nightmare but, as the Leader of the Searing Sword Palace, his trepidation was immediately replaced by contemptuous wrath. He saw a larger wolf leading the group and, seated atop it, what appeared to be a young woman so it didn't take him long to realize who he was dealing with.

Rather than charge directly to meet the horde of Demonic Beasts, Li Shimin directed his men to form a complex formation that matched an ancient constellation. He stood at the very center, serving as the core of the formation that, once active, took on the form of a massive saber wreathed in flames. It had seventy-two of the most powerful Cultivators on the entire continent floating within its light-based structure, each perfectly mirroring the actions of Li Shimin as he extended his hand toward the horde, shouting, "Burn in the flames of purgatory you foul Demon...!"

Drawing a line that seemed to bisect the heavens, the saber instantly reached the horde of what they assumed to be Demonic Beasts. Due to the contrary elements, the saber was actually able to deal an incredible amount of damage to Fenrir's pack but, while many of the wolves had been destroyed, the luster of the saber had reduced along with the amount of flames.

Li Shimin didn't realize what had happened at first but, after seeing the bluish-black cloud of energy corrode the structure of the saber, he realized what the wolves were comprised of. This caused his pupils to turn into pinholes and, rather than focus on the pack of wolves, he immediately turned his attention to Fenrir who, at the time, was standing in the air like a Goddess of Death looking down upon them.

Understanding that it would be disastrous to draw out the battle, Li Shimin performed a forbidden technique that was unknown to the people comprising the formation. They suddenly felt their vitality waver and, in less than five seconds, many of them had started to bleed from every orifice. Despite this, they were unable to break away from the formation and, even after some of them turned into mummified corpses, they continued mirroring the actions of Li Shimin as he attempted to finish off Fenrir in the shortest amount of time...

(Fenrir's Commentary: 'Disgusting...')