The crossroads

The sect grounds lay in ruin. The once-vibrant Jade Lotus Sect, where disciples trained and cultivated in hopes of achieving immortality, had become a graveyard of shattered dreams. Bodies of fallen disciples and elders littered the battlefield, while the remnants of the sect crumbled under the overwhelming force of the Golden Core cultivator's assault.

Kai knelt among the wreckage, his mind still reeling from the deaths of both the sect leader and the former sect master. His heart pounded in his chest, disbelief swirling within him. But even as these emotions surged, the terrifying reality of the Golden Core cultivator's power left him cold, knowing that nothing they could have done would have made a difference.

Some disciples tried to gather all the willpower they could muster to leave, but none could escape the suffocating pressure that bound them to the ground. It was as if the very air had conspired to trap them in their despair.