Yang Qing's countenance transformed into one of curiosity at Lei Weiyuan's statement. He couldn't help but throw a deep glance in Deng Chao's direction.
"What's missing from the records, Supervisor Lei Weiyuan?" Yang Qing couldn't help but ask.
"The fundamental reason why the battle lasted 3 years in the first place. The ten rank 2 sects that attacked the Crystal palm jade sect each brought atleast two domain-level experts making the total number of domain experts fielded on the battlefield, twenty.
The Crystal palm jade sect only had eight domain experts even if the three founders were fairly gifted and the might of the Crystal palm jade art had significant prowess, it was still a tall order for eight domain experts to successfully hold off twenty domain experts and still have the time to attack their bases whilst the fight was still going on.
All this was only possible because of Deng Chao. When the attacks started the Crystal palm jade sect was continuously pushed back to the point that their sect guarding array got breached. The senior surmised that at that time Deng Chao was still in closed-door seclusion since he didn't show himself when the attacks started. Considering the massive losses they had suffered in those early periods it couldn't have been intentional.
With the sect guarding array broken and the pressure the sect was put in, most assumed the end of the Crystal palm jade sect was all but nigh but the change occurred when the barrier broke. A dazzling white light pushed back the attackers and before anyone could register what had happened two of the weakest domain experts got slaughtered on the spot. It was only when that light disappeared that everybody there saw a solitary figure floating in the air.
Those present couldn't make heads or tails on who the figure was, our senior included. It was only when the three founders addressed him as junior brother and the rest of the sect called him founder that they knew he was the fourth leader of the sect who was assumed to be the weakling of the bunch.
All came to know how massively incorrect that assumption was. The battle that was one-sided soon got transformed into a free-for-all the moment he made his presence known.
Deng Chao shuttled around the battlefield like a specter of light with death, havoc, and destruction following him. With a wave of his palm, hundreds of palace stage experts died.
In a few minutes he had effectively destroyed the momentum and morale the opponents had built over a week and it didn't stop there as he was soon besieged by five domain experts trying to steal the initiative back. After battling back and forth for a week another domain expert fell and every week after that till one month ended with four more domain experts dying. This brought the total tally of domain experts who had died by his hand to six.
When cultivators reach our level it's usually hard to kill each other not unless the disparity in cultivation is very huge or there's a huge gap in our attainments of the dao. It's not easy for two domain experts that have the same cultivation realm to kill each other that easily as it is hard to stop the other party if they want to run away.
This was why Deng Chao killing six domain experts in a single month overturned the whole battlefield. The ten rank 2 sects were not as confident as they were before and the Crystal palm jade sect had been reignited by Deng Chao's display so they fought even more ferociously pushing their attackers back. The remaining domain experts tried to surround Deng Chao which eased the pressure on the rest of the sect members who devised the plan of taking advantage of the situation to sneak out one domain expert and a few palace stage experts to destroy the sect grounds of their attackers who were being held up by Deng Chao and the rest of the remaining domain realm experts.
The guest elder was the one put in charge of destroying those sect's bases as the rest remained. Deng Chao held up five domain experts alone while the remaining nine domain experts were split between the three founders and the two domain experts they had left. For Deng Chao, despite facing five domain experts was like a fish in water as he smoothly alternated between offense and defense taking as little damage as possible and ensuring every attack he made left an impact on the opponent. The grandness of the crystal palm jade art was revealed in that battle. The senior couldn't help but admire the brilliance of the art, especially in his hands. No one on the battlefield could bring out the art with as much grandness as he did, it seemed to have been made specifically for him as opposed to the rest. With it, Deng Chao shattered ascendant-grade weapons bare-handed. He was like a walking weapon despite being unarmed. I wish I could have seen it," Lei Weiyuan said with some pity and desire in his tone. Yang Qing ruminated on the words built for him as there was something that he suddenly noticed about Deng Chao. Despite being a phantasm his hands had a white jade crystal look to them and his eyes. But it was the hands that drew him in because they reminded him of someone.
"Could it be?...." Yang Qing couldn't help but wonder as his gaze lingered on the hands before focusing back to Lei Weiyuan's narration.
"Finally after a long drawn-out battle, two more domain experts fell by his hands with the remaining three being seriously wounded as for the rest of the opponents three more had been lost with one of the domain experts from the Crystal palm jade sect being grievously wounded. However, the four leaders were still alive and going.
News of the destruction of the bases finally reached the ears of their opponents which further destroyed the morale that was hanging on by a thread. The rest is as you read. A battle that was expected to last just a month ended up lasting three years and by that time only three sects remained . They were the three most powerful ones who had sent domain experts in the late stages of the domain realm but even they were not doing too well. Had things remained the same in another year or two they would have joined their dead compatriots. But alas things usually never go as we expect them to sometimes," Leo Weiyuan sighed. He suspected this was a part of the reason behind Deng Chao's pained look.
It was one thing if they were totally outclassed and their defeat was all but certain but they were well on their way to securing a firm win just inches when everything changed.
Without keeping Yang Qing waiting for long Lei Weiyuan went on.
"A third party appeared just when things looked to be heading in the Crystal jade palm sect's favor. It was a small team of five led by a half-step soul formation stage expert with the other members either being at the peak or later stages of the domain realm.
The senior of the Order on noticing them, especially the half-step expert decided to leave the area just in case they decided to silence witnesses. He didn't want to get tangled up. But before his escape, he did manage to see one of the three leaders, the medicine expert get butchered by the half-step soul formation expert. Roaring, maddening yells, and explosions soon followed as the battle seemed to have increased a hundred more notches. Just when he was about 300 miles away a palm the size of a county descended on the area from the skies above. It was crystal clear like glass with nebula vortexes on the tips of the fingers. The vortex sucked everything in from spiritual qi to air down to the light in the area. There was a thunderous sound as the palm clashed against a mountain size silhouette of a fire crane. The senior crashed his teleportation talisman before he was razed in the aftermath of the attack despite being over 300 miles away.
Everything within a thousand miles was decimated to dust with a crater left in its place. Not even a single brick of the Crystal palm jade sect was left. The whole area to date has become inhabitable because of the chaotic qi and unstable space in the area. No one below the core formation realm can survive in that area and even those in the core formation realm can only do so in the outskirts.
Based on the senior's judgment the scale of the attack had already touched the threshold of a soul formation expert.
The scale of destruction was so severe that there were no bodies to be found along with any building or vegetation within the 1000 miles. The leaders of the Crystal palm jade sect were assumed to be dead because of it along with their attackers. It was only later that it was discovered that two of the attackers had made it out alive albeit with grievous injuries. They were both sect masters of rank 2 sects.
One of them got killed a few weeks later by a rival sect when news got out of his injury and the severe losses they suffered in their clash against the Crystal palm jade sect. His sect got swallowed soon after. The last known survivor immediately announced that they had become a subordinate of the rank 1 empire the Crimson sky empire which served as a protection for them against their enemies. As for the third party, it's safe to assume they made it out alive considering the two rank 2 heads had survived too. Since their movements couldn't be traced after the explosion, it's pure conjecture at this point,"
"Did you ever find out their identities?" asked Yang Qing
"Sadly no. We have some guesses but they are only just that, guesses. We can't act on them without something solid. Though the senior who saw the battle has been continuously investigating it for the past 300 years. It's only a matter of time before we can unmask their identity," Lei Weiyuan said.
"About that senior?" Yang Qing asked a bit curious about his identity. All of the information he had learned today was not in the books. So either the information about some parts of the battle more specifically Deng Chao's interference had been expunged by some party who didn't want it to leak out for some reason or the battle was so intense that it discouraged people from even trying to get near it. Either guess proved that the senior mentioned by Lei Weiyuan was not a simple character as he was able to spectate the battle from start to almost end.
"He is a superior domain court judge other than that I can't tell you more. Though you may end up meeting him considering you have one of the main figures of his investigation in your courtroom. Focus on the matter at hand first," Lei Weiyuan said.
