While flying back toward the unnamed island with the Sect Leader, an awkward silence envelops the atmosphere—or at least awkward for me, as the Sect Leader does not seem bothered.
"I must admit, the Sect Leader's impassioned speech almost affected me."
I feel a strange sense of victory as I think about the Sect Leader's plan to plant loyalty to the Twilight Sect in my heart by dragging me to that deserted island, telling me about the history of the Sunset Sect, and how it is a great and righteous sect that supports personal freedom and the lives of its disciples above all else.
"However, how can one believe that throughout the sect's history, which stretches longer than human history itself, there was not a single greedy or evil leader?"
How could it be believed that all the sect's rulers were saints who supported freedom and cherished the lives of lower-rank disciples?
Moreover, there are many contradictions in the Sect Leader's story, such as how the remnants of the Twilight Sect survived the pursuit of the great sects, and how they managed to endure for one hundred and thirty thousand years relying only on high-rank cultivators.
"Either I still do not understand this world well enough, or the Sect Leader just threw some random nonsense at me, like the speeches of political parties back on Earth."
In any case, unfortunately for him as a man of the twentieth century, I will not fall under the influence of such cheap rhetoric.
Nor am I interested in staying with the Sunset Sect and helping to revive it.
"How could someone like me, who possesses an ability such as regression and a destined path to reach the highest point in this world, trap himself in a narrow place like an unknown island at the end of the world?"
Lost in my thoughts about what had just happened, I fail to notice the appearance of a baleful green light on the horizon, in the place where the unnamed island should be.
Mo Chong, upon seeing this, widens his eyes in terror.
"Impossible… this can't be."
Before I can process what is happening, I feel the Sect Leader's hand grip my shoulder violently as he drags me at the speed of sound.
"Damn it, I feel like I'm going to throw up."
Within moments, we arrive above the unnamed island.
And upon seeing the scene below, I feel my stomach churn even more violently.
"Is this hell?"
At that same moment, Mo Chong's furious voice spreads across the island, which has become like a fragment of the underworld. A baleful green light envelops every corner of the island, while half-rotted zombies and zombies with relatively fresh but brutally mangled bodies wander across land devoid of any form of life.
"Song Jin!"
"Hehehe, look who's arrived—my old friend Mo, isn't it?"
In response to Mo Chong's furious shout, an irritating laugh spreads through the air.
"You damned bastard! Son of a whore—!"
Mo Chong's eyes turn red as veins bulge with rage, and he begins to curse loudly with a voice filled with fury and hatred.
Unable to hold myself back any longer, I begin to vomit because of the scene before me.
At the place where the Sunset Sect once stood, nothing remains but a building far more dilapidated than before, to the point that its features are no longer clear, shrouded in thick, sticky dark-green mist, with dozens of rotting zombies moving about inside.
But the most horrific sight is the crude wooden crosses erected amid the sect's ruins.
Hanging from them are the corpses of Li Chen and Yi Guang, the lower halves of their bodies brutally torn apart, leaving their entrails dangling in a nauseating manner.
"Hahahahaha, what do you think of the gift I carefully prepared for you, my friend Mo?"
Beneath the wooden crosses stands an old man, his wrinkled skin clinging to his fragile bones, while a beard reaching his waist hangs from his decayed, mottled face.
"Hahahahahaha."
As if delighted by Mo Chong's anger, the old man laughs heartily without stopping.
"Song Jin, you bastard filthier than a dog! Do you think you can survive after destroying my sect?!"
Abandoning the demeanor of a venerable cultivator, Mo Chong begins to curse and swear at Song Jin with the vilest language.
But what he receives in return is nothing more than Song Jin's cold mockery.
"My sect? I know you're delusional, my friend Mo, but I didn't think your condition was this bad—to gather a few disciples who barely possess any talent, collect them in the ruins of my clan's residence, and dare to call this a sect! Hahahahaha, how pitifully foolish you are."
"You bastard, you dare mock the ancient Sunset Sect?!"
As if his anger has reached its peak, Mo Chong begins to emit a light resembling the light of sunset.
"Prepare to pay the price with your li—"
"Shut up!"
Interrupting Mo Chong's outburst, Song Jin looks at him with contempt.
"Do you think I don't know your tricks, my friend Mo?"
"Hahahahaha."
Song Jin laughs mockingly, his cloudy eyes continuing to gaze at the enraged Mo Chong with disdain.
"Feigning rage over the destruction of your sect and trying to lure me into battle—all of it just to buy time to analyze the barrier of rotting corpses and search for a flaw."
As he speaks, Song Jin points toward the baleful green light curtain enveloping the island.
"However, it's meaningless. You would need power equivalent to a strike from an expert at the Evil Spirit Realm, or to be a grand expert in formations—and unfortunately for you, you are neither."
"Hahahahaha, do you see that, my friend Mo? Today is the day you pay for your sins."
As Song Jin's mocking laughter spreads through the surroundings, the anger that had adorned Mo Chong's face disappears, as if it had been nothing but an illusion.
"I see… it seems there is only one option left."
With a cold expression, Mo Chong begins to gather an emission of sunset light so intense that it covers half of the unnamed island, rivaling the light of the rotting-corpse barrier.
"Kill the person controlling the formation!"
"Hahahahaha, I want to see you try, my friend Mo."
And thus begins the clash between the light of sunset and the light of the rotting-corpse barrier.
But before the true battle between Mo Chong and Song Jin begins, Mo Chong gestures with his hand toward Salem, covered in vomit, barely able to keep up with the events unfolding, suspended in the air by Mo Chong's power.
"Originally, I planned to save you with me as the sole disciple who survived this massacre."
With an emotionless expression, Mo Chong continues as the light of sunset envelops Salem's body.
"…"
"Forgive this master, for the only thing he can offer you is a painless death."
"…!"
Unable to speak, I can only stare in shock at the Sect Leader's cold expression.
"Hehehe, how ruthless you are, my friend Mo."
And thus, the last thing I hear at the end of my first cycle is Song Jin's mocking laughter.