(MC POV)

Just walking through the hallway, I could feel the tension of this place was incredibly high. It certainly gave off the feeling that everyone was prepared for war.

The monsters I passed by also looked extremely surprised to see me, like they couldn't believe I was there. I wonder why?

Waving a greeting to a group of lamia girls who were hastily bowing to me, I heard some shouting emanating from my destination.

Curious, I sped up my steps until I entered a hall where many familiar faces were gathered. There was a large round table in the centre of the hall and all the monsters I recognised were gathered around it, including Akari and Shiori who were laying down on the other side of the hall.

"It's obvious dis iz an act uv WAAAGH!!" Theodore roared, banging his orc fist on the table in front of him. "We should go an smash im!!"

"Perhaps so, or perhaps they are just the normal stupid humans we've been seeing who think they can hunt us," Benjamin commented, the tentacles on his face swaying slowly.

Stephanie shook her skeletal head, "I already mentioned this, those people I made into undead all had varying reasons for coming here. They may come from different places or groups for all we know. Do we want to make enemies with all of them?"

"Divine One…" Thomas muttered, turning his huge, horned head towards my direction and giving me a low bow.

Every head in the room immediately turned to face me and everyone was instantly on their feet.

"Divine One!!" All of them greeted me, though most of them sounded more shocked that I was there.

"Master~~" Akari cried, leaping over the table and reverting herself back into her smaller form right before she reached me.

I caught the red fox and let her snuggle into my arms, right as Shiori appeared to smack her sister on the head.

"Have you no shame, Akari?! Get down from there right now!"

"Mouuu!! I don't wanna! I missed Master too much!!"

I patted Akari's head, "It's fine Shiori, let's just leave it at that, ok? I'm more interested in what's going on though? Both of you were away for quite a while and now I see this place is prepared for war?"

"Uuuu… My apologies, Divine One… We thought we would have this problem solved quickly and you wouldn't need to worry about it…"

"Does the problem have something to do with other Practitioners teleporting in here?"

"Unnn… So Divine One is already aware of it… Please accept our sincerest apologies for allowing the Sanctuary you've given us to be desecrated like this…"

I waved at her, "It's not your fault, you guys didn't cause this to happen right?"

"It wasn't us, Divine One…" Jack explained, his hundreds of eyes looking especially downcast. "It all happened suddenly when a group of humans appeared on the platform. At first we thought they were just remnants of the Dark Sect since they started trying to kill us but they claimed to have done so for 'resources'."

I furrowed my brows, "I heard one of them yammering about cultivation materials. Were all of them Practitioners?"

"That is correct, Divine One," Stephanie sighed. "And we had checked their identities too, none of them belonged to any known Sects within Beiyang. We've spent the last few weeks trying to figure this out without being a bother to you…"

"Hmm… I see… What about the other countries?"

"We had dropped Divine One's name to them as well," Melody replied, the Leviathan being in her little girl form. "But none of them even showed any indication of knowing who you are, which I believe any Practitioners worth their salt here would have at least heard of Divine One."

I pondered for a moment, "And how are they coming in here?"

Shiori sighed, "That's what we can't figure out, Divine One… They aren't limited to the teleportation platform either… There were a few instances where they appeared in the other parts of the Sanctuary and had to be dealt with. We had a few casualties because of this but it wasn't a problem since those lost had tied their lifeforce to Divine One and reformed shortly after."

"I see… If I'm not mistaken… These Practitioners somehow stumbled upon a way to teleport themselves in here and most, if not all, of them were here to hunt you guys for cultivation materials?"

Everyone nodded.

I sighed, "Ok… I think I know what's going on… I've seen this before though I never expected one of the doorways was connected here… I'll deal with this, don't worry about it."

I turned back and made my way back to the teleportation platform, already expecting someone to appear that in a few moments.

Without any instructions from me, the monsters had chosen to follow behind me as well. They look quite sad that they still involved me in this problem but I really didn't mind you know? Maybe a few headpats will help ease their worries later.

Well, I do have Akari still snuggled in my arms right now so I gave her pats first, the little red fox purring affectionately as I did so. I had to put her back on the ground when we were nearing the entrance hall sine I would need both my hands for what I was doing next though.

I reached the platform just as another Practitioner appeared on top of it, this time it was a young man wearing robes that looked to be quite expensive.

"Aha! Prepare to be--"

I grabbed him by his throat and lifted him up with a hand before he could finish his words.

He glared at me, "How dare you?! Unhand me! Do you know who I am?! I am the grandson of the fifth Elder of Twilight Sword Sect! Who do you think you are?!"

I slammed him into the ground, hearing the satisfying crunch of a few of his bones snapping before lifting him up again.

"I am going to ask you a few questions and you're only going to answer me with a yes or no, do you understand?" I asked.

"You… How dare--"

I slammed him back down again, this time on his left arm so that the bones in it were completely crushed.

Lifting him up again, I repeated my question, "Do you understand?"

He tried to lift his other arm to cast a Technique but I slammed him down on that arm before he could, breaking that arm too.

"Again, do you understand?"

"Y… Yes…" He croaked.

"You came here by stepping through a portal, yes? Specifically one that had two dragon statues guarding it?"

"Ye... Yes…"

"And you… You're from the Cloud Plane aren't you?"

"Yes…"

"Great, that's all I needed to know."

I slashed my arm in an arc, creating a portal that would send him back to where he was before he stepped through that portal to come here and tossed him into it.

Once I closed the portal, I clapped my hands together and shut down that portal I had mentioned so that no one else could use it to teleport themselves here.

Great… I remember this event quite vividly, it was an event that I had participated in myself in my previous life.

As annoying as it might be… This could actually be a great opportunity for my disciples so I want to be part of this too.

I'm going to have to make some preparations…

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