One moment, a contingent of soldiers marched forward towards the frontline, barely cognizant of the fact they were walking through muddy earth, the snow having melted away as if this specific stretch of ground was somehow warmer than anywhere else around it. The next, this very ground was ripped open with an ear-shattering explosion. Mud, rocks and molten stone were flung in all directions, raining down on those who hadn't stood close enough to the explosion to be blown away themselves.

Moments later, three armored figures emerged from the hole the explosion had left behind, all brandishing weapons. Liu Wei scanned his surroundings: He didn't have time for an exact count, but some fifty to sixty people were either dead or injured enough to be out of combat for now – certainly a way to make an entrance.

"Chaaarge!"

The command, shouted by a man currently holding off several airborne opponents who Liu Wei could only assume to be Grandmaster Gong, reverberated across the battlefield.

His troops did exactly that. While the Roaring Thunder Sect's soldiers were still confused and disorganized by the sudden upset behind their own lines and their leaders were understandably fixated on the new arrivals, they charged forward, invigorated by Fang Gong's shout and the sight of new allies.

Liu Wei had of course not been able to see the battle play out thus far, but from how inept the enemy's response to this was, how much their soldiers seemed to struggle and fail to hold back the offense, it seemed that this represented a turnaround compared to the previous battle dynamic. If he had to wager a guess, he'd say that Fang Gong had had them deliberately hold back and act defensively up to this point.

Regardless of if that was the case, the battle seemed to be developing in a good direction. While outnumbered, their allied troops were managing to push the enemy towards a moat behind them, that they had probably crossed just minutes earlier. Already the first of the Roaring Thunder Sect's soldiers jumped back across the moat while others stumbled and fell into it.

"I'll take on those."

Liu Wei pointed to the cultivators Fang Gong was currently fighting. Patriarch Zhao nodded.

"Then I'll take care of the others."

This would give them four enemies each to handle, discounting the one Yue Zhong was currently fighting.

Sun Liang nodded along silently. In their discussion prior to this, he had already been assigned the slightly less honorable, if just as important task of dealing with the armies while the other three fought with the Dao Contemplation cultivators. He'd make sure that their soldiers actually won the battle that none of their opponents managed to retreat or flee afterwards.

Their tasks set, the three split up. As he passed over the battle below him, Liu Wei could see the Roaring Thunder Sect's frontline start stabilizing as more of their forces poured in to reinforce it, only to collapse again when Sun Liang created an impromptu formation out of nothing but his own Qi in the air that unleashed a deluge of water on them like a tsunami before crashing into their rows himself, taking control of that water to turn it into dozens of whips and blades while simultaneously swinging his two-handed saber in mighty, yet precise cuts.

After that snapshot, Liu Wei turned his entire attention on his targets. Now that he was closer, he could see that Fang Gong was struggling to hold back his adversaries, having to rely on dodging and retreating and barely getting to counterattack. His armor had multiple dents and scratches, but he was still unwounded by the look of it.

When Liu Wei closed in on the fight, the four disengaged and retreated a couple of meters, taking a more defensive formation. Liu Wei came to a stop next to Fang Gong, who spoke up without taking his eyes off his opponents.

"In the name of my school, I thank you for your assistance in our time of need."

"We are happy to help.", Liu Wei answered. "You can head back to help out your people, I will take care of this."

Fang Gong kept silent for a while, then acquiesced.

"Thank you, I will."

A moment later, he was gone.

Now alone with his newly found opponents, Liu Wei felt the familiar calmness overcome him, that was unique to the moment immediately before battle. In these moments, the world snapped sharply into focus, more than in any other situation. The weight of the sword in his hand, the chill of the wind on his face, the scent of blood rising from below… His mind took them all in and stretched them out until mere seconds felt like minutes passing by.

A quick sweep of his soul sense revealed the strength of his enemies: One of them was at the fourth stage of Dao Contemplation, two at the third and one at the second. A considerable force, especially since it was not even half of this army's leadership – Liu Wei lifted his sword to point at the strongest of them – but no match for him.

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"You may surrender or fight."

Their leader responded by raising the oversized axe he was wielding to match Liu Wei's pose of challenge and one of the others loosened an arrow aiming for his head.

Liu Wei casually moved his head just enough for the arrow to harmlessly pass by him and smiled faintly.

"I see."

Then he unleashed the full pressure of his presence onto them.

All four of them flinched and before they had a chance to recover, Liu Wei shot forward in a burst of speed that would have made him blur to the mortal eye. With one hand, he swung his sword at the axe wielder, while he unleashed a close-ranged blast of flame at the archer with the other.

The latter, a white-haired woman, immediately propelled herself about two dozen meters backwards in a gust of wind, managing to escape the flame's range, only a small portion of the heat it gave off hitting her. Not too surprising, wind cultivators were known for their speed above all else.

The axe wielder didn't do as well. He was too surprised at the sudden attack to properly defend himself, only managing to intercept Liu Wei's swing with the haft of his axe… Or at least that was what would have happened, if the sword hadn't been sharp enough to easily cut through said haft, despite it being heavily reinforced with steel. The man's armor fared equally badly, leaving him with a straight, if not terribly deep cut across his chest.

Only after that did he manage to retreat, returning his cut axe to his spatial ring and substituting it with a hammer. From what Liu Wei could tell, he was an earth cultivator, which put him into a terrible position fighting this high up in the air. They had been reckless in their pursuit of Fang Gong.

The third cultivator, a woman carrying a spear, answered his attack with one of her own, throwing a bolt of lightning at him – which he disbanded with another blast of fire – and following it up with several quick jabs of her spear. Liu Wei twisted his body to dodge the first three, before grabbing her spear by the shaft on the fourth, pulling her towards him by it.

Before she could respond, he swung his sword once more, cutting deeply into her shoulder. Then, he sent her flying towards the ground with a kick to the stomach while holding on to the spear. With that shoulder, she wouldn't be able to use it for a good while anyways.

Liu Wei turned his attention to the last enemy. The young-looking man at the second stage of Dao Contemplation was carrying a sword, but apparently not planning to use it. Instead, he had spent the time his stronger allies had bought him charging up an elemental attack: Suspended over his raised hand was a massive ball of flames, that he was just in the process of hurling at Liu Wei.

The Dancing Flame of the North looked at him with a mix of amusement and pity.

"Bad matchup."

Then he effortlessly wrestled control of the attack away from its owner and had it collapse on him.

As the man was plummeting downward, struggling to put out the fire he had created with his own Qi, three arrows came flowing at Liu Wei in quick succession. Apparently, the archer had recovered. He dodged the first two and cut the third in half before hurling the spear he was still holding at her. She tried to dodge, but was caught in the side by it, running her straight through.

He then used his once again free hand to unleash a concentrated lance of fire at the earth cultivator, who had just made it to the ground. He immediately stomped a barrier of stone out from underneath him, but just like the shaft of his axe, this was once again not enough to protect him.

Liu Wei's attack melted straight through the stone and hit him square in the chest, just where his armor was already cut open. The man was thrown backwards into a nearby tree, the force of his impact throwing splinters of wood in all directions. Perched against the tree, most of his armor burned, melted or blown away, he didn't get up again.

Liu Wei turned his attention to the archer again. She had already started flying away at the highest speed her injured body could manage, but Liu Wei wasn't too worried. A wind cultivator she may be, but she was simply too low a cultivation stage to out-speed him.

Within a matter of seconds, he had caught up with her enough to be in throwing distance again. One of the javelins from his spatial ring appeared in his hand and he didn't slow down as he hurled it at the fleeing woman. It impaled her through the back, sending her swirling around. Before she could recover, Liu Wei was next to her and sent her to sleep with a quick blow to the temple. He then grabbed her by the neck and began dragging her back, while retrieving his javelin.

Upon returning to the scene of battle, he was met with the spear-wielding woman, who was supporting the badly burnt fire cultivator while also holding her own shoulder. Neither of them was armed anymore or made any attempt at attacking him. Once he had flown a little closer, the woman started speaking.

"We surrender."

Her face was strained with pain as she spoke, but her voice was steady.

"You have beaten us, and we do not wish to prolong the inevitable."

Liu Wei looked them over as he descended. Both were wounded pretty badly; the fire cultivator especially was barely managing to stand even with the support. The woman was better, but the cut to her shoulder was deep and the crash to the ground had left her with several more wounds as well. Neither was in a condition to fight or flee anymore.

"Then I'll take you captive."

The woman nodded grimly.

"Follow me then, as good as you can. There is still a battle going on, though I suspect it will not take too long before it's over."

Before heading to the battlefield, Liu Wei took a quick detour to check on the earth cultivator. He was still breathing, though knocked out cold. So Liu Wei had to carry two unconscious bodies back with him. Well, it was his own fault. He had avoided targeting vital organs on purpose. And objectively speaking, prisoners were worth a lot more than dead bodies anyways.

For a while, the three cultivators walked in silence. Then, the fire cultivator, who was barely managing to keep up the pace, spoke up with a raspy voice.

"May I ask… You are Elder Liu Wei, are you not? The Dancing Flame?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then… the Lunar Peaks Sect…?"

"Yes."

"By the Heavens… This war is doomed… No, it was doomed from the start."

Liu Wei hoped that he was correct.

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