Xu Ping’an had not appeared, and no news had arrived.
That short letter was like a stone thrown into a deep pool; aside from the initial ripples, there had been no further sound.
Where did he go? What “matters of the past” was he attending to? The Immortal Destiny Assembly had already begun… was he still alright?
Worry was like dense vines entwining her mind. Facing this grand prosperity before her, she always felt as though she were separated from it by an invisible membrane. The excitement belonged to others; in her heart, there was only a lingering sense of emptiness and hidden concern.
After three rounds of wine and several courses of food, once the initial pleasantries were over, the topics of the sect leaders naturally turned toward the main event.
Perfected Master Yun Yi, Vice Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect, was the first to speak. His face was resolute and his voice was loud:
“Pei Sect Leader, fellow Daoists, this Immortal Destiny Assembly has been hosted by the Liuyun Sect for us to join in this grand event together. However, the world has been unstable lately. The activities of demons and Evil Spirits have been rampant, far exceeding previous years. Even more concerning is that they seem to be organized in their harassment of mortal towns and their destruction of spiritual vein mines. This is surely no coincidence; I fear there is a conspiracy behind it that we have yet to detect. Does the Liuyun Sect have any deeper insights into this?”
The Master of Mysterious Dust from the Mystic Pavilion stroked his beard and nodded, following up:
“Fellow Daoist Yun Yi is correct. Recently, I have been divining the Heavenly Secrets, but I find only chaos and thick fog. It seems as though an extremely ancient Evil Omen is entrenched, causing great interference. And within the borders of Great Qi, disasters are frequent, and the Dragon Qi… seems to show signs of instability.”
His words were restrained, but the phrase “Dragon Qi is unstable” caused the expressions of many Sect Masters who were in the know to change slightly.
Master Miaoyin of The Hall of Compassionate Navigation also sighed softly:
“Blood sacrifices to evil spirits in the South, skeletal monsters in the North, abnormal earth-fire movements in the Southwest… every single case is an ill omen. I believe this turmoil is perhaps not as simple as demons causing trouble. Perhaps… it concerns the flow of the world’s fortune.”
As the topic shifted toward the Great Qi national fortune and possible changes in Heaven and Earth, the atmosphere in the venue gradually became somber.
Everyone’s eyes focused simultaneously on Pei Qingxuan in the main seat.
The Liuyun Sect had a close relationship with the Great Qi Royal Family and was the host of this event; everyone wanted to hear her opinion.
Pei Qingxuan’s heart tightened.
She naturally knew the truth of the Dragon Qi’s decay; she even knew about the Wu Tribe black threads entwined around it.
This matter was too significant. She had been hesitating over whether she should partially disclose it on such an occasion, in front of the world’s righteous path, to gain the true attention of the sects so they could face it together.
Her red lips parted slightly as she prepared to weigh her words.
Then, a sudden change occurred!
Without any warning, an indescribable, terrifying pressure—one that seemed to come from the ancient Great Desolation—descended upon the entire Swordsmith Peak venue like the physical collapse of the firmament!
Boom—!
An invisible shockwave exploded outward from the center of the venue! The floating colored silks and rosy lights were instantly pulverized!
The cups and bowls on the jade tables shattered with cracks, and fine nectars spilled everywhere!
Disciples with weaker cultivation groaned, blood seeping from their noses as they stumbled back or even collapsed directly to the ground!
Even the Sect Masters and Elders on the high platform changed color! They felt a cold, deathly force filled with a savage, decaying aura press hard against their Spiritual Souls. The spiritual power circulating within their bodies suddenly became sluggish, as if frozen! Some leaders of smaller sects with lesser cultivation turned pale, their bodies swaying as they nearly slid from their seats!
“Who is it?!”
“Enemy attack!!”
Alarms rang out from all sides, but more than that, there was a tremor coming from the depths of their souls.
High above the center of the venue, space rippled and twisted like the surface of water, and a blurry figure slowly emerged.
That figure was shrouded in a layer of thick, churning grayish-black mist. Its specific shape could not be seen clearly; only a pair of emotionless eyes, seemingly containing endless ages and death, could be faintly perceived.
There were no massive fluctuations of magical power leaking out. Merely the pressure and aura radiated by its existence alone made all the cultivators present feel suffocated. It was as if they were not facing a “person,” but a walking, malicious piece of ancient history—a terrifying existence that should have been buried by time.
“A Primordial Remnant… or an Ancient Evil?”
The Master of Mysterious Dust’s voice trembled, his eyes filled with unbelievable horror.
This aura was too ancient—ancient beyond the scope of his cognition.
The figure in the gray mist seemed not to care at all about the ant-like reactions below. His (or its) gaze, like a cold probe, slowly swept over the righteous leaders on the high platform who were barely maintaining their sitting positions. It lingered slightly on Pei Qingxuan, indifferent, as if looking at livestock to be slaughtered.
“To obscure the Heavenly Secrets cost me quite a bit.”
A raspy, dry voice, sounding like two pieces of rusted iron rubbing together, emerged from the gray mist and echoed directly within everyone’s Spiritual Soul.
“Today, I shall use your lives and your fortune to compensate for it. The elite of the righteous path? The foundation of the Human Tribe? A joke.”
Before the voice could fade, the gray mist suddenly surged. A massive, sky-blotting bone hand made entirely of grayish-black mist, carrying a deathly aura that could annihilate all life, slowly pressed down toward the high platform!
The movement seemed slow, yet it locked down all aura. It caused the faces of Pei Qingxuan, Yun Yi, The Master of Mysterious Dust, and Master Miaoyin to change drastically. They wanted to resist, only to find the space around them seemingly solidified. Their spiritual power was incredibly difficult to mobilize, and even the resonance with their life-bound treasures became weak!
The difference in strength was like Heaven and Earth!
This was simply not an opponent on the same level!
The opponent’s goal was clear and cruel—to take advantage of the Immortal Destiny Assembly, where the elite of the righteous path were gathered, to wipe them out in one stroke and severely damage the Human Tribe’s fortune and future!
Despair, like a cold tide, instantly flooded many people’s hearts.
Pei Qingxuan gritted her teeth, forcibly pushing her Sword Heart to try and break through that invisible suppression. Even though she knew it was like a mantis trying to stop a carriage, she was absolutely unwilling to wait for death!
However, at the very moment that the destructive bone hand was about to fall and the shadow of death covered the entire field—
“Heh.”
an extremely faint, even somewhat lazy chuckle rang out abruptly.
The laugh was not loud, yet it strangely pierced through that terrifying pressure and deathly aura, clearly entering everyone’s ears. It even seemed to ring out from right behind the gray mist figure.
The figure in the gray mist jerked!
The bone hand pressing down also suddenly stalled in mid-air.
Everyone was stunned, subconsciously looking toward the source of the sound.
Behind the gray mist figure, not far away, another person had appeared at some unknown time.
That person was wearing the simple green robes of a Liuyun Sect Inner Disciple. He had a tall stature and a young, handsome face. A trace of a faint smile hung on the corner of his mouth as he stood with his hands behind his back, looking like a bystander who had just happened to pass by to watch the excitement.
He had appeared there so abruptly—no streaks of light, no spatial fluctuations, and he hadn’t even triggered any advance detection from anyone present, including that terrifying gray mist figure.
It was precisely Xu Ping’an.
He seemed not to feel the terrifying pressure capable of crushing Golden Cores and Nascent Souls, nor did he see the sky-blotting bone hand of death. He merely tilted his head slightly, observing the gray mist figure at close range, his tone as relaxed as if he were commenting on the weather:
“This… Senior, why so much anger? To travel so far just to swat a few flies? Isn’t it… a bit of an overkill?”