"Investigate!"
"Investigate this thoroughly for me!"
"I want to know what on earth happened to make the Falling Cloud Sect mobilize ten Golden Core Masters all at once!"
Inside the newly rebuilt Luotian Main Hall atop Danxia Peak.
Luo Chen's face was grim as he growled in near-fury.
Not long ago, when those ten Golden Core divine senses swept across him, he had felt a mortal crisis unlike anything he had ever experienced.
It was the sheer terror of an ant facing a giant!
Those ten individuals did not even need to lift a finger. With merely a flicker of malice, a single thought—
Ten Golden Core-level divine senses could shatter his divine soul in an instant, extinguishing his intellect and reducing him to a lifeless corpse.
Even with the soul defense of the Lanke Black Chess Piece.
Even with a physique comparable to a third-tier archaic demon beast.
Under such an assault, he would be utterly powerless to resist.
Fortunately.
The ten Golden Core cultivators of the Falling Cloud Sect bore him no ill will; they had merely peered at him out of curiosity.
That sensation.
It was as though passersby had casually paused to admire a remarkably flourishing flower in passing.
Did the flower survive being plucked because it was beautiful?
No!
It was simply because no one had felt like plucking it.
Luo Chen despised relying on such luck, and he loathed even more having his life and death held in the hands of others.
He had to know why ten Golden Core Masters from the Falling Cloud Sect would appear together aboard a single flying vessel without rhyme or reason.
Furthermore!
The direction they had arrived from was neither the Mount Thunder Accumulation battlefield nor the Falling Cloud Sect's mountain gate.
Rather, the heading they departed in looked far more like returning home.
In other words, before this, they had certainly joined forces to go somewhere and accomplish something.
Inside the hall, Xing Zonghan stood bowed at the waist, cold sweat pouring down his face.
He had never seen Luo Chen lose his composure like this.
Those roaring shouts sounded more like the furious outbursts of someone pushed to his wits' end.
Given the patience and self-cultivation Luo Chen had honed through years of weathering wind and rain, he should not have been so unhinged.
Yet those were ten Golden Core Masters!
Among them, there had even been a grand cultivator of the late Golden Core stage!
Xing Zonghan swallowed hard and spoke up immediately: "Please give me a little time, President. I will make sure the Luo Net investigates this until every detail is crystal clear."
Luo Chen closed his eyes and waved a hand in exhaustion.
After Xing Zonghan left the hall, a crisp, capable woman's voice sounded in timely fashion.
"Actually, Elder Xing is not to blame."
"He has only recently taken over Su Xiaolin's role to manage the Luo Net. He is still getting accustomed to intelligence gathering and might have missed some subtle shifts across the cultivation world."
Keeping his eyes closed, Luo Chen said in a muffled tone, "I know it is not his fault. But Huiniang, you don't know the sheer terror of feeling like you are being stalked by a pack of wolves and tigers."
Sima Huiniang was startled.
She recalled Luo Chen's earlier lapse of composure.
Even when facing Qin Tairan's direct barrage back then, Luo Chen had never shown the slightest trace of panic.
Yet just moments ago, Luo Chen had violently retreated seven paces, drenched in cold sweat.
She could not help but ask, "Are you certain they were truly ten divine senses belonging to Golden Core Masters?"
"Could there be any mistake about it?" Luo Chen kept his eyes closed as though recuperating his spirit, his tone gradually steadying. "Though those ten divine senses were merely probing, they made no effort to conceal themselves from me. It was only because their gaze was directed solely at me that the rest of you could not perceive it."
Sima Huiniang shook her head. "If the Falling Cloud Sect dispatched ten Golden Core Masters to act in unison, either the operation was extremely secretive, or it was completely out in the open. In the former case, Xing Zonghan won't be able to unearth it, while in the latter, there is hardly any need to investigate—rumors will spread across the Jade Cauldron Domain in a matter of days."
Whoosh!
Luo Chen snapped his eyes open, a brilliant glint flashing through the dim hall like a streak of lightning.
"It was definitely not a covert operation!"
"Returning to their sect aboard a flying vessel with such swagger might conceal them from Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment cultivators like us, but Golden Core Masters along the route would inevitably notice."
"I need not only first-hand news, but also the pertinent details!"
Sima Huiniang nodded thoughtfully.
She then said, "In that case, relying solely on the Luo Net may not suffice. Allow me to mobilize the resources of the Luotian Association to scout for intelligence!"
Over the years, the Luotian Association had expanded its commerce considerably.
The network of connections it had built was also quite impressive.
While it could not be said to cover the entire Jade Cauldron Domain, it possessed reliable channels across the nearby market towns of all sizes and several major immortal cities.
If fully mobilized, an investigation into a minor matter might be hit-or-miss, but for an event of this scale involving ten Golden Core cultivators, they were bound to uncover the whole truth.
Not only that, but Luo Chen also had plans of his own.
He intended to seek an audience with Elder Fei Ming of Mount Ailao.
As a Golden Core Master, Fei Ming's speed and channels for obtaining information were bound to be faster and broader.
However.
When Luo Chen returned to Tianlan Immortal City and arrived at the Jia-1 Immortal's Cave, he was informed by a disciple at the entrance that the cave was shut to visitors.
Luo Chen slipped the disciple an exquisite top-grade magic tool, and only then did the young man discreetly whisper that Elder Fei Ming had departed in great haste yesterday and had yet to return.
One had to understand that a major immortal city required at least one Golden Core Master stationed within it year-round.
In the past, Fairy Jueqing had only been able to leave because Haoranzi had been in prolonged seclusion atop Tianlan Peak.
Yet Fei Ming had set aside the safety of the immortal city and left in such a hurry, which demonstrated the sheer urgency of the situation.
Standing outside the cave dwelling, Luo Chen murmured, "It seems something truly monumental has happened!"
***
Just as Sima Huiniang had anticipated.
A matter involving the deployment of ten Golden Core Masters was either entirely unknown to the world or bound to shake the Jade Cauldron Domain to its core.
And news of this momentous event reached Luo Chen within a mere half-day.
The Yan Alliance had been slaughtered!
Azure Pill Valley had been breached!
Not one, but two earth-shattering events!
The instant the news arrived, Luo Chen was struck dumb with horror, Sima Huiniang's face turned pale as snow, and even Xing Zonghan, who delivered the report, was trembling all over.
The atmosphere in the hall grew stifling to the extreme, with only their hurried, heavy breaths echoing like thunderous drums in one another's ears.
After a long silence!
Luo Chen finally managed to speak: "Is the news confirmed to be true?"
With a trembling voice, Xing Zonghan replied, "It should be genuine. Word of this has already spread throughout Daguang Immortal City and Liuli Immortal City. The news reached us late only because the Yan Alliance's subordinate forces in Tianlan have nearly vanished. However, the movements among the subordinate forces of Azure Pill Valley corroborate this report."
Sima Huiniang said in disbelief, "Has the Falling Cloud Sect lost its mind? Even as a newly ascended Nascent Soul superior sect, they couldn't possibly take on two great sects at once—and on the very same day! Could True Person Han Zhan have intervened personally?"
"No!" Xing Zonghan shook his head vigorously. "The report I received is that Falling Cloud slaughtered the Yan Alliance, while the Sword Sect breached Azure Pill."
"How is that possible? Have both superior sects abandoned all shame?" Sima Huiniang murmured.
"President, what should we do...?" Xing Zonghan asked.
Luo Chen took a deep breath. "Details. I need the specific details of this battle. Even if it is hearsay, I want as much detail as possible."
"Understood!"
Without hesitation, Xing Zonghan immediately exited the Luotian Main Hall.
Sima Huiniang did not delay either; after exchanging a few quick words with Luo Chen, she hurried out the door.
If the news was true, it meant the Jade Cauldron Domain was truly about to be turned upside down.
Two major Golden Core sects had been suddenly attacked by Nascent Soul superior sects, and the descriptions used were words as brutal as "slaughtered" and "breached"—a testament to the savagery of the fighting.
Amid such shifting tides,
a minor Foundation Establishment power like the Luotian Association was merely a frail skiff tossed in a tempest, liable to be caught in the collateral damage at any moment.
Only by securing sufficient intelligence and details could they take targeted precautions.
***
The Yan Alliance slaughtered, Azure Pill breached!
Two earth-shattering crises erupted on the very same day.
To a Jade Cauldron Domain that had only just begun to stabilize, this was nothing short of a thunderclap on a clear day!
In an instant!
Every gathering place of cultivators across the Jade Cauldron Domain was in a frenzy of discussion.
At the same time, many cultivators, guided by the notion that fortune favored the bold while the timid starved, hurried toward the mountain gates of those two great sects.
Meanwhile, piece by piece, intelligence filtered up to Luo Chen's desk after being sifted by Sima Huiniang and Xing Zonghan.
"On the night of the seventh day of the ninth month, in the three thousand four hundred and thirty-third year of the Mountain and Sea Calendar, outside the Yan Alliance's Incense Burning Valley, five hundred Foundation Establishment True Cultivators and ten Golden Core Masters of the Falling Cloud Sect gathered. Striking without warning, all ten Golden Core Masters struck in unison, shattering the Yan Alliance's mountain-protecting grand array. Someone is suspected of employing Nascent Soul-level methods..."
"Cultivators witnessed over a thousand formidable puppets deployed by the Falling Cloud Sect, which bombarded the Yan Alliance's Incense Burning Valley indiscriminately once the array fell..."
"A massive war puppet crafted personally by True Person Han Zhan of the Falling Cloud Sect made its debut, ravaging Incense Burning Valley."
"The attack came so abruptly that the Yan Alliance had no time to react and was overwhelmed. Even when they brought out all their reserves, revealing over a dozen Golden Core Masters rumored to have long since passed away, they were still unable to hold back the Falling Cloud Sect's army!"
"Countless Yan Alliance cultivators perished in an instant. Even the Golden Core Masters whom rogue cultivators viewed as ferocious beasts were blown to bits, bursting into fireworks amid the rain of puppet artillery fire..."
Reading through message after message, Luo Chen's eyelids twitched wildly.
What deep grudge could have driven them to launch a direct assault on the mountain gates?
Although such warfare was entirely in keeping with the ruthless conflicts between cultivation factions, that was a major Golden Core sect!
Yet amidst his shock,
subtle clues that had previously gone unnoticed were pieced together into clear trails.
Rumors circulated that the Yan Alliance had obtained a True Artifact from Bai Ye's cave dwelling.
An innocent man bearing jade invites disaster?
Since the internal war of the Jade Cauldron superior sects began, the Yan Alliance had suffered heavy losses, losing two Golden Core Masters in succession at the Black Water Marsh and Mount Thunder Accumulation battlefields.
Waning strength, and an undefended home base?
And there was more!
Luo Chen's eyes narrowed as he recalled Han Zheng traveling with a contingent two months ago.
Though it was customary for Foundation Establishment disciples of a superior sect to travel on excursions, there was no reason for so many to set out together.
In hindsight, they had clearly departed in batches to surround the Yan Alliance before converging to annihilate it.
In particular, Han Zheng had mentioned a "sect mission."
Furthermore!
"Han Zheng actually dropped a hint to me long ago."
"Back then, when I spoke of exacting vengeance, he said that the greater my expectations, the greater my disappointment would be. At the time, I assumed he was merely displaying the typical arrogance of an elite sect disciple looking down on me."
"Thinking back now, wasn't it because he already knew of the decision to attack the Yan Alliance and no longer regarded their cultivators as living men?"
"Unlike ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators, Han Zheng is the biological grandson of True Person Han Zhan. He certainly knew insider details."
If one connected these subtle threads,
what the Falling Cloud Sect had done was scarcely different from how Luo Chen had led his men to assault the Fu Family Fortress years ago.
First, pin the crime of possessing a "True Artifact" on them, then launch a direct assault on their gates, thereby securing a justifiable pretext.
Moreover!
The Yan Alliance had defected to the Sword Sect and repeatedly targeted the Falling Cloud Sect, breeding immense enmity between the two sides.
After all, the Falling Cloud Sect and the Sword Sect had yet to reach a formal armistice.
Storming the Yan Alliance's mountain gates was entirely expected.
"Then what about the Sword Sect?" Luo Chen murmured.
Why had they sat by and watched, choosing instead to attack Azure Pill Valley?
***
"Rumor has it that Supreme Elder Qingdanzi of Azure Pill Valley acquired a Nascent Soul pill recipe."
"The Sword Sect has been negotiating for it over the past few years, but Azure Pill Valley refused to yield it."
Looking at this piece of intelligence, Luo Chen sneered.
Regardless of whether the rumor was true, was this maneuver not identical to the Falling Cloud Sect's?
They had simply replaced the True Artifact with a Nascent Soul pill recipe.
And on that pretext, they had assaulted their gates?
Xing Zonghan spoke rapidly: "When the Yan Alliance was attacked, they immediately sent an urgent plea for help to the Sword Sect."
"As their territories are relatively close, the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect mobilized at once upon receiving the plea."
"However, instead of directly reinforcing the Yan Alliance, Master Yaoguang decided to employ the strategy of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao."
Luo Chen raised an eyebrow. "Besieging Wei to rescue Zhao?"
Xing Zonghan nodded. "Correct. Master Yaoguang, a late Golden Core cultivator, personally led eight hundred sword cultivators to strike at the Falling Cloud Sect's ally, Azure Pill Valley."
"Their goal was to force the Falling Cloud Sect to withdraw."
"Unlike the Yan Alliance, Azure Pill Valley seemed well-prepared for an enemy assault. By the time the Sword Sect's army arrived, their mountain-protecting array was already active."
"Though the eight hundred sword cultivators struck together, they could not shake Azure Pill Valley's array in short order."
"In the end, Master Yaoguang stepped forward personally, unleashing a tremendous technique to sever Azure Pill Valley's Mount Yuanhua with a single sword strike."
"At that point, the Falling Cloud Sect chose to pull back their forces and rush to Azure Pill Valley's aid. Unwilling to be caught between two forces, the Sword Sect cultivators withdrew."
"Only then did this abruptly erupting conflict draw to a close."
This outcome aligned well with standard siege warfare.
When a faction was prepared, its mountain-protecting array could not be easily breached unless a cultivator of an even higher realm intervened.
However.
Mount Yuanhua had been severed?
Luo Chen's eyelids twitched violently. He vaguely remembered that Mount Yuanhua served as Azure Pill Valley's gateway!
In Azure Pill Valley's Five Peaks Shrouding the Valley formation, Mount Yuanhua was the least crucial peak, yet simultaneously the most vital.
With the gateway broken, spiritual energy would vent outward.
In that case, wouldn't Azure Pill Valley's centuries-long plan to elevate the Pill Valley spirit vein be completely ruined?
Was the Sword Sect's true objective to besiege Wei to rescue Zhao, to seize the Nascent Soul pill recipe, or to shatter the Five Peaks Shrouding the Valley layout?
From the looks of it, apart from the pill recipe, both of the other objectives had been accomplished.
Furthermore!
There was another critical question.
Was this surprise raid an independent move by the Falling Cloud Sect, or had the two sides acted in tacit collusion?
If it was tacit collusion,
would the Sword Sect's destruction of Azure Pill Valley's geomantic layout not also ruin the Falling Cloud Sect's designs on a fourth-tier spiritual ground?
Had the Sword Sect broken its word and changed plans mid-stride?
Finally!
Would another surprise raid like this happen again?
Mount Ailao was similarly lacking in strength and precariously vulnerable.
Ice Fort was situated in a remote region, backed by the Million Mountains of the Eastern Desolation; if attacked at its gates, its members wouldn't even have a way to flee.
Would the traditionally neutral Hundred Blossoms Palace shift its stance?
None of these questions had answers.
Judging by Elder Fei Ming's abrupt departure from Tianlan Immortal City, however, he was likely harboring the exact same fears.
"Not enough!"
"The intelligence is still nowhere near enough!"
Luo Chen muttered to himself.
Xing Zonghan asked in confusion, "Even if the war is fierce and perilous, this is a clash between superior and major sects. Why does the President pay such close attention to it?"
A fierce glint flashed across Luo Chen's face.
"The Yan Alliance is our sworn enemy. Do you really need to ask why I care?"
Xing Zonghan froze.
Having joined the Luotian Association only recently, he did not possess a profound sense of belonging yet.
Only now, upon hearing Luo Chen mention this, did he suddenly realize why the President had pressed for news of this battle again and again.
If the Yan Alliance was wiped out, wouldn't that mean the Luotian Association's great vengeance was avenged?
Xing Zonghan faintly grasped Luo Chen's thoughts.
As it happened, he had joined the Luotian Association not long ago and had yet to achieve any notable merit.
If he could seize this opportunity to render a great service, might he not earn the chance to exchange for the Luotian Association's Core Formation secret technique in the future?
His spirits bolstered, Xing Zonghan spoke immediately:
"Give me a little more time. I will certainly compile all the intelligence on the Yan Alliance!"
Luo Chen gave him a deep look, then nodded slowly.
Chapter 419