Sudden Alarm

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" The bursts of blood mist were instantly torn to shreds by the shockwaves generated by the warship's high-speed flight, eliciting mild curiosity from a few Wuji Astral Palace cultivators aboard the sky-patrol warship. "What were they doing? They couldn't possibly think an attack below even Foundation Establishment could shake our Wuji Astral Palace's sky-patrol warship, could they?" "Who knows? That bunch from the Nine Cauldrons Sect were originally marginal figures in the Artifact Sect who weren't even qualified to enter the inner circle. Perhaps they're just ignorant and don't understand the true might of a sky-patrol warship?" "For the past dozen years or so, our sect has been over on the Riyao Continent suppressing the remnants of the Northern Alliance, so our patrols over the Tianxing Continent have been rather infrequent. It looks like we'll have to make these patrols routine in the future, if only to broaden the horizons of these buffoons." Muffled chatter arose among a small handful of people. Yet... That was all. Many aboard the warship didn't even know four sword cultivators from the Nine Cauldrons Sect had violently crashed against the warship's defensive arrays. Even if they had known, they wouldn't have cared. At most, they would have reacted like the adjutant who received the report, muttering a low curse: "What bad luck." The warship continued forward at full speed. ... Inside the mountain gate of the Nine Cauldrons Sect in Jiuxiao City. Within a special palace guarded by arrays, rows of lamps flickered with light. Among these lights, the most prominent were the several dozen lamps situated near the top, though the hundreds arranged below were also meticulously maintained each day. These were the soul lamps of every true disciple, elder, and hall-master-level figure in the Jiuxiao Domain branch sect, and burning atop them were their life flames. From the flickering of these life flames, a skilled lamp keeper could even infer the current state of those true disciples and elders, determining whether they were facing mortal peril, or whether they lived or died. But at this very moment... With virtually no warning, four life flames went out simultaneously. One second, the flames were flickering steadily; the next second, they dimmed abruptly and were snuffed out. The sudden turn of events startled the lamp keeper. His gaze instantly snapped to the four lamps. "Yun Qing, Zhan Yunfei, Tu Hong, Zhang Lie!" Those four names flashed through his mind in rapid succession. This was an elite squad that had repeatedly distinguished itself over the past several months in the clashes against the Xuanming Sect around Posuo Island in the East Sea. Every single member was a ninth-level qi refining sword cultivator, an elite among elites, individuals with real prospects of reaching Foundation Establishment in the future. Combined with the merits they had accumulated, the sect had already granted them treatment equivalent to true disciples, earning each of them a soul lamp here. Yet now, all four soul lamps had gone out at the exact same moment?! "The four of them were still fighting on the front lines of the East Sea—weren't they out on patrol?" For all four of their soul lamps to go out simultaneously while on patrol, the perpetrator had to be a Great Cultivator! Moreover, their soul lamps had been extinguished instantaneously. That sheer, crushing power of annihilation, capable of instantly slaughtering four peak ninth-level qi refining sword cultivators without giving them any chance to resist... Even among great sword cultivators, such a figure would be formidable in the extreme! "Something terrible has happened!" The lamp keeper immediately relayed the report to his direct superior, who promptly passed it up to the War Hall. Zhao He, the Hall Master of the War Hall, instantly tried to contact the Origin Spirit Great Cultivator stationed at Posuo Island, only to find... He couldn't get through?! Was the signal poor? Under normal circumstances, Zhao He would have attempted to reconnect several times, losing at least two or three minutes in the process. But now... Without a shred of hesitation, he contacted Sect Master Zhao Siliang directly. "Sect Master, please use your authority to contact the Heavenly Palace Hall and investigate the situation in the East Sea! The coordinates are..." Zhao He glanced at the patrol route of Yun Qing's squad, which had just been handed to him, deduced the location where they had disappeared, and swiftly reported the coordinates. "What happened?" Sensing the grim look on Zhao He's face, Zhao Siliang asked. "Four quasi-true disciples have fallen simultaneously, and in an instant at that! Based on our current intelligence, it must be the work of a Great Cultivator—and a remarkably powerful one at that. What's more, this clearly hostile Great Cultivator is less than two thousand li from entering our Jiuxiao Domain!" Zhao He said swiftly. "Four quasi-true disciples?!" Zhao Siliang was shocked. "Yes. Furthermore, the captain of Yun Qing's squad is Master Yun Lai's eldest son. Master Yun Lai is currently... the chief artifact refiner at the Zixiao Institute under First Seat Yaoguang, in charge of the entire institute's daily operations." "The chief artifact refiner of the Zixiao Institute..." Hearing this, Zhao Siliang dared not delay. He quickly exercised his authority as branch sect master to contact the Heavenly Palace Hall at the main sect. This department... The Heavenly Palace Hall was under the direct jurisdiction of the main sect. Although the other branch sects had setups comparable to the main sect, they possessed no Heavenly Palace Hall of their own. Soon, a response came from the Heavenly Palace Hall. "Coordinates entered. Heavenly Palace Nine is docking. Heavenly Palace divine mind amplification array initiated. Scanning angle calibrated. Divine mind pulse will arrive in 22.8 seconds..." The voice of the Heavenly Palace Hall operator replied. Zhao Siliang also issued an order alerting personnel that "a scanning divine mind pulse will soon arrive," preventing Origin Spirit cultivators in the Jiuxiao Domain from overreacting or triggering alarms in observation arrays. Twenty-three seconds later, Zhao Siliang, being a top-tier Great Cultivator himself, clearly felt a pulse sweep across. This pulse was exceedingly vast and grand. Amplified by the Heavenly Palace's array, it not only swept downward from the nine heavens, but its scanning radius reached tens of thousands of li. And that was only because Zhao Siliang had provided specific coordinates. Otherwise, given the astronomical cost and amplification power of the Heavenly Palace array, the Origin Spirit cultivator stationed within could easily survey hundreds of thousands, or even upwards of a million li in a single sweep. Naturally, a wider range inevitably meant lower precision. "Scan complete. Sect Master Zhao, an information black zone of unknown intent has appeared outside the Jiuxiao Domain, spanning ten thousand li. The Heavenly Palace Origin Spirit cultivator cannot penetrate it. According to the assessment of the Heavenly Palace Hall's intelligence department, there is a 61.1% probability that it is a sky-patrol warship running under full-band silence, a 22.3% probability that it is a top-tier Origin Spirit cultivator proficient in divine mind denial, and an 11.9% probability that it is a natural phenomenon..." The Heavenly Palace Hall quickly offered a response plan: "We recommend initiating Level Two Alert and dispatching stationed cultivators to investigate." "A 61% chance... of a sky-patrol warship?!" Zhao Siliang's pupils contracted sharply. "Where would a sky-patrol warship come from?! The Great Sun Sword Sect?!" "According to intelligence recently obtained by the Heavenly Palace Hall, a sky-patrol warship of the Wuji Astral Palace departed the airspace over the Liusha Sect, the Black Feather Sect, and the Taiyi Cult on the Riyao Continent half a month ago. Because it engaged stealth technology, we were unable to track it... However, cross-referencing technical signatures shows the information black zone it produces is extremely similar. Therefore, there is a 73.8% probability that this is the very warship the Wuji Astral Palace originally deployed around the Liusha Sect." The Heavenly Palace Hall operator added, "That is also why we assessed a 61.1% probability of it being a sky-patrol warship." Intelligence was never evaluated in isolation; it was always synthesized as a whole. Even if the Heavenly Palace cultivator could not obtain a definitive scan of the intruding enemy here, cross-referencing auxiliary information from other fronts made it entirely possible to deduce the truth. "A sky-patrol warship from the Wuji Astral Palace!" How could a sky-patrol warship of the Wuji Astral Palace appear here?! No! It wasn't hard to imagine at all! In the world today, the only powers possessing relatively high-end fourth-generation technology were the Wuji Astral Palace, the Immortal Alliance, and the Myriad Beasts Sect. But with the collapse of the Northern Alliance, the Myriad Beasts Sect had quieted down recently. As for the Immortal Alliance... Here on the Tianxing Continent, they virtually monopolized the mid-to-high-end medicinal pill market. And the mid-to-high-end artifact refining market... had long been monopolized by the Wuji Astral Palace. The emergence of the modified Jiuxiao Type 12 flying sword had dealt a considerable blow to the artifact refining market. In particular, who wouldn't turn green with envy over Elder Pan Qi's order from the Golden Divine Temple, worth tens of millions of spirit stones? Under such circumstances, the Wuji Astral Palace had two choices: either release more cost-effective flying swords to compete, or... suppress and destroy their competitor at the root! And with the Wuji Astral Palace's overbearing modus operandi, they had clearly chosen the latter. The instant he pieced together the stakes and motives, Zhao Siliang broke out in a cold sweat. A sky-patrol warship! A sky-patrol warship radiating murderous intent, bearing straight down on their Jiuxiao Domain's Zixiao Institute?! "Zhao He! Initiate Level One Combat Readiness! Jiuxiao City, Longxiang City... activate all grand arrays across every surrounding city! Run them at maximum power!" Zhao Siliang swiftly commanded. "Maximum power?!" Zhao He's heart jolted. Arrays of that scale burned through spirit stones at an alarming rate the moment they were brought online. City-guarding arrays with such massive coverage could easily consume thousands, if not tens of thousands, of spirit stones in a single day. Zhao Siliang said in a grave voice, "A sky-patrol warship from the Wuji Astral Palace is bearing down on us! Its target is the Zixiao Institute!" "A sky-patrol warship?!" Zhao He's pupils contracted violently. It was actually a sky-patrol warship from the Wuji Astral Palace?! "Thank heavens Yun Qing and his team raised the alarm in time. Otherwise, if that warship had managed to appear brazenly over the Jiuxiao Domain with us completely unprepared... the consequences would be unimaginable... Their blood was not shed in vain!" Zhao Siliang looked at Zhao He. "Assemble all Star Lord body cultivators, Foundation Establishment sword cultivators and spell cultivators, and Origin Spirit cultivators. War is coming." "All of them?!" "All of them!" "Understood!" Zhao He nodded heavily and hurried to carry out the orders. As command after command went out, the entire War Hall rapidly sprang into action. "The Zixiao Institute! The top-grade spirit artifact market... a future Artifact Refining Grandmaster..." Zhao Siliang took a deep breath, quickly opened the communication interface on his console, and transmitted a message: "Connect me to the Sect Master!" He was already the sect master of the Jiuxiao Domain branch sect. The only person he would address as Sect Master was... Soon, the connection went through. A figure clad in green robes, appearing to be in his thirties and exuding spirited confidence, was projected before him. "I am Li Qingshan." "Sect Master." Zhao Siliang offered a slight bow and cut straight to the chase before the other man could speak: "I need the main sect's help." "Junior Brother Zhao? What happened?" Li Qingshan asked quickly, not minding Zhao Siliang's interruption in the least. In the Nine Cauldrons Sect, differences existed only in rank and duty; fundamental equality between members was never an empty platitude. Keeping his words brief, Zhao Siliang relayed the mortal peril facing the Jiuxiao Domain via divine sense transmission. "A sky-patrol warship sailing right into our Nine Cauldrons Sect's territory, having murdered four of our true disciples! Their blood will not be shed in vain!" The Sect Master of the Nine Cauldrons Sect declared his stance without a shred of hesitation: "Main Sect Decree: All Great Cultivators across the six domains bordering the East Sea are to reinforce Jiuxiao! An urgent order to War Hall Master Zhou Yuan: lead the Sword-Bearing Institute to Jiuxiao Domain at top speed!" "The Sword-Bearing Institute?!" Hearing the name of the organization that represented the absolute pinnacle of the Nine Cauldrons Sect's martial might, Zhao Siliang's eyes shook with shock. "Sect Master, are you planning to..." "I have heard of the Zixiao Institute's achievements more than once. If I hadn't been so bogged down with affairs, I would have gone to meet that First Seat of Zixiao in person. He is precisely the kind of top-tier talent our Nine Cauldrons Sect needs most. If we cannot even protect talent like him, how can our Nine Cauldrons Sect ever speak of rising, let alone revitalization?" Li Qingshan's voice rang out with iron resolve. "Furthermore, the Liusha Sect has already been carved up and devoured by the Wuji Astral Palace and its allies, and they are scouting everywhere for their next prey. Us, the Brahma Divine Kingdom, the Sacred Flame Cult, the Shaman Sect—we are all within their crosshairs... If we don't want the Wuji Astral Palace to feast on us, we must fight!" Hearing this, Zhao Siliang drew a sharp breath. There was such profound implication behind the arrival of the Wuji Astral Palace's sky-patrol warship! "Our Nine Cauldrons Sect must take the firmest possible stance against this provocation!" "But what if—" "There is no 'what if'!" Li Qingshan clenched his fist and swung it down hard. "Only by fighting—and winning—can the Nine Cauldrons Sect continue to survive and grow!" Zhao Siliang straightened, solemnity settling over his face. "Rest assured, Sect Master! The Jiuxiao Domain will not let you down!"