Kill Heng Society's Operation, New Year's Eve Assault

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, five months had gone by since Lin Heng broke through to Great Grandmaster.

On the Lan River outside the capital of the Flying Waterfall Dynasty in central Lan Continent, a Painted Boat drifted slowly along the river.

A secret gathering was underway aboard the Painted Boat.

Li Hen Pavilion Elder Hao Shuang, Divine Doctor Sect Elder Shu Qiu, Mad Blood Gang Elder Xue Ming, Nether Palace Elder Shi Wuzheng, and Limitless Hall Elder Yu Mo—the five who had once formed the Anti-Cloud Sword Palace Alliance—were all aboard this Painted Boat.

Besides them, many mysterious figures wearing masks and entirely shrouded in oversized black robes had also joined the gathering.

There were seven of these mysterious figures in total. Outsiders could not discern their identities, but every one of them possessed a powerful aura. Even if they were not peerless experts at the Great Grandmaster level, their auras stood above the Twenty-fifth Heaven of the Grandmaster Realm. Their strength was exceedingly formidable.

The twelve people before them were the entire current membership of the Kill Heng Society, representing twelve major Jianghu forces.

"News has come from Cloud Sword Palace. After Lin Heng made a brief appearance at his Great Grandmaster Celebration a month ago, he has shown no sign of coming down the mountain. He continues to cultivate in seclusion within the mountain gate."

"From the aura he failed to conceal during that brief appearance, our scouts have concluded that his cultivation is still advancing at a rapid pace, breaking through toward even higher levels."

"Now, we must prepare for the worst."

As the host of the meeting, Hao Shuang swept her gaze over those present and relayed the intelligence she had just received.

Over the past several months, these twelve major forces had contacted one another and gathered together.

They had assembled many experts, intending to strike when Lin Heng descended the mountain to travel the world—catching him off guard and killing him with overwhelming Combat Power.

According to their expectations, Lin Heng had broken through to Great Grandmaster at such a young age. At the height of his youthful vigor, there was no way he would not descend the mountain to see this vast world.

Yet events had not unfolded as they wished.

A month after Lin Heng's Great Grandmaster Celebration, he was still cultivating bitterly within the mountain gate, as if he cared nothing for the splendors of the world. He was practically a Natural Cultivation Seed.

Such extraordinary self-discipline filled the people of his own sect with eager anticipation for his future accomplishments, while making every enemy tremble in fear.

The so-called worst-case scenario was that the Kill Heng Society had to prepare to storm the Cloud Sword Palace Mountain Gate and forcefully kill Lin Heng.

That path would be difficult. As one of the Jianghu's three great Righteous Path Martial Arts Holy Lands, Cloud Sword Palace was immensely powerful and had many allies. They were not clay figures to be kneaded at will.

This was a tremendous gamble. If they won, they could preserve their own interests and no longer fear that an invincible powerhouse would loom over them and their descendants for centuries. They could even seize the chance to carve up Cloud Sword Palace's interests.

But if they lost, they would lose everything. Neither they nor their descendants would ever know another peaceful day.

Yet at this moment, no one in the Kill Heng Society showed any intention of backing down.

Since they had already come this far, they had made their choice long ago. There was no possibility of giving up halfway.

"Does anyone wish to withdraw now?"

Hao Shuang asked symbolically.

But no one answered.

Seeing this, Hao Shuang, the host of the gathering, continued, "Since that is the case, let us discuss how to storm Cloud Sword Palace and kill Lin Heng. Please, speak freely."

After a moment of silence, a masked man in black robes spoke in a low voice.

"Under normal circumstances, for a Martial Artist in the Great Grandmaster Realm, advancing one level of cultivation in ten years would already count as Peerless Talent. But a heaven-defying genius like Lin Heng cannot be measured by common sense. Perhaps in a year, or even less, Lin Heng will undergo a Transformation in Artistic Conception and raise his cultivation."

"The longer we delay, the harder he will be to kill."

"Therefore, we cannot spend too long preparing. We must fight a swift battle and end it quickly. At the latest, we must launch our surprise attack by the end of this year."

"I suggest we set it for New Year's Eve. Many Cloud Sword Palace Experts and Sect Members and Disciples will return home for the new year. Only experts without family or relatives will remain to guard the mountain gate. That will be when Cloud Sword Palace's defenses are at their weakest."

No one voiced any objection, and the time to strike was decided.

What came next was the specific operational strategy.

A Black-Robed Masked Figure spoke. "Although many people will go home on New Year's Eve, Cloud Sword Palace's core experts will not disperse. They will celebrate the new year directly within the mountain gate. Before we act, we must find a way to draw those experts away."

"We can strike at Cloud Sword Palace's businesses across various regions, or create some major incidents to draw their attention. Make them too busy to attend to anything else, wear them down with constant responses, and reduce the number of experts remaining at Cloud Sword Palace as much as possible."

Li Hen Pavilion Elder Hao Shuang nodded. "That can be done. I will mobilize my disciples to indiscriminately harvest essence and kill people throughout the territories of the five great dynasties under Cloud Sword Palace's control, drawing their experts into pursuing us."

Divine Doctor Sect Elder Shu Qiu also offered his own method. "I happen to have many medicines I have been wanting to test lately. This is a fine opportunity. Hehehe."

The others spoke up as well, each voicing their own sinister schemes.

Hehehe.

For a time, sinister laughter echoed continuously throughout the gathering.

"Finally, the Combat Power originally intended to intercept and kill Lin Heng is no longer sufficient. Since we are storming the Cloud Sword Palace Mountain Gate to forcefully kill him, we must prepare more Combat Power. Otherwise, even if we succeed in killing him, it will not be worth it if we suffer devastating losses ourselves."

After they had finished discussing ways to draw away Cloud Sword Palace's experts, another Black-Robed Masked Figure voiced his opinion.

Their purpose in snuffing out the genius Lin Heng was for their own interests, not to throw away their lives.

If they achieved their objective but suffered catastrophic losses in the end, that would still amount to defeat.

"Do not worry. I will invite more experts to lend us their aid and also try to bring more forces from the Neutral Faction into our ranks."

The twelve forces attending the gathering all declared that they would contribute money and manpower.

Someone else suggested that they should drill a formation to better combine their Combat Power and reduce the losses of their surprise attack on Cloud Sword Palace.

No one objected to the proposal, and it was approved as well. They decided to practice the widely circulated Three Talents Formation of the Jianghu.

Once all preparations were complete, they could conduct this exercise before truly taking action.

With that, the discussion drew to a close.

Next, the Kill Heng Society began to move in earnest.

In secret, they offered immense benefits to recruit more experts and Neutral Forces into their ranks. At the same time, they began gathering manpower, preparing to cause trouble across various regions one or two months before New Year's Eve, drawing Cloud Sword Palace Experts away from the mountain gate.

Once these preparations were complete, they would gather all their High-End Combat Power.

They would drill the Three Talents Formation and wait for New Year's Eve to arrive.