Ancient Vine Sect Besieged

Clang! Clang!

The bronze bell hanging from the beam suddenly rang out, jolting Shen Mo awake from his cultivation.

"Someone triggered the warding restriction?"

Sweeping out with his divine sense, Shen Mo found that it was not Liu Siyun or the other maid disciples seeking an audience. They were all staying in their own quarters. Outside the residence, a flying sword circled in the air, unable to break through the formation restrictions.

Without delay, he took out a command token and formed a seal with his hand, shutting down the inner and outer formations.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the flying sword darted inside. It hovered before Shen Mo, trembling and humming, with a jade slip carried within its sword light.

This flying sword was a low-grade spirit-level artifact. Shen Mo detected the aura of Ancient Vine Sect's sect master, Cen Wenzhen, upon it. After Sound Transmission Talismans had ceased functioning, transmitting messages between cultivators had become troublesome. Beyond the range of divine-sense transmission, flying swords, puppets, spirit pets, and the like could all serve as means of communication.

Yet Ancient Vine Sect's mountain gate was only a little over a thousand li from Shen Mo's temporary residence, well within the limit of a mid-stage Origin Core Realm cultivator's divine sense.

Even if Cen Wenzhen had some urgent matter, she could have used an ordinary flying sword to send word. Why had she resorted to a spirit sword?

With some doubt, Shen Mo reached out and plucked the jade slip from the air, sending his divine sense into it.

The next instant, his expression changed slightly. With a wave of his sleeve, he drew the spirit sword inside, then flashed out of the cultivation chamber in a flicker of spiritual light.

That night, the moon shone bright