Web of Light

Morning came.

The sun rose as it always did. Everything looked normal.

Only the occasional faint ripple in space suggested otherwise, and even that seemed inconsequential.

Yet every cultivator, wherever they were and whatever their cultivation, looked as though they faced a formidable enemy.

An ordinary Tianxuan Day was a feast, a golden opportunity for cultivators to break through bottlenecks. This time was different.

The feast might become a disaster.

Chen Lin stood beside his Immortal Cave in the Inner City, his expression grave.

He had expected to remain in the Immortal Palace, where being among so many powerful cultivators would have made him much safer.

Instead, he had been sent away.

He was hardly alone. Every cultivator below Void Refinement had been ordered to leave. The Immortal Palace was the Array Core of the great formation that encompassed the entire Southern Star Realm. Once it began operating, anyone below Void Refinement would be unable to withstand the immense energy it released.

In that sense, the order was for their safety.

But it also left them far less secure. The Inner City had countless powerful cultivators and an activated Defensive Formation, but it could not compare with the Immortal Palace.

"Brother Chen!"

"Sect Master Luo!"

As Chen Lin watched, three figures approached together: Mu Xingchen in front, with Jin Xingyun and Dantai Yunjin behind him.

Jin Xingyun and Dantai Yunjin had come to the Inner City as well. By staying together, they could look out for one another if anything happened.

"Any news from Wanmeng?"

The Inner City was already under lockdown. Jin Xingyun and Dantai Yunjin had only gotten in because Mu Xingchen had asked an Alchemist he knew in the Immortal Palace to make an exception.

After all, the Inner City was still safer than the Outer City.