Midnight, the dead of night.
Beyond the tall walls of the imperial city of Xujing, in the garden rockery behind a grand mansion near the palace—one that had apparently been left vacant by some high-ranking official—eight Yellow Maple Valley cultivators gathered as scheduled: Han Li, his senior brother Liu Jing, his senior sister Zhong Weiniang, his senior brother Song Meng, his sixth senior brother Wu Xuan, Senior Sister Chen Qiaoqian, and Chen Qiaoqian's two underlings, Junior Brother Xue and Senior Brother Wang.
They were all dressed for battle, either in Yellow Maple Valley uniforms or in fitted leather armor with defensive properties. Clearly, they were ready and simply waiting for the operation to begin.
Actually, the vacant estate had quite a few servants and guards on duty. But the group wasn't particularly worried. They were all highly skilled cultivators, and dealing with mere mortals was no trouble at all. Besides, they had completely concealed the auras around the estate, so the mortals who had gone to bed early certainly wouldn't notice anything unusual.
Among them, Han Li and Liu Jing had the highest cultivation. Both were at least in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. The weakest, such as Chen Qiaoqian's two underlings, were still at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.
Of course, their strength was nothing compared to the Fairy Mo before them. She wore a flowing white dress as light as clouds, with a bright red sash at her waist and a purple sword in her hand. A gauzy veil covered her hat, and a white mask concealed her face completely. She descended from the sky like an immortal.
That was because everyone present could sense the surging spiritual power coming from Fairy Mo. She was definitely at least at the Core Formation Stage; there was no