Saw a Ghost

Inside Old Lord Valley's council hall, Valley Lord Linghu Tiangong clenched the teacup in his hand. The tea had gone cold, and veins stood out on the back of his hand. Like most leaders of powers during peaceful times, this Valley Lord who had governed Old Lord Valley for twenty thousand years had always been a composed man—one who followed convention, weighed every side, and mediated between them.

Yet now, his eyes were unfocused. All the calculations and considerations he usually had at hand were useless when everyone in Old Lord Valley wished to throw in their lot with Peerless Hall.

"The First Elder... is dead."

Sorrow, a trace of gratification, and disbelief all surfaced in Linghu Tiangong's eyes. "The First Elder was the oldest existence in the valley aside from our patriarch. He was deeply versed in the valley's arts. He had cultivated six Void Refinement arts to a profound level and had even mastered one Heaven-rank art. Even if he could not win, he had more than enough means to flee. How could he have been so easily killed by a junior?"

Thinking of the intelligence sent back by the disciples, coupled with the radiance of the talisman array that had soared into the sky that day and could be seen from afar, even with all his experience, his heart could not help but pound wildly. "The Azure Cloud Li Family has only a thousand years of inheritance—where did they find such a powerful talisman-path immortal master?"

As thoughts churned in his mind, cultivators moved in and out of the hall. He did not even notice that two women and a man had already arrived before him.

The man looked utterly harmless, with a timid, shrinking manner, while the women at his sides appeared shrewd and wise.

"This