Jade Star and Pure Yin! The Sects Gather!

Inside the Heavenly Illusion Immortal Sect.

The peaks that had once seemed like an immortal paradise now looked somewhat deserted.

But outside Heavenly Illusion Hall, on the main peak that served as the sect's public face, the scene was anything but quiet.

Beyond the white jade steps stood a dense crowd of martial artists and cultivators of every kind.

Their cultivation was at least in the Xiantian Realm, and those in the Grandmaster Realm were hardly rare.

Some rode swords through the sky or mounted spirit beasts; others stood with hands clasped behind their backs atop the clouds. The spectacle was vast and imposing.

The glow of spells, Buddhist auras, and robes of every color mingled with flowing Spirit Light, nearly illuminating the entire universe.

They had all come from the Universe Realm's top sects to visit the Heavenly Illusion Immortal Sect.

But though they called it a visit, the atmosphere was far from friendly.

The gathering had split cleanly into two camps: the Heavenly Illusion Immortal Sect and everyone else.

The students of the other great sects all stared at the Heavenly Illusion Immortal Sect with open hostility.

Though a thousand fingers pointed at them, the Heavenly Illusion Immortal Sect answered with cold faces.

"Everyone of the Heavenly Illusion Immortal Sect, we're borrowing your grounds today to open a new Prodigy Grand Competition!"

"After all, everyone knows your student Ye Li once earned the title of strongest prodigy."

"Though an accident left Ye Li crippled, and no one knows whether he's alive or dead, we sects still feel that holding the new Prodigy Grand Competition here would be fairest."

The speaker was Ye Nantian, sect master of the Nightshade Immortal Sect. A cultivator at the Grandmaster Completion Realm, he was also one of the organizers of this gathering.

His