Within Xi Yu Lake, on a specially arranged islet, the pre-laid array restrictions activated in sequence, transmitting information from thousands, tens of thousands, even millions and tens of millions of miles away, gathering it all here.
In the main hall of the island's sole courtyard, twenty-seven couch seats had been arranged, representing the twenty-seven core sects of the Three Heavens, Nine Lands, and Fifteen Human Sects. They had originally stood empty, but as time passed, one figure after another appeared. Naturally, these were merely projections transmitted through special array restrictions.
The Xiyu Alliance's highest-level deliberations were held in precisely this setting.
In theory, each of the Xiyu Alliance's core sects had one opportunity for such a meeting, but restricted by the rules of deliberation, holding two a year was already considered frequent. Those attending had to be sect leaders; if the leader was in seclusion, then it had to be either the sect-protecting Earth Immortal or the first-ranked person in charge.
Because the distance covered was simply too vast, it was fundamentally impossible for all the projections to be perfectly synchronized.
In fact, from the first person entering to the final projection appearing took a full half hour. During the actual deliberations, they could only spare no expense in using special methods such as void arts to reduce the disparity in everyone's response times, keeping it within a single breath. This also made the pace of the meeting exceptionally drawn-out.
For most of the time, the hall remained silent. Few exchanged pleasantries. Only the low hum of circulating array-restriction energy flowed through the air, reminding everyone present that the cost of every sentence spoken here could match a ritual artifact refined to the sixth or seventh heaven.
To many people's surprise, the first projection to arrive—and the one that quietly