Atop Heaven Realm Mountain.
An old man with a face full of misery and a calm young man with black hair and starry eyes sat before a chessboard.
On the board, the Eight Great Immortal Sects, the Immortal Sect, and their respective forces, Dao soldiers, armies, and territories interlocked like a dog's teeth. Great legions faced off amid countless tensions. War should have erupted at the slightest touch; at the very least, small-scale clashes should have broken out constantly.
Yet none had.
For more than a decade, the realms had been frighteningly quiet. No conflicts had broken out along their borders. Every minor clash that should have occurred had been swiftly smoothed over by an unknown force.
That was normal for the Eastern Extreme Demon Sect. Its military discipline had always been strict.
But the same was true of the Eight Great Immortal Sects. They must have secretly executed some of the cultivators who spent all day stirring up trouble. Only then could such absolute stillness have taken hold.
"Something must have happened...
"...Something must have happened..."
Xu Yan, the young man with black hair and starry eyes, muttered to himself.
"Some powerful understanding has formed among the Nine Great Immortal Sects. An understanding so strong it's made even the notoriously disorganized cultivators of the Eight Great Immortal Sects sacrifice some of their own interests."
"Impossible!"
"...Utter selflessness... putting the greater good first..."
"Heh. Could words like those really apply to the Eight Great Immortal Sects?"
His voice dripped with mockery.
Silence surrounded him. Wang Chongdao, the miserable-looking old man, said nothing.
A fierce wind swept across the mountaintop, rolling up white clouds and clearing the sky. Sunlight shone straight down, casting golden rays that shifted as the sun rose and the moon set.
This had gone on for decades.