The human race.
The Universe Sect.
A pavilion on Springwater Peak.
Fang Qing sat watching Sect Master Xuanmiao brew tea.
He chuckled. "You've been busy lately, Sect Master. It's rare for you to visit my Springwater Peak..."
Xuanmiao shot him a resentful glance.
If this elder hadn't brought back that dreadful news, would he still be so busy?
And by now, the situation beyond the sect seemed to be growing more dire.
"To tell you the truth... I've learned that Senior Ling Xuzi, the pillar that holds up the sky for our human race, the needle that steadies the sea, has gone to the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm. I'm afraid he's trapped there now..."
Sect Master Xuanmiao sighed.
"We aren't alone in this. The other races have also lost much of their strongest fighting strength... We should still be all right."
Apart from taking immortal pills to temper his body and cultivating the Ninefold Firmament Scripture, Fang Qing had spent more time attending to the Breath-Nourishing Dao lately. He truly knew little of the situation outside.
Xuanmiao gave a bitter smile. "Many high-level cultivators of the Bone-Pattern Sacred Clan, Winged Clan, and Mirror-Scaled Fish Clan are indeed trapped in the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm... I hear those great clans even plan to call on cultivators at Mahayana and above to mount a rescue. Of course, that has nothing to do with us. What worries me is that the first troubling signs have appeared... Traces of Dream Spider Clan activity have turned up among the nearby Winged Clan and Mirror-Scaled Fish Clan..."
"The Dream Spider Clan?"
Fang Qing thought back to something he had read in a miscellaneous book. "The race that once fought the Bone-Pattern Sacred Clan for supremacy? Weren't they wiped out?"
"It seems the purge wasn't thorough. A few slipped