The second appearance of the meteor spectacle still failed to draw the Hao Clan's attention, nor did it connect those strange cultivators appearing across various regions.
There were practical reasons for this.
The Anomaly Office, which observed unusual phenomena throughout the lands, had no chain of command linking it to the Incident Suppression Office, which handled such matters. Moreover, the Incident Suppression Office had never needed a reason to act; it usually carried out orders issued directly by the Hao Emperor and the Council of Elders.
Now, however, the Hao Emperor lay asleep and would not awaken, while the Council of Elders held power. The various clans stood opposed to one another, and the upper-level military forces of the Incident Suppression Office were tightly confined within Yang Capital. They had no intention of concerning themselves with some anomaly in a local city domain. In the end, they merely dispatched a small squad of Creation refiners to investigate those cultivators suspected of returning from death.
The squad leader was named Jiang Boyu. Nearing fifty, he had spent decades fighting cultivators from the various sects and could be said to possess abundant experience.
The twelve members of his squad were all formidable soldiers who had refined outer armor into their own bodies. Upon reaching a local city domain that had submitted a prior report, they did not pause for even a moment before ordering the strange cultivator they had captured to be brought out.
He was a Profound cultivator disciple who had only arrived here a few days ago. Unfortunately for him, a patrol squad that had relocated there after suppressing bandits happened to be nearby when he descended. Without any courtesy, they struck him down, only to discover that he could return from death.
The patrol squad was greatly shocked. They