The next day, at the third quarter of the Hour of the Hare.
The warm spring sun had just climbed over the horizon, bathing the mountains of the Cangwu Sect.
The jade-white plaza of Skylark Terrace was already packed to the brim.
Outer sect disciples had formed their own little groups, waiting for the sect's command to depart.
Kong Jiao, Shangguan Yuzhou, and Feng An were among them.
Standing at the edge of Skylark Terrace, Kong Jiao faced the mountains, letting the dawn wash over him as he calmly watched the rising sun at the horizon.
Perhaps because he had obtained definite information in that space within the mountain yesterday, he was no longer quite so uneasy.
The only thing still on his mind was the suddenly altered writing on the Cloud-Pattern Stele.
"Plunder!" Kong Jiao murmured. The two words carried a thick stench of blood in his eyes.
The opportunity in this outer sect training ground would probably be even more difficult than the opportunities before.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out among the crowd on Skylark Terrace.
Kong Jiao's eyes, fixed on the horizon, sharpened along with the rising noise.
There, at the horizon within his sight—
Three enormous ships rose from among the mountains and slowly sailed toward Skylark Terrace.
Each giant ship was astonishingly huge, nearly a third the size of Skylark Terrace.
Their sails billowed as they rode the breeze. Though they traveled through the void, they moved as smoothly as if they were gliding across water, without the slightest jolt.
It was Kong Jiao's first time seeing such a spectacle. He stared blankly at the giant ships drawing ever closer to Skylark Terrace, holding it in for a long while before finally managing a few words. "What... big ships!"
He did not recognize these giant