The sages of the various realms had calculated that entry into the Burial Saint Valley would officially become possible on the tenth day of the tenth month.
On the night of the ninth day of the tenth month, Fang Yun received some deeply troubling news from Kong Delun.
Lei Tingyu, the Great Scholar of the Lei Family who had once been banished to the Sea-Cliff Ancient Land as punishment, had somehow unified the entire ancient land, though no one knew what methods or powers he had used. He was preparing to fully open a passage to the Sacred Academy and obtain the same authority as the Bloodmang Realm: to establish an independent Sea-Cliff Hall, select its own pavilion elders, and formally join the ranks of the Human Race. He was also willing to send troops to Two Worlds Mountain to fight the Demon Barbarians.
Countless ancient lands had ties to the Human Race, but Sea-Cliff, Bloodmang, and New Qin were the most unusual. All three were estranged from the Sacred Academy and considered themselves part of the Human Race, yet the Human Race regarded them as traitor ancient lands, only one step short of becoming Rebel Species ancient lands.
The Sea-Cliff Ancient Land was exceedingly remote and protected by a powerful force. Previously, it had opened a passage to the Saint Origin Continent only once every five years, trading with the Sacred Academy and learning of the changes in the Myriad Worlds over those five years. The Sacred Academy would also send people into the Sea-Cliff Ancient Land.
The Sea-Cliff Ancient Land should have contacted the Sacred Academy this year, but there had been no word from it. The Sacred Academy's Hall of Punishment therefore secretly sent people inside to investigate, ultimately discovering that enormous changes had taken place there.