The great hall lay deathly silent, and no one spoke for a long while.
After a moment, Ouyang Changhe was the first to speak, breaking the silence.
"Last night, I arrived at Jadegreen Manor alone ahead of the others. There was a sea of fire and withered corpses everywhere. I searched the entire manor, yet Manor Lord He was nowhere to be found. Even then, I had begun to wonder—could there be something wrong with Manor Lord He?"
At this point, he shook his head with a self-mocking smile.
"I thought I was merely overthinking it. Perhaps Manor Lord He had gone after the Demonic Sect, or perhaps there was some other hidden reason... I never expected the answer to be this. What Old Tu said today has truly shaken me to the core!"
Everyone in the hall nodded at his words.
This matter had indeed caught everyone off guard. The threat closest to their hearts had actually been lurking right beside them.
"As for Tian Ming breaking through to the True Essence Realm, there is no need for everyone to be overly pessimistic."
Ouyang Changhe changed the subject and continued, "The fact that he plans to bathe Skycloud Prefecture in blood one month from now proves that breaking through to the True Essence Realm will take him quite some time!
"The difficulty of breaking through to that realm needs no explanation from me. I am sure everyone understands it well enough."
His gaze swept across the crowd. A fierce glint flashed through his eyes, and his voice suddenly turned cold. "Our most urgent task is to find Tian Ming's hiding place within one month—the sooner, the better! Before he succeeds, we must kill him!"
Xiao Beiluo was the first to clap in praise. "Brother Ouyang is absolutely right. Rather