The sea of clouds churned as the Cloudbreaker Shuttle tore through the gale winds.
On the deck, Meng Tianzheng stood with his hands behind his back, his robes snapping in the wind.
Behind him stood the nine core disciples led by Xiao Lin. Every one of them looked solemn, seizing the last moments to adjust their condition.
Only in the corner did a grand chair seem utterly out of place.
A copy of Cultivation Notes covered Ye Xingchen's face, its pages rustling with every breath he took.
"We're here."
Meng Tianzheng's aged voice was not loud, yet it slipped clearly into everyone's ears.
The spirit vessel suddenly dipped, piercing through the dense clouds.
Below them, the Severed Heaven Mountains lay across the earth like a decapitated dragon.
The cleft was bottomless. Multicolored miasma could vaguely be seen rolling within it—that was the entrance to the Heaven-Earth Secret Realm.
By now, the once-empty valley was already bustling with people.
Several powerful auras shot into the heavens. Even from afar, one could feel the suffocating pressure they exuded.
"Qianyuan Mountain, Heaven Mending Sect, Ageless Mountain, Acacia Sect, Heavenly Demon Sect, Thunderclap Temple..."
Xiao Lin stood at the bow, his gaze sweeping one by one over the major factions occupying advantageous ground below. The fingers gripping his sword tightened slightly.
The seven great sects of Eastern Province had all gathered here.
The First Saint Sect's spirit vessel slowly descended, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The moment they landed, before they could even steady themselves, several gazes stabbed toward them like sharp swords.
"Well, well, old monster Meng. Why are you leading the team this year?"
The speaker was an elderly man in black robes, gaunt as a stick, with deeply sunken eye sockets and a faint black mist curling around him.
Yin