Southeast of Taiyi City.
Unknown Mountain.
On the morning of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the mist had yet to clear and the golden sun had only just risen above the eastern horizon, but a tense, murderous air had already engulfed the hundred miles around Unknown Mountain.
At the summit, a vast life-and-death arena a thousand zhang across had long since been completed.
The arena was cast from a hundred thousand jin of Millennium Black Iron. Its surface was smooth as a mirror, yet it radiated the cold, heavy feel of metal.
Every piece of Mystic Iron was engraved with the Taiyi Immortal Sect's finest Protective Formation patterns. Layer upon layer of golden lines glimmered faintly through the morning mist.
Even a full-force strike from a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Peak might not shatter the arena.
Around it stood twelve towering Mystic Iron pillars, each coiled with dragon-shaped patterns.
Higher still, dozens of Floating Mountains of varying sizes encircled Unknown Mountain like stars surrounding the moon.
The Taiyi Immortal Sect had specially opened these Floating Mountains as viewing platforms for the visiting Nascent Soul Cultivators. Each had its own restrictions, shielding its occupants from Divine Sense and protecting them from the aftershocks of battle.
Several Floating Mountains were already occupied.
From each one, vast, hidden auras seeped through the morning mist like slumbering beasts. Though their owners had withdrawn every trace of pressure, no one dared underestimate them.
Some cultivators concealed themselves in the clouds, using great power to become part of the mist. Unless a Spirit Transformation Cultivator came in person, no one would spot the slightest flaw.
Others simply sat cross-legged on the summits, sword intent, Core Flame, or demonic energy swirling freely around them. They made no attempt to hide who they were