Poison, the Escape Plan Fell Through!

That night, the Second Elder's room remained lit until dawn.

He pulled out the roster of the sect's younger disciples and, by lamplight, selected them one by one.

The roster was not thick, yet he turned every page slowly.

He knew most of these names. He could not bear to part with any of those children.

For several names, his brush hovered in midair for a long while without falling.

In the end, he sighed and crossed those names out.

Those with poor talent were excluded. Those with impetuous temperaments were excluded.

For each person he chose, he marked a dot of ink after their name.

When the ink dots reached twenty-six, he closed the roster and extinguished the lamp.

Early the next morning, before dawn had fully broken.

Those people gathered outside the ancestral hall.

He divided the twenty-six of them into three groups: one each for Gengjin City, Spirit City, and Heaven Dou City.

All twenty-six were the sect's most gifted and steady-tempered young disciples. The oldest were only in their early twenties, while the youngest was merely fourteen.

After calling the roll, he summoned the twenty-six children into the ancestral hall.

Inside the hall stood rows upon rows of memorial tablets for the successive sect masters of the Clear Sky Sect.

Standing beneath the tablets, the Second Elder looked at the twenty-six young faces before him for a long while before speaking.

These children were the future of the Clear Sky Sect.

In another ten or twenty years, perhaps Soul Douluo and even Titled Douluo would emerge from among them.

But now, the sect no longer had the means to protect them.

"I called you here today for no other reason."

"The sect is currently in grave danger!"

The children lowered their heads. No one answered.

They