Earthly Immortal Continent, Sky-Gazing Terrace.
On a mountaintop plaza shaped like an Eight Trigrams stone formation, cultivators gathered in great numbers, all hurrying along with grave expressions.
Before long, they reached the main hall at the far end of the plaza. Hong An, the Great Power of the Divination Way who served as Chief Seat of the Sky-Gazing Terrace and one of the two titans of the Spirit Illusion Blessed Land, was already seated cross-legged there, dressed in blue robes of an old-fashioned style.
"An urgent report arrived from the Central Sea today. The Cloudthunder Sect has fallen, and Cloudview Heaven is now in the hands of the Puppet Dao!"
Just as everyone had expected, once all those summoned had arrived, Great Elder Hong opened with news that shook them to the core.
"The Cloudthunder Sect has fallen?"
"So that sect has finally perished..."
An uproar swept through the hall.
Everyone had already braced themselves for this news. The war in Cloud Province had lasted eleven years, and counting the fighting before that, it had gone on even longer.
But what truly shook them was not the fall of the Cloudthunder Sect. It was that, ever since the Puppet Dao's Smokeless City had attacked the Central Sea's Sea Eye, every successive clash of offense and defense between the two sides had ended in defeat for the Immortal Alliance.
This was more than enough to prove that the Puppet Dao of today was indeed nothing like what it had once been.
"By now, you should all thoroughly believe that the balance between offense and defense has reversed. Let us discuss precisely what brought this about."
Hong An merely mentioned the news from the front before changing the subject and inviting everyone to discuss it.
Some fell silent.
These were the people