"It's the Heaven-Summoning Drum!"
"Why has it suddenly sounded again?"
"It's been so long since we heard that sound. The last time was over a hundred years ago..."
In places ordinary people could hardly perceive, scouts from various factions lurking in the shadows felt alarm and uncertainty, all harboring a measure of bewilderment.
Perhaps these low-ranking scouts lacked the experience to understand the meaning hidden behind those drumbeats, but the leaders above them understood all too well.
Soon, many faces turned exceedingly grave.
"When the Stone Drum sounds, its voice reaches the Heavenly Court... this is an authority possessed only by the Earth Immortal leader who governs this territory! Like the drum that musters officers in an army, it summons the deities, and none dare disobey!"
"Every deity enfeoffed within the North Sea Territory falls under the Incense Accumulation Sect's jurisdiction, and the one the sect put forward as the leader of the Earth Immortals is Li Ling himself. He has the privilege of appointing deities, as well as deploying and commanding them!"
At this explanation, many finally remembered.
Back when the Incense Accumulation Sect joined the Heavenly Court's camp, it had seized an opportune moment and could be counted as the first in the Four Seas to rally to the cause.
From then on, it had used its trade channels with the Righteous Immortal Sect factions on land to break free of the Four Seas Commerce Guild's constraints, standing almost independent of the maritime ruling order established by the Money Guild.
It was precisely this that had allowed it, in just a few centuries, to grow strong enough to contend with the Money Guild's upper ranks.
Otherwise, even with his strength at the peak of the nascent soul realm, Li Ling would merely have been one among many Grand