Heavencrystal Snowfield, Central Preservation Palace.
The vast palace remained empty and desolate. Within the hall, nearly a hundred feet across, Fang Qianyuan alone sat cross-legged at its head, his figure fading in and out of view amid swirling immortal mist.
His aura seemed to have merged with this stretch of heaven and earth, appearing and disappearing, until, after a long while, it passed from insubstantial to solid and gradually became distinct again.
Suddenly, the seated figure opened his eyes. A profound gleam, seemingly reflecting an endless void, flashed within them and vanished.
"Attend me."
"Here!"
As Fang Qianyuan's resonant voice rang through the great hall, several guards clad in black armor, war sabers hanging at their waists, entered through the doorway. With a collective rustle, they dropped neatly to one knee and looked up toward the Cloud Terrace.
"Convey my decree. Mobilize the entire Central Province Branch Headquarters of the Heavenly Dao Alliance..."
"Also dispatch special envoys at once to the Spirit Taming Sect and the Sacred Dragon Sect. Invite Grand Elder Yu Zhen and Grand Elder Li to take part in the encirclement and capture..."
He gave two simple instructions, either of which was enough to shake the world.
"We obey your decree!"
Without the slightest doubt, the guards immediately went to convey Fang Qianyuan's orders.
Not long afterward, within the Clear Spirit Grotto Heaven of the Spirit Taming Sect in Central Province, a white-robed elder with crane-white hair, a youthful face, and an extraordinary bearing received an urgent confidential letter from the Azure Cloud Sect.
He was Grand Elder Yu Zhen, one of the Spirit Taming Sect's current Grand Elders and a peer of Tian Heng.
Over the past twenty years, Tian Heng had gradually withdrawn to contemplate the path to longevity. But a great sect could not