The Sect's Summons

Li Yu's expression changed in alarm when he saw the blue lotus in the sky.

Only the steward of a Branch overseeing a region for the Five Lotus Sect could issue this kind of summons. Any disciples nearby who saw it had to respond and hurry over immediately.

Once a summons was issued, it meant something had happened.

The only thing Li Yu could take comfort in was that blue was the lowest of the seven grades of summons.

They probably aren't planning a rebellion!

After reassuring himself, Li Yu could only get up and head toward the inner city.

The Five Lotus Sect's service hall, usually almost deserted, was now nearly packed.

Li Yu had never imagined the sect had so many Qi Refinement disciples in Haо City.

He saw Xiong Meng standing behind the counter, surrounded by several unhappy-looking cultivators demanding to know who had issued the summons and what had happened.

One of them even bore scorch marks. Perhaps the summons had startled him while he was refining pills or artifacts, causing him to lose control, which would explain his furious expression.

Xiong Meng was merely an ordinary Branch disciple who had never formally entered the Five Lotus Sect. She was equally bewildered by the summons and could answer none of their questions.

"What's all this racket? Quiet, all of you!"

Just then, a fierce shout rang out from the second floor, booming like thunder.

The ears of the loudest disciples in the hall trembled, and blood seeped out. Despite the searing pain, they forcibly endured it, not daring to make a sound.

Which steward could that be? Li Yu was secretly startled and did not dare use Taiyi Starshine to probe.

The elder serving as the Five Lotus Sect's Branch steward in the Zhao Kingdom was named Zhao Qian, a Golden Core cultivator. Apart from him, this Branch had two deputy stewards, one of whom was also a Golden Core cultivator, named Ding Shuang.

The other was Yuan Hao, who was at the late stage of Foundation Establishment and handled most of the Branch's affairs.

After that fierce shout, the hall immediately fell silent. Li Yu quietly shifted his feet and found the most crowded corner to stand in, hoping to avoid notice.

Soon, a middle-aged cultivator with a square face and an imposing gaze descended from the second floor.

"Greetings, Elder Yuan!"

Xiong Meng and the other Branch disciples breathed a sigh of relief when they saw him and hurriedly bowed.

The middle-aged cultivator was none other than Yuan Hao.

"Make a note of everyone who hasn't come. Compile the list and give it to me later." Yuan Hao's first words after coming downstairs made everyone present breathe easier.

This steward elder had never tolerated so much as a grain of sand in his eyes and placed the greatest importance on rules and discipline. Anyone absent today would certainly end up in his little book.

Xiong Meng and the other Branch disciples took out writing slips and brushes and recorded all the Five Lotus Sect disciples present.

One disciple brought a chair over and placed it behind Yuan Hao. He sat down without ceremony and went straight to the point. "Today, our Branch received an urgent Flying Talisman from the sect's main peak. It said that six disciples' Soul Lamps had gone out simultaneously. Upon checking, they discovered that all six were carrying out missions in the Zhao Kingdom."

"Steward Zhao took this news very seriously and had me examine these disciples' mission records. I discovered that they often went out to sea to gather pearls. This time was no exception. However, I checked the entry and exit records of the formation at the sect's Pearl-Gathering Grounds and found that they hadn't entered. In other words, they may have gone into unclaimed waters or waters belonging to another faction."

"Regardless, they were disciples of our sect. We cannot let their deaths remain unexplained. We must investigate this thoroughly and give the sect an accounting."

At this point, six Branch disciples immediately took their places on either side of Yuan Hao and unfurled six portraits. "These are the people. If you know anything, come forward and tell me."

Li Yu examined them carefully and found that he knew none of them.

A youth beside him, however, blanched in shock. "Aren't those the Wang Brothers? We rent rooms in the same courtyard. A few days ago, they said Senior Brother Ying had invited them to gather pearls at sea."

The moment he spoke, everyone's eyes turned toward him. Li Yu immediately lowered his head.

"Ying... do you mean Ying Ruomu?" Yuan Hao asked.

"Yes." The youth nodded repeatedly.

Meanwhile, other disciples present recognized three more of the six dead disciples. Sure enough, they had all gone out to sea with Ying Ruomu a few days earlier.

The remaining dead disciple had been a loner with no friends. No one present knew his whereabouts, so they could not confirm whether he had also boarded the ship Ying Ruomu had chartered.

"How many people were aboard their ship? Does anyone know?" Yuan Hao asked the crucial question.

Because they had not entered the Five Lotus Sect's waters, they had not needed to register with the sect, so no one could answer that question.

"Master, this is the list of disciples who didn't come today." Just then, a disciple with a square face compiled the information gathered by Xiong Meng and the others and handed it to Yuan Hao.

The solitary disciple's name happened to be on the list.

"Follow the addresses they registered with the Branch and visit them one by one. Find out whether urgent business delayed them or whether they boarded that ship and went out to sea like these six." After reading the list, Yuan Hao handed it back to his disciple, Jiang Shan.

As Li Yu listened, he gathered all the information in his mind.

First, the news from the sect said that six people had died. Of those six, five had definitely boarded Ying Ruomu's ship. In other words, something had happened to that ship.

Was it an assassination targeting Five Lotus Sect disciples? Or had they simply run into blind fools of rogue cultivators out at sea and been murdered?

Or was someone specifically targeting a particular disciple aboard the ship?

What concerned Li Yu most, however, was that Ying Ruomu was not among the dead.

What a pity.

"Six sect disciples killed at once. This is the most heinous incident since I came to the Zhao Kingdom Branch. Whoever did it has shown utter disregard for our sect. Steward Zhao's instructions are that we must kill them as a warning to others." Yuan Hao's voice turned icy as he spoke.

Many disciples in the hall showed righteous indignation.

If this incident was not handled properly, they would all have to bow their heads before others whenever they went out to sea.

Thus, many disciples shared the thinking of Yuan Hao and the higher-ups: blood for blood, tooth for tooth, to uphold the sect's prestige.

"Next, I'll investigate the precise stretch of sea they were heading toward. Make your preparations as well. You'll accompany me out to sea to search. Alive, we must see them; dead, we must see their bodies!" Yuan Hao issued the conscription order directly.

Many disciples' faces fell. This sort of emergency conscription by the sect offered no remuneration and could even be dangerous.

But no one dared refuse.

After all, they enjoyed the benefits of being Five Lotus Sect disciples in their everyday lives. At a time like this, they had to shoulder the corresponding obligations.

Li

Yu also sighed inwardly. He had left Hanging Moon Peak precisely to avoid a possible mobilization for war. Yet he had never expected that even here in the Zhao Kingdom, he would still be unable to escape one.

Fortunately, he had advanced to Whirling Illumination, and his fighting strength was even greater than his peak before Foundation Establishment. As long as he did not encounter a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he could put up a fight.