Wind Thunder Sacrificial Ceremony

Northern Great Sheng, Wind Thunder Prefecture.

As one of the renowned mystical sects of Great Sheng, Wind Thunder Prefecture was situated amid the endless Thunderstorm Mountain Range.

Its territory was vast, controlling the Lightning Marrow Mine Veins of several prosperous surrounding continents. Its foundations ran deep.

Today was the once-in-a-century Lightning Sacrifice Ceremony within the prefecture. It should have been an extraordinarily lively occasion.

Rumble!

Dark clouds blanketed the sky, lightning serpents danced wildly, and muffled thunder rolled through the mountains.

Countless disciples gathered upon the enormous Training Ground, a sea of heads packed tightly together, yet the atmosphere felt somewhat strange.

Everyone's gaze kept drifting toward the central seat atop the ceremonial platform—

It was completely empty.

Not only was the Prefecture Lord absent, even the several core elders who would ordinarily attend without fail were nowhere to be seen.

Only a few lower-ranking elders and stewards remained on the platform, barely keeping the ceremony going. The scene could not help but seem somewhat awkward and desolate.

"Doesn't the Prefecture Lord love lively occasions like this most?"

"Why hasn't he shown up yet?"

"I don't know... I was planning to show off my skills at this celebration and earn the qualifications to enter the Prefecture Lord's discipleship!"

"It's not just the Prefecture Lord! We heard that the other elders had emerged from seclusion some days ago, yet they haven't come either!"

"Could it have been a rumor that they emerged from seclusion?"

The disciples whispered among themselves, discussions breaking out everywhere.

Clearly, they could not understand why the highest ranks of the prefecture had vanished together on such an important day.

Meanwhile.

Deep within the restricted area of the rear mountain, in the depths of Wind Thunder Prefecture's true core treasury, the atmosphere was utterly different—grave and frantic.

The