The Breeze Sect's main hall.
"Sect Master, word has it that the Qingshui Ye Lineage is heading toward our sect, claiming they intend to... to..."
"To do what?"
Zhao Si, the master of the Breeze Sect, sat in the great hall and asked indifferently.
"To wipe out our sect!"
Below him, a deacon steeled himself and answered.
"What?"
Zhao Si was startled at first, then slammed the table and rose, furious. "You said the Ye Lineage intends to wipe out our Breeze Sect?"
"Yes..."
Feeling the sect master's anger, the deacon said in a trembling voice, "They say an ancestor suddenly appeared in the Ye Lineage, and he's very powerful!"
"Hmph!"
Zhao Si snorted, then sat down and said coldly, "Just an ancestor who popped out of who knows where, yet he dares leap about before my Breeze Sect. He's courting death!"
Hearing this, the deacon chimed in, "The Ye Lineage really has a dog's gall that fills the heavens. Not only did they kill Elder Chen, but they even dare come knocking at our door!"
"They truly don't know their own limits. Utterly laughable!"
He couldn't understand it. Wasn't the Ye Lineage simply courting death?
Though an ancestor had suddenly appeared, how strong could a self-proclaimed ancestor of such a small lineage be? At most, he was only in the Xiantian Realm.
The sky had probably cleared, the rain had stopped, and they thought they had what it took again.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have done something so foolish.
But they didn't know that angering the sect master left only one road: death.
At this thought, he couldn't help sneering repeatedly.
"Heh, heh."
Zhao Si sneered and waved his hand. "You may leave. Keep watch on the Ye Lineage's movements at all times!"
"But... Sect Master, any Xiantian Realm elder we send could wipe them all out. Why don't we strike first?"
The deacon was somewhat puzzled.
The Ye Lineage currently had, at most, one Xiantian Realm cultivator. Couldn't they simply send an elder to destroy them? Why waste time waiting for them to attack?
Besides, this would damage the Breeze Sect's prestige.
"Hmm?"
Zhao Si swept his sharp gaze toward the deacon and said coldly, "Are you questioning my decision?"
"I wouldn't dare! I wouldn't dare!"
The gaze scraped painfully across the deacon, and he hurriedly said, "I'll see to it right away!"
The sect master saw far and planned ahead. Someone as insignificant as him couldn't understand it.
In any case, the Ye Lineage's people were certain to die. There was no need for him to meddle; he only needed to do his own job well.
Once the deacon withdrew, Zhao Si sat in his chair, deep in thought.
He couldn't understand it either.
He knew something of the Ye Lineage's background. Had the ancestor not specifically stressed that there might be something amiss with them, he would never have noticed such an antlike little lineage.
As for the ancestor who had suddenly appeared in the Ye Lineage, he could crush a whole handful of ancestors from such small lineages with a single pinch. Ordinarily, he wouldn't even spare them a glance.
Yet this little lineage had not only killed Elder Chen, but had also taken the initiative to attack, declaring that they would destroy him.
When things strayed from the ordinary, something sinister had to be afoot!
There was definitely something wrong with the Ye Lineage!
At this thought, his eyes suddenly lit up.
Then he immediately ran to a forbidden area within the sect.
"Ancestor, the Ye Lineage is coming to our doorstep, declaring that they'll wipe out our Breeze Sect!"
Inside the forbidden area, Zhao Si respectfully bowed to a white-haired old man.
The old man was the Breeze Sect's ancestor, Zhao Heng.
"Oh?"
Zhao Heng narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled. "Why has the Ye Lineage suddenly come to attack us?"
"Well..."
Zhao Si pondered for a while, then said, "I can't understand it either!"
"By all rights, the Ye Lineage should be kneeling and begging for our forgiveness right now. Failing that, they should at least be hurrying out of our sphere of influence. Yet they've come to attack us instead. It makes no sense at all!"
Zhao Heng glanced at Zhao Si and continued with a smile, "How did the matter I entrusted to you last time go?"
"I already had Hao'er take some men disguised as Ye Lineage disciples to rape and murder disciples of the Falling Snow Sect, so we could frame the Ye Lineage. Judging by the time, they should be returning to the sect about now!"
Zhao Si didn't know why the ancestor had suddenly asked about this, but he still gave a detailed report.
"Have they returned?"
A sharp gleam flashed in Zhao Heng's eyes.
"Not yet!"
Zhao Si answered truthfully.
"Then they probably won't be coming back!"
Zhao Heng spoke indifferently, as though everything had been within his expectations.
"What?"
Zhao Si was greatly startled.
He didn't understand why the ancestor was certain they wouldn't return.
"Could the Falling Snow Sect have discovered their identities?"
"That shouldn't be possible either! Even if the Falling Snow Sect discovered their identities, they couldn't have killed them outright. After all, Hao'er has a special status. He's the young sect master!"
Zhao Si looked at the ancestor in confusion.
"It wasn't the Falling Snow Gate."
Zhao Heng's tone remained calm, giving no hint of what he was thinking.
"Then who was it?"
"As far as I know, the Falling Snow Sect has been destroyed!"
"What?"
Unable to believe it, Zhao Si shouted in shock.
"How could the Falling Snow Sect suddenly have been destroyed?"
He looked at Zhao Heng in disbelief, towering waves surging through his heart.
The Falling Snow Sect was a genuine third-grade sect. Had the Breeze Sect's Ancestor Zhao Heng not broken through to Spirit Refinement, its strength would probably have surpassed the Breeze Sect's.
Yet a sect like that had suddenly vanished.
How could anyone believe it?
"It was indeed destroyed. And they say it was destroyed so completely that it was as though it had been erased out of thin air!"
At the thought of such a scene, Zhao Heng couldn't help feeling somewhat afraid. Even the corners of his mouth trembled slightly.
Hearing this, Zhao Si fared even worse. As though struck by lightning, he stood rooted there in a daze, his face somewhat pale and his throat dry. He forced out a few words. "H-how is that possible?"
"If I hadn't sent people at regular intervals to monitor the Breeze Sect's movements, I wouldn't have dared believe it either!"
Zhao Heng spoke with a grave expression.
"B-but who could possess such tremendous power that they could erase the Falling Snow Sect out of thin air? Even the legendary Shattering Realm experts probably couldn't do that!"
Zhao Si still couldn't believe it.
The strongest cultivators in Heavenly Profound Province were only in the Dharma Aspect Realm. Shattering Realm experts could only be found in seventh-grade powers.
Even experts like that probably couldn't erase everything across a radius of over a hundred thousand li out of thin air.
"So I concluded that this wasn't done by a person!"
Zhao Heng looked out the window, a sharp light flickering in his eyes.
"Not done by a person?"
Zhao Si was somewhat puzzled, then inspiration struck. "Could it have been a demonic beast?"
Zhao Heng glared at his fool of a disciple. "It was an emperor artifact, or some other object containing a powerful expert's strike!"
At these words, understanding dawned on Zhao Si, followed by wild delight. "So the Ye Lineage really is that lineage!"
"An emperor artifact! That's an emperor artifact!"
"If our Breeze Sect had an emperor artifact, we could immediately contend with those top powers!"
The Breeze Sect's strongest weapon at present was merely a low-grade earth-tier spirit artifact.
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, and the brighter his eyes shone.
It was as though the emperor artifact already belonged to him.
Seeing his disciple behave so disgracefully, Zhao Heng couldn't help feeling deeply annoyed. "Fool! Is an emperor artifact something we can lay our hands on?"
"Though the Ye Lineage is full of trash, with an emperor artifact at their side, a casual strike could reduce us to drifting ash, just like the Falling Snow Sect."
"Then... then what should we do?"
Hearing this, Zhao Si grew anxious. "The Ye Lineage isn't far from our Breeze Sect now!"
"Hmph!"
Zhao Heng snorted and said disdainfully, "So what? I've long since made preparations!"
A cold smile curled at the corners of his mouth. "Now we just wait for them to throw themselves into the net!"