"The Spirit Firmament Sect and the Illusory Feather Sect have delivered twenty million Spirit Stones as requested. Please accept them, Fairy Cold Moon, to resolve the misunderstanding between our sides!"
Those deeply apologetic words left everyone in the Jade Balance Sword Palace, Fairy Cold Moon included, frozen on the spot...
This...
What was going on?
As requested?
At whose request?
Twenty million Spirit Stones... for their Jade Balance Sword Palace?
A Tribulation Realm elder of the Jade Balance Sword Palace lost his footing and staggered, his face dazed.
"Am I... am I dreaming?"
The elders of the Jade Balance Sword Palace crashed on the spot, exchanging looks of utter bewilderment. These people were indeed from the Spirit Firmament Sect and the Illusory Feather Sect, yet they had come not to cause trouble, but to offer compensation and apologies?
How was that possible?!
None of the Jade Balance Sword Palace's elders could believe it. They knew their own circumstances best, and they did not think their palace possessed anything that would make the Illusory Feather Sect or the Spirit Firmament Sect wary. Especially the Spirit Firmament Sect...
To put it bluntly, their sect facing the Spirit Firmament Sect would undoubtedly be an ant trying to shake a tree.
That was the Spirit Firmament Sect! One of the Heron Empire's top three powers! What did they have that could possibly frighten them? Every last person, Fairy Cold Moon included, was dumbfounded.
Looking at the storage ring the Spirit Firmament Sect's master held out in both hands, not a single elder present dared reach out to accept it.
They even suspected this might be some trick the Spirit Firmament Sect and the Illusory Feather Sect had devised to humiliate them. Until they understood the situation, none dared act rashly. But when Fairy Cold Moon refused to accept it, the Spirit Firmament Sect's master and the Illusory Feather Sect's deputy master grew anxious.
"Please accept it, Fairy. We have come in all sincerity to apologize. We also hope you will inform that senior that our two sects truly had eyes but failed to see. We did not know the senior had ties to the Jade Balance Sword Palace. We offer this compensation, and henceforth our two sects will retreat three leagues and never dare offend the senior's honored gaze again."
Every word he spoke was earnest, but Fairy Cold Moon only grew more bewildered.
What senior? As deputy palace master, how did she not know her own sect had such a formidable senior? Had they gotten something wrong?
But... having come to apologize with such fanfare, it could not be a misunderstanding... Just as Fairy Cold Moon remained puzzled and hesitant to act, a streak of light swept across the horizon. A figure appeared before them-none other than Chen Xiong, whom they had been unable to contact for so long!
"Elder Chen! You're still alive?" The Jade Balance Sword Palace's elders were both startled and delighted.
Chen Xiong scratched his head and chuckled.
"Of course... I lost my communication jade pendant while being pursued, which is why I never contacted the sect. We can catch up later. Deputy Palace Master, you should accept their compensation. If you don't, I'm afraid they won't leave."
The Jade Balance Sword Palace's higher-ups had all thought Chen Xiong had met an unfortunate end. They had never expected to see him again, but his words left them as lost as a monk trying to feel the top of his own head.
"Elder Chen, what do you mean?"
Faced with his fellow sect members' confusion and puzzlement, Chen Xiong glanced at the other sects' master and elders still standing nearby, then chuckled and shook his head.
"It's a long story. Accept the Spirit Stones first, and I'll explain everything in detail afterward. In short... the crisis facing our sect has been resolved. From now on, the Spirit Firmament Sect and the Illusory Feather Sect will never again cause trouble for our Jade Balance Sword Palace, nor will they dare!"
He spoke with easy confidence, his face full of pride, but his words left the Jade Balance Sword Palace's higher-ups anxious.
The higher-ups of the Spirit Firmament Sect and the Illusory Feather Sect were still right there! How was saying such things any different from slapping them in the face?
Yet... what happened next left the Jade Balance Sword Palace's elders bewildered once again. The Illusory Feather Sect's deputy master and the Spirit Firmament Sect's master exchanged a glance, faint, bitter smiles appearing at the corners of their mouths in unison.
"Yes... we truly dare not trouble your esteemed sect again. What happened before was our fault!"
The Spirit Firmament Sect's master hastily agreed, his face filled with bitterness. Looking at him now, who could have imagined he was actually the master of the Spirit Firmament Sect?
Fairy Cold Moon hesitated for a moment, then reached out and finally accepted the storage ring.
"In that case, I'll accept it."
Watching her take the storage ring, the Spirit Firmament Sect's master secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Now that we've delivered our compensation, we won't disturb you any longer. Farewell!" He hurriedly left with all his sect's elders. Having lost its master, the Illusory Feather Sect had even less right to speak and hastily followed behind.
The King Realm experts turned into streaks of light and vanished in an instant, leaving behind a crowd of bewildered Jade Balance Sword Palace higher-ups.
"Do we... still keep our sect-protecting formation active?" Naturally, there was no need to keep it active.
Amid haste and confusion, the sect-protecting formation was shut down just as it had been activated, while Chen Xiong was surrounded and escorted to the council hall. Faced with all those eyes thirsty for answers, he hurriedly recounted his experiences along the way.
"On this journey to Cangnan, I..." He explained in detail. Though he used plain language, everyone broke into a cold sweat for him upon hearing that two King Realm experts had pursued him along the way. Recalling the danger himself, even Chen Xiong was left marveling, filled with relief at his good fortune.
"Though it was dangerous, fortunately, Heaven never seals off every path. I encountered Senior Lin and the palace master. Otherwise, I'm afraid I wouldn't have made it back to the palace today."
He shook his head and sighed, still shaken by the memory, but the elders listening nearby keenly picked out a term in his words.
"The palace master?"
Half startled and half bewildered, they could not help looking toward Fairy Cold Moon at the head of the hall.
The elders present had been members of the Jade Balance Sword Palace for many years, yet they had never met the palace master or heard of any of the palace master's deeds. Everything they knew came solely from Deputy Palace Master Han Yue.
As such, many of them had even once believed that the Jade Balance Sword Palace's master had long since perished, or that there was no palace master at all-that this supposed palace master was merely an excuse Fairy Cold Moon used to ward off the covetous eyes of other powers.
Upon hearing the words "palace master," Fairy Cold Moon's expression instantly became intensely excited. She stepped forward and pressed him urgently.
"You saw the palace master? You really saw her?"
Chen Xiong dared not delay either. He hurriedly nodded and described in detail all the circumstances surrounding his encounter with Lin Xuan's group.
What he described in the greatest detail was the white-robed palace master's appearance and bearing.
After hearing Chen Xiong's description, a glimmer of moisture shone in Fairy Cold Moon's eyes. Unable to hide her excitement and delight, she nearly wept with joy.
The palace master... it really was the palace master! After disappearing for so many years, had she finally remembered me, remembered that there was still a Jade Balance Sword Palace in the Heron Empire? As though Heaven had opened its eyes and truly answered Fairy Cold Moon's thoughts, just as she struggled to contain her joy, several presences rushed into the Jade Balance Sword Palace and landed directly outside the main hall. Before that, not a single elder had even reacted. Only when the unfamiliar presences arrived before the main hall did they belatedly notice.
"Who's there?!"