Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The blood mist that burst forth was torn apart by the shockwaves generated by the warship’s high-speed flight, causing a few cultivators from the Infinite Star Palace aboard the Sky Patrol Warship to feel slightly puzzled.

"What are they doing? Don’t tell me they thought attacks that don’t even reach the Foundation Building Realm could shake our Infinite Star Palace's Sky Patrol Warship?"

"Who knows? The people of the Nine Cauldrons Sect were nothing more than minor figures in the Artifact Sect anyway. They were never qualified to enter the core circle. Maybe they lack experience and don’t understand the might of a Sky Patrol Warship."

"The sect has spent the last decade or so suppressing the remnants of the Northern Alliance over on the Radiant Sun Continent. We haven’t patrolled the Heavenly Star Continent very often. Looks like we should normalize patrols in the future and broaden the horizons of these clowns."

Low murmurs of discussion arose among a handful of people. But that was all. Many aboard the warship did not even know that four sword cultivators from the Nine Cauldrons Sect had met a gruesome end by crashing into the Sky Patrol Warship’s defensive arrays.

And even if they knew, they would not care. At most, like the aide who had received the report, they would mutter a curse. "Bad luck."

The warship continued forward at full speed.

***

In Nine Heavens City, within the Nine Cauldrons Sect's grounds, in a palace guarded by layers of arrays and bearing special significance, multiple rows of lamps glowed. Among these lamps, the several dozen at the top were the most noticeable, though hundreds more lined up below those were also maintained daily.

These were the soul lamps of all true disciples, elders, and hall masters within the Nine Heavens Domain's branch. What burned within the lamps was their life flame. By observing the flicker of these life flames, experienced lamp keepers could even infer the current condition of the true disciples and elders, determining whether they were in danger and discerning their state of life or death.

But suddenly, without any warning signs, four life flames were extinguished simultaneously. One moment, they had been burning steadily, but the next, they dimmed and went out at once. The sudden change made the lamp keeper freeze, his gaze snapping instantly to the four lamps.

Yun Qing, Zhan Yunfei, Tu Hong, Zhang Lie! The four names flashed rapidly through his mind. This was the elite squad that had repeatedly distinguished itself over the past few months in the fierce battles against the Xuanming Sect around Posuo Island in the East Sea.

Every member of the squad was a sword cultivator at the ninth realm of qi refinement, the elite among elites, all with prospects of reaching the Foundation Building Realm in the future. Coupled with the merits they had earned, the sect had already granted them treatment equivalent to true disciples, allowing them to light soul lamps here. Yet now, these four soul lamps had gone out at the same time!

"They were fighting on the front lines of the East Sea, likely on patrol," the lampkeeper said.

For all four soul lamps to extinguish during a patrol, the attacker had to be a great cultivator! And the extinguishing had been instantaneous. That overwhelming force, the kind of power that left four peak ninth-realm sword cultivators without the slightest ability to resist, killing them instantly, would have been considered formidable even among great sword cultivators!

"This is serious!" The lamp keeper immediately reported the situation to his direct superior, who then passed the information straight to the Warfare Hall.

Zhao He, the hall master of the Warfare Hall, promptly attempted to contact the primordial psyche great cultivator stationed at Posuo Island, but there was no response! The signal was bad. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Under normal circumstances, Zhao He would have tried again, delaying matters by at least two or three minutes. But this time, he did not hesitate at all and immediately contacted Sect Master Zhao Siliang.

"Sect Master, please use your authority to contact the Heavenly Palace and investigate the situation in the East Sea. The specific coordinates are..." Pausing for a moment, Zhao He glanced at the patrol route of Yun Qing’s squad that had just been delivered, inferred the location of their disappearance, and quickly reported the coordinates.

"What happened?" Zhao Siliang sensed the seriousness in Zhao He’s expression and asked.

"Four quasi-true-disciples have fallen simultaneously, and they died instantly. Based on current information, it had to be the work of a great cultivator, and a particularly powerful one at that. Moreover, this clearly hostile great cultivator is less than one thousand kilometers away from entering our Nine Heavens Domain!" Zhao He said rapidly.

"Four quasi-true-disciples?!" Zhao Siliang was shocked.

"Yes. And the captain, Yun Qing, is the eldest son of Master Yun Lai. Master Yun Lai is currently the chief artifact refiner of the Purple Firmament Institute, second only to Chief Yaoguang, and is responsible for the institute’s day-to-day operations."

"The Purple Firmament Institute’s chief artifact refiner..." Zhao Siliang did not dare to delay. He immediately exercised his authority as sect master and contacted the main branch's Heavenly Palace, and quickly got a response.

"Coordinates input complete. Heavenly Palace No. 9 is linking. The Heavenly Palace's psychic thought amplification arrays are activating. Detection angle correction in progress. Psychic thought fluctuations will arrive in 22.8 seconds..." the Heavenly Palace’s personnel replied.

Zhao Siliang also issued an urgent notice warning about the incoming psychic thought fluctuations. That was needed to prevent any primordial psyche cultivators within the Nine Heavens Domain from reacting excessively to the Heavenly Palace's investigation process, and to avoid triggering alarms from observational arrays.

Twenty-three seconds later, Zhao Siliang, himself a top-tier great cultivator, clearly felt a wave of vast and majestic fluctuations sweep across the area. With the amplification of the Heavenly Palace's array, it did not merely probe downward from the heavens. Its detection range reached tens of thousands of kilometers.

This was only because Zhao Siliang had provided precise coordinates. Otherwise, given the cost and amplification strength of the Heavenly Palace's array, the primordial psyche cultivators stationed there could have scanned hundreds of thousands of kilometers in a single sweep, even up to a million kilometers. Of course, the larger the range, the lower the precision. That was unavoidable.

"Detection complete, Sect Master Zhao. An information-restricted zone has appeared outside the Nine Heavens Domain, covering a range of five thousand kilometers. The Heavenly Palace’s primordial psyche cultivators are unable to probe it. Based on assessments by the Heavenly Palace’s information division, there is a 61.1% probability that it is a Sky Patrol Warship operating with full-band silence enabled, a 22.3% probability that it is a top-tier primordial psyche expert employing complete psychic-thought denial, and an 11.9% probability that it is a natural phenomenon..." The Heavenly Palace promptly provided a response plan. "We recommend activating level 2 alert status and dispatching stationed cultivators to investigate."

"61%... A Sky Patrol Warship?!" Zhao Siliang’s pupils constricted sharply. "Where would a Sky Patrol Warship come from? The Great Sun Sword Sect?!"

"According to intelligence recently obtained by the Heavenly Palace, a Sky Patrol Warship from the Infinite Star Palace departed the airspace of the Quicksand Sect, Black Feather Sect, and Taiyi Cult in the Radiant Sun Continent half a month ago. Because it activated all its stealth technology, we were unable to track it. However, based on technical cross-comparison, the information-restricted zones generated by the two are extremely similar. Therefore, there is a 73.8% probability that this is the same Sky Patrol Warship that was deployed near the Quicksand Sect."

The Heavenly Palace personnel added, "That is also the basis for our 61.1% probability judgment."

It was nearly impossible to completely hide information. Even if the Heavenly Palace could not directly determine which enemy was intruding on the sect's territory, corroborating intelligence from other sources could still reveal the truth.

"An Infinite Star Palace Sky Patrol Warship!" Zhao Siliang was in shock. Why would a Star Palace Sky Patrol Warship appear here?! Wait...actually, it's not difficult to understand!

In the present era, only the Infinite Star Palace, the Immortal Alliance, and the Thousand-Beast Sect possessed relatively advanced fourth-generation technology. Yet with the collapse of the Northern Alliance, the Thousand-Beast Sect had recently gone quiet. That left the Immortal Alliance...

On the Heavenly Star Continent, it had nearly monopolized the mid-to-high-end pill market. The mid-to-high-end artifact refinement market had long been monopolized by the Infinite Star Palace.

The emergence of the improved Purple Firmament Type 12 flying sword had dealt a significant blow to the refinement market, especially Elder Panqi’s order worth tens of millions of spirit stones. Who would not be jealous?

Under such circumstances, the Infinite Star Palace had two options. Either release flying swords with even higher cost-performance to compete, or crush and destroy the competitor.

Given the Infinite Star Palace’s domineering style, they had clearly chosen the latter. The moment he grasped the reasoning behind it, Zhao Siliang broke out in a cold sweat. It's definitely a Sky Patrol Warship, charging straight toward the Purple Firmament Institute to destroy it!

"Zhao He! Raise combat alert status to level 1 immediately! Nine Heavens City, Longxiang City, and all surrounding cities must activate every major array at maximum output!" Zhao Siliang issued orders without hesitation.

"Maximum output?!" Zhao He’s heart jolted.

Once arrays were activated, they burned spirit stones at an astonishing rate. Especially large-scale arrays like those used to protect cities. Running them for a single day could easily consume tens of thousands of spirit stones.

Zhao Siliang said in a low voice, "An Infinite Star Palace Sky Patrol Warship is charging straight at us! Its target is the Purple Firmament Institute!"

"A Sky Patrol Warship?!" Zhao He’s pupils constricted violently. An Infinite Star Palace Sky Patrol Warship?!

"Fortunately, Yun Qing and the others managed to warn us in time. Otherwise, if that Sky Patrol Warship had appeared openly above the Nine Heavens Domain while we were completely unprepared, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Their blood was not shed in vain!" Zhao Siliang looked at Zhao He. "Mobilize all star lords, Foundation Building sword cultivators and spell cultivators, and primordial psyche cultivators. War is coming."

"All of them?!"

"All of them!"

"Yes, Sect Leader!" Zhao He nodded heavily and moved at once.

With each order he issued, the entire Warfare Hall roared into rapid motion.

"The Purple Firmament Institute... The high-grade spirit artifact market... The future artifact-refinement grandmaster of our sect..." Zhao Siliang drew a deep breath and quickly activated the communications interface on his console. "Connect me to the sect master!"

He himself was the sect master of the Nine Heavens Domain branch. And the only person he would address as Sect Master...

The connection was established almost immediately. A projection appeared, showing a man in azure robes, seemingly in his early thirties, radiating vigor.

"I am Li Qingshan."

"Sect Master." Zhao Siliang gave a slight bow and went straight to the point. "I need assistance from the main branch."

"Junior Brother Zhao? What happened?" Li Qingshan asked promptly, showing no displeasure at being interrupted.

Within the Nine Cauldrons Sect, hierarchy existed only in duties. But the rule that everyone was equal on a personal level was no empty phrase. Zhao Siliang used psychic consciousness transmission to quickly brief the sect master on the danger the Nine Heavens Domain currently faced.

"A Sky Patrol Warship is charging through the Nine Cauldrons Sect's territory and has already killed four of our true disciples! Their blood will not be shed in vain!" The Nine Cauldrons Sect’s master stated his stance without hesitation. "This is an order from the main branch. All great cultivators across the six domains surrounding the East Sea are to rush to reinforce the Nine Heavens Domain! Issue an urgent command to Warfare Hall Master Zhou Yuan to lead the Sword-Wielding Institute to the Nine Heavens Domain at full speed!"

"The Sword-Wielding Institute?!" Hearing the name of the sect’s strongest military institution, Zhao Siliang’s eyes shook. "Sect Master, you mean to—"

"I have heard of the Purple Firmament Institute’s achievements more than once. If I were not so occupied, I would have gone to meet that chief myself. He is precisely the kind of top-tier talent our Nine Cauldrons Sect needs most. If we cannot even protect such talent, how can we speak of rising again, let alone regaining our past glory?" Li Qingshan’s voice rang with steel. "Moreover, the Quicksand Sect has already been completely carved up by the Infinite Star Palace and its allies. They are now searching everywhere for their next target. We, the Brahma Divine Kingdom, the Sacred Fire Sect, and the Witch Sect all fall within their hunting grounds. If we do not want to be targeted next, then we must fight!"

Zhao Siliang inhaled sharply. So there's a deeper meaning behind the Infinite Star Palace’s Sky Patrol Warship coming here.

"Our Nine Cauldrons Sect must meet this provocation with the hardest possible stance!" Li Qingshan said.

"But what if—"

"There is no what if!" Li Qingshan clenched his fist and brought it down heavily. "Only by fighting, and by winning, can the Nine Cauldrons Sect continue to survive and continue to grow!"

Zhao Siliang straightened up, solemn and resolute. "Please rest assured, Sect Master! The Nine Heavens Domain will not disappoint you!"