"General Liu! Should we wait for them to land or just launch an attack now…?" As the general was standing still and thinking about what to do about the arrival of the people from the Onyx Empire, one of his soldiers anxiously made his way over as he asked in a nervous voice.
"Hm?" Looking away from the flying ship above slowly descending down towards them, General Liu turned around and looked over at the nervous soldier that had rushed over to ask him.
"Just wait for now, there is no use in meaninglessly attacking when the other have not even attacked us yet… And the Onyx Empire will not be the only party to show up later, we still have to worry about the others as well…" Finished speaking, General Liu watched as the soldier hurried back to the rest of the soldiers and informed for them to not attack the people from the Onyx Empire for now.
The elderly man that General Liu had spoken with earlier had yet to appear as General Liu clearly knew that he did not want to be the one to deal with the people from the Onyx Empire himself, so General Liu could only sigh in his mind as he floated up into the air to meet the people from the Onyx Empire before they decided that it would be a good idea for them to launch an attack on them.
Whoosh~
Ascending into the sky, General Liu soon caught the attention of the people on top of the flying ship from the Onyx Empire as someone stepped out from one of the compartments on the ship and flew over to meet General Liu mid-air.
"I didn't expect for the high and mighty General Liu to show up at the border after that thing 12 years ago~" Smiling in contempt as he taunted him, the person from the Onyx Empire looked over at General Liu as he clearly knew the other party.
"Haha… I did not expect for you of all people to show up here General Zhang… Were you not dealing with something at your Onyx Empire's northern border? I heard about a certain demonic sect having taken over a few of your kingdoms over there recently!" Not backing down in the slightest to the general from the Onyx Empire, General Liu did not wait for even a second before he answered back with a short laugh.
"Hmph, we of course already settled that troublesome demonic sect! Let's not talk about this anymore, we both know why we are here in the first place… So, are you going to allow us to enter the secret realm, or will we have to force our way in like what happened 12 years ago…?" Smirking upon mentioning the thing that had happened 12 years ago, General Zhang could not help himself from smiling as he watched the angry look of General Liu whenever he mentioned that incident.
General Liu of course could not forget about the last time both of them had clashed at the border when a secret realm had appeared during a skirmish between both of them.
Back then, General Liu and his army had arrived at the secret realm first and managed to set up a defensive perimeter just like today and General Zhang from the Onyx Empire had arrived later but still managed to crush their defences and enter the secret realm.
General Liu had ended up seriously injured during their fight back then and was forced to return to the capital of the Sky Empire and recover for the next 10 years!
The anger General Liu felt when he saw the person who had forced him to quietly recover without being able to cultivate for the past 10 years appear in front of him was understandable.
But he managed to keep the anger he felt under control as he just resorted to taunt back. Not daring to fall for the obvious trap in front of him, causing him to attack General Zhang.
"No need to bother about that this time around, an ancestor of the Sky Empire is already present!" Smirking happily as he said that General Liu looked over to see the surprised look on General Zhang's face… But there was no surprise written on it, instead the same taunting look appeared on his face as a smile slowly began to creep up his lips.
"Oh… What a coincidence~ It just so happens that I was acting as a guard for an ancestor of my Onyx Empire as well! Why don't we just let those two decided on matters instead. After all, with both of the exalted ancestors present, we juniors should not make any important decisions." Smirking happily as he watched the face of General Liu deteriorate more and more with each word he said, General Zhang finished talking before retreating back into the flying ship of the Onyx Empire.
"You-"
"General Liu, return for now! I will take over from here on out!" just as General Liu was about to say something in return, a loud voice echoed out inside of his head as General Liu quickly shut up before turning to look back at the flying ship of the Sky Empire.
"Hah…" Letting out an unwilling sigh, General Liu cast on last glance in the direction General Zhang had left in before returning back to the ground again.
"Seems like the Onyx Empire already knows something…" Muttering this to himself inside of the flying ship, the elderly man slowly stood up and put away the communication talisman that he had been holding before making his way out of the interior of the Sky Empire's flying ship.
The elderly man did not wait before flying up as he landed at the deck of the Onyx Empire's flying ship before making his way into the interior of the ship where the person in charge would be located.
"I really didn't expect for the Onyx Empire to take the appearance of a secret realm not even inside their own territory so seriously!" Looking at the person shrouded in darkness sitting quietly in the middle of the room, the elderly man from the Sky Empire stopped and waited for a response. Not intending to stay any longer than necessary.
"Hehe, I could say the same. After all, why would the teacher of the current Emperor of the Sky Empire, the Imperial Teacher, show up here for no reason…?" Chuckling to himself, the person sitting in the middle of the room slowly stood up and faced the elderly man from the Sky Empire. Only the smile on his face visible as the darkness of the room moved to cover the rest of his body.
"So, what did you want to talk about? You should already know how things are between the Sky Empire and the Onyx Empire… The only reason I even came here in the first place is due to our past friendship…" As he was saying this, the imperial teacher of the Sky Empire wore a sad expression as he recalled some things that happened in the past.
The person from the Onyx Empire did not say anything as he watched the Imperial Teacher of the Sky Empire slowly calm down again.
"Hah… You should already know what the appearance of this secret realm means, when the other empires, hidden clans and sects finds out… The entire Sky Empire will be thrown into chaos…" Stopping his sentence here, the person hidden beneath the shadows slowly walked up close to the Imperial Teacher.
"What are you proposing…?" Understanding the look in his old friend's eyes, the Imperial Teacher immediately narrowed his eyes as he waited for the person to finish.
"What I want to propose is…"
…
"How long is it going to take?! Perhaps the Onyx Empire did something!?" Nervously pacing around on the ground below the Onyx Empire's flying ship that had stopped descending after the Imperial Teacher had entered it, General Liu could not help himself from thinking about the worst possible outcome.
The taunting smile from General Zhang kept playing in his mind as he could not help worrying that something would happen to the Imperial Teacher, even though he knew very well how strong the Imperial Teacher was.
By now it had already been 15 minutes and there was finally some movement from the Onyx Empire's flying ship as General Liu watched the Imperial Teacher slowly descend down to the ground together with General Zhang and a person shrouded completely in darkness giving off an aura similar to the Imperial Teacher.
"W-what are they-"
"We are entering the secret realm together, inform the soldiers to allow anyone that shows up to enter and not to stop them! Remember to not attack the people from the Onyx Empire!" Before General Liu even managed to let out a single word, the Imperial Teacher informed him before moving towards the entrance of the secret realm together with the two people from the Onyx Empire.
"HUH!? Wha- what?! W-wait for me!" Seeing the group slowly disappear as they entered the secret realm, General Liu hurriedly informed one of the nearby soldiers about the order from the Imperial Teacher before quickly entering the secret realm. Hoping to understand why they suddenly began working together with the Onyx Empire…