"If things continue to drag on for too long, the Heavenly Sky Kingdom will surely be able to strengthen their border and pull more people there to defend!" Inside a majestic palace, an elderly man dressed in an exquisite robe anxiously bowed his head as he spoke his concerns to the person sitting on the throne in front of him.
"So how are things going at the secret realm that suddenly appeared on the Heavenly Sky Kingdoms side? Any movement from the Sky Empire or any of the nearby powers…?" Not caring much about what the elderly man said, the middle-aged man sitting on the throne instead switched the topic as he asked about the secret realm.
"The secret realm… I don't know much about it, but our spies reported that the Sky Empire has withdrawn and a demon beast at the Domain Lord Realm settled down at the place where the entrance of the secret realm is…" Thinking about it for a short moment, the elderly man quickly answered the question.
"Anything else…?"
"T-there was a rumour that one of our people heard about the secret realm having collapsed already… This should have caused the surrounding powers to back away as there won't be anything to gain from going ther-"
"Good! Give orders for the troops to begin moving… Go through the Raging Flame Sect and only attack if they attack first!" Interrupting the elderly man, the middle-aged man on the throne smiled to himself and ordered the elderly man with a wave of his hand.
"B-but we can't be certain that there won't still be anyone at the Domain Lord Realm still present in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom… If we offend them, then-"
"Silence! Just do as you are told! And what are the chances of someone in the Domain Lord Realm still being around after the secret realm collapsed and a Domain Lord Realm demon beast appeared outside the entrance of the secret realm? Even if there still are Domain Lords in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, they would most likely be at the location of the secret realms entrance! Not near the Raging Flame Sect or our border!"
"Y-yes, your m-majesty!" Feeling the anger of the person on top of the throne as he quickly bowed his head in fear, the elderly man felt like the god of death had suddenly appeared and could bring him to the netherworld at any moment.
The elderly man was the most trusted minister of the current ruler of the Azure Sky Kingdom, and he could clearly feel that his king had changed over the past few years as he grew more and more unfamiliar and at the same time more and more terrifying with each passing day.
"Now leave and deliver the message personally to the general at the frontline! Given your strength, you helping out should also be able to help out quite a bit at the frontline…" Waving his hand dismissively upon seeing the elderly man bowing his head, the middle-aged man returned to his former regal self as he said the last part, a small malicious smile formed on his lips as he felt the minister bowing down in front of him begin to shiver.
"…"
The elderly minister bowed once more and quickly left the throne room without looking back. Not daring to argue against the fact that he would go to the frontline and join the fight himself.
"How did it go…?"
The moment he left the throne room, a young knight walked up to him and asked in a worried voice.
Only a few people had noticed the fact that his majesty had changed over the years as he would normally act like he had in the past, clam, regal and displaying just the needed emotions befitting of someone in his position.
The only other people that knew about that change in his majesty over the past few years was a few close friends of the old minister and the young knight in front of him.
"Go back home for now… I still have to carry out his majesty's order… Prepare your parents and siblings to move to the Ascendant Frost Hall! Leave as quickly as possible!" Turning to the young knight as he said this, the elderly man only whispered the last part loud enough for the young knight to barely hear.
"Grandpa…" Muttering these words, the young knight stood rooted on his spot as he slowly watched the elderly man leave the royal palace without looking back.
The young knight was the grandson of the elderly minister, and he knew very well what his grandfather meant when he told him to return to his family and prepare for them to leave for the Ascendant Frost Hall.
His majesty had most likely already begun to grow suspicious of his grandfather and… His grandfather would most likely not make it back home after carrying out the order of his majesty…
Knowing this, the young knight barely stopped himself from tearing up on the spot as he quickly made his way back home to inform the rest of his family.
No matter what, he had to ensure his parents and siblings would make it to the Ascendant Frost Hall safely! Only this way would he be able to honour his grandfather's sacrifice!
Whoosh~
A light wind passed by as the young knight hurried out of the royal palace. The sun shone brightly as a few clouds calmy passed by above.
If not for the current deadly situation his family found itself in, the young knight would surely think today was a great day to relax out in the sun together with his friends and family.
But the young knight knew very well that such a thing would not be possible in the near future… All he could do was hope he would be able to get his family out of the capital safely before his majesty the king noticed they were missing…
…
"Hah, I said I was going to teach them today, but what am I even going to teach them in the first place…?" Opening his eyes as he felt the light from the sun peek in through his window announcing the beginning of a new day, Xuan Hao had a worried look on his face when he thought about teaching his disciples today.
He had already prepared himself to teach his disciples and spent some more time with them, but he had not really figured out what he should even teach them about in the first place.
Combat techniques…? He did not really know about too many combat techniques and those he knew about were far from something that his two disciples at the Foundation Establishment Realm would be able to learn at their current realm.
"I guess I will just go with teaching them about the Foundation Establishment Realm…" Thinking about all his different choices, Xuan Hao finally settled on teach his disciples about the Foundation Establishment Realm.
No matter what, Xuan Hao was still someone close to the Domain Lord Realm. Preaching to his disciples about the Foundation Establishment was something easy for him to do and he would even be able to impart some of his own insights he had gained on the realm after reaching his current cultivation…
The only thing that remained now was finding a cultivation mantra suitable for his future third disciple, Bai Ning…
Whoosh~
Having already decided on how he was going to proceed with teaching his two disciples, Xuan Hao stood up and quickly disappeared from his room and appeared directly on the top floor of the pagoda of enlightenment after a few seconds.
"Heaven Burning Mantra, Great Sword Mantra, Six Ways Mantra… Hah, is there really nothing fitting for Bai Ning here…?" Scanning through all the mantras on the top floor within a few seconds, Xuan Hao let out? sigh of disappoint as he felt the collection of the Flying Sword Sect was way too small…
If this thought was heard by others, they would surely curse at him.
Heaven Rank Mantras were something extremely rare outside of the imperial family of the different empires and the powers equal to them as they showed a clear path for someone to the Domain Lord Realm! The Peak Heaven Rank Mantras even allowed a clear path for someone to reach the Soul Ascension Realm!
Yet someone complained over having too few Heaven Rank Cultivation Mantras with at least a few dozen in front of him to choose from!?
What was worse, this priceless collection of Heaven Rank Mantras was located in a sect that did not even have a single Domain Lord Realm Expert in it…
It was unknown how the surrounding powers would react if something like this became known…
"Hm? What is this… Unformed Mantra…?" Spotting a mantra out of the corner of his eye in the corner of the room just as he was about to leave, Xuan Hao froze in place as he read the title on the top of it.
For some reason, he felt a shiver go down his spine he read the title of the mantra.
Calming down for a bit, Xuan Hao walked over and picked up the Unformed Mantra that he had not spotted with his divine sense when scanning through the room earlier on.
He really wondered what kind of mystery this cultivation mantra held…