"BOOM!"
Within the Heavenly Light Sect, flames blazed towards the heavens, and explosions rocked the area from all directions!
Just outside this sect, a home to numerous cultivators practicing unique and specialized professions, lay a vast marketplace. Its denizens now stared up at the sky in utter terror, for that was the very location of Heavenly Light Sect's sacred Land!
"What in the world is happening?"
"How could anyone possibly dare to wreak such havoc within the Heavenly Light Sect?"
"Have their enemies come storming their gates?!!"
All the cultivators present were utterly aghast.
The Heavenly Light Sect, what manner of place was it?
It was a sect that boasted Void Refining realm cultivators among its members!
It was widely said within the Azure Dynasty that while the Heavenly Light Sect might not possess the greatest outright combat strength, it was undeniably the most unique of existences.
Practitioners of alchemy, artifact refining, poisons, and all manner of "unorthodox adepts" congregated there. And these unconventional arts were notoriously the most impossible to guard against effectively.
Furthermore, for many years, the Heavenly Light Sect had always maintained disciples like Wang Jinhu holding positions within the imperial court; consequently, virtually no one was willing to provoke them.
And yet now, explosions had erupted from within its very grounds!
In that instant, the entire marketplace was plunged into chaos and panic.
The cultivators within Heavenly Light Sect itself were in an even greater state of alarm.
All the Sect's disciples believed that foreign enemies had launched an invasion and were hastily shoring up defenses throughout the grounds.
Within the Sect, flames now erupted from all directions—there were over two hundred distinct sites of explosion!
From what was typically one of the Heavenly Light Sect's most inconspicuous locations, from deep within the trunk of a large, flourishing tree, a figure slowly materialized.
This individual was an elderly man. Upon appearing, he had already ascended high into the air, positioning himself at the very apex of the Heavenly Light Sect.
He lowered his gaze, looking down upon the Sect now ablaze in multiple locations, and upon the disciples scurrying about everywhere in panic.
Then, with a casual gesture, he performed a divination.
Yet, this single act of divination was enough to make him frown, and he muttered with some annoyance, "This is simply preposterous."
Scarcely had his words faded when a disciple was already flying towards him, his demeanor one of utmost respect.
Scarcely had his words faded when a disciple was already flying towards him, his demeanor one of utmost respect.
"Reporting to Grand Ancestor!" the disciple exclaimed.
"It is unknown who has planted spirit artifacts within our Heavenly Light Sect, at a full two hundred and thirty-six distinct locations! Ordinarily, these spirit artifacts are entirely inconspicuous, to the point that they don't even emit any discernible Spirit Qi. Yet, the explosion of each one possesses the might of a Golden Core cultivator; this is what has led to the current devastating state of affairs!"
This disciple had the appearance of a middle-aged man.
Perhaps fearing that this Grand Ancestor of Heavenly Light Sect would become enraged, he hurriedly reported, "However, please rest assured, Grand Ancestor. These spirit artifacts did not result in excessive casualties. They merely damaged some of the land within the Sect, which will only require two or three years to be fully repaired. It is only the Spirit Beast Garden that was severely damaged by the explosions; many of the reared spirit beasts perished, and I fear it will be a very long time before their... 'remains'... can be used to fertilize the spirit medicines. As for casualties among our disciples, only a dozen or so individuals sustained injuries, and two tragically lost their lives because they were preoccupied with refining other items and were caught entirely unprepared."
The Grand Ancestor of Heavenly Light Sect maintained a calm expression, gazing indifferently at the devastation on the ground below.
His demeanor was like that of any benevolent old man. Yet, he made no mention of the explosions, asking instead an entirely unrelated question, "Ming Kong, I've heard that you've grown rather close with the powerful nobles of the Azure Dynasty of late?"
"This..."
This Ming Kong was, in fact, the Sect Master of Heavenly Light Sect, and also a later-generation disciple of the Sect's Grand Ancestor.
His somewhat plump face showed a hint of nervousness. Only after a moment of contemplation did he venture, "Grand Ancestor, the powerful nobles of the Azure Dynasty require the assistance of our Heavenly Light Sect; naturally, their requests must be attended to."
The Grand Ancestor of Heavenly Light Sect gave a slight nod.
"In the future, it would be best to avoid such associations. Just look at you. Other, more important lessons seem to have been neglected, yet this particular skill of reporting only good news while concealing the bad appears to have been learned in abundance.
Why did you only recount trivialities while failing to mention what our Heavenly Light Sect has truly lost?
Furthermore, why is it that with over two hundred locations booby-trapped, you only became aware of the situation now?"
"Grand Ancestor, I beg your forgiveness! It was this disciple's negligence!"
Daoist Ming Kong hurriedly prostrated himself.
Yet, when he raised his head, the Grand Ancestor of Heavenly Light Sect had already vanished from where he had stood.
This caused Mingkong to heave a sigh of relief, only for him to immediately thereafter curse in fury, "Who in the blazes brought this calamity upon our Heavenly Light Sect?! Can even divination not reveal the culprit?!!"
...
Meanwhile, within the Heavenly Light Sect, shrouded in smoke and dust, a lone maidservant was taking advantage of the ensuing chaos to make her escape.
Disciples, hurrying about everywhere in search of the perpetrators, brushed past her. Yet, blocking her path directly ahead, stood a burly man clad in golden armor, his face dark and forbidding.
"You..."
Wang Jinhu surveyed the raging fires erupting in all directions, then looked at Qingyu, who appeared entirely unconcerned by the devastation.
He gestured towards the thick smoke billowing fiercely around them and, unable to restrain himself, furiously rebuked her, "Your Li family made an agreement, you asked me to bring you in here to devise a plan to rescue Li Yaotie! Is this the 'plan' you came up with?!!"
"Yes."
Qingyu gave a slight nod. "However," she stated calmly, "there is some unfortunate news: Great-Granduncle was not, in fact, successfully rescued."
Observing Qingyu's utterly impervious demeanor, Wang Jinhu felt a muscle twitch at the corner of his mouth.
That was, admittedly, bad news. But could any news truly be worse than the fact that the Heavenly Light Sect itself had been bombed to smithereens?
The recent explosions, coupled with the current chaotic spectacle, left him with the persistent suspicion that the Li family had, in fact, intentionally come to blow up the Heavenly Light Sect.
He suddenly felt like an unwitting accomplice. Suppressing the fury seething in his chest and acknowledging that the Li family's current circumstances were far from easy, he finally asked, "And the good news is...?"
Qingyu frowned slightly, momentarily pondering how to phrase her next words so as not to further enrage Wang Jinhu.
Just then, from some distance away, a disciple could be heard crying out in alarm, "Disaster! The Puppet Pavilion has been plundered! A full ten percent of the puppets—all of them stolen!!!"
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1/2
Quick Note:
For the next 20 days, I'll be releasing two chapters per day to help you stay immersed during this part of the story.
Each pair of chapters will be labeled like this:
(1/2) and (2/2) — so you'll know they belong together.
Thank you for reading and supporting the story.