Chen Yan smiled faintly and simply waved his hand in the direction of the middle-aged cultivator, saying nothing.
Although the Heavenly River Platform ferry dock of Star Heaven Sect was open to outsiders, not just anyone could come here easily. After all, Star Heaven Sect was one of the Five Great Sects of the Chenping Continent. Even if you gathered all the top sects, the first-rate sects, and the second-rate sects of the Southern Region together, they still would not necessarily match Star Heaven Sect. So there were often reputation-seekers who tried to ride Star Heaven Sect’s influence to make a name for themselves. They would come to the Heavenly River Platform dock and do whatever they could to gain fame and fortune, causing no small amount of trouble for Star Heaven’s outer court and various External Affairs Halls. Besides those opportunists, there were also many cultivators filled with admiration and reverence for Star Heaven Sect who treated the Heavenly River Platform ferry dock as a pilgrimage site. It wasn’t only Star Heaven that faced this problem; the ferry docks of the other four major sects suffered the same situation. All these people greatly increased the burden on the Heavenly River Platform dock, which is why now any cultivator wishing to board the Heavenly River Platform must possess the dock’s ferry permit. Yet today, the four floating giant stones on the Heavenly River Platform—or rather, the floating isles—were still crowded with cultivators waiting for the visitors from Kongshan Sect to arrive.
Two or three low-grade spirit stones, even for a rogue cultivator, were not a huge sum. But a mosquito’s leg is still meat. As for the “information” Chen Yan had just picked up through his divine sense, priced at two low-grade spirit stones, it carried no credibility at all. By now the feud between True Person Caiyun and Realman Sun-Eroding—or between Kong Yang and Mirage Palace—was practically common knowledge. If True Person Caiyun refused to return that Abyssal Tower to Mirage Palace, it would be only a matter of time before Mirage Palace declared war on Kongshan Sect. In terms of foundations, Mirage Palace was certainly far deeper than Kongshan Sect, and in the history of the Chenping Continent, Realman Sun-Eroding’s fame and deeds were indeed more prominent than those of True Person Caiyun. Take, for example, when he was grievously wounded by the half-step Immortal Ascension Black Flood Dragon—an event that utterly ruined Kong Yang’s reputation. Although that injury was largely the karmic backlash from his prying into heavenly secrets and attempting to change the future, later on Kongshan Sect recorded the incident as “Patriarch Kong kept the dragon’s soul, considering that cultivating such a beast would not be easy.” Given this, Star Heaven Sect certainly would not hitch itself to another sect’s war chariot. Whether it involved Kongshan Sect or Mirage Palace, until Star Heaven had an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator, it absolutely would not intervene in disputes among the other major sects, doing everything possible to minimize its influence and presence—even if it meant sacrificing some authority. Rash moves would only accelerate Star Heaven’s decline.
The tiny black dot at the horizon had now grown to the size of a green bean, and the outline of a ship could be made out. Immediately, the crowd on the Heavenly River Platform automatically parted left and right, opening a path down the middle. A dozen or so elders in Star Heaven robes walked down the center of the dock toward Kongshan Sect’s ferry. Leading them was Zhang Yushu, the current Supreme Martial Pacification Elder of Star Heaven Sect. The dozen elders behind him were all Grand Elders of Star Heaven. Since the Kongshan Sect cultivators about to arrive were all upper three realms great powers, Star Heaven naturally should send an appropriately grand reception—this was basic etiquette in the cultivation world.
Zhang Yushu himself was a legendary figure. During the Eliminating the Cause of Calamity purges twelve hundred years ago, the Star Heaven Sect master’s direct disciple, the sect’s first prodigy Bian Xingzhou, had been the chief disciple of Vast Dome Gate. After Bian Xingzhou’s death, Zhang Yushu, who was Bian Xingzhou’s junior disciple, inherited the position of chief disciple of Vast Dome Gate and took part in the campaign against the Orthodox Pivot Sect. From there Zhang Yushu rose smoothly: chief disciple of Vast Dome Gate, Enforcement Hall elder, then True Dharma Elder of Vast Dome Gate, and eventually into Star Heaven’s Supreme Imperial Law Court. Two hundred years ago he was transferred to the Supreme Martial Pacification Court, and a hundred years ago he rose to the position of “Star Heaven Garrison Martial, Supreme Authority.” Now his cultivation had reached the peak of the Divine Ability Realm, and it was quite possible he would breakthrough to the Dao Union within a hundred years. The four supreme courts of the major sects—the Strategic Supreme, the Imperial Law Supreme, the Martial Pacification Supreme, and the Supervising Supreme—form a clear hierarchy, but in practice their status differences are not large. So it was perfectly normal for Zhang Yushu, as Star Heaven’s Supreme Martial Pacification Elder, to come receive Xue Xiangming.
Although these upper three realm great powers had completely restrained their spiritual pressure, the lower-ranked cultivators on the Heavenly River Platform still felt breathless. The gilded great ferry carved through the sea of clouds and pressed toward the Heavenly River Platform. Zhang Yushu led the Grand Elders to the dock to greet it. The Divine Ability Realm great power lifted his head, watching Kongshan Sect’s gilded ferry draw nearer and nearer. This was not his first time seeing Kongshan Sect’s ferry. In the past twelve hundred years, or more specifically during his nearly one hundred years as True Dharma Elder of Vast Dome Gate, Zhang Yushu had led teams several times to attend the Dao Inquiry Assembly of Chenping Continent. At the Heavenly Summit Mountain dock he had seen Kongshan Sect’s gilded ferry on several occasions. Although Kongshan Sect’s ferry was somewhat smaller than the flagship of Lingxiao Temple, in terms of decoration and opulence Kongshan’s ferry was clearly superior.
The many cultivators on the floating giant stones looked on as Kongshan Sect’s three-hundred-zhang-long ferry slowly descended, its massive shadow nearly covering the whole dock. The great ship touched down at the Heavenly River Platform dock, and then the scene suddenly fell silent; the previous clamor vanished. Everyone focused their gaze on this enormous Kongshan ferry. Here, there were countless Southern Region cultivators who never left the South in their lifetimes, so they were naturally curious about these great cultivators from the Northwestern Region. The creaking of gears sounded as the ferry’s gangway slowly opened. Clang! The gangplank struck the dock’s edge, but the ferry’s cabin inside was pitch-black. Zhang Yushu’s brow slightly furrowed; as a Divine Ability Realm cultivator, he had already perceived something amiss. He could not sense any cultivators’ spiritual energy within this enormous ferry before him!
Just as the Supreme Martial Pacification Elder of Star Heaven was puzzled, a figure walked slowly out from the ferry’s cabin. Through the dim, blurred light inside the cabin it could be seen that the person wore white robes. But as the figure drew nearer, the color of those robes changed—white shifted into moon-white.