Chapter 31: Omens

It was the dead of winter, and heavy snow was falling. The entire mountain gate of the Cloud Sword Palace was blanketed in white. Inside the main hall, the various elders were gathered to discuss pressing matters.

"Things have been very strange lately. Within the territories of the five imperial dynasties under our Cloud Sword Palace, the Hatred Pavilion has become unprecedentedly active. They are everywhere, plucking essence and taking lives. Beyond ordinary people, even many of our own disciples who have achieved success in their cultivation have been drained of their vitality and left as mummified corpses."

"Furthermore, the poison doctors of the Divine Physician Sect are everywhere, seizing people for drug trials. The Mad Blood Gang is killing simply for pleasure, and both the Nether Palace and the Infinite Alliance are acting with extreme arrogance. One is snatching young boys and girls for alchemy, while the other is despoiling wives and daughters across the land."

"They have abandoned their usual behavior of hiding in the shadows like rats and have become brazen. Even though many of them have been killed, they show no intention of tempering their actions."

Enforcement Elder Li Yan flipped through the intelligence reports compiled from various regions, which detailed the series of atrocities committed over the past fortnight.

It seemed as though these five vermin factions had conspired to stir up trouble across the Cloud Sword Palace's domain simultaneously. Their actions were aimless and erratic, striking and then vanishing, leaving the Cloud Sword Palace's disciples stationed in those regions exhausted from constant pursuit. Although they had eliminated a significant number of these troublemakers, eradicating them entirely was no easy feat.

To deal with these demonic outsiders once and for all, the stationed disciples and local officials had been forced to request reinforcements, asking for high-level experts from the Cloud Sword Palace to purge the evil.

"Why are they acting like this? Have you found the reason?" Xiao Rang asked.

"The members of these five demonic sects that we have captured were all expendable pawns. They only received orders from their high command to indulge themselves as much as they wished, provided they stayed alive, and to act in accordance with their respective sect's tenets."

"As you know, Sect Master, the cultivation techniques of these demonic sects inherently affect the mind. Since their leaders have finally stopped restraining them and given them permission to indulge, these people have naturally become lawless."

Enforcement Elder Li Yan replied.

"It is not just internal trouble; the external situation is not optimistic either. Our industries across Lan Prefecture and the caravans traveling between regions are being targeted, causing us significant losses in personnel and property."

"Those who attacked our assets and caravans concealed their identities and left no trail. However, based on the evidence left at the scenes, the attackers were experts at the middle or late stages of the Innate Realm, and some even at the Grandmaster level. It is likely that local thugs are operating under the guise of mountain bandits."

"I do not know why they would dare to act this way. Could they have collectively lost their minds?" Financial Elder Wei Xuan added, producing several letters of correspondence.

The elders usually practiced in seclusion, and while they each oversaw specific aspects of the sect, most of the work was handled by their subordinates. Only issues that could not be resolved at lower levels reached them. Clearly, a coordinated attack by major forces against the Cloud Sword Palace was something their subordinates could not manage.

"This is easily resolved. I will write to the heads of the Heavenly Star Valley and Frost City and ask them to send their intelligence disciples to assist our experts in the investigation. Once these local thugs are captured, we will naturally discover why they dared to attack us," Xiao Rang said calmly.

The three great orthodox martial arts sanctuaries were allied; every year, their caravans traded resources across each other's territories. This was how they always handled banditry: the host territory provided intelligence, and the victim provided the force to resolve the threat, ensuring the interests of all three parties. A few years ago, Xiao Rang had even helped Frost City resolve an incident where their caravan was looted by a dim-witted prince within the Eastern Sea Dynasty. Now, it was their turn to assist the Cloud Sword Palace.

"The matter is too suspicious. The intent to target our Cloud Sword Palace is too obvious. I feel it is not as simple as it appears; perhaps a mastermind is orchestrating something in the shadows."

"We must not be led by the nose," said Spirit Plant Elder Zhang Ya, expressing her view. She loved farming and herding, living as a friend to flowers, grass, and bamboo, and was close to nature. Although she rarely handled worldly affairs, she possessed an astonishing intuition and sensed an unusual undercurrent in the matters being discussed.

Once Zhang Ya spoke, the others took her seriously. There had been many times in the past when the Cloud Sword Palace faced crises, and it was Zhang Ya who had detected the subtle signs, allowing them to nip the danger in the bud.

Now, every elder in the hall began to ponder what conspiracy lay behind this.

"They want to lure our experts away from the mountain gate."

After reviewing the intelligence several times, the elders finally identified the common thread behind these events. Killing the demonic elements in the five subordinate territories required many experts, and handling the attacks on industries and caravans in the territories of the Heavenly Star Valley and Frost City also required many experts. Once these experts were sent out, the Cloud Sword Palace’s mountain gate would be left vulnerable.

"But even if we follow the mastermind's plan and send out many experts, we still have plenty of masters left to guard the gate," said Brocade Elder Yu Rong, puzzled.

Although outsiders did not know, she was well aware that there were approximately 4,700 experts guarding the Cloud Sword Palace. Of these, 3,600 were in the Innate Realm, and the remaining 1,100 were Grandmasters. Even Great Grandmasters—excluding Lin Heng—numbered as many as twelve. Among the elders present, there were three Great Grandmasters, and the remaining elders, even if they had not yet reached that level, were the disciples or blood relatives of Great Grandmasters who had simply retired from management to cultivate in seclusion.

Years ago, when a Great Grandmaster from the Hatred Pavilion snuck into the Cloud Sword Palace during Lin Heng's apprenticeship ceremony, she only escaped death because she retreated decisively with the help of others.

"Indeed. To resolve the current chaos, sending two hundred Grandmasters leading two thousand Innate disciples would be more than enough. It is incomprehensible why they would sacrifice so many pawns to do this."

"Surely they aren't all tired of living?" Enforcement Elder Li Yan agreed.

"Perhaps it is to target Heng'er."

"The Heavenly Star Valley and Frost City might also be playing unseemly roles in this."

Xiao Rang, hearing this, voiced his own speculation. Daring to attack the mountain gate of a martial arts sanctuary meant either a total loss of sanity or absolute confidence. Xiao Rang felt that the enemy had not lost their minds.