---Gate Guardian---
"This is serious, " the assembly leader mumbled with a grave voice. Everyone in the otherwise quiet room heard his words. Everyone was deep in thought after the report of the scout.
This was the council of elders; an assembly hurriedly called together after the sudden changes in the Verdant Twilight Gate.
The sect representatives at or above Peak Nascent Soul Realm who were either present during the incident or were able to reach the Desolate Dawn Gate in the past couple of days since the incident had assembled in this urgent meeting to address the situation and look for solutions.
The room was filled with a variety of people, from old, wizened men to beautiful women of indiscernible age. What they all had in common was the glances out the window, where a tree blocked the horizon.
A tree so humongous that it guarded the stabilized passage between worlds, across several hundred Li. It was not just the imposing size, the aura it gave off, although not that of a cultivator, made it quite clear that nobody below the immortal realm could even dare to get close.
The report they had just heard only reinforced this feeling. Despite the explicit warnings, Scouts had tried to pass by the tree at the edge of the crown, only for those who got too close to the rift to be caught by roots shooting up from the ground.
Unlike the residents of the Verdant Twilight Gate, they were not "returned". They were pulled underground, their fates uncertain at best. Nobody held any illusion that they might be alive, just because they didn't die in front of their comrades.
"Is it really possible that the savages who call themselves Minas Mar could control such a …thing?" an elder of the Ample Hills Shrine finally asked hesitantly. Like many, he had a hard time believing such a backward world could control a being of this caliber. After he broke the silence, many found their voice.
"And what are those people in armor? They are just standing there at the edge of the crown, constantly repeating the same gibberish. They have been going for days without pause," a rough man from the Stony Road Association complained.
"What about our disciples still on the other side? Do you think they are okay?" a fairy of the Poppy Meadow Sect asked. Most of their disciples had been returned upon the rise of the tree, but some were still missing beyond the rift, because they had been on missions or looking for materials on their own.
The assembly leader watched as the chaos of questions with few answers ensued once again. They had stayed silent to listen to the report, expecting answers, but none of their important issues were addressed. Now the tumult was almost worse than before. He sighed, unsure what to do.
He didn't suffer for long, as the door of the assembly hall was kicked open. Bright sunlight fell on their dark faces as a fresh breeze blew through the stifled hall. Standing in the door frame was a prominent figure of the XiGuang Province.
"Immortal Mountain?!" many exclaimed, among other names that were only whispered among the attending crowd.
"It seems like you have many questions about the current situation. I'm here to answer some of them," Yu said with a neutral smile, his eyes wandering over the assembled elders of various sects.
Some were part of the now fallen Southern Sect Alliance; others belonged to neutral factions.
None of them belonged to the allies Yu and Xiong Peng had gathered across the province. Which made sense, as they had told them to hold back with any advance on Urth.
"Right, you were in cahoots with that Minas Mar scum, weren't you? Of course, you would know what this is all about!" the rough man from the Stony Road Association, one of the former members of the Sect Alliance, exclaimed rudely.
"Indeed, I have lobbied for Minas Mar in the past, and I have warned all of you not to take them lightly. This is the result of your own actions," he said. Although he spoke to all of them, his eyes made clear that he was mostly speaking to the former members of the Sect Alliance.
Not only were they the ones who worked with the Scene and profited from their human trafficking, but they had even worked with the demonic creatures to mount an attack during the Great Tournament. They couldn't expect any mercy from the people of Urth. Yu didn't speak it out.
It was enough that the people in question knew. Around this time, they would be getting reports about the people they had kidnapped going on mission one after another. The consequences of their deeds were catching up, and their pace only quickened.
"I'm only here to return the stragglers that were not returned before. Nobody can call the people of Urth ruthless. Minas Mar does not blame hunters of fortune for exploring the wild for treasure," he said, giving another glance at the ones who did more than simply search for their own fortune. He left out what happened to their disciples, but they could guess their fate.
Some disciples of the Luminous Mountain Sect opened the doors of the assembly hall again, giving a view to a long row of prisoners in chains. Their line went all the way from the hall, down the main road, even past the entrance gates of the Desolate Dawn Fort.
There were hundreds of disciples belonging to the various sects assembled in this room. They had all been stripped of any weapons or treasures, but none of them were harmed beyond what was necessary to capture them. They were actually better off than the people who were thrown by the Guardian Tree.
After giving them a moment to confirm that their disciples had returned unharmed, although some looked a little offended seeing them in chains, Yu spoke up again.
"However, the rules have changed now. As for what the rules are now, Minas Mar will reveal in due time," Yu said emotionlessly. His words got a variety of emotional reactions from the crowd. Nobody liked that the "rules were changing", especially not when the ones making them were a bunch of natives from a "backward world".
Still, many neutral factions were just glad that their missing disciples had returned. They were not inherently evil and didn't worry about the hidden nuances in Yu's message. They knew that the existence of rules meant that there was a way to continue profiting.
The former Sect Alliances, on the other hand, were livid. Master Mountain could see the color of their faces changed, as they fought to keep their composure. Unless they were a little dull, like the loud fellow, they got the message
The Sect Alliance had been able to hide many of their misdeed in Urth, turning their accusations into rumors, even calling it slander. They could hardly speak up here and potentially confirm these rumors in the face of all these representatives. So they could only try to swallow their anger.
Not that it mattered anymore. Their shady reputation among the people would be no help for what was about to come. They really had nothing to look forward to. Even if they understood their situation now, the worst thing they could think of was probably too tame.
What they didn't know was that this realization came too late.
To borrow a proverb of Urth: The hounds of hell were already unleashed.