Within a spacious cavern, filled with spiritual formations and numerous spirit artifacts that floated in the air, emitting spiritual qi to shield it from heavenly secrets, two hundred people lay hidden.
The cultivation levels of these people ranged from Foundation Establishment to Nascent Soul 'Leaving the Body'.
They were all individuals sent out by the great powers of the Eternal Sun Prefecture.
The cultivators looked towards an old man sitting cross-legged in the depths of the cavern, their eyes filled with respect. He was the only Divinity Transformation cultivator on this mission: the sect master of the Sacred Heart Sect, Lu Juechen.
In a corner of the cavern, a woman could be seen sitting in a daze, neurotically muttering to herself at all times. This woman was exceptionally beautiful.
Wasn't this the very same Nangong Yazhi who had been released from the Tian Xing Cultivator Abode all those years ago?
"Kill them all! They're animals! I want them dead, I want them dead!"
Nangong Yazhi was stunningly beautiful, but unfortunately, the transcendent aura she once possessed was now completely gone. There were still ligature marks on her neck.
She stared wide-eyed at all times, and anyone who looked could see the terror and resentment in her gaze.
It was hard to imagine such a complex expression appearing in a single person's eyes.
For over forty years, she had rarely interacted with anyone.
Everything that had happened in the Tian Xing Cultivator Abode back then had become her constant nightmare.
She had striven for nearly two hundred years in that place to avenge her clan.
She sacrificed her most precious possession and became the very thing she despised most: a promiscuous woman.
But in the end, she discovered that it had all been a part of Li Changsheng's calculations.
The Li family's rope was fastened around her neck. That madman, Li Tianming, tormented her day and night. Li Tianming said she was the most stubborn of them all and that as long as she broke, everyone else in the Tian Xing Cultivator Abode would break too.
It was the first time she had ever learned the meaning of a "cultivator kite." She flew in the sky for decades, but that chain remained around her neck for over a hundred years.
...
"Ancestor Lu, why did the Nangong family send such a madwoman?"
A cultivator walked up to the Sacred Heart Sect's Ancestor and, looking at Nangong Yazhi's neurotic state, his expression was complicated—a mixture of vigilance and fear.
This Nangong Yazhi has truly suffered. Once the favored daughter of the Nangong family, her Dao Heart has now been shattered.
Of the few geniuses who entered the Tian Xing Cultivator Abode with her, three have broken through to the Divinity Transformation realm. But Nangong Yazhi has been ruined; her cultivation has nearly regressed to the mid-Nascent Soul stage.
"Ancestor Lu, of all the geniuses who came out of the Tian Xing Cultivator Abode, every single one was imprisoned. We have all been trying every method to break the shackles on their hearts, but in all these decades, we've had little success. Even with the few who have recovered, the great powers don't dare to place them in important positions."
The cultivator said warily, "This Nangong Yazhi, can she really be trusted? Although we have been keeping a close eye on her, she... Ancestor Lu, leave her to me to handle."
...
Lu Juechen didn't respond. He gave a deep look at Nangong Yazhi, who was still muttering to herself, and then shook his head.
After the cultivator had left.
Lu Juechen's expression was ice-cold. For this operation, few had volunteered to carry out the mission, but he had come of his own accord.
There was no other reason.
Back then, when the Tian Xing Cultivator Abode opened, he, Lu Juechen, was the one who had trapped Ye Xiu, Ancestor Tianye, and the others from Azure Cloud Region, preventing them from entering.
But what he hadn't expected was that two hundred years later, these four powers would begin to take their revenge on him.
Disciples of his Sacred Heart Sect were assassinated one after another.
His sect's spirit mines and spirit fields were sabotaged periodically.
It went so far that even his personal disciple was killed in his bed while dual cultivating with his Dao companion—it was the work of a Divinity Transformation cultivator, who acted personally!
He had investigated long ago. It was the people sent by Ancestor Tianye and Feng Chunlin.
From that day on, there was no longer a Sacred Heart Sect in Eternal Sun Prefecture, only him, Lu Juechen.
A Lu Juechen who had sworn that even in death, he would make all of Azure Cloud be buried alongside his Sacred Heart Sect!
The cultivators inside the cavern had been waiting for a long time.
One day, outside the snow-covered cavern, a sturdy figure wearing a bamboo hat approached.
Whoosh!
In an instant, all the cultivators rose to their feet.
Immediately after, they began to file out of the cavern, one by one, without a hint of hesitation.
As Lu Juechen reached the mouth of the cavern, he glanced at the man leaning against the entrance.
"Please convey my thanks to Prince Qian on my behalf. Once my great vengeance is achieved, I am willing to pledge my loyalty to His Highness Prince Qian."
"There's no need for thanks. We each simply have our own objectives."
The man's rugged face, visible beneath his bamboo hat, showed the faint hint of a smile.
He asked softly, "As for you, this trip to Azure Cloud will not be an easy one. Although the Li family's Hall of Heavenly Principle's Shadow Division is now locked in a desperate struggle with the powers of Eternal Sun Prefecture, and the Li's themselves are all tied down, Azure Cloud Region is still a place of extreme danger. Your cultivation did not come easily; there's no need for you to take such a risk.
If you're interested, why not just join my Skynet directly?"
Upon hearing this.
Lu Juechen frowned. "You must be joking, Your Excellency. My allies in the Eternal Sun Prefecture are currently resisting a common enemy together. If I were to desert them on the eve of battle, wouldn't I become a laughingstock? Your Skynet is so powerful; how could you possibly have any regard for such a disloyal and dishonorable person?"
"You're mistaken. Being disloyal and dishonorable is precisely the qualification needed to cross the threshold of my Skynet."
The man raised his head slightly, revealing a smiling face. Seeing that Lu Juechen's expression remained serious, he rolled his eyes. "I see now. You're not qualified."
With that, he vanished from the spot.
Lu Juechen let out a cold snort, instantly levitated into the air, and caught up with his allies from Eternal Sun Prefecture.
He took the lead and saw the resolute gazes of the juniors behind him.
"The Li family has fallen into our trap!"
"The Hall of Heavenly Principle is pinned down by our various powers. Our friends from the Duravia Trade Prefecture are making their move against the Li family's clansmen. Everything is going according to our calculations."
Lu Juechen took a deep breath.
His deep and resonant voice reached the ears of all the assembled people from Eternal Sun Prefecture, making them ever more fearless.
"On Qilin Mountain, the Li family used their power to bully others, and we were forced to endure humiliation.
For the last forty years, our power has been eroded bit by bit. They have been plundering our lands.
Now, they are assassinating our clansmen. Our relatives and friends are dying at their hands, one by one.
The time has come.
To make the Li family and Azure Cloud Region disappear from the Eternal Sun Prefecture for good!
Night will fall soon. And after the darkness, the only ones left standing on the soil of Eternal Sun Prefecture will be those who truly belong here!"