Grandhaven Prefecture, inside Spirit City.
A bewitching moon shone high, unrolling a red carpet across the world, freely proclaiming that this was the color the world was always meant to be—that the earth of the mortal realm had inherently been soaked in the flesh and blood of countless living beings everywhere.
Min Tiange stood beneath a peach tree, raising his head.
In his eyes, the hazy red light melded with the vivid brightness of the peach blossoms, stretching all the way to the completely crimson cloudy sky.
It felt just like ascending a height while acknowledging one's own insignificance, looking down upon the vastness of the world.
He reached out his hand; it seemed as if, with just a bit of force, he could pluck the entire sky down.
A Color Fairy flew over, causing him to frown and temporarily dismiss the thought of pulling down the sky.
The Color Fairy's voice was gentle. "Peerless Hall Master, the Spirit Lord has issued an order."
Min Tiange responded and departed, turning into a streak of light before arriving at the Spirit Lord's palace.
He saw that He Qianxia and Ba Siyu were already there. Seeing his arrival, they each harbored their own thoughts and stepped behind him.
Inside the hall, the Spirit Lord sat upon the steps.
Below the steps stood many half-immortals, such as the Flame Sage Elder and his peers, who all gathered behind Min Tiange, silently standing on the right side below the steps.
Astonishingly, there were dozens of true immortals present.
The immortals maintained a perpetually arrogant demeanor, casting imperceptible glances toward the half-immortals' side.
The arrogance of the immortals manifested as calm, sweeping looks, much like watching passing children: either glancing past expressionlessly, bearing faint, gentle smiles, or looking somewhat pensive, waiting to see exactly what new tricks these 'children' could come up with.
"Pah!"
Ba Siyu turned his head and made a spitting motion, his eyes filled mostly with profound dissatisfaction toward the immortals.
"Just a bunch of things banished to oblivion by our ancestors!"
How majestic was Ba Siyu when he commanded the cultivators of the Western Frontier against the Wu Tribe?
For tens of thousands of years, people had only ever revered him. When had anyone ever looked at him as if he were a mere ant?
With the revival of the immortals, even the weakest among them put on the lofty airs of supreme nobility.
Over the past century, he had seen many, many immortals. They possessed an innate, inherent sense of superiority, constantly proclaiming themselves as the elders of heaven and earth.
No matter how powerful the Human Race had become, they were still merely considered latecomers; the world changes, but only immortals endure eternally.
And that Spirit Lord sitting upon the jade steps—what kind of entity was he? He might not even be a match for Ba Siyu.
"Right now, the cultivators of the Southern Frontier are in a state of active preparation for war.
The Xuanyuan Clan of Clearpeak Prefecture, for some unknown reason, abandoned their desperate last-stand posture.
We had already laid traps, merely waiting to weaken the Southern Frontier's forces, yet the Xuanyuan Clan actually retreated."
An old man with the face of a child and a head of white hair, hunched over and leaning on a cane, spoke to the half-immortals and immortals present:
"It is the Azure Cloud Li Clan again. As our Immortal Court's glory is being restored, the Li Clan has repeatedly obstructed us beneath the Holy Moon."
"The Azure Cloud Li Clan..." Ba Siyu's expression darkened, fury boiling within him.
Back then, when Gu Fenghua died, the corpse fell into his hands. He desperately coveted Gu Fenghua's Spear Dao.
Who could have known that the despicable and shameless Old Ancestor of the Azure Cloud Li Clan would actually spout grand moral principles in front of them, acting like a martyr embracing death, only to turn around and rob his home base blind!
Let alone Gu Fenghua's Spear Dao, even the Golden Chapter of Enlightenment had been snatched away.
He didn't resent the majority of the Azure Cloud Li Clan; they shared some old ties, and daring to fight immortals like moths to a flame was ultimately worthy of respect.
It was only that shameless Li Clan Old Ancestor whom he wished he could hack into ten thousand pieces!
"In the Southern Frontier, aside from Ancestor Lan, only the Azure Cloud Li Clan is worthy of attention."
Min Tiange said gravely,
"I have crossed paths with the Li Clan. There is absolutely no possibility of them retreating from Azure Cloud Prefecture; they disrespect the Azure Dynasty and disrespect the immortals and gods.
Over the years, the Li Clan has disrupted my grand plans in Grandhaven Prefecture.
The Red Dust Immortal has already been captured by Ancestor Lan and is now being utilized by Azure Cloud."
"I suspect Azure Cloud must harbor a Great Golden Immortal. It is this Great Golden Immortal that has allowed the Li Clan to attain their current strength in a mere millennium.
If it were not for this, absolutely no one else could make the Red Dust Immortal run errands for the Li Clan."
"Looking at it now, the Azure Cloud Li Clan intends to use Grandhaven Prefecture as a buffer zone to wage war against us."
The immortals were utterly furious. A mere human cultivation family had actually spent the past century defying them, repeatedly causing them trouble.
Min Tiange glared coldly at the Spirit Lord.
"Back then, when the Spirit Lord arrived in Grandhaven Prefecture and sat idly by while Jade Mist Valley was besieged, that was an excellent opportunity to deal with the Southern Frontier.
Yet the Spirit Lord scoffed at it and missed it. Now that I have arrived in Grandhaven Prefecture, the Spirit Lord ignores the harassment from the Azure Cloud Li Clan; no fewer than ten Exalted Immortals have been captured by the Southern Frontier..."
Before his words could fall.
The old man immortal from earlier smiled and said,
"Is the Peerless Hall Master blaming the Spirit Lord for acting improperly? How could the Spirit Lord's foresight possibly be the same as yours?
The Southern Frontier's harassment is nothing more than the dying struggles of clowns.
The Spirit Lord commands the Grandhaven Immortal Domain in perfect order, merely treating it as a playful game with the Southern Frontier.
Beneath the Holy Moon, not a single mortal shall be spared."
"I have fought the Li Clan, and during the great war in the Western Frontier, I have also witnessed the Li Clan's extraordinary nature. They are no weaker than immortals."
The immortals' arrogance did not anger Min Tiange.
He said calmly, "Exalted Immortals, you should still prepare early and respond cautiously to the Li Clan. They will absolutely not give up."
The immortals looked at Min Tiange with mockery.
They knew of this person; he was an outstanding talent of the Human Race.
They heard that he had once escaped the Imperial Dynasty's pursuit for tens of thousands of years, even plunging the Imperial Dynasty into trouble at one point, with his spies operating omnipotently within it.
Looking at it now, the Human Race was no longer the Human Race of the past. To think such a cowardly mouse of a man actually managed to exhaust the Azure Dynasty.
"Hahaha!" The Exalted Immortals exchanged glances and suddenly burst into loud laughter.
They looked mockingly at Min Tiange, Ba Siyu, and their group, seemingly ridiculing them for being overly tense.
"The Azure Cloud Li Clan, no matter how capable they are, they are still just humans!"
"Under the path of the Holy Moon, whether it is the Southern Frontier or the Azure Cloud Li Clan, they are nothing but ants beneath the torrent.
Sooner or later, there will come a day when they will be exhausted from fleeing."
"Once Ancestor Lan is slain, and we devour heaven and earth, let alone the Azure Cloud Li Clan, the re-establishment of the Immortal Court is a foregone conclusion."
"Can a mere prefecture-level cultivation family compare to the remaining nine great totems of the Wu Tribe?
Us coming here to oversee things within the Holy Moon is already giving Azure Cloud more than enough respect!"