Chapter 126: Commotion at the Teleportation Altar

In every corner of the Sacred Land, everyone who was still alive suddenly looked up at the sky at the exact same time.

Through the dark clouds, white stars began breaking through, brighter and brighter, lighting up the sky, nearly blinding anyone who dared look up at it.

The next instant, the ground began to shake, and a strange hum, drifting alternately from the sky and from underground, started speeding up, growing louder and louder.

Among the towering crimson trees, An got to his feet and steadied himself. 'It's starting...' Lowering his head, he began manipulating his Qi, wrapping himself completely in a membrane of Qi Armor, so that once the teleportation ended, he could recover far faster, buying himself a few crucial milliseconds to carry out his rough, barely thought-through plan.

….

<"Miss Eternal Void is already on her way."> Hearing the voice in his head, Golden Blade turned and looked at Zua Dvou, the second elder at the Golden Core realm who'd come along with him as an escort from their sect, the Primordial Purity Sect.

The two of them hovered shoulder to shoulder.

<"Let's hope she hurries! Or we could all be in serious trouble!"> Answering him, Golden Blade looked ahead with a grim expression, toward the four figures hovering directly above the teleportation altar. What unsettled him most was one in particular: bald, a shining scalp dotted with spots.

….

"How's the formation coming along?" The bald cultivator, hovering slightly ahead of the others, looked down at the altar beneath him. Asking this, he turned to a woman standing beside him, holding a flat disc covered in countless shimmering golden runes.

Hearing him, she lifted her head and, turning toward him, bowed slightly. "Leader Sia Moy. The formation's ready." Running a finger between several of the runes, they suddenly dimmed, growing slightly weaker. "The moment the teleportation completes, I'll activate the formation instantly, covering a five-kilometer radius with an impenetrable dome."

"Mm-hm, well done, Niece Li! Simply well done!" With the warmest, gentlest smile on his face, he nodded several times, his gaze never once straying from her body, fixed openly on Li Deng, a Golden Core cultivator and Leader of Dragon's Breath Peak.

Feeling his hungry gaze on her, her whole body trembled slightly. But holding herself together, she showed no outward sign of it, simply bowing once more and turning her attention back to the disc of runes.

Hovering nearby, Lua Mou, Vice-Leader of Dragon's Breath Peak, who along with Li Deng had escorted the disciples on the ship, couldn't hold back her own curiosity as she looked at Sia Moy, a cultivator at the Nascent Soul realm. "Leader of Hope Peak. Why exactly did the Sect Leader give an order like this? And who's this trap actually meant for?"

Turning to her, his eyes lit up, looking her up and down several times, his gaze lingering each time on her legs, and with a disarming smile, "My dear niece Lua. What's with the formality between us? You can just call me Uncle, or even Senior Brother, heh!"

In response, Lua Mou covered her mouth slightly with one hand and giggled. "Oh, how could I! You're an honored Saint Alchemist! I couldn't possibly disrespect you like that!" Bowing slightly, she folded her hands in a way that put the low neckline of her robe directly in this old alchemist's line of sight.

Seeing the cut of her robe, Sia Moy swallowed hard and, nodding a few times, feeling his mood lift, decided to give her a proper answer. "Oh, my dear niece... it's all about one of the inner disciples. The Sect Leader himself identified him as a spy for the demonic path-"

The next instant, every trace of hunger for her soft, delicate flesh vanished from his eyes, and Sia Moy suddenly turned toward the man hovering beside him: white hair tied into a ponytail, dressed in black robes with green patterns.

Feeling this Nascent Soul cultivator's gaze fall on him, the man lowered his head slightly.

Studying him for a few seconds, scolding him with nothing but a look, the way you'd scold a child, Sia Moy turned back to Lua Mou and, with his smile and hungry eyes both returning, continued. "Ho, we discovered he was carrying information critical, not just to us, but to the demonic sects as well!"

The white-haired cultivator beside him suddenly coughed.

Turning to him, Sia Moy asked with an irritated look, "Is something wrong, Grandmaster Shoa Ediso?"

Hovering beside the Leader of Hope Peak was the very elder who'd helped An for years, teaching and guiding him in alchemy and more.

Shaking his head, Shoa Ediso folded his hands in a gesture of respect. "No, nothing's wrong, Leader Sia Moy!" Bowing his head low, avoiding any eye contact, he held that position until Sia Moy turned away from him.

'Damn peasant brat! All because of you!' With rage boiling in his eyes, Shoa Ediso turned aside and looked down at the altar beneath him. 'First you ruin a plan I've spent years orchestrating!! Now you're creating obstacles for me, even from inside the Sacred Land!!'

Glancing sideways at the bald Sia Moy, a flicker of hidden killing intent crossed his eyes. 'You think that catching him and turning him into your obedient puppet lets you keep threatening me, keep restricting me going forward? Just you wait! The moment people from the Upper World arrive, I'll report to them that this spawn you're so desperate to leash and use for yourself is a Purist! And I'll enjoy watching you try to save your own skin after that!'

….

<"Junior Sister Lua. Be careful with him. If that vile pervert sets his sights on you, even the Sect Leader might struggle to protect you."> Hearing Li Deng's voice in her head, Lua Mou smiled faintly and turned so no one could see the expression on her face.

<"Don't worry, senior sister. I'm too old for that old geezer. He only collects children for his little collection."> Sending her thoughts back to Li Deng, she folded her hands in front of her chest and lifted her head, looking off toward the distant horizon.

"Hm? Someone's approaching." Looking up at the sky, where a small speck kept growing larger and larger, Lua Mou tilted her chin toward the moving speck.

Everyone except Sia Moy took notice, lifting their heads to look at the horizon, at the approaching object.

"Eh? Is that-?" Turning his head slightly, Shoa Ediso looked at Sia Moy and asked.

"Indeed. Someone from the Primordial Purity Sect has arrived to match my presence here. Heh!" With a spiteful smile, Sia Moy suddenly rose into the sky and positioned himself directly in the path of the approaching object.

….

Watching the object grow closer and larger, Sia Moy kept his gaze locked on it, his expression turning serious.

"ROOOAAAR!!"

Suddenly, a beastly roar rang out, and every Golden Core cultivator present went slightly pale, feeling the power restrained behind that roar.

….

"That must be Eternal Void..." Shoa Ediso suddenly muttered, almost in a whisper.

"Eternal Void?" Lua Mou's eyes lit up the instant she heard the name. "It really is! That’s Eternal Void, and her turtle, Blossom!"

"Enough drooling already! According to the latest reports, that Blossom's about to reach peak fourth rank and start preparing to break through to fifth... Do you understand what that means?" Li Deng, seeing her face light up, frowned slightly, trying to hide a flicker of both disdain and envy.

"Who cares what it means!" Watching the object with huge, burning eyes as it flew closer, now visible as an enormous white turtle shell, Lua Mou couldn't contain herself. "I've always been a fan of her exploits! Since my very first day of cultivation! When my father introduced her to me, when she visited our clan, I knew right then she'd be my role model! My guiding star!"

Both Li Deng and Shoa Ediso, tired of listening to her, decided it was better to stay quiet and not give her another reason to start talking again.

"ROOAR!"

As it drew closer, a black head with four white eyes emerged from the massive white shell.

Standing right at the center of the shell were three figures. In the middle, stood a woman who looked no older than thirty-five, with black hair, white eyes, her gray robe with black turtle-shaped inlays billowing in the oncoming wind.

On either side of her stood two young men, identical in appearance, looking to be about twenty, tall, light hair, except one had red eyes, the other green, both dressed in black robes patterned with turtles matching the color of their respective eyes.

"Groo... Groo..."

Suddenly the turtle stopped and hovered in the sky, only a deep, muffled roar rumbling out from within its shell, shaking the ground for kilometers around.

The woman turned her head, said something to the twins, and leapt into the air. With a single step, she stood directly in front of the hovering Sia Moy.

"Ho-ho! Eternal Void, with every meeting, you grow brighter, more magnificent than ever!" Folding his hands in a gesture of respect, Sia Moy, true to form, looked her up and down, a warm, gentle smile on his face, though one glance into his eyes revealed nothing but open contempt, tangled up with desire.

"Ptooh!" Spitting over her shoulder, Eternal Void planted her hands on her hips and tilted her chin up. "What's going on here?! On what grounds is the Heavenly Soul Sect breaking our agreement and activating an elder at the Nascent Soul realm... namely, you! Old! Bald! Pervert!"

Not holding back on her words in the slightest, she spoke loudly, making sure everyone around could hear.

Sia Moy's face fell instantly, every trace of warmth and kindness wiped clean away, replaced by cold, undisguised killing intent.

"Watch your tongue, you mangy old cat!! You're far from your so-called sect's formation, and far from your little pack of sycophant guards!!" Suddenly, the air around them began cracking, fissures spreading open, revealing glimpses of the black void of space beyond.

'D-damn it! This old bastard's reached the mid stage!' Feeling the space around them warp and buckle from nothing more than the activation of his Qi, every ounce of Eternal Void's courage and arrogance evaporated instantly. 'If only my Blossom weren't half-asleep, preparing for her upcoming breakthrough! Damn it!!'

"Hm! The sect sent me to make sure the disciples come through unharmed and return safely!" Changing the subject, her tone dropped, growing quieter, softer, though the undisguised distaste was still plainly there.

Sensing this new submission in her voice, Sia Moy smirked, but the smirk was instantly replaced by his signature smile.

….

Everyone who watched from below felt a wave of disappointment, realizing Eternal Void had backed down. Whether they were cultivators from the Primordial Purity Sect or the Heavenly Soul Sect, all of them held nothing but contempt for this bald Sia Moy.

….

"Don't worry, my dear Eternal Void! I assure you I'm only here to carry out my Sect Leader's request. Specifically, to capture a disciple who's been spying for the demonic forces." Folding his hands behind his back, Sia Moy smiled so wide his eyes nearly closed shut.

Watching that smile, that face, disgust and revulsion boiled harder and harder inside her, though hiding it presented no difficulty at all.

Nodding, a faint smile on her lips, Eternal Void kept the conversation going, trying to pry out as much information as she could. "Senior Brother Gu Bai gave the order himself? If it's not a secret, who exactly? Maybe I've heard of him?"

Sia Moy's face twitched slightly, his smile nearly cracking, all because of the word "order".

Recovering his signature expression, "Hmm. Perhaps, perhaps.The disciple named An. Peasant origins, native to this lower world."

Deep in thought, Eternal Void started running through reports on Heavenly Soul Sect disciples, trying to find a name that matched. "An, hmm... Alchemist An?" Suddenly remembering one of the reports, her eyes lit up slightly.

"Wait, don't tell me… this is the disciple who managed to reach Alchemy Master status before even Foundation Establishment, all without any outside support... Interesting!" Turning and seeing Sia Moy nod, confirming her guess, she frowned. "Still, that's strange. Someone who achieved results like that, a status like that, coming from such a worthless background… and now he's suddenly a spy? For what, exactly?"

Hearing her questions, Sia Moy turned his head slightly, his eyes flicking toward Shoa Ediso, hovering not far off.

Feeling that gaze on him, Shoa Ediso lowered his head again.

Eternal Void didn't miss this, but stayed quiet, simply watching the bald geezer in front of her, waiting for an answer.

Turning back to her, a smile on his face, "We were shocked ourselves, when this bitter truth came to light... You might not know this, but from almost the moment of his birth, this poor child was enslaved to one of the clans. And we believe his handlers reached out to him once he was already inside the sect... and exploited his mental trauma to stoke a fire of hatred and a thirst for revenge in him."