Chapter 545: The Flames of War Spread

"It’s the Profound Mystery Sect."

After his initial surprise, Ye Xuan quickly calmed down, having already guessed who was behind it.

The Divine Walk Commerce Association, although not one of the ten great powers of the Dream Realm Plain, was still a major power, second only to them.

The association had been mired in a debt crisis and was on the verge of collapse at any moment.

But ever since partnering with Ye Xuan’s Profound Pill Pavilion, the Divine Walk Commerce Association had immediately begun to grow with incredible speed. In a very short time, it had defeated several other major merchant guilds, including the Tianya Commerce Association, and was poised to become the number one commerce association on the Dream Realm Plain.

Smaller factions wouldn’t dare to offend such a massive organization. Therefore, the only power that would dare to move against the Divine Walk Commerce Association was a top-tier one like the Profound Mystery Sect.

"The Profound Mystery Sect must be behind this. Crazy Battle knows everything I did in the Sky Empire’s Imperial Capital, so he knows about the cooperation between my Profound Pill Pavilion and your Divine Walk Commerce Association. He can’t touch me, so he decided to make an example out of you."

"Xuan Ye, what do we do then?"

Dongfang Zisi looked anxious. Her Divine Walk Commerce Association was no Gale Light Academy; it couldn’t possibly withstand an attack from the Profound Mystery Sect.

Ye Xuan thought for a moment and said, "Don’t panic yet. There’s order on the Dream Realm Plain. No matter what the Profound Mystery Sect wants, they wouldn’t dare to openly attack your Divine Walk Commerce Association. Even if they were willing, the other major powers wouldn’t allow it. The most urgent thing is for you to have the Divine Walk Commerce Association scale back its operations. Suspend business at the shops in remote areas and wait to see how things develop."

"Mm, I suppose that’s all we can do for now."

Dongfang Zisi nodded and quickly went to pass on the message.

’The Profound Mystery Sect is even targeting the Divine Walk Commerce Association... what exactly are they trying to do?’

After learning that the Profound Mystery Sect had even targeted the Divine Walk Commerce Association, Ye Xuan felt a flicker of doubt. The Profound Mystery Sect’s goal was clearly Gale Light Academy. For them to now target the Divine Walk Commerce Association, it was obviously aimed at him. ’Am I, a mere student, really that important?’

He also considered another possibility: if the Profound Mystery Sect even dared to touch the Divine Walk Commerce Association, would his Profound Pill Pavilion in the Sky Empire also be attacked?

However, the moment the thought arose, Ye Xuan shook his head and dismissed it.

The Divine Walk Commerce Association was attacked because, as a commerce association, its influence was widespread, with shops all over the Dream Realm Plain. It was easy for the Profound Mystery Sect to attack a few of their locations.

His own Profound Pill Pavilion, on the other hand, was located in the Sky Empire’s Imperial Capital. No matter how bold the Profound Mystery Sect was, they wouldn’t dare make a move within the Sky Empire.

If the Profound Mystery Sect truly dared to act, it wouldn’t just be an attack on his Profound Pill Pavilion; it would be a slap in the face to the Sky Empire. As one of the ten great powers, the Sky Empire would not let the Profound Mystery Sect off the hook. The sect shouldn’t be that foolish.

What’s more, the Profound Pill Pavilion was protected by Master Lu Li and the Yuan family in the Imperial Capital. There shouldn’t be any problems.

Thinking of this, Ye Xuan’s heart immediately settled.

What Ye Xuan didn’t know was that, originally, the Profound Mystery Sect hadn’t paid him much mind. The only one who held a grudge against him was Crazy Battle.

But later, after news of Lv Feng’s death and Ye Xuan’s rush to the seventh floor of the trial tower spread, the Profound Mystery Sect’s attention on Ye Xuan increased several times over.

Ye Xuan, who had originally been a dispensable figure used only as a pretext, was now being watched closely by the Profound Mystery Sect, having become a key figure.

The incident with the Divine Walk Commerce Association’s attacks blew over quickly. After receiving Dongfang Zisi’s message, the association’s upper management immediately scaled back their operations. They closed many shops, with nearly ninety percent ceasing business, leaving only a few open within the territories of the ten great powers.

Their focus then shifted to the clash between Gale Light Academy and the Profound Mystery Sect.

They knew very well that closing some shops was nothing. Although their market share would be heavily contested, as long as their cooperation with the Profound Pill Pavilion continued, they could make a comeback as soon as the conflict ended.

The most crucial part of this conflict was the collision between Gale Light Academy and the Profound Mystery Sect. That was the real battlefield that would decide the outcome.

It wasn’t just the Divine Walk Commerce Association; at this moment, all the other major powers on the Dream Realm Plain had also focused their attention on this situation.

In Gale Light City, powerful experts continued to arrive one after another, all top-tier experts from the ten great powers. Even the Profound Sound Valley and the Divine Sea Sect, who usually disliked getting involved in worldly affairs, sent experts to take up residence in Gale Light City and monitor the changing situation.

Gale Light Academy and the Profound Mystery Sect were both among the top three of the ten great powers. Their conflict didn’t just concern themselves; it was tied to the safety and survival of the entire Dream Realm Plain.

In many people’s eyes, given the status of the Profound Mystery Sect and Gale Light Academy, they expected the two sides to bicker for a bit before quickly settling down for negotiations.

But the result was beyond everyone’s expectations.

As time passed, the situation between the two sides not only failed to de-escalate but instead grew more and more intense.

In just two to three months, more than twenty of Gale Light Academy’s strongholds were destroyed by the Profound Mystery Sect. The Profound Mystery Sect didn’t fare much better; nearly twenty of their offices centered around Gale Light Academy were also wiped out, suffering heavy casualties.

The flames of war even began to spread across the entire Dream Realm Plain.

At this point, everyone finally sensed that something was wrong.

’This doesn’t look like a minor squabble between these two great powers. Are they really going at it for real?’

If reconciliation had been easy between the two powers before, then after the destruction of numerous strongholds on both sides, they had both fought themselves into a fury, creating a situation of kill or be killed.

Panic began to spread throughout the Dream Realm Plain.

For years, the Dream Realm Plain had never been a monolithic bloc; there were occasional contests and conflicts between the major powers.

But they had at least remained restrained with one another. This time, however, any discerning person could tell something was off. Many powers and families began to consider their own futures.

Inner Courtyard, Core Hall.

BOOM!

A streak of light descended, landing on the plaza in front of the Core Hall.

"It’s Senior Brother Celestial Wheel and his group."

"Looks like another Profound Mystery Sect office has been destroyed."

"With this, Senior Brother Celestial Wheel’s group has destroyed four Profound Mystery Sect offices in the past three months. That’s one more than Xuan Ye."

"Xuan Ye isn’t bad either. He took out three all by himself. Amazing."

"This won’t do. Our squad has only completed one mission. It probably won’t be long before all the Profound Mystery Sect offices near our academy are evacuated. We have to move faster."

The crowd on the plaza buzzed with discussion.

Ever since Vice Director Ge issued the mission to eliminate the Profound Mystery Sect’s outposts, the students of the inner courtyard had gone into a frenzy. Lured by the high contribution points, many students formed teams to attack the sect’s strongholds.

Among them, top students like Celestial Wheel were the most active.

In just three months, their group had eliminated a total of four Profound Mystery Sect outposts. This wasn’t the only reason the other students were envious. What made them even more jealous was that one of the outposts Celestial Wheel’s group had cleared was a major one, filled with a large amount of treasure.

According to academy rules, any treasures found in a cleared outpost belonged to the students who cleared it. Thus, Celestial Wheel and his team not only earned contribution points from the academy but also obtained a great deal of treasure.

However, for many students, it was just something to dream about.

As one of the ten great powers, even the weakest of the Profound Mystery Sect’s outposts was guarded by a Tier Six Martial Venerable. Some of the top-tier outposts even had Tier Seven Martial Kings. For ordinary inner courtyard disciples like them, going to the larger outposts was still quite risky.

Only the very top disciples of the inner courtyard, like Celestial Wheel, were unconcerned by such dangers.

For instance, at that major outpost last time, a Tier Seven Martial King Level Supreme Elder had been lying in ambush. The moment Celestial Wheel and his group made their move, the elder struck with overwhelming force, intending to wipe out all of Gale Light Academy’s top inner courtyard geniuses in one fell swoop.

Who would have thought that although Celestial Wheel and his group were only at Tier Six Peak, their strength was extraordinary? In the end, they actually managed to kill the Tier Seven Martial King on the spot.

If it had been ordinary inner courtyard disciples, that mission would have likely ended in their complete annihilation.

"Xuan Ye, we’ve pretty much cleared out all the Profound Mystery Sect outposts within a ten-thousand-li radius. We’ve taken out four now, which is one more than you. What do you say? Convinced yet?"

After turning in their mission, Celestial Wheel and his group found Ye Xuan and spoke with arrogance.

"There are so many of you, so it’s only normal that you cleared one more. I took out three all by myself. Shouldn’t you be the ones who are ashamed?"

"You! I knew you wouldn’t admit it. When we made the bet, you didn’t say anything about the number of people."

Celestial Wheel said with a look of disdain.

Anyone who didn’t know them might think they were in conflict, but that wasn’t the case.

Before joining the inner courtyard, Ye Xuan had always thought it was a rather chaotic place, full of fighting. And for the most part, what he had seen and heard confirmed that.

But after the incident with the Profound Mystery Sect erupted, Ye Xuan discovered that while the inner courtyard seemed chaotic on the surface, it was actually a very united place deep down.

As soon as Vice Director Ge’s mission was announced in the academy, all the top students responded. Celestial Wheel had even gone directly to Ye Xuan to propose a competition: to see who could eliminate more Profound Mystery Sect outposts.

That was why the previous scene had occurred.

And over the past few months of interaction, Ye Xuan had also discovered that many of the inner courtyard disciples were actually quite easy to get along with. It was just that they had been in such a competitive environment before that no one expressed their true nature. Now that Gale Light Academy was in crisis, the students’ unity was immediately revealed.

"Little Junior Brother Xuan Ye, you didn’t mention that when we made the bet. Are you trying to back out now? Tsk tsk, don’t worry. Even if you lose, your big sister here won’t eat you."

Hua Xiuhong came up to Ye Xuan and chuckled softly, her tone carrying a hint of flirtation.

"The competition isn’t over yet, is it? Isn’t it a bit early to be saying all this?" Ye Xuan said faintly.