Shortly thereafter, the meeting between the elders concluded, and everything resumed as normal in Deep Heaven City.
Just as the white-robed elderly man had said, without anyone leaking the news, none of the ordinary beings in the city were aware that a mid-Body Integration Stage human cultivator had already passed away.
Of course, this news wasn't kept a secret from Fairy Lin Luan.
Upon hearing this news, she was initially quite shocked and horrified, but she quickly calmed down and never mentioned Master Azure Dragon again, as if she had never even known him.
Unfortunately for the panel of elders, their attempts to recruit Han Li had proven to be futile.
Han Li had been in seclusion this entire time, proclaiming that he was cultivating some type of powerful ability.
Thus, Buddhist Monk Jin Yue could only wait patiently until he came out of seclusion.
He was sure that Han Li would emerge from seclusion before the devilish army commenced its all-out attack.
Aside from Buddhist Monk Jin Yue, Fairy Silver Light, and several other Body Integration cultivators, all of the other elders had their attention drawn to the frequent harassment attacks launched by the devilish army, so they eventually forgot about Han Li.
Even the white-robed elderly man only asked about Han Li a few more times before setting the matter aside.
At this point, the devilish army still hadn't deployed their main forces to attack the city, but the harassment attacks they were unleashing were becoming more and more ferocious.
During these attacks, even Spatial Tempering Stage casualties had become very commonplace.
Thus, the elders of the city naturally had to step in, and two or three elders had to be present to face every devilish attack in order to ensure that morale remained high.
At the same time, the entirety of Deep Heaven City was operating at full capacity. All types of tool refinement workshops were packed to the rafters with workers, and treasures and spirit tools were being refined with no material expenses being spared.
The cultivators who were adept in the art of talismans had also been grouped together to craft low-grade talismans day and night.
In a battle of such a massive scale, low-grade talismans were often more effective and efficient to produce than mid-grade and high-grade ones.
After all, with the time and materials required to refine a mid-grade talismans, tens or even hundreds of low-grade talismans could be produced, and that wasn't even taking into account the vast disparity between the success rates of refining the different talismans.
As for high-grade talismans, only a select group of expert talisman refinement masters could produce them.
On top of that, many of the low-grade cultivators and manual laborers in the city had also been put to work; they were organized into several enormous groups of different numbers as the back-up forces of the city.
Aside from that, all of the city's formations and restrictions had also been thoroughly examined several times to ensure that they could be relied upon to resist the devilish army.
In summary, Deep Heaven City was preparing for war.
Under this tense and frenetic atmosphere, half a year flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, the white-robed elderly man and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue were discussing an important matter in a conference hall when the door was abruptly flung open from the outside, and a silver-armored guard hurriedly rushed in.
"Who said you could come in here?" the white-robed elderly man asked in a vexed manner.
"Senior, I came here to inform you that the spiritual Qi outside is in a completely chaotic state; it seems that someone is making a major breakthrough!" the guard hurriedly reported as he extended a respectful bow.
"A major breakthrough? Could it be that someone's progressing to the mid-Body Integration Stage? That's fantastic news; why do you look to be in such a panic?" the white-robed elderly man asked as his expression eased slightly.
"The issue is that the heavenly phenomena are far too ferocious for a mid-Body Integration Stage breakthrough; the situation seems to be even more fearsome than what late-Body Integration Stage breakthroughs are rumored to be like!" the guard replied in a panicked manner.
The white-robed elderly man was rather surprised to hear this. "Oh? Let's go and take a look, Fellow Daoist Jin Yue."
"Sure, I'm also very interested to see just which fellow daoist is making their breakthrough," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue replied with a nod.
Thus, they were led out of the hall by the guard, and as soon as they emerged outside, the white-robed elderly man's expression immediately changed slightly.
With his mid-Body Integration Stage spiritual sense, he was instantly able to sense that the spiritual Qi in the air had become extremely active, as if they were being affected by some type of fearsome power.
He unconsciously sped up, and in the blink of an eye, he and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue had arrived on a massive terrace.
There were around a dozen guards gathered on the terrace, all of whom were looking into the distance with flabbergasted expressions.
The white-robed elderly man's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he cleared this throat to make his presence known.
Only then did the guards notice him and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue, and they immediately extended respectful bows. Just as the white-robed elderly man was about to scold these subordinates of his, Buddhist Monk Jin Yue suddenly let loose a faint cry of surprise.
The white-robed elderly man immediately cast his gaze toward the same direction as Buddhist Monk Jin Yue, upon which an astonished look appeared on his face.
There in the distance, the sky had turned bright red, and crimson fiery clouds were revolving in mid-air like a giant fireball.
Beneath the fiery clouds, countless wisps of colorful light were rapidly converging to form a series of rainbow bridges.
Close to half of the entire city was encompassed beneath the fireball and crimson clouds, but compared to this stunning visual stimulus, the spiritual pressure radiating from the heavenly phenomena was even more astonishing.
Due to how far away they were, they could only sense a tiny portion of this spiritual pressure, but they were still struck by a sense of asphyxiation. Furthermore, this pressure was only continuing to mount, and it seemed that something terrifying was brewing in the distance.
"These heavenly phenomena really are far more fearsome than what a mid-Body Integration Stage breakthrough could bring about! Let's go and take a closer look, Fellow Daoist Jin. It would be extremely fortunate for the city if someone could make a late-Body Integration Stage breakthrough; we have to keep a lookout for them and ensure that they aren't disrupted," the white-robed elderly man said.
"Of course. Witnessing a late-Body Integration Stage tribulation transcendence would be a brilliant opportunity for us. If we can see it up close, I'm sure it'll benefit our future cultivation immensely," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue immediately agreed.
Thus, the white-robed elderly man swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of white that swept up his own body, then flew away into the distance.
Buddhist Monk Jin Yue also followed along as a ball of golden light, and only then did the guards heave a collective sigh of relief before erupting into spirited discussion surrounding the heavenly phenomena that were taking place.
At this point, all of the high-grade cultivators in the entire city had been alerted by these phenomena, and countless streaks of light were converging from all directions.
The low-grade and mid-grade cultivators were also very intrigued, but they knew that this was not something that they could participate in, so they could only look on from where they were, but that certainly didn't stop them from discussing the situation with those around them.
The theories they came up with came in all shapes and forms.
There were some stating that a certain spirit treasure was emerging, while others were proclaiming that an almighty spirit beast was creating these phenomena. Of course, most believed that this was stemming from a certain cultivator's tribulation transcendence, and some of the more knowledgeable and experienced individuals had guessed that this had to be a Body Integration Stage tribulation transcendence.
Of course, none of them could've imagined that the Body Integration cultivators were just as astonished as they were once they gathered close to the heavenly phenomena.
The white-robed elderly man and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue weren't the first ones to arrive on the scene; over 20 Spatial Tempering and Body Integration cultivators had arrived before them, and they were appraising the phenomena from close to 100 kilometers away.
Fairy Silver Light was among them as well, and she gave the white-robed elderly man and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue a nod from afar before casting her gaze toward the unfolding phenomena again.
The white-robed elderly man and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue exchanged a glance before also stopping nearby.
"If I'm not mistaken, Fellow Daoist Han is the only Body Integration cultivator who lives in this area, right?" the white-robed elderly man suddenly asked.
"Indeed, and Fellow Daoist Han's abode seems to be situated right at the center of this heavenly phenomena," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue replied.
"That means it must be Fellow Daoist Han who's making a breakthrough; it's no wonder that he went into seclusion," the white-robed elderly man said.
"That does appear to be the case. This heavenly phenomena appears to have been triggered by a late-Body Integration Stage breakthrough, but it's far more fearsome than one that I was fortunate enough to have witnessed in the past," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue replied in a hesitant manner.
"There's nothing strange about that; the heavenly phenomena triggered by one's breakthrough depends on their powers. Generally speaking, the more fearsome the phenomena, the more powerful the tribulation transcender is, but at the same time, they'll also be plunged into an extremely perilous situation. With the ferocity of this set of heavenly phenomena, I think Fellow Daoist Han may not be able to successfully transcend his tribulation," the white-robed elderly man mused in a contemplative manner.
