In the Domain of Green Woods.
FIZZ!
A spatial rift appeared out of nowhere in the starry river.
Then, a stream of figures arrived through it.
They were Ji Yuanquan, Ye Wenhan, several Divine Sons and Daughters of the Five Elements Sect, and a number of Saint domain experts.
Their expressions were unusually grim.
Fifty thousand kilometers in front of them was a luxuriant realm named the Realm of Green Woods, which was now enveloped in multicolored miasma. Apparently, it was being attacked by Gupi.
A few badly damaged ancient starships sailed over from the Realm of Green Woods’s direction. No sound other than people weeping came from it.
A Saint domain expert on the starship spotted Ji Yuanquan and the others, and thus shouted, “There are people there!”
Shortly afterwards, the ancient starship came close.
“They’re people from the Void Spirit Society, the Five Elements Sect, and the Heaven Span Pavilion!” The Saint domain expert, who appeared to be the leader, then enveloped himself in a golden domain and flew towards Ji Yuanquan.
“This old one is Fei Yiming, an elder of the Golden Radiance Sect. All of the sects and clans in our realm are suffering from Gupi’s attacks now. Many of them have been wiped out. There are also over ten thousand commoners in our realm who haven’t had a chance to evacuate…”
He almost burst into tears as he spoke.
Face gloomy, Ye Wenhan asked, “Why didn’t you evacuate all of your people after Gupi appeared?”
“We only have a few teleportation portals in our realm. Even if they run without breaks, they can’t teleport everyone out of our realm within a short time!” Fei Yiming practically wailed.
Ji Yuanquan let out a deep sigh. “We…”
Fei Yiming threw his head back, sorrow filling his eyes. “There’s nothing you can do?”
Gupi had approached their realm quietly. By the time they had noticed the anomalies, toxic miasma had already engulfed their realm, not giving them a chance to react.
He and a number of Golden Radiance Sect disciples had been patrolling on a starship in a nearby area. By the time they had realized what had been happening, it had already been too late.
While a small number of disciples had been able to evacuate, the majority of the Golden Radiance Sect were still trapped in the Realm of Green Woods, along with his own descendants.
Now, the realm barrier had already been breached by Gupi’s toxic miasma. He could imagine the toxic miasma falling from the heavens to plague the luxuriant prairies and devastate cities.
He could imagine his descendants and disciples of the Golden Radiance Sect wailing in despair.
However, there was nothing he could do.
Ji Yuanquan withdrew his gaze from the Realm of Green Woods and said, “The Domain of Green Woods is the fourth domain Gupi has been to. If you learned what happened to the other three, you’d probably know what you’re facing now. I’m sorry. It’s not that we don’t want to help you. We simply can’t.”
“The Void Spirit Society, the Five Elements Sect, the Heaven Span Pavilion, and the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace!” Fei Yiming said, furious. “You’re the lords of the human world. You occupy the domains with the most cultivation resources and demand that advanced domains swear allegiance to you! They have to pay tribute to you by giving you the best lands and most precious spiritual materials, so that your disciples can make faster advances in their cultivation and improve their battle prowess! You’re the most powerful forces of our race!
“Since you take up so many resources, it’s your responsibility to take care of Gupi, instead of standing here and telling us that there’s nothing you can do!
“If you’re really this useless, what gives you the right to lead us? What right do you have to take the best domains and the most precious spiritual materials?”
Fei Yiming grew furious.
Many on the starship, whose families were either dead or going to die soon, also yelled at Ji Yuanquan, Ye Wenhan, and the others.
At this moment, they were no longer afraid of powerhouses like the Void Spirit Society, the Five Elements Sect, and the Heaven Span Pavilion.
Ye Wenhan, Ji Yuanquan, and the Divine Sons and Daughters of the Five Elements Sect were ashamed facing these ranting survivors.
Fei Yiming was right.
From ancient times, the four great sects had been responsible for contending against the outsiders and fighting their strongest forces.
They held the best cultivation resources and had the most Saint and God domain experts. It was only right that they step up and take charge when humanity faced great challenges.
Now that Gupi was ravaging realms and devastating people, they should step up and take care of it.
But now…
A number of white ancient starships that were covered in ice and snow sailed over from the distant starry river.
Han Qiong from the Ice Soul Divine Sect enveloped himself in his sparkling ice domain and flew to Fei Yiming and the others.
“Greetings.”
After giving Ji Yuanquan and Ye Wenhan a solute, he turned to Fei Yiming and said, “Why don’t you go take shelter in our domain?”
“Your domain?” Fei Yiming asked with a wry smile. “Your domain borders ours. There’s a great chance that Gupi will target your domain once he’s finished with ours. If that happens, your domain will perish along with your sect. So even if we need to find shelter somewhere, we won’t go to your domain.”
With these words, he refused Han Qiong’s invitation. Then, he started their badly damaged ancient starship and sailed off with the other survivors in a direction that was clearly different from where Han Qiong had come from.
Han Qiong’s expression grew deeply grim.
“I hope you’ll find a solution to this Gupi disaster soon.” With these words, he bowed towards Ji Yuanquan and Ye Wenhan, and returned to one of his starships.
Ling Bingyun, the Ice Soul Divine Daughter, stood like a frost-covered holy flower on the starship wreathed in a frigid aura. Anxiety filled her icy crystalline eyes as she asked, “Well…? Why didn’t Fei Yiming accept our offer?”
“He thought that we wouldn’t be able to protect even ourselves,” Han Qiong said, without trying to hide the truth from her. “He thought there’s a good chance that our domain will be Gupi’s next target.”
The disciples of the Ice Soul Divine Sect burst into a loud clamor after hearing Han Qiong’s words.
“What?!”
“What should we do?”
“Sectmaster, do we evacuate all of our forces from the Domain of Frigid Frost now?”
“We all practice cold power. Where can we go? The Domain of Frigid Depths?”
“Grand Monarch Ice Bones rules the Domain of Frigid Depths now, along with the Extreme Coldness Palace!”
“So what should we do then? Who of us can survive if Gupi actually comes?”
Despair and panic were written all over their faces.
Han Qiong turned to look at Ling Bingyun. “Sectmaster…”
Ling Bingyun sighed in frustration. “I, I need some time to think. Is there really nothing the Five Elements Sect, the Void Spirit Society, and the Heaven Span Pavilion can do? Didn’t they say that Gupi was scared away by someone before that man even showed up?”
“That was Nie Tian’s master, Wu Ji.” Han Qiong cast his gaze down to avoid Ling Bingyun’s eyes. “There’s also a rumor that some Saint domain observers saw Nie Tian seal Gupi’s toxic miasma with some talisman spell. They said that after Nie Tian makes another breakthrough in his cultivation, he might be strong enough to seal Gupi by himself. In a word, the only two men Gupi is afraid of are Nie Tian’s master and a stronger version of Nie Tian.”
Kong Shuangjing smiled bitterly and said, “But no one offended Nie Tian more than we did. He even said that he’d ‘pay us a visit’ sooner or later. He was busy putting out fires for the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace before. Now, he’s in secluded cultivation. When he has time, we’ll be lucky if he doesn’t come after us…”
“But the only two people who can scare Gupi off are his master and himself after he gets stronger,” Han Qiong said.
All of the Ice Soul Divine Sect disciples fell silent.
That was when an old woman with white hair, who was at the early Saint domain, approached Ling Bingyun. Tottering and trembling, she said, “Little Yun, it was your reckless actions that offended Nie Tian. Before that, our sect and the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace didn’t have any enmity towards each other. As our sectmaster, I think sometimes you need to make some sacrifices for the survival of our sect.”
Ling Bingyun was taken aback. “What do you mean, Grandma Hong?”
“Take a trip to the Realm of Maelstrom to meet that Nie Tian, or have his subordinates tell him that you’ve come to atone for your mistake with lavish gifts,” the white-haired old woman said.
Her cultivation base was rather low, yet her seniority was higher than anyone present.
Even Ling Bingyun had been taken care of by her when she had first joined the Ice Soul Divine Sect.
Now that she had put forth this idea, even Han Qiong and Kong Shuangjing didn’t dare to disapprove of it.
Ling Bingyun ran her icy gaze over the crowd of disciples. With a sad feeling rising in her heart, she nodded stiffly and said, “I see.”
