The Immortal Sect's Main Stronghold - Heavenly Cloud Peak

Sect Master Bai Zhengming stood in the center of his war council chamber, his Late Dao Integration aura pressing down on the assembled elders like the weight of mountains.

Maps covered every surface, marked with troop movements and resource allocations, while communication crystals hummed with reports from the failed southern expedition.

"Three hours," he said, his voice carrying the cold authority of absolute power. "Three hours since we lost contact with Grand Elder Huo's entire fleet. Nearly two thousand of our finest disciples, gone without so much as a final transmission."

Elder Chen Wuxian, the sect's intelligence chief, shifted nervously among the gathered leaders. "Sect Master, the last scrying attempt showed massive energy signatures consistent with Great Vehicle realm power. If this 'Emperor Tianlong' has truly achieved such heights..."

"Then we underestimated our enemy," Bai Zhengming finished grimly. "But that mistake will not be repeated. How long until our remaining forces can be mobilized?"

"Six hours for the secondary fleets, twelve for our full war host," reported Elder Liu Tianmeng, master of the sect's military forces. "But Sect Master, if he truly possesses Great Vehicle cultivation, perhaps we should consider... alternative approaches."

The suggestion hung in the air like a drawn blade. Several elders exchanged meaningful glances—they all knew what 'alternative approaches' meant. Poisoned negotiations, hired assassins, appeals to other sects for coordinated strikes.

The kind of tactics that preserved the sect's strength while eliminating troublesome opponents.

Bai Zhengming was about to respond when the chamber's emergency alert formation suddenly blazed to life, filling the room with pulsing crimson light.

"What—" Elder Chen began, but his words were cut off as a scroll of pure light materialized in the center of the war table, radiating power that made even their combined Dao Integration auras seem insignificant.

"Upper Realm communication," whispered Elder Wu Shengjing, the sect's formation master. "The energy signature... this is from someone with True Immortal cultivation at minimum."

Bai Zhengming reached for the scroll with trembling hands. In his three centuries of leadership, the Immortal Sect had received perhaps five direct communications from their parent organization in the Upper Realm.

Each had preceded events that reshaped entire kingdoms.

As he unrolled the luminous parchment, the words appeared in flowing script that seemed to burn themselves into his mind:

>> To the faithful servants of the Immortal Path below—

Know that your current enemy, the one calling himself Emperor Zhao Tianlong, seeks to claim the Draconic Spiritual Vine for his own ascension. This cannot be permitted. The Vine's power belongs to those who have proven their dedication through centuries of service.

More concerning are the three women who have corrupted this upstart—a bronze-skinned archer, a plant-manipulating witch, and a former member of your own sect who has betrayed her oaths. These three have poisoned his mind with their influences, turning what might have been a manageable opponent into an unpredictable threat.

Eliminate these three corrupting influences, and you will find the man far more reasonable. Fail, and the Vine's power will be used against the natural order itself.

Success in this endeavor will be rewarded with a high-grade immortal artifact—the Thundercloud Saber, capable of sundering the barriers between realms.

Do not disappoint me.

—An interested observer <<<

The chamber fell into stunned silence as the implications sank in.

An Upper Realm immortal was personally interested in their conflict, offering rewards that could elevate their entire sect to heights previously unimaginable.

Especially given how they never get support from the main Immortal sect.

But the price...

"Kill the women to weaken the man," Elder Chen murmured, his voice barely audible. "It's... it's not an unprecedented strategy. Remove a cultivator's emotional anchors, shatter their dao heart through grief..."

"But these aren't just any women," Elder Liu pointed out grimly. "If they've ascended alongside him to Great Vehicle equivalent power, assassination won't be simple. And one of them is Elder Feng Lianhua—she knows all our defensive formations, our secret techniques."

Bai Zhengming rolled the scroll carefully, his mind racing through possibilities. "The message doesn't specify immediate elimination. It suggests that removing their influence would make him 'more reasonable.' Perhaps... perhaps we can capture rather than kill."

"Capture?" Elder Wu's eyebrows rose. "Sect Master, holding hostages of that power level—!!"

Suddenly, as if a crack had opened in reality, their whole bodies stiffened, energy fluctuations instantly forming around them.

Already feeling the miles of the area around him due to his strength, the sect leader clenched his hand and, in a firm voice, said, "Who is here! Reveal yourself now!"

He had sensed a key fluctuation that only happened in an event like a message from the Upper Realm or when something seeped through a crack.

Something not human.

More like something possessing a soul nature without a physical body.

'Is this the place where the Emperor is?' In the corner of the war council chamber, unseen by mortal eyes, a translucent figure watched with growing confusion and pain.

The soul fragment of Princess Lily Qin flickered in and out of visibility, her ethereal form sustained by fragments of memory and overwhelming emotion.

She had been drawn here by the opening of the energy string that occurred after the transmission of the message, giving her the path to manifest within this place she couldn't recall at all.

Due to the separation from the main source, the soul didn't have memory—only emotion and remnants of the feeling of truly loving a man.

There was no question such as, 'Had she truly loved him, or had it all been part of her mission?'

This was simply because, unlike the human body, which has memory, ego, and a desire to possess or conquer—despite knowing that it will die one day—the soul is eternal and naturally has embedded imprints.

Like how a human child being born possesses talents such as cycling, has a good sense of music, and carries certain imprints that are unseen in their bloodline, which are imprinted in the soul. The same is true for fears and emotions, like how someone feels terror when suffocating in a single place.

All of these are impressions from their past lives that their human body manifests as some kind of disease, but in truth, they are impressions and patterns that they ignore embedded deeply within their souls.

When ascending to the Upper Realm, these imprints are separated from the body by the individual immortals who wish to forget their experiences in the mortal world.

They simply burn out those impressions, either by playing a role or by sacrificing their bodies. What normal humans call death is, for immortals, simply shedding the skin.

They may have memories of fear, but their bodies don't flinch.

They might have memories of loving someone, but their hearts don't thump. Impressions vanish, but a memory remains.

Similarly, this soul fragment, which had been set apart or separated from its original source, carries the imprint of love without memory, but with celestial power so strong that it materialized into the form of a soul..

So she knew she loved him.

But after arriving here, the only thing she could see was a strange man—referred to as Sect Master Bai Zhengming—standing at the center of his war council, his Late Dao Integration aura pressing down on the assembled elders as his eyes looked around as if trying to find someone.

'Is he searching for me?'

But before the soul fragment could think much, suddenly, like a hammer slamming across ten miles of the region, a force like a tsunami filled the place as the chamber exploded with sound and pressure.

CRACK!

Every formation array in the room shattered simultaneously, crystal displays bursting into fragments as an overwhelming presence pressed down from impossible distances.

The very air became thick as liquid mercury, crushing the assembled elders to their knees with casual, effortless dominance.

Sect Master Bai Zhengming—a cultivator who had stood unshaken before armies—was slammed face-first into the stone floor, his powerful cultivation base utterly insignificant before this cosmic authority.

"INSECTS OF THE IMMORTAL SECT."

The voice didn't come through their ears but directly into their souls, each word carrying the weight of geological ages.

Several weaker elders began bleeding from their meridians, their cultivation bases cracking under pressure that defied comprehension.

In her corner, Lily's soul fragment recoiled in terror. Even in her ethereal state, she could feel the raw, primal power washing over the chamber—something ancient beyond measure, predating human civilization itself.

Elder Chen's voice came out as a strangled whisper: "W-what... what is this presence?"

"I AM THE FROST WYRM EMPRESS, RULER OF THE NORTHERN WASTES, AND I HAVE A DEMAND."

The mountain peak itself began to tremble, avalanches cascading down surrounding slopes as the voice resonated through solid stone.

Defensive formations that had protected the sect for millennia flickered and died, unable to process energy signatures of this magnitude.

Bai Zhengming struggled to lift his head, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "G-great... Great Empress, this humble sect... how may we serve?"

"THERE IS A MALE IN YOUR TERRITORIES. AN EMPEROR. HE HAS ASCENDED TO GREAT VEHICLE REALM AND CARRIES THE SCENT OF FERTILE FEMALES."

A pause that felt like eternity, during which several elders lost consciousness from the pressure.

"BRING HIM TO ME. NOW."

"I... I don't..." Sect Master Bai gasped, each word a monumental effort. "We don't know his location, Great Empress. He destroyed our expedition forces. We cannot—"

The pressure intensified, and the main council table—carved from millennium-old spiritual wood—cracked down the middle.

"CANNOT? YOU DARE SPEAK OF LIMITATIONS TO ME?"

"Please!" Bai Zhengming wheezed, prostrating himself completely. "Great Empress, we are but mortals! His power exceeds our capabilities! We have no means to capture someone of Great Vehicle cultivation!"

A terrible silence stretched, broken only by the groaning of stone under impossible weight.

Then, unexpectedly, something like amusement colored the cosmic voice.

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