“Any idea where they are from?” Yuki asked as she continued to fly forward.

“I am not sure who some of them are, but I have seen a few of the sect’s robes. I believe they are a united front.” Delia replied. She only knew that they had to get there fast.

“Why would the smaller sects attack our sect? We have not done anything to them.” Nana was confused as to why this was happening. They had good relations with most of the sects on this continent.

“I can think of one reason.” Silvia’s expression was grave. “Any sect master would be willing to turn against an ally if they were giving heavy benefits. Like, say, resources from a certain sect.”

“Twilights Veil!” Yuki gritted her teeth. This sect was the cause of all her pain and anguish when she was younger!

- - -

“How many?” Yuki’s sect master expression was grim. 

“Over two thousand, all of which have somehow jumped to the universal core realm.” An elder reported.

“Since when did our continent have so many universal core realm cultivators!?” Elder Nishikawa was not in a good mood. “Do these sects think I am dead!?” 

Elder Nishikawa did not know exactly what was going on, but she knew one thing. These cultivators who were suddenly in the universal core realm were unstable. There was no way so many cultivators could appear with such cultivation. “Sect master, I will hold them off for the time being. You get all the disciples to a safe place.”

“Hana….” Yuki’s sect master looked at Elder Nishikawa in surprise. 

“You haven’t called me by my name in a long time. But this is not for the sect but for my disciples who call this place home. So hurry up! We can not let the sect get destroyed here.” Elder Nishikawa replied with a faint smile. She then left the meeting hall and flew out of the sect.

The sect master watched her retreating back with eyes filled with emotions. He let out a long sigh before turning to the other elders. “You heard her. Let’s go! Get the disciples out of here. Use the teleport array!”

“Sect master, the teleport array is not fully functional.” One of the elders was worried that if they did use the array, it could kill more of their disciples than save them.

“Do you think Elder Nishikawa can hold back so many!? I would rather risk them going through the array than sit here and allow these disciples to die in front of me! They are all my children. I brought them here to raise them to be good cultivators so that they can step out into the world. Not to let them die a needless death! Not hurry and do as I say!” Yuki’s sect master snorted before turning to Haruhi.  “Protect them.”

“I will do my best, Master.” Haruhi bowed her head. She then quickly flew out of the meeting room, following the elders who had just left. Only Yuki’s sect master was left in the room. “To think after so many long years that the Heavenly Cloud sect would need to evacuate. The world is changing. The old will fall while the new will rise.”

Yuki’s sect master turned and looked out towards the direction Elder Nishikawa was in and smiled. “Hana, this old man still has some fight left in him, so I will go join you.”

- - -

Out of the group of cultivators flying through the air, a small group of people stood out amongst the rest, their cultivation much higher than the others. “I can’t believe we were asked to come to this backwater continent just to take care of a small sect.”

“The sect master said we are here to retrieve the ancient phoenix bloodline. If we get that, we can raise our cultivation even more and maybe even get noticed by the main sect.”

“Does the main sect really exist?”

“It does. I saw the two people before we left from the main sect. They had cultivations, so it made our sect master look like an ant.” 

“Really? So that means if we do well, we might actually get a chance to join the main sect!?”

“It’s possible, so we must complete our mission no matter what. I heard the main sect is in a realm above our own.”

“But how are we supposed to capture the phoenix?”

“They gave us a restriction array. Her cultivation will be restricted to the universal core realm, making it easy for us to overwhelm her. Why do you think we handed out so many booster pills? These idiots think they had raised their cultivation instantly, but in fact, once the effects wear off, they will all be crippled.” 

“This is what happens when backwater cultivators get a promise of power. They have no idea what real power is.”

“Good riddance, we do not need more idiot cultivators anyway. Once they all die this continent can be taken over and used as a means of growing herbs.”

“Haha… a whole continent to grow herbs that is a very good idea!”

“Both of you shut up. I sense someone is coming. Prepare for battle. It seems our target has arrived.”

Indeed, someone did arrive. But not who they thought. A man wearing black robes stood in the air, looking at the disciples flying towards him with greedy eyes. “I will use your blood to recover my cultivation and then find my little fox!”