Chen Wentian found out about the ambushes at the same time as his disciples. These people had been able to evade his network of shadow anchors and void bees. But it was also because they arrived from the outside and were not residing within the city. His intelligence-gathering methods were best used on targets of interest. If asked to cast a wide net, it wasn't so effective.
But he also had to blame himself. Bandits disguising themselves as trading caravans was a possibility he should have foreseen. There were multiple checkpoints on the roads leading to Thousand Flower City. What happened to those places? How were inspectors there not able to catch anything suspicious with these people?
As for the group that descended from the sky to attack Peng Lingxi, he wasn't sure how they achieved that. As a standard defensive measure, the Zhou Clan had established many observation stations across the province to watch the sky for wayward immortals, flying boats, or other strange flying things. But there were many limitations and some strange Daos could certainly provide camouflage from mortal eyes and senses.
So many strange groups setting up shop in Thousand Flower City was already a huge concern. There were countless pairs of eyes on him and his disciples, from many different sources. The appearance of so many enemies at once pointed to something else. It meant that there was definitely a conspiracy.
Someone was no longer content with observation and covert operations. Someone or some group wanted to hurt him and his sect. They held grudges and hungered for revenge.
Chen Wentian's thoughts turned as he found another possibility. Whoever was behind today's events, they not only wanted to harm his sect and his disciples, they also wanted to test him. As an immortal, he was a newcomer but he had already achieved so much. There was probably nobody who believed that he was just an ordinary Spirit Lord. The consensus would be that he was hiding some big secrets.
Thus, this attack was a test. Others wanted to see how he would react. They wanted to see how he would save his disciples and deal with the problem.
Given this, there were probably other layers to this attack that had yet to be revealed. If they wanted to dig out his secrets, they probably also wanted to find out about two other figures which were Elder Mo and Jasmine, or Immortal Royal Moon as she was known to the public.
Elder Mo was widely known. Chen Wentian often used this identity to be in two places at the same time. Yet he was not an immortal registered with the Immortal Association. Nobody knew anything about him except his name and that he was close to Immortal Blue Dragon Chen Wentian and the disciples of Ten Thousand Flower Valley.
Immortal Royal Moon Jasmine, the First Elder of Ten Thousand Flower Valley, was known to fewer people. They had only revealed her existence when establishing a connection with the Virtuous Order of Chunzhen. However, this news was bound to spread out whether by loose lips or intentionally.
His opponents would love nothing better than to find out more about these two existences so that they could determine his bottom line. Perhaps attacking his disciples was just a ploy to this end. Perhaps there were enemy immortals hiding in the shadows ready to act in accordance to his reaction.
"Ziyun! Qianyu!" Chen Wentian called out through his souls. His voice carried through the Insightful Swallow Saber and the Purple Jade Sword into their ears. "There is something wrong with these attacks. Don't fight it out with these people. Retreat to the city and converge around the House of Paradise so that you can assist each other!"
"Yes, master!" Zhou Ziyun replied.
"But master… what about the residents?" Wu Qianyu argued.
"Qianyu, listen to me! I will explain everything later!"
"Yes, master." She replied somewhat reluctantly.
Chen Wentian knew his tone was harsh but he had no other choice. He rarely snapped at his disciples, if at all. But this situation was too strange, too uncertain.
His disciples were the most important to him. He didn't care about a bunch of random people. The entire Thousand Flower City could go up in flames and he wouldn't lose any sleep over it. But if his disciples were hurt… he couldn't think about it. He would never that happen.
"Jasmine." He called out, speaking through his soul within the Crashing Comet, the set of gloves and boots he had gifted her a long time ago.
"What do you need?" She asked.
She was currently residing in her den within Ten Thousand Flower Valley. With Chen Wentian far away in cultivation, she had returned from the Glittering Forest to oversee everything in his place.
"Start moving toward Thousand Flower City. Some enemies have their eyes on Ziyun and the rest. But don't reveal yourself unless you have to. You're my last resort."
"Got it!"
"Good!"
Chen Wentian closed the connection and turned elsewhere. Jasmine would move on the ground with a troop of the sect's elite guards. It would take half a day at full speed as well as switching horses multiple times along the way. But it would at least provide a level of insurance in case things went to shit.
The next soul he used was He Xingping. Through him, he sent an emergency message talisman to Immortal Tempest Badger Qiu Chuyi. Qiu Chuyi answered the call and quickly arrived. He Xingping explained that there were some problems in Dragon Flower Province and Thousand Flower City. Since Beast God Sanctum was now allied with Ten Thousand Flower Valley, Chen Wentian was asking for their assistance.
"How… how do you even know Chen Wentian?" Qiu Chuyi spluttered.
He had been surprised when He Xingping was so chummy with Mei Qiaofeng and Tie Buqun of the snake faction. Now, he was even more astonished. In the end, Qiu Chuyi could only take He Xingping to have an urgent meeting with the other immortals.
Across the provinces and deep in the Eastern Wilderness, Chen Wentian let out a sigh as he sank a little deeper into the pool of lava. He had activated the assets he could move. Aside from abandoning his cultivation progress and racing toward the nearest teleportation array, this was the best he could do. Now, he had to wait and see what his unseen enemies would do.
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