"Look! That… which mighty expert is performing this technique?"
"Such dense Deathly Qi!"
"It's on the border of the Duravia Trade Prefecture!"
At that moment, all the cultivators and mortals in the parts of Eternal Sun Prefecture bordering Duravia Trade Prefecture raised their heads, staring at the sky in terror.
The boundless Sea of the Dead expanded like a gathering of storm clouds.
Something seemed to swim within the black mist, but they could not see the endless zombies within, ready at any moment to obey the commands of their Corpse Emperors, descend to the earth, and feast on human blood.
Even if a Golden Core cultivator tried to probe the mist with their spiritual sense, their Divine Soul would be attacked.
The great chaos throughout Eternal Sun Prefecture was a matter for the Immortal Masters; the mortals had only heard the sounds.
In the bustling, snow-covered cities, many outsiders had appeared among the mortal population.
As the boundless Sea of the Dead gathered in the sky, they all stopped what they were doing.
A light flashed from a storage ring or a pouch at their waist and, under the astonished gazes of the mortals who were already staring blankly at the black mist in the distant sky, they leaped onto their flying swords.
From a single city, a hundred, even a thousand, could be seen taking to the air, emerging from houses and marketplaces.
They flew in a disorganized mass toward the border. Their only common feature was that not a single one of them was a youth or a young man.
They soared through the sky, cheering and howling!
Those who could not ride a sword ran wildly across the ground, leaping between the snow-covered trees, their gazes resolute.
In a short time, the White Qilin and his eleven subordinates on the spirit ark above the border stared in astonishment as the area filled with cultivator after cultivator.
They watched as the cultivators, like bees swarming from a hive, descended upon the border region, and the Duravia Trade Prefecture guards were instantly stained with blood. As they advanced, the newcomers changed into the uniforms of their various sects.
On the ground below, phantoms approached at incredible speed.
The White Qilin recognized them.
They were the same drunkards he had seen just a short while ago at the Li family's home!
Where was there any trace of their previous drunken state?
Elder Tianqing, who had looked the most ancient, now held his head and chest high, as if he were about to receive the highest honors in the Imperial Palace, shrinking the land with every step.
He arrived at the gloomy region shrouded by the Endless Sea of the Dead and leaped up onto the spirit ark.
Longevity Mountain, the Myriad Arts Sect, the Mi family, the Feng family…
They had all come!
"Brother Dalong, if fate wills it, we shall meet again!"
"Hahaha, to hell with 'if fate wills it'! It would be better if we never saw each other again."
"Which way are you going, you old turtle? You'd better not go the same way as me, or we'll really be doomed!"
Beneath the Sea of the Dead, the cultivators, with a tacit understanding, split up and each headed in their own direction.
At that moment, the White Qilin stood frozen in place, watching these secretly assembled cultivators.
The members of the Ghost Eye Sect all landed upon the backs of the giant eagles and charged forward.
The cultivators of the Black Tortoise Sect vanished into the dust and sand, rushing toward the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
The Azure Cloud Pavilion boarded their spirit arks, over a hundred of them advancing in an orderly formation.
The Feng family cultivators moved like the formless wind, while the Mi family cultivators used earth techniques to travel beneath the ground…
The White Qilin saw it then. All of these cultivators had one thing in common. It was as if… they had come with no intention of ever returning alive.
Perhaps it was a poverty-stricken cultivator flying in a hurry, but a jade slip fell from within his robes.
The White Qilin used his spiritual power to pull the jade slip into his hand.
He saw the message within.
[The Ghost Eye Sect sincerely invites the rogue cultivator Lin Yu to follow us into the Duravia Trade Prefecture and expand the territory of our Azure Cloud Region. We of the older generation are aged, but the future of the next generation is full of promise.]
Countless cultivators.
A million? No, more than that. Perhaps two or three million, including even some decrepit old men at the Qi Refining stage.
Not a single one of them retreated. Beneath the boundless Sea of the Dead, there were only cheers and loud laughter. Their eyes were all filled with the madness that comes before facing death.
"Madmen! Fucking madmen!"
The White Qilin shattered the jade slip in his hand, his expression numb.
He finally understood. In all the preceding days, the Azure Cloud forces had never gathered as a grand army, which was why Merit City and Solaria City had seemed so deceptively calm.
But behind the scenes, they had been calling their friends and comrades, hiding themselves in the mortal lands and mountain forests along the border.
These were all the old veterans who had survived the Wu Clan's invasion of Azure Cloud, or those who had been steeled by the great battles of their predecessors. They were old now.
They knew full well that Duravia Trade Prefecture was a place of extreme peril where survival is highly unlikely, and they had chosen...
To leave behind a glorious future and a bright path forward for the next generation.
Perhaps in the Eternal Sun Prefecture and the Azure Cloud Region, many people still didn't know that they had already entered the battlefield.
These fellows scattered in all directions, heading off to fight the powers of the Duravia Trade Prefecture to the death.
Li Dalong clenched his fists, his jaw tight.
He shouted to the sky.
"Gentlemen, we will see each other again in the Azure Cloud!"
Following his cry, the voices of the Azure Cloud forces rang out, clear and bright. Who said they had grown old?
"In Azure Cloud, we will meet again!"
The White Qilin raised his head to the sky and took a long, deep breath.
He bowed deeply to the endlessly advancing tide of Azure Cloud cultivators, and then turned and saluted Li Dalong, whose body was taut with veins bulging.
"Prefecture Lord Li, on this journey to the Duravia Trade Prefecture, I, Bai Qilin, am willing to serve as a common soldier. Please give your command."
The other cultivators from Duskwild Prefecture all saluted as well.
Not for the newly appointed Prefecture ruler before them, but for those brave old men charging into the fray.
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