Just as countless pairs of astonished, uncertain eyes remained glued to the Jiang family's colossal ship hovering in the sky with its ancient, imposing majesty, the heavens were torn open once more.
"Hmmm—!"
Another rumble of spatial distortion shook the air. Compared to the Jiang family vessel's heavy and domineering entrance, this one carried an air of ethereal coldness. Swirling vortexes of clouds and overflowing radiance accompanied a second flying ship of equal grandeur as it descended from above.
This vessel gleamed a pure, luminous white, as though carved from cold moon-jade harvested from the highest heavens. Its lines were fluid and elegant, seemingly not a creation of the mortal world at all. Along its hull, faintly visible patterns of flowing clouds and star charts pulsed with a serene, distant aura.
From its main mast, an understated banner unfurled in the wind. Rendered in refined and otherworldly brushwork, it bore the image of a bright moon half-hidden behind drifting clouds, flanked by two small seal-script characters.
"Mingyue!"
"Another one? Another ship just showed up?"
"What kind of day is this? Why are there so many of these huge things we have never seen before?"
"The Mingyue Sect? What sect is that? I have never heard of it!"
"Look at the presence it projects, though. It does not seem any less impressive than that 'Jiang' ship!"
The crowd descended into even greater chaos and bewilderment. If the Jiang family ship had brought a sense of oppression rooted in raw power, the Mingyue Sect vessel added an element of mysterious, unreachable grandeur.
The spectators searched their memories for the top factions of the Profound Continent. Whether orthodox leaders or demonic overlords, none bore the name "Mingyue," and none possessed flying artifacts of such terrifying scale. As for the "Jiang" family, there were a few Jiang-named cultivation clans in the Lower Realm. The strongest among them, based in Ling Province, was a respectable regional power at best. But the distance between them and a force capable of fielding world-crossing vessels of this magnitude was not merely a gap. It was an unbridgeable chasm.
Right at this moment, while the masses stared in awe and confusion, in an unremarkable corner of the crowd, a particular old man in brocade robes, who had merely brought some younger clan members to observe the tournament and broaden their horizons, began trembling violently. His face flushed crimson, and his lips quivered as he struggled to catch his breath.
He seized the arm of the equally bewildered youth beside him, his grip so fierce his fingers nearly dug into the boy's flesh. His voice, warped by extreme excitement, came out sharp and strangled. "It is... it is the main house! It is our main house! The Jiang family of the Upper Realm! The primary clan from the Upper Realm has come!!"
The young man was frightened by his ancestor's loss of composure. Enduring the pain, he asked in confusion, "Ancestor, what Upper Realm Jiang family? What do they have to do with us? Aren't we the Ling Province Jiang family?"
The old man sucked in several sharp breaths, fighting to calm his racing heart, but the fanatic pride blazing in his eyes threatened to spill over. He straightened his formerly hunched back, seeming to shed a hundred years in an instant, and spoke in an almost reverent tone, thick with boundless arrogance.
"Foolish boy! What do you know? Our Ling Province Jiang family is nothing but a tiny, insignificant branch of the once-glorious Jiang clan from the ancient era! The true direct bloodline ascended to a higher world, the Upper Realm, eons ago!"
He gazed greedily at the enormous "Jiang" ship overhead, as though it were the embodiment of supreme glory. "Now, the lords of the main house have descended to the Lower Realm! Do you know what that means? It means our Jiang family is about to rise again! And we, the lowly branches left behind in the Lower Realm, will naturally rise with the tide and bask in that supreme radiance!"
As he spoke, the deferential caution he had once shown before the disciples of truly powerful sects visibly swelled into outright belligerence. His chin rose higher, and when his gaze swept over the surrounding, equally confused crowds, it carried a distinct air of superiority, as though silently declaring that these commoners could not possibly comprehend the significance of the moment.
It was as if he believed the moment the people on that ship descended, they would seek him out as a "blood relative" and reward him handsomely.
However, unlike this old man and the vast majority of mid and low-tier cultivators, whose reactions ranged from elation to bewilderment, the high-ranking cultivators from the truly powerful sects and ancient lineages, seated in the specially designated VIP areas around the arena, along with key members of the Heavenly Alliance's inner circle, remained entirely calm. Many even wore faint, mocking smiles.
They might not know exactly how the Jiang family and the Mingyue Sect ranked in the Upper Realm, but they understood the fundamental rule of this universe: constrained by the laws of heaven and earth, Immortal Exalt-level beings from the Upper Realm could not easily descend to the Lower Realm in their true forms.
That meant the strongest individuals who could emerge from those ships were, at most, at the Sage Realm.
And Xianling Holy Land had a real, tangible Immortal Exalt who existed in the Lower Realm.
These Upper Realm arrivals, aboard their intimidating flying ships, striking their high-and-mighty poses, looking down upon the "barbaric" Lower Realm, were, in the eyes of those who understood, setting themselves up for humiliation.
"Heh. Which fool with a bit of Upper Realm backing thinks they can swagger into Heavenly Alliance territory and throw their weight around?" a middle-aged man in Heavenly Alliance elder robes sneered softly, his tone devoid of any reverence. "Do they not know what kind of place this is?"
"Looks like they are here for someone. They certainly made a grand entrance. Pity they picked the wrong venue." An old woman from some ancient, hidden sect narrowed her eyes and drawled lazily. "These Upper Realm strays think they can come to the Heavenly Alliance and posture? Do they not fear being smashed to pieces?"
"Let us wait and see how Lord Xiao and the Holy Land respond. In any case, this should be entertaining." A nearby figure crossed his arms, his tone relaxed.
And so, the arena settled into a bizarre tableau. The lower-tier cultivators trembled and swooned with awe at the unknown. A handful of insiders watched with cold amusement, waiting for these uninvited guests to kick the iron plate.
The two hovering ships, representing two great Upper Realm powers, had already stirred up layer upon layer of turbulent ripples, each one rolling in a different direction, even before anyone understood their full story.
Every pair of eyes drifted, almost involuntarily, toward the section where the Xianling Holy Land disciples were seated, toward the Heavenly Alliance's Lord, who had yet to make a single move.
Xiao Chen.
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