One month passed, and the village at the bottom of the mountain rapidly developed. With Emily's efforts, the village walls were expanded and reinforced. Hundreds of merchants from all around had been alerted to the changes and moved to quickly gain benefits. The little village was reaching the golden time of production.
At that moment, Emily was sitting in meditation in one of the mansion rooms, in front of her were scattered papers with various symbols on it. Standing by the side with more papers was a burly man wearing black attire with a longsword on his back.
On one of the papers was a depiction of a young man in black robes with eyes as dark as night. He gripped a bamboo umbrella with a pink hue on the base.
His expression was cold and heartless as if all life in his eyes was insignificant. The princess' eyes flashed open from meditating cueing the man in black to speak.
"On Gulan's territory was a ritual, one that offered the whole village to a demon. The demon caused mayhem and later Ji Shu found the ritual grounds. Retrieving the gourd that Gulan was entrusted with." He said as he put down a report in front of her. This was a report that was filed after Ye Yuyan entered the capital.
The goal of giving Gulan the gourd was originally used to lure out Illathar and convince him to show the way to the inheritance grounds.
There they would seal Illathar and extract his secrets slowly and open up the realm. This was the task that Han Yi was entrusted to by his father and the one he had drastically failed.
"After that, he went to the order meeting Cui Lu. Gaining access to two codes, both of which were fragmented 1 essence codes." He put down another paper, this was another report filed by Feng Shu the Arbitrator of the order.
"He then met Han Yi joining their group and becoming their guide. Eventually guiding them back to the ritual grounds." The man in black continued as he put down the final report which was filed by Knighted Vermillion.
"The biggest conflict through in the reports lies at the ritual ground." The man in black said certainly piquing the princess' interest.
Noticing her interest he started to depict on what he had seen when he scouted the area: "There are frost claws all over consistent with Illathar, and Han Yi's lightning is scattered about. Some big battle happened, yet they came here right after and drank as friends."
"Something happened at the ritual ground and after that, the trail goes cold." The man in black said finally completing his story.
"Thank you, Thomas. That will be all, go back to preparing the city." Thomas saluted the princess before leaving the room.
Emily sat in the near darkness contemplating as she looked over a few the reports. Her eyes went cold as she scanned over them.
'Something caused a big deviation in Han Yi's plans. Ji Shu set it off, but there are other things hidden in the background.' Reading through the report she constantly saw inconsistencies in the narrative.
'Han Yi cooperated with Gulan's Li Clan, per father's request. But someone or something killed him and it can't have been Illathar!' Her eyes flashed with deeper enlightenment as she remembered the recovered corpse and sword scar on the mountain.
"Someone killed him! Someone killed the frost demon and Ji Shu knows who did it!" She said with a knowing smile as calculations passed through her mind in an instant.
'The last clue is that battlefield at the top of a mountain. There are traces of demon sealing magic...' The final report was from Cardinal Black, he noticed the strong aura of a demon sealing ritual. The arcane focus had disappeared with only traces left behind.
'Regardless I'll soon be upon the entrance to the realm. As long as I'm first I'll gain the most benefits!' She thought as a grin spread across her face.
*********************
Near the precipice of a verdant mountain, a group of cloaked figures was gathering together. Every one of them wore black cloaks with an insignia on the back, it was a black turtle with a serpent coiled on the shell.
At the front of the group were two people, the first was a young woman in heavy armor. She had blue eyes that glistened like the moon and blonde hair that flowed down her back.
The second was a young man dressed in a red tunic with a plate of armor and a war skirt over it. His red hair and sword like brows drew a commanding aura around him. The young man trained his eyes behind him as he watched the last of the cloaked figures assemble.
"That's all of them Wu Han, you can open it now." The young woman said to the red-haired man. His eyes turned cold as an aura of war blasted out of him. His power ascended to the heavens like flames bursting from a burning home.
Behind him appeared a massive being almost a hundred meters tall. It was a red-haired man wearing plate armor and a war skirt. His eyes shined with malevolence as he gripped a spear in one hand and a spear in the other.
The giant thrusted the spear and it shot through the sky slashing apart clouds until it slammed into something. At the collision point, a crack appeared as the sky started to crumble, the crack chipped off as the rest of the sky started to shatter above the mountain.
What was revealed was a world of darkness that stretched to the horizon. Graves scattered the entire creation and in the sky lightning churned madly.
Wu Han's giant was the first to enter then Wu Han and the young woman entered. Then the rest of the cloaked members turned into dark lights as they entered into the crack in the sky. The crack in the sky started to grow quickly terrifying people all around.
Suddenly a golden light burst out ascending to the skies from a village. Flying to the skies was a young woman dressed in a sword dress, the aura of a golden immortal suffused her entire body. But there was a strange feeling as though she was only a specter. It was Emily, or rather her aspect!
She flew to the verdant mountain just in time to see the cloaked figures turn into rays of darkness that flew into the crack.
"Damn it!" She roared as golden aura burst out from her body. She gathered the energy towards her palm rotating and condensing it rapidly.
"Golden Firmament Fist!" She roared as she punched out sending a fist that was even larger than the mountaintop. It covered the crack with a golden force as it slammed into it dispelling the dark energies quickly.
Yet suddenly another more sinister energy burst out from the crack. A black chain shot out slamming into the fist and crushing it. The princess dodged back as the chain tried to grab towards her, she raised both her palms creating a shield from the golden energies in her palm.
Suddenly another chain shot and slammed into the golden shield destabilizing it. The princess grunted as her body flew back only stopped after a few meters.
"A Shadow Sealer, which king do you serve?" She asked with a cold tone that radiated frosty hatred. In the west, the two popular schools were Chivalry and Exorcism.
The two big sects Verulyim and Shadow both experiment in both. But the Verulyim kingdom is known for their Knight Kings but the shadow sect was known for their Exorcist Kings! The Shadow sect, unlike the Verulyim kingdom, had multiple kings that ruled a different domain of the sect.
Suddenly from the crack emerged many more black chains they spalled out like a waterfall. The princess retreated quickly as a dark eye inscribed with nomological runes opened from inside the crack.
"I serve his Highness the Foglord. You have hidden this for quite a long time, Witch of Fortune. But your scheme cannot be concealed." The eye chuckled as it probed the princess.
"Or would it be better to call you, Emily?" A familiar voice intoned as a strong man with rippling muscles appeared. He had all over his body black chains with various eyes appearing on his skin.
"Yunshi?!?" She said as she quelled her surprise at that moment.
"I see, so the other sects had already infiltrated us." She said as her voice became infinitely colder than before.
"Luckily your highness we can cooperate with one of her disciples." Yunshi chuckled as his eyes flashed with schemes.
"Especially on dealing with a great demon." Yunshi laughed as the princess' eyes flashed with hesitation. Yunshi tapped his forehead released a mote of black light, he transmitted it towards the princess.
She tapped on the mote of light and put into between her brows. This was a crude way of transferring information among experts who had condensed aspects. Meaning even the Yunshi we see is an aspect as well.