All three hundred and thirty-three entrants to the Forest of Swords returned to their original land at the same time, including the ones that had already died. With a flash of light and a surge of mighty sword energy, people along with cold or still bleeding bodies filled up a barren land where the arena and large stands used to be. Now, it was merely a bare patch of dirt.
"Where are we?"
"What happened?"
Confusion reigned.
Everyone was grouped together according to their relative proximity to each other before teleporting. As a result, Lin Qingcheng and her group were still within spitting distance with those from the Four Greats. The two sides were about to continue where they left off before they realized their current situation.
Many other groups had similarly been in the middle of battle. Many swords were still drawn and dripping with blood. Whether it was sects against their rivals or individuals settling old scores, since they had returned to Everblade City they could only give up on any further fighting. Even if a few of them wanted to continue, they dared not act so willfully in the presence of immortals.
Observing them in the sky above was a small group of people, far smaller than what the disciples below expected. Among them was Immortal Solemn Duke Huang Wuji, Immortal Gentle Lotus Gong Liyun, Immortal Phoenix Legend Shi Shi and of course, Immortal Blue Dragon Chen Wentian. And instead of a raucous welcome by a crowd in the tens of thousands, it was deathly silent.
"Hey, looks like your disciples ran into a bit of trouble." Shi Shi said in a low voice to Chen Wentian.
She pointed downward at two groups but he was already aware. In addition to Lin Qingcheng's squad that was warily backing away from the disciples of the Four Greats, his other disciples had also gotten into a fight with the Tower of Swords. Zhou Ziyun, Wu Qianyu, Xu Lanyi, Song Wushuang, and Su Xue were standing together, facing off against a crowd of around forty grey-robed disciples.
He noticed with great satisfaction that a large fraction of those enemy disciples were already dead. The forest kicked the deceased out with the living and did not discriminate. If an unfortunate sap had actually been eaten by wild beasts, the forest would still return all of their belongings and torn clothes. It was one of the mysterious powers of the secret realm that nobody questioned.
Chen Wentian glanced at Shi Shi and replied, "I thought you weren't going to talk to me."
She snorted, "Don't be childish, you're the only other Spirit Lord here. Who else would I talk to?"
He felt like she was the one being childish but he didn't bother to tell her. Instead, he said, "In that case, after this little meet and greet, how about you and I disappear somewhere together and have a little fun?"
He tried to keep a straight face as he spoke but it was a little difficult. His experience with older women was still limited and he didn't truly know how she felt about him.
She shot him a meaningful look, "What's wrong? Do you miss me?"
"Maybe I should ask you the same." He retorted.
"Definitely not."
"You!"
While the two of them continued their private conversation, the two Spirit Kings descended and explained the situation to the confused disciples. They described how most of the sect masters of the various sects participating in the Convocation of Swords had died in a demon attack. Given the circumstances, whatever sword truths everyone had managed to discover didn't matter anymore. All sects were instructed to return to their homes and await further instructions from the Immortal Association.
After Huang Wuji revealed this incident, a wave of sadness swept over the mortal cultivators. Many of them collapsed to the ground as if their whole world had shattered. Some started to shout and cry while others remained in stunned silence.
To almost all immortal sects, their immortal sect master was the solidary foundation, the singular source of support. If their master died, then their sect was no different than a mortal sect. Their power and influence would immediately start an unstoppable descent.
These sects and disciples were also not paragons of virtue. They often used their background to misbehave or bully others. Once the news got out, everyone they had ever offended would no doubt be thinking of revenge. Some sects might suffer immediate retribution. Others would struggle on but might not be able to survive a hundred years.
And unlike the situation with Glacier Palace and Divine Blazing Mountain in the recent past, no other immortal would be stepping forward to help these sects as an administrator. For one, too many Spirit Lords had died and there was not enough manpower. Also, nobody was willing to volunteer for the job as there were endless headaches and no benefits. Chen Wentian only acquiesced to take care of those two sects which had lost their sect masters because he was interested in Long Yifei and because of the five ice sisters that had come from Glacier Palace.
Huang Wuji finished speaking and the various sects started forming into groups and prepared to leave. Among them, two groups stood tall and confident. They were from the Legendary Fighter League and Ten Thousand Flower Valley. Their sect masters were the only ones present and the only ones that had survived. Their status and standing in the world were no longer the same compared to the others who could only watch them warily and give them a wide berth.
However, Chen Wentian wasn't content to let things end like this. He flew down and spread out his spiritual aura to the maximum.
"Everybody stop!" He commanded.
His voice was a bolt of thunder that froze all the mortal disciples in an instant. They all looked up at his blazing figure with fear and uncertainty. Two particular groups of people were especially frightened as if they could sense an impending doom.
Chen Wentian didn't say anything for a while and merely let them roast under his blazing flame aura. There was no danger of revealing his true cultivation because he was currently using Chen Mo's shadow body. His original body which had broken through to the Spirit King Realm was still snuggled up next to Jasmine.
After he felt that they had suffered enough, he extinguished the flames and said in a domineering fashion, "Disciples of the Tower of Swords, the Mount Yun Sect, the Mount Xiong Sect, the Mount Huang Sect, and the Mount Tai Sect… all of you remain behind. The rest of you can leave but the disciples from these five sects… I need to ask you a few important questions."
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