Miss Jiang

The battle in the East Desolation was escalating. It wasn't just Bai Ze; the leaders of the Eight Tribes, the protectors of the Divine Moon Pool, and even ancient, slumbering giants had been awakened.

A chaotic melee ensued.

From afar, the exact casualties and the progress of the battle were impossible to discern clearly.

However, such a monumental struggle inevitably caused tremors in the world's spiritual energy, and even the mountain veins were affected.

Any peak ninth-stage Sage could deduce the situation with a simple calculation.

Given the recent birth of an auspicious beast and the anomalies rising east of the Northern Borders, it wasn't hard to guess what was happening.

This was especially true for the Central Province.

Back then, the Sword Ancestor had reached an agreement with the demons of the East Desolation. The high-hanging Spirit Eye wasn't just the Wendao Sword Sect's business; the great sects of the Central Province were also involved.

Knowing the disturbances in the East Desolation, they couldn't simply stand by, no matter how detached they tried to appear.

Moreover, many of their descendants were currently within the three-thousand-mile Demon Suppression Abyss.

If the demon race made a comeback and the Wendao Sword Sect failed to hold them, those beast gods might ride their momentum all the way to the Central Plains.

In their calculations, this war could be fought—and perhaps had to be fought one day—but the flames of war must not reach the Central Plains.

Even if the Demon Suppression Abyss fell, the conflict had to be contained within the ten-thousand-mile expanse of the Northern Borders.

Thus, the moment they received word, the peerless experts of the Three Sects, the Six Schools, and the top-ranking Hundred Schools—such as the Military School's Zhenwu Mountain and the Mohists' Mo Gate—all mobilized.

Eleven Sages, acting in unison, headed straight for the Northern Borders, rushing toward the Demon Suppression Abyss.

Just north of the border between the Northern Borders and the Central Province lay a mountain range.

It stretched from east to west, an unending wall that physically separated the Central Plains from the Northern Borders.

South of the range were thousands of miles of fertile plains. North of it were rugged green peaks, deep ravines, and high valleys.

Since it fell under the jurisdiction of the Wendao Sword Sect, it was named the Broken Sword Mountain Range.

Somewhere within the range stood a solitary, jutting peak.

Like a sword suspended among the mountains, its northern side was a sheer cliff, while its southern side was a sprawl of jagged rocks like a thousand-blade screen.

At the summit stood a small pavilion that had endured countless years. Weather-beaten and frost-worn, it was in ruins.

Tiles had fallen, wooden pillars were snapped, and the stone floor was covered in a thick layer of fallen leaves, dust, and moss.

Outside the pavilion was a withered well, and beside the well stood an old pine.

It was autumn.

The tree stood proud, its needles still intact.

Currently, someone sat beneath this ancient pine, leisurely brewing tea. Even from a distance, the figure was visible.

The bright red dress was simply too striking.

Aminst the blue sky, white clouds, green mountains, and clear waters, she was like a drop of vermilion—an unintentional touch that possessed an undeniable, breathtaking grace!

She had arrived at noon, intending to turn back the Sages from the Central Plains.

After all, the Great Desolation was dangerous. Born with a kind heart, she naturally didn't want the elders of the Central Plains to risk their lives.

At least, that was how she saw it.

Before this solitary peak, eleven figures stood suspended in the air. Each was a world-renowned existence.

They were Sages—true Sages.

Including the red-clad woman blocking their path, there were twelve Sages within a ten-mile radius.

They simply stood there, doing nothing, yet one could faintly sense the resonance of the surrounding mountains and rivers, the roar of Dao charms, and the distortion of space.

For a hundred miles, no bird sang, no beast stirred, and even the fish in the rivers dared not show their heads.

Merchant ships and cultivators passing by were struck with awe and hurried to detour.

Twelve Sages!

Had they not seen it with their own eyes, who would have dared imagine twelve of the world's Sages gathered around a single peak?

What is a Sage?

Being at the peak of the ninth stage, the tribulation transcendence stage, was one requirement.

But only those who had attained the supernatural power of the Heavenly Manifestation and could Manifest Sanctity were considered true Sages.

Some called them Earth Immortals.

They weren't true immortals, but their strength surpassed the tribulation transcendence stage, hence the title of Sage.

In the entire human world, there were over a hundred tribulation transcendence experts, but only twenty-four were honored as Sages and still walked the world.

Shanhai Academy had three.

The Great Leiyin Temple had three.

Tiandao Academy also had three.

Then there were the Military Ancestor of Zhenwu Mountain and the Mohist Giant of Mo Mountain.

The remaining were the six ancestors of the other six great sects and three reclusive seniors in sacred lands or forbidden zones.

And then there was the Wendao Sword Sect.

They had five in total.

Technically, the Wendao Sword Sect should have had ten Sages, but five had gone on long journeys and hadn't appeared for nearly ten thousand years, so they weren't counted.

Even so, out of the twenty-five Sages in the world, the Wendao Sword Sect held a full fifth.

Moreover, four of those five Sages were sword cultivators.

Every cultivator in the world knew that sword cultivators possessed the greatest killing power and the most unyielding strength. In a duel between equals, they were historically invincible.

This was the true foundation that allowed the Wendao Sword Sect to remain unshakable in Fanzhou, despite being an outlier that was incredibly picky about its disciples.

Because the Wendao Sword Sect was located in the Northern Borders, the people of the Central Province knew little about it, leading to the misconception that the Three Sects were stronger. In their subconscious, they thought the Wendao Sword Sect, however powerful, was merely the head of the Seven Schools.

They didn't realize that while the Wendao Sword Sect had fewer disciples and followers than the Three Sects, if they truly came to blows, the Wendao Sword Sect had the confidence to take on all three alone—even if those three Ancestors personally intervened.

Of course, their wariness of the Wendao Sword Sect went beyond the five visible Sages.

There was also the Sword Ancestor and the other four.

Although they were said to be traveling and unlikely to return, their everlasting lamps burned brightly in the Immortal Pavilion, never once flickering out.

No one could say for sure if they might come charging back one day.

"Jiang Wanyin, will you truly not yield the path?"

One Sage spoke. His voice wasn't loud, carrying neither joy nor anger, yet it was as heavy as a drum.

Beneath the ancient pine, the red-clad woman toyed with her teacup, unhurried. She spoke softly,

"There is an agreement between the Central Plains and the Northern Borders, isn't there? Sages do not cross the boundary; each minds their own business. You all know this, so why ask?"

Another Sage stood with hands behind his back, looking kind and benevolent. "The words are true, but the situation has changed. The demons have crossed the line. Miss Jiang, how can you cling to such minor details? We haven't come to harm the Wendao Sword Sect. We only fear the demon race will return and bring chaos to these ten thousand miles of the Northern Borders. I'm sure you wouldn't want to see the people here suffer, would you?"

Jiang Wanyin squinted her eyes like a young girl, smiling brightly. "My Senior Brother has gone to the East Desolation. The demons won't make it through."

"What if they do?"

"There is no 'what if'."

"Your word alone isn't enough."

Jiang Wanyin took a small sip of tea and said leisurely, "My Senior Brother told me to guard this place and not let you pass. If I say no, I mean no."

"Hmph... Quite the tone you have."

Jiang Wanyin said with a touch of sentimentality,

"I can't help it. My Senior Brother is doing this for your own good. The human race doesn't have many Sages to begin with. The Great Desolation is perilous. If a couple of you were to accidentally fall there, it would be a great misfortune for our race. So, fellow Daoists, please don't make things difficult for me. Just go back..."