Chapter 42: Attacking the Immortal Alliance

"What? Do you mean the crisis of the sect has been resolved?" Ban Mu turned his head with a suspicious look in his eyes.

"That's right!" Qiu Ci nodded earnestly. "Although Elder Yu and the others were somewhat injured, it was still a sweeping victory. The Sect Leader and the others should currently be calculating the losses and preparing to demand compensation from the two sects. From now on, apart from the Immortal Alliance, no sect will dare to provoke the Profound Heaven Sect."

"Is that so?" Ban Mu narrowed his eyes.

"Why, you don't believe me?" Qiu Ci paused for a moment, still intending to have him change direction and show her the way.

"How do you expect me to believe you?" Ban Mu asked while hurriedly and clumsily pulling on a dress over his lower body. "The Luoxia Sect and the Chiling Sect are on par with our sect and possess comparable strength. Could they be defeated so easily? Are you trying to fool a ghost?"

"I'm really not lying to you. The sect crisis has indeed been resolved, and there is no need for you to rush back."

"Is it that I don't need to rush back, or are you just cowardly and afraid of death?" Ban Mu glared at her, looking as though he were gazing at a traitor. "Or could it be... that you're not even a disciple of our sect at all? Did you deliberately disguise yourself to trick me?"

Seeing his expression growing increasingly guarded, Qiu Ci felt a sense of speechlessness. She pointed at the sect uniform she was wearing and asked, "Do I look that untrustworthy?"

Ban Mu, however, let out a cold laugh and said with even greater disdain, "Humph! How can anyone who strips off another person's lower-body garments upon a first meeting be trustworthy?"

"..." Qiu Ci choked for a moment, feeling it necessary to offer an explanation. "I already said I didn't mean to! Besides, who would have guessed that you didn't even wear a pair of trousers beneath your feathers?" Not even a pair of briefs at that.

"Was it my wish not to wear them?" Ban Mu instantly bristled, the veins bulging on his hands as he tugged at the dress sash. "These feathers grow along my waist and hips, and they are long, straight, and constantly gleaming. How do you expect me to wear trousers? Tell me, how am I supposed to wear them?!"

Qiu Ci imagined what it would look like if he wore trousers; wrapping such a vast expanse of feathers indeed wouldn't be easy, especially given that they gleamed. Wearing trousers would be equivalent to strapping a glowing LED floodlight around one's waist. Well... indeed, it did sound rather terrifying.

"Do you think I wanted my feathers to grow here? Do you think I wanted them to shed the moment they are pulled? I've already been very careful!" Ban Mu grew increasingly aggrieved as he spoke, the resentment hovering above his head nearly solidifying. "Who is to blame for me turning out like this?!"

Can we please not mention this?

Guilt.jpg

"Then... how about you pluck out the feathers before wearing trousers next time?" Without feathers, wearing them should be quite normal, right?

Ban Mu cast a sidelong glance at her. "Do you think the feathers won't grow back?"

"Then just practice cultivation diligently. I heard Elder Yu say that the higher one's cultivation realm, the fewer ancestral-reversion traits remain, and eventually, they will vanish completely."

"Really?!" Ban Mu's hands paused on the dress sash, and he looked at her with a glimmer of hope. "Did you truly hear the Supreme Elder say such a thing?"

"Of course, I swear on it!" She raised her hand.

"Then did the Supreme Elder mention what level of cultivation is required for the ancestral-reversion traits to completely vanish?" he asked anxiously.

"Not that high. Primary school—uh... the Soul Formation stage will do!"

"Soul..." Ban Mu's expression instantly collapsed. Soul Formation?! Not a single Soul Formation cultivator had ever appeared throughout the entire Abyss Continent. He grew even angrier. "Are you deliberately messing with me?" Too lazy to argue with her any further, he directly mobilized his spiritual energy and said, "I'm rushing back to the sect. Whether you return or not is up to you!"

With that, he flicked the hem of his dress, spun around, and departed on his flying sword!

However, it was his first time wearing a women's long dress, and he had spent ages just tying the sash halfway. Ultimately, he underestimated the length of the ties, which meant that while his dress was secured, a large portion of the ribbon remained in Qiu Ci's hand.

As he suddenly turned and left, Qiu Ci instinctively grabbed hold of it.

"Wait—"

Rip...

A crisp tearing sound echoed through the air, and the long dress split open, once again revealing two snowy mounds.

Qiu Ci: "..."

Ban Mu: "..."

The air grew silent once more.

Followed closely by...

"You!!"

"I'll sew it! I can sew! I'll sew it right now!"

"I'm going to kill you!"

"..."

————————

The Immortal Alliance.

Alliance Leader Luo Ying sat loftily at the front of the grand hall, while several elders sat on both sides below. Spiritual energy surged within the hall, and the cultivation realms of everyone present seemed to have grown slightly stronger. They were closing their eyes and regulating their breath, seemingly stabilizing their cultivation realms, when a disciple hurried in shortly after.

"Reporting to the Alliance Leader, the Profound Heaven Sect... the Profound Heaven Sect has attacked."

"The Profound Heaven Sect?" Luo Ying opened his eyes, his expression sinking slightly, though it only flicked with a hint of surprise. "It seems we still underestimated them. Even with the alliance of the two sects plus the two Nascent Soul elders of our Immortal Alliance, they still failed to take them down."

"Alliance Leader!" A Qing-robed elder beside him spoke up. "From the looks of it, the treasures the Profound Heaven Sect obtained from the forbidden grounds must be extraordinary; otherwise, it would be impossible for them to withstand the immortal artifacts brought by the two Nascent Soul elders."

"Humph! Now that the seal has stabilized, no matter what they have obtained, it is not worth fearing." Luo Ying did not regard them with any importance. "A mere Profound Heaven Sect dares to come and provoke the Immortal Alliance? Then they cannot be allowed to remain."

"No... it's not just the Profound Heaven Sect." The disciple below suddenly spoke up. "Outside, there also came... came many exotic beasts!"

"What?!" As soon as these words left his mouth, everyone in the hall was startled, and even Luo Ying opened his eyes wide.

Abandoning their continued seclusion, his figure flashed and he appeared outside the hall, the other elders quickly following suit.

The moment they raised their eyes, they saw giant beasts of colossal proportions hovering in the sky. Some were engulfed in flames, some were surrounded by pillars of water, and others flapped their wings to unleash blades of wind.

Without exception, their sizes were immense, each towering as high as a mountain.

Everyone instantly understood why the coalition of the two sects had failed to defeat the Profound Heaven Sect—it was because of these exotic beasts. If not for the grand void array enveloping the periphery of the Immortal Alliance, causing the entire alliance to drift between the illusory and the real, thereby isolating those attacks, this multitude of exotic beasts would have been enough to destroy the Immortal Alliance.

"Those really are the wretched beasts from the Endless Sea!" An elder cried out in alarm, clearly guessing the origin of these exotic beasts. "The Profound Heaven Sect is actually capable of commanding so many exotic beasts. It seems our initial guess was correct; the things within their forbidden grounds are related to these exotic beasts."

The expressions of the other elders also shifted. One of them looked at Luo Ying anxiously and asked, "Alliance Leader, since they can drive so many exotic beasts, then the entity within the seal..."

He didn't continue, but Luo Ying already understood. His expression darkened instantly, and he raised his gaze to look gravely into the sky. "Since the Profound Heaven Sect is so obstinate and unyielding, the Immortal Alliance naturally has no need to hold back."

"The Alliance Leader means..." Everyone was startled.

"Release that thing!" Luo Ying snorted coldly, returning to his previous arrogant demeanor, as if even the most numerous exotic beasts were beneath his notice.

A trace of fear flickered in the eyes of the elders. "However, once that thing is released, if the seal—"

"As long as it doesn't leave for too long, naturally there will be no harm." Luo Ying narrowed his eyes, his expression growing even more arrogant. "Humph, a mob of rabble will take at most half an hour to deal with. Anyone who dares to provoke the majesty of the Immortal Alliance naturally must be shown who truly is the master of this Abyss Continent."

"Understood!" The elders clasped their fists in response.