---Verdant Twilight Gate---
"No less impressive, even the second time around. Who would have thought they would really raise another one like this..." Yu mumbled to Xiong Peng beside him. The men of the Luminous Mountain Sect, the Soaring Eagle Sect, and their allied faction evacuated the fort as instructed.
They had smuggled in the dryad from Minas Mar before making their escape, not a moment too early. They had watched the grand fort and trade town vanish in a matter of moments. All that was left now was the gargantuan tree, blocking the full extent of the rift between the continent and Urth.
If he was honest, he had a hard time believing there could be a second one, but this Gate Guardian truly rivaled the Guardian Tree of Delta. Maybe it was about 10-15% smaller, but it was hard to tell when it came to a size that covered the horizon.
Once the tree had risen, another storm ensued, one of roots and vines. All cultivators present at the Verdant Twilight Gate were caught yeeted through the rift. This was no wanton slaughter, but a rigorous deportation.
Cultivators not approved by Minas Mar were returned to the Voracious Cloud Continent. Only the little faction Master Mountain had built up, which declared its allegiance to Minas Mar, was warned beforehand and allowed to stay.
...
---XiGuang Province, Desolate Dawn Gate, Moments earlier.
The vast expanse of wasteland, not much better than a desert, greeted Elder Zi. The old man sighed at the sight. To think that just beyond the rift waited a land so full of vitality, while here only dry grass and decrepit shrubs waited. How...unfortunate.
He never thought of his home like this, but the stark comparison between XiGuang's west and the world beyond the rift was just too much. Shaking his head, her turned to the main street that led into the small town, huddled to the walls of the fort on this side.
Although the Verdant Twilight gate was a bustling place full of cultivators and businesses at this point, there were still some things that could only be done on this side. Today, he came to send a message back to the main sect, to report on their current progress.
The inner disciples had been developing steadily, benefiting from the ample sources of the new region. Although their Quanzheen School had been stuck at the status of a mid-tier sect, if they could continue like this, there was a good chance they could rise higher within the next 20 years. That's how promising this new generation was.
The roar of a storm suddenly washed over the Desolate Dawn Fort. He was aiming for the office of a messenger office when raging winds blew through the main street, pulling on his robes. Shocked, Elder Zi looked to the sky.
Breaching the veil between worlds was by a sea of leaves. Sky-bearing branched stretched across the firmament. The massive crown of a tree was rapidly expanding in the heavens above, which was suddenly filled with people and rubble falling toward the ground.
Cultivators were raining on top of the fortification and its surroundings in front of the gate to Urth. The elder's heart dropped like a stone. All the promising youths of their sect were still on the other side. No, maybe they were all currently fall to their death!
He held no hopes for the verdant twilight Gate on the other side. Looking at the magnitude of this event, it was probably completely destroyed. His eyes, filled with Qi, darted from left to right, scanning the whole airspace above.
Then he vanished from the main street. As an elder in the Spirit Severing Realm, flying was no problem for him. Ignoring the flight ban in the fort he appeared in the sky, catching two disciples of his sect he was able to spot and bringing them to the ground, before getting the next batch.
Amidst this chaos, it was all he could do for now. As for those he didn't see in the sky, he hoped that they were simply not in the vicinity of the tree. While he traveled between the heaven and earth to bring the disciples down safely, the trunk of the tree had shoved itself through the rift.
Elder Zi couldn't help but stare at the sight before him. A gargantuan tree filled the whole gate between the two worlds, split by the iridescent veil. A curtain of vines had descended from the crown, still throwing cultivators and rubble.
The vines were literally moving like limbs and with extreme speeds... A giant, potentially sentient tree of that size... There were other Spirit Severing Elders on the other side, maybe even a hidden senior in the Dao Seeking realm. Yet, all of them were simply grabbed and thrown...
"Elder Zi, are you okay?" One of the disciples grabbed his shoulder, interrupting his spiraling thoughts.
"O-of course, how about you? Is anyone hurt?" he asked, getting his head back into the game. He had disciples to care for. However, despite the violent treatment, they had little more than some bruises and cracked bones. Nothing that wouldn't heal after a couple of days. A small blessing in all this misfortune.
The rain of people and rubble had finally stopped; the surrounding desert looked like it had been bombarded by a great technique, but the people who were thrown were slowly getting up. It was hard to believe, but seemingly nobody died this whole time.
Crushed bones and mangled bodies, but nothing that would kill cultivators of their levels. This level of apparent consideration was outright concerning. It would probably be able to even handle people at the level of an immortal like children...
...
"Commander!" a man ran into the office with urgency.
"If you are here to tell me about the tree, I am already seeing it," the commander of Desolate Dawn Fort said grimly. he was looking out the wide window in the direction of the rift. However, the man shook his head.
"No, Sir. There are natives from the other side at the foot of the tree. They seem to be setting up something," the soldier explained quickly. The commander squinted before passing by the soldier, leaving his office. Quick, yet controlled steps took him outside his fort in a matter of moments.
When he stood outside the gates, he saw the full extent of the catastrophe. The surrounding wasteland was littered with craters. Some were filled with rubble like broken wall pieces, and others had injured people crawl out of them.
The crown of the tree covered the sky, falling just shy from including the fort on this side of the gate. A dense curtain of vines blocked the sight inside considerably, but just like the soldier had reported, he was able to spot men in the shadow of the tree.
A big group of people wearing the full-body armor, which some of the native communities were known for. But there were not only people at the foot of the tree, but there were also some coming to the edge of the curtain. The commander had come just in time to witness the vines make way for them.
Their armors were of a more varied design, but obviously natives of Urth, as they call the Verdant Plains. The commander was not the only one in the vicinity. Soon, he was joined by several elders and onlookers who came here or happened to be in the vicinity.
However, only one of them stepped out from the curtain of vines, right in front of them. It was a person completely covered in silver armor. No human feature could be seen. With their arms behind their back, they suddenly started to speak.
"For all whom it may concern. From here on, entry to Urth is restricted to people of the Voracious Cloud Continent. Permits of entrance and residence will be issued through Minas Mar and its allies in the future. Those who try to trespass without a permit will face the Gate Guardian Tree," the being in silver armor said emotionless.
Before anyone could answer or ask a question, the armor began repeating the same emotionless words. Over and over.