On the other side of the Duality Sect, the rest of the Grand Elders were still unaware of the events that had just taken place.
Who would have thought that the seemingly lazy and carefree Grand Elder of the Duality Sect, who was the adoptive daughter of the current sect leader as well as the possible future Sect Leader, would do such a crazy thing?
The four Grand Elders were still unaware of the fact that their Sect Leader's life and death were unknown. They were still meditating inside their residence. Although it was impossible to make further progress merely by meditation, it was something to which they were accustomed. And now with the War at hand, it gave them peace of mind.
It was at this moment that the token on their waist trembled.
"Eh!?" The four of them simultaneously picked it up as they sensed that it was Shen Yue calling out to them.
Not only in the Duality Sect, but in all the major sects, the high-ranking members of the sect would have such tokens. Even though one couldn't send a message or talk through them, one could use their soul energy to send a signal.
In the Duality Sect, every time a Grand Elder or Sect Leader wanted to hold a meeting, they would communicate through this token.
The four of them hurriedly walked out of their residence before meeting midway.
"Is Shen Yue back?" The second Grand Elder spoke with a frown.
Shen Yue went to the Heavenly Sword Sect to bring back the Saintess. They thought it was going to take a long time. After all, Heavenly Sword Sect was definitely going to put exaggerated demands, and it would take some time to come to a conclusion. They truly didn't expect her to be back so soon.
"Maybe she failed to reach a deal." The third Grand Elder just let out a snort. She wasn't in favour of Shen Yue going there in the first place. In her mind, such a delicate task should have been handed by the first Grand Elder with the most experience. But since it was the Sect Leader's decision, she didn't dare to voice out her opposition at that time.
In her mind, Shen Yue coming back so soon could only mean one thing. And that was... she failed to bring back the saintess.
"Let's not judge too quickly." The first elder shook her head with a smile. Unlike the rest of the elders, she didn't resent Shen Yue. In her eyes, they all were Grand Elders of the Duality Sect, and instead of fighting amongst themselves, it would be much better to take care of the sect first.
"I agree." The fourth Grand Elder, who was standing there quietly, nodded in response.
The four of them waited there for a while.
"Where is Yun Ning?"
"Maybe she fell asleep again."
They weren't surprised by the absence of Yun Ning. All of them knew her personality. It was already a miracle that she showed up for the earlier meeting. They even doubted that, if not for the fact that it was about Yun Ning's daughter, she wouldn't have bothered to come out at all.
"Let's go." The first Grand Elder just shook her head with a soft chuckle before the four of them made their way towards the Grand Hall.
"Greetings, Sect lead..." The moment they entered the Grand Hall, they respectfully bowed towards the Sect Leader's seat, but before they could even finish their sentences, their words got stuck in their head as their eyes went wide with disbelief.
"This... This..." The four elders were rooted in their place, horrified, while looking at the scene in front of them. For a moment, they even wondered if they were under some kind of illusion.
After all, the scene in front of them was too ridiculous... something almost impossible.
"SECT LEADER." The fourth Grand Elder, who was usually the quietest person amongst the Grand Elders, was the first one to lose her cool.
Looking at the scene in front of her, she let out a terrified scream.
In front of her, on the bamboo chair where Sect Leader Lin Zhanyuan usually rested, was her old body, quietly sitting. There wasn't anything different about her posture, other than the fact that her head was missing from her body.
Instead of her shoulder, her head was resting on the bamboo table around which all of them used to sit.
Confusion, despair, rage, sorrow... In an instant, all kinds of negative emotions overwhelmed them. The scene in front of them was so ridiculous that none of them dared to believe it.
How could the Sect Leader of the Duality Sect be killed so easily?
Just like them, she too was in the realm of Soul Tempering. And in the entire Azure Dragon Continent, there wasn't a single person who could kill such an expert without any sound or disturbance.
If their sect leader was killed in silence, doesn't this mean they all were in danger?
The moment this thought came to their mind, the four Grand Elders immediately chose to retreat. Even though they were shocked and were in sorrow, they were still the peak powerhouses of the continent. They had seen all kinds of bloodied scenes in their life. After their initial confusion and sorrow, they got into a battle position.
From the expression of confusion on the Sect Leader's face as well as the lack of damage and struggle on her body, it was clear that she was taken out by surprise.
They immediately stepped back before rushing out of the Grand Hall. And the moment they walked out, they were greeted by the sight of a masked woman standing there leisurely, as if she were just waiting for them.
"Well, took you all long enough." The masked woman's voice was playful, as if she were enjoying it.
But for the four Grand Elders, they felt like they had fallen into an ice cellar.
"YOU... SWORD SECT..." As the Grand Elders of the Duality Sect, how could they not recognise the Grand Elders from the other sect, especially the ones from the Heavenly Sword Sect?
The woman in front of them was one of the Grand Elders of the Heavenly Sword Sect. No one knows her true identity, but everyone calls her the Fifth Sword.
Unlike the Duality Sect, the members of the Heavenly Sword Sect don't use the term 'Grand Elders'. Instead, they use the term 'Sword'. There was the 'Supreme Sword'... their Sect Leader, then there were First Sword, Second Sword, up to Sixth Sword.
And the woman in front of them was the one they addressed as Fifth Sword.
"I was thinking about killing you all, but..." Before she could even finish her sentence, the third Grand Elder punched forward, and with that, ripples visible to the naked eye spread out, completely decimating the area in front of her.
The ground in front of her was uprooted, stones turned into dust, and the trees were uprooted before disintegrating completely.
The masked woman just raised her hand as visible ripples enveloped her body, and the moment the third Grand Elder's attack touched those ripples, they seemed to have lost their strength.
It merely looked like two women raised their hands like they were greeting each other. If not for the fact that the entire surroundings were decimated, no one would have believed that a confrontation between two Soul Tempering powerhouses took place.
The first Grand Elder just took a deep breath before shouting at the top of her lungs.
"ENEMY ATTACK."
Just two words were enough to send tremors throughout the Duality Sect.
Her voice was imbued with Soul power, sounding like a clap of thunder in the silence of the night.
She didn't shout because she needed help; she shouted because she wanted to alert the members of the Duality Sect before they, too, could be taken by surprise.
And sure enough, after she shouted, the sound of battle followed soon. Even from such a distance, she could hear the shouts, curses and cries of the members of the Duality Sect.
Narrowing her eyes, she finally focused on the masked woman in front of her. She refused to believe that the masked woman would be stupid enough to ambush them all by herself. In the realm of Soul Tempering, everyone's strength is roughly the same. After all, it is the end of the cultivation road.
And sure enough, in the next instant, three more figures appeared behind the masked woman.
In an instant, the mountain they were fighting on was riddled with holes. The massive boulders turned into dust, the ground quaked and split apart, and the entire peak trembled as if it was going to be destroyed soon.
----------
Almost half an hour ago, before the Dualtiy Sect was attacked, Yang Ze was still meditating inside his room.
Thankfully, he managed to get one more Pulse Opening Pill from his sign-in when a different guard appeared outside his window, delivering him a few fasting pills.
The moment he got the Pulse Opening pill, he didn't dare to waste another second. Immediately throwing it in his mouth, he sat down in meditation before using his Enlightenment talent.
In an instant, the pill was digested before turning into fifteen strands of internal energy.
And with these fifteen newly added strands of internal energy, the number of Internal Energy strands in his body finally crossed one hundred.
And the moment it happened, Yang Ze felt a tremor in his body.
For others, perhaps gathering one hundred strands of Internal energy might be the end of the cultivation session, but for Yang Ze, it was merely the beginning.
The one hundred strands of internal energy were woven together, forming the outline of a structure. Earlier, Yang Ze wasn't able to recognise what it was, but now, with one hundred strands of internal energy, he finally could make out its shape.
"It's a pillar?" One hundred strands of Internal energy would glow, then go dim before glowing again. They looked like Christmas lights, knitted together around an invisible pillar. At the moment, they seemed alive.
Yang Ze just circulated the Thousand Layer Art as the internal energy began to move around the pillar, and with it, Yang Ze felt an intense itch inside his body, as if something was being opened up.
He didn't hesitate any longer, and with the help of Enlightenment and persistence, the internal energy strands seemed to have found a way out.
In an instant, he felt something inside his body unlocking and with it, Yang Ze felt his body was lighter than before.
But it didn't stop there, the next moment he felt this sensation again and then again and again.
After feeling something in his body unlocking five times, the sensation finally ended,
Yang Ze didn't need anyone to tell him what just happened.
One strand of internal energy means Early-Stage Pulse Opening.
Ten Strands of Internal Energy means Mid-Stage Pulse Opening.
One hundred Strands of Internal Energy means Late-Stage Pulse opening.
And then the peak of Pulse Opening is when the Five Veins inside the body are unlocked, letting one imbue anything with Internal energy.
The sensation of relief he felt earlier was exactly the unlocking of veins in his body.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Ze felt the strength in his body, but the process didn't end.
He still had ten more minutes of Enlightenment.
Without any hesitation, he focused on the web-like structure inside his Dantian. It was time for him to step into the Foundation Forging Realm.