A blinding grey sky loomed over.

The mountain range was surrounded by grey walls of near perfection. Right in the middle, where Wu Tian faced, a metallic gate of many dark bars awaited. On each side, a man of unknown age fully clad in armor would remain. They took notice of his presence, hushing to themselves.

Not feeling much from these two, Wu Tian appraised their armors, not finding anything fancy. It most likely was thin metal plates, chainmail and some more leather for protection. To wear an armor so shabby, one must be mortal. No Warrior would bother when their own skin turned out multiple times more resilient.

A few minutes later, Wu Tian arrived, halting his path. He gazed up toward the giant peak, appearing like a mystical structure of nature. The guards gestured toward him, not hiding their voices as much. "Look what we have here..." On his right side, Wu Tian heard a raspy voice play with humor. The left one gave a gentle nod while playing with his sturdy halberd. "I know, right? Look at this poor bloke! Hahaha! Is he homeless or something? Who would come here with clothes like these? Hey young man, do you even wash yourself?"

Before Wu Tian could answer, the right guard laughed even harder. "Exactly! Don't come sully this sacred place! Or wait..."

The left guard widened his eyes behind the slit in his grey helmet, the same as the other guard.

"Might you have dealings with this sacred land?"

"Might you have dealings with this sacred land?"

"Preposterous!"

"Impossible!"

"Ludicrous!"

"Shameless!"

"I can't believe this!"

"I refuse to believe this!"

"He has to be mistaken!"

"Indeed so!"

The guards kept alternating their exaggerated play. Wu Tian only looked dumbfounded at the sight. What were they doing?

Guizou soon came out of the pendant, completely ignoring the duo ahead. Looks like a sect? The guards are mortals though... But it's only a useless front gate.

With his newfound Heart Soul since a few years ago, Guizou did not need to expand as much energy for a scan. Spreading his Spiritual Sense, he still did not dare to go too far. His spiritual energy reserves were draining a bit too fast for him, paining his heart.

A few seconds later, he only saw a few dozens of meters around and a slight bit hundreds in front. Has to be a sect. These guards are really useless. What's the point of having two normal humans for the front gate, but two Mortals for the gate afterward? Behind the gate was a small road of perfectly pristine white gravel hugged between maintained grass not allowed to grow above one millimeter. As he had only spared a glance, Guizou deduced for the ground to have been painted green. When it came to this green painted land, trees were distributed equally, forming an arch of shadows and leaf crowns. It was quite the luxurious look.

A hundred meters ahead, two Mortals in dark blue robes awaited, protecting the way upward, a giant amass of white marble stairs going up the gigantic mountain.

Wu Tian also looked behind the bars, seeing leaves hung above the white path not high enough to escape a tall being's extended arm trying to touch them.

"...stupid..."

"...Exactly, he's..."

"...do you..."

"...young..."

His senses catching onto more insulting mentions, Wu Tian's hearing focused back on the two guards both laughing and shouting in anger at the same time.

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"He's not even listening to us, is he?!"

"I swear you're correct! What have we done for the world to send us beggars without ears?! Today really is a shit day! I might end up accidentally breaking his jaw!"

"Same!"

Frowning a bit, Wu Tian barely reacted to their threats. It was like watching kids argue about who could get the highest number by throwing random values not making much sense.

Guizou however grinned with a dark look. "Kiddo! It might be your lucky day! This is probably a sect!" Wu Tian barely showed understanding, wondering how a sect's random guard insulting him was considered lucky. "Why are you not excited? There might be loot inside! Maybe ingredients?! For example, ones you might need to continue living??"

"Ah." Smacking his forehead, Wu Tian gave a strong nod. "Right..." Walking some more, Wu Tian arrived just shy of touching the metallic bars. The guards each raised a brow, gripping their polearms tighter. "This deaf fuck is getting cocky, isn't he!"

"Just like I said earlier! You can't reason with stupid idiots like these." Shaking his head a bit, the left guard then heard his friend shout with a smile. "Ha! Would you look at that! Now that I look a bit closer, young man, you're also an amputee? Huh~? Shame! What a shame!"

The other guard began cackling. "Pfff! So what now? Are we going to beat up a crippled bastard? Today might not be so bad after all! Punching bags feel better when they are already down!"

Grabbing one of the bars, Wu Tian pulled as the two guards' faces darkened in grim. Two halberds thrusted in his direction. In a daze, Wu Tian accidentally pulled too hard, bending the bar. "Oops..." Trying to let go, he did so a bit too late, directly pulling the entire hinges along the nearby wall as well. The entire thin left metallic gate six meters wide was flung like a sheet of paper to his left, shattering the left guard's skeleton by accident.

The gate still quite heavy. Wu Tian's hand was still trying to let go of the thin bar stuck between his finger joints as the momentum made both him and the gate turn to his left. Almost a full turn completed, he finally managed to let go, a giant six meters wide gate of dark metal crashing onto the right guard some distance away.

Feeling Guizou's judging look, Wu Tian scratched the back of his head. "I swear it wasn't on purpose!"

"Well now that it's done, we might as well rush inside! With how badly your first impressions will be, just forget about peace."

Just as he went pass the destroyed left gate, Wu Tian looked to his right, where two wooden carriages awaited. He remembered them from days ago, when he was still strolling around.

Right above the cloud layer, where the sky returned to its blue shade, filled with endless charisma, covered in sunlight, the mountain was nearing its limits. Its wide insides were dug out, leaving only a shell. Pillars of metal supported the giant mass above, one able to see inside the mountain clearly. Within were guards all around the circular domain. They faced the horizon on each side, static.

A bit behind, the grey dusty stone floor went down minuscule steps before covering the rest. Being right under a mountain peak, many newcomers would feel pressured and anxious.

But this was not the case for the people present on this day.

The stone floor was circular, spanning a mere thirty or so meters in diameter. Small bland stone thrones the size of regular chairs were placed in a circle.

Seated on the most elegant one adorning sky blue crystals shaped like wings and a crown, a young woman adorning a white dress with a cobalt accent gazed at a middle aged man of a brown ponytail and beard.

"Why have you come so far for? The last time, I don't remember us being on good terms." The lady spoke, sipping on a teacup prepared by the maid to her left.

The middle aged man looked grumpy, lacking proper etiquette on this special occasion, resting his arms on his knees. His forward stance even while seated and ominous glare showed nothing but wrath. His eyes were dark. "Doesn't matter. I only came here today to make things right. Did you kill my daughter?"

The lady merely chuckled without giving an answer. Only the more furious, the man grit his teeth at the sight. "Sun Xieren! I will ask you one more time... Did you kill my sweet little daughter?!"

This time flinching, the lady frowned, putting down her teacup. The blue sky was illuminating the darkness from above behind her. "Sect master Luzhen Jie, please mind your manners. It is sect mistress for you." Back to sipping on her tea leisurely, clearly thirsty, she was only met with rebuttal. "Don't think too highly of yourself!"

Almost breaking her teacup with her slender fingers, her faint smile utterly vanished for good. "Is sect master Luzhen Jie acting a bit rashly today? Did you not calm down before arriving?"

He only shook his head with a chuckle for a change. "You wench! So you did-" The young lady raised her hand, interrupting him. "I think that we are done here. Guards, please escort the Earthen Prism Sect's sect master back to his carriage." She then looked directly into his fuming eyes. "Luzhen Jie, I wish you a relaxing return to your sect. Unfortunately, you are no longer a guest of our Sky Sovereign Sect."

Pursing his lips, trying to contain himself and his bloodshot eyes, Luzhen Jie harrumphed with a grand motion as he stood up. "This doesn't end here..." Waving his arm at the approaching guards, he directly jumped down the gigantic mountain.

At his level, a fall could not turn out lethal any longer.

He soon departed, a man of blue hair and beard watching everything from behind an aligned tree. "What happened? The man didn't look too happy."

Back to the top, Sun Xieren sighed heavily. "Someone go and spy on the Earthen Prism Sect." Having her title of sect mistress ignored was not just a matter of anger. It could either be a bluff or a claim.

The Earthen Prism Sect might have the strength to disregard their sovereignty.