Mo Qianhe finished his grisly presentation and looked up at Qi Wanfa, a serene smile playing on his lips.

“Sect Leader Qi… does the Spirit Beast Sect’s gift please you?”

“Preposterous!” Qi Wanfa roared, his voice shaking the air. “Your Spirit Beast Sect’s conduct is madness! How are you any different from the bloodthirsty Demon Blood Sect of a century ago?”

He pointed a trembling finger at the envoys. “You destroyed five cities in the Western Moon Country—hundreds of thousands of mortals displaced! You razed another five in the Nanli Kingdom—another hundred thousand lives ruined! Do not dare claim you slaughtered the emperors of two nations and butchered their people to ‘vent anger’ for Wanchun Valley. We cannot bear the weight of such heinous sins!”

Mo Qianhe bowed slightly, his smile unwavering. “Sect Leader Qi worries too much. Since the Spirit Beast Sect has taken action, we will naturally handle the aftermath. We will not allow those refugees to run amok. There will be no widespread misery, unlike the clumsy work of the Demon Blood Sect.”

The Spirit Beast Sect? Merciful?

Qi Wanfa didn’t believe a word of it.

“Your actions violate the harmony of the Heavens,” Qi Wanfa declared, his gaze icy. “You strike at the Western Moon Country and the Nanli Kingdom—our neighbors. This is no gift. This is a display of reckless tyranny!”

“Hear my stance clearly: Wanchun Valley trusts neither your words nor your deeds. We will not discuss ‘resolving misunderstandings.’ Furthermore, we will not tolerate the Spirit Beast Sect remaining in these two nations or anywhere near our borders!”

Qi Wanfa’s spiritual pressure flared. “If you withdraw now, we will not interfere with each other. But if you refuse—if you continue to plague the mortal world and violate the ancient pacts of the Southern Region regarding the protection of commoners—Wanchun Valley will drive every single one of your disciples out by force!”

Seeing Qi Wanfa’s iron resolve, the smile finally slipped from Mo Qianhe’s face. He frowned.

Wanchun Valley… they are supposed to be passive as rabbits, defensive as tortoises.

Historically, upon hearing an offer of peace, they should have been relieved, eager to compromise and muddle through. Why were they suddenly bristling like a hedgehog?

“Sect Leader Qi, why are you being so stubborn?” Mo Qianhe asked, his tone darkening. “Is the restoration of peace among the five sects not a good thing?”

Qi Wanfa dropped all pretense of politeness. “I never trusted your wolfish ambition to begin with. Mutual non-interference was the best outcome we could hope for. But now? Seeing you slaughter mortals and destroy cities without a shred of remorse… I know you have abandoned the Righteous Path. You are devoid of compassion.”

His voice boomed across the sky, quoting the sect’s teachings.

“Our Ancestor once said: Cultivators are born from mortals. Though the common masses live short lives, they are the spring from which the river flows, the roots of the great tree.”

“Those who oppress the roots will inevitably wither and die.”

“The Spirit Beast Sect has chosen the path of tyranny. Our paths are different; we cannot conspire together!”

Mo Qianhe’s expression turned grim. “Sect Leader Qi, you go too far.”

“The truth is not a heavy burden,” Qi Wanfa retorted. “If the Spirit Beast Sect truly wishes for peace, then listen well: You do not need to visit. You do not need to forge alliances. Simply stop causing trouble for Wanchun Valley. Stop butchering the mortals at our borders. That is the only sincerity I will accept!”

“Mo Qianhe, go back and tell Song Wanxiong: If he harbors ill will, Wanchun Valley does not fear him! If he truly wants peace, he will withdraw every single disciple from our perimeter!”

Qi Wanfa paused, a strategic glint entering his eyes. He added one final decree.

“Starting tomorrow, Wanchun Valley will dispatch stationed disciples to the Nanli Kingdom and the Western Moon Country. We will help the mortal nations quell the chaos you caused and restore order!”

“If a single accident befalls these disciples—whether the excuse is ‘demonic cultivators,’ or the Little Sky Net Sect, or the Mystic One Sect, or simply your own people—we will know the truth. Your lies will shatter instantly!”

He stared Mo Qianhe down, the threat implicit but clear: Touch my men, and the war is on.

Sensing that Qi Wanfa was moments away from making the thought “if you don’t leave, you stay forever” a reality, Mo Qianhe swallowed his curses.

“Sect Leader Qi’s misunderstanding runs too deep…” Mo Qianhe said stiffly, forcing a polite bow. “I will report this to my Sect. We will strive to resolve this… confusion.”

“Farewell!”

The three envoys turned their grey cranes and ascended, disappearing into the clouds without entering the array.

Qi Wanfa watched them go, the heaviness in his eyes unlifting.

“Sect Leader,” Elder Bai whispered from behind. “Are we really sending disciples to the Nanli Kingdom and Western Moon Country? The Spirit Beast Sect are butchers. Our people will be walking into a trap.”

“We must go, danger or not,” Qi Wanfa replied, his brow furrowed. “They killed two emperors and destroyed ten cities in our name. Hundreds of thousands are suffering. If we don’t step in, the world will blame Wanchun Valley. Our reputation will rot until we are no better than the Demonic Path.”

“Furthermore, we are blind. We know too little about their true deployment in those nations. We need eyes on the ground.”

He sighed. “I am forcing their hand. By publicly announcing our deployment, I am daring them to attack. If they genuinely want to fake a truce to buy time, they cannot touch our disciples. Our people will be safe, and we can stabilize the mortal nations.”

“And if they do attack?”

“Then we will lose a squad of disciples,” Qi Wanfa said grimly. “But we will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that total war is imminent.”

Elder Bai fell silent. It was a cold calculation. The disciples sent out would be bait—a suicide mission with a slim chance of survival.

Elder Lu, standing nearby, nodded slowly. “We should select older Outer and Inner Disciples—those with poor Spirit Root aptitude who have no hope of breaking through. Prepare Keepsake Tokens for their families to ensure their descendants can enter the Sect. Issue them the best artifacts, Spirit Stones, and pills we can spare.”

“We will see who is willing to accept this mission.”

“It is the only way,” Qi Wanfa agreed.

“The Spirit Beast Sect has left,” Han Yu murmured, looking up at the sky. “It seems the Sect Leader didn’t buy their story.”

Han Yu, Senior Sister Li, and Hua Qi stood together, watching the distant figures of the Sect leadership. They couldn’t hear the words exchanged, but the fact that the envoys never entered the Guardian Formation spoke volumes. There had been no “clearing of misunderstandings.”

“Good,” Senior Sister Li said firmly. “They aren’t trustworthy. The Sect is doing the right thing.”

Han Yu nodded. Those three sects had tried to exterminate Wanchun Valley not long ago. No amount of flowery speech could cover the stench of blood.

After discussing the situation briefly, Senior Sister Li left to seek information from her master, Elder Lu. Han Yu and Hua Qi finished their rounds of the spirit fields before parting ways.

Back in his room, Han Yu sat down and retrieved his reward.

The puppet stood six feet tall. Unlike the merchant’s round-faced disguise, this one was modeled after a nondescript young man in his early twenties—average features, forgettable face. The Sect had confiscated the merchant’s trapped puppet and replaced it with a clean, Sect-forged model.

Han Yu located the control core at the base of the puppet’s neck. He bit his finger, dripped a drop of essence blood onto the seal, and channeled his Spirit Breath to refine the connection.

Hum.

The puppet’s eyes flickered with a faint light. It moved, joints whirring softly, and bowed to Han Yu with fluid precision.

“I am Li Ya,” the puppet stated in a monotone voice. “Please advise.”