Before the Dubhe Sword Immortal spoke, Wu Yu had been brooding on the matter of Nangong Wei and Shushan.
But after hearing her words, it seemed like this matter was the fundamental business of everyone in the Dong Sheng Divine Continent! It caught his attention. And this business was actually tied to the ghostly cultivators!
Wu Yu had met many ghostly cultivators before. They were mostly cruel and wicked people. His impression of ghostly cultivators was far worse than demons!
From the Spectral Concubine to the Scarlet Sea's Seven Ghosts, as well as Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain - their way of cultivation did not speak of merit, only might. And their cruel methods wrought many abominations!
Emperor Yan's Hall in the Eastern Seas - the foremost power of the ghostly cultivators. They were actually leading all the ghostly cultivators to the coast of the divine continent's East Sea! There were already mortals and sects that had perished!
After hearing this news and then connecting it with the extremely wicked ghostly cultivators, everyone was struck with fear! A majority of the disciples lived in a peaceful world. Their only struggle of life and death was with the demons.
Even the Mizar Sword Immortal had forgotten his resentment. He turned to the Dubhe Sword Immortal with a face full of worry. "How could this be? Senior Sister Dubhe, you mean the ghostly cultivators are mustering to attack the Dong Sheng Divine Continent? Are they out of their minds!?"
This was also what a majority of people were thinking.
It was said that the Four Islands of the East Sun together were about a fifth the size of the entire Dong Sheng Divine Continent. There were many mortal and, of course, ghostly cultivators there. With the Four Islands of the East Sun as the central base, there were hundreds of thousands of islands that followed the ghostly dao.
The living conditions there were clearly terrible. Therefore, the ghostly cultivators that remained, and even the mortals, were extremely mean and savage. There was nothing they would not stoop to. Compared to the Dong Sheng Divine Continent, it was like hell on earth. It was a festering pit of blood, a place beyond the help the orthodox sects could offer.
After all, the Four Islands of the East Sun were considerably far, and for the divine continent's sects to go over alone was very risky. It was hard to gain any reward. There was not much activity at the East Sea side of the divine continent, and there was nothing on the Four Islands of the East Sun side that the divine continent's sects coveted. That was why the ghostly cultivators had settled down there.
From ancient times, there indeed had been ghostly cultivator sects who had been impudent and wanted to take the riches of the divine continent for themselves. But they were generally eradicated very quickly - after all, the ghostly cultivators' dao was just too different from that of the divine continent's martial cultivators. So as long as they were discovered on the divine continent, they would all be ganged up on and exterminated.
And such a huge mobilization evidently meant that they were ready to do battle against all the sects of the entire divine continent! Honestly, Emperor Yan's Hall was definitely digging its own grave in this matter. Because even though the ghostly cultivators were numerous, they were not even a fifth of the total number of the Dong Sheng Divine Continent's orthodox sects. The strongest Emperor Yan's Hall was only at the level of the Shushan Immortal Sect.
Therefore, such a large-scale invasion was truly rare. And if this news had not come from the Dubhe Sword Immortal herself, virtually no one would have believed it!
The Dubhe Sword Immortal addressed the crowd. "This matter has already been conveyed to the various major sects. I have here a list of more than 10 sects which were eradicated. The reliable news I have is that the East Sea ghostly cultivators have indeed turned out in strength. Their numbers are countless, and they have landed on the divine continent. Right now, they are moving along the coastal regions, turning it into a slaughterhouse in their wake. These tens of sects are all completely gone...."
How miserable!
Wu Yu could only imagine the doomsday-like scenario!
Hearing this news, the million sword cultivators put aside the private squabble of Wu Yu and Beishan Mo. The Dubhe Sword Immortal had said that this was a major incident that affected everyone. Many people, through their entire life of cultivation, had never come across such a thing.
Everyone's faces turned pale and they were shaken, even a little panicky. They looked around at each other, discussing it in low voices. The situation was clearly very dire.
Hearing so much, the Imperial General's face was serious. "Such a big fuss. What's the goal of the ghostly cultivators? Have they gotten tired of waiting over at the East Sea and developed a hankering for the fertile lands of the Dong Sheng Divine Continent? They want to take all the bountiful lands here and conquer the divine continent. They would kill all of us martial cultivators!"
This was something that not even the demons could accomplish. The demons of the divine continent could only hide in the Endless Demon Seas. If not for the presence of the Endless Demon Seas, the demons would also have been driven out by the martial cultivators of the divine continent.
The Dubhe Sword Immortal said steely, "I think that is a definite possibility. But why did they not dare to do this before? There must be an impetus."
As to what it was, no one knew for now.
But it was definitely key.
Just as everyone was discussing with shocked faces, the Imperial General received a message talisman. This had evidently come from the Yan Huang City Lord. After looking at it, his face turned grim. Evidently, the Yan Huang City Lord had corroborated the Dubhe Sword Immortal's story. This news was spreading quickly from the East Sea.
"Which sects have been destroyed?" General Murong asked.
Wu Yu was in a twist, his heart in his throat.
The Imperial General handed the namelist on the message talisman to General Murong. Wu Yu used his Eyes of Fire and Gold to read it. Luckily, the Heavenly Sword Sect was not on it, but Wu Yu saw the Inner Sea Dao Sect's name, followed by "exterminated!"
Inner Sea Dao Sect!
Wu Yu was very familiar with the Inner Sea Dao Sect. On his previous mission to the East Sea, he had completed his Nanwu Blazing Sun Golden Vajra Body, which was closely tied to the Inner Sea Dao Sect. the Inner Sea Dao Sect had just obtained their blue spirit ore mine, and now they were already completely exterminated....
They had been living, breathing people!
A dark shadow fell over Wu Yu's heart. At this moment, he had forgotten his appointed battle and the hatred that Nangong Wei bore him. The matter before him undoubtedly concerned the fate of the entire divine continent!
Everyone knew that there must have been some impetus to have spurred the ghostly cultivators on. They ghostly cultivators also would not come over recklessly. They must have had some guarantee. The danger this time was naturally great, and perhaps even more dire than they imagined.
The Imperial General cupped his hands in greeting to the Dubhe Sword Immortal. "This matter is of the utmost gravity. I must hurry back to Yan Huang Imperial City. I will be in touch again regarding resistance efforts. We will contact you through message talismans. If things are truly so troublesome, we may need to mobilize the martial cultivators all across the divine continent. We may even need to mobilize the Tianyi Race. They are closer to the ghostly cultivators. If there is trouble, they may bear the first brunt of the assault."
"No problem. Stay in touch through message talismans." The Dubhe Sword Immortal nodded.
The Imperial General's face was solemn. He swung back to the black warship, steering it away from the Common Sword Domain at top speed! This time, the black warship's speed was even greater! Evidently, he was fighting for every minute and every second. Although the mission of Yan Huang Imperial City was to protect the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence, they could not ignore such a monumental matter that concerned the entire divine continent.
Wu Yu looked down to see the grave faces of the Seven Immortals of Shushan. And further down, he saw Nangong Wei stand up on the Mortal Arena. Her face was a little distraught. As the black warship wheeled, she shared a last look with Wu Yu.
Her eyes seemed to say, "Our business is far from finished.
Wu Yu saw it as well. Perhaps this was ill-fate. But from today onwards, it would be even more difficult to end things between them. Sometimes, love was easily ended, but hate sprung eternal.
In the blink of an eye, the black warship was out from the Common Sword Domain. Even the Clear Sky of Shushan disappeared from their view! Aboard the black warship, everyone was looking very grim. The younger Yan Huang Immortal Soldiers were fidgety as they sat on the deck. There were no words.
In comparison to the ghostly cultivator invasion, Wu Yu's personal matter shrunk in significance. At this time, he was just one of them.
"Wu Yu, your performance today was truly exceptional. A pity that our brothers do not have the time nor opportunity to celebrate with you," the Imperial General said to him in a low voice after finding him.
Wu Yu shook his head. "This matter is not worth celebrating. Besides, the matter of the ghostly cultivators is not only major, but also perplexing. We are clouded from all sides. Right now, we have too little information. If the ghostly cultivators have really gone mad, then all the martial cultivators of the divine continent are involved. If we lose our homeland, then the divine continent will become hell on earth."
There were many mortals here as well, and martial cultivators who wanted to become immortal. To Wu Yu, the divine continent was very beautiful, a heavenly land even. The ghostly cultivators were sinister and evil, without any sense of morals. If they were allowed free reign here... That was a horrifying proposition to consider indeed! Especially if they were against the helpless mortals.
"This matter is indeed perplexing! All the sects of the divine continent must gather and consolidate opinions. While carrying out our missions, we must ascertain what has changed in Emperor Yan's Hall! We must also halt the advance of the ghostly cultivators and prevent them from influencing the mortals. My big brother and the Taixu Sage Master have already begun to make preparations."
The martial cultivators of the divine continent were still fairly efficient in the face of common danger.
The black warship was still heading back towards Yan Huang Imperial City at speed.
Wu Yu knew that the ghostly cultivators were hard to deal with, because they had no hierarchy or order. They had come to the divine continent in dribs and drabs. There were so many ghostly cultivators and, once here, they would go everywhere. The most frightening thought was them entering the Three Thousand Immortal Kingdoms and slaughtering the mortals. It would be carnage!
And Dong Yue Wu Kingdom was one of the Three Thousand Immortal Kingdoms!
More importantly, Dong Yue Wu Kingdom was on the coast of the East Sea!
That was why Wu Yu was more anxious than anyone else at this point. Even Fang Chaoqun and the others could see it now. They hurried over to offer consolation. "Commander Wu, please do not worry. Your family is definitely fine. The ghostly cultivators would not dare to be so bold...."
They roughly knew where Wu Yu's hometown was.
These words did not offer much in the way of consolation. Wu Yu knew the extent of the danger. Right now, he was riding the black warship to speed back towards Yan Huang Imperial City.
"Imperial General, when we reach the Imperial City, I will take my leave first," Wu Yu said.
"Why?" The Imperial General had thought to let him rest up properly.
"My home and kin are on the coast of the East Sea, as well as my master and brethren. They are in grave danger. I must return," Wu Yu said.
The Imperial General recalled it now. He knew Wu Yu's past, a prince of a mortal kingdom. His sister was still the queen of that mortal kingdom.
Recalling thus, the Imperial General nodded. "Alright. Go ahead. But you must remember to protect yourself. If there are any problems, contact us at any time."
He trusted Wu Yu. Actually, Wu Yu was strong enough in his own right. There were probably not many chiliarchs who could best him, and there were not many ghostly cultivators of the East Sea with Wu Yu's ability. Especially since Wu Yu's greatest advantage, the Unshackled Doppelganger, was truly amazing. He would not die so easily.