The next morning, the Daxia Sword Sect disciples filled the plaza, every one of them in the sect’s ornate robes. They stood in silence, eyes raised to the sky, hearts brimming with anticipation.

A grand platform hundreds of zhang wide hovered in midair above them. Behind the Heavenly Sword Peak, a spatial rift stretched a hundred zhang across, and within it rose endless layers of mountains, newly built pavilions, and towers dotting the peaks. The buildings were magnificent, shrouded in mist, broken only by the soft cries of passing cranes.

Lu Kangnian stood solemnly at the front of the platform, flanked by Ling Daoyan and Li Guanqi.

Today, Li Guanqi wore a lavish white robe embroidered with purple lightning. Colorful silk ribbons wreathed in purple lightning floated behind him and coiled around his arms. A sword hung at his waist beneath his right hand, and in his left, he held a crimson wine gourd. He smiled as he looked down at the crowd below.

The weakest cultivators among them were nearly at the Golden Core Realm, and some had already broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm. In recent years, the sect had recruited very few new disciples, and this generation was the only one that had not left the sect to train after breaking through to the Golden Core Realm. Their eyes burned with fervor as they looked up at Li Guanqi, the senior brother whose name had become legend.

Hundreds of cloud ships hovered outside the sect’s array curtain‌, each one carrying observers from various clans. The Daxia Sword Sect had not invited outsiders, but many clans had learned of the ceremony and come on their own. The elders aboard the ships gazed down at the sect’s splendor, openly impressed.

“The Daxia Sword Sect today is nothing like before!” an elder exclaimed.

Many agreed with the elder and started to reconsider their affiliations with the Daxia Sword Sect.

Lu Kangnian’s gaze swept sharply across the field. Watching those clan forces lingering outside the array, he was struck by quiet wonder. Once, the sect’s borders had required disciples to patrol day and night. Now, even without the array curtain, no one dared trespass on their territory.

Lu Kangnian glanced up at the hundred-zhang floating Lightning Sword and smiled faintly. He drew a deep breath and then waved his hand, conjuring a shimmering light screen. The screen revealed the hidden chamber where the Daxia Sword Sect kept every disciple’s life jade slip and soul lamp.

Lu Kangnian’s voice rang out, deep and commanding. “I, Lu Kangnian, as the thirty-eighth generation Sect Master, hereby call back all those wandering outside the sect! The Six Territories are in turmoil, with demonic forces rising on all sides. Together, let us raise the Daxia Sword Sect to its pinnacle once more!”

His words were brief and lacked grandeur, but every syllable rang with sincerity. In truth, anyone with eyes could see the Daxia Sword Sect didn’t need the wandering disciples to return. Lu Kangnian and Li Guanqi alone were enough to command respect and fear across the region. The recall was a gesture meant to give the sect’s disciples a sense of support and belonging.

Silence held for a moment. Then the densely packed jade slips in the secret chamber stirred. One, then two, then a hundred. Soon, a thousand jade slips flickered to life, each flicker a soul agreeing to return.

The Daxia Sword Sect had stood for thousands of years. The jade slips it had accumulated over that time could have formed mountains, yet only a few thousand still flickered with light, each belonging to a cultivator from the last three thousand years. Even so, those watching were stunned.

Some slips remained intact but did not glow; those disciples had chosen their own path. Many other slips had long since shattered, their owners’ bones scattered across the earth and reduced to ash.

Lu Kangnian’s emotions churned as he looked at the broken slips, and a sour pang rose in his chest. The cultivation world... was merciless. Some had been laughing over wine just days ago, gone forever after a single farewell.

As Li Guanqi watched the jade slips flicker incessantly, his own heart surged with emotion. “So this is the true foundation of the Daxia Sword Sect...”

He could sense that some of the slips had not flickered for over a thousand years.

The Daxia Sword Sect’s recall ceremony had shaken the Six Territories.

***

In an ancient sect within the Taiqing Territory, the third elder, after years of seclusion, emerged from his meditation. Dressed in a simple hemp robe, he strolled out with his hands clasped behind his back. He turned toward the sect’s main hall and bowed with a loud laugh.

“For seven hundred years, I served the Great Illusory Temple as its third elder, and I remain grateful for everything it gave me. Now, I return to my own sect. Hahaha!”

He tossed a jade pendant aside and walked on, still smiling. Then he drew out a jade slip and spoke into it. “I am Gong Ze, the twenty-ninth generation Judicial Officer. Answering the call, I return to the sect!”

***

Within the domain of a powerful family in the Black Sect Territory, a young man slapped a middle-aged man across the face, his voice cold. “You’re nothing but a dog of our Zhang family. When I tell you to do something, you do it! I only killed two people, and you dare resist me?”

The middle-aged man endured it in silence, head bowed, his face stern. His cheek burned fiercely, throbbing with pain. Then surprise flickered in his eyes. Ignoring the youth’s tirade, he drew a jade slip, channeled his vital force into it, and listened to the message within.

He straightened up. The young man frowned and raised his hand to strike again.

Boom!

An invisible pressure erupted from the old man. He twisted his wrist, and a cold flash of light streaked past.

The youth, his aura already faltering and his face pale, cried out as his hand fell to the ground. His face drained of color. He glared at the man, eyes blazing as if he wanted to devour him whole. “You mutt! How dare you strike me!” 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The old man slapped him across the face. The youth collapsed, his head smashing into the ground and leaving a deep dent. The old man’s Illusory Refinement Realm pressure kept him pinned down.

The man’s face was cold, but a faint smile touched his lips as he drew a jade slip and spoke. “I am Huo Gang, thirty-fourth generation peak master of the Daxia Sword Sect’s Heavenly Metal Peak. Answering the call, I return to the sect!”

With that, he tore the void open and disappeared.

Across the Six Territories, similar scenes were unfolding among the major clan forces.

In deep mountains and hidden realms, many others stirred. Elderly cultivators, some on the verge of death, trembled as they drew out jade slips, tears streaming down their faces, muttering to themselves.

Soon, numerous cultivators emerged from extended seclusion, including several remarkably powerful elders who had previously led the Daxia Sword Sect.

A stern elder in black whispered through the void, “You lot... aren’t dead yet?”

Strange voices echoed back from the void. “Better to cling to life than die honorably.”

“Are you going back?”

“Hmph! If you want to live... you all have to return. You know what the sect has left behind in there!”

Silence followed.

The void offered no answer, but the elder knew. All those not yet free from their constraints would be returning.