75 Ghost Banner sect. (1/2)
Xiang Wuying brought the group with him and headed directly for the mission control building. Li Yang was curious why they didn't just meet there from the start, but he didn't give voice to his curiosity, as it didn't matter too much. The group entered the yellow dome, Xiang Wuying heading directly for a counter located at the far end of the dome, almost hidden away in the shadows. There was a gray-haired old man clad in a black robe sitting behind the counter, his arms folded over his chest and his eyes closed. He didn't even open his eyes when Xiang Wuying walked up, only asking a quick question.
”The formation jade?”
Xiang Wuying nodded his head, causing the black-robed elder to dig into the sleeve of his robe, pulling out a head-sized plate made out of green jade. Strange runes were carved into the surface of the plate, a faint trace of Qi lingering around them. The black-robed elder handed the plate to Xiang Wuying, giving the group one last reminder.
”Make sure to proceed with caution, and do your best to not let anyone die.”
Right after the elder finished his words, he tapped the plate with his finger, causing a silver light to shoot out from it and surround Li Yang and the others. Li Yang felt space around them turn viscous, stretching out and completely encase them in a cocoon.
The silver light quickly flashed once more before vanishing, the group now finding themselves standing on the flat peak of a mountain that was a few kilometers tall. There were several more mountains in front and around them, forming a circle with a large basin in the middle, a city located at the center of the basin. Li Yang glanced at the ground beneath them, seeing several runes similar to the ones on the jade plate carved into the dirt. Slightly curious, he decided to trace the runes with his finger as he questioned Xiang Wuying.
”So there was a spatial formation here. Is it a temporary one?”
The runes used to carve this spatial formation, a formation that could teleport people through space, were quite different from the ones Li Yang was used to. There was also the fact that they used a jade plate to teleport here, rather than a different spatial formation, which caused Li Yang to guess this formation was only carved recently for the sake of this mission.
Temporary spatial formations did exist back when Li Yang was at his peak, but they were exceedingly rare and incredibly hard to create. Could the Yuan clan afford to create temporary spatial formations as they wished? Or had someone perfected the art of creating temporary spatial formations while Li Yang had been dead?
Xiang Wuying stored the jade plate into his interspatial ring, casually shrugging his shoulders as he gave a quick explanation.
”Yes, it was set up by one of our scouts a few days ago. It has enough energy for about 3-4 activations.”
Xiang Wuying explained it so nonchalantly, but Li Yang couldn't help but be a bit shocked. It could be activated 3-4 times? Back when he had been alive, even the best temporary spatial formations could only be used once, maybe twice if the one who used them wasn't worried about getting thrown through space haphazardly. It seemed like some things had truly changed quite a bit since he was last alive. Xiang Wuying stepped closer to the edge of the peak, pointing at the city below them as he started a more detailed briefing of the mission.
”The city you see below us is known as Yeowang city, it's the place where the Ghost Banner sect has settled down. The Ghost Banner sect cultivates by killing living beings and refining the souls of those beings into either their weapons or their bodies. They might have been sent by the Puppet God sect in an attempt to cause some of our cities to lose trust in us, so we will also look for any evidence that the two are connected.”
Yeowang city was completely round in shape, tall stone walls surrounding the entire city and protected it from any attacks. Most of the buildings in the city were made out of wood, but at the center of the city stood a large rectangular palace made out of orange stone, clearly of a higher quality than any other building in the city. This was their target, the Ghost Banner sect.
Ghost Banners, flags or weapons that could hold human souls and use them to attack, had also existed when Li Yang was alive, but they weren't too widespread, as the sheer amount of souls one needed to create a truly strong weapon like that was absolutely absurd.But from listening to Xiang Wuying's words, it seemed like one could also cultivate like that? Had new cultivation methods popped up while Li Yang was dead?
Li Yang was starting to grow a bit curious about exactly what had happened while he was dead, as well as how long he had actually been dead. This universe was very old, so billions of years could easily pass without any new cultivation techniques or other advancements being made. But now, not only had this continent completely changed shape, a new cultivation technique had popped up, and even temporary spatial formations had been perfected. If even one of those things happened within a few million years, it would be quite extraordinary. But now, all three had happened, so it turned from extraordinary to suspicious.
Xiang Wuying and the three others didn't notice Li Yang's thoughts, Xiang Wuying pulling out a palm-sized crystal tablet from his interspatial ring. The faces of three men were projected above the tablet, Xiang Wuying's expression turning serious.
”These three are the sect leader and his vice-sect leaders. If any single one of them escapes alive, this mission will be considered an utter failure, understood?”
The leader of the sect had a rather square, yet handsome face. He had a neatly groomed mustache that drooped slightly, brown hair tied into a neat bun, and clear blue eyes. The two vice-leaders seemed to be twins, both had the same green eyes, both had the same slicked-back black hair, and both had the same stubble on their chin. After making sure that everyone memorized the three faces, Xiang Wuying put away the tablet.
”We have three things to focus on during this mission. The first is to make sure that as few of the citizens as possible are harmed, the second is the ensure that none of the sect members manage to escape, and the third is to look for evidence that the sect was sent by the Puppet God sect.”
The people living in the city were citizens that belonged to the Yuan clan, as disciples of the Yuan clan, it was their job to protect them from harm and ensure that they could live in peace. Xiang Wuying swiped his interspatial ring, several yellow flags embroidered with blue runes that formed a solitary cloud appearing in front of him.
”To ensure that we can complete the first and second goal, all five of us will infiltrate the city incognito. Each of us will enter the city from a different point, and we will place these flags in certain key locations that I will inform you of as we enter. The flags will create an array that surrounds the entire sect, preventing anyone who doesn't have a talisman like this from entering or leaving.”
Li Yang inspected the array flags, quite amazed at how high quality they were. It seemed like arrays and things tied to them had improved drastically in the time he was gone, so it seemed like he had to spend some time reading up on arrays again to catch up with the changes.
Xiang Wuying handed each member of the group three flags and a pin made from yellow metal, pulling out a map of the city and giving them all detailed explanations on where to put them. He then took out several paper talismans, five white and wife green ones. The white ones were engraved with a shining star, while the green ones were engraved with a triangular shield.
”We will then enter the sect from five different locations and sweep it completely clean. The only people you have to spare are the maids and other servants, but only as long as they had nothing to do with the sect activities. If you encounter the sect leader, use this white talisman, it will inform everyone else about your location and let us all rush over. Then you use this green talisman, it will create a shield around you that will defend you from the attacks of the sect leader. Don't be arrogant or conceited and try to take on the sect leader alone, wait for everyone else to arrive so that we can take him on together.”
They could not fail this mission, and they weren't completely certain what sort of tricks the sect leader might have, so to make sure that there was no chance of failure, not even Xiang Wuying would take on the sect leader alone. After handing everyone a talisman, Xiang Wuying gave them all a deep glance, putting out his hand.