The tranquility of Azure Sky Sect was shattered at dawn.
A horn howled across the distant mountains—a low, guttural sound that reverberated through the skies like the roar of an ancient beast. Birds took flight in panicked swarms, and disciples snapped to alert, their senses tingling with instinctive dread.
On the horizon, three banners fluttered in the cold morning wind.
Scarlet Blood Sect. Thundercloud Pavilion. Black Bone Temple.
Three powerful sects of the Eastern Territory. All gathered in unison. All approaching Azure Sky with formation beasts, war chariots, and thousands of elite disciples behind them.
Elder formations flared to life across Azure Sky's defenses. The main gate glowed with azure talismans. Disciples gathered, pale-faced and anxious. The Sect Master stood atop the Sky Platform, arms behind his back, robes fluttering like celestial clouds, eyes fixed on the encroaching forces.
"What do they want?" Saintess Xue Linglong asked, her voice steady but cold.
"Not what," Sect Master Yun Haotian said grimly. "Who. They want us weakened… broken."
Tianxiao stood silently behind him, arms crossed, watching the growing army. A thousand cultivators, battle-tested and bloodthirsty, marched like a tide of war. His expression didn't change, but his qi subtly pulsed like a slumbering dragon waking beneath his skin.
"They're not here for me," he murmured.
"No," Linglong confirmed, her gaze narrowing. "But they wouldn't mind killing you while they're here."
Elder Jin grunted beside them. "Scarlet Blood Sect has always hated us for refusing their marriage alliance. Thundercloud Pavilion fears our rise. And Black Bone Temple… well, they just like corpses."
"It's a show of force," Yun Haotian said. "They think we're weak after sealing our Void Gate last year."
Tianxiao's eyes flickered slightly. "Are we?"
"No," Linglong replied firmly. "But they don't know what awaits."
A disciple rushed up, breathless. "Sect Master! The enemy envoy approaches!"
From the other side of the great gate, a single cultivator soared forward on a crimson cloud. He landed heavily, boots cracking the stone beneath him.
A large, burly man with blood-colored armor, a cruel smile on his face, and eyes that gleamed with malice.
"Yun Haotian!" he bellowed, his voice echoing across the cliffs. "By decree of the Scarlet Alliance, we hereby demand Azure Sky Sect submit—or perish!"
Laughter followed behind him. "Submit? Not even their Saintess is worth a grain of face in front of Thundercloud Pavilion!"
"Let them kneel and beg! I'll personally offer their corpses to our Bone Altar!" came the rasping voice from the black-robed envoy of Black Bone Temple.
The disciples behind the gates clenched their fists, fury burning. Many were too young for such a war, but they stood firm behind their Sect.
Inside, Tianxiao stepped forward, walking past the Saintess and elders.
Yun Haotian glanced at him. "Don't."
Tianxiao's aura flared subtly—not as an act of aggression, but like a warning to the world that a predator had stirred.
He stopped at the edge of the platform.
"Is this truly how the great sects act?" Tianxiao said calmly, his voice cold as glacier steel. "Banding together like cowards to threaten one sect?"
The Scarlet envoy sneered. "Who are you to speak—"
The next moment, his words froze in his throat.
Tianxiao's aura exploded—not in violence, but in sheer weight. It pressed down like a falling mountain, like heaven itself was judging.
The envoy's legs trembled. Beads of sweat ran down his temple.
"Ah—!"
He dropped to one knee without meaning to, crushed by the sheer pressure.
From far behind him, one of the sect masters from Thundercloud Pavilion narrowed his eyes.
"…That's not a normal aura."
"A domain?" muttered the Bone Temple elder. "No… it's something older…"
Back on the platform, the pressure faded as Tianxiao exhaled.
The envoy stumbled to his feet, red-faced and furious. "You—!"
"Enough," Yun Haotian said calmly, stepping forward now. "Azure Sky Sect does not yield."
"Then you have three days," the envoy spat. "Prepare your defenses. When we return… your sect will fall."
He vanished in a blaze of blood-light.
A heavy silence followed.
Behind him, the enemy army slowly retreated beyond the hill lines—just out of range of Azure Sky's outer formations.
Yun Haotian turned to Tianxiao. "…You didn't have to interfere."
"I didn't fight," he replied. "I simply reminded them that Azure Sky is not prey."
Linglong stepped closer, her expression unreadable. "…That aura of yours… Even elder-level suppression doesn't explain it."
He met her gaze. "It's ancient. That's all you need to know for now."
She looked at him long and hard… then nodded slowly.
"Three days," Elder Jin muttered. "Three sects. We'll need to mobilize every protector and elder."
"I'll take the eastern front," Tianxiao said.
"You're still a guest," the Sect Master said.
Tianxiao's gaze sharpened. "This is my home now. I protect what's mine."
Linglong glanced at him—her cheeks faintly warm at his words.
"…We'll hold the line," she said.
The wind picked up.
Above them, the sky darkened—not from nightfall, but from the coming storm.