Chapter 687: Grandmasters Arrive in Succession
What Xu Wuyi didn’t yet realize was the sheer magnitude of attention his thousand-meter-tall pillar of fire had drawn.
At the Federation Military Department headquarters, Feng Zhuohua was in his office flipping through a front-line battle report when, suddenly, an indescribable palpitation surged from the bottom of his heart. The feeling came without warning, yet it was so intense that he had to put down the documents in his hands, raise his head, and look out the window.
Outside was the afternoon sky of Xingjing, bright and sunny with light clouds and gentle breezes. But beneath that seemingly peaceful canopy of heaven, Feng Zhuohua clearly sensed that something was happening.
It was an unfamiliar Grandmaster Level aura.
No, it was more than just unfamiliar. Although the intensity of the aura wasn’t particularly high, a certain trait contained within it made even a veteran powerhouse like Feng Zhuohua, who had been immersed in the Grandmaster Realm for many years, feel a trace of trepidation.
That trait was hard to describe. It wasn’t the oppression of strength, nor a gap in the Realm, but something much deeper. It felt as if a corner of an originally orderly world had suddenly been pried up by some invisible force.
Feng Zhuohua stood up and walked to the window, casting his gaze toward the direction the aura was coming from: the West District of Xingjing, an old residential area. He narrowed his eyes. With a slight shift in thought, he extended his perception to its maximum limit.
Then, he saw that pillar of blue fire shooting into the sky.
Standing fifteen hundred meters tall, it pierced straight into the clouds from that remote little courtyard. The color of the pillar transitioned gradually from a deep blue at the base to near transparency at the top, shining brilliantly under the afternoon sun.
Even more bizarrely, wherever the pillar of fire reached, everything between heaven and earth began to feel wrong. That wasn’t an ordinary flame. A wave of realization washed over Feng Zhuohua. The flame wasn’t burning matter, but something far more fundamental.
Right then, he suddenly sensed another aura. That aura came from the East City and was moving rapidly toward the pillar of fire. He knew the owner of the aura; it was Zhao Cizhou of the Zhao family.
Immediately after, two more auras rose from the direction of the suburbs. One aura was peaceful and profound, while the other was incomparably sharp. Three Grandmasters were all rushing in the same direction almost simultaneously. Feng Zhuohua no longer hesitated. His figure flashed as he leaped directly out the window, transforming into a streak of light as he shot toward the West District.
***
In the East City, at the Zhao family’s estate.
Zhao Cizhou was savoring tea in a pavilion in the backyard. The teacup in his hand had just reached his lips when he suddenly stopped. He raised his head and looked toward the West District, a flash of poorly concealed surprise in his eyes.
"That aura..." he thought.
He put down the teacup, stood up, and walked to the edge of the pavilion. As the helmsman of the Zhao family, Zhao Cizhou had seen far too many Grandmasters and encountered far too many Grandmaster Level auras. Yet, the aura currently radiating from the West District made him feel unfamiliar, yet vaguely familiar at the same time. It felt unfamiliar because its texture was completely different from anything he had encountered before, but familiar because a certain intrinsic quality within it struck a chord in his memory.
Zhao Cizhou was a very special Grandmaster. Because of his Heart Image, he possessed an extremely clear ability to discern things, far surpassing other Grandmasters in this regard. So, with just a moment’s pause, he instantly remembered who this aura belonged to.
"Xu Wuyi?"
"How is that possible?!"
Zhao Cizhou found the idea absurd, yet logic made it impossible to deny. "Did he advance to the Grandmaster Realm?" A wave of curiosity swelled in his heart. With a blur of motion, he also sped toward the source of the aura.
***
In the suburbs, at Lin Jianyi’s small courtyard.
The Sword Dao Grandmaster was sitting by the stone table under an ancient pine tree, cradling a cup of hot tea in his hands. The tea had gone cold, but he hadn’t drunk it; he merely gazed quietly toward the West District. His gaze was calm and profound, his face devoid of any expression. But if one looked closely, they could find a hint of gratification hidden deep within his eyes.
He had watched Xu Wuyi’s Power of Order take shape with his own eyes. Naturally, he wasn’t unfamiliar with this aura. He was also the first Grandmaster to confirm the other party’s identity.
Lin Jianyi raised his teacup and slowly took a sip of the cold tea. The tea tasted bitter, but it was as if he had savored a bit of sweetness. He set down the teacup, stood up, and walked out of the courtyard.
***
Meanwhile, all across Xingjing.
More than a dozen auras rose almost simultaneously. Some emanated from luxurious villas, some from hidden Cultivation Rooms, some from the military department’s office buildings, and some from the core regions of aristocratic families. The owners of those auras were long-established veteran Grandmasters, rising stars who had newly advanced in recent years, revered consecrates of major factions, or core combatants of the Federation Military Department.
They came from different places and belonged to different factions, but at this moment, they were all alarmed by the same event. That pillar of blue fire shooting into the sky, that bizarre and unfamiliar Grandmaster Level aura, that sense of disorder that induced heart-pounding trepidation... All of this was telling them that a new Grandmaster, or a powerhouse of the same tier, had appeared in Xingjing.
And this person was far from simple.
If the Federation had a new Grandmaster advancing, it would naturally be a great thing. However, if it were an Alien Race that had quietly infiltrated, only to be accidentally discovered upon reaching the bounds of Xingjing...
A figure shot out from a luxurious villa in the East District. It was an old man in a black robe. He had a gaunt face, sharp eyes, and an aura as deep as the abyss.
"An unfamiliar Grandmaster aura..." the black-robed old man muttered to himself. "How many years has it been since Xingjing produced a new Grandmaster?"
He remembered that the last Grandmaster to break through in Xingjing was eight years ago. That person was a genius cultivated by the military, and the commotion during his breakthrough hadn’t been small. But compared to the aura before him, it paled into insignificance.
It wasn’t a gap in power, but a qualitative difference. The feeling that the blue pillar of fire gave him was far more dangerous and bizarre than an ordinary Grandmaster’s breakthrough.
With a shift in thought, the black-robed old man accelerated his figure, speeding toward the West District.
***
Another figure rose from a military camp in the North District.
It was a burly middle-aged man wearing a military uniform, his aura as steady as a mountain. He stood in the sky above the military camp, gazing from afar at that blue pillar of fire in the West District, his brow slightly furrowed.
"The military hasn’t received any recent news about someone being on the verge of breaking through to the Grandmaster Realm..." he said in a low voice. "Where did this person pop out from?"
As one of the core combatants of the Federation Military Department, he knew the Federation’s Grandmaster cultivation system like the back of his hand. Every Quasi-Grandmaster with the hope of breaking through to the Grandmaster Realm was registered with the military and would be heavily monitored. Yet, this suddenly appearing Grandmaster before his eyes was completely outside his scope of knowledge.
An unfamiliar aura, unfamiliar power, and an unfamiliar method of breakthrough.
The middle-aged man fell silent for a moment before his figure flashed, also heading toward the West District.
***
Yet another figure rose from deep within the West District.
It was a white-haired old woman leaning on a walking stick, looking frail enough to be blown over by the wind. However, the moment she ascended, the surrounding space slightly distorted, revealing that her strength was far from as simple as it appeared on the surface.