Chapter 215: The Meeting

Later, Graceful led Jiuyou to the Headquarters, where he met the eight Saint Teachers currently presiding over the Tribal Alliance. Every single one was a Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator. Apart from Gu Daobian and Saint Teacher Mo, who were spell cultivators, the other six were physical cultivators, which was why the tribal people were more accustomed to calling them Supreme Great Grandmasters.

Everyone took their seats in order. The atmosphere in the hall could not be called cold, but it was far from warm.

Given Jiuyou's cultivation and strength, he naturally was not slighted, and everyone's demeanor remained polite. Still, the wariness in their eyes was barely concealed. Jiuyou could sense the frequent exchanges of divine sense in the air, but he merely smiled and did not point it out.

Jiuyou stated his purpose, his words carrying a clear intent to ally with the Northern Plains.

"The people of the Blood Abyss Sect are bloodthirsty by nature," he said. "They do not even spare mortals, making them a cancer upon this world. As a cultivator of the Righteous Path, I cannot bear to watch these evil cultivators ravage the realm. That is why I have come to ally with your esteemed league, so we may root out this menace together."

As he spoke, he retrieved the Soul Gathering Array he had unearthed from the subterranean palace from his Storage Pouch, setting it before the assembly as evidence.

The physical cultivators had little mastery over arrays. Though they could sense its uncanny ingenuity, they could not explain its exact workings. Saint Teacher Ma, however, studied it for a few moments before speaking up, remarking that he had encountered plenty of such vile arts while roaming the world in his younger days, and that this item truly did look like the handiwork of the Blood Abyss Sect.

With those words, paired with Jiuyou's flawless performance, the assembly immediately believed him a few degrees more.

The conversation soon turned to how the Grandmasters of the Northern Plains had been assassinated without cause.

Jiuyou explained that he had not set foot in the Northern Plains during that time, having secluded himself in Ganzhou to stabilize his realm. Only after making thorough preparations had he marched straight to the Blood Abyss Sect to stir up trouble, subsequently staking out its perimeter for over a year. If they doubted him, they could look into the Supreme Elders who had gone missing from the Blood Abyss Sect in recent years—every one of them had fallen by his hand.

With that, he brought out the corpses of five Blood Abyss Sect Supreme Elders right then and there. At the same time, he quietly restrained his vitality, ensuring the physical cultivators in the hall would not detect the blood aura of the Heavenly Flame Body Tempering Art lingering on him.

The five corpses lay neatly arranged in the center of the hall, plunging the room into momentary silence. Everyone present was a veteran who had cultivated for many years; naturally, they could tell how formidable these five had been in life, and they knew precisely what this meant.

To blockade the mountain gates of the Blood Abyss Sect single-handedly and slay five Nascent Soul Supremes took a level of strength and audacity that probably could not be matched by a second person across the Northern Plains.

The physical cultivators in the hall let their gazes linger on the corpses for a moment before looking away, though their eyes did not wander far. Some turned their attention toward Jiuyou, as if sizing him up anew, while others merely watched in silence, in no hurry to take a stance.

Seeing that the moment was ripe, Jiuyou steered the conversation toward the recent murders of the Northern Plains Grandmasters, layering his arguments to point straight at the Blood Abyss Sect.

Listening to him, the Saint Teachers present found his words entirely reasonable.

After all, Jiuyou was at the Sword Dao Peak Nascent Soul Stage. He carried none of the rampant baleful aura born of an evil cultivator's wanton slaughter, and he had no conceivable motive to strike at the Northern Plains without cause. The Blood Abyss Sect, on the other hand, held a long-standing grudge against the Northern Plains and had recently suffered a bitter defeat, making their covert retaliation far more likely.

On top of that, Jiuyou had marched upon the Blood Abyss Sect's mountain gate alone and slain five of their Supreme Elders. With the bodies laid out right before their eyes, no spoken argument could carry greater weight.

The hall fell quiet for a moment.

One of the six physical cultivator Saint Teachers was the first to speak, his tone gruff and heavy. His meaning was clear: the Blood Abyss Sect had laid hands on the Northern Plains, and this debt could not simply be dropped. The others chimed in one after another, their tone barely concealing their anger. Several of the eight Saint Teachers voiced their thoughts, each staking out a firmer stance than the last.

Though Gu Daobian and Saint Teacher Ma did not join in shouting slogans, their auras flared, making it clear they had no intention of pretending nothing had happened.

Graceful stood at the side of the hall, listening to Jiuyou the entire time. At first, she merely listened, but once he brought out those five corpses, her gaze never left him again.

Jiuyou stood there, speaking to the Saint Teachers with a steady tone, neither humble nor arrogant. His aura was as calm and profound as an old, undisturbed well.

Looking at him, she felt as if she had suddenly understood something.

She had met many people over the years, yet she seemed to have always identified what that kind of person should be like through others. Now, she no longer needed to look through anything else. That person stood right there, matching the silhouette in her imagination more closely than any description ever could.

She lowered her head slightly, trying to rein in her wandering thoughts, yet her gaze still lingered on him, not immediately pulling away.

At the thought of her father and brother's deaths, her hatred for the Blood Abyss Sect surged up as well, no weaker than anyone else's present. Yet she said nothing, precisely because this fury was her own affair and had nothing to do with the conversation unfolding before her.

When the gathering dispersed, Jiuyou cupped his hands to the crowd and left the hall first. He could naturally sense the weight of a dozen or so gazes falling on his back, but he did not turn around.

After he walked far away, the hall did not immediately empty. An array designed to block divine sense prying rose around the perimeter, its spiritual light flashing once before vanishing, sealing the main hall in an impenetrable quiet.

The people in the hall remained seated for a while longer, exchanging a few words not meant for outside ears. Only after the time it takes several sticks of incense to burn did they begin to rise and depart. As a few of the Saint Teachers walked out the hall doors, their gazes turned in unison toward the direction Jiuyou had gone, as though weighing something in their minds.

Jiuyou was guided by an arranged envoy to a small palace. He was told it was the highest standard of hospitality the Tribal Alliance offered to guests, positioned in a place where spiritual energy gathered, making for a peaceful and secluded stay.

Upon entering, he casually laid down several restrictions out of habit. Just as he prepared to sit in meditation for a moment, he sensed someone arriving outside the door.

He rose and opened the door to find Graceful standing outside. She glanced into the hall, her gaze pausing for a moment on the lines of the newly placed restrictions, looking somewhat surprised, or perhaps simply unsure of where to begin.

Jiuyou asked if anything was the matter.

Graceful kept her head down, like someone pinching a thread but unable to find the beginning, before finally managing to speak.

"I only came to see if you were settling in well," she said. "If you find it uncomfortable, there is still room at my place."

"No need," Jiuyou replied. "For someone in ascetic cultivation, even a barren cave in the wilderness is a fine dwelling. This place is already quite good."

Her delicate figure took half a step forward, her gentle voice dropping even lower. "If Big Brother Qing had not intervened that day, I would have long been reduced to a pile of white bones in the wasteland. I don't know how to repay you. In truth, I..." She looked up, drawing a little closer to Jiuyou's chest.

Jiuyou's smile remained unchanged, his heart completely undisturbed. He casually extended a hand and pressed lightly against the girl's shoulder, guiding her a step out the door as his gaze swept past her shoulder, landing behind her.

"It seems we have another guest," he said. "May I ask what brings Fellow Daoist here so late in the night...?"