Chapter 1321: Brewing Unrest

In the southern region of the Middle Earth Immortal Region was a continent called the Southern Gaze Continent, stretching along the southern coastline of which was a mountain range that was hundreds of thousands of kilometers in length, and in the mountain range were ninety-eight volcanos, all of which were active.

Every century or so, one or two of these volcanoes would erupt, and on each occasion, countless vagrant cultivators and cultivators from the immortal sects on the Southern Gaze Continent would arrive to marvel at the spectacle.

Of course, they didn't come here purely for sightseeing purposes. Instead, they came to try their luck to see if they could find a spirit material called Fire Refinement Stone from the magma that erupted out of the volcanoes.

In the past, the Heavenly Court had always turned a blind eye to this, allowing the cultivators to try their luck to secure what they could, but things were different this year.

It had been predicted that seventeen volcanoes would erupt at once this year, but right as they were about to erupt, the immortal envoys of the Heaven Guard Pavilion had intervened, guiding the fire veins into the western sea to prevent the eruptions.

None of the cultivators on the continent raised any complaints about this as they knew that this had been done in preparation for the Bodhi Banquet.

In this mountain range was a structure known as the Heaven Answer Gate, which was a very important structure to the Heavenly Court.

The Heaven Answer Gate was the southern gate through which cultivators of other immortal regions entered the Middle Earth Immortal Region, so it was often also referred to as the Southern Heavenly Gate.

To put it more accurately, it was actually a giant teleportation array with tens of thousands of teleportation arrays of different sizes constructed within it, connected to thirty-five other large immortal regions and capable of teleporting hundreds of thousands of people at a time.

With the gate opened, a spatial passageway leading to the other thirty-five large immortal regions could be established, allowing cultivators through from both sides, and there were three more Heaven Answer Gates just like this one.

As the core of the True Immortal Realm, the Middle Earth Immortal Region had a total of nine continents and four seas, all of which were incredibly vast.

The Heavenly Palace Continent was situated at the center of the nine continents and four seas, and it was the basis of the Heavenly Court. There were also the Eastern Victory Continent, the Western Adulation Continent, the Southern Gaze Continent, and the Northern Complete Continent, which were situated respectively in the eastern, western, southern, and northern seas.

Each of these continents had its own Heaven Guard Pavilion and Heaven Answer Gate.

All of the Heaven Answer Gates were connected to the other large immortal regions and were guarded by divine generals. Additionally, all of the Heaven Guard Pavilions were also very important structures, and Dao Ancestors were stationed there all year round.

With the Bodhi Banquet fast approaching, many cultivators from all over the True Immortal Realm had already begun to gather in the Middle Earth Immortal Region. In addition to those who had received Bodhi Tokens, there were also cultivators who had come purely to spectate this grand event.

Even though the Bodhi Banquet was going to be held on the Heavenly Palace Continent, all types of smaller festive events were going to be held on the other continents as well, and countless precious and exotic treasures from all over the True Immortal Realm were going to appear on the Middle Earth Immortal Region, thereby giving rise to all types of auctions and exchange events, all of which were very alluring.

However, in order to hold such a prestigious event, the Heavenly Court was also going to be under an immense amount of pressure. During the course of the event, it was estimated that the cultivator population of the Middle Earth Immortal Region was going to increase by in excess of tenfold, so regardless of what security measures were adopted, there were inevitably going to be some unsavory figures that managed to slip through the cracks.

......

In the Reverse Bark Immortal Region.

There was a snowfield that stretched for close to a hundred thousand kilometers, and at this moment, it was riddled with crimson flames that resembled radiant, red lotus flowers, leaving the ground charred and blackened.

The entire snowfield was encompassed within an enormous, crimson spirit domain, and all of the snow that fell upon the spirit domain from above were instantly evaporated.

At the center of the snowfield was a giant crater that was over ten thousand feet in size, lying within which was the body of an armorclad, demonic cultivator that was missing half of its head. The golden blood that was pouring out of their body clearly indicated that they had reached a very lofty cultivation base prior to meeting their demise.

Judging from the remaining half of their head, it was possible to tell that they had been some type of wolf demon.

This man was the patriarch of the largest demonic sect in the Reverse Bark Immortal Region, the Myriad Demon Grotto, and he was a late-Great Encompassment cultivator.

He was on his way to the Middle Earth Immortal Region to attend the Bodhi Banquet with his direct disciples, but he had been ambushed here en route to the teleportation array.

At the very least, his body remained mostly intact, while his disciples had already been completely wiped out of existence.

A dull thump rang out as a tall and imposing man jumped down from the edge of the crater to land beside the body.

The man had a head of curly, red hair that draped down behind him in a casual manner, and his facial features were completely devoid of emotions. His skin was riddled with red patterns that resembled fiery clouds, and they were flashing incessantly, giving off a scorching aura that caused the surrounding space to shimmer and warp.

He bent down to pick up a Bodhi Token from beside the body, then wiped the blood from it before casually tossing it out of the crater behind him.

Standing at the edge of the crater was a woman in a black dress, and she caught the token ,then inspected it momentarily before stowing it away.

The woman had an alluring figure coupled with skin that was as fair and delicate as mutton fat jade, and her facial features were also stunningly gorgeous. However, half of her face was concealed behind the hair that trailed down from her forehead, and the tiny section of the concealed half of her face that had been left exposed was riddled with fish-scale-like scars.

"It's time to go, Yan Zhuo. According to the palace master's instructions, whether we killed Rong Quan or not is hardly of consequence, whereas Daoist Master Tong Qiu is someone that we have to kill," the woman said.

"I know," the red-haired man by the name of Yan Zhuo replied, then removed the storage bracelet from Rong Quan's wrist before jumping out of the crater.

"You know, you can be really stubborn sometimes. Why did you insist on coming here?" the woman sighed.

"Killing Rong Quan serves as a warning shot to Tong Qiu, so he'll most likely put his plans of traveling to the Middle Earth Immortal Region on hold. I suppose that's a good thing, seeing as we won't have to find a place to intercept him. Instead, we can just go kill him in his sect. You remember our agreement, right, Xuan Yu? I don't care what happens to the disciples of his sect, but the ancestral hall must be demolished," Yan Zhuo said.

"I'm only responsible for claiming Tong Qiu's head, you can do with the others as you please. This is the first time that all eight of us Reincarnation Envoys have been deployed together, and the palace master has encouraged us to cause as much pandemonium as possible," Xuan Yu replied.

With that, the two of them sprang up into the air and quickly vanished out of sight, while the spirit domain faded away, and before long, all signs of the battle that had just taken place had been buried under a blanket of fresh snow.

There were many more similar ambushes and assassinations taking place in other immortal regions to varying degrees of success, but most of them resulted in the targets' demise.

The deaths of such almighty cultivators would've normally created massive stirs throughout their native immortal regions, but for some reason, news of these events had been completely stifled.

Most of the immortal regions were still eagerly awaiting the commencement of the Bodhi Banquet, completely oblivious to the storm that was brewing on the horizon.

......

In a certain, unknown immortal region, there was a huge, gourd-shaped canyon that was filled with miasma and littered with bodies.

The entire canyon was filled with all types of remains, including those that belonged to ordinary wild beasts, as well as the remains of powerful demon beasts and human cultivators, some of which were still giving off fearsome auras.

The miasma was even thicker deep in the canyon, and at this moment, there was a knocking sound ringing out incessantly from within.

Through the dense miasma, one could see a gorgeous young woman in a yellow dress seated with her legs crossed atop a giant rock.

The young woman was none other than Jin Tong, and at this moment, she was knocking on the huge rock beneath her with a demon beast bone in her hand.

"You can't just keep hiding like this. You're the only other Great Encompassment Stage Gold Devouring Immortal aside from me. Once I've devoured you, it'll only be a matter of time before my powers as a Dao Ancestor are restored. Don't you want revenge? Are you going to hide here your entire life? You've eaten so much trash over the years, have you still not had enough?" Jin Tong asked.

She continued to knock on the giant rock, but received no response.

A cold look flashed through her eyes as she harrumphed, "Fine. If you're not going to come out, then I'll just have to make you!"

As soon as her voice trailed off, she sprang up into the air, then hurled the bone in her hand downward like a javelin, sending it crashing down onto the huge rock below with incredible force.

A resounding boom rang out as the massive rock exploded into countless pieces, and a giant, golden beetle flew out from underneath before racing away as a streak of golden light.

"Get back here!"

Jin Tong immediately adopted her Gold Devouring Immortal form as well, and a fierce battle commenced between the two.

The surrounding space trembled violently as golden light and black spatial rifts intertwined with one another, and the entire area in a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers was instantly transformed into an inhospitable death zone.