Night Sky, information guild which had supported Hamar and become highly interested within Nine Clouds Sect.
The leader walked out of the shadows of the room and appeared beside the Nine Clouds Sect Leader, "we've detected something, you might need to send an elite to check it out."
The Sect Leader waved his hand and caused a chair to appear behind the Night Sky leader and himself. He sat down, gesturing her to do the same, and crossed his legs.
"Explain. From what I detected it was some sort of secluded domain with the power stemming from something underground. Though I can't go any further, they have precautions against looking so deep."
The Night Sky leader looked bamboozled and just stared at him for a few moments. She shook her head and spoke candidly, "Extremely impressive to detect so much…"
"I know. But extremely impressive for me, you are an information gathering guild, what do you have?"
She nodded, "The Night Sky has observed, including data from footsoldiers, that their are various races among Yi Sect. Most troubling is the vampires."
"Get to the point, we know about vampires. What is the secluded domain?"
She gulped and licked her lips nervously, "From what we can detect it appears to be a portion of a formation. Or…a sub-formation which if connected sufficiently will cause an even bigger, more permanent effect on the battle."
The Nine Clouds Sect Leader let the silence build for a second until he broke it, "They should be dealt with quick, how many are there? Was the one that went off earlier one of them, we can deal with that."
The Night Sky leader sighed, "the battle is surrounding the entire Linguo Continent, we suspect that there is a total of 10 different main sub formations will be needed to activate the main…and the one that activated earlier was merely a sub-formation of the sub-formation."
"And how much damage did that sub-sub-formation do?"
She bowed, "Much damage I'm afraid, our initial advantage has been lost and we are being pushed back in that sector."
The Sect Leader stood up, gesturing for the Night Sky leader to keep down. He looked into the distance from inside, distance and physical barriers be damned he watched the battles of the common people.
He solemnly closed his eyes, "It isn't as bad as I had feared. Despite being pushed back, we have the side of luck. Even if by coincidence, many of our soldiers are safe."
He looked back, "Go tell the Formation Master…tell them to substitute for round two. Those soldiers from round one shall be sent back to their respective sects to recover."
The Night Sky leader swallowed her words and stood up, then quickly bowed. She took a step backwards and vanished into the darkness, leaving the Sect Leader to watch over himself. He had to restrain himself for the main fights.
Both sides were merely testing eachother, they had not truly gotten into each others real forces. The Sect Leader gritted his teeth and cracked his neck.
"Nine Clouds Earth Di…" he called, knowing he was listening he continued, "Focus in the underground. Those crystal tunnels…destroy them, however you can."
The ground rumbled.
***
Sword City, beginning of round two.
Yuan Ting held a steady breath as he tight ed his grip upon his sword. He was hardening level 23 and was considered strong but strong was a common epithet to those from Sword City.
"A war…" he muttered Dundee his breath.
A fellow volunteer beside him grimaced, "Not just a war…the war." another continued on for him, "the war to end all wars"
Another chimed in, "I heard that even the elders are scared. Yi Sect was mythical and now it comes back…and wages war with the entire world."
Yuan Ting shook his head and as the people behind him continued to gossip he pushed through the crowd, making his way to the front.
He was short, much shorter than all those around him. Not for any particular reason though, he was just a short person. It didn't help Sword City was known for having the tallest people in the Sect.
He grumbled as he found himself a building which he climbed the posts, making his way onto the roof. He was nowhere near the front, and he saw that it was unlikely he would have got there anyway.
He looked out to the crowd who had gathered from Sword City, it was more people than he had ever seen in his life.
If he had to give it a number he'd say a million or even more, it more incomprehensible to him. The sheer number of people was already surprising but he also knew that every single one of these people was at 20 Hardening or more, like himself.
A million people at 20 Hardening…it was an insane number. Yuan Ting thought back to what he could do, he could cut down a small forest by himself with a single slash. Imagine what a combined force of an army could do…
Yuan Ting gawked but he quickly composed himself and looked forward where an Elder walked to stage. They came up and the sounds all silenced, not due to respect but the sound laws were silenced.
It was Elder Nine Clouds Strategy Mist, he shouted, "The brave members of the first army, 10s if not 100s of thousands of fellow beings of this world…they fought their war. They tested the waters."
He paused for dramatic effect, "NOW IT IS YOUR TURN! You will be sent out to fight, fight for our glory! And most importantly–!"
"MOST IMPORTANTLY, you will fight for your life. Your friends, you family, your acquaintances, and even your enemies. You will fight for life itself."
The sound Laws were once again released, roaring erupted and simultaneously ear protection techniques needed to be activated. Laws began to form, a mist formed around the crowd.
It was perceptible from within the crowd but especially seeable from above like Yuan Ting was, "Its the famous Courage Mist!"