Chapter 8: Two Visions
After dismissing the servant after she brought the tea to the sect leaders in a private meeting room, Zhao Mingfeng prompted Yan Ping to tell them more about the vision she saw with her clairvoyance.
"There are two parts to my vision," the blind lady admitted. "The first is a personal affair relating to the Celestial Dragon Sect's youngest princess. The next is something that affects everyone in the Rainbow Alliance."
Ignoring his curiosity about the vision related to Anji, Fengming asked if the next vision was related to the rise of a new Murim Alliance. After the fall of the demonic sect, many demonic-affiliated cultivators scattered and hid themselves away. However, in recent years, these troublemakers have started surfacing again. Ordinarily, the roaming pugilists and mercenaries with cultivation skills would have taken care of them. However, these new troublemakers have started infringing upon the peace the Rainbow Alliance worked so hard to build.
"I heard a little about them," Bai Dajin admitted. "While travelling, I stopped by many small towns with smaller cultivation clans. The new upstarts have brutally wiped out some of these small clans. They didn't even bother masking their crimes as bandits. There's a particularly notorious group who call themselves the Zodiac. They are a group of twelve highly-skilled assassins, but I could not find anything about the head of this organisation."
Agreeing, the Azure Dragon's leader chimed in. "I asked Zhang Mou to look after the sect on my behalf while investigating this secretly. Although I don't know who the head is, Zodiac is not the only group. I believe these demonic worshippers have colluded with outsiders. Two months ago, I faced off with an expert from the grassland. They call themselves the Barbaric Arts Alliance."
Sighing, Hong Nian Niang shared her fair share of troubles.
"As you know, I like to go husband shopping. However, when I was out, someone attacked my sect. My harem lovers are not weak. However, they used underhand methods and poisoned two of my lovers to death. The poison is nothing I've seen before. It is definitely not from the Central Plains. There is reason to believe that the remaining demonic cults have aligned themselves with outsiders."
Concerned, Zhao Mingfeng asked if anyone else had experienced similar attacks. Thankfully, Chen Zhong and Yan Ping had no encounters with the strange attacks. However, Yanxia shared what her aunt, Royal Consort Liu Guiya, told her before she abandoned her life as a cultivator to enter the palace officially.
"My aunt wrote me a letter after she handed the sect to me. In her letter, she did not explain much about the court politics involving the new emperor. However, she did mention a few things about the remaining forces of the demonic sect. The Heavenly Phoenix sect is currently in a mess because my aunt handed the position over to me so suddenly. The elders oppose me, and there is a lot of internal fighting, resulting in many security flaws. I believe there are spies from the demonic worshippers in my sect, manipulating key figureheads. I attended the banquet today to ask the Rainbow Alliance for help regarding this matter due to my lack of ability."
Before Liu Yanxia was the leader of the Heavenly Phoenix sect, her aunt, Liu Guiya, was in charge. During the time they fought the demonic sect leader, she had the biggest forces, and she held down most of the reinforcements. The Heavenly Phoenix Sect has a long history as one of the most glamorous cultivator schools. They operated the organisation like a business and were often involved in the mortal world's business. It was not surprising that Liu Guiya became involved with imperial politics. After all, she was the main reason the new emperor could rise to the throne. However, abandoning her roots as a cultivator was also unlike her.
"There is an unspoken rule that those in the Murim world should not interfere with mortal affairs," Yan Ping finally spoke up. "However, I believe Guiya left to become a royal consort due to the upcoming catastrophe that I saw in my vision. Things are no longer as simple. We cannot afford to sit back and leave it to the imperial army."