Unrest

"This is bad!"

The old elder turned to the other Moonlight Sect elders.

"What is it?"

She showed them the jade and their faces turned dark after scanning it with their Divine Senses. They quickly recovered after noticing a few of the other sect's elders looking their way.

"Are they fine?!" a beautiful middle-aged elder asked through voice transmission.

"Do you think Space Splitting Message Jades grow like mortal rice?! Each one can only send a small message as much of the energy is spent breaking through the dome without any fluctuations"

"I'm just trying to make sure our talents are alright!"

The elder took a deep breath.

"If there really is a beast tide, there isn't much that we can do even with this information. But since she was able to send this message then that means they are fine at the moment"

The group took on a gloomy atmosphere, and the other representatives noticed their anomaly.

Elder Hai leaned towards a tall middle-aged man with a sky blue sword strapped to his back.

"What do you think they're up to now?"

The man with the sword stroked his long beard, "Every time this event occurs, the Moonlight Sect is known to use some shady means to obtain information on the other side. Be it Dual Recording Jades, Life Tablets, or even sneaking in a cultivator of a higher level, the Moonlight Sect has done it all. Perhaps they've received some troubling news just now"

Elder Hai nodded, "Fellow friend Jian's insight is quite impressive, though it is to be expected from an elder of the Sword Tower"

Elder Jian, who turned out to be an elder of the Sword Tower, laughed into the sky.

"Hai fellow! You should know that your praises won't make me go easy on you in the duel you had promised"

"Hehehe, well you can't blame me for trying"

""Hahaha!""

…

A heroic looking man dressed in the Sword Tower's uniform stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He looked calmly as a flock of Purple Corpse Vultures drew near his spot on a tall tree.

Swish!

A metallic glint flashed and several dozen vultures stiffened midair. The next instant, a clean horizontal cut split dozens of vultures in half.

Splatter!

"Caw!"

The remaining vultures screeched angrily at the loss of their companions but didn't attack due to fear.

The young man swung his sword in a wide ark, sending blades of light in all directions. The remaining vultures either died or flew away and the man sheathed his sword with a dark expression.

Another young man dressed in the Sword Tower's uniform jumped up the tree and clasped his hands, "The situation doesn't look too good, we've lost a quarter of our people to the Purple Corpse Vultures"

The man frowned, "This beast tide isn't natural. Gather up the remaining disciples and set up a base near a teleportation formation. Oh, and see if you can find any ally sects to work together with"

The other young man replied with a "Yes" and jumped down from the tree.

…

A group of black robed figures flew through a dense forest. Many had talismans attached to their bodies and behind them, a flock of Purple Corpse Vultures followed closely.

"Damn it, they're still chasing us!"

"Use all your attacking talismans and long range magic weapons!"

BOOM!

"Screech!"

A few of the vultures fell, though most of them simply flew through the smoke clouds and continued to chase the group of black robed figures.

"It didn't work!"

"Everyone, get underground!"

Some used Earth attributed spells to get underground while others used an Earth Burrowing Talisman. A yellow glow enveloped each of them as they sank into the dirt.

Rumble!

A small space opened up under the ground and the black figures hurriedly entered and used spells to fortify the space.

Bang!

The vultures repeatedly attacked the ground where the figures disappeared for a while before quickly losing interest and flying away.

Everyone underground breathed a sigh of relief once they sensed that the vultures had left and took off their black robes. What was revealed were the uniforms of the Spirit Sect and a dozen unfamiliar faces.

A scrawny man with dark skin broke the silence, "Thank goodness we had those Earth Burrowing Talismans from Senior Mo Yuan Kai. These robes are quite useless however"

Another young man will a thin, pale face replied, "I think it would be better to approach Bai Hu in our sect uniforms, this way, we can lower his guard"

"Bah!"

A rough faced muscular man threw his robe to the ground, "Isn't it just one guy?! I can't believe those Seniors can't deal with an Outer Court Disciple. If we didn't take this job and worked together to get materials, our harvest would definitely be huge!"

While all of them stayed silent, everyone knew that they all agreed with this man's statement.

"So... What should we do now?"

The scrawny man gave a suggestion, "How about we wait it out till the end. We're near a teleportation formation and should be able to get there with ease. Forget about killing Bai Hu as he might not even make it out alive"

The others murmured in agreement. In the off chance that Bai Hu did survive, they could simply hide for a few years in seclusion and Mo Yuan Kai wouldn't be able to do much to them.

"Lets recover here them"

Then they all sat in meditative positions to recover their lost qi.

Meanwhile, the one who caused everything to go wrong in the sealed space merely sat in the space he'd created and sorted through his gains.

"Achoo!"

He rubbed his nose and thought, "Who's cursing me?" before going back to meticulously sorting the materials.

He separated herbs, ores, and magic treasures into different spatial pouches but made sure to split a small amount of the materials into a different spatial pouch. If one looked closely, they would find that that spatial pouch contained roughly 10 percent of his overall gains in the sealed space.

"Whew!"

He wiped the sweat off his forehead and then proceeded to place the spatial pouches in various places hidden from sight.

Next, he took out a few high grade magic treasures which Bai Hu found to be the most useful for him. In the remaining time, Bai Hu planned to refine the treasures into his own, allowing him to utilize more of the treasure's power with greater efficiency.

First he took out a 3 feet long silver sword. This was a high grade magic treasure with a bit of Silver Essence mixed in the refinement process, thus enhancing its sharpness greatly.

Compared to the Black Sky Gold Spear, this weapon will be much more sustainable in long, drawn out battles.

Bai Hu made a simple hand seal and spat out a drop of bright red blood. The blood churned at his behest and shot into the silver sword. A dull light enveloped the sword and made it seem like it was being drenched in a white flame.

After an hour, a flash of light struck the wall opposite to Bai Hu. A gash several feet wide and a few inches thick appeared.

Bai Hu nodded in satisfaction. Not only was the sword sharp, but there were 3 seals on the flat part of the blade. After a few tests, he found that each seal can release a dozen silver birds that seek out and attack enemies.

He then proceeded to do the same to the various treasures lying in front of him.

…

6 different magic treasures floated in the air before Bai Hu. They shimmered with a faint, silvery light and Bai Hu smiled feeling the spiritual connections between him and the magic treasures.

Beside the silver sword, the other treasures also had many special abilities.

A black shield made of a single scale had the ability to change size at will and reflect part of the force behind an attack.

A small gray dagger the length of 2 fingers had the ability to conceal itself, making it optimal for sneak attacks.

A set of 6 metal beads that form a bracelet with the ability to conjure a magnetic field to disturb other treasures.

A bronze mirror with the ability to shoot light beams and form simple, large scale illusions.

And finally, Bai Hu refined a white gourd that can spew out a river of fire or water to overwhelm a large group of enemies.

With these, Bai Hu will be able to overcome some of his shortcomings such as defense, large scale attacks, sneak attacks, and efficient qi usage.

"Now I just need to wait for the teleportation formations to open before leaving this place. I've already obtained many sets of ingredients requested by both Master and Shui Bing and even got many more for myself"

…

Outside the sealed space, the Moonlight Sect elders gathered and called for the attention of the other sects.

"Our Moonlight Sect proposes that we open the space earlier this time"