Meanwhile at the Luotian Sect Hall, Sect Leader Duan Mu Rui sat on the main seat uneasily. There were 24 human immortals sitting in both rows next to him, all of them exuding a majestically powerful aura.
The bunch of human immortals was discussing how should they handle the arrested Dynasty members. As Sect Leader, Duan Mu Riu had been listening quietly. He sat with his back straight, not daring to interrupt from the beginning until the end.
Although he was the Luotian Sect Leader, among the 24 people who were present, his grandmaster ranked the last in seniority. Most of them were even great-grandmasters.
As the people were in the zone of discussion, a messenger burst into the hall all of a sudden.
"Sect Leader, all patriarchs… There's an emergency coming from the city!"
"We'll talk about it when the meeting is over!" Duan Mu Rui frowned and waved him away.
"Wait." The old, white-bearded Taoist devotee sitting on Duan Mu Rui's left lifted his head to look at the messenger and turned to Duan Mu Rui. "Sect Leader, let him speak since it's an emergency. We won't have any results for our discussion anytime soon anyway."
"You're right, Patriarch." Duan Mu Rui nodded immediately.
The white-bearded Taoist devotee holding a horsetail whisk was the most senior among the patriarchs. He was the old Sect Leader who had decided to seal the door tens of thousands year ago. Including the time he sealed himself, he was close to 13,000 years old.
Duan Mu Rui knew that the old Taoist devotee had no right to bypass him to command the messenger just like that. Instead, he was showing his respect to Duan Mu Rui as the Sect Leader.
"What's the emergency? Please, speak."
"A piece of news has come from the government residence. Gigantic gullies have appeared in several locations early in the morning. They've found eight gullies so far which have spread across the entire continent." The messenger disciple provided a summary of the news. "Also, there's a massive amount of demons crawling out of the gullies. Looking at the current situation, they're all mortal transformation-level demons."
The entire hall fell into dead silence as soon as the messenger reported that.
Besides Duan Mu Rui, even all of the patriarchs, including the old, white-bearded Taoist devotee were stunned.
"Have you confirmed the authenticity of the news?" The old Taoist devotee was the first to snap out of his shock and asked immediately while frowning.
"I've confirmed it. More than one government residence has found out about this. Moreover, the Wuchen Sect, the Xiaoyao Sect, and the other sects heard about this before we did. There are rumors saying that they're opening their doors," said the messenger respectfully.
The hall fell into a dead stillness once again.
The old Taoist devotee could no longer consider Duan Mu Rui's position and he said to the messenger directly, "Contact the government residence now. We want to know more about it."
The messenger stepped forward immediately and contacted the government residence after bringing out a communication crystal stone.
After talking to the government residence, the people from the Luotian Sect looked horrified. The old, white-bearded Taoist devotee looked at Duan Mu Rui after asking the messenger to leave. He seemed to be hesitating if he should ask him to leave too.
Noticing his great-grandmaster's hesitation, Duan Mu Rui stood up on his own and said with cupped hands, "I'll make a move."
"No need. Stay. You need to know about this sooner or later," sighed the white-bearded old Taoist devotee softly and he signaled Duan Mu Rui to stay in the end.
"It must be those outsiders who brought this disaster upon us!" A middle-aged bearded Taoist priest was the first to speak, unable to hold it back any longer. "If not for them, the thunder wouldn't have appeared! We should ask them to leave!"
It was clear that the Luotian Sect found out that organizations such as Dynasty had come from outside.
"Indeed, it's the outsiders who have brought this, but why are you complaining now?" The fat Taoist priest sitting next to him said while shaking his head, "Even if we were to ask them to leave now, would the phenomenon disappear and the disaster be averted?"
"Now that the disaster's here, it's unwise to declare war with the outsiders. I think it'll be better for us to fight this with them." An old Taoist devotee with white hair disagreed too. "There are quite a number of them, after all. There are over 5,000 people while most of them are complete ascendance-levels and some of them even have an ability on par with human immortals."
"These people are greedy! They dared to fight our sect for resources." The bearded Taoist devotee was resolute in his objection. "Aren't we afraid that they'll stab us in the back if we were to collaborate with them?!"
"I've got the same concern too." The silver-haired old Taoist devotee sitting on Duan Mu Rui's right could not help but speak up while frowning. He had his silver hair knotted in a bun with a black hairpin.
"These outsiders come to our world for resources. Looking at their behavior, they don't seem to be treating us as their human partners but merely survivors of ancient times. To them, our time has long ended, so our dying would be something acceptable to them. Even if we come to an agreement, as soon as the disaster comes at full force, they can exit our world anytime they want and let us die."
"No matter what, I don't trust those outsiders." The silver-haired old Taoist devotee smacked the ground with the walking stick in his hand.
"Junior Brother, I understand your concern," addressed the old, white-bearded Taoist devotee with the horsetail whisk finally while stroking his beard. "But there are dozens of different organizations coming from outside. We shouldn't generalize them. Also, about the trust issue, there's a way to solve it."
All of them had their eyes on the white-bearded old Taoist devotee when he spoke sagely.
"All they want are resources, so that's what we'll give them then," said the old Taoist devotee while smiling lightly as he stroked his beard. "We'll give them as much as the effort they put in."
"We actually don't need mutual trust. All we need is an employment relationship. I believe these people will definitely accept being employed. After all, they're here for the resources."
"I think Junior Uncle's idea's great." The white-haired old Taoist devotee nodded to show agreement. "An employment is more stable than an alliance. Moreover, we're the employer who holds the power."
"This seems to be the only workable solution at the moment." The fat Taoist priest nodded lightly.
"I think we can discuss this employment with the other sects and share the resources for the employment. If we share resources, each sect will only have to contribute a small part of it," added the white-bearded old Taoist devotee.
The few of them who disagreed became silent.
"Since there are no better suggestions, let's vote now." The white-bearded old Taoist devotee glanced at everyone. "Those who agree with the employment, please raise your hand."
Including Duan Mu Rui, among 25 of them, only six of them did not raise their hands.
"19 to 6. The voting results are very clear," announced the old Taoist devotee while smiling, "So, it's set!"
"Senior Brother!" However, the old silver-haired man sitting across him spoke again, "Since you said that, should we release the people from Dynasty, return the resources to them and get them to fight for us?"
"Of course not." The old man stood up with a smile. "Since they're prisoners, they'll get a different treatment naturally."
"Give them a slave imprint and train them to be our battle slaves! Show the outsiders that our sect isn't to be underestimated!"