Seth vanished from that area leaving behind nothing else but a huge hole on the floor.
The bodies of everyone he had killed, had already been disposed of and he was now, tranquil and calm. His anger was reduced to the minimum and he was already moving towards his next objective.
Since he discovered that one of the reasons the Wu Martial Kingdom as waging war against the Blazing Phoenix Sect, was because of that Skystone mine, he knew that sooner or later Caizhi's father was going to discover that his plans had failed.
His ambitions were dangerously high, risking the life of thousands of people, because of his greed and thirst for resources. However, he had attracted the animosity of a person he shouldn't.
After he left the forest area, Seth was finally able to realize that the city was acting strange because of how advanced the stage of war currently was already. There were troops stationed secretly inside the Blazing Phoenix Country and many other hidden dangers no one knew of.
'Sigh... I need to see father-in-law faster, or else it might be too late to put my plan into action.'
Swoosh!
Seth suddenly accelerated, rapidly moving towards the Blazing Phoenix Sect.
.
.
.
In the Great Phoenix Hall, Huo Shihong was discussing important matters with every single elder of the Blazing Phoenix Sect, regarding the strategies they were going to take and the preparations that needed to be made. There was a total of forty-four elders, but that number used to be a hundred and eight, before the events that struck the sect happened. This hall was kind of dead in comparison to those times.
"But Sect Master, are you sure we need to give up defending our southern borders and concentrate our power around here? We have many practitioners and we know the terrain better than them." The Fifth elder asked.
"We don't know how many different forces are attacking us beside the Wu Martial Kingdom. Actually, we don't even know precisely the real number of experts on their side. Right now, we should start to charge Skystones into our defensive formations and gather our army inside the walls of the Blazing Phoenix City. Tenth elder, you will be responsible of evacuating the normal citizens, because the main battlefield will be here."
"I'll certainly do it, Sect Master."
"Seventh Elder. What is the current position of our enemy's army?"
"They are two days from here. Marching towards the Southern Flame district."
"And what about our forces?"
"The soldiers and the disciples are ready. We just need to get the formations ready for battle."
"Good. Finish the preparations tonight. We can't be careless from here on. You're all dismissed for now, but make sure to reunite tomorrow morning." Huo Shihong ended their meeting and each of the forty-four elders, went to their posts, resuming their work and making the necessary preparations for the conflict.
There were so many things to do that even forty-four elders were not enough to do everything, making the work load on their shoulders only increase and never decrease.
Huo Shihong left the meeting hall on his wheelchair. Right now, he was already accustomed with it and was living almost as if normal already, however he felt anguished by the fact he wasn't able to give his all for his sect on that state. An elder saw him leaving and tried to help him go to where he wished to, but he insisted that everything was alright.
He was going to his daughter's room, since he had something important to do there. Huo Shihong planned to send her out of the Blazing Phoenix Sect grounds tonight, taking her out of this entire mess that was about to happen.
Yuyin was currently living inside the main palace and it was the safest place inside the whole Blazing Phoenix Sect, because Huo Shihong invested a lot of money and efforts to build defensive formations around there. The whole area was protected by so many layers of formations that a Mana Perception peak-stage Realm cultivator could eventually end up dying while trying to bypass them.
After entering the castle, he approached his daughter room, but his head was so full of many complicated things, that he didn't notice that the door was open. However, just as he entered the room, his expression stiffened after he saw that scene.
His daughter was currently lying down on the bed totally unconscious and there were three men dressed in black standing a bit far from her. They were actually patiently waiting for his arrival.
When Huo Shihong entered, one of them used his Mana Control peak-stage cultivation base to create a Sound Isolation Barrier.
Huo Shihong didn't understand how could three people enter inside the castle and none of the formations were able to stop them or even warn anyone that they were there. Of course, those formations would inevitably fail before Mana Control peak-stage Realm experts. The strength they had was way greater than what those formations could handle.
"What have you done to my daughter?!" Huo Shihong's energy started to get out of control when he realized what was happening.
"Chill down, you don't want anything bad happening with your precious daughter, do you?" One of those men lifted his hand and it was already being covered by darkness. He threatened to attack Yuyin if Huo Shihong did anything unnecessary.
"Stop! Don't!" Huo Shihong felt suppressed after feeling the energy that man was exuding. It was clearly stronger than his own.
"Heh! Don't worry, we're not here for her. We're here for you..." Third Shadow walked closer to Huo Shihong. He circled his wheelchair while giving him a mocking stare.
"It's sad to see that you, once the dignified and powerful Sect Master of the Blazing Phoenix Sect, was reduced to this crippled state. Indeed, a pity."
Huo Shihong felt his mocking tone, but he ignored it. He just wanted to see his daughter in a safe condition.
"What do you want from me?"
"Hm... Nothing much. We just need that you open the Fire Labyrinth manually for us. Nothing too expensive, right?"
"Fire Labyrinth? I can't open it manually for you. It is only possible to enter it once every ten years through the great fire vortex event. After that..."
Third Shadow didn't say anything. He just looked towards his two companions and one of them raised his hand, pointing a finger towards Yuyin and interrupting Sect Master Huo speech.
Huo Shihong was paying attention on their moves and when he noticed it, he knew he was in a dead end. He could only comply with these mysterious people wishes; else, his daughter life would be in danger.
"Wait! There is a way..."
"Hehehe... I see that you're still as sharp as ever, Sect Master Huo."
"Who are you?" Huo Shihong asked, but he remembered some of Seth's words, getting roughly the idea of who they were.
"Who we are? We would be idiots if we revealed such information for you, don't you think?"
"Then what do you want to do inside the Fire Labyrinth?" Even though Huo Shihong had some ideas about who they were, he had no clues about what they wanted to do there.
"That is something you should not be concerned about. What you should focus, is on how to maintain your daughter safety, so you better hurry up and show us the entrance to the Fire Labyrinth. We are getting impatient and there is no guarantee that nothing will happen like this."
"... Follow me."
Huo Shihong turned around, starting to guide them to the correct place, but he noticed one of the mysterious men picking up his daughter on his shoulder. That man was going to carry her to where he was bringing them.
"You... What are you doing?" Sect Master Huo thought they would let his daughter go after he complied with their demands, but things weren't so simple.
"Hehehe, were just guaranteeing you won't fail us."
"You've said you didn't come here for my daughter. There is no need for that, I will do everything you wish for and won't fail you."
"That's not so simple Sect Master Huo. We're bringing her along, and as long as you do everything according to our wishes, nothing will happen with her. Let's go, were wasting too much time here." Third Shadow said while walking past Huo Shihong.
Sect Master Huo was forced to comply with what Third Shadow wanted. It's not like he had any choices to do, when Yuyin was in their hands.
Third Shadow was following his master commands and would never let anything unexpected to happen, that's why even though they had an overwhelming difference in power, he still used dirty tricks to keep things at bay.
Velgor demanded that this operation had to be a flawless success and none of the Twelve Shadows would do anything less than a hundred percent of what they could do.
The Twelve Shadows were no different from the elves from the Elven Kingdom.. They respected their leader with everything they got; however, instead of pure respect and awe, Velgor left inside their hearts, a respect that came from fear.
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