Not long after Ying Mingchao and the others returned to the Hero City, the Sect Master of the Sword-Wielding Immortal Sect and the Abbot of the Buddha Light Heavenly Temple also arrived in the Hero City one after another.
Through extensive inquiries, they were able to confirm that the Soul Infant Sect had indeed taken action this time by sending out those invitations on a large scale, rather than merely bluffing.
Moreover, those invitations had not only been sent to the major powers—they had been dispatched to nearly every force within the Hundred Refinements Ordinary Realm.
This move was, without question, a public declaration of their existence to the entire Hundred Refinements Ordinary Realm, and furthermore, they had extended these invitations under the guise of a martial cultivation grand gathering.
For a time, even Ying Mingchao and the others could not figure out what the Soul Infant Sect was really playing at.
But one thing was certain: based on their understanding of the Soul Infant Sect, this move would be far more complicated than it appeared on the surface.
After much discussion, the allied army made the decision to stake everything on a single gamble. They would abandon the defense of their cities, gather the strongest fighting force they could assemble, and launch a direct assault on the Soul Infant Sect. Success or failure—it would all come down to this.
As the most powerful allied army the Hundred Refinements Ordinary Realm had ever seen—assembled from the Hero City, the Sword-Wielding Immortal Sect, the Buddha Light Heavenly Temple, and numerous second-rate forces—marched toward the Soul Infant Sect's lair…
Other factions were also heading toward the Soul Infant Sect. Although their pace of advance was far slower than the allied army's, they had set out much earlier.
These people knew nothing of the truth. In their world, they had never even heard the name of the Soul Infant Sect.
The invitations that appeared so suddenly—some took them as a stroke of incredible fortune, while others suspected it was a scam.
But regardless of what they believed, driven by a mixture of doubt and curiosity, they all chose to investigate for themselves.
After all, this involved matters of martial cultivation, and none of them wanted to miss this opportunity.
Among the vast army, war banners fluttered and a formidable aura pressed down upon all.
The massive war chariots were particularly striking—they crushed through the void as they advanced, a truly majestic sight.
And those who could ride within such war chariots were, without exception, individuals of considerable status.
Among them was Chu Feng.
Chu Feng had been given the highest treatment within the allied army. The chariot he rode in was the one reserved for the strongest among them.
Everyone in this chariot aside from Chu Feng was an expert of the True Immortal level, and that included Zhao Hong.
Zhao Hong disliked this sort of gathering and had left the chariot. When Chu Feng noticed she had been gone for a long time, he went to look for her. Just then, he spotted a familiar figure—Master Pocket.
Master Pocket stood at the edge of the army, gazing forward into the distance.
"Master, why don't you rest inside the chariot?" Chu Feng approached and asked. Although Master Pocket was not a True Immortal expert, he had reached the peak of the Martial Ancestor realm. Someone of his standing should have been provided with a chariot to rest in.
"Amitabha, amitabha. It is a rare thing indeed for various factions to join forces in battle, and for it to be a righteous cause of eradicating evil. This humble monk wishes to feel the spirit of it firsthand," Master Pocket said.
His words about it being rare—Chu Feng understood.
The factions of the Hundred Refinements Ordinary Realm each harbored their own selfish ambitions. They had joined forces to explore ancient ruins many times before, but each time they pursued their own interests.
A battle like this, where everyone shared the same objective, was truly uncommon.
In fact, to speed up the march, everyone was currently traveling by leveraging Ying Mingchao's power.
So whether inside the chariots or out in the open, everyone advanced at the same speed. No one was being overtaxed by the journey.
"Master, there is something I would like to ask your guidance on," Chu Feng said.
"What is it?" Master Pocket asked.
"About the founding ancestor of the Buddha Light Heavenly Temple," Chu Feng said.