Storm Empire, Capital of Storms.
The morning sun shone down upon the Secrets Pavilion's headquarters, though its cold, pale light went entirely unnoticed by anyone within the bustling establishment.
With the conclusion of the Seat Competition, the many geniuses and powerhouses who had appeared during the event had become high-priority targets for the Secrets Pavilion. In order to compile dossiers on all of them and, moreover, arrange new rankings for the next edition of the Storm Leaderboard before it went on sale, the entire Secrets Pavilion had been thrown into a frenzy of activity.
Everyone was either relaying data or organizing the detailed reports that had been sent in. The feverish pace of work had made every last person in the Pavilion lose all track of time, day and night blurring into one.
"Uncle Yuan, Zero Wing's performance this time is truly staggering. A fourth-tier Sword Emperor, a fourth-tier Grand Magister who appears to have mastered a fourth-tier Grand Destruction Spell, and now they've even been recognized as a guild by the War God Temple. Even the great superpowers will have to think twice about Zero Wing from now on." Purple Jade gazed at the detailed Zero Wing dossier in her hands, marveling at what she read.
Zero Wing was a guild she had watched grow from the very beginning.
From a small guild that hadn't even qualified as a third-rate power, it had gradually expanded into a major guild capable of challenging first-rate organizations, and later had even thrown itself into the fray among the superpowers. Now it had taken its place on the world's stage, helping Frost Heaven's Sword secure the sixth seat and, in one stroke, shocking countless factions across the Divine Realm.
Even if the great superpowers refused to acknowledge it, Zero Wing had already earned the right to be treated with gravity.
The only thing it still lacked was a deep foundation — it didn't possess the terrifying manpower, expert count, or expansive guild territory of those superpowers.
But all of that had just been shattered by a single fourth-tier Class!
"That may be true, but don't forget — the higher you climb, the colder it gets. A guild like Zero Wing, which rests entirely on the shoulders of a handful of people, is walking a tightrope with every step. One misstep and it's all over. And now Zero Wing has become the focal point of every faction in the Divine Realm." Yuan Tiexin shook his head, his tone growing somber. "Advancing to a fourth-tier Class is incredibly difficult — you should know that. But Zero Wing appears to have had two people make the breakthrough. You should understand what that means."
"Uncle Yuan, you mean… Zero Wing has discovered the pathway to fourth-tier Class advancement." Even Purple Jade couldn't suppress her shock.
According to the Secrets Pavilion's intelligence, fourth-tier Class advancement required, beyond a level cap of 120, locating a fourth-tier Legacy — and the Pavilion had thus far been unable to find any trace of one.
If Zero Wing had truly discovered the method for finding a fourth-tier Legacy, that would be terrifying!
"That's only speculation. There's no evidence yet, and I personally think the likelihood is slim. The Divine Realm is, after all, relatively fair. If locating a fourth-tier Legacy were that easy, fourth-tier Classes wouldn't be the powerhouses of the realm that they are." Yuan Tiexin shook his head again. "But even so, the attraction would be absolutely lethal to the major factions."
"Just from the internal intelligence our Pavilion has gathered so far, more than a dozen superpowers are already preparing to put pressure on Zero Wing. That's not even counting the many enemies Zero Wing already has — the Warblood Alliance over on Dragon Heart Island, the Great Dark World stirring up trouble in the Night Empire, the Sacred Heart's Hand lurking in the shadows over in the Star Moon Kingdom. And Star Ring, Zero Wing's old rival, has been making a string of moves lately — it looks like they have a major plan in the works. If these superpowers join forces, even with Black Flame sitting there as a Sword Emperor and Grand Magister, it would be hard for the guild to avoid annihilation."
Hearing this, Purple Jade's expression turned grim.
She hadn't realized it until laying it all out, but the picture was terrifying.
A near-superpower guild fighting a three-front war, against enemies that were all superpowers themselves — or had superpowers backing them? If anyone said that aloud, it would be enough to crush hope. And yet Zero Wing was somehow still standing…
It could almost be called a miracle.
Of course, perhaps Shi Feng and the others weren't afraid of those superpowers. But a guild was a different matter entirely. With so many people in a guild, it was far too easy to target them. And a guild without a large membership couldn't accomplish much of anything — the simplest task of resource gathering alone would be enough to bring Shi Feng and the others to their knees, let alone operating a town, let alone an entire city.
"And that's only the Eastern Continent. Zero Wing hasn't been sitting idle on the Western Continent either. I hear quite a few Western Continent superpowers have their eyes on Starlight Fortress." Yuan Tiexin caught Purple Jade's stunned expression and let out a dry chuckle. "Now you understand why Zero Wing has been walking that tightrope, don't you? From here on, it all comes down to what Black Flame chooses to sacrifice."