At the summit of Saintlight Peak, the Basilica Hall rose in grand splendor, gleaming with gold and jade.
Aurelius, the Lord of the Basilica, sat at the center in a pure white holy robe. His face was handsome, his bearing refined. One hand idly turned a jade slip filled with the aura of holy radiance, and his expression looked calm, almost leisurely.
Below him, the scout who had rushed back from the Demon Marches was covered in dust, his clothes in disarray.
His body still would not stop shaking. His face had gone stark white. He knelt in the middle of the great hall with his forehead pressed tight to the floor, and when he opened his mouth, his voice shook so badly he could barely get the words out. Aurelius slowly set down the jade slip and looked at the trembling scout below him.
His brows drew together a little. "You followed Godric the whole way. Why are you in such a state? Did something happen? Tell me slowly. There''s no need to lose yourself."
The scout swallowed hard and forced the dread down, but his voice still shook as he reported everything he had seen in front of the Demon Dragon Hall in exact detail, one word at a time.
"Hall... Hall Master, I saw it with my own eyes. I wouldn''t dare lie by even half a sentence!
"Godric led more than two hundred surviving disciples of the Celestial Pce into the Demon Marches to seek refuge with the Demon Dragon Lineage. Demon Dragon Chieftain Darian had already agreed to take them in.
"But right then, that ck-d young man named Skr suddenly appeared, and then... then he just flicked his hand and released a mass of ck hellfire. Godric and all those two hundred-plus people were burned to death on the spot!
"Not even bones were left. Not even a shred of the spirit. They werepletely reduced to ash!"
By the time he reached that point, the scout''s voice was shaking even harder.
"Godric was a True Immortal Realm Level Two expert, Hall Master. In front of Skr, he didn''t even get a single chance to fight back. His screaming didn''t evenst long before it was over!
"That ck hellfire was too terrifying. It''s not something we can stand against!"
The calm on Aurelius''s face vanished at once.
His brows locked tight, and his expression turned grave.
Aurelius slowly rose to his feet.
"What did you just say? One fire. That was all it took to burn Godric, a True Immortal Realm Level Two cultivator, and more than 200 disciples to death? Instantly? And they couldn''t even fight back?"
"Yes! I swear on my life every word is true! I saw it with my own eyes. I wouldn''t dare hide a single thing!"
The scout hurriedly knocked his head against the floor, his voice firm.
Aurelius slowly walked down from the steps and stopped in the middle of the great hall with his hands behind his back.
He said nothing.
The pressure around him kept sinking, heavier by the moment.
He had already learned from the battle in Cloudhaven City that Skr was powerful and not someone to take lightly.
Even so, he had never imagined Skr could be this powerful.
A True Immortal Realm Level Two cultivator like Godric had been no different from an ant in front of him.
Skr had erased him with a casual wave.
That kind of strength had already gone past anything Aurelius understood.
Aurelius himself was a True Immortal.
His cultivation was a little higher than Godric''s, but only by so much.
If Skr came for him, if Skr came for the Celestial Basilica, how many moves could he actually block?
Would the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array be able to stop that terrifying ck hellfire?
A hard chill surged up from the bottom of Aurelius''s chest and spread through his whole body.
It made him shudder.
For the first time, the weight of what Skr represented settled deep on him, and beneath it, something colder pressed in so faintly it almost hid itself.
"You may leave."
Only after a long while did Aurelius finally lift a hand and give a slow wave.
His voice came out heavy.
He said nothing else.
The scout hurriedly kowtowed his thanks and backed out of the great hall at a quick
pace, not daring to linger for even a moment.
Only Aurelius remained in the great hall.
The ce fellpletely silent.
He stood where he was for a long time without moving.
Then he slowly raised his head and looked out through the windows of the great hall toward the sky.
Outside, the sky over the Luminous Sanctuary was still blue and clear.
Holy radiance still covered thend.
Everything looked peaceful, steady, untouched.
But a thick shadow had already settled over Aurelius''s eyes, and the easy calm he usually carried was gone.
"Skr..."
He said the name under his breath. The words came out low and tight. "Where did this young man evene from? What is he trying to do? With the Demon Dragon Lineage backed by someone like him, what are they really after?"
He closed his eyes and drew in a long breath.
When he opened them again, the disorder in his gaze was gone. In its ce sat a hard, heavy resolve.
He knew a crisis unlike anything before had already started closing in.
If they made even one wrong move, the Celestial Basilica would follow the Celestial Pce straight into ruin.
"Guards!" Aurelius called out.
His voice dropped through the great hall with the weight of an order no one would dare refuse.
A Guardian Elder hurried into the great hall, bowed, and said, "I''m here, Hall Master. What are your orders?"
Aurelius looked toward the distant
direction of the Demon Marches.
Then he spoke one word at a time each onending like iron. "Pass down mymand. The Celestial Basilica enters first-level alert immediately. Every disciple currently outside on assignment, no matter where they are and no matter whether their mission is finished, is to return to Saintlight Peak at once.
The Mountain-Guarding Grand Array will be fully activated and kept running at all hours without the slightestpse. Every Elder will rotate guard duty and watch for any unusual movement!"
The Guardian Elder''s face changed
on the spot. He blurted out, "Hall
that we have to a
Master, what in the world happened that we have to activate first level alert? The Celestial Basilica has never taken a measure like this since it was founded!"
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Aurelius did not answer. He only kept looking into the distance. Then, in a low voice, he slowly said, "A storm ising. One strong enough to overturn the entire Luminous Sanctuary We have to prepare for everything. If we don''t there will be noing back from it."