Chapter 487: An Invitation to a Banquet

After distributing the twenty-one grand invitations, Lin Dong and Yun Lan returned to the wooden house on the mountain top. Below, the twenty-one sects were already in an uproar. Normally, to establish a sect, one must first build a foundation, and there should have been no news before this. Yet, inexplicably, another sect appeared out of nowhere on Great Empty Mountain. Had its establishment been too secretive, so that no one noticed?

That might have been acceptable—just another sect; they could prove their strength. If they were powerful enough, they could establish themselves. Great Empty Mountain had abundant resources, so having one more sect wouldn’t cause too much trouble. After all, resources weren’t concentrated in one place but were scattered throughout. The larger sects would claim more land and resources of better quality, while those weaker would claim less land and lower-quality resources. No one would send people to occupy resources in other areas, as doing so would make them vulnerable to attacks from other sects if their defenses were weak, or result in excessive resource loss if their defenses were too strong.

It could be said that unless a sect possessed absolute strength to eliminate surrounding sects, there were no irreconcilable conflicts among them. Battles usually arose from conflicts between their disciples.

But this newly established sect was different. The address on the invitation was the peak of Great Empty Mountain, the place with the best resources. Moreover, upon checking ancient texts, the mount ridden by the person who delivered the invitation turned out to be a ninth-tier spiritual bird, the Tianpeng Bird.

A ninth-tier spiritual bird was almost on par with a peak-level powerhouse. Even if it was passed down by the sect’s founder, such a mount posed a significant threat to the other sects. After all, among all the sects on Great Empty Mountain, even the strongest sect leaders were only at the ninth level of the Heart Reversal stage—still inferior to the Tianpeng Bird.

With such a formidable neighbor occupying the best resources, the twenty-one sects on Great Empty Mountain were naturally anxious. In truth, a tamed ninth-tier spiritual bird or beast was even more important to a sect than a peak-level powerhouse. After all, although peak-level powerhouses were stronger than ninth-tier spiritual birds or beasts, their lifespans were at most a few hundred years, meaning they could only protect their sect for that short time. In contrast, spiritual birds or beasts above the fifth tier could live for thousands of years, and those at the ninth tier could even live for tens of thousands of years.

They occupied the best resources, with a ninth-tier spiritual bird serving as the sect’s talisman. Even if starting from scratch, as long as their spiritual techniques weren’t too poor, they could likely establish an absolute advantage after 1,800 years. With more powerful disciples, the resources needed would naturally increase, and by then, it would likely become a disaster for the nearby sects.

While Tianwei Pavilion wouldn’t allow the emergence of an overly large sect, dominating just Dakaofeng wasn’t beyond its limits. The best proof was that among the countless famous mountains and rivers in the Great Han Kingdom, those ancient sects with thousands of years of history all held dominion over their regions.

After sending out the invitations, Lin Dong felt relieved, but the major sects were in an uproar, as if struck by thunder. As the banquet time neared noon, the sect leaders and elders, disregarding face and past hostilities, went to other sects one by one to reach an agreement.

Near noon, on the summit of Dakaofeng, over thirty large round tables had been set up in the open space in front of the wooden house. Various spiritual beasts and materials covered the tables, while rows of top-quality wines were stacked high—over a hundred jars in total.

Such a grand scale was unprecedented in any sect’s founding banquet. Generally, when a sect was established, everything started from scratch. Although there was no shortage of money for construction, spiritual beasts and materials were always carefully saved.

With one person per chair, Lin Dong and Yun Lan waited patiently for someone to arrive.

In the sky, the scorching sun finally moved to the center. Yet, not a single figure appeared around the open space.

Lin Dong and Yun Lan weren’t anxious. If the twenty-one sects didn’t come late to counterattack, that would be strange.

When the sun had shifted westward by more than half an hour, countless figures suddenly appeared right in front of them.

If they hadn’t come at all, it would have been fine, but now, there were hundreds of them.

One after another, they flew like lightning, and hundreds of people arrived in an instant.

Lin Dong stood up, bowed to the crowd, and said with a smile, “On the occasion of the establishment of Yutian Sect, I thank all the elders for coming to witness this!”

“Whether it’s witnessing or not is still uncertain,” said an old man with a pale face and no beard indifferently. “With the leaders and elders of the twenty-one sects of Dakaofeng gathered here, the leader of Yutian Sect surely won’t refuse to show up, right?”

“I am indeed the leader of Yutian Sect,” Lin Dong replied casually.

“You are?”

Those who had come to the summit were all sect leaders and elders from major sects. Even they couldn’t help but show surprise given their composure.

He was too young!

Most founders of sects are over seventy years old, and their strength must at least reach the fifth level of the Heart Reversal Phase. It should be noted that the earliest stage of a sect’s establishment is when its strength is at its weakest; without a powerful warrior at the fifth level of the Heart Reversal Phase to lead it, destruction is almost inevitable. For a place like Da Kong Peak, to establish a sect, one must possess strength at the seventh or eighth level of this phase. Otherwise, even if Da Kong Peak were to become a sect, it wouldn’t mind sending a few elders to simply destroy this new sect.

Only those with strength at the seventh or eighth level or above, given the capabilities of the elders from various sects, would require a certain cost to kill. If there were injuries, unless all parties agreed, no one would want to take such a risk that would harm themselves while benefiting others.

The person before them certainly didn’t seem like someone who could reach the fifth level of the Heart Reversal Phase.

Of course, despite their doubts, many still spent spiritual energy to probe with their minds, only to increase the astonishment among the crowd even further.

One was at the seventh level, the other at the eighth—both under thirty years old.

Such talent was far more than just remarkable. Either of them could, without major conflict, become a force that even large sects with peak-level warriors at their head would not dare provoke.

Otherwise, if they weren’t killed on the spot, given their strength and age, they would eventually rise to become peak-level warriors, bringing great disaster to their sects.

The aged man with a calm expression was clearly the representative appointed by the major sects. He bowed to Lin Dong and Yun Lan and asked, “I wonder under whose guidance the two of you train?”

“It’s not convenient to reveal,” Lin Dong replied with a smile.

Everyone hesitated. The person who could cultivate such disciples was most likely a peak-level warrior. But it was also possible that the two had achieved such strength through some extraordinary fortune—after all, peak-level warriors were extremely rare, and it wasn’t easy to encounter one. There were, however, many dead peak-level warriors.

Relatively speaking, the possibility of them all falling into a cliff by chance, where a peak-level warrior had ascended, and they then captured the Tian Peng Bird raised by that warrior and obtained the medicinal pills and spiritual techniques left behind was even higher.

What troubled everyone was that the possibility of having a peak-level warrior master who cared little for fame and fortune also wasn’t entirely impossible.

Two geniuses plus a Tian Peng Bird, establishing a sect right above them—this was no longer a minor conflict over a few spiritual artifacts or a few disciples killed. It was a matter related to the survival of each sect in the future.

What made the leaders and elders of various sects hesitate was that with only two geniuses and a Tianpeng Bird, as long as the sects reached an agreement to hunt them down at any cost, it wouldn’t be too difficult to leave those two and the bird behind. But if there was also a peak-level expert, it would only accelerate the downfall of those sects. If all else failed, it would be better to relocate the entire sect to another place. Although it might be embarrassing, they would have to rebuild their sect’s reputation to recruit disciples, which was still better than becoming enemies of a peak-level expert.

The most intimidating peak-level expert wasn’t one with countless disciples or the strongest in power, but rather one without a sect or even half a disciple. Even Tianwei Pavilion was reluctant to provoke such a person, let alone sects without a peak-level expert to lead them.

Lin Dong observed the expressions of the people for a while before addressing the thirty-some large round tables, “Elders, please take your seats!”

“I think we should hold the ceremony first! I still wish to learn a few techniques from the young master. I hope he will be merciful then,” said an old man with a pale face and no beard.

The others nodded in agreement. Many of them were stronger than the old man, and some had higher status, but he was chosen as the temporary leader because he was a renowned wise man in Dakaofeng and even the entire Dakaoshan region.

The old man’s words made everyone realize their situation. According to the unwritten rules of founding a sect, sitting down meant agreeing to the establishment of Yutian Sect, a result no one wanted. They couldn’t simply give in without even trying. Face was secondary; allowing a sect with great potential to establish itself above them was far more serious.

The old man’s words reminded everyone that, by rule, during the sect-founding ceremony, other sects could attack one by one. The two strongest among them were only at the eighth level of Xin Ni stage, while the leaders of the two major sects in Dakaofeng both possessed the strength of the ninth level.

If the opponent had a peak-level expert, they would have to show up and fight. Otherwise, they could kill them outright and then attack together.

Lin Dong saw the expressions of the people as comfortable as finding a pillow when sleepy.

By not letting Old Man Ding or Feng Yue appear, nor sending anyone ahead to build the sect, Lin Dong intended to provoke these sects into interfering with the founding process.

Only through a series of battles where he could match the top experts of various major sects in a single fight could he establish a formidable deterrent for the Yu Tian Sect. If Old Ding and Feng Yue appeared and showed off their skills as peak experts, even stores on Tian Feng Street would be too afraid to pick up the ninth-tier spirit materials used for cultivation and leave them at their doors.
Upon arriving at the open area, Lin Dong took out a giant drum four to five meters tall from a mobile cabinet, and then a drumstick about one meter long appeared in his hand.
This drumstick had been transformed by Lin Dong using the Wish-Bending Stool in advance.