Chapter 690: Chapter 690: The Internal Strife of Cloud Hall

The warriors of Fire City could only stare at the scene before them.

A huge, gaping crater had been left behind by the giant swords. The crater itself was littered with multiple sword marks.

The miserable state of the three warriors at Internal Elixir Realm plunged the other warriors' hearts in fear.

As soon as the woman left, they all began to talk among themselves in hushed tones.

“That woman is so vicious!” one of them exclaimed. “She just cut these three mighty warriors into minced meat.”

“Thank goodness I was able to run away. Otherwise I would've been killed as well. That woman looked soft and pretty, but she shouldn't be underestimated. Her ruthlessness is no joke.”

“It's best if we don't get involved in this chaotic world.”

During this time, Zen was approaching Cloudy City at an extremely high speed. He had been flying the whole day and night without a break, and had replenished his life vitality by using quite a lot of supreme life vitality crystals along the way.

Ever since his return from the Sea God Continent, Zen had wanted to return to Cloud Hall as soon as possible. He hadn't expected that he'd be delayed with the numerous troubles that arose along the way.

But that did not matter now. As the sun rose and painted the horizon with the colors of daybreak, Zen couldn't help but smile once he saw Cloudy City in front of him. After a long, arduous journey, he was finally back.

However, a trace of doubt crossed his features once he got close.

“Huh?”

he muttered to himself when he saw the sky above Cloudy City completely empty.

Above Cloudy City, there used to be a huge floating rock which Cloud Hall was built on. This floating rock would change its location every now and then but only around Cloudy City's immediate vicinity. However, no matter where he looked, Zen couldn't find any trace of Cloud Hall.

It seemed that it had completely disappeared.

Had something happened?

Zen immediately flew towards Cloudy City, his brows furrowed in worry at the strange situation.

Before he left, Zen had set up a sect-protecting array around Cloud Hall. His array assured its impenetrability against the threat of strong opposing forces. Other than perhaps the Heavenly Evil Sect, Cloud Hall was virtually untouchable by the other sects.

The Heavenly Evil Sect currently had their hands full attacking the Ethereal Spirit Sect, so it was unlikely that the Cloud Hall would be besieged by Eddie's forces anytime soon. Besides, if the Cloud Hall had been in trouble, the members of the Xi Clan would've told him.

There was no point in speculation. As soon as Zen entered Cloudy City, he headed straight for the Cloud School.

Cloud School was one of the several sects under Cloud Hall. Its status was held in slightly higher regard than the Brumous Sect and the other second-grade sects due to its close links with the Cloud Hall. Various clans from Cloudy City preferred to send their people into Cloud School since it had produced more elites than the other sects. 𝐫𝘢ℕＯ𐌱Εṩ

Two warriors at Internal Elixir Realm approached Zen as soon as he arrived.

“Who are you?”

one of them asked. A hint of wariness was evident on his face as soon as he discovered Zen's cultivation level.

The head of their sect was only at the late stage of the Internal Elixir Realm, but the warrior was by no means afraid of Zen given Cloud School's status. However, the Cloud Hall was in trouble now, and the warrior was afraid that Zen's arrival might bring variables.

“Where is your leader?” Zen asked.

“Who are you?” The warrior repeated his question. “Why are you looking for our sect leader?”

Zen's eyes flashed coldly as he said, “I'm Zen from Cloud Hall.”

“Zen!” the two warriors exclaimed in unison, panic flashing through their eyes. “You're back?”

Their reactions puzzled Zen. 'Why would these two people panic when they heard my name?' he thought, eyeing them suspiciously 'Did they actually not want me to come back?'

He thought about these things, but did not let it show on his face.

“Yes, I'm back,” he confirmed. “Where is your leader? I want to see him,”

he ordered more firmly this time.

“He...he went to Cloud Hall,” the warrior answered.

“Where is Cloud Hall now? Why did it leave Cloudy City?”

“I...” the warrior stuttered. “I don't know either!”

Zen narrowed his eyes at his response.

The warrior probably didn't want to tell him where the Cloud Hall was and could only stutter that he did not know.

However, Zen was not about to let it go. He pulled the warrior by the collar and stared at him coldly. “You don't know? Or you don't want to tell me? I'm going to ask you one last time. Where is Cloud Hall?”

An intense malicious aura emanated from Zen, effectively terrifying his opponent.

“Cloud Hall is now located thirty miles to the northwest of Cloudy City,” the other warrior answered for his friend. “If you head northwest, you'll be able to find it easily.”

Zen nodded and released the warrior from his grip. Something must've happened to the Cloud Hall, but these two warriors were evidently not going to tell him the details and he was too lazy to bother with them. The only course of action was to go to the Cloud Hall himself.

Zen immediately flew towards the direction the warrior had told him. Once he was gone, the warrior that refused to tell Zen Cloud Hall's location glared at his companion and snapped, “Why did you tell him? Our family's plan will be ruined! We'll also be implicated as well!”

The other warrior sneered, “Seriously? Are you stupid? That's Zen. He's back, and he's entered the Virtual Tribulation Realm. He could already defeat a divine-level talent at the Internal Elixir Realm back when he was still at the Illuminating Soul Realm. What makes you think he wouldn't be able to kill us with a single blow if we refused to tell him?”

The warrior fell silent at his companion's words. “This is bad,” he muttered. “We're really in trouble now that he's back!”

Meanwhile, Zen was already growing nervous as he flew northwest. He could travel thirty miles in the blink of an eye, but the thought of not knowing what was happening made it feel like a century.

The two warriors were obviously hiding something from him. He knew that they knew about his relationship with Letitia. If there really was trouble in Cloud Hall, they shouldn't have hesitated in telling him its location. They clearly did not want to see him return which meant Letitia was the one in trouble.

Soon, a huge floating palace appeared in front of him. An enchanted barrier encapsulated the entire floating island and its surface flashed and rippled serenely in the light of the morning sun.

This was the “Light of Water” that was designed to block the full-powered attack of a warrior at the Life and Death Realm. Zen had established this enchanted barrier specifically to block Eddie but now it seemed that it was blocking him.

It was impossible for him to directly break through the enchanted barrier with his current cultivation level and he didn't see any guards that could open it for him.

Bang!

A light flashed within the depths of Cloud Hall followed by a violent life vitality fluctuation.

Zen couldn't help but frown. 'Someone is fighting within Cloud Hall?' he thought.

He quickly went around the enchanted barrier and landed on its base.

As the creator of the “Light of Water,” he knew just where the core of the array was located.

The enchanted barrier was like a huge eggshell that surrounded Cloud Hall from top to bottom. Once Zen reached the core which was located at the bottom, all he needed to do was extend an arm and use a bit of energy to modify the array to create a break allowing him to easily slip through. Once he was inside, he directly rushed into the depths of Cloud Hall.

He could more or less guess what was currently happening.

It was quite obvious that the Cloud Hall was currently in a state of internal strife.

Cloud Hall's defenses could be considered the best out of all sects in the Central Region. Even the Heavenly Evil Sect would not be able to penetrate through the sect-protecting array Zen himself had set up. However, it was a different story if the threat came from within Cloud Hall itself.

After cultivating the Sutra of Empyrean Goddess, Letitia quickly recovered her full strength and, after practicing anew nine times, was finally ready to make a breakthrough to the Life and Death Realm.

Reaching the Life and Death Realm was not difficult for Letitia. What was difficult was the life and death crises that came with it.

Anyone who was able to enter the Life and Death Realm had to go through a few life and death crises whose difficulty varied from person to person.

The more potential a warrior had, the more powerful his strength and the harder his life and death crisis would be. Letitia's Sutra of Empyrean Goddess had been extremely troublesome to cultivate but led to her acquiring far greater strength than other warriors at the same level. After she reached the Life and Death Realm, her life and death crises were also going to be more terrifying than what any ordinary warrior would've faced.

It was at this critical juncture that the Zhuo Clan of Cloudy City joined forces with several third-grade clans and suddenly launched an attack against Cloud Hall.