The atmosphere in the main hall turned tense as both sides entered a standoff.

Lingqiong Jing's sudden return had caught everyone off guard. Since he could return, that meant others could return as well. They had to now consider whether the Lingqiong Clan had more powerful immortals who might descend into the mortal realm.

Just a powerhouse at the fifth-level Heavenly Immortal Realm had already left the Heavenly Dragon Sect helpless. What if someone at the seventh- or ninth-level Heavenly Immortal Realm returned?

"Hua Feiyu, Long Xiao is already dead. Our ancestor, Lingqiong Tian, has established the Spirit Jade Heaven in the celestial realm and advanced to the Immortal Emperor Realm. If you submit to our Lingqiong Clan, we will not mistreat you. When you ascend to the celestial realm in the future, you can join our Spirit Jade Heaven," Lingqiong Ye said without a hint of respect, addressing Hua Feiyu by name.

If this had happened in the past, Hua Feiyu would have sent him flying with a slap for such audacity, but he did not dare to act rashly now.

When the elders heard the news, whispers began filling the hall. Quite a few elders immediately grew restless, wanting to join the Lingqiong Clan's faction.

"My elder brother is right. An Immortal Emperor is a supreme being in the celestial realm, and our ancestor has ordered him to bring a group of people there. As long as you perform well, you will also have a chance," Lingqiong Gong spoke at that moment, using an empty promise to win over the elders and isolate Hua Feiyu.

As long as they could isolate Hua Feiyu from the other elders, the Heavenly Dragon Sect would naturally fall into the Lingqiong Clan's hands.

Given the Lingqiong Clan's strength, they could seize the Heavenly Dragon Sect by force. But if they did that, they would only take over a ruined Heavenly Dragon Sect, which was not what they wanted. Thus, the best method was to force Hua Feiyu to die while making the other elders submit.

After all, Lingqiong Jing could not possibly bring the entire Lingqiong Clan to the celestial realm, and most of them would still have to remain in the mortal realm. Once they gained control of the Heavenly Dragon Sect, the Lingqiong Clan could expand their influence across the astral domains and even dominate an entire region.

The brothers echoed each other one after another, successfully dissolving the unity among the Heavenly Dragon Sect's upper echelon.

"Lingqiong Gong, is that true? Ancestor Lingqiong Jing will bring us to the celestial realm?" asked an elder at the Quasi-Immortal Realm.

"It is true," Lingqiong Gong replied with a nod. There was no need to deceive them.

After hearing Lingqiong Gong's confirmation, everyone grew even more restless.

"If I submit to the Lingqiong Clan, can I enter the celestial realm?" the elder asked again.

"Of course," Lingqiong Gong replied with a nod.

"Okay. I stand with the Lingqiong Clan!" the elder declared, stepping out from the crowd as he stood behind Lingqiong Gong.

"Bai You, how dare you betray the Heavenly Dragon Sect when the sect master has treated you well!" Dong Wu snapped furiously.

"A wise bird chooses the tree it nests in. I admit that Sect Master Hua has treated me well, but I have not betrayed the Heavenly Dragon Sect. I'm still an elder of the Heavenly Dragon Sect. Everyone, consider it carefully. Do you not wish to enter the celestial realm?"

Bai You was a grand elder who had lived for countless years.

Over the years, he had not dared to attempt his breakthrough to the Immortal Realm, and he believed he could start anew by entering the celestial realm. Rather than living in the mortal realm like a withering piece of wood, he would rather gamble in the celestial realm.

The moment he chose to betray the Heavenly Dragon Sect, he immediately tried to persuade others to join him.

Dong Wu interrupted him. "Bai You, stop trying to mislead others!"

"Everyone, hear that? As long as you submit to our Lingqiong Clan, we won't mistreat any of you," Lingqiong Gong said with a faint smile. Once someone took the lead, a second would soon follow.

Hua Feiyu clenched his fists tightly as the aura he released began to stir. But just as he tried to unleash his immortal aura, Lingqiong Jing crushed it.

"I'm also willing to submit to the Lingqiong Clan!" Another elder at the Heaven Gaze Realm stepped out from the crowd. Just as Lingqiong Gong had expected, everything became much easier once someone led the way.

"I'm also willing to submit to the Lingqiong Clan!"

"Me too!" Voices rose one after another as more than twenty elders at the Heaven Gaze Realm chose to submit to the Lingqiong Clan in the blink of an eye.

However, most of the elders chose to remain silent and wait.

"Don't forget that all of you will die when Liu Wuxie returns," Dong Wu said with a cold laugh.

Even the powerhouse at the fourth-level Heavenly Immortal Realm from the Grand Unity Sect had been no match for Liu Wuxie. So what if Lingqiong Jing had reached the fifth level? With Liu Wuxie's means, he would still kill him all the same.

Upon hearing Liu Wuxie's name, the elders who had chosen to betray the Heavenly Dragon Sect shuddered involuntarily as a premonition rose in their hearts.

Everyone had witnessed Liu Wuxie's strength and methods. Anyone who opposed him could only die.

Some elders who had begun to waver immediately froze in place.

"Everyone, please rest assured. Ancestor Lingqiong Jing is a clone, and he's far stronger than the avatar projection from the Grand Unity Sect. Liu Wuxie will die the day he returns," Lingqiong Gong reassured the crowd.

Just like that, more elders stepped out one after another, and thirty elders now stood behind Lingqiong Gong.

Half a day later, no one else moved. More than sixty elders continued standing by Hua Feiyu.

Most of the elders who submitted to Lingqiong Gong had lived for countless years, and they were old foxes. This was also why Liu Wuxie had not chosen them to join his two teams, mainly because of their wavering hearts.

The elders he had selected from the Heavenly Dragon Sect carried unwavering loyalty. Having seen countless people across his past and present lifetimes, he possessed that much discernment.

"You all have one more chance. Submit or die," Lingqiong Jing warned, running out of patience.

"Sect Master, let's fight!" Dong Wu said, releasing a violent aura into the Quasi-Immortal Realm. He would rather die in battle than submit out of fear.

"Lingqiong Jing, can you spare them if I take my own life?" Hua Feiyu asked with a sigh, unwilling to implicate everyone else.

"Sect Master!" Dong Wu and the other elders rushed over to him.

"I have already given you all a chance. Those who refuse to submit will die," Lingqiong Jing said, releasing an overwhelming aura. His ferocious aura at the fifth-level Heavenly Immortal Realm swept outward, forcing Dong Wu and the others to retreat over a dozen steps.

The spiritual array in the main hall had already been activated, but it still could not withstand a fifth-level Heavenly Immortal Realm expert's suppression. Once the battle erupted, it would destroy the entire hall.

Upon hearing his answer, a ferocious glint flashed in Hua Feiyu's eyes.

"Since that's the case, let's fight then!" Anyone who could inherit the position of sect master had gone through countless battles, and Hua Feiyu's hands had been itching after so many years without taking any lives.

With a flicker, he charged toward Lingqiong Jing.

The other elders quickly retreated to the sides. They had no right to interfere in a battle between immortals. The main hall would not collapse anytime soon, protected by the spiritual arrays.

"What impudence," Lingqiong Jing said with a mocking smile. He merely raised his hand and swept it out, unleashing a powerful palm strike into Hua Feiyu.

An explosion blasted Hua Feiyu away. Despite both of them being immortals, a vast gap separated them.

Then again, it was mainly because Hua Feiyu had only broken through recently and had yet to cultivate any immortal art. Thus, his combat strength was only slightly stronger than that of quasi-immortals.

On the contrary, Lingqiong Jing's main body in the celestial realm had at least reached the Immortal King Realm. Although his clone only stood at the fifth-level Heavenly Immortal Realm, his combat awareness had reached the level of an immortal king.

This meant that even cultivators at the higher levels of the Heavenly Immortal Realm might not rival him in combat awareness, and he could unleash devastating power with a wave of his hand.

"Sect Master!" the elders exclaimed as Hua Feiyu slammed into the wall and spat blood.

Seeing this, the elders who had chosen to submit to the Lingqiong Clan felt fortunate in their choice. They believed that even Liu Wuxie couldn't accomplish this, and they began looking forward to the battle between Lingqiong Jing and Liu Wuxie.

"I'm fine," Hua Feiyu said, rising to his feet and circulating his immortal energy to recover from his injuries.

Through the tempering of the immortal pill and the life-and-death tribulation, he now possessed a powerful physique, and this much injury meant nothing to him. Once he got back on his feet, he did not hesitate to charge at Lingqiong Jing again.

"Hurry up and retreat!" The moment Hua Feiyu attacked, he ordered the other elders to flee and seek Liu Wuxie on True Martial Star. Only Liu Wuxie could save the Heavenly Dragon Sect now.

"We will not leave! If we fight, we'll fight together!" Dong Wu said and joined the battle, only for Bai You to intercept him immediately.

Bai You was eager to prove his loyalty to the Lingqiong Clan and had long been itching to fight.

The violent shockwaves in the main hall spread to the mountain below, where many disciples and elders had gathered. They had all witnessed the Lingqiong Clan's arrival earlier.

"Is the Sect Master fighting the Lingqiong Clan?" someone asked. They did not know Lingqiong Jing and had only seen Lingqiong Gong leading the Lingqiong Clan over.

"The Sect Master has reached the Immortal Realm, and the Lingqiong Clan is courting death by coming here." Many disciples hated the Lingqiong Clan to the core, as most of them came from True Martial Star.

Disciples of the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy and the Dragon Emperor Academy had long since merged into the Heavenly Dragon Sect. Naturally, they would not forget how the Lingqiong Clan had caused the True Martial Continent to split away in the past.

The main hall's roof exploded as two figures appeared high in the sky. They were Bai You and Dong Wu, locked evenly in an intense battle.

"What's going on? Why is Elder Bai You fighting Elder Dong Wu?" an elder from the inner sect asked in confusion, unable to comprehend what was happening. Even the elders could not understand the situation, let alone the disciples, who stood completely dumbfounded.

The battle grew increasingly intense as buildings collapsed on the mountain peak.

With a loud explosion, two golden pillars shot into the sky, visible throughout the entire Indigo Bamboo Star, and the battle between immortals began.

Two figures soon appeared in the sky, one standing on the left and the other on the right. But one of them was covered in blood.

Liu Wuxie was making his way toward Indigo Bamboo Star, and he naturally saw the two golden pillars from afar.

"This is a battle between immortals!" Liu Wuxie murmured and pushed his speed to the limit after realizing that something had gone wrong.

"Why is the Sect Master injured? Who's the other person?" Many elders looked shocked when they saw Hua Feiyu covered in blood. They could not comprehend what was happening in the Heavenly Dragon Sect at that moment.

A middle-aged man stood before the sect master, radiating a dazzling light like a blazing sun, forcing ordinary people to look away. The brilliance alone could blind the mortals.

"Hua Feiyu, it's best if you take your own life obediently," Lingqiong Jing said. He had been toying with Hua Feiyu the entire time, and if he wished, he could kill him with one palm strike.

As a sect master, Lingqiong Jing wanted to give Hua Feiyu a more dignified death. The Lingqiong Clan would eventually take over the entire Heavenly Dragon Sect, and he had to maintain a balance between avoiding excessive brutality and making an example of Hua Feiyu for the others.