In the young Vice-Sect Master's, Herius', mind, calling the Holy Guards was a normal action. After all, if they wanted to talk and negotiate with Underworld, it was important to demonstrate the Nine Element Sect's power.
However, he harbored suspicions.
"Do you intend to negotiate with Underworld?" he asked.
The Sect Master's eyes gleamed.
"Yes," she said.
The Vice-Sect Master nodded. "70% of the Holy Guard are currently on the frontlines. The remaining 30% should be enough as a show of force."
"That's not enough," the Sect Master said. "Call the others back."
"Excuse me?" Herius asked with shock. "Could you repeat that?"
"Call the others back!" the Sect Master ordered.
"Why?" he asked with furrowed brows, his voice deep.
The Sect Master didn't appreciate being questioned by some mere Vice-Sect Master.
"We need a bigger force! Sten has already died, and I won't let another person die! We need to be careful when dealing with Underworld!" she said with a bit of rage in her voice.
The Vice-Sect Master's eyes narrowed, but the words of the Sect Master appeared fine to him. It was maybe a bit much to call the entire Holy Guard, but such an action was still okay, given the circumstance.
"Fine," Herius said. "I will trust your judgment as the Sect Master. It's your duty to lead the Sect into a brighter tomorrow, after all. You wouldn't make such a big decision based on emotion."
The Sect Master's rage exploded inside her mind, but her face didn't show anything.
She didn't answer.
Herius looked at her for some seconds and then took out a token. This token had five insignias on its edges, and in the middle, one could see two crossed swords.
This was an identity and messaging token for the Human Alliance.
Herius contacted the representatives of the other Peak Sects and explained his situation. When the others heard that the Nine Elements Sect was about to pull back over 20 Early Major Circulation Immortal Emperors from the frontlines, they all started disagreeing with fervor.
Herius was very apologetic during his conversation with the other representatives.
It was understandable that the others disagreed this vehemently.
After all, a lot of the Peak Sects sent their weaker disciples to some weaker places at the frontlines.
There were places in the frontlines where only Immortals or Law Comprehension Realm Cultivators fought. The beasts weren't endless, and they also wanted to train their weaker beasts, just like the humans wanted to train their weaker disciples.
Because of that, some places in the frontlines only saw Cultivators and beasts of lower Realms.
However, these places were looked after by powerful Immortal Emperors.
They were there as insurance that the beasts didn't break this unspoken agreement.
So, when they heard that the Nine Elements Sect would pull back a ton of these protectors, they understandably became quite angry.
In the end, Herius had to agree that the disciples of the Nine Elements Sect would all gather on two battlefields. The other disciples would leave these battlefields and would take care of the remaining ones. The other Sects would send their remaining powerful Immortal Emperors to take care of these battlefields.
However, the battlefields with the Nine Elements Sect's disciples would remain without protection, and if the beasts reached the fortifications, the Nine Elements Sect would also need to repay the resources that were lost.
The frontlines shuffled silently, but the beasts weren't stupid. They had fought against the humans for who knew how many years. Even beasts would learn a lot about strategy and warfare under these circumstances.
So, the beasts noticed this peculiarity and also silently changed some things.
Some Immortal beasts quietly made their way to the Law Comprehension battlefields of the Nine Elements Sect.
Sadly, no human noticed.
After all, the frontlines of the humans had changed, which meant that they were in the light.
Meanwhile, the beasts were in the shadows since just calling some additional Immortal beasts and keeping them hidden was impossible to notice.
The humans had no clue what was about to happen.
After some hours, the Holy Guard gathered in front of the central palace of the Nine Elements Sect.
33 people at the Early Major Circulation Immortal Emperor Realm stood in one spot.
The Sect Master came out of the central palace, and everyone bowed politely.
"Today, we deal with Underworld!" she announced.
When the Holy Guards heard the Sect Master, their reactions were mixed.
Some were excited.
Some were worried.
Some were skeptical.
Some were confused.
However, the Sect Master had made her orders, and they had to follow. Their position wasn't high enough to question the Sect Master.
In addition, they saw Herius standing slightly behind the Sect Master. This gave the Holy Guards some reassurance.
If Herius agreed, there was probably a good reason to gather all of them.
The Sect Master made a speech and gave a censored version of the events that had happened in the central palace.
When the Holy Guards heard that someone from Underworld had infiltrated the central palace, they became shocked. Yet, their shock only grew when they heard that this same person also killed a Holy Son Candidate of the All-Matter Sect.
That wasn't even all! Apparently, that person from Underworld also killed a Vice-Sect Master and abducted their Holy Maiden!
Underworld had gone too far this time!
Now, the hearts of the Holy Guard were united.
One should never forget that this Sect Master was an intelligent, scheming, and manipulative individual.
Her words were convincing, and no one except for Herius doubted them.
A map of all the nearby strongholds of Underworld appeared in the Holy Guards' minds. The Nine Elements Sect had silently collected nearly all the locations of Underworld.
They had all of them.
Except for one.
The insurance stronghold.
After the Sect Master was finished with her speech, most of the Holy Guards scattered.
They would destroy all the strongholds simultaneously.
When Herius heard the orders of the Sect Master near the end, his face whitened.
That was not an order to negotiate.
That was an order to go to war!
However, before Herius could say anything, the overpowering Will-Aura of the Sect Master suppressed him.
He could only stand there dumbly as the Sect Master left with about half of the Holy Guards.
After everyone left, Herius regained control over himself, and his fists clenched in frustration.
'I need to call all the Ascenders! She is going to destroy the entire Nine Elements Sect at this rate! She's absolutely insane!'
The Sect Master was on her way to search for the insurance stronghold personally, but something happened that she hadn't anticipated.
Just some seconds after they had left the Nine Elements Sect, ten people appeared in front of the Sect Master.
All of them wore black robes and wore black masks that hid their auras.
"What is the meaning of this?" the leader asked. He purposefully released his aura to show that he was a Mid Major Circulation Immortal Emperor.
If Gravis were here, he would notice that this was the bartender he had traded with previously.
The Sect Master only looked coldly at him. "Underworld has killed a Vice-Sect Master and an Ascender of our Nine Elements Sect. Today, you will pay!"
"Kill everyone!"
The people of Underworld fell back in fear as the Holy Guards charged forward.
They couldn't fight against such a force!
Meanwhile, the Sect Master personally charged at the leader.
"So, the signal was actually true and not just some attempt to gain revenge for being discovered," the leader whispered to himself.
Underworld wasn't stupid. They knew that there was a chance that their spy had involuntarily outed himself. After he saw his death, he might have felt aggrieved, which could have led him to send the signal just to obtain revenge.
It was necessary to check the validity of such an important signal.
It turned out the signal was valid, but the reason for this entire war still confused the leader.
The leader had no idea what the Sect Master was talking about. They had never sent anyone to do these things, but that wasn't important now.
The Nine Elements Sect declared war on them, and they had to deal with that first.
Any words would only fall on deaf ears.
The leader released his Will-Aura, which was just as powerful as the Sect Master's, even though he was a level lower than her.
Then, they clashed.
The leader could easily fight a level above oneself, but his opponent was a Sect Master.
Which Sect Master couldn't fight a level above themselves?
"AAAHH!"
Suddenly, a painful shout was heard.
The Sect Master's teeth gnashed in fury.
Someone had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and they had killed one of her Holy Guards.
Yet, that was only the beginning.
In an instant, ten more people appeared behind the Holy Guards.
Eight more Holy Guards died.
Underworld had received the signal, and they had been prepared.
Usually, an insurance stronghold wasn't powerful enough to go against such a force, but they had been forewarned.
So, they had gathered 50% of the force of the insurance strongholds in the neighboring territories.
Half of the Holy Guards were in the different strongholds across the Nine Elements Sect's territory, which severely weakened their force. Because of that, this gathered force from Underworld was powerful enough to deal with the forces of the Nine Elements Sect.
Underworld wouldn't lose much.
Even more, the other strongholds in the Nine Elements Sect's territory had been evacuated immediately.
The other Holy Guards would only find empty and abandoned places without any valuables. No Holy Guard would find anything of worth, and they wouldn't be able to find an enemy.
In essence, they were wasting their time.
The leader was losing the fight against the Sect Master quickly, but he was only there to buy some time. As soon as the other Holy Guards were dealt with by the leaders of the other insurance strongholds, they would gang up on the Sect Master.
The Holy Guards died very quickly, and after just some seconds, only five were left.
And that's when it happened.
WHOOOOOOOM!
And apocalyptic Will-Aura spread over the entire battlefield, freezing everything.
A man appeared.
He looked middle-aged, and he had blue hair.
This was the Ancestor of the Nine Elements Sect.
The people from Underworld felt their faces whiten. An Ancestor!? Why would an Ancestor become active!?
The Holy Guards felt elated.
Meanwhile, the face of the Sect Master also whitened, just like the faces of the people from Underworld.
'How did Herius manage to contact my uncle!? Only I know how to contact uncle!'
'This wasn't supposed to happen!'
The war had just started, but it already ended.
In front of the Ancestor, no one present could resist.