---Yijing City---
That day, the great capital of the XiGuang Province was in Chaos. Although peace had become a rare occurrence in the capital, ever since the spatial gate began opening at random and the activity of dungeons flared up, this day was especially rowdy.
The vast city occupied the delta where the Pearly River met the Blue Crane Sea and stretched along the coast of the inland sea for miles. Yet, across the whole of the city, there were reports of foreign races appearing like locusts.
It was a new one they had not encountered before. They resembled humans, but wore various kinds of wings on their backs and used strange techniques. Without a word of challenge or warning, they attacked buildings and businesses everywhere in Yijing City.
The weird thing was that, unlike the creatures before, there were no portals to be found, and the attackers vanished once their attack had succeeded. If it were just that, it would not have been that weird of a day.
In addition to the new foreign race and the daily fights between cultivators, man businesses and branches belonging to certain sects were found encased in ice, with all occupants dead or severely crippled.
While the capital was shaken, two figures met outside the south gate, several hours after the signal stone had kicked off the happenings of today. Marco and Paolo, the perpetrators of the chaos in the capital, met up after their brief meeting only a day earlier.
"All done?" Marco asked, who had been waiting for the priest who had become an Angel Summoner and quasi-saint of an unknown god. While Paolo had focused on the various establishments owned by sects belonging to the Southern Sect Alliance, Marco had primarily taken down their secular branches in the capital, which was why he finished a little quicker.
This had the biggest impact in the capital, but it was not something exclusively happening in the capital. Other big cities were simultaneously struck by teams of Oathguards, demolishing businesses, burning warehouses, and destroying the outer branches of sects.
Since Minas Mar didn't intend to spend more energy than necessary on wiping out the members of the Southern Sect Alliance, they had to make sure the survivors would have no foundations to rebuild again.
"Yup, I left nothing but ruins. Let's hurry with the last objective, so we can finally catch up a little," the Priest said confidently. Paolo had changed a little since he traveled the Pathworks. Marco didn't mind it, as it felt like his friend had returned to the time before the Apocalypse.
For a while, things had seemed quite dark, and they had struggled a lot, which had weighed especially hard on the priest. Even with things improving after they joined Minas Mar, Paolo had never really regained the brightness he used to have. Now, he felt much more like the friend he used to know.
"Alright, let's go and have a drink afterward," the man on the Path to become a deity of Winter said with a warm smile and led the way. While Paolo had been spirited away, he had tirelessly worked on uncovering all the people and their networks involved with the crimes on Urth.
Their last objective for the day was the headquarters of a sect that could be called the sticky goo that held the Southern Sect Alliance together and potentially gained the most from the business in Urth, without personally sending any troops.
The Midnight Merchant Sect was an organization that acted as a traditional sect, but also as a merchant guild, as well as trading in information. They had the least firepower, but the greatest logistics and connections.
Although the Alliance had provided the muscle and acted as the primary customer, the Midnight Merchants had the lion's share in logistics and distribution outside the Alliance. They even had ties to other provinces.
While no living person of Urth had been transported past the borders of the XiGuang Province, it didn't mean materials from Urth or...products made of people had not found their way to other places than the alliance or the province.
Paying attention not to catch any themselves, the two covertly made their way to the main branch of the Midnight Merchant Sect, which was located a stone's throw away from the city's outskirts. They needed not even half an hour to reach their gates after leaving the capital.
In this place, the merchant sect displayed their wealth willfully. Sprawling across the hills and dells outside the capital was a big complex of manors, palaces, and halls, all covered by a splendorous barrier that was even stronger than the protective array of the capital, albeit smaller.
Although the Midnight Merchants had no great reported combat power, their money was almost unrivaled, being among the Top 5 sects in the province, excluding the Ten Great Sects of the province.
"What do we do about the barrier?" Paolo asked, looking at it with some worry. He doubted either of them had the fire power o breach it. Although he had a lot of angels, their average level was still a little low for this.
"Now worries," Marco answered with a crafty smile and pulled out two tokens carved from jade.
"I already have our visitor plaques right here. It cost me a pretty penny to get the connections and procure these, but I already tested them in the past," he said and demonstrated. He stepped forward and passed through the barrier without a problem.
"Good preparation is everything, I guess?" Paolo commented with a smile. Once he received his token from Marco, he also entered the Merchant Sect.
"As discussed, you take the library, I take the medicine pavilion," the swordsman of ice instructed before parting ways with the angel summoner. Following the plan, Paolo followed the path he had memorized after the briefing that led him to the sect's library.
This was not only the place where they kept all kinds of information. About their businesses, the info they traded with, but most importantly, their secret techniques, the foundation of their strength... Although they didn't have much martial strength.
It was a massive structure with tight security across 9 floors above and 18 floors below ground, with the most precious stuff obviously underground. When Paolo arrived, he found the gate of the library guarded by 9 lv. 85 guards.
After the guards were almost instantly taken down by 9 angels, he was able to enter the library. The moment he opened the door, an alarm rang across the sect. "Guess there was more security?" he thought to himself, actually unbothered by the blaring alarm.
Considering the wealth of knowledge enshrined here, there was the thought of looting the place for the info and potential skill books. However, they neither had the time nor the inventory space to carry all of this stuff out.
Not to mention that time was a lot tighter with the alarm going. Paolo followed the original plan. He and the angels punched through the floors and took care of the station guardians. Ultimately, he set fire to every floor, turning the library into a massive chimney, burning like tinder.
Meanwhile, the medicine pavilion and adjacent medicinal garden had turned to ice. With the two main objectives achieved, all that was left was a big fight to wipe out anyone unwilling to flee. Angels and golems were unleashed on the Midnight Merchants.
The battles were one-sided as expected, as the average power of the guild's disciples only ranged in the lv.60s. Even the ordinary elders were only comparable to the guards at the library. Paolo and Marco were making their way to the central pavilion when the external elders appeared.
There were ten people in the Nascent Soul Realm, led by the lv. 125 sect leader in the spirit severing realm. Each of them could easily beat the angels or golems in a one-on-one, but Marco and Paolo had the numerical advantage.
The elders quickly fell or fled, leaving only the Sect Leader still fighting when they witnessed a massive tree rising on the horizon. They shared a glance.
"Looks like Lady Monique is almost done..."
Monique was currently attacking the Great Fang Family of the Western Expanse. That the tree had risen meant that she was probably close to finishing. They couldn't lag behind her and that little demon.
"Yeah, maybe we should hurry."