Chapter 180: A Delicate Balance

In the last twenty-four hours, Ye Tian Yun had seen too many illusions.

First, it was Jun Xie, then Grand Elder Li, and earlier the stairway to the Grand Meeting Hall and now the Sword Stele.

It seemed as if the Gracious Sword Sect and its people have a special liking for illusion techniques and arrays.

And how was he going to confirm if this was indeed an illusion or not? 

Of Course by his own plot armor - The Rip-off System.

"System, why don't you confirm that things here are another illusion or not?"

[There is indeed another illusion array in this hall, Host doesn't need to think much about it, after all, you haven't unleashed your whole Sword Domain. Once you completely let it go, you're in for a surprise.]

Ye Tian Yun nodded his head and began to once again get in the flow with his sword moves.

After a few minutes, he was slowly unlocking his Sword DOmain, and soon it reached the previous peak, however, as nothing happened, he continued to practice his Sword Moves while also slowly releasing his Sword Domain.

However, after about ten more minutes, Ye Tian Yun suddenly began to have a bad premonition as an uneasy feeling crept on him. 

He tried to stop his Sword Domain, however, it somehow was not in his control!

All of sudden Ye Tian Yun felt a burst from within, and his Sword Domain unleashed at an unprecedented rate. 

Ye Tian Yun began to feel as if someone had hit his head with a boulder as an intense amount of pain almost made him lose all his senses.

He let go of his sword as he fell on his knees while clutching his head.

[Host, System has no other choice but to intervene.]

The last thing Ye Tian Yun heard was a notification as he lost his consciousness and his Sword Domain disappeared all of a sudden.

…

Grand Meeting Hall, First Peak.

Sect Leader Su suddenly stood up. 

He had felt it. He had felt the exact same Sword Domain aura from last night.

In the next instant, he was high in the clouds as he overlooked the whole Gracious Sword Sect.

With a deep frown on his face, he stared right at everyone below.

The Sword Domain he felt just now was too powerful. 

It came all of a sudden and went away in the next instant before he could even understand what was even happening.

If not for himself being in the Sword Domain Realm, Sect Leader Su was sure that he wouldn't have even noticed this fluctuation.

It was just for an instant, but he felt it.

'Where did this come from?' 

Sect LEader Su felt that if that aura had remained for another instant, he would have definitely found out its source and by now, would have known who this mysterious disciple was.

Unfortunately, he didn't even have time to think before the Sword Domain aura was long gone.

He couldn't even sense its general direction. But he did know that it came from somewhere below him.

But how was this fact of any help?

He was sitting at the highest place in the Gracious Sword SEct, anything that happened was technically below him. 

This meant that disciple could be from any place in the Sect and taking note of the last night's clues, this disciple could be any new Inner Court disciple from the Seventh Peak.

Sect Leader Su took a deep breath and returned to his seat. Maybe next time he won't miss it. 

Soon, as he slowly stepped down on the surface, he put this Sword Domain disciple issue behind the back of his head and focused on something which currently needed most of his attention - the Kang Clan.

The Kang Clan is one of the big four clans of the Capital City of the Xin Kingdom and helps the Xin Royal Clan in ruling over half of the continent.

However, the one thing that makes this clan stand out the most is its political views.

In the Xin Royal Kingdom, there are many factions and many cliques, however, all these factions and organizations are dividing themselves to form two big factions.

The Royal Clan faction and the Sects.

Xin CLan, which rules over this Kingdom, is the head of the Royal Clan Faction and is hellbent on making the Sects serve the states and make them a part of his rule, enforcing the rules of the Kingdom upon these organizations. 

While the Sects faction has a bit of a complicated goal. This faction is divided into two sides - one wants to remain independent while the other also wants to remain independent but this group wants to remove the royalty and make the sects have more say and power in this half of the continent.

Almost all the powers of the Xin Kingdom are aligning themselves with either the Xin Clan or the Sects, and the current situation is at a delicate balance.

Both factions have almost equal power and if a powerful clan or sect were to join any of these factions, it would be the start of the war and end of the preparations.

Both sides will put all their resources in the purge and the Xin Kingdom will fall under chaos.

However, there are very few powers that could make a difference and break this balance, and the most significant of them is one of the big fours of the capital city.

The Kang Clan.

This clan is known for its political neutrality and viewpoint and is also the only clan in the big four that doesn't go after any political power in the kingdom nor does it have any agenda of its own, at least not a publicly known one.

However, what this clan does have is its immense strength that could even rival the Gracious Sword SEct on its own, and this comparison only includes its known strength to the public.

Apart from being one of the most powerful and politically neutral clans, the Kang Clan is mostly known for its assets - it had loads of properties under its name, be it auction houses, brothels, or restaurants, the Kang Clan has its roots in every corner of the Xin Kingdom. 

And these assets are the ones that create the most threat for anyone who chooses to go against the Kang Clan.

If this clan were to join any of the factions, not only would it disrupt the balance, it would also exponentially increase the strength of that faction.

This would mean that there would be no holding back and an all-out civil war in the country.

A civil war was not something that Sect Leader Su wanted to see in this country. He was one of the few peoples in the Sect faction whose only aim was that they wanted to keep their independence and didn't wish to have anything to do with the politics going on in the Kingdom.

Unfortunately for him, the civil war was inevitable if the balance was broken, and he was very well aware of the situation. 

Even though he wanted to keep this balance for as long as he could, it looked like a small incident was going to change the fate of the kingdom.

Two days ago, in the Inner Court Entrance Hunt of the Seventh Peak, a high-tier Qi Stealing Mole suddenly went berserk and was only stopped by a disciple who ended up sacrificing his life.

This disciple, Kang Bai, chose to explode himself just so he can kill the Qi Stealing Mole and save the lives of the other disciples - at least this was what the report told him.

And as his surname suggested, Kang Bai was actually a part of the Kang Clan. In fact, he was one of its heirs and was the son of the Kang Clan clan leader, Kang Ximin.

Sect Leader Su very well understood the pain of losing a son and he knew that today's meeting was going to go awry, but somewhere in his heart, he had a little hope that there would be a solution to this situation.

'To think a death of an outer court disciple in my sect might lead to civil war in the kingdom… fate really knows how to play its game.'

Just as Sect Leader Su was lost in his thoughts and plans on how to handle the situation, the gates of the Grand Meeting Hall were suddenly pushed open.

Sect Leader Su raised his head and found Peak Master Duan staring at him with a solemn face.

Peak Master Duan pursed his lips and nodded at Sect Leader Su while moving towards his seat.

Sect Leader Su's expression turned serious, because he knew that Kang Ximin was right now very close to the Gracious Sword Sect and would be in the Grand Meeting Hall in any minute.

Taking a deep breath, Sect Leader Su straightened his back as he got ready to face a meeting which would decide the fate of not only the sect, but the whole Kingdom.