Inside the hidden council chamber, the meeting between the eight of the members continued for a long time. How long it took or what was discussed would be a mystery for Wu Guang, who left after reporting what he had to, passing the glyph that would allow to set up direct control of the formation, and explaining that he would be leaving the Sect grounds.

He did not ask or request anything, preferring to distance himself from the Sect at the moment. One could wonder what was the reason for such change, but it would become apparent if looking at the current Wu Guang. Not only he was practically equal to all of the council members in strength if fighting with all his means, but his status was far higher now. Why then allow himself to be treated as an inexperienced, if not dumb, youngster? Even if he wanted to appear one, that did not mean that he would allow himself to be trodden on.

Before, Wu Guang thought that the Sect was an equal partner for the Empire, but this was also overturned a few days ago. Except for Deng Zian, or Chen Zian, as he was called, no one in the Sect was someone with clout or status in the Empire. What's more, their cultivation was simply too low to even be considered experts, with the more than a hundred years Headmaster only equalling some of the officers... like the 20 years old Xue Ru for example.

As for Lady Xian, one of the real strongest experts in the plane, she was simply tasked with the overall protection of the Imperial interests on the island. She was serving her time to repent for some kind of incident that took place a pair of dozens of years ago. Wu Guang had no idea of what it was, but he did not try to ask either. To be sincere, he simply did not care. Lady Xian was helpful and a likable person, why would he need to strain their relationship by asking such questions? He could not help her in any way, so it was far better to remain in the dark.

In any case, she was not even a member of the Sect's leadership, taking the protector title assigned by the Empire.

As he left, Wu Guang found Zhen Mang waiting for him outside the room. The latter did not take part in the meeting because of his position as the Headmaster's and Sect guard dog. He was a good person that had helped Wu Guang a few times, but even so... He was sworn to follow the orders of the newly returned headmaster, whatever they may be.

"Wu Guang, are you leaving right now?

"Yes, I do not have any need to remain in here. Elder Mo is supposed to organize a team that will meet me in Boundary Hill City. I had no opportunity to discuss it with him, but if Head Enforcer may pass it to him, I would be very grateful"

"Obviously"

"Mmm, I require ten people in total. It would be best if they included some elites, but considering the war, I am good enough with them being inner disciples. The members should include Yuan Taotu, Wei, and Kuang Jing. As for the rest, if Duqi or Lang Juan can, I would like them to join it as well. Mainly because we will be operating in the Wildlands"

"Understood. When do you want them to move out?"

"Hmm, it would be for the best if they traveled alongside Lady Xian to avoid any unexpected encounters, she will be leaving the day after tomorrow"

"She will?"

"The formation in the wall of the Boundary Hill City that was prepared by the founder has to be activated by her anyway"

"Time and place for you to meet?"

"I have a few things to do, so let's make it on the fourth day from now. The place is the most obvious one, the Sect Tower"

"Understood, I will make sure they are there at that time"

"Thank you"

With Zhen Mang being a person of his word, if nothing happened, Wu Guang could expect to meet the ten people he needed at the place and time he specified.

With no need to stop anywhere, he was led out of the Sect via the same gate he had arrived. Between the cloak and the presence of Zhen Mang, his identity was kept secret from anyone, including the Elder guarding the aforementioned gate.

Before saying his farewells, Wu Guang asked

"How are Li Xia and Lan Yanzhi?"

"Safe, they are currently sharing a room in the same residence as Lang Juan"

"Good, if it is possible to include Lan Yanzhi into the team, it would be perfect. As for Li Xia, well, keep her safe"

"I don't see any problem with the former, after all, you are acting on the orders of someone far more powerful than the Sect. And with the latter, it needs no mention"

"Thank you. Altought the formation should protect the Sect, there are still many things to be careful of. So, take care of yourselves"

And with such words, Wu Guang left the Sect. This time, even he could not say if he would return someday...

________________________________________________________________________

Until Wu Guang left, every member of the council refrained from touching any important theme. Even though people like Chen Boqin and Zhen Gan did not feel that it was right, the Headmaster had ordered it himself and so they complied.

The only person in the room who could disregard this order would be Deng Zian, who had arrived at the sect a few hours ago. He indeed had a few troubles with the corpse puppet, and after being assured of Wu Guang's security while on Black Island, had decided to solve them. His direct sovereign, the Minister of War, had allowed him to spend a pair of weeks to solve the issues, and now send him back. And albeit Wu Guang knew of Deng Zian's real identity, the rest of the council including the headmaster still thought that Deng Zian was a simple servant tasked with communication between the Sect and Empire. Because of the need to maintain this facade, and Wu Guang having far more superior orders, he did comply with the Headmaster's words and did not even attempt to interact with Wu Guang, only allowing himself a pair of approving nods to the latter's words.

"Ehem, now that our temporal successor has left and I have received the means to use the formation, we can speak freely. Everyone, report" The headmaster, Teng De, began.

Elder Mo as the one in charge of the Sect during this time was the first to give out a report. It touched the current resources, both human and material that the sect had. As well as the overall situation of the island.

This information was added to by each of the remaining council members, each touching his respective field.

"I see, what a nice inheritance this Wu Guang has received! And he even shared half of it, very good, Mo Tai. I take that the materials were put to use, am I correct, Hallmaster?"

"Headmaster Teng is absolutely correct. As soon we received the materials, I have instructed the Refining hall to start working. Right now more than four-fifths of the materials were refined, and half of that is already available as weapons or armor. We should be able to equip most of our core, and even a part of the elite with them when we finish with everything"

"Very good, what is the current deadline?"

"We should finish in three days"

"Good, anything else?"

"If we could ask Lady Xian to set up a formation or partially use the force of the defensive one, we may even create a Spirit level treasure"

"No, that's out of the question. Albeit the 'Lady' as you refer to her is considered a protector of our Sect, she has no ties to it. What's more, she will refuse simply because she is not allowed to use her skills for anything without a direct order. Formations are also a forbidden thing for anyone except a few chosen"

"It a shame, well, another one..." The Master of the Halls sighed as if he was greatly pained by such shames.

"What do you mean another one?" Teng De bit the hook and asked.

"I don't know if it's correct to mention it, but we could actually arm the entire Elite and have spares if we had access to the other materials in our treasury"

"What?! Do we have more of them?! Why they are not used then?"

"We should do it right away, but there are..."

"Shut up! Excuse me, Headmaster Teng, we indeed have other, or to be correct an equal amount of the same, resources, but they are not of our property" Elder Mo, given name Tai, interjected angrily.

"Not ours? What do you mean?"

"As part of our agreement with Wu Guang, we are safekeeping his part of the inheritance in our treasury" Elder Mo explained.

"I see, is that correct, Head Treasurer Deng?"

"Yes"

"Hmm, I understand" Teng De said and then took a long pause during which he closed his eyes, seemingly submerging into thought. A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and said

"If the Sect gave its word to safe keep something, we can not break it. Even though they may be of use, their owner is someone we can not, and should not, deceive"

These words could be treated differently, but for Deng Zian who immediately made an internal note of keeping a close eye on the resources, it looked like the only thing keeping the Headmaster from practically stealing them was the Imperial backing that Wu Guang had at the moment.

"Anyway, returning to the matter at hand. Are there any other additions to the situation as it was reported?" After receiving a silent negative from the council, Teng De proceeded

"Then let's quickly run the numbers of our available forces. Granted, we shall be safe behind the formation, but we can not truly allow the Eagle Kingdom troops to run amok, can we? There is also the matter of contributing to the war, after all, if we simply wait for it to end, we can not expect anything from the spoils later"

Leaving the outer circle aside, which at max could help with the clean-up, the Sect had four more-or-less able groups of cultivators.

The Inner Circle disciples were made up of almost 4 thousand disciples. From them, about half had at least some experience in battle and cultivations between the 4th and the 9th level of the Spirit realm.

The Elite of the Palace's, which summed up about a thousand disciples. Their strength varied, with the lowest being at the 6th level of the Spirit realm and some even being Soul realm cultivators. Still, it was a real force.

The last disciple group would be the Core ones. Albeit most of them, excluding the Enforcers, had been trapped inside the Pocket realm, they had now returned. Their number was about 700, with the Enforcers having a similar level to the Elite, while the 300 Core that had been trapped in the Pocket realm being all on different levels of the Soul realm. Even more, two of the disciples that Teng De considered as possible successors had reached the first level of the sage realm!

The last group was comprised of all the Elders.

Granted, the outer circle elders were weak, but their experience and morale were far better than even the best of the Inner Circle disciples.

As for the Inner elders, who numbered about 500, they all were near or had already reached the Soul realm. With the overall age surpassing 45 years, they were both experienced and strong enough to fight against any soldier or even most officers.

The High, or Core, elders were hardly more than a hundred, but everyone amongst them was an expert. The Weakest being a 6th level of the Soul cultivator, it only went up towards the peak of the Realm. One of these elders had managed to make a breakthrough in the pocket realm, and so the Sect counted with an unaccounted Sage realm cultivator.

The Sect also counted with its headmaster, Teng De, a 5th level Sage, who had similarly advanced inside the Pocket realm by relying on his accumulation over the last 20 years.

And albeit she may not be part of the Sect forces, Lady Xian was a true expert of the Plane, having reached the mystic Warrior Lord realm. Granted, she would not take part in the war openly, but in the worst-case... The Empire would order her to do so.

"I see, so we have about 4 thousand able cultivators. Even though the invading army is slightly more experienced and numbers about 10 thousand, we shall have a chance to score a pair of battles... Enough with all this, act as we have agreed before. Prepare the Sect for a siege, and scout the surrounding lands to set up traps. Everyone is dismissed except Zhao Zhihao, Hallmaster please stay"

________________________________________________________________________

Unbeknownst to everyone, four days before the, expected, day of the invasion, a few ships with sails adorned with the image of a golden eagle were dropping anchors in a small fishing village...