As Void Refinement experts, they would certainly be fine after jumping off the cliff. At worst, they might just land in slightly uglier-looking postures… After all, humans weren’t cats, and didn’t subscribe to the theory of Schrodinger’s cat, who always landed feet first. Hence, the invisibility talismans they were wearing this time played a big role: as long as no one saw them, it wouldn’t be too shameful even if they looked unsightly when they landed!

　　But the problem was that a group of reporters had suddenly gathered at the bottom of the cliff, frightening Sect Leader Sun and the others so much that their complexions turned pale right away.

　　Perhaps the scariest thing for experts like them with their realms were reporters!

　　Furthermore, in order to grab attention, a small portion of reporters would often twist the facts in their articles.

　　Now, seeing them jump off a cliff in someone else’s newly founded sect, what kind of fanciful things would they write in their articles?

　　— Shock! The heads of five major sects bungee jumping off a cliff together at the founding ceremony of a new sect!

　　— Sect Leader of Radish King Sect leads four major sect leaders in performing the Leap of Faith ¹ to celebrate the opening of the Office of Strategic Deception!

　　The moment he saw these reporters, Sect Leader Sun had already come up with plenty of wild headlines…

　　Their jump off the cliff very quickly caught the attention of this group of reporters, who were on their way to the northern square.

　　“Look! Someone’s jumped off the cliff!”

　　“Lighting! Cameraman! Where’s the equipment?! This is news! It’ll grab the headlines!”

　　“Who’re the jumpers?”

　　“The one at the very front looks like Sun Hanzhe, the sect leader of Radish King Sect?”

　　“Click””click””click”…

　　In just a split second, the cameras were already flashing wildly at the bottom of the cliff.

　　“Sect… Sect Leader Sun… what’s going on?” The sect leaders behind Sect Leader Sun looked stupefied. They were clearly using invisibility talismans! But for some reason, the talismans had stopped working at that moment!

　　And right in front of a group of reporters as well…

　　And the most important thing was that this damn group of reporters could run especially fast!

　　Holding their recording equipment aloft, they directly activated their body techniques and scampered over; two of the cameramen were even using “Zero Ripples and Minute Steps ² “!

　　It was only at that moment that Sect Leader Sun realized they might have been set up.

　　But if this had been deliberately arranged by the Office of Strategic Deception, they had no evidence for it.

　　Because this group of reporters had been on their way to the northern square to begin with, and had just so happened to choose this route.

　　Professor Yang had specially said before that honored guests were different, so the route they had taken wasn’t the same. What they had used was the VIP green passage, while this group of reporters might be taking some passage that was especially for the news media.

　　So ultimately, all this could be said to be a coincidence…

　　They could only admit defeat!

　　Sect Leader Sun clenched his teeth and did all he could to circulate his spirit energy, planning to control the slipstreams in the air to stay aloft.

　　But unfortunately, he realized that his spirit energy was flowing out of his fingertips bit by bit, and couldn’t gather at all.

　　The rest were also in the same predicament.

　　“The sect’s barrier…”

　　Sect Leader Sun immediately thought that this might be an effect of the sect’s barrier.

　　And the invisibility talisman losing its effectiveness was also probably because of the sect’s barrier.

　　But Sect Leader Sun clearly didn’t expect the sect’s barrier to actually be this strong – even Void Refinement experts like them were prevented from using their spirit energy…

　　Thus, Sect Leader Sun, who was still falling, could only sigh in the end. “Don’t panic, everyone… I’ll deal with the reporters!”

　　“Then what should we do now?” The other sect heads wanted to cry.

　　“Now all of you can think about how to make your landing look better…”

　　“…”

　　…

　　At the same time, Sect Leader Lu, who was fidgeting restlessly in the teahouse, seemed to sense that something was wrong.

　　Sect Leader Sun was too slow coming back… Even if the protective barrier was now active and they couldn’t circulate their spirit energy as usual, they were still Void Refinement experts – they shouldn’t be this slow even if they ran. Logically speaking, they should have been back long ago.

　　But there wasn’t the least bit activity now.

　　“Sect Leader Lu, your expression doesn’t look very good?” Professor Yang deliberately asked with a smile.

　　“Er… I was just wondering why Old Sun and the others haven’t come back yet.” Sect Leader Lu smiled awkwardly and blurted out a lie. “They told me earlier that they were going to pee.”

　　“Pee in a group? But going to the toilet hand-in-hand, isn’t that a little girl’s habit?”

　　“Hm… it’s a special hobby of theirs! I did tell them acting gay all the time won’t do!”

　　“But the teahouse has a washroom.”

　　“They like… to be close to nature!”

　　“…”

　　At that moment, Professor Yang looked at his phone; it seemed that he had received some news. “Sect Leader Lu, Sect Leader Sun and the others may be a little late… I just got word that a group of reporters are interviewing them.”

　　“Reporters…”

　　“Yes, these are the front-line media reporters which our sect head specially invited for this sect founding ceremony: Cultivation People’s Evening News, Cultivation People’s Morning News, Huaxiu Cultivation Daily News – they’re all here!”

　　Hearing this, Sect Leader Lu was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat. If these reporters caught them in the act, could this situation be saved?

　　“Professor Yang… would it be possible to give us some face, and have these reporters leave them alone? Our Alliance will remember this in the future…” Sect Leader Lu already realized how serious this situation was, because Sect Leader Sun and the others represented Sky Light Alliance, and what the Alliance valued the most naturally was its reputation.

　　All these years, the reason why the Alliance had been able to stand without collapsing was thanks to the harmonious air fostered by this reputation. If they made a mess today, there would be bad blood between Alliance members, and it was hard to say what it would be like in the future.

　　But what frightened Sect Leader Lu even more was how coincidental it was.

　　If this was something the Office of Strategic Deception had deliberately planned all along… the other party’s sense of strategy was too astute! What looked simply like a casual move had thrown them into disorder and hit them where it hurt!

　　Professor Yang pinched his mustache and chuckled. “This happened in our sect, and since Sect Leader Lu and Sky Light Alliance are honored guests of our sect who are in our special care, we will naturally sort this out properly. But I also hope that Sect Leader Lu will remember what you just said…”

　　“Of course…” Sect Leader Lu bowed.

　　As the two men were talking, a gargantuan black shadow in the sky blocked out the sun and covered the entire northern square and the teahouse.

　　The sect leaders inside the teahouse were alarmed, and came out for a look. They then saw a huge immortal warship with the insignia of the Office of Strategic Deception on it, moored in the sky.

　　A moment later, hundreds of Soul Formation cultivators fell in beams of golden light from the sky like godly soldiers, waving congratulatory red streamers in sync. A moment later, they moved to form a straight line, and then an “S,” as the sound of harps floated down…