For one moment, the establishment of this new sect made all the light forces tense. That night, many of the Sky-level sects received invitations from Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal. For many people, this felt like an initial show of strength, as if the new sect was demonstrating with its actions that it wasn’t afraid of any challenge.

　　A newly established sect with such imposing momentum was very rare. In the history of the founding of famous Sky-level sects, the one with the most prestige had to be Reliance Sect. Most newly established sects gave the familiar feeling of starting anew, so Reliance Sect’s reputation was at its height in the first two years after its founding. The head of the sect, Patriarch Reliance, later went on to set up a school attached to the sect, became its headmaster, and started engaging in the education industry.

　　Patriarch Reliance was a smart man, and naturally understood that tall trees could easily attract the wind. It was because of this that two years after the sect’s founding, he deliberately suppressed its momentum, in a tacit move to uphold the balance of power among the Sky-level light force sects.

　　Sky Light Alliance, full name: Sky-Level Sect Light Force Alliance Social Committee.

　　This was an NGO set up by the Sky-level sects above fifth class, and was a financial management organization.

　　The Sky Light Alliance was originally set up in response to the problem some sects at fifth class and above had with funding. Fifth class was a watershed level for Sky-level sects. To achieve a fifth-class rating required a concrete foundation that was a hundred or even a thousand years old… However, many sects who reached fifth class on the whole ran into the problem of funding in the short term, so the Sky Light Alliance was established.

　　Though, it was more as if the Sky-level sects at fifth class and above were huddling together for warmth, just to make sure that the level of their respective sects didn’t drop easily.

　　It was kind of like getting stuck on a particular game level. Some good players would deliberately get together groups of stuck players and organize them to perform in high-end matches to help maintain each other’s levels.

　　This was in fact something that had been going on for a long time.

　　Unfortunately, whether it was the balance of power or the Alliance, both were directly smashed apart the night the founding of Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s new sect was announced.

　　Currently, the number of sects at fifth class and above in the Sky Light Alliance was seventeen, accounting for eighty percent of the total.

　　Of the four sects that hadn’t joined the Alliance, one was the first-class Immortal Palm Tree Sect, backed by Huaguo Water Curtain Group. It was a sect force affiliated with Huaguo Water Curtain Group which trained all types of alchemists as its main business.

　　As for the remaining three, one was the third-class Fighting Horse Sect which was a subsidiary sect built by the Xiao clan that operated a legal horse racing business. The other was a second-class sect called Myriad Beasts School which raised spirit beasts as its main business. The head of the sect was also an acquaintance of Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s, Crying Old Immortal, who was the vice president of the Pet Trainers Guild. In fact, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal already knew him before he met Wei Zhi.

　　And the last sect, at third class, was naturally Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s “General Office of Strategic Deception”…

　　The number of Sky-level light force sects at fifth class and above had stayed at twenty for a very long time. Now, a Sky-level third-class sect had suddenly emerged out of nowhere. The first to feel threatened were the light forces that were part of the Sky Light Alliance.

　　Most of the sects who hadn’t joined the Alliance had backers behind them, so disdained to join at all. The problem was, no one knew if their own sects would drop in level after Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s new sect was completed.

　　Thus, that evening, the seventeen sects of the Sky Light Alliance came together to begin analyzing and investigating this “General Office of Strategic Deception.”

　　How great were the capabilities of seventeen sects at fifth class and above?

　　Although they currently hadn’t been able to find out who the force behind the creation of Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s new sect was, they had thoroughly researched the core members.

　　A dozen or so bigwigs sat in the Sky Light Aliance’s conference hall.

　　All of them were the leaders or the deputy leaders of their sects who had specially gathered for this meeting to discuss countermeasures in the light of Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s new sect. Given the urgent situation, some of the bigwigs who were too far away to be physically present directly used holographic projections to participate remotely in the meeting.

　　The president of the Sky Light Alliance was Lu Youming, head of a fourth-class sect called Evil God Cult.

　　Evil God Cult might not sound like a decent sect, but it was in fact a proper and lawful sect, whose members were mainly engaged in collecting the sculptures or figurines of evil gods from around the world.

　　There were usually rare resources or even ancient scrolls with secret techniques hidden inside these crudely crafted figurines and sculptures, because there was a time long ago when it was popular to seal secret techniques inside ugly sculptures. The sect took apart the sculptures and figurines of evil gods they collected and ultimately resold the treasures they found inside at a high price.

　　At the same time, the head of the Evil God Cult was also a cosplayer.

　　Today, Lu Youming was cosplaying as Bukubukuchagama ¹ .

　　Sitting in the president’s chair, Lu Youming had a sharp look in his eyes. “Everyone… this is a huge challenge in front of us, and truly a time of crisis. What do you think of this new sect that has come storming in?”

　　“This new sect isn’t simple. I recommend that we try roping them in first.” The head of a fifth-class sect said, “This Great Death-Courting Senior isn’t simple. I heard that he narrowly survived a confrontation with Evil Sword God back then. He must have an expert guiding him from behind the scenes. As for the other core members of the sect, none of them are simple… Cailian Zhenren, known as the Ex-Boyfriend Killer; Immortal Toya, a famous modern-day Medicine Saint; Lightning Dharmaraja, a descendant of the Thunder clan… even that Director Zhuo, who’s been in the spotlight recently, has actually joined the supervisory and investigation team.”

　　“That’s right… This isn’t an ordinary lineup…”

　　At this point, many of the people present sighed.

　　The head of the fifth-class sect continued, “Of course, what worries me the most is that Crispy Noodles Dao Monarch; even with the combined might of our seventeen sects, we haven’t been able to find any clues on him. Perhaps I’m ignorant or ill-informed, but I’ve never heard about this Daoist name before… That Great Death-Courting Senior has always been a cautious person, and would never pull in someone he doesn’t know to join the sect, so for this person to join out of nowhere is a little unusual.”

　　“Can it be a sect manager?” someone asked.

　　Working as a sect manager had become more popular in recent years, and mainly consisted of being responsible for improving a sect’s overall economic situation. There had, however, always been a lack of managers in the industry; many sects wanted managers, but couldn’t find any.

　　“I’m well acquainted with the sect manager circle, but I’ve never heard of such a person.”

　　Lu Youming shook his head. “Since we’re not familiar with this person, let’s not waste time on him. Let us discuss the matter of the invitations first. Everyone should have received an invitation from that Great Death-Courting Senior, right? So, are we going or not?”