Across the whole continent, the global system warning caught the attention of the "Righteous System Users". Venerable Light was most suspicious of this, but before he could question his own system about it, a new obstacle arrived that would hinder his progress.
By the time Light received the global system warning, he and the White Lotus Faction had already exited the underground tunnel from the desert leading to the capital of the Northern Plains capital.
They would soon arrive in the capital where the White Lotus Faction had planned to meet up with members of the Beggar's sect at a nearby tavern to retrieve important information.
"...This is the second time now, what is this sudden global system warning?
In both occasions, the person who caused it was some Daoist with an extremely flashy title who I have never heard of in my cultivation journey.
Does this system even have anything useful to offer other than these weird quests?"
Just as Light thought of these quests, another system notification appeared.
[Ding!]
[Quest Objective (Sub quest for main mission - usurp the throne) is currently loading...]
[New Objective: Follow the White Lotus Faction and eavesdrop to collect information about the country affairs.]
[Sub-Objective: Team up with Earl Zuwei + (NEW!) White Haired Vampire Clan]
"Again? Didn't these vampires get rid of that person?
Now that I remember... when do I even get the 1000 year old ginseng the system mentioned.."
[Ding!]
[All Quest Rewards, including rewards from sub-objectives, will be issued after completion of the main mission]
[SYSTEM CRITICAL ERROR! You have used up too much system energy, resulting in a penalty; Quest Difficulty has been increased by 50%, rewards remain unchanged.]
"50%?!?! What is this, and no reward increase?!", Light shouted, before regaining his temper shortly after.
"It seems like I don't have much of a choice here...", Light thought to himself, while planning ahead to complete the main mission as fast as possible to claim his rewards.
They had already arrived at the capital of the Northern Plains Kingdom, and as it was nearing sunset, the White Lotus Faction prepared to head to the agreed location.
"Duke Light, we are on an undercover mission, as you may have already guessed.
At a tavern, we will meet with members of the Beggar's sect to retrieve information about the country affairs.
Regent Jialong has been reported to be involved with the current activities of the demonic sect multiple times, and with the event at the desert, that is without doubt true.
The beggar's sect will have more information, which we will then report at the nearest murim alliance branch.
There is not much for you to do other than making sure nobody of suspicion hears a word about this", the leader of the faction said to Light.
After arriving at the tavern, they waited for the members of the Beggar's sect to arrive...
...
"W-Where am I, as the general herb inspector of the Zuwei house I demand an answer...!", Earl Zuwei shouted as he woke up inside the carriage of the White Vampire Clan.
They had brought Zuwei to the capital without any particular reason for now.
Only after looking outside the carriage did he notice that it was the same Clan from before who had brought him here.
"M-My Jade Core Ginseng Elixir!!! Ah... it's still in my hands, luckily.
But wait! I clearly told you I wasn't interested, let me go!", Zuwei shouted again.
The White Haired Vampires ignored his words, before long, the carriage came to a stop in the capital of the Northern Plains Kingdom.
Earl Zuwei seized this opportunity to run away, after turning directions and entering multiple corners, he arrived at a tavern...
"Whew, I don't know what they want from me, but escaping from these vampire women was pretty easy.
Since this Earl is already here, I might as well treat myself to a delicious dinner!
Waiter, waiter! Bring me the best meat you have!"
What Zuwei didn't know, however, was that this was the tavern where Venerable Light and the White Lotus Faction were.
More than that, Zuwei didn't come alone. The White Haired Vampires who escorted him inside the carriage seemed to still be following him, as such, they quickly caught up tracing his scent.
As the tavern door opened, a group of suspicious people entered...
...
At the same time, after overriding the barrier on the portal to the Demonic Sect's Headquarters, Daoist Doffwy had entered through the portal along with the Sect Elder Kuang.
[Daoist has arrived at the forbidden dimension! Tread with utmost caution!]
After arriving, Nether Demon Kuang quickly led the way.
"Honorable one, I welcome you to the Sect's Headquarters, where would you like to head next?"
"Show me where you discuss all important plans and where the leader resides immediately!", Daoist answered.
"Ah.. ah.. yes of course! That would be the Demonic Council, although about the sect leader Mo Jun, nobody has ever seen his physical form, we only receive telepathic messages once in a while and discuss it at the Demonic Council...", Sect Elder Kuang explained.
[Daoist, to properly infiltrate the demonic sect, you must find out about all of their plans!]
"Alright then, I will be checking myself whether you demons have been advancing properly or not..."
After a while, they had arrived at the Demonic Council.
There was a meeting between multiple high ranking demonic members to discuss the plans and orders by the sect leader.
As Elder Kuang opened the inner chamber doors, he introduces Daoist Doffwy.
The whole room was filled with darkness and demonic qi and the demonic cultivators faces were hidden, though Daoist could still feel the pressure of many eyes watching her.
"Members of the Demonic Council, I introduce to you our Demonic Sect's Ancestor, since this Honorable ancestor is undercover to inspect the current developments, refrain from asking too many questions", Elder Kuang announced to them before taking his seat.
Because of the Sect Elder vouching for her, the other demonic cultivators didn't dare physically attack her, even though they remained full of suspicion.
[System warning! Multiple Demonic Entities with high suspicion levels registered!]
[Daoist, recommended to temporarily observe for now!]
One of the demonic council members then continued with the meeting by presenting the newest developments.
"The Beggar's sect has confirmed the disappearance of the Antarctic Longevity Emperor from the Heavenly Court. They haven't been able to identify the real cause behind his disappearance yet, but we can assume that the Sect Leader took care of him.
Esteemed Demonic Cultivators, our Great Sect Leader Mo Jun has given us another order through the magic talisman channel.
This time, we are ordered the launch multiple attacks across the entire continent. Our strongest faction, the shadow poison faction, was assigned to the Northern Plains."
The other demonic cultivators, including Kuang, nodded.
Elder Kuang whispered to Daoist using a telepathic sound transmission technique.
"Honorable One, the war must've started, since the Sect Leader ordered us to mobilize our forces against the Righteous factions and the murim alliance.
[Alter Ego suspects the motive of these attacks to not be a full scale multiple-front war.]
[Hidden Motives have been identified.]
"Elder Kuang, you still don't know anything about this world, do you?
By attacking multiple areas across the whole continent, the sect leader plans to distract the murim alliance and the righteous forces.
The great sect leader doesn't care about conquering the lower realms.
It is obviously a strategy to scatter the defensive forces away from the capital which would lead the gates to the Heavenly Court wide open for a hidden invasion," Daoist explained to Kuang.
"Honorable One, such immense foresight, this truly transcends mortal intellect, then, will you be the one leading the invasion for the grand scheme designed by the sect leader?", Kuang asked.
"Of course not, I came here for a totally different reason.."
Before Daoist could fully showcase her strategic abilities as a mastermind to Kuang, she was interrupted by one of the members of the Demonic Council.
"Sect Leader Mo Jun sent an urgent message through the magic talisman device, saying that an intruder infiltrated our headquarters... and the information about that intruder, could this be all about you, Elder Kuang?!"
"Y-You, a mere advisor of the Demonic Council, dare accuse the Sect Elder Nether Demon of being an intruder?", Kuang answered, clearly irritated by such an unreasonable threat.
"No, this time, the Sect Leader revealed something that even an old fox like you would not be able to comprehend...", the advisor of the Demonic Council said.
[Alter Ego has registered an extremely strong force of demonic origin!]
[Locating source of origin... ERROR! Locating source again... ERROR!]
...
In the highest cultivation halls at the Heavenly Court...
"It seems this Sovereign is still unable to properly use his physical body despite having such a rare constitution...
Now then, the seal on that forbidden dimension was broken by another cultivator?
Though I am cultivating to restore my spirital core and meridians, I have already exerted part of my power using my consciousness and Primordial Domain Pressure ability across the whole continent."
By expanding his consciousness through his Primordial Domain Pressure, his mind was able to stretch across the continent, registering any fluctuations in energy.
At the same time, the white marble floor tiles inside the cultivation halls begin cracking under the enormous weight of his passive divine consciousness.
A demonic cultivator opened a portal in the central plains for a Daoist cultivator, this Qi feels familiar, could it be?
However, there was another overpowering trace of demonic Qi that witnessed all of this while being incredibly well hidden...
Something or someone must be strong enough within the demonic sect to be able to use a transdimensional scan to see through a persons inner self.
Whatever that is, my inner compass is telling me to use my Absolute Perception Warp to obscure that third trace of Qi within the central plains."
While analyzing the source of the portal to the demonic sect's headquarters, he used his ability Perception Warp to hinder the transdimensional scan of the unknown demonic Qi when it passed over to scan Daoist doffwy.
His perception warp acted like a mirror to deflect the light and Qi, making the origin source Mo Jun believe Daoist was full of ancient demonic Qi similar to himself.
The Righteous spiritual Qi was then redirected to the bystanding demonic cultivator Kuang, mixing with his Demonic Qi to make others perceive Kuang as someone with spiritual Qi.
"At the same time, something strange seems to be happening in the Northern Plains.
A sudden Yin-Yang imbalance near the area of Venerable Light?
His inner balance partially collapsed due to an array near the desert which trapped part of his core.
A prolonged state in this imbalance would lead to an exhaustion of his spiritual Qi and alsohis cultivation power.
I will channel Heavenly Yang Qi through the spatial void directly to his surroundings to neutralize the imbalance."
However, before he could channel any Qi using his channeling technique, the impurity was absorbed by an unknown anomaly.
Using his consciousness expansion, the Sovereign was able to hear some of Light's words during that moment.
"...50%?!?! What is this, and no reward increase?!", Sovereign heard.
"Quite peculiar... how did that unknown anomaly absorb the impurities, and what is that reaction of Senior Light?
More likely than not, it is a second consciousness of his. Still, since the impurity was merely absorbed, not neutralized, I will still channel Heavenly Yang Qi.
After all, only Heavenly Yang Qi of the Heavenly Granted Yang Physique could clean impurities of such high degree..."
...
[Ding!]
[System notification: System energy has been replenished. Reverting Quest Difficulty to previous difficulty. Quest rewards remain unchanged.]
Venerable Light, who was sitting peacefully in the tavern, received this notification.
"Wait, why is this Earl here again? And... this system, it really leaves me with no chance to understand anything..."