The red priest continued to kneel on the platform, looking out into the distance. Finally, he sighed, once again touched the red-golden lines below him, and imbued a bit of his spiritual energy.

One after the other, the lines lit up and for a while, it seemed as if they were actually moving as if they were alive. The red priest did not seem to notice the difference. He just continued imbuing his spiritual energy and then waited.

Finally, over in the Teng Yong Sect, a similar situation unfolded: The black and silver lines on the platform there seemed to move, gliding over each other like snakes. The person on top reached out, put his hands onto the stone platform, and imbued some spiritual energy of his own, making the lines light up as well.

The red priest smiled when he felt that the connection between these two places had been established. "Brother, how are you doing?"

The black warrior smiled just the same. "It is as always. I would ask you how you are doing but I have seen that you have been doing quite well. You should be careful in the future though."

The red priest tsked. "Do I need you to tell me that? I’m fully aware of what I can and can’t do. Don’t worry about it." Even though his words were harsh, his gaze softened a little.

The black warrior just silently shook his head. Whether his brother knew or not … he wasn’t too sure how to answer that question. Well, in any case, he had at least given him a warning. "Now, I’m sure that you will not have contacted me just to hear how I am doing. What is the matter?"

"Sect Master Mou came to tell me today that things were getting interesting on the side of the demonic practitioners. Apparently, they have allied together and are preparing something big. But the four sects haven’t yet found out what that might be. Do you have any insight?"

The black warrior laughed lightly. "Do I have some insight? I sure hope that I do. Unfortunately, it isn’t much this time. There is a person that will play an essential part in how all of this will play out. I’m afraid that things are graver than the Sect Masters can actually see right now.

"Our Teng Yong Sect knows that the consequences of how this will turn out will be dire for them. But I don’t think they are have understood yet that it wouldn’t be this way just for them but also for all the other sects. Maybe after this is done, the four righteous sects might not exist in the way anymore that we knew before. It is definitely a possibility."

The red priest furrowed his brows at that. "Then what can we do?"

The black warrior gave a hum in response. "To be honest, I am not sure if there is anything we can do. We are bound here so this seems to be outside of our scope. We will have to just wait. We can only use our abilities to help a bit at the side. The ones who will finally make this go in one direction or the other are others. The times in which we were out there, making an actual influence are long gone."

The red priest fell silent at that, his expression turning helpless. "Then I …"

"I’m afraid we will not be able to save everyone. But I think that there will be one person that needs to be saved. Don’t do anything that can’t be undone. That is the only piece of advice I can give you."

The red priest nodded slowly. "I do understand. I will be careful."

The two of them retracted the spiritual energy, making the lines on the platforms lose their light and return to the state they had originally been in.

The red priest stared at the intertwined colors, took a deep breath, and finally sighed. He kind of regretted being trapped here. He would have much rather gone out again to fight himself. Now, that wasn’t possible.

Other than that … Being careful, with the ability he had been given, it was easier said than done. The black warrior also knew this. He didn’t need to lie to himself in that regard. But in any case, it couldn’t be changed. Some things just needed to be done. And this seemed to be one of the things. He just hoped that at the end of this, the four of them would still be alive and the four righteous sects would still exist. Although he did have to admit that right now, it didn’t really look like they would really get out of this without any losses.

With another sigh, he turned to the side and took out a dagger from his spatial bag, looking at the blade that was glinting in the sun with a faint smile. "Well, we’ll see what will come of this."

He took out a small vial and then cut open his arm, letting the blood drop into it. Grimacing, he put the vial down in front of his knee, and then brushed over his arm with a layer of spiritual energy, closing the wound right back up. He put away the dagger, picked up the vial, and sighed once again. It almost seemed as if he wanted to use the number of sighs he had for one year on this single day.

Closing the vial again, he put it down at the edge of the platform and then fell silent. He had to wait until Sect Master Mou came back to get it. Ah, he could already imagine that she wouldn’t be happy about this. Well, there was nothing he could do. Especially after what the black warrior had said, he didn’t dare to take any chances. Maybe his blood would still be needed for something more important later on. He couldn’t take any chances with that. Sometimes, life just was like that.