Seeing how fired up he was, the other students also found it hard to stay seated.

"So it’s already started?"

"Chief Shen led the group out just recently, and they’re already fighting? And there’s already a result?"

"That fast? The Xuanming Sect's forces got wiped out instantly?"

All kinds of discussion broke out at once. Some of the quicker ones immediately connected their devices to the Void Psychic World. Although cultivators who had not developed psychic consciousness or psychic thought could not directly enter the Void Psychic World, they could still browse its information through devices in the form of projections, videos, and text.

As the students began checking the updates, shocked cries erupted throughout the lecture hall, one after another.

"Holy shit! They really fought, and we actually won!"

"I just contacted a buddy who’s been following the warfare section for ages. He said we didn’t just win, we had a sweeping victory! It looks like the Xuanming Sect lost more than two battle institutes, while our side supposedly suffered fewer than twenty casualties! That kind of result is downright insane!"

"I knew it. Ever since we lost the East Sea's islands, I knew the sect had been holding back a big move! A mere Xuanming Sect dared to provoke us in the East Sea. They were seeking death! Turns out the sect was just waiting! Either we don’t fight, or once we do, we cripple them in one blow! Haha, let’s see if they still dare to act arrogant in the East Sea!"

"If what you’re hearing is true, this isn’t just heavy losses! The Xuanming Sect put all its elites in the East Sea. Every great cultivator there was an elite, and Fangyuan Island was guarded by the elite among elites. If two battle institutes really got wiped out, the Xuanming Sect has been pretty much crippled!"

The students spoke as though they had all turned into experts, discussing the matter with excitement and enthusiasm. Listening to their conversation, the teacher also realized the weight of the news.

The great cultivators of the Warfare Hall had marched out of the Nine Heavens Domain, drawing immense attention from everyone within it. On top of that, this battle concerned the prestige of the Nine Cauldrons Sect and its ability to reclaim the East Sea's islands in the near future, making the news even more significant.

Originally, they had thought that the battle between the Nine Cauldrons Sect and the Xuanming Sect would drag on for a month or two before a result emerged. Who would have thought that it would be over in an instant?!

At once, he stopped worrying about anything else and quickly entered the Void Psychic World to learn the details. Soon, a message arrived on his communication device. It was a task assignment from the higher-ups. They were required to produce several special reports and publish them in the academy’s portal area within the Void Psychic World.

Seeing this task, the instructor felt his spirits lift. "Excellent."

He turned to Su Yaoshuang. "You’ll follow up on this task together with Zhang Yao and the others. Find ways to gather as much detailed information about this battle as possible. I’ll assist you. With the level of attention it's getting, if you do this well, it will be an outstanding addition to your resume."

"I’ll do my best," Su Yaoshuang quickly replied.

"Good. All of you, go gather materials now." As he spoke, the teacher hastily announced self-study and left shortly after.

He knew that with news this shocking, there was no way the students would have the heart to listen to his lecture anymore. And that was indeed the case. From most classrooms and even from other buildings, cheers soon erupted, unable to be suppressed.

All the students were celebrating and taking pride in the sect’s brilliant victory in the East Sea. As the news continued to spread, some students even left their classrooms on their own, heading to open spaces and fields on campus to celebrate. The entire academy was enveloped in a joyful atmosphere.

Beyond the academy, Longxiang City and even other cities throughout the Nine Heavens Domain were much the same. Cheering crowds spontaneously took to the streets, venting the joy in their hearts. Many bars, karaoke halls, and other public venues were packed to the brim with people celebrating.

Ever since the Infinite Star Palace’s Sky Patrol Warship had approached the city, everyone in the Nine Heavens Domain had been living under a heavy pall, especially in Longxiang City. As a rear city located thousands of kilometers from the battlefield, no one knew how many small towns had been erased by the aftermath of fighting.

And in those towns, no one knew how many parents, wives, and children were related to the people who had gone to Longxiang City to work. Yet because of a single instance of the Infinite Star Palace bringing its forces to the city gates, countless families had been torn apart, leaving homes destroyed and lives lost. One could imagine how heavy the atmosphere in Longxiang City had been.

Under such circumstances, Longxiang City desperately needed a great victory, and the Nine Heavens Domain desperately needed a victory to dispel the gloom cast by the Infinite Star Palace. That was precisely why the Public Relations Hall had chosen to make the news public. And that was why, once the news spread, Longxiang City and the Nine Heavens Domain became so joyful, bursting into citywide celebration.

***

Within the Purple Firmament Institute, Yaoguang sensed the cheers rising from Longxiang City. After sweeping his psychic thought across the area, he soon shifted his attention back to the East Sea's battlefield.

By now, however, the battlefield had entered the cleanup phase. Under the leadership of Shen Qinglian, the group had crushed the remaining forces of the Xuanming Sect on Fangyuan Island.

Although Fangyuan Island possessed several level 5 arrays, fully unleashing the power of an array still required sufficient strength. Besides, Fangyuan Island had originally been one of the footholds the Nine Cauldrons Sect intended to establish in the East Sea, and the array casters were intimately familiar with those arrays. Additionally, there were no longer any great cultivators from the Xuanming Sect stationed on Fangyuan Island. Even if there had been, breaching those arrays would not have taken much time.

Next comes cleaning up the other islands and guarding against counterattacks from other forces in the East Sea. Yaoguang thought to himself.

However, the other forces were not worth worrying about. After the Nine Cauldrons Sect had annihilated nearly half of the Xuanming Sect’s strength in one stroke, the deterrence alone was enough that forces like the Star Sea Sect, the Great Yue Dynasty, and the Ancient Immortal Sect would never dare to act rashly.

The one that truly required caution was the Great Sun Sword Sect.

The Great Sun Sword Sect’s cultivators are stronger than the Nine Cauldrons Sect's, and also have better equipment. Their Heavenly Palace cultivators are a concern, too. Trying to block their communications, alter their tactics, or even feed them false orders the way we did with the Xuanming Sect will be difficult, Yaoguang thought.

And once he could not fully suppress the Great Sun Sword Sect’s information flow, his existence as a "Dharma Form cultivator" would be exposed. Of course, the first thing to be exposed would be the Dharma Form spirit treasure in Li Qingshan’s possession. But that also meant that the moment he would face other Dharma Form cultivators head-on was no longer far away.

"We’ll have to see how long Sect Master Li’s cover can hold." As Yaoguang spoke, he swept a glance at the Refiner branch's progress.

He needed to raise it as quickly as possible to a level equivalent to a level 10 refiner. At the same time, progress on the Martial Dao branch also had to continue.

Although his advancement had been extremely fast thanks to the Stellar Soul and the abundance of cultivation resources, reaching the level of a star god still required a long time. Because of that, he wanted to follow the same path he had taken in the Yaoguang World, using breakthroughs in his mental world to obtain methods to accelerate his cultivation of the Martial Dao. If his Martial Dao branch could advance beyond the Star God Realm first, he should be able to uncover many techniques to compress the time required for the Star Lord Realm.

"Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang." While Yaoguang was still deep in thought, Master Yun Lai’s voice sounded from outside. There was a trace of excitement in his tone. "It’s completed. Under your guidance, Deputy Hall Master, and through the practical efforts of Grandmaster Dong Liushui and the others, the first fourth-generation high-grade treasured artifact flying sword independently developed by us has been completed..."

"Oh?" Yaoguang raised his head slightly. "It’s finally done?"

With the East Sea no longer requiring his constant attention, he stepped outside, nodded toward Yun Lai and the others waiting at the door, and headed straight for the experimental workshop.

Dozens of people had already gathered inside the workshop. The weakest among them were artifact-refining masters like Yun Lai himself. Those leading were artifact-refining grandmasters on the level of Dong Liushui.

The entire workshop was divided into several sections. Some areas were refining metals, some were synthesizing materials, and others were engraving array patterns.

"The chief is here."

"What chief? He's a deputy hall master now. Use the right title!"

"These past days, every one of us has seen a significant improvement in our refinement standards. That growth came entirely from Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang’s constant guidance. To us, Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang is no different from a teacher who imparted our craft. We should be calling him teacher."

As Yaoguang arrived, voices rose in greeting. The crowd parted, making way toward the workshop's core workbench. There, led by the artifact-refinement grandmaster Dong Liushui, several people gathered around a flying sword, treating it as a priceless treasure as they conducted the final inspection.

"Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang, here's the Purple Firmament Type 15 improved flying sword. We did not fail our mission. It’s finished." Dong Liushui held the flying sword in both hands, his voice brimming with excitement.

"Good!" Yaoguang nodded.

In truth, he could have produced the Purple Firmament Type 15 earlier, but he simply had too many matters demanding his attention. He had to instruct Gao Shenghan and the other array casters of the Profound Array Hall on improving the spirit-gathering array, monitor intelligence within the Void Psychic World, spare mental focus to track changes in the East Sea, and also devote time to advancing his own cultivation.

Artifact refinement, as important as it was, could only be delegated to the other artifact-refinement masters and grandmasters. He merely handled the final assembly and engraved the array patterns of the Thousand-Spirit Master.

This way, he only needed to devote a portion of his mental focus to ensure the Purple Firmament Institute’s normal operation and the continuous production of the improved Purple Firmament Type 15 flying swords.

"Fourth-generation flying swords..." An artifact-refining grandmaster beside Dong Liushui spoke with deep emotion. "I still can’t believe it. We actually managed to leap straight to refining fourth-generation high-grade treasured artifact flying swords. One or two years ago, we didn’t even have the ability to produce second-generation low-grade treasured artifact flying swords. Producing one or two of them every now and then required stacking excellent materials in the lab at a cost of hundreds of thousands, and mass production would've never been an option. But now—"

Dong Liushui interrupted, his voice firm, "Fourth-generation? You’re underestimating this flying sword. This sword has the same advantages as the improved Purple Firmament Type 12 model. It has extremely high compatibility with psychic thought and psychic consciousness. When our primordial psyche cultivators gain the upper hand, the ultimate power this sword can unleash will rival that of a fifth-generation flying sword! Do you know what that means?"

His eyes shone with sharp brilliance. "It means that a second-tier great sword cultivator can rely on this sword to contend with a fourth-tier great sword cultivator equipped with a first-generation high-grade treasured artifact! Even against the elites of the Great Sun Sword Sect, our men will be able to fight one against three!"

Those words made every refiner present draw sharp breaths. The Great Sun Sword Sect was the greatest obstacle to the Nine Cauldrons Sect reclaiming the East Sea. If the Nine Cauldrons Sect’s sword cultivators could truly fight them at one against three... Fully reclaiming the East Sea was no longer a distant goal!