The most bustling peak of the Gracious Sword Sect was dead silent tonight.
Only rustling footsteps echoed in the far corner of the peak as a group of old and young cultivators walked towards the very edge of the first peak.
They were heading towards the endless ravine's edge.
The deep ditch between the peaks is called Endless Ravines. And to cross them, disciples use chain bridges.
These ditches are termed endless because no one could see their bottom. And if someone were to fall in it, there was no chance of them coming back alive.
And these Khai's were not actually human-made by peak cultivators, but rather, these were natural structures that existed for millennia.
In fact, the main reason for the Gracious Sword Sect to be situated here was because of the ravines, which gave a natural defense against infiltration.
However, there was one disadvantage that the sect had to suffer from these Endless Ravines.
On the edge of the first peak, there existed a specific species of poisonous vines. These vines have curved thorns on their branches, which will paralyze the person if they come in contact with human skin.
Unfortunately, the poison in these vines can't be harvested, or else it would have given a big boost to the poison arts department of the sect.
But the worst part of these poisonous vines was that they grow at a rapid rate, and if not removed in time, they might even cover the whole first peak. And to remove them, they need to make the area devoid of any qi and burn the vines.
However, because they had to make the site bereft of qi, it was impossible to use cultivation techniques to take out this nuisance, and the usual fire didn't work on these vines.
That was why, every few years, the sect needed an array to temporarily remove the qi from this region and make a huge blast to obliterate the vines.
The sect had no permanent solution because the vines sprouted once again after every few years.
Since creating a huge explosion and managing the array took lots of resources, Sect Leader Su suddenly came with the idea of using the Sleeper Cells as the blast and removing the vines for the next few years.
This would save quite a good amount of resources that would have made the bomb that would create the blast.
Thus, under the illusion by Grand Elder Li, the Sleeper Cells were now walking towards the endless ravines, followed by the higher-ups of the gracious Sword Sect and three disciples, Ye Tian Yun, Yuan Shuchun, and Jun Xie.
After a few minutes, Grand Elder Li, who was just behind the Sleeper Cells, suddenly gestured to the rest of the people behind him to stop.
And after taking a few steps ahead, he came to a halt, though the Sleeper Cells continued to walk, still with a dazed expression.
After they had come close to the edge and were standing in the middle of the vines, Grand Elder Li made them stop in one place.
The three-hour time limit was about to end, and all the Gracious Sword Sect members awaited to see the Sleeper Cells explode.
And as the time came closer, Sect Leader Su stepped forward and began to make hand gestures.
Suddenly, a vast net-like dome began to take shape as it illuminated in the night.
The dome soon covered the whole edge, forming a three-quarter sphere, completely covering the poisonous vines.
This sphere was made of yellow lines which connected, forming a huge net.
And after the whole net covered the vines, these lines began to shine brightly.
They shone so brightly that the night turned into the day all of a sudden, and the net now seemed like a solid sphere. The lines were indecipherable.
After reaching what could be called the peak of its brightness, the sphere began to seemingly calm down and started to dim.
Everyone noticed that this sphere now didn't have any net, but rather, there was a thin yellow screen that formed a sphere around the vines.
They were able to see through this sphere and could easily understand what was going on.
"The array has removed all the Qi inside this sphere," At this time, Grand Elder Li spoke aloud, telling everyone about what was going on.
He continued, "Now, you will see those plants come to life."
His words confused many, but not for long as the vines in the array suddenly began to agitate and twitch, like a person trying to breathe oxygen in space.
As the vines began to scrunch, Grand Elder Li suddenly moved his right hand and made few gestures.
The Sleeper Cells in the array suddenly came back to their senses. He had removed the illusion.
Han Zemin, who was injured due to the assassination incident earlier, let out a groan as he fell on the ground, unable to control his body due to the intense pain.
The others also came back to their senses and were stunned to find themselves out in the ground.
Everyone tried to understand what was happening, just then, one of them shouted.
"Ah!"
This no doubt attracted everyone's attention, and they suddenly found themselves unable to move.
The vines had wrapped themselves around their legs.
Few of them while they tried to run.
And as they began to panic, one of them suddenly shouted, "Look!"
Turning their heads towards that disciple, they found him pointing straight up ahead.
When they looked in that direction, they were shocked to see the sect members, primarily elders, standing past a yellow layer.
One of the disciples recognized Yuan Shuchun, and he called out, "Senior Sister Yuan Shuchun, please help!"
"Elders! Please help us!"
"What's happening!?"
"Please take us out of here!"
The disciples began to cry for help, but the people standing outside the circle stood motionless.
They showed no signs of pity or any gesture of help.
In fact, most of them were looking at the disciples with intense hatred and anger.
To them, the youngsters inside the array were not disciples, not even humans, but ticking bombs which their enemy wanted to use on them.
Sect Leader Su took a deep breath and said, "I can't help but be disappointed in the vetting system of our sect. These sleeper cells are only the ones who were present on the First peak. And these are from one single enemy."
"Imagine how many spies are in the sect and how many powers have infiltrated our sect. How could I treat the other disciples inside the sect fairly when I now have this suspicion that they could be a spy."
"What if there are sleeper Cells from other powers? Though this sounds ridiculous, we can't deny this possibility."
"To rise to our current power, the Gracious Sword Sect had faced many enemies and created enmities with many powers. If only one of them can damage our foundation seriously, imagine what other powers could do?"
"Tonight's incident is a warning single for us. The only reason why we can normally talk right now is because of our luck. And luck is unpredictable."
"Our luck will soon run out, and we won't even get the chance to know what hit us before losing everything."
"Out sect needs a thorough clean up. Every member of the sect needs to be verified and cross-checked. We can't let a single spy from our enemies remain in our sect."
"Grand Spirit Hunt is also approaching. We have already lost Jiang Yun. We can't lose any more of our core disciples."
"For the next one month, I want each disciple's background to be verified. And if I see any of the elders slacking in this task, they will be stripped off their position."
"I don't want any leechers in this sect. If you still can't understand the severity of tonight's incident, the sect does not need you. It's better than someone who cares about the sect replaces you."
"And I want you to first focus on the new batch of disciples which we recruited in the last Sect Entrance Exam. After that, slowly move upwards in the sect ranks."
Everyone nodded their head in agreement. The trapped Sleeper Cells were enough to alarm them about the hole in the security of the sect.
No one wanted a similar incident to happen ever again.
Grand Elder Xuan also nodded and said, "So, Sect Leader Su, we should then cancel all the missions."
"Of course," Sect Leader Su nodded his head, and while staring at the sleeper Cells in the array, he said, "We won't give these people a second chance. The Devil Sect… hmm... Let's see how powerful they are."
And without waiting, he turned and started heading back to the sect.
Others also followed him, and after a few moments, there were sudden cries as the night sky suddenly lit up, turning the night into day with an instant.
BOOM!
The Sleeper Cells had exploded!
...
A/n: If you find any typos, please let me know through the comments.