Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er returned to Linhai City. Each day, aside from cultivation, he occupied himself with refining twelfth-tier spirit pills. His minor divine ability in alchemy had reached its later stages, making further advancement extremely difficult. Given the immense need for spirit stones in the coming war between Immortals and Demons, he needed to prepare for it now.

Half a month slipped by in an instant.

When the day appointed with Elder Jiang arrived, Ye Qin kept his appointment and headed to the Tiandao Merchant Guild in Linhai City to pay respects to Jiang Zhenyuan, a guest elder of the Northern Sect branch of the Tiandao Alliance.

Jiang Zhenyuan had recently succeeded in refining a batch of tenth-tier spirit pills, yielding several hundred high-grade elixirs, putting him in a remarkably cheerful mood. The usually cold and indifferent expression on his face even held a slight smile.

Leaving the merchant guild, the two strolled along, chatting, as they made their way toward the Tiandao Alliance branch established in Linhai City.

"Elder Jiang, how many guest elders of the Tiandao Alliance will be attending this council meeting?"

Ye Qin inquired. He knew the number of guest elders was minuscule, but he was entirely ignorant of the exact count.

"Heh, how would this old man possibly know such a thing! In the entire East Sea Cultivation World, only a select few know the true number of guest elders. Moreover, there are always new guest elders joining, and others passing away or falling in battle. Not all guest elders attend every council meeting. Today, only a small contingent from Linhai City and nearby immortal cities will be present; guest elders from more distant immortal cities likely won't have the leisure to travel here for the assembly."

Jiang Zhenyuan chuckled lightly.

"The five Sect Masters of the Tiandao Alliance—surely they know the number of guest elders?"

Ye Qin asked.

"The five great Sect Masters? They only know the count within their own sect branches; they are not privy to the others! The relationships between the five major branches are quite intricate; it would take a while to explain fully."

Jiang Zhenyuan shook his head.

"I confess my understanding of these matters is limited; I implore Elder Jiang to enlighten me further!"

Ye Qin said earnestly.

"Very well. This old man once served under Sect Master Yu of the Yuzong branch in Baifu Palace for a period, so I know a few behind-the-scenes details. I shall give you a brief rundown."

Jiang Zhenyuan paused in thought, then nodded his agreement.

"Hundreds of thousands of years ago, a group of exceptionally talented, progenitor-level cultivators crossed from the Central Land Cultivation World to the East Sea islands, establishing territories and founding the Tiandao Alliance. In its earliest days, the Tiandao Alliance did not consist of ten Sect Masters and an Elder Council."

"However, roughly a hundred thousand years ago, a massive schism crisis erupted within the Tiandao Alliance. Five of the Sect Masters defected and established the Tianmo Alliance, proclaiming themselves as 'Titans.' Since then, the Tianmo Alliance and the Tiandao Alliance have been separate entities. Currently, the Tiandao Alliance retains five Sect Masters—a number that has remained unchanged to this day."

"The five Sect Masters of the Tiandao Alliance are divided into five major branches: Central, Northern, Northeastern, Northwestern, and Western, each governing different sea regions under the East Sea's jurisdiction. Each major branch has its own Branch Elder Council and a single Sect Master."

"Within the Tiandao Alliance, the Elder Council holds the supreme status, followed by the five Sect Masters, who command and direct the numerous immortal palaces within their respective branches, handling all manner of complex affairs."

Having said this, Jiang Zhenyuan suddenly turned to Ye Qin and asked, "Do you know why both the Tiandao Alliance and the Tianmo Alliance are referred to as an 'Alliance' (Meng)?"

"Why?"

Ye Qin shook his head.

"Because of the Covenants (Mengyue)!!! The Elder Council of the Tiandao Alliance controls the Covenants of the Tiandao Alliance. For hundreds of thousands of years, all major and minor covenants throughout the East Sea have originated from the Tiandao Alliance Elder Council."

"I have a slight familiarity with this; the prohibition against Nascent Soul cultivators cultivating in the Central Land is one such covenant, is it not!?"

"Precisely. That is merely one clause of the Covenants. The Tiandao Alliance, considering the scarcity of spiritual resources in the Central Land, enacted this very famous covenant to prevent the cradle of cultivators—the Central Land Cultivation World—from being excessively depleted. Many Nascent Soul cultivators who violated this covenant were executed by the Tiandao Alliance's enforcement cultivators. Consequently, Nascent Soul cultivators gradually became rare in the Central Land."

"Yet, it was precisely disagreements over the Tiandao Alliance's Covenants that led to internal strife, causing half the Sect Masters to leave with a large contingent of immortal palace cultivators to establish their own alliance, forming the Tianmo Alliance. Therefore, the East Sea Cultivation World currently possesses two sets of 'Covenants.' Since the Tianmo Alliance's covenants were inherited from the Tiandao Alliance, the vast majority of their content is identical. Only one crucial core section differs. Cultivators from both immortal alliances share the same origin, and as long as the core divergence is not involved, they can cooperate most of the time."

Jiang Zhenyuan clarified the reason for the schism between the two immortal alliances, then continued, "Because the Tiandao Alliance Elder Council possesses the authority to draft and amend the Covenants, its position within the Alliance is paramount. The covenants established by the Tiandao Alliance Elder Council strictly control the order of the entire East Sea Cultivation World; no Sect Master or Titan may violate them."

"Both the Elder Council and the Sect Masters can nominate and recommend influential and powerful Nascent Soul cultivators to become functional elders. They also select cultivators with extremely high achievements in alchemy, artifact refining, talisman crafting, and numerous other fields to become guest elders for the various branches. These types of cultivators are exceedingly rare, so each branch guards them closely. A cultivator like you, originating from the Northern Purple Sword Immortal Palace, can only become a guest elder of the Northern Branch. Other branches will not easily overstep boundaries to recruit you."

"What about the Tianmo Alliance? Is their Elder Council structured the same way?"

Ye Qin inquired.

"The Tianmo Alliance also has guest elders, but the Titans' authority is significantly heavier than that of the Sect Masters," Jiang Zhenyuan explained with a smile.

"Although the Tiandao Alliance Elder Council holds supreme status, their membership list is never released publicly. As far as this old man knows, each of the five Sect Masters holds a copy of this guest elder roster." At this point, Jiang Zhenyuan’s expression grew serious.

"But the five Sect Masters do not exchange lists with each other. They only keep one copy of the list they possess on file at the Tiandao Alliance Elder Council headquarters in Xianque City as a backup, in case of accidental loss."

"Furthermore, the five Chief Elders from each branch of the Tiandao Alliance form a Chief Elder Assembly, holding immense authority. Only they are qualified to review all five of these lists and know the identity and origin of every guest elder."

"These five Chief Elders primarily reside in major immortal cities like Xianque City and Baifu City, rarely venturing out. Only during critical junctures do they convene the Elder Councils of the various branches for assembly. Even these five Chief Elders rarely meet one another, unless it is to establish a new covenant or for a major event that involves the entire Tiandao Alliance, such as the war between Immortals and Demons, at which point the Chief Elders will convene."

Jiang Zhenyuan’s explanation completely dispelled Ye Qin’s confusion, granting him a thorough understanding of the high-level structure of the Tiandao Alliance. He paused, musing, "Then today's council meeting is being convened by the Chief Elder of the Northern Branch?"

"Precisely," Jiang Zhenyuan smiled. "Only the Chief Elders truly know how many guest elders the Tiandao Alliance has; we cannot possibly know. Of course, some active guest elders are quite famous throughout the East Sea, known by almost everyone. But there are others who remain in closed-door cultivation for years, whose existence is unknown to anyone outside of the various Sect Masters and Chief Elders. These guest elders only appear when attending the Elder Council assembly; their status and background are usually hidden from the outside world."

"When we arrive at the Tiandao Alliance branch in Linhai City later, you should simply listen and avoid voicing strong opinions. The grand strategy of the Tiandao Alliance was finalized thousands, even tens of thousands of years ago. This current call to war is merely the execution of concrete deployments once the timing is ripe," Jiang Zhenyuan advised.

Ye Qin nodded slightly. This was his first time attending such a council meeting, and he was almost entirely unfamiliar with the proceedings, so listening was naturally the best course.

Chatting along the way, Jiang Zhenyuan and Ye Qin reached the Tiandao Alliance's Linhai City branch.

It was a magnificent hall, with vermilion and golden palace walls that were strikingly conspicuous. Above the palace gate, a golden plaque bore the boldly written, dragon-and-snake style characters for "Tiandao Alliance," followed by the five smaller characters for "Linhai City Branch." Outside the palace gates stood two rows of Golden Core cultivators, clad in armor and holding magical artifacts, their expressions solemn.

Not many cultivators were present here; compared to other bustling areas of Linhai City, it appeared quite deserted and cold.

In the open ground on either side of the gate, several spirit beast mounts had already been parked, bearing various subtle banners—clearly wishing to avoid drawing excessive attention.

"This is the Tiandao Alliance Branch. Halt! Please present your tokens for entry,"

A Golden Core guard stationed before the main hall immediately stepped forward upon seeing Ye Qin and Jiang Zhenyuan approach, speaking with respectful solemnity.

Ye Qin and Jiang Zhenyuan exchanged no pleasantries and each presented a black Guest Elder Token.

The black tokens in their hands now emitted a faint, unusual black radiance. A few inches above each token, the characters reading "Tiandao Alliance Northern Branch Guest Elder" faintly shimmered into existence.

The material of these tokens was highly specialized. The moment a cultivator channeled their true essence to make it glow, the token recorded that cultivator's aura. Even if another cultivator obtained it, the difference in aura would prevent it from illuminating. Even attempting to forcibly erase the recorded aura proved impossible. Thus, each guest elder's token was unique and could never be used by another.

Afterward, the two men retrieved their tokens.

The guard confirmed their status, gave a respectful bow, and was about to usher them inside when several cultivators in purple robes were seen approaching from a distance. These arrivals were Zhou Yu, the Palace Master of Purple Sword Palace, along with Grand Elder Zhou Hong, Young Master Zhou Yi, and others.

This council meeting was an internal assembly of the Northern Branch. In addition to the members of the Northern Elder Council, the Palace Masters of the four great immortal palaces—Purple Sword Palace, Shangtang Palace, Wanluo Palace, and Wunuer Palace—were also in attendance.

The appearance of Zhou Yu and his entourage here undoubtedly meant they were here for the assembly.

"Greetings, Palace Master, Grand Elder!"

Upon seeing the arrivals, Ye Qin immediately bowed to Zhou Yu and Zhou Hong, then smiled at Zhou Yi, "Greetings, Brother Zhou!"

"Ye Ji!"

Zhou Yi hastily returned the salute with a smile. Although Ye Qin's cultivation at the eighth layer of the Golden Core stage was one level below Zhou Yi’s ninth layer, since Ye Qin had succeeded as one of the five elders of Purple Sword Palace, his status as an elder was actually slightly higher than that of the Young Palace Master, so Zhou Yi dared not act presumptuously.

"Elder Ye... and Elder Jiang is here as well!"

Palace Master Zhou was momentarily stunned to see Ye Qin there, and then noticed Jiang Zhenyuan, a flicker of doubt crossing his mind. Palace Master Zhou had a very close relationship with Sect Master Yu of Baifu Palace and naturally recognized Guest Elder Jiang, who had once served as an external elder there. However, he had no idea how Ye Qin came to be consorting with Guest Elder Jiang, arriving at the gates of the Tiandao Alliance hall in Linhai City.

The guard noticed that these high-ranking Tiandao Alliance cultivators knew each other and appeared poised for conversation, so he discreetly retreated.