Cultivation Online

Chapter 2678: The Assembly

As they approached the white building in the distance, Yuan glanced at Ironwoman as he noticed that her hair was a different color than usual.

Noticing Yuan’s gaze, Ironwoman turned to look at him, and that’s when Yuan noticed that her eyes had also changed color.

"Are you wondering about my disguise?" she asked.

"Somewhat, but I can already guess why."

"Oh? You can? Let’s hear it."

Yuan shrugged and revealed his thoughts.

"There’s only one reason anyone disguises themselves—to hide their true identity. And considering you’re going out of your way to enhance your disguise when you already wear a mask all the time, I can only assume there’s someone at the assembly who might recognize you, and you’re trying to prevent that."

"..."

The Ironwoman fell silent at his words.

"Did I get it wrong?" Yuan asked.

"I’m not telling you," she replied.

Yuan smiled and didn’t pursue the matter further.

But that was not the end of the conversation, as the Supreme General suddenly turned to look at Yuan and asked, "And why are you wearing a mask? Are you also trying to hide your identity from someone in the assembly?"

"I don’t want to disrupt the assembly with my handsome face," he joked, leaving both the Supreme General and Ironwoman speechless.

Of course, Ironwoman was well aware of the real reason Yuan was hiding his face—that he was actually the main subject of the assembly.

One would expect the Ironwoman or General Mei to reveal this information to the Supreme General before the assembly, but they kept it to themselves.

It wasn’t that they didn’t trust the Supreme General, either. They simply decided to let Yuan handle it all by himself.

"We have arrived," the servant announced as they reached the gate.

When it opened, a single path was revealed, lined with flowers on both sides and leading toward another gate at the entrance of the massive white building.

Although they couldn’t see them from where they stood, eight other similar paths surrounded the building, each designated for a different city.

The servant continued leading Yuan and the others into the building. Inside, they were greeted by a grand hallway adorned with paintings and other works of art.

At the end of the hallway stood a large door that opened into a spacious white chamber with a massive circular table at its center.

Nine seats were arranged around the table, each marked with a distinct flag representing one of the nine cities.

Just as the representatives of Gaia’s Heaven stepped into the room, the representatives from the other eight cities entered as well.

Without exchanging a word, the highest-ranking authority from each group made their way to the table and took their seats, while everyone else remained standing along the walls.

Once all of the seats were occupied, a tenth individual stepped forward and spoke loudly, "Gaia’s Heaven."

"Present," the Supreme General said aloud.

"Spirit City."

"Present."

The man continued calling out every single city one by one.

"Ember City... Eastern Dawn... Mirage City... Rising Sun... Cloudpiercer... Jade City... Heavenly Furnace..."

"Present."

Once all nine cities had been called and accounted for, the man announced, "The assembly will now begin."

However, a long moment passed, and nobody spoke. Instead, eight of the nine people at the table turned their attention to the representative from Ember City, the one who had called the assembly.

The representative from Ember City cleared his throat before speaking.

"I called for this assembly for one reason—to talk about a new enemy that may pose a serious threat to humanity. I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors by now, but we recently discovered a new type of Void Specter... one capable of perfectly disguising itself as a human."

No one responded or showed any surprise upon hearing this, as they had all already learned about it through the investigation not long ago.

"I will now allow the soldiers who encountered this Void Specter, which we have nicknamed the Impersonator, to recount their experience."

At his gesture, several soldiers stepped forward.

Yuan raised an eyebrow when he recognized them. They were the same soldiers he had encountered in the Black Zone.

"My name is..."

The soldiers introduced themselves before recounting their encounter with Yuan.

"We were carrying out a mission in the Black Zone when we came across what appeared to be a lone, lost soldier. At first, we thought he might need help, so we approached him."

"However, the moment we got close, he suddenly attacked us and killed one of our men. We fought back and nearly managed to corner him, but that was when he—it revealed its true fangs. It used an ability that only the Void Hunter should be capable of wielding, instantly killing and vaporizing one of our soldiers with nothing more than a touch!"

"At that point, we ran like our lives depended on it..."

Yuan was left speechless after hearing the soldiers’ recollection of their encounter.

’These guys are lying off their asses!’ he cried inwardly.

"Can you go into more detail about this Impersonator?" one of the representatives asked.

"When we encountered it, it had taken on the appearance of a soldier from Gaia’s Heaven."

The Supreme General raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, while several others turned to look in his direction.

Of course, this alone meant nothing beyond the fact that the Impersonator had taken the appearance of someone from their city.

The soldiers described the Impersonator’s appearance a moment later.

"It had black hair, brown eyes, a tall stature, and..."

As the Supreme General listened to the description of the Impersonator, a certain face surfaced in his mind. He felt an urge to turn around and look at Yuan, but managed to restrain himself.

’Surely, it must be a coincidence...’ he tried to convince himself.

Once the soldiers finished speaking, one of the representatives said, "I hope you have actual evidence to support this discovery. You can’t seriously expect us to believe all of this based solely on the testimony of a few soldiers from your own city."