"From this moment on, the Sword Cosmos is under the ruling of the Curry Sword Sect.
If any of you dare to object to this, I will return and handle you as I deem fit. In fact, I may decide to
destroy the whole clan."
Austin's voice from the message he had left in the ancestral land of the Xi'men Clan echoed loudly for a
long time.
For a moment, everything in the ancestral land of the Xi'men Clan was dead silent because no one
dared to say anything.
Although Austin had left, his power still haunted them.
"We are safe now!"
"Leader, Austin finally left!"
a few members of the Xi'men Clan cried out in joy.
The leader of the Xi'men Clan and the six governing gods, however, looked sullen. They watched
Austin's retreating back and they didn't respond to their people.
They were not reconciled at all.
In fact, what Austin had said irritated them deeply.
'Is there really no other options for the Xi'men Clan apart from handing over the ruling power of the
Sword Cosmos?' they all wondered, scratching their heads.
Unfortunately, if they acted,
Austin would return and his fighting power would overcome all of them.
"Austin has left the ancestral land of the Xi'men Clan!"
"Yes! And he agreed to that mysterious woman's request. He let the Xi'men Clan go!"
"The woman! She was the one who saved the clan!"
All throughout the Sword Cosmos, countless creatures were talking about the event.
"Will Austin take down the remaining two major forces in one go?"
"Can you guess which force Austin will attack next?"
"The Sky Sword Sect or the Long Sword Sect? I'm so curious! I can hardly wait!"
The creatures in the headquarters of the Xi'men Clan were also gossiping after Austin's departure.
Meanwhile,
in the headquarters of the Sky Sword Sect,
all the senior members of the Sky Sword Sect were gathered in a magnificent conference hall.
"Leader, the Flying Immortal Sword Sect is not allowed out of their headquarters.
And it seems that the Xi'men Clan have stopped fighting Austin too.
Out of the four major forces, only the Long Sword Sect and our Sky Sword Sect are left.
It will be more difficult to deal with Austin with only two of us,"
a senior member of the sect informed the leader, looking very worried.
"You're right. That little bastard has grown strong.
Even if we worked together with the other force, we can't beat him."
One of the other senior members agreed. They all shook their heads and sighed.
"In my opinion, I think the Sky Sword Sect should stay inside and never go out again.
That way, Austin won't have any reason to come after us,"
an old man in grey robes who was sitting cross-legged beside the sect leader suggested in a slow
voice.
He was a reclusive elder of the sect.
"No.
That will make us look like cowards!
We are the Sky Sword Sect, one of the four major forces! We have been this way for too long. We can't
show our weakness to a young man!
If we were to do that, the Sky Sword Sect would become a laughingstock in the Sword Cosmos!"
a relatively radical senior member exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.
"I know what you mean,
but we aren't strong enough to beat Austin. That is the sad truth.
And we can't deny that
if we confront him head on to make us look less weak,
he will put us all in our place. The result will be miserable for us.
You all saw what happened to the Flying Immortal Sword Sect and the Xi'men Clan. How could we let
the same happen to us?"
another senior member commented.
"Leader, what do you think?"
another one asked, looking directly at the sect leader.
In an instant, all the eyes of the senior members in the hall were on the leader.
"Leader, it's time to make a decision.
We want to avoid Austin coming here,"
the old man in grey reminded.
"We will neither fight him, nor yield to him,"
the leader answered.
That wasn't the answer that they were expecting. All of their eyes widened and their jaws dropped.
"What do you mean?"
someone asked.
"I think I was pretty clear.
We will neither face Austin nor make peace with him,"
the leader repeated.
However, the others still didn't understand what their sect leader really meant.
"Okay. I'll dumb it down. We're going to give up our current headquarters and find another place to hide
for the time being.
Once things settle down, we will find a way to deal with Austin,"
the leader explained.
"So we're going to hide?"
a senior member asked again.
"That's right.
That's exactly what we're going to do,"
the leader replied with a nod.
"Hide?"
Everyone looked worried. They exchanged complicated looks with each other and didn't say anything
more.
Never before had they been forced into hiding.
It was the most shameful punishment of all.
"Guys, I've thought about it. We are stuck in our current situation and we must do what is best for the
longevity of our sect.
A wise man won't suffer losses when he doesn't have to. As long as we stay alive, there will always be
hope for us,"
the leader comforted his men.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the hall dipped. Everyone still seemed hesitant.
The senior members of the Sky Sword Sect had always been arrogant and commanding. They never
walked away from a fight.
But they also understood that their sect leader was wise and looking after their best interests.
In the end, hiding was the best choice for the Sky Sword Sect,
because the sect didn't have the strength to fight against Austin right now.
After a lot of thought, they began to voice out their opinions.
"I agree with you, leader.
We need to stay alive and become stronger.
Austin is now in full swing. We can't afford to fight him head on now,"
the old man in grey said, breaking the silence.
"I agree."
"Leader, you are right."
It took a while but all the other senior members of the Sky Sword Sect were finally on the same page
again.
They had witnessed Austin's horrifying power many times and they had no interest in challenging him
now.
"Since you all agree, we should move now.
Tell everyone to pack up and leave as soon as possible.
Remember, Austin is greedy. Try your best to take all the valuable things with you so he gets nothing,"
the leader announced.
Immediately, the rest of the group stood up and scurried off to prepare for their departure.
A few minutes later,
all the people of the Sky Sword Sect were gathered around an ancient altar.
This altar had been property of the Sky Sword Sect since the ancient times.
The sect leader and several governing gods worked together to activate the altar.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The altar shook violently, burst out strong transmission energy, and transferred all the people of the Sky
Sword Sect somewhere deep into the void.
In the blink of an eye, they were all gone.
Shortly after they had left the headquarters,
Austin arrived.
"Look!
Austin is going to attack the Sky Sword Sect!"
one of the many creatures in the Sword Cosmos that were watching Austin said.
Since there were no guards to stop him, Austin entered the headquarters of the Sky Sword Sect easily.
"What? There is no one here!
What happened? Where did they go?"
Standing in the headquarters of the Sky Sword Sect, Austin was stunned. He walked around and
checked every crack and crevice.
It was all empty.
What was more, there was nothing valuable that he could find.
"They escaped."
Austin thought for a while and realized what had happened. A bitter smile overtook his face.
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