At the same time that the Grand Elder's voice died down, countless protective formations sprung from the heart of the Holy mountain, covering not just the Holy sect at the mountain's peak, but the entire Holy mountain in the blink of an eye.

These were the protective formations of the Holy sect that had been carved by many star-rank formation masters thousands of years ago.

Even if a large group of rank 9 Dao Emperors assaulted the Holy sect, these protective formations would stand strong without any issue.

But the Grand Elder knew, that in front of this purple-robed old man on the 'Hellfire crow's' back, it would need at most a couple of attacks before the Holy sect's protective formations were destroyed.

The purple-robed young woman's lips curved upwards when she saw these protective formations that could be destroyed even by the Hellfire crow she was standing, let alone the old man next to her.

At the same time, the old man shook his head and didn't pay any mind to these protective formations around the Holy sect, as if they were nothing but child's play in front of him, before he turned his gaze towards the Grand Elder behind them.

He could feel that this old man was the strongest person present in the Holy sect, a peak rank 9 Dao Emperor.

Although peak rank 9 Dao Emperors could travel through the central region unhindered and they would be considered high-level experts as well, in front of this purple-robed old man, Dao Emperors were nothing more than a bunch of children.

In the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time', Little Black who was previously lying on the ground with his eyes closed suddenly opened them a moment later, before he said in a solemn voice

''Master, that old man on the 'Hellfire crow's' back is a Sovereign realm cultivator.''

Shun Long had a look of surprise flash inside his eyes as he stared at the gigantic black crow in the sky. He could also guess that a group that would naturally strut around inside the Holy sect's territory and sit on the back of a peak rank 7 magic beast like the 'Hellfire crow', most likely belonged to -at the very least- an extremely powerful peak-stage Dao Emperor who was probably even stronger than the Grand Elder himself.

However, Shun Long hadn't expected that the old man on the bird's back was a Sovereign realm cultivator.

This was the first Sovereign realm expert that Shun Long had seen so far in the central region.

Whether it was the inner court Elders of the sect, Jiang Chen's father, Jiang Tianfang, or even the Grand Elder himself, none of them had managed to breakthrough to the Sovereign realm yet and become Sovereign realm experts.

From this fact alone, it wasn't hard to guess how difficult it really was for someone to become a Sovereign realm expert.

From the experts that most people in the Holy sect's territory knew of, only the sect master of the Holy sect was rumored to have reached the Sovereign realm.

And yet, this purple-robed old man was an expert at the same level as the sect master.

The purple-robed old man, 'uncle Mo', smiled as he looked at the Grand Elder, before he said in a calm voice

''It looks like Ye Hong isn't present here today. It doesn't matter, you will do as well. My young lady is named Bai Liuxian, and she comes from the Bai clan of Starmist city. I heard that your Holy sect has quite a few geniuses while my young lady just happens to lack some followers to take with her in the City of Immortals.''

The Grand Elder stared at the old man in front of him with a look of astonishment on his face, before he turned his gaze towards the beautiful, purple-robed young woman who was sitting a few meters away from him.

Previously, he hadn't paid any attention to this young woman since he could sense that she was nothing more than a small, Dao King realm cultivator, but now, the Grand Elder had a serious look on his face as he looked at her.

Seeing the word 'Bai' on the young woman's robes, the Grand Elder turned solemn while the 3 inner court Elders behind him all sucked in breaths of cold air.

Naturally, the Grand Elder wasn't surprised that someone like this purple-robed old man would know of the sect master's actual name. After all, the Grand Elder had already verified that this old man in front of him was also a Sovereign realm expert.

But the words 'Bai clan' were enough to make the Grand Elder look especially solemn.

The surname 'Bai' wasn't too uncommon within the central region, and it was common for plenty of families and clans to share the same surname.

However, the Grand Elder knew that there was only a single Bai clan in Starmist city.

It was one of the oldest, richest, and most powerful clans in the entire central region.

The Bai clan was one of the true superpowers in the central region. Even Sovereign realm experts wouldn't dare to go against this clan. It wasn't a power that the Holy sect could compare to.

The Grand Elder didn't know Bai Liuxian's status within the Bai clan, but from the fact that she had a Sovereign realm expert following behind her, he knew that she wasn't someone that others would want to offend unless there was a serious reason.

Bai Liuxian didn't pay much attention to the Grand Elder, as she turned her head to look at the Holy sect below her and noticed, that nearly every single disciple within the sect was gathered in the arena in the outer court.

''Eh? It seems that there is something going on in your Holy sect today?''

The Grand Elder nodded his head as he looked at this purple-robed young woman, but the ugly look on his face indicated that he understood, that Bai Liuxian's visit today was most likely going to be bad news.