No one expected that before support could arrive, the Five Elders Council would strike first.
Somehow, the news had leaked.
The assault came without warning. The entire exploration team within the wood-attribute grotto-heaven was annihilated.
According to the final messages they managed to transmit, the Five Elders Council had dispatched three Dao Unity-level powerhouses.
Working in concert, the three began forcibly dragging the five elements grotto-heavens toward Five Elders Council territory.
For the Myriad Immortals Alliance, this was intolerable.
Secret infiltration was one thing, but to openly massacre Alliance cultivators in broad daylight and seize priceless grotto-heaven resources?
It was an unforgivable humiliation.
The Myriad Immortals Alliance headquarters immediately decided to enter level two combat readiness. They first mobilized eight Dao Unity cultivators and several Spirit Transformation cultivators to pursue the Five Elders Council scoundrels.
Their mission: recover the five elements grotto-heavens at all costs.
Subsequently, they ordered all provinces to strengthen their defenses, preventing the Five Elders Council from using this as a feint for other schemes.
Relocating a grotto-heaven was no easy task, even for Dao Unity powerhouses.
Just as the eight Dao Unity cultivators and their forces caught up with the Five Elders Council scum and prepared to attack, they suddenly discovered the enemy had indeed planned this meticulously.
Besides the three Dao Unity cultivators who launched the overt surprise attack, there were five additional Dao Unity powerhouses lying in ambush.
It was eight versus eight.
A great battle erupted instantly.
The details and outcome of that battle remained unknown to all.
Only this much was clear: after the conflict, the five elements grotto-heavens remained in place.
Then, with tacit understanding, both the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council recalled their surviving Dao Unity cultivators.
What followed was a war centered around the five elements grotto-heavens, fought mainly by Spirit Transformation cultivators and those of lower cultivation.
The struggle lasted nearly eight months.
Countless cultivators fell.
Death phenomena lit up the skies from dawn till dusk, never ceasing even once.
Finally, when both sides had suffered grievous damage, the war abruptly and mysteriously came to an end.
The Myriad Immortals Alliance declared to its people that they had emerged victorious. For indeed, the five elements grotto-heavens were later relocated deep into their heartland, Tianyu Province.