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A dazzling holy light streaked across the sky above St. Caroline Academy, turning the night into day.

“He’s here.”

The vice dean’s eyes lit up as he told the instructors around him, “Get ready to welcome him.”

“Understood.”

The instructors bowed slightly before leaving to begin making the necessary arrangements.

The dazzling white holy light stayed in the sky for a moment before falling like a meteor, giving off a burst of light the moment it made contact with the ground.

Even with the vice dean’s powerful cultivation, the blinding light that rivaled the destruction of a star forced him to close his eyes.

Flip, flop, flip, flop…

Footsteps were heard.

When the vice dean’s vision adapted, the first thing that entered his line of sight was a pair of worn out flip-flops. Anyone could instantly tell that they were those that peddlers would sell five pairs for ten copper coins at the side of the road.

The vice dean was slightly stunned as he wondered to himself why would the most powerful being on the main continent lead such a simple life.

The guest crossed his arms in front of his chest. Underneath his plain shirt were bulging muscles.

The person who did not seem to care about his appearance greeted with a low voice, “It’s been awhile, Vice Dean.”

“A while? It has only been two days.” The vice dean smiled. “Yet the aura that Lord Taylor is exuding seems to have become increasingly overwhelming.”

Taylor faked a smile and said, “Nothing like that, I’m actually very friendly.”

He was at Fragrant Jasmine not long ago, squandering his fortune. He even had to give up his allowance money for a new pair of underwear, just to get the most popular courtesan, Lady Claudia, in his room.

He was only explaining how he trained to get his huge pecs, which was still far from his main objective of showing the lady his inner thigh muscles, when he got interrupted by some emperor who summoned him here over a national crisis.

So, Taylor was actually being as kind as he could for not razing this academy to the ground.

The vice dean brought Taylor to the academy’s conference room. As soon as they took their seats, a slender female instructor served them tea. The uniform and black stockings she was wearing did nothing to hide her good figure.

Taylor secretly ogled at her, feeling the anger in his heart slowly dissipating.

About a dozen people had arrived in the conference room before them. Most of them were drowsy, gray-haired old men. Yet, the aura leaked out of their hunched bodies was a stark contrast to their appearance.

They reminded Taylor of lions in their twilight years. Great power still existed in their aged bodies.

When those old men saw Taylor taking his seat, they rose and bowed slightly to him as a sign of respect.

After all, this person who was known as the “strongest trump card of the Holy Dragon Empire” was far superior to them in terms of strength and seniority.

“Lord Taylor is our final attendee. Since everyone has arrived, let’s begin.”

The vice dean looked around the conference room and said, “I believe everyone already knows why you are summoned here this time.”

“Naturally, but…”

Seated in the far corner of the conference room, a man with white eyebrows and beard slowly opened his cloudy eyes. “I can’t help but wonder, is it really necessary to involve this group of old bones to deal with that Golden Demon Htilil?”

The others also nodded in agreement, obviously having the same question in their mind.

Apart from Taylor, the other attendees were the oldest and most powerful beings among the human race. In fact, their average age was more than a thousand years. It was no exaggeration to say that they already had one foot in the grave.

Yet these old bones were the most mysterious “aces” of the human race.

In the long river of time, as countless generations passed, nations would always hide some aces.

Although it was impossible to hide the Heavenly Tribulations that occurred every time someone broke through beyond the saint realm, it was certainly possible to fake a person’s death.

Therefore, most of the people here had been officially declared dead and they were secrets retained by their own respective nations.

There were two reasons for this. First, to be able to set up an impregnable defense in the shortest possible time as a contingency plan to battle the invasion of the demon race if their enemies ever breached the fronts. Second, to deliver a fatal blow to that accursed demon king at the most critical moment and completely eradicate the threat once and for all.

Yet now, they were invited to a mission that belonged to neither of the above mentioned categories. Since none of them had heard of that Golden Demon, they were naturally confused.

After all, deterrent like them should remain hidden to maintain effectiveness. It was just not worth revealing their identity unnecessarily. It might even put the human race at an extremely disadvantageous position in defeating the demon race.

“Of course there is!”

The vice dean clenched his fist tightly and looked at the crowd with great seriousness. “This is already a matter of life and death for the human race.”

The moment these words left the vice dean’s lips, the atmosphere in the room grew tense.

Matter of life and death?

Already to that extent?

The crowd, who still had little understanding of the current situation, exchanged looks with each other.

Taylor frowned while stroking his chin. “I’ve only been away for a few days and things have already escalated to this point? Did the Golden Demon Htilil get stronger again and the trap that the academy had laid out is no longer enough to deal with her?”

The vice dean let out a long sigh and began recounting the recent events—from the moment Golden Demon Htilil first revealed her identity, to the incident that happened in the Ancient Ruins, then the honorable sacrifice of their students and lastly, the appearance of their impostors.

The crowd listened carefully. The more they listened, the more serious their expressions became.

As soon as the vice dean finished speaking, the meeting table in front of him was pulverized with a loud smash.

An old man, dressed in white robes and sitting in the first left seat, was trembling with anger. His palm was still hovering in mid-air, where it last made contact with the wooden table.

“Preposterous! How dare that Golden Demon slay the princess of my Macedonian Empire! I swear, this old man will make sure she is eliminated!”

The light in the vice dean’s eyes dimmed slightly. To think that one of the sacrifices was the leader of an empire. This was definitely a hard pill for the Macedonian Empire, whose previous emperor had just passed away a few years ago, to swallow.

Frankly speaking, the cause of all this was the sloppy plan that his academy proposed to hunt down the Golden Demon Htilil in the Ancient Ruins. It had led to Princess Lesiah risking her own life and unfortunately falling into the clutches of that Golden Demon.

At this point, the only thing the vice dean could do was to temporarily conceal this news to ensure that the Macedonian Empire would not fall into chaos, then offer the Golden Demon’s head to the people of Macedonian Empire to appease them.

Golden Demon Htilil must die here!

Another person in the room asked, “That Golden Demon is indeed terrifying, but your academy should be well prepared. And with the Aurora Dragon’s help, you shouldn’t be needing old bones like us, right?”

The vice dean seemed to be prepared for this question, and answered with a convincing tone, “Our objective in requesting your presence here today through persuading the esteemed leaders of your nations is to have a guarantee that we will be able to kill Golden Demon Htilil. Your aid is only needed when truly necessary.”

Everyone nodded in response.

The vice dean smiled wryly. “After all, the human race is still too weak to even spare a handful of peak saint-level experts. The strongest of our race are either resisting the demon race at the frontlines or steadily aging like all of you.”

The vice dean raised his head and gazed into the distance.

“And for this exact reason, we must forge ahead. How can we think about defeating the demon race and thriving if we can’t even handle Golden Demon Htilil? This is a battle that must be won.”