Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
After the Sirius Grand Sage took his leave, a lady in white appeared in front of the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage.
It was her disciple, Long Ye.
Long Ye arrived before her master and raised her thick eyebrows slightly. “Master, does the Celestial Sect Leader know that the Big Luo Hades is the son of the Hades Emperor Tian Hai?”
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage’s eyes flickered upon hearing her question. “He probably knows.”
Long Ye continued, “In spite of that, he insists on taking the Big Luo Hades in as his Immediate Disciple. Is he being reckless or just completely fearless?”
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage smiled, “That’s not important. What’s important is how the others would deal with this matter.”
“Judging by the current state of the Divine Lands, the recent War of the Two Worlds created a rift in the balance between the two great forces, the Celestial Sect of Wonders and the Great Void Sect.” Long Ye said, “Currently, the Celestial Sect wields immense power while the Great Void Sect has weakened considerably. The only way for the Great Void Sect to reverse the power dynamics would be to unite all the other sects in the Divine Lands to their side. However, the majority of the cultivators in the Divine Lands are allied with the Celestial Sect, upsetting the balance even further. If the Celestial Sect does not commit a blunder, or does not experience external pressure and unexpected changes, the Great Void Sect would find it incredibly difficult to regain their former glory even when their Supreme Heavenly Mirror is fully repaired.”
Long Ye looked around. “But with the Celestial Sect Leader stubbornly accepting the Big Luo Hades as his disciple and broadcasting this announcement to the world, it’s difficult to predict how the other human forces would think. The Great Void Sect may have a chance at redemption. That being said, if there is indeed no secret communication or collusion between the Celestial Sect Leader and the Hades Tribe, then it would be extremely easy to prove his innocence.”
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage placed her hands behind her back and said calmly, “In that case, we’ll just see what the Illusory Sun Hades chooses to do now.”
Long Ye looked at her master. “Does Master mean that, if the Hades Tribe chooses to go with the flow and exposes their ‘collusion’ through a series of planned blunders, it would raise the suspicions of the other human forces in the Divine Lands against the Celestial Sect?”
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage replied, “During the recent War of the Two Worlds, Lin Feng, his Celestial Sect of Wonders, and his Heaven-Destroying Sword dealt our demon tribes a swift defeat and scored a victory for the human sects. The human world subsequently clinched a towering advantage over us after the battle. Under such circumstances, if the Barren Expanses wanted to make a comeback and raise our strength, we would have to weaken our enemies.”
“An internal conflict within the Divine Lands where the Celestial Sect battles the other human forces would naturally achieve the desired effect. It just depends on whether the Illusory Sun Hades intends to subdue his anger. After all, having the son of the Hades Emperor enter an opposing sect was overwhelmingly humiliating for the Hades Tribe.”
After listening to the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage’s explanation, Long Ye conjured a thought in her mind. “I don’t know the Illusory Sun Hades very well, so I wouldn’t comment obnoxiously. But after observing him in the recent War of the Two Worlds, he still seems arrogant, but unlike the dragon tribes, he also seems very pragmatic. They certainly had the short end of the stick when the Big Luo Hades betrayed them to join the Celestial Sect. Since he could not exterminate the Big Luo Hades, he might use this against them and recuperate his losses in another way.”
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage replied, “We’ll have to look at this realistically. Whether it’s a battle over the Spirit Sea, or another War of the Two Worlds, there would definitely be another deathmatch between the Celestial Sect and the Hades Tribe. All the rumors will be automatically dissolved then. But before that, unless the Celestial Sect confronts the Hades Tribe directly for a battle, the Celestial Sect Leader would find it difficult to clear the allegations placed on him. Disrupting him for this short period of time would be more than enough for us. After all, as long as the Great Void Sect can find a reason to pick a fight with them, we can just watch the drama from the sidelines along with all the other demon tribes.”
Long Ye cracked a peculiar smile. “An internal conflict within the human cultivation world would be giving us a free advantage. That’s why the Celestial Sect and the Great Void Sect would restrain themselves, but if one of those sides was possibly colluding with the demon tribes, they would naturally have other considerations.”
She chuckled, “I just don’t know whether the Celestial Sect Leader would really declare war on the Hades Tribe to prove his innocence?”
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage also let out a laugh. “That depends on how the Illusory Sun Hades reacts. If the Hades Tribe retreats back into the Obsidian Realm, the Celestial Sect Leader would not be able to seek them out without adequate information about their location. If he really intends to rage war on them, the Illusory Sun Hades can make the battle seem like a rehearsed covert act if he plays his cards right.”
“Once the seeds of suspicion are planted, they would germinate and grow on their own.”
She turned around and glanced at Long Ye, chuckling, “On the other hand, if the Hades Tribe makes peace with the Celestial Sect and willingly sends the Hades Emperor’s son to the Celestial Sect Leader, it would deal a great blow to the Hades Tribe’s reputation in the Divine Lands, regardless whether it’s a collaboration or a suspicious collusion.”
“It may not be bad for the Illusory Sun Hades to engage in a deathmatch against the Celestial Sect either. The Celestial Sect Leader may be strong, but if he wages war on the Hades Tribe with the intention of eliminating the entire tribe, he won’t be able to accomplish his goal that easily. The Origins Celestial Dragon is extremely frustrated from being cooped up in the Black Sea. Once he joins the scene, another War of the Two Worlds might erupt again.”
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage raised her head to gaze into the void space. “For us, the more chaotic the situation, the better, regardless whether it’s the overall state of the Grand Celestial World or the conflict at the Spirit Sea.”
Long Ye nodded. After a while, she suddenly thought of something and asked the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage, “Master, if we leak the news out, wouldn’t the Celestial Sect and the Hades Tribe both direct their attention at us?”
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage smiled, “With the Serene Still Revolving Formation, even the fully repaired Supreme Heavenly Mirror cannot find us that easily as long as we maintain a low profile and not reveal our whereabouts. Even though the Celestial Sect Leader does not practice Buddhism, you can tell that he’s equally masterful in its mantras, with no one else coming close to his level besides the Cosmic Marble Buddha. However, even he wouldn’t be able to pinpoint our exact location that easily.”
“The Illusory Sun Hades underwent more than one Second Tribulation of Destiny, possessing frightening levels of abhijina and demonic energy. My skills cannot compare to his gift of deductive senses, but he can’t find us without adequate clues, so we must be careful.”
Long Ye exposed a faint smile. “Yes, we’ll just have to trouble you for that, Master.”
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage said, “The Sirius Grand Sage knows it himself. As long as he exercises adequate caution, both the Celestial Sect Leader and the Hades Tribe won’t give him a hard time even if he can’t find us.”
“How many things in this world actually come without a cost? If we want something, we’ll naturally have to endure the necessary risks.”
Long Ye nodded. The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage continued, “You should train in peace too. The success of your plans ultimately depends on your own competence. You can only achieve your ambitions this way.”
“Yes, Master.” Long Ye bowed and took her leave.
The Heavenly Charms Grand Sage remained there alone, staring aimlessly at the void space. Her eyes were gradually losing their focus. “Master, I’m not a Hades Beast. Why must I exhaust a lifetime’s worth of effort to serve them without any regard for myself? I want to be loyal all my life. If Ning Wan’ge wants to treat herself as a human and help the Celestial Sect, it’s her business. I want to fight for myself!”
After the news of Big Luo becoming Lin Feng’s disciple spread through the lands following the thirty-six chimes of the bell on Mount Yujing, it churned up waves of commotion and disturbance. Before the first wave died down, another rose up, shocking the Grand Celestial World once more with another earth-shattering piece of news.
The Big Luo Hades was not just a descendant of the Hades Tribe, or any ordinary Hades Beast for that matter. He was the son of the former Hades Emperor Tian Hai!
As the word spread, an earthquake rumbled through the lands. An ordinary Hades Beast could still arguably forsake his tribe and severe all ties with his bloodline, but the son of the Hades Emperor himself was a different matter. After all, aside from a small group of people, no one knew the former Hades Emperor’s arrangements nor Big Luo’s history.
The son of the former Hades Emperor actually became Lin Feng’s Immediate Disciple. This matter instantly aroused numerous speculations in the minds of many. Not only did it shake up the Divine Lands, the demon tribes of the Barren Expanses also began monitoring the developments of this situation closely.
Yet at the eye of the storm, everything was still and calm at the Celestial Sect in the Kunlun Mountains. Lin Feng was seemingly unfazed by the ripples in the outside world. Under his suppression efforts, no disturbances from the outside world could come within considerable distance of the Celestial Sect.
Although the waves were roaring in, perhaps even swaying their previous reputation, many were hesitant to confront Lin Feng directly. All the indirect questions were directed at the junior disciples, blocking the probing queries out.
With time, the storm mellowed, but the public was still monitoring the situation closely. All the other human forces in the Divine Lands were quietly waiting for a power qualified enough to seek answers directly from Lin Feng himself.
This power was naturally the Great Void Sect. Even though they suffered devastating losses during the recent War of the Two Worlds and were unfortunately suppressed heavily by the Celestial Sect, the deep-rooted Great Void Sect could still stand on equal footing with the Celestial Sect under the longing hopes of the public.
For some, this was a golden opportunity for the Great Void Sect to re-establish its reputation and honor in the Divine Lands.
Be it due to arrogance or some other reason, their rival has voluntarily committed a blunder, presenting a gift right at their doorstep. How could the Great Void Sect reject such a precious opportunity?
But even more bizarrely, there was no reaction from the Great Void Sect. They were even more silent than the Celestial Sect itself, as though they had truly shut themselves out from the outside world, ignoring these disturbances completely.
Such a reaction was truly astounding.
Even the Heavenly Charms Grand Sage in the faraway Barren Expanses was perturbed. “What’s wrong with the Great Void Sect? Even if this issue is more than it seems, those considerations should not be impeding them from exploiting this situation.”
