Innate Immortal Seed

Chapter 573: Chapter 522: Who is Ziwei Star Monarch? (Part 2)

”Not a monstrous genius, but a seasoned Sword Cultivator who never found success?”

The Yellow-Faced Cultivator seemed to have trouble accepting this idea. He muttered to himself for a long time, but he knew it was a possibility.

A Sword Cultivator who had immersed himself in the Sword Dao for hundreds of years, whose swordsmanship was godlike, was more realistic than a monstrous genius who rose like a comet.

But if that were the case, there would be far more potential targets, making it difficult to lock one down.

”Let’s go back and report this to the Great True Monarchs. They’ll know what to do. In any case, the deaths of the Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede and the Twelve-Winged Soaring Serpent are our greatest victory against the Demon Race since beheading the Demon Whale... even though the one who acted was the Star Palace, an organization whose identity we know nothing about!”

Kong Bai didn’t want to waste any more time on pointless speculation and turned to leave.

But the look the Ziwei Star Monarch gave him before leaving was still fresh in his mind.

’Does he know me? Or does he have some past connection with the Life-Killing Sword Sect? Perhaps he’s an old friend of Brother Xiangg’s? The identity of ”Ziwei Star Monarch” has never appeared in the Star Palace’s records before. It’s highly likely he isn’t the leader of this organization. On the contrary, he probably just joined... A person of his caliber, once he makes a move, is like an awl in a sack—it’s impossible to hide his sharp edge.’

As Kong Bai grew up, he was often looked after by his senior brother, Xiangg Ji, who had long since come to see him as the future of the Life-Killing Sword Sect.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have risked his life to forge the Tier Five Life-Killing Demon Sword.

Aside from a deep-seated obsession, this was largely because he was confident that the Sect had a worthy successor.

Once the Tier Five Life-Killing Demon Sword was forged, it went straight into Kong Bai’s hands.

Similarly, Kong Bai had vaguely sensed that Xiangg Ji had secretly joined a mysterious and secretive organization.

’The Ziwei Star Monarch’s Sword Dao has probably reached the legendary level of One Sword Births Ten Thousand Techniques... One Sword Forms the Array, one sword forms a world, one sword gives birth to life.’

Kong Bai’s ink-black eyes lost their focus, and a look of bewilderment crossed his face.

”To think there’s actually a Sword Cultivator in the Cultivation Realm who has reached such a state... He could be called a modern-day Sword Immortal.”

...

「Star Palace Secret Realm, Star God Hall.」

The five Star Lords stood before the divine statues. The reflected starlight cast mottled patterns of light and shadow upon them.

There was a noticeable change in their positions compared to before the mission. The Po Jun Star Monarch was singled out, while the other four had, intentionally or not, distanced themselves from him.

”Tianliang is dead, and Lianzhen has not returned... Po Jun, I think we all need an explanation from you.”

The Taiyin Star Monarch was standing in the shadows, his entire face obscured from the starlight by a gallery pillar.

”We fellow Daoists all trusted the Guiding Envoy, which is why we went willingly to the so-called ruins of Venerable Lou Lan’s Heaven-Reaching Platform without doing any research. But the facts have proven that you concealed things from us and even caused the death of a Star Lord. If you can’t provide a reasonable explanation, I, speaking only for myself, will consider leaving the Star Palace.”

Among the fourteen divine statues, the face of the Tianliang Star God, originally dim, was now radiant once more.

The mask, which represented the status of a Star Lord and had many wondrous uses, had already returned to the face of the Tianliang divine statue.

There was only one possibility for the mask’s return: the current Star Lord was well and truly dead.

”That’s right! It’s a good thing my Flying Escape was fast enough that the Demon Beasts didn’t catch me. There were several powerful Great Demons right behind me... You knew how difficult it would be to retrieve the sword. You didn’t deliberately lure the Demon Race there so we would die in Jishui, did you?”

The Jumeng Star Monarch was still shaken. He was injured and couldn’t have handled even a single Tier Four Great Demon.

If he’d been unlucky, two Star Lords might have died today.

”I made some inquiries at the Jishui Camp. It seems one of the pursuing Great Demons was killed. It looks like none of you are simple characters, to be able to counter-kill a Tier Four Demon Beast in such a chaotic situation.”

The Jumeng Star Monarch’s gaze swept discreetly across the group, focusing on the Taiyin Star Monarch and the Po Jun Star Monarch.

Apparently, he had sect brothers or friends currently stationed at the Jishui Camp, allowing him to get firsthand information.

However, time had been tight, and he hadn’t been able to visit them for a proper conversation. He only received a few brief reports, so he couldn’t know exactly how many Great Demons had died or how strong they were.

Only the Po Jun Star Monarch gave the Ziwei Star Monarch an imperceptible glance.

He knew this man’s true identity. If a Tier Four Great Demon had really been slain, then this person was the most likely culprit.

The Ziwei Star Monarch and the Tiann Xiang Star Monarch said nothing, but their positions spoke for their attitudes.

”Everyone, I can swear a Dao Heart Oath on the fourteen divine statues that I absolutely did not intentionally hide information with the intent of harming members of the Star Palace.”

The Po Jun Star Monarch held the Qing Si Sword with a reverent expression, as if it were a peerless treasure.

And he wasn’t wrong. In the Human World, a Tier Five Flying Sword could be said to be the pinnacle of Magical Treasures.

At least, in the long history of the Cultivation Realm, this was the limit. There had never been any clear appearance of a Tier Six Flying Sword.

Of course, the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword was an exception.

Any Cultivator who lived through that era knew that the Divine Sword in that Sword Immortal’s hands was definitely beyond Tier Five.

The Abi Heavenly Prison Demon Sword was a Tier Five Flying Sword from the Heavenly Demon Realm, so it was worldly and knowledgeable.

It had respectfully addressed Xiaozhi as Venerable Purple Thunder, which just went to show the status that the mysterious Sword Immortal and the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword held in the minds of the Descent Great Powers of that time.

”I have a long story to tell, and now, there’s no harm in telling it to you. Of the powers from the Five Domains and the various titans who targeted the Sword Sect back then, they have either vanished like smoke or died over the long tens of thousands of years...”

As the Po Jun Star Monarch spoke, the true origin of the Star Palace and the identity of its founder were revealed to them.

It turned out that back when they were exploring the Secret Realm, the like-minded Sword Cultivators, who seemed to come from different Sects and regions, actually had a core group with hidden identities: they were disciples of the Taibai Sword Sect’s Hidden Vein.

As the Taibai Sword Sect held sway over the Cultivation Realm at the time, one of its Sect Leaders grew worried about the decline that follows immense prosperity and decided to have his disciples fake their deaths and flee to distant lands.

They recruited disciples with outstanding aptitude, following an elite path with only a few Sword Disciples each generation.

And every few decades, under the pretext of faked deaths or retirement, the Taibai Sword Sect would send a Core Disciple to this small Sword Temple to ensure that the disciples growing up outside maintained their loyalty to the Sect.

Influenced from a young age, and with their main sect being the greatest Major Sect in the world, unrivaled in its prestige, the loyalty of the Sword Temple’s disciples was beyond doubt.

Aside from the Cave Profound Godslaying Sword Scripture, they could practice almost any of the Taibai Sword Sect’s Cultivation Techniques and enjoyed cultivation treatment on par with that of a Super Sect’s disciples.

Hundreds of years later, when news spread that the Outer Celestial Demons had invaded and that the Sect had been annihilated along with them in the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Demon Extinguishing Sword Formation, this Hidden Vein was finally activated.

Using the Secret Vaults the Taibai Sword Sect had hidden in various places, the disciples of the Hidden Vein endured for a hundred years until finally, one of them successfully reached the Nascent Soul realm, and several others reached Core Formation Perfection.

They returned to their home sect’s former lands and, using a legacy incantation, entered a Trial Secret Realm that no other Cultivator in the world could find.

They also obtained the legacy of the Taibai Sword Sect’s Star God Lineage and simply established the Star Palace on that basis.

To cover their tracks, they deliberately recruited outsiders, disguising it as a perfectly normal clandestine organization coveting the Sword Sect’s legacy.

Generation after generation, they actually managed to form an organization composed entirely of Nascent Soul Sword Cultivators.

The position of Guiding Envoy has also been passed down through the bloodline of the Taibai Sword Sect’s Hidden Vein disciples.

”Regarding this mission, ninety-nine percent of what I said before was true... There’s just one thing: Venerable Lou Lan’s disciple’s journal wasn’t discovered by a Star Palace predecessor, but was thanks to Grandmaster Taibai. He had entered that void long ago and communicated with the Qing Si Sword Spirit.”

”That’s why I was confident enough to go. Otherwise, how could I have been certain of winning over a Tier Five Flying Sword!”

”As for what happened later, that was a complete accident. No one could have predicted that the Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede was nearby, otherwise our entire process of retrieving the sword would have been flawless... Surely you don’t think I have the ability to command the Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede to do my bidding, do you?”

The other four remained silent in response to Po Jun Star Monarch’s long-winded explanation, all of them busy digesting its contents.

”You didn’t say a word about this before, but now you’re revealing everything. Aren’t you afraid we’ll leak your identity as a disciple of the Taibai Sword Sect?”

The Jumeng Star Monarch said with a stern face, his tone laced with displeasure.

”We are all bound by a Dao Heart Oath not to reveal each other’s real-world identities... As the heir to the Taibai Sword Sect’s Hidden Vein, isn’t this identity also from the real world? It falls under the same agreement.”

The Po Jun Star Monarch smiled faintly, looking as if he had everything under control.