Chapter 5: Light

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Upon reaching the pinnacle of the Saint Overlord realm, the previous Huang Xue had passed on his position as the Sect Master to his most trusted disciple, Yue Jing, and then went on into a seclusion. That was nearly a thousand years ago. Yue Jing was only 206 years old then.

But besides the few patches of new gray on Yue Jing’s hair and her slightly aged skin, the woman looked to be just the same as she was years ago. In fact, her aura had even broken through to a new stage since then; giving her a slightly more authoritative aura in front of Huang Xue.

But Huang Xue was not surprised as the higher cultivation one achieves, the more they would be able to retain their youthfulness and the longer they would be able to live. With each realm breakthrough there was a large increase in lifespan, with even leveling between stages in a realm possessing the ability to help slightly increase one’s life! This was one of the many benefits and allure of being a cultivator.

When Huang Xue had reached the Immortal Sovereign realm, his lifespan was increased by three thousand years, with each sub-stage allowing another thousand years additional to his lifespan.

At the very least, the godly being who was now Huang Xue knew that the previous host was indeed quite the peerless genius.

The speed of his cultivation was extraordinary, seeing how it takes tens of years to several hundreds of years to break through a single stage as one goes higher. Once one enters the Divine Zhu realm, taking a few hundred years just to ascend one stage was normal.

And for Sovereign Immortals? Even for some who had trained for more than ten thousand years would be hard pressed to ascend a single stage, being powerless to change their impending end as they waited for their peaceful death or be left with consuming longevity pills for the rest of their life until the effects wear off. Even trying to break through to this realm is like trying to ascend Heaven in one step! This, at least, still hold true even now...

“Master?”

Yue Jing’s clear voice cut through Huang Xue’s thoughts as he woke up from his daze. He realized that he had not said anything for over some time now.

Clearing his throat, Huang Xue asked, a deep voice echoing from his body:

“Ahem, you may rise. I will not punish you this time.”

“Thank you for your benevolence, Master.” Yue Jing said as she lightly stood up. Looking at her master, she asked with a subtle curiosity: “Master, to think you would come out earlier than expected from your training...I assume everything went smoothly as you’ve predicted?” ”

“Uh, you could think of it that way, I suppose.” Huang Xue replied. “Anyways, you must tell me what has been happening for the past several years that I was away.”

Yue Jing nodded without questioning further as she gestured Huang Xue over to a lofty, wooden chair. It was decorated lavishly, with the wood seemingly to be made out of quite expensive materials and the bottom seat covered in comfortable looking gold-colored cushion. If anything, the chair looked closer to a throne than a mere seat.

“As you wish. Please take a seat, Master. It must’ve taken you quite some time to get here on foot, even through air. Let me serve some tea first and then I will tell you about the events that had occurred in the last thousand of years that you were in secluded training.”

Huang Xue smiled as he nodded his head and went over to take his seat. From his previous host’s memories, Huang Xue had a very favorable impression of this thoughtful and honest disciple of his.

As for the other three, the last memories that Huang Xue had of them were when they had parted ways to adventure out across the martial lands...

Placing a flagrant cup of tea on the small black table next to where Huang Xue was sitting at, Yue Jing then proceeded to sit down on the other side of the table. Looking at her master, with adoration glowering in her eyes, Yue Jing began to speak:

“Master, after you have left the Sect for training, our Godly Supreme Hall has been flourishing well as usual. We have nourished several hundreds of renowned top experts with a few of them already being hailed as legends across this mainland. However, although our foundation has increased over the last thousand of years, there...has been a few problems as of lately…”

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Hearing this, Huang Xue’s eyebrows perked up with a vague interest. “Carry on.”

Yue Jing hesitated for a moment before she continued: “To tell Master the complete truth, your disciple was actually planning to seek you out soon. As of late, I am beginning to feel a vague sense of danger approaching our sect...and your disciple suspects it has all to do with the two other Absolute Grand Sects…”

“The two Absolute Grand Sects?” Huang Xue asked, a light of curiosity and even hope suddenly shone within his black pupils.

From Huang Xue’s memories, the other two ancient sects were just a bit weaker in overall power to his Godly Supreme Hall, due to the disparity in population. However, the two Ancestors of those sects were comparable to the previous Huang Xue’s strength, being at the peak of the Saint Overlord realm, before the former went into seclusion.

“Yes, as Master already knows, while us three Absolute Grand Sects may maintain a peaceful facade on the surface, we are in actuality constantly in struggle with one another. And after Master went into seclusion, the power struggle had increasingly been getting worse. Right now, our Godly Supreme Hall is being suppressed by both the Sacred Demon Sect and the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace!

Although they had attempted to do individually so before, because the number of talents in our Sect was greater than theirs, we managed to still hold the advantage. But now, those two Sects had actually banded together, along with a few great sects, to prevent our disciples and elders from safely training in the outside world! We even had several casualties that resulted from this a few years back. Those two grand sects were absolutely despicable!”

Yue Jing seethed in anger when she thought back to the death of those disciples and elders. She had managed to contain her rage for the past ten years because while her level of influence was great, her personal cultivation was still lacking. She was unable to deal with two of the other sect masters at the time, much less the ancestral figures who were backing them. She did not know if the Ancestors of those Sects were still present or if they had went into seclusion like her Master, so she had been extremely cautious over the years.This had taken a great toll of stress on her, causing faint lines of wrinkles to appear on her smooth face...ones that should not have appeared for at least another few hundred years.

However, just when she was nearing her breaking point and wanted to find her Master for help, the latter had appeared in front of her, as if in sync with her thoughts. Joy was merely an understatement if one wanted to describe the emotions that flitted across Yue Jing’s heart when she felt the familiar aura, and had hurriedly arrived at the top of the Head Martial Tower to see her Master waiting.

It was as if she had finally found hope amidst this complex mess.

Thinking up to that point, Yue Jing’s anger subsided a bit as a light of determination was lit vividly in her eyes. Now that her revered Master has returned, the two Absolute Grand Sects would no longer be able to be as wild as before, especially now that former had entered the preeminent Immortal Sovereign realm!

“Even if those other two old monsters had entered the same realm, compared to my Master, even if they had fought together my Master would not be worse off than them!” Yue Jing thought with a sense of pride.

In reality, while many people believed that the Three Absolute Grand Sects were equal in strength, it was not exactly so.

While the Godly Supreme Hall did have a slight edge when to came to large numbers, the true advantage they held was the fact that their Ancestor was a domineering tyrant when it came to cultivation.

Out of the ancestors of all Three Absolute Grand Sects, the Godly Supreme Hall’s ancestor could be considered the one with the greatest talent in cultivation and martial arts. He was even able to barely contend against the other two ancestors of the same level for several breaths, and just that alone was already an impressive feat considering the level of strength these ancients were at!

At least, neither ancestor of the Sacred Demon Sect or Eternal Sword Spirit Palace had been able to achieve such a battle prowess...