In the Mortal World, there were five continents with three of which being human and two of which being that of the beast and demon kind. 

Within the smallest continent known as the Black Serpent Continent was the Zhenren Empire, the most powerful Empire of the entire continent, but barely considered a major power within other continents.

Regardless in it's own land it was considered a top power which could easily influence the entire continent. Within the Zhenren Empire were several vassal Kingdoms and minor countries which were below them.

The Mo Overlordship was an Kingdom lead by it's ruler Mo Tian whom was in the Third Transition and extremely powerful, but compared to certain others within the Empire he was considered extremely weak in comparison.

Within the Mo Overlordship was a city known as the Mo Capital, it wasn't where the Mo Tian was born and nor was it the ancestral home or anywhere special except for one fact.

The Zhenren Council was located within the Mo Capital and over half of the entire City was actually a giant Council Tower which made people lose their thoughts upon seeing it. 

At the top of the Tower was a certain room, inside the room the four corners of it were completely covered by gems of all kinds except for a spot every corner where a single painting could be seen.

As there were four corners there were then four paintings, each of the paintings emmitted an immense aura which caused anyone below the First Transition to fall to the ground and become unable to stand. 

One of the paintings depicted a middle aged man holding a sabre and lunging out, it could clearly be seen that the middle aged man was an expert of the sabre. 

The paintings couldn't be described as real or life like but rather as completely alive and standing in front of a person which made one feel fear and death when they saw the painting.

It was as if one could see themselves being pierced via the sabre as they looked at it being pointed by the middle aged man.

Even if one was a First Transition Cultivator, they would feel their neck being stabbed and near death itself.

Another painting was a young woman holding a vase and within the vase was a myriad of elements which could be unleashed at any time and wreck havoc throughout the entire continent. 

This to felt far to alive and when one looked at it carefully, one could feel as if there was some sort of strange existence with overwhelming strength that could break out at any time but obeyed the woman at all ideas.

If anyone below the Second Transition looked at it they would be trapped within a strange dream where they saw a myriad of colors and would be trapped within the dream.

The third painting was that of another young woman carrying a golden spear, she emitted an radiance which caused the heavens to look dim in comparison.

She was in the phase of a moment before using her spear to strike a foe, anyone less than the Third Transition would instantly feel as if their chest was being pierced.

This time there was no trance or dream simply a figure that made the light dim in comparison to her. Her hair was golden, her clothes, her pupils, only her body wasn't golden. 

She looked suprisingly like Yuan Li as if she was related by Yuan Li somehow in a way....

If Tang Xuan was here he would feel a familliar sense from this young woman, not from the figure or the body but the radiance which was being emitted....

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The middle aged man and the first young woman were both at the Fifth Transition when they were still alive, as for the second young woman she was suprisingly at the Sixth Transition. 

However even more suprising was that the fourth picture was empty, but below the picture was an extremely old man whom was levitating in mid air. 

The Sixth Transition meant becoming one with the Weapon and being able to use it to fly and soar to the skies, but the Seventh Transition flew without a Weapon. 

At the Seventh Transition, all mortal weapons would become useless and non-lethal towards them, only Immortal Artifacts could harm them.

Perhaps a Top-Grade Holy Artifact based soley on attack, might do some damage, but if one was to become a True Enlightenment Cultivator then nothing under Immortal Artifacts could even do them a single hint of damage. 

This old man looked gaunt as if he hadn't eaten anything in several days but the energy he was brimming off completely overturnt the pictures and everyone else within the room.

He like Yuan Li resembled the woman from the picture, but it was more of that the woman actually resembled him instead!

Before when the Council was happening, the old man wasn't present and was busy meditating but now that something important happened he simply had to appear himself. 

The Council had twelve fixed members and a thirteenth chairman whom was only temporary and would act when an emergency happened. 

The Chairman position had relatively no power and was merely symbolic. Of the twelve members, five of the twelve were at the First Transition and could barely withstand the pictures but fortunately there were shielded by a strange orb in the middle. 

The strange orb protected them from the pictures, though the weakest of the five would occasionally looked as if they were inflicted with intense fatigue. 

Another four were all at the Second Transition with one of them being a Pill Master whom could create a mythical Grade Seven Pill. 

The one who was a Pill Master definitely had a prestige far higher than his peers as grades determined a large amount of things.

The grades were a set of levels before even the Formation of the Holy Assembly of the Illumination Empire Sect and the Infernal Court of the Dusk Empire Sect. 

The Zhenren Empire was formed much later than the two empires but had the position at the top of the continent but the grading system was used by the entire World and it was basically the foundation of all Sects and Empires

Grade One to Three determined a Spirit Foundation Item, Powerhouse, Sect or the alike, Grade Four to Six determined the same but for Soul Emergence instead, Grade Seven to Eight was Transitions and Grade Nine determined True Enlightenment. 

The remaining three was the Ancestor of the Mo Family, Mo Shan and was at the Third Transition but he didn't dare to call himself Ancestor Mo because another person had taken the title of "Ancestor"

Zhenren Ling was at the peak of the Sixth Transition and less than half a step before the Seventh Transition, he was the oldest living member of the Zhenren Imperial Family and wielded the greatest political power. 

He called himself "Ancestor Zhenren", other council members or his close friends would call him Ancestor Ling or simply even Ling. 

At the age of three thousand eight hundread and sixty he only had about one hundread and forty years of life left before he returned to dust or soil or to breakthrough and achieve another thousand years.

The final member was the levitating old man who looked gaunt, he was known as Yuan Zen. 

He had achieved the Seventh Transition and attempted to step in to True Enlightenment, but after all these years simply couldn't. 

No one on the Continent knew what True Enlightenment was, only one single person on the entire continent had achieved it but this person had long become reclusive and neutral in the affairs of the continent and all but the truly old cultivators forgot about him. 

His age was four thousand nine hundread and sixty five, he roughly only had thirty five years left to live, he might be able to lengthen it if he burnt his essence and used it as life essence but unless all hope was lost he wouldn't dare so.

Yuan Zen was deemed as the most powerful of the Continent and said to even hold a slight edge against the Holy Assembly Master and the Infernal Court Judge. 

If Yuan Zen was the most powerful, excluding the only Enlightenment Cultivator for good reason then why was he not Emperor of the Empire instead?

If he had the most power wouldn't it be normal for him to lead the Empire instead of Zhenren Ling? 

It was very simple because everyone's generation after Yuan Li's great grandfather were relatives to the Zhenren Imperial Clan.

The Zhenren Imperial Clan was more of a mix of the Yuan Family Clan and the Zhenren Family, except for Yuan Zen and a few others.

Every single member of the Yuan Family was related to the Zhenren Family as the two families only intermarried with each other except for a few special circumstances.