Chapter 463 - 447: True Identity

Chapter 463: Chapter 447: True Identity

"It’s of no concern. The Star Palace’s doors are always open to a genius Sword Cultivator such as yourself."

After a moment of silence, Po Jun Star Monarch raised his hand and shot out a ray of starlight.

"This is a Star Palace Decree. If you decide to join, just activate it. I’ll be able to sense it and will come to you to handle the admission procedures and distribute your benefits."

With that, his body transformed into starlight and flickered away high in the sky.

Before leaving, he made sure to send out one last slash of his sword, blasting the unresigned Guk Wen into smithereens that mixed with the grains of sand.

His storage bag was swept away along with him.

’He doesn’t leave even a sliver of an opportunity behind... Po Jun Star Monarch, the Star Palace, the Taibai Sword Sect, the Sword Pill... what a coincidence.’

Bai Zichen tossed the diamond-shaped token in his hand. It was neither gold, nor wood, nor jade, and felt warm and smooth to the touch.

On its face was a majestic palace, half-shrouded by a Sea of Clouds, flickering in and out of view—a truly Immortal Family scene.

On the reverse was a Star Map with fourteen stars, each in its own position, all corresponding with one another.

A ball of Pure Yang True Flame formed a fiery net, enveloping the Star Palace Decree.

After a moment’s thought, he decided that still wasn’t reliable enough. He summoned the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword and drew a strand of Thunder Radiance with his finger.

A surging Thunder Net interwove, adding another layer of Forbidden seals around the Star Palace Decree.

’Unless this object’s Tier is higher than the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword, no matter what hidden tricks it has, they’ll be impossible to activate.’

Bai Zichen found an empty storage bag and tossed the Star Palace Decree inside.

Who knew if Po Jun Star Monarch harbored ill intentions? If the Star Palace Decree had a tracking function, it would report Bai Zichen’s every move to him.

It was even possible that it contained a hidden Curse Art that would affect whoever carried it.

This move had drawn upon a trace of the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword’s Origin Power to form the Thunder Net of Forbidden seals.

As a Flying Sword that was Tier Five at its base, the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword—even when it had degenerated into a Sword Embryo and was still dormant—could muster enough power to contend with the aura of the Holy Beast Essence Blood.

Now that it had recovered to Tier Four, the Tier suppression it could display was even greater.

If Po Jun Star Monarch thought he could plot against him with this, it was nothing but wishful thinking.

Only he could use such a method without a second thought.

Any ordinary Sword Cultivator who managed to obtain such a Flying Sword would treasure it above all else. How could they be willing to so easily deplete its Origin Power?

But he possessed the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box, which could restore this trace of Origin Power in a matter of months, which was why he dared to be so bold.

’It would be best if I can verify Po Jun Star Monarch’s claims through other means. An organization that has existed for ten thousand years, no matter how careful, is bound to have left some traces... I refuse to believe that the upper echelons of those Super Major Sects are all incompetent fools, completely oblivious to the Star Palace operating right under their noses.’

Bai Zichen scanned his surroundings, got his bearings, and continued on his way using Close as the Palm of Your Hand, Far as the Ends of the Earth.

’But that would explain why the Tribulation Cultivation Organization keeps popping back up no matter how many times the great Super Sects try to encircle and annihilate it... Even if Po Jun Star Monarch himself isn’t a member of the Five Phoenix Sword Sect, some members of the Star Palace surely are. And since that Tribulation Cultivation Organization is just a group he casually assembled and can abandon at any time, he wouldn’t care about its fate at all.’

’With an inside man tipping them off, how could even a Super Major Sect hope to capture a Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator, unless they dispatched several Great True Monarchs or enlisted a Cultivator proficient in Divination and Divine Calculation? And judging by the way Po Jun Star Monarch departed just now, he has clearly mastered Star Escape.’

Despite the lightning-fast exchange of just a few moves where Bai Zichen held the clear advantage, killing his opponent would have been impossible.

Even an ordinary Nascent Soul Cultivator has the final resort of abandoning their physical body and using Nascent Soul Instant Teleportation to escape.

As a member of the Star Palace, Po Jun Star Monarch’s strength was far greater than what he had revealed.

To avoid exposing his identity, he obviously hadn’t used the Cultivation Technique Magical Treasures associated with his true self behind the mask.

But on the verge of life and death, he wouldn’t have such reservations and would surely stop holding back.

Moreover, Star Escape was hailed as the most mysterious Escape Technique in the Cultivation Realm. Once mastered, it could render a cultivator virtually invincible among peers of the same Tier.

It was even harder to counter than other Profound Mysterious Escape Techniques like Cloud Escape and Thunder Escape.

Unless Bai Zichen had already completed his Hidden Sword technique and unhesitatingly unleashed the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword from the very beginning, only then might he have been able to kill the man without giving him a chance to react.

’I wonder what types of techniques those three Top-Level Cultivation Techniques the Star Palace possesses are... If they really have a Fire Element Technique, it would be a godsend, solving my biggest problem at the moment!’

Seven days later, Bai Zichen finally spotted a patch of green amidst the endless yellow sand.

He strode through the void, his figure leaving a trail of afterimages in the air, and arrived before the oasis in an instant.

From this point on, although the environment was still a desert, drought-resistant vegetation began to appear, and the color of the sand was different than before.

He noticed a distinct lightness in his body and realized he could fly through the air again. The restriction that made all things fall was gone.

’This is the Southern Domain!’

The realization struck Bai Zichen without any prompting.

Within the oasis lay a medium-sized village. There were clear traces of an Array, though it wasn’t a particularly sophisticated one.

It was a Tier Two Array at best. The population of about four to five thousand was a mix of cultivators and mortals.

"This humble old man greets you, Senior. How may I be of service?"

An old man, leaning on a cane and needing help just to walk, knelt and trembled. His teeth were mostly gone, and his words were slurred.

"Rise. I only have a few questions and will not be staying long,"

Bai Zichen said coolly. His Divine Sense had already swept through the village, giving him a complete picture of every cultivator present.

He asked for the way forward, for recent news about Nan Chu, and whether any other cultivators had recently entered or left the Sea of Sand.

He learned that although the village was located within Nan Chu’s borders, its cultivators had very little contact with the Nan Chu Cultivation Realm.

They had been isolated here for hundreds of years, remaining very insular.

The village was divided into several major clans that intermarried. They selected children with Spiritual Roots to practice the Cultivation Techniques passed down from their ancestors.

Their knowledge of Nan Chu, and any major events in the outside world, depended entirely on the occasional merchant caravan that passed through.

The last caravan had passed through six months ago.

All they knew was that the dreaded Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede was growing ever more ferocious. Several Sects had already suffered a terrible fate at its hands, falling under the repeated bombardment of its Divine Light.

Bai Zichen’s planned route would take him close to the Blood Sea Sect, and rumor had it that a Nascent Soul True Monarch was preparing to deal with the Hundred-Eyed Celestial Centipede.

Furthermore, there were more than a dozen such oases, large and small, on the route from the Sea of Sand to the Southern Domain.

In each oasis, just like this one, groups of cultivators and mortals lived together.

These settlements were mostly founded by cultivators migrating between the two domains who, for various reasons, could not continue their journey and ended up staying.

Over hundreds of years of propagation, they grew into villages.

The old man knew only that, aside from the merchant caravan six months ago, only a few sporadic cultivators had passed through their oasis since.

They all left without stopping, their Escape Lights flashing away. They were obviously frequent travelers between the two domains and were very familiar with the path.

Having gotten the information he wanted, Bai Zichen transformed into a streak of Sword Light and vanished over the horizon in a flash.

"It’s good that he’s gone. That man had an extraordinary air about him. I fear he was a Core Formation True Man!"

Deep within the oasis, hidden from prying eyes beneath the canopy of a giant tree, two middle-aged men sat across from each other, drinking tea in a thatched hut.

"Indeed. Years ago, the people of Zuoqiu Oasis were inhospitable to a Core Formation True Man, and he smashed the place with his Magical Treasures, killing hundreds... Places like ours are in an awkward position, unrecognized by the Great Li and ignored by Nan Chu."

"Thankfully, this one was a kind-hearted Cultivator. He saw Elder Qiu’s state, didn’t cause any trouble, and left right away."

The sallow-faced Foundation Establishment Cultivator on the left sighed. They had no other choice but to act this way.

"Remember to have someone send five Spirit Stones to Elder Qiu’s family as compensation for his trouble."

"I bet Elder Qiu was hoping that True Man would kill him with a single slap. Senior Brother promised his family a compensation of two hundred Spirit Stones if an accident were to happen,"

the cultivator on the right, a tall and thin man who also had an Early-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation, said with a wry smile.

The oasis produced few resources, and communication with the outside world was difficult, making Spirit Stones all the more precious for the cultivators here.

Those at the bottom had their own ways of surviving.

Elder Qiu already had one foot in the grave. Sending an old man like him to greet passing cultivators meant they were less likely to cause trouble, which prevented a great deal of conflict.

Of course, if they ran into a tyrannical Demon Cultivator who killed for sport, they could only accept their fate.

With only a few years left to live, a decrepit man like Elder Qiu was more than willing to trade his life to leave behind what was, for his descendants, a generous sum of Spirit Stones.

...

The point of starlight flickered and jumped, soaring into the heavens the moment it left the Sea of Sand.

Even in broad daylight, a few stars flickered in the sky, and he flew by borrowing their faint, imperceptible light.

There might be a fairly obvious way to counter Tier Three Star Escape.

For example, by obscuring the starlight or using a more intense light to overwhelm it, one could prevent Star Escape from displaying its miraculous properties.

But in the hands of a Nascent Soul True Monarch, Tier Four Star Escape was clearly immune to such external interference.

Regardless of any changes, visible or not, starlight always existed.

’Who would have thought I’d run into someone like that while delivering the Taibai Sword Pill...’

Within the starlight, Po Jun Star Monarch’s brows were knitted tightly, his earlier relaxed demeanor gone.

’We’re both clearly Early-Stage Nascent Soul, and his True Essence isn’t even as profound as mine, yet he showed signs of defeating me in just a few sword strikes. Even though I wasn’t going all out, that’s still absurd.’

’Even a Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator couldn’t accomplish that. His strength is approaching that of a weaker Great True Monarch. Only a figure of that caliber could exude such a oppressive feeling.’

After flying for several hundred miles, the starlight descended into a desolate valley.

A moment later, a cultivator of average height with a round, beardless face walked out of the valley. He wore a magnificent and noble Daoist Robe embroidered with the image of the Circulation Stars.

’I don’t know that man’s origins. There’s no True Monarch in any of the major Sword Cultivation Sects who matches his description. When I claimed he was Gu Chongxuan of the Cyan Lotus Sword Sect, he actually went along with it!’

The round-faced cultivator had reliable sources informing him that Gu Chongxuan was currently in seclusion, journeying through the Divine Traveling Void Secret Realm, making it impossible for him to be out and about in the Cultivation Realm.

This was the Cyan Lotus Sword Sect’s most important Secret Realm, which could only be opened once every hundred years, with only a single spot available each time.

As the Cyan Lotus Sword Sect’s designated Divinity Transformation Seed, Madman Gu had obtained that spot without dispute.

But such a rare opportunity could not be wasted.

He had deliberately pretended to mistake the man for Gu Chongxuan and invited him to join the Star Palace. For one, the man was indeed an Unparalleled Sword Cultivator, a true genius.

Although he didn’t know the man’s exact age, he sensed he wasn’t very old—a Sword Cultivator with the same level of potential as Gu Chongxuan.

The Star Palace wanted to reopen the Taibai Sword Sect’s Secret Realm, and they needed as many genius Sword Cultivators as possible to have a chance of achieving their goal.

For another, he had felt a chill of fear at the time. He was afraid that if the fight continued, he would truly be defeated and have to use his hidden trump cards just to save his own life.

By throwing out the bait of the Star Palace—an offer packed with information and immense temptation—he had indeed made the man forget about continuing their fight.