Secret Lore

Across the boundless cosmos, countless civilizations rose and fell among the sea of stars. Within these civilizations, countless living beings drifted through life in ignorance, enduring existences either tormented or tranquil. From time to time, when a streak of flowing light shot across the night sky, they could not tell whether it was a fleeting meteor or a cosmic battleship piloted by higher life-forms passing through. Just as humans rarely spared a thought for the ants beneath their feet, high-ranking cultivators viewed ordinary civilizations in much the same light. Not to mention the vast difference in the scales of their existence. Like mayflies between heaven and earth, a single grain of millet in the vast ocean. …… *Hum—* Amid a faint resonance of the Grand Dao, the flying skiff piloted by Yaoguang materialized beside a palace-class battleship where Immortal King Yuxiao resided. Leaping into the air, Yaoguang landed directly within the palace. Soon, a cultivator serving as an attendant—ostensibly a disciple of Immortal King Yuxiao—guided him inside. “You’ve arrived,” Immortal King Yuxiao greeted him. Over the past century, Yaoguang had been diligently assisting the Creation Sect in expanding its territory, fulfilling his duties as the deputy sect master in charge of external affairs to perfection. With such a useful subordinate, Immortal King Yuxiao treated him with considerably more warmth than before. “You mentioned that you have intelligence regarding the Yongsheng Sect? What is it?” Immortal King Yuxiao asked with a smile. “Not just intelligence on the Yongsheng Sect, but also concerning the Dao Sovereign Your Highness is about to seek out,” Yaoguang replied as he walked up before the Immortal King. “From what I know, the Dao Sovereign who destroyed the Yongsheng Sect and the Dao Sovereign Your Highness is searching for should be the very same person.” “The same person?” Immortal King Yuxiao looked somewhat surprised. “The Changsheng Group stands behind the Yongsheng Sect, and that conglomerate is by no means easy to cross. For this Dao Sovereign to wipe out the Yongsheng Sect, a subordinate branch of the Changsheng Group... that will completely offend them, won't it? I wonder which group's Immortal King personally took action.” “Rather than whether he has thoroughly offended the Changsheng Group, shouldn’t Your Highness be more concerned with just how powerful this Dao Sovereign must be to wipe out the Yongsheng Sect?” Yaoguang asked. “Strength...” Immortal King Yuxiao pondered for a moment. As the number one faction in the cosmos, the Yongsheng Sect had indeed been meticulously cultivated by the Changsheng Group. Furthermore, nearly every generation had at least one Level 17 immortal spirit overseeing it. With the abilities of a Level 17 immortal spirit, coupled with the vast funds and material resources invested by the Changsheng Group to forge countless immortal artifacts and immortal formations... Even if it were him, breaking through the Yongsheng Sect via a frontal assault would be no simple task. If things went wrong, he might be forced to unleash power exceeding the upper limit of this cosmos, compelling him to ascend to the Immortal Realm. “It seems that Dao Sovereign commands quite a faction, yet I have never heard of him,” Immortal King Yuxiao remarked. “The reason Your Highness has not heard of him is that he has no faction at all. He destroyed the Yongsheng Sect entirely on his own,” Yaoguang said. “All by himself?” Immortal King Yuxiao froze, then immediately countered, “Impossible! When the Changsheng Group originally founded the Yongsheng Sect, they accounted for the possibility that a Level 18 immortal spirit with the cultivation experience of an Immortal King might act against them. The lineup they maintained there was specifically meant to counter a Dao Sovereign who was a reincarnated Immortal King. A single Dao Sovereign cannot possibly destroy the mighty Yongsheng Sect.” “Under normal circumstances, that would be true. But what if that immortal spirit is Level 19?” “Level 19 still wouldn't cut it! Compared to a Level 18 immortal spirit, a Level 19 immortal spirit merely possesses higher authority, allowing them to mobilize more of the Lord of Yuanxi's power for augmentation and amplification. However, the Lord of Yuanxi's power is concentrated mainly in the Immortal Realm and has not been projected extensively into the lower cosmos. In other words, a Level 19 immortal spirit cannot receive the backing of the great and supreme wisdom, the Lord of Yuanxi. Therefore, unless one of the legendary Level 20 clearance holders—who are virtually equivalent to clones of the Lord of Yuanxi—personally intervenes, the Yongsheng Sect could never be destroyed.” Immortal King Yuxiao rejected the idea without hesitation. Hearing this, Yaoguang was secretly startled. “Could it be possible that a Level 20 clearance holder took action?” “A Level 20 clearance holder?” Immortal King Yuxiao glanced at Yaoguang and chuckled faintly. “You have no idea what a Level 20 clearance holder signifies. To some extent, a Level 20 clearance holder is already equivalent to a part of the Lord of Yuanxi. They are often titled the Lord of Creation, the Lord of Changsheng, the Lord of Tianyuan, the Lord of Shenluo, and so forth. The operation of the Hunyuan Realm's rules requires the assistance of the Nine Great Overlords; they are essentially the manifestations of the Lord of Yuanxi’s power.” “Manifestations of power?” “In the terminology of the Ancient Immortal Realm, a Level 20 clearance holder is equivalent to a Dao Ancestor! It’s just that our Hunyuan Realm doesn't have as many as three thousand Dao Ancestors—there are only nine. The Nine Great Groups are the mouthpieces of their will. That is why people say the Nine Great Groups can influence the Lord of Yuanxi. The authority they wield in the Hunyuan Realm is so immense that sometimes, even the Lord of Yuanxi, representing the collective will of all sentient beings, must defer to the decisions of the Nine Great Groups,” Immortal King Yuxiao said placidly. Yaoguang felt a surge of realization upon hearing this. If the Lord of Yuanxi were likened to laws and regulations, then the Level 20 clearance holders behind the Nine Great Groups were undeniably beings standing above the law. Because the laws were formulated by them, and merely executed by the Lord of Yuanxi. It was only when they acted in concert that they possessed the power to enact laws and sway the Lord of Yuanxi’s decisions. “So you’re saying that although the Lord of Yuanxi has not projected his power into the lower cosmos, when necessary, a Level 20 clearance holder can descend to the lower realm bearing the power of the Lord of Yuanxi?” Yaoguang asked. “Correct.” Immortal King Yuxiao nodded slightly, then looked toward Beihai Star. “The reason I rushed over upon hearing that a powerful ‘Dao Sovereign’ had appeared there is because that starfield is rather special. Previously, you were only a Level 16 immortal spirit, so you might not be aware. More than three million years ago, the two Dao Ancestors of Time and the Void from the Ancient Immortal Realm merged into one, barged into our Hunyuan Realm, and wreaked utter havoc. Later, they were defeated by the Lord of Yuanxi and fell in that very starfield. To ensure that these two Dao Ancestors of supreme Grand Daos were thoroughly eradicated, the Lord of Creation personally descended upon that starry sky...” Here, he paused briefly. “And when he forcibly descended bearing the power of the Lord of Yuanxi, he directly shattered the Ancient Immortal Realm’s system of the Grand Dao of the Void, destroying all void rules in that starry sky. To this day, the void rules in that region have yet to fully recover.” He added, “It is precisely because the void rules there were never fully repaired that attaining the Dao in the Grand Dao of the Void is comparatively easier in that area.” *Descending with the power of the Lord of Yuanxi... shattering the system of the Grand Dao of the Void in that region...* Yaoguang’s pupils constricted. He immediately thought of the destroyed void nodes spanning a diameter of one billion light-years. The reason those nodes had collapsed... Was because the entire framework of the Grand Dao of the Void had been obliterated?! That was equivalent to... Punching right through the Ancient Immortal Realm?! Was that one-billion-light-year expanse where Beihai Star resided the very breach left behind when the Ancient Immortal Realm was pierced through? With this thought, Yaoguang could not help but probe, “When the Time Dao Ancestor and the Void Dao Ancestor fell in that starry sky, did they... leave behind any legacy?” “They should have left some things behind.” Immortal King Yuxiao now placed a degree of trust in Yaoguang, so he was willing to disclose a bit of this information, which was normally confined to the circles of Immortal Kings, or rather, Level 18 immortal spirits and above. “When the Time Dao Ancestor and the Void Dao Ancestor merged, they possessed the power to threaten an Overlord. Had they chosen to advance steadily step-by-step within the Ancient Immortal Realm, we still could have defeated them, though it would have cost us some casualties. Yet they chose to invade our Hunyuan Realm, attempting to stage a decapitation strike to capture the ringleader.” Immortal King Yuxiao chuckled. “They merely possessed the power to threaten an Overlord, but in our Hunyuan Realm, there are a full nine Overlords! Once they charged into the Hunyuan Realm, they were naturally seeking their own doom. Before they could cause any decent damage, the portion belonging to the Time Dao Ancestor among the merged duo detonated himself in despair.” “The Time Dao Ancestor self-detonated?” Yaoguang was somewhat astonished. “They went through so much trouble to break into the Hunyuan Realm just to self-detonate?” “That is quite normal,” Immortal King Yuxiao said calmly. “We immortal spirits possess immortal life, yet there are still immortal spirits who choose self-extinction out of numbness or intense emotional turmoil. Having witnessed the true might of our Hunyuan Realm, the Time Dao Ancestor fell into boundless despair; choosing self-extinction via self-detonation is a standard phenomenon.” He cast a glance at Yaoguang. “Of course, some suspected a conspiracy. Many immortal spirits were even assigned to thoroughly search the site where the Void Immortal King fell for clues, wanting to see if that self-detonating Spacetime Dao Ancestor had faked his death. Yet after several million years, nothing was ever found.” “And then?” “And then?” Immortal King Yuxiao replied, “Different paths lead to the same destination. Once a person's realm reaches a certain height, their mental state likely becomes similar. Numbness drives a being toward self-extinction, and a collapsed spirit also leads to extinction. We can all understand it.” With that, he looked at Yaoguang once more. “Only immortal spirits like you who haven't lived long would make a fuss over it.” Immortal King Yuxiao found it entirely normal. Yet... Was that truly normal? “Tell me, if someone truly obtained what the Spacetime Dao Sovereign left behind, how do you think it would manifest? And what kind of abilities would they display?” Yaoguang inquired. Immortal King Yuxiao frowned. After a long pause, he said, “I cannot fathom it. The level I occupy has not yet truly touched the realm of a Dao Ancestor, let alone the Spacetime Dao Ancestor whose fusion could threaten an Overlord.” Hearing this, Yaoguang felt a tinge of disappointment. However, it was only reasonable that Immortal King Yuxiao did not understand these matters. His standing clearly had not reached the highest tier of the Hunyuan Realm. The Nine Great Overlords and the dozens of Level 19 clearance holders were the true core of the Hunyuan Realm. “Alright, let us set off. Truth be told, I've grown quite curious about that Dao Sovereign,” Immortal King Yuxiao said. “Actually, there's nothing to be curious about. He merely wiped out a Yongsheng Sect, that's all,” Yaoguang said, shaking his head. “Hmm?” Immortal King Yuxiao looked at him. At that moment, something seemed to strike him, and he asked abruptly, “How do you know about the Yongsheng Sect in such detail?” “It’s simple.” Yaoguang smiled faintly. “The Yongsheng Sect was destroyed by me. And the Dao Sovereign you are about to look for... is me.”