The moment Cult Master Chi saw the intelligence report, his face remained impassive, but cold sweat broke out down his back.
To think that Cult Master Yun, whom he had met at the barbecue shop, was actually an immortal. That meant the Heavenly Court Cult possessed two ancient immortals.
Why even bother trying to sow discord within the Heavenly Court Cult to profit from the fallout? They might as well just join the Heavenly Court Cult outright.
Now that the Nine Nether Cult was wholeheartedly dedicated to running barbecue shops, there was no longer anyone to draw the imperial court's attention away. The Shining Sun Cult had nearly been caught by the court several times while trying to make moves.
If this went on, they would inevitably be exposed.
Cult Master Chi made several copies of the report and distributed them, letting the senior leaders see the Heavenly Court Cult's true strength for themselves.
With two immortals presiding over them, they could overthrow Great Xia if they wanted. They were simply on a completely different level from a demonic cult like their own, which was constantly hunted down by Great Xia.
The Shining Sun Cult's leadership was visibly shaken by Cult Master Yun's immense power. This was not an entity they were qualified to scheme against.
Before they could even hatch a plot, they would probably be wiped out in one fell swoop, without so much as a scrap of their souls remaining.
"Yet another immortal. The ancient Heavenly Court truly is terrifying."
"Remember the Phoenix Ancestor? Her title is one of the Four Sovereigns, which means the other three must also be half-immortals."
"I heard from the Nine Nether Cult that the ancient Heavenly Court's enemies were the Four Ancient Celestials. If they weren't lying to me, then the ancient Heavenly Court probably still has hidden cards up its sleeve."
"So we're just going to defect to the Heavenly Court Cult? How utterly absurd! Just because the Heavenly Court Cult is strong, we should hand over our cult's foundation to others on a silver platter?"
"Does their Heavenly Court Cult believe in the power of the sun? Can they help us spread our faith and make all mortals venerate the power of the sun?"
"It's not handing anything over on a silver platter—it's merely seeking protection! It isn't as severe as you make it out to be!"
"Not severe? I fear when the time comes, things won't be up to us at all!"
The leadership devolved into a heated argument, each voicing their own opinions, neither side willing to yield.
The most senior elder stroked his beard and spoke slowly, "The ancient Heavenly Court is indeed formidable, but that does not mean we must seek refuge under them."
"The Shining Sun Cult has its own pride. How could we subject ourselves to living under someone else's roof?"
"If we defect to the Heavenly Court, whether we become members of the Heavenly Court or merely cannon fodder remains to be seen!"
The senior elder's words won the agreement of many.
"Indeed. We cannot place our fate in the hands of others."
"Furthermore, as long as our research yields results and we lead all under heaven to venerate the power of the sun, we can follow the example of the ancient ancestors. We can use the power of faith to bestow life upon the sun! With the supreme Sun God protecting us, our cult won't necessarily be weaker than the Heavenly Court!"
The founder of the Shining Sun Cult had been an archaeologist. He discovered that in an ancient era far more distant than that of the Four Ancient Celestials, when the primordial ancestors were still exploring the cultivation system, their power of faith had breathed life into the objects of their veneration—entities the ancestors called "gods."
That had also been the turning point that led to the development of the Soul Formation stage.
From the very founding of the Shining Sun Cult, they had set their goal: to draw power from the sun, spread the sun's greatness, make all mortals revere the sun, and elevate the sun into a true god.
Cult Master Chi also felt there was some sense to this.
"Since we cannot reach a consensus, why don't we both take a step back? We can make contact with Holy Son Long Jingzhou and thereby draw closer to the Heavenly Court Cult. How does that sound?"
This time, Cult Master Chi's proposal was met with unanimous agreement from the leadership.
***
After the meeting adjourned, Cult Master Chi let out a long breath. The gathering was finally over.
"Who knows when these days of playing cult master will ever end?"
Back when he was still an insignificant low-level cultivator, his favorite pastime had been gazing at the stars and the moon at night. However, his cultivation had been too low back then to see them clearly.
By pure chance, he discovered that when looking at an object through two lenses, the object appeared larger.
Based on that discovery, he invented a telescope that allowed him to see the stars clearly.
After patenting it, he heard there was a local gathering of astronomy enthusiasts nearby, so he followed the trail and found the astronomy group.
Only after joining did he realize that the place was a damn demonic cult.
Once one joined a demonic cult, there was no getting out—leaving meant death. Having no other choice, he could only behave himself and remain.
Originally, he had intended to keep a low profile and peacefully live out the rest of his life. But when the leadership heard he had invented the telescope, they deemed him an extraordinary talent, poured resources into nurturing him, and promoted him at lightning speed. Before he knew it, he had risen into the upper echelons.
Having reached the leadership tier, he figured he would just coast through life like that.
Yet when it came time to elect a new cult master, he was somehow elected by a landslide, all because his bald head resembled the sun.
At the time, he even comforted himself with the thought that becoming cult master wasn't so bad; at least no one would boss him around anymore.
Then he realized that the position of cult master was an enormous pitfall. In polite terms, he was the cult master; put bluntly, he was a sacrificial offering.
Whenever the Shining Sun Cult suffered a major setback—such as failing in their research on the sun or having several strongholds dismantled by the imperial court—the leadership would consider it the sun's punishment upon the cult and require the cult master to perform a sacrifice to the heavens.
This wasn't simply a matter of the cult master kowtowing a few times to the sun. It meant the cult master had to serve as the sacrificial offering himself, sacrificing himself to heaven—supposedly a tradition handed down by the very first cult master.
Taking the sun-landing experiment as an example, if it failed again, he was terrified the next one sent to land on the sun would be him.
He had risen from the leadership tier to cult master too quickly, before he even had time to inquire about how the previous cult master had perished.
Only after taking the seat did he find out: originally, the sun had reigned supreme alone in the sky, while the stars were mere illusions—something the Shining Sun Cult had always revered as a symbol of the sun's supremacy.
Then, one day, the stars ceased to be illusions and turned into real, tangible celestial bodies, meaning the sun was no longer the sole master of the sky.
This incident had sparked panic throughout the Shining Sun Cult, who deemed it an ominous omen, and so they sacrificed the previous cult master.
Cult Master Chi had broken out in cold sweat when he heard the tale, terrified that the leadership would sacrifice him for the same reason. Fortunately, the higher-ups still retained a shred of sanity and hadn't sacrificed cult masters back-to-back.
The leadership consisted entirely of Body Integration stage experts, and the most senior elder was even at the Tribulation Transcendence stage. He had no way of resisting them whatsoever.
During his tenure, he had encountered several major crises—the kind that called for sacrificing the cult master. The fact that he had survived unscathed was thanks to his own ingenious method.
Having invented the telescope, patent royalties had poured in, bringing him immense wealth. According to regulations, he was required to pay taxes.
Whenever a situation arose that called for sacrificing the cult master, he would deliberately evade his taxes, prompting the imperial court to arrest and imprison him. Since the imperial court had no idea he was a demonic cult master, they simply treated him as an ordinary Body Integration cultivator guilty of tax evasion.
Under normal circumstances, he would be locked up for a few decades. Decades later, once he was released from prison, he would resume his role as cult master, and the leadership would no longer bring up the sacrifice.
"If only we could defect to the Heavenly Court Cult..." Anywhere would be safer than this godforsaken place.
He retrieved a medallion. This was a Shining Sun Token, which functioned on the same principle as the Nine Nether Token and allowed long-distance communication.
During their last meeting with the Heavenly Court Cult, he had given each of their members one such token.
"This one should belong to Holy Son Long Jingzhou."
Chapter 690