Chapter 1377: Purple Shadow, Holy Emperor

"That's right. The sieges that were originally predicted to occur tens of thousands of years later, and even the rumored Great War of the Hundred Races, are all happening because of this," the old monk murmured.

"Brother Jinyue, there's no need to beat around the bush; I already know all of this. But what does it have to do with what we were just discussing? Aren't all the races currently so cautious precisely because they're afraid of getting caught up in it?" The Taoist still looked puzzled.

"Afraid of getting caught up? Heh heh, since this event has occurred, which race can possibly avoid it?According to past precedents for the emergence of Profound Sky Treasures, each appearance invariably triggers a storm of blood and chaos before the treasure truly manifests. The race that ultimately obtains such a treasure can, through its reverence, attract a True Spirit-level entity to become their protector, thereby instantly becoming a powerful race in the Spirit Realm. These True Spirit-level beings are capable of contending with Immortals from the True Immortal Realm. Of course, before a powerful True Spirit appears, the race that obtains the treasure must first be able to retain it. Otherwise, they will merely be preparing a wedding dress for someone else. If the race that first acquires the treasure is too weak, they sometimes hastily offer it to other powerful races for protection, or even abandon it far away in the wilderness to avoid the calamity of their own annihilation," the old monk slowly explained, speaking to himself.

The Taoist still didn't understand the full implications, but at that moment, he didn't interrupt the old monk.

As expected, the monk paused briefly, then immediately continued:

"Logically, it's very difficult to predict which race a Profound Sky Treasure will emerge within, given the strength of our two races. However, this time, a Spirit-Fusion stage being from the Demon Race, who possessed some prophetic abilities, knew they had no hope of surviving their upcoming Great Heavenly Tribulation. They decided to unleash their full potential, using their lifelong magical power to divine the approximate whereabouts of this treasure. The divination results indicated that the Profound Sky Spirit-Severing Sword is located in the northwest of Fengyuan Continent, where our human race resides. Although Fengyuan Continent is the smallest of the three known continents, it harbors far more races than the others. This 'northwest corner' includes six or seven races, both large and small, such as our Human Race, the Demon Race, the Spirit Race, the Wood Race, the Yaksha Race, and the Shadow Race. This means that this newly emerged Profound Sky Treasure could very well appear among our Human Race. Currently, only the Human and Demon races know this news, but I imagine it won't remain a secret for long. After all, there are certainly spies from other races within our two, and there's no such thing as a watertight wall in this world. You should be very clear about the consequences once other races learn of this."

When the old monk spoke the last sentence, a bitter smile appeared on his face.

"What? Such a thing exists? Doesn't that mean our Human Race is very likely to face true annihilation?" The Taoist's face instantly turned ashen.

"According to ancient legends, if a large number of powerful beings are annihilated within a certain area and time, the Profound Sky Treasure located in that region can be forcibly summoned through a mysterious blood sacrifice ritual. Given the strength of our few races, those powerful races would absolutely not hesitate to wipe us all out to perform such a summoning blood sacrifice. During the last Great War of the Hundred Races, didn't the 'Shield of Annihilation,' now ranked fourth, almost draw seven or eight tenths of the continent's races into conflict after its original owner fled across three continents for ten thousand years? And nearly all of those annihilated weak races became targets for blood sacrifice. Furthermore, regardless of which race possesses this treasure, as soon as our several northwestern races realize it is in this region, a major war will immediately break out to avoid being subjected to the blood sacrifice, striving instead to make other races the targets," the monk said with a sigh.

"So that's how it is... You suddenly made those newly ascended cultivators leave Sky-Measurement City and go to the lands of other races. Are you suspecting..." The Taoist suddenly had a realization.

"Exactly! This Profound Sky Treasure is an extraordinary item, a heaven-defying artifact capable of reversing the laws of a realm. However, it isn't necessarily native to our Spirit Realm; it could also be a Profound Sky object brought from a lower realm.Although this possibility is minuscule, over the past century, any ascended cultivator with even the slightest suspicion has been sent out of Sky-Measurement City to undertake the most dangerous missions in other racial territories. Regardless of whether they complete their tasks, they will eventually find that they are simply unable to return to Sky-Measurement City for a considerable time.Naturally, local cultivators who were slightly suspicious have also been transferred out of Sky-Measurement City and forcibly exiled to the savage wilderness for various reasons. In addition to these individuals, a group of exceptionally talented and remarkably promising people have also been dispersed into the wilderness. The advantage of this approach is that if any of them truly possess the Profound Sky Spirit-Severing Sword, the danger can be diverted elsewhere. Should our two races suffer a catastrophic defeat in the impending great war, this group could still be the hope for our races' continuation and resurgence," the monk stated solemnly.

"Why go to all this trouble? If we want to confirm whether the Profound Sky Treasure is truly in their hands, we could simply..."

"We could fully use mystical control techniques to search everyone's divine sense one by one, right? But what good would it do if we really found out the Profound Sky Spirit-Severing Sword is in our race's possession? This item is a hot potato! Can you guarantee that those carrying out the search, or even members of the Elder Council, don't have other races' disguised infiltrators among them? Once this news leaks, not only will our Human Race immediately become the target of everyone in a short time, but even the Demon Race might withdraw from our alliance for their own self-preservation. At that point, our Human Race will undoubtedly be annihilated.

"We are not a powerful race; we cannot hold onto this treasure and wait for True Spirit-level entities to come knocking. Even if we wanted to offer this treasure to those powerful races for protection, I estimate that the Shadow Race and others wouldn't even give us the chance. Instead, it's best to feign ignorance and first deal with the imminent war. As long as the exact whereabouts of the Profound Sky Treasure remain unknown, the most likely attackers against us would merely be the combined forces of the Wood Race and the Shadow Race. With the combined strength of our Human and Demon races, and the existence of Sky Abyss City, we can fully withstand them. The Spirit Race and the Black Yaksha Race are currently fighting with gusto; knowing this news will only make them fight even more fiercely. At worst, if our several races suffer heavy casualties, it will still meet the conditions for a blood sacrifice to summon the Profound Sky Treasure. Regardless of which race originally held the treasure, once it is summoned away, we will have weathered this tribulation. However, to determine the victor before those powerful races come looking for us, this war, unlike previous sieges that often lasted hundreds of years, will certainly conclude within a few years once it begins, and its ferocity will be incomparable to anything seen before.

"Heh heh, the leaders of the other races are probably thinking similarly. Otherwise, have you heard of anyone from any race truly exerting themselves to search for this Profound Sky Spirit-Severing Sword? They're all just actively preparing for war." The old monk calmly laid out a great deal of information.

"When did you learn all this? Why didn't I receive any of this information beforehand? Is the Elder Council deliberately hiding things from me?" After hearing all these words, the Taoist's eyes flickered, and he stood stunned for a long time before asking, somewhat displeased.

"It's very simple: we did this after realizing there was something wrong with your identity. Now, I wonder if I should continue to address you as True Immortal Leiluo, or perhaps call you Lord Purple Shadow?" The old monk's eyes blazed with sharp light, and his voice suddenly turned ice-cold without the slightest warning.

"Purple Shadow? Master Jinyue, what do you mean by that?" The Taoist showed no unusual reaction; instead, he frowned. "Heh heh, it seems the time is nearly right. It should be taking effect soon," the old monk said, ignoring the Taoist. His gaze swept over to a small incense burner in the corner, where a stick of spirit incense was burning, more than half consumed.

"What time is it? No, this incense..." A purple light flashed in the Taoist's eyes, and his expression instantly changed drastically. Almost simultaneously, a purple shadow shot out from the Taoist's body, directly lunging at the old monk opposite him.

The old monk sat unmoving opposite him, and with a sweep of his sleeve, he flicked it towards the purple shadow.

With a loud boom, a golden light flashed, and ancient Sanskrit characters emerged one after another.

The purple shadow was sent flying backward as if struck by a massive force, slamming into the wall of the secret chamber. It then quivered violently and curled into a ball, utterly unable to move.

Just then, a blue light flashed on the wall, and a greenish jade bowl suddenly appeared. With a flip, it spewed forth a sheet of blue mist, instantly drawing the purple shadow into it.

"Excellent! The Four Gods Incense truly lives up to its reputation for restraining the Shadow Race; even a Purple Shadow couldn't withstand it," a white light shimmered on the wall, and an elegant middle-aged scholar appeared, dressed in a white robe, moving with composure.

"Brother Tianyuan! Thank you for lending me the divine incense. Without it, this demon would have been truly difficult to get rid of," the old monk said. Upon seeing the scholar, he immediately rose and bowed with clasped hands.

"Master Jinyue, there's no need to be so polite. I was also fortunate to have recently cultivated a new divine ability, which allowed me to discover that True Immortal Leiluo had been possessed by a Purple Shadow. What a pity that True Immortal Leiluo, a Taoist prodigy of his generation, met such an end," the scholar said, turning his gaze to the Taoist who was still sitting opposite the old monk, and sighed.

The moment the purple shadow burst out of his body, the Taoist seemed to have been completely drained of all vitality; his physical body became abnormally shriveled and lifeless.

The monk also softly chanted a Buddhist invocation, a trace of sorrow appearing on his face. Then, with a flick of his finger, a golden flame shot out.

Instantly, the Taoist's physical body turned to ash in the golden flame.

"By conventional logic, although a Purple Shadow is powerful, no less than a Spirit-Fusion cultivator, given True Immortal Leiluo's divine abilities, it's impossible for him to have been silently possessed and fallen. The only possibility is that he was ambushed during his trip to the savage wilderness a century ago. This Purple Shadow was indeed extremely cunning, having stayed in the city for so many years without revealing any flaws.If not for the Saint Emperor's intervention to expose it, we would probably still be completely unaware. This demon has been trying to gather ascended cultivators in recent years, claiming to offer protection, but I suspect its true intentions were malicious," the old monk sighed.

The middle-aged man was none other than the renowned "Saint Emperor Tianyuan," Lord of the Tianyuan Realm among the Human Race.

"However, in recent years, our old friends have indeed been a bit too partial to local cultivators. It's no wonder those young ascended ones are full of grievances," Saint Emperor Tianyuan remarked, smiling warmly as if a spring breeze had brushed his face.

"This is also partly due to my prolonged solitary cultivation in recent years, which caused me to neglect this matter. But now, with a great enemy before us, we can temporarily set aside such minor issues. The Purple Shadow occupied old friend Leiluo's body for so many years; we have no idea how much information it transmitted back. The defenses and restrictions of Sky Abyss City will need to be largely changed," the monk's expression darkened. (To be continued)