Chapter 574 - 523: Tier 5 Earth

Chapter 574: Chapter 523: Tier 5 Earth

"As I said, the Sword Sect’s enemies have mostly died off over the past ten thousand years. The Hidden Vein has spent all these years infiltrating various Sects, and we have plenty to show for it..."

Po Jun Star Monarch looked up, his expression under the mask unreadable. No one could have imagined that the Celestial Star Sect’s revered Nascent Soul Elder was also a successor to the Taibai Sword Sect’s Hidden Vein.

"Furthermore, I can tell you all the truth: the core of the Star Palace Secret Realm is the legendary Sword-Cleansing Grotto Heaven. The Supreme Sword Dao lies just ahead. Are any of you willing to just walk away?"

The other Star Lords exchanged glances, each recognizing the veiled threat in Po Jun Star Monarch’s words.

Everyone who joined the Star Palace did so out of a fervent devotion to the Sword Dao, drawn by the reputation of the Taibai Sword Sect.

All other gains were just a bonus.

The prize was now right before them, within arm’s reach. They were on the verge of fulfilling the Star Palace’s greatest and most fundamental ambition.

Quitting was out of the question.

They flared with anger. It was hard to say how much of it was fury at being deceived, and how much was fear of being cast aside after having served their purpose.

Without needing to communicate, they challenged Po Jun Star Monarch in unison, trying to prevent the balance of power within the Star Palace from shifting any further.

Because of their Dao Heart Oaths, the Star Lords could not turn on one another and cause an irreparable rift unless it was the absolute last resort.

Personal strength might grant one more influence, but it wasn’t the deciding factor here, unlike in the outside world.

It was more a matter of constant negotiation, of give-and-take, of compromising on benefits.

And Po Jun Star Monarch’s identity as a successor to the Taibai Sword Sect’s Hidden Vein undoubtedly gave him a massive advantage in the upcoming exploration of the Sword-Cleansing Grotto Heaven.

Besides, the Tier Five Flying Sword was in his hands. If he weren’t restrained, the other Star Lords likely wouldn’t even get the scraps.

If there was no hope of obtaining the Taibai Sword Sect’s legacy, the Star Palace would lose its very reason for being.

Bai Zichen remained the calmest of them all. He listened to their argument while inwardly reviewing the problems that had been exposed in his battle against the Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede.

He wasn’t yet capable of redesigning the Star River Sword Array, but that didn’t mean there was no room to adjust the details.

’The twelve Array Flying Swords are currently led by the Moon Xuan Sword, with the Splendid Youth Sword at the rear and the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword holding the center. This arrangement is very stable, allowing me to shift the flying swords’ positions at any time to withstand an attack. However, when it comes to explosive power, it’s a far cry from placing all the Tier Four Flying Swords at the front.’

There are always trade-offs. Against another top-tier Great Demon like the Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede, the Star River Sword Array would still struggle.

Fortunately, while the Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede possessed two types of True Intent—a rarity among Demon Beasts—it had no powerful Treasures. Demon Beasts are different from Human Race Cultivators; they seldom comprehend True Intent through Acquired Cultivation, instead awakening it as they grow stronger.

The power of their bloodline’s source determines their level of mastery over True Intent.

In this regard, Great Demons with Desolate Beast Bloodlines have an even greater advantage, as they are born with True Intent and are in harmony with the Great Dao.

However, their chances of breaking free from the shackles of their bloodline to earn the Great Dao’s additional favor through Acquired Cultivation are actually lower than those of ordinary Demon Beasts.

Bai Zichen wouldn’t allow himself to grow complacent over his victory against the Thousand-Legged Golden Centipede. His enemies were the Dragon Monarch and the Divinity Transformation Elder Dragon, both of whom were said to possess legendary Heaven-Defying Treasures.

The True Understanding of Sword Dao offered no guidance whatsoever on the crucial deployment sequence for the flying swords in the array; he had to figure it all out through his own trial and error.

The Star River Sword Monarch may have reached a deeper Sword Dao Realm and achieved a more complete mastery of the Starry Sky Sword Intent, but in terms of Flying Sword Fortune Source, he was inferior to Bai Zichen.

The swords forming his Sword Array were uniformly Tier Three Flying Swords. The Star River Sword Monarch also had a Tier Five Flying Sword, but it belonged to the Taibai Sword Sect and was not for his personal use.

A legacy Flying Sword from the Sect was only held in trust for its wielder to use; it was by no means suitable for refining into a life-bound weapon.

Since it wasn’t his life-bound weapon, and since he lacked a Treasure like the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box, he couldn’t sustain the True Essence drain required to integrate a Tier Five Flying Sword into his twelve-sword array.

’Perhaps next time I can adjust the sequence of the Array Flying Swords depending on my opponent... But for a fundamental solution, I need to improve the quality of the swords themselves. Once the Abi Heavenly Prison Demon Sword acknowledges me as its master and the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword is restored to Tier Five, this problem will solve itself!’

’Alternatively, if my Sword Dao Realm ascends once more to the state of One Sword Births Ten Thousand Techniques, I could achieve One Sword Forms the Array. At that point, with an array within an array, the dual-layered power would be impervious to even powerful Magical Treasures or Divine Techniques trying to brute-force their way through.’

However, reaching the realm of One Sword Breaks Ten Thousand Laws was even more difficult than incorporating a Tier Five Flying Sword into the array.

The latter was already a tangible goal, while the former was still an illusory dream. Even he had no idea if it would take several hundred years of complete devotion to achieve.

Just as Bai Zichen was envisioning his future Star River Sword Array anchored by a Tier Five Flying Sword, a voice from in front of him pulled him back to reality.

"We are all members of the Star Palace, working towards the same goal. But Po Jun, you need to be honest with everyone... Daoist Brother Ziwei, what do you say?"

No one wanted to leave before reaping the rewards, so Taiyin Star Monarch pulled the hitherto silent member into the conversation.

"I want to know everything about the Sword-Cleansing Grotto Heaven."

Bai Zichen had leverage and wasn’t afraid of being excluded.

There were two conditions to enter the Core Secret Realm, the Sword-Cleansing Grotto Heaven: a Tier Five Flying Sword to serve as the key, and the application of Sword Light Division.

Without him, Po Jun Star Monarch had no hope of finding another suitable candidate anytime soon.

The few publicly known Sword Cultivators in the Cultivation Realm who had reached the Sword Light Splitting Realm were all part of the true upper echelons of the major Sword Sects. Bringing in such a person would be far too risky—akin to asking a tiger for its hide.

Although Bai Zichen’s strength had also exceeded Po Jun Star Monarch’s expectations, the fact that he wasn’t from a Super Sect meant he couldn’t possibly be connected to the shadowy forces that had annihilated the Taibai Sword Sect back then.