Chapter 483 The unravelling thread (1)
The trio slowly nodded planting Meng Chao's words in their hearts. They had a personal experience of some of what Meng Chao was talking about in the Ice Emerlad Sect's case.
They had suspected there was a mastermind behind them especially with the sudden upsurge in strength and the ability to refine those with special physiques, and when they fought the founder who by all accounts should have been dead, even in terms of lifespan, they became certain there was someone behind her.
However, despite expecting it, they were still caught by surprise when the mastermind turned out to be someone in the soul formation realm.
Whatever they needed the Ice Emerald Sect for, clearly they had the strength to do it themselves, evidenced by the fact that they had been able to paralyze Yang Qing and the rest and destroy a top-tier ascendant-grade treasure in the process without even their real body appearing.
But despite having such abilities, they decided to conduct their affairs via a proxy, the Ice Emerald Sect.
Whatever the case, those events coupled with Meng Chao's words were a real eye-opener for them. The southern continent was still as dangerous as ever.
"Good..." said Meng Chao in satisfaction at their reaction.
"Now, where was I, yes, so I ended up finding myself within the territory of the Crystal Palm Jade Sect, and after a little digging around, I found out the reason for it, which outwardly was the sect had found a saint grade treasure in their expedition to the Millionsfold Treasure Ocean.
Presumably, news got out, as it always weirdly does, and who did that news fall to? The sect and organizations that had a horrible relationship with them, which eventually led to them conveniently forming an alliance in the bid to take away the treasure and reduce the momentum with which the Crystal Palm Jade Sect was growing.
On paper and even when I heard it at the time, it was plausible since I had seen something similar situations happening all around countless times over, and it was indeed true that the sect had been growing at an alarming rate.
In under five thousand years, some no-name sect popped up and grew alarmingly to the point it had seven domain-level experts, with three of them standing out even against those at the same level.
Such a thing is bound to incite fear, envy, and eventually collusion and retaliation from organizations around. The same thing happened to the Order, and the same thing has happened to millions and millions of organizations around.
Some weathered through it and were able to establish themselves as a hegemon at the end of it that has existed to date, while others were unable to bear the weight of it, and got uprooted before they had a chance to grow to their fullest potential.
The Crystal Palm Jade Sect ended up falling under both categories in my book. On one hand, they were able to reach heights others couldn't on the other they had the potential to reach much higher, alas the opposition proved to be too strong..." Meng Chao said with a sigh.
His statement resonated with the three young judges. Over the years they had come across sects, clans, and other organizations with rich history that eventually waned and fell into obscurity, while some were shells of their former selves.
During Yang Qing's evaluations, the Clear Sword River Sect was one such thing. It was once powerful enough to have a few palace realm experts but eventually, it got beaten down to the point it only had an old man in the foundation realm as its member, and with his death, the name was soon to disappear in the river's of time with countless others.
It was humbling, how easily something that took over 10,000 years to build could disappear in a shorter timeframe, and in the case of the Crystal Palm Jade Sect, three days was all it took.
"So when I heard about the matter, I decided to pay witness to it. Despite sympathizing with the sect, I couldn't do anything about it. The Order was stretched thin, we had fires all over, and we already had plenty of enemies to boot, I couldn't go and add another at the time.
Back then I was sure the Crystal Palm Jade Sect wouldn't survive a day considering the lineup they were fighting against, but Deng Chao blew apart that assumption single-handedly when he made an appearance.
The silent tree of the sect whose presence was unassuming. He provides shade during peaceful times, and when the floods break, he is there to shelter the rest.
When he appeared, I found myself cheering for him as I thought to myself, maybe this time, this time things will turn different. The regular script will be upended, and greed won't win out.
Deng Chao appeared with thunderous might sending fear to his foes, and giving hope to his sect members.
The enemies that had put them on edge when the fight started, who were swollen with pride, quickly got humbled under his hand.
He destroyed countless and the siege on his sect turned into a one-sided affair with their enemies turning into the prey.
They turned from being surrounded by ten rank 2 sects to a power that was well on its way to destroying all of them including their sect grounds.
I was pleasantly surprised as they were trying to pull it off. Deng Chao was left to run amok, holding all the present enemies at bay, while the rest of the domain experts from the sect, went to the unguarded sect grounds of their attackers.
I even helped some sneak through the cordon.." said Meng Chao with an amused smile.
<nulli>"He really is a trouble harbinger," thought Yang Qing as he saw the smile Meng Chao had showing how clearly pleased he was with his interference back then.
From the records Yang Qing had read, the area was teaming with domain experts, chaos all around, cultivators on edge, and there Meng Chao was a lone domain expert, dipping his toe in like he didn't have enough trouble already.
"I was shocked when I heard that little plan of theirs had managed to destroy seven of the sects that had ganged up on them.
When the news arrived, it changed the trajectory of the battle. Those from the seven sects had their spirits crushed by the news, while those from the remaining three all fought with distracted attention possibly from worry that their sects would be next.
By the third day, things looked to be going the Crystal Jade Palm Sect's way as they dealt with fewer enemies, alas, we both had our joys crushed when a small team of five guests made an appearance with one of them being a quasi soul formation expert.
With their appearance, I wanted to leave then and there, but something urged me to stay. I had seen Deng Chao fight, and I thought maybe he could pull something even with the odds as they were.
I was even tempted to rope in the Chief Justice at the time, but he was preoccupied with other soul formation experts of the Order at the time. We couldn't spare any, not like now, where a few are always on standby ready to respond..."
The most uptodat𝓮 n𝒐vels are published on (f)reew𝒆(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦