Chapter 377: Chapter 360: Yao
"Damn it, what is this thing!" Wang Meng kicked the door.
The Sword Cultivator at his side immediately drew his sword and glared. "How dare you disrespect the Holy Sect!"
"Ling Tong, be patient. Let our guest take his time. Young friend, this can’t be opened with Barbaric Power. I imagine the pattern on the door is familiar to you."
A voice said from within.
’Of course it’s familiar,’ Wang Meng thought. ’It’s a pentagram. Damn it. The problem is, who’s to say this isn’t a trap? Why can’t these old geezers ever be straightforward?’
Wang Meng’s Elemental Power surged in, and he immediately felt the array on the door. A wave of power rushed to meet him—it was the Five Elements Flame!
It was followed by the Metal of the Five Elements... Wood of the Five Elements... Earth of the Five Elements... and Water of the Five Elements. The five forces formed a Heaven and Earth Net that surged toward Wang Meng.
’Reverse Five Elements Power, and it’s aimed directly at my Elemental Power itself. This godforsaken place is truly ruthless.’
Wang Meng activated his Five Elements Technique to meet the five powers. Two whirlpools, one of forward and one of reverse Five Elements, began to intertwine. These five powers seemed tailor-made for someone with a Five Elements Body. The door was truly dangerous; the reversed Five Elements even came in combinations, and a single mistake could be fatal. Unfortunately for it, it had run into Wang Meng.
Just as Wang Meng prepared to unleash his power, the Five Elements Power suddenly vanished. The great doors rumbled open.
A brilliant light burst forth, momentarily blinding Wang Meng and Ma Tian’er. The Spiritual Qi was incredibly rich. High up in the grand hall sat three elders with the air of immortal sages, looking far more impressive than the Ancestral Masters of the Holy Hall.
As Wang Meng and Ma Tian’er walked inside, the doors to the grand hall rumbled shut behind them.
"Holy Hall Disciples Wang Meng and Ma Tian’er pay our respects to you three seniors. May we ask what this place is?"
Wang Meng asked, his tone perfectly courteous.
But the three Elders seemed rather surprised, looking the two of them up and down.
The Elder on the left spoke with a wry expression. "We’ve made a mistake. It’s not him. His talent isn’t high enough."
Wang Meng nearly coughed up blood. ’Not me? Since unleashing the power of my Five Elements Body, this is the first time I’ve ever been told my talent isn’t high enough.’
"What a mess. What should we do? Send them back?" the Elder on the right asked, sizing up Wang Meng and shaking his head.
The Elder in the middle, who had been silent, finally spoke. "You are Wang Meng. From the way you opened the door, you possess the Five Elements Physique, correct?"
Wang Meng figured there was no point in hiding what they had already seen. "This disciple doesn’t know what a Five Elements Physique is, but in my Cultivation, I have found that I can learn Heart Techniques of any element."
The other two nodded at him. "Great Elder, the decision is yours."
The three of them looked at Wang Meng with an expression of pity, which completely baffled him.
"Our meeting is fate," the Great Elder said. "The person we originally intended to find was someone else. One of your friends possesses the Holy Light Demon Collapse Body."
Wang Meng and Ma Tian’er looked at each other; they had never heard of a Holy Light Demon Collapse Body. However, one person came to Wang Meng’s mind: Mingren, and his performance during the battle with the Dragon King Faction.
"And you are?" Wang Meng needed to figure out who these people were. ’They seem to be hiding underground. Their strength is obviously extraordinary, yet here they are. Are they hiding from the Star Alliance?’
"Haha, sit down," the Great Elder in the middle said. "It’s a long story. Your physiques are quite good as well, so you can try your luck."
Wang Meng and Ma Tian’er did as they were told and sat down.
"It’s a long story. The Small Thousand Worlds were once jointly occupied by us Human Cultivators and the Demon Race, born from the Heaven and Earth Demon Beasts. But the two sides were as incompatible as fire and water, and wars between them were constant. In order to completely eliminate the Demon Race and pave the way for human Cultivation, the strongest Sects from every Small Thousand Realm formed the Star Alliance. Together, they launched the ultimate Demon Destruction War. After paying a heavy price, humanity won a great victory, which led to our current era of human dominance. However, after the war, the Star Alliance didn’t disband. It survived. Initially, the Star Alliance’s existence was indeed beneficial, greatly reducing the conflicts between human Sects."
The Great Elder paused. As Holy Hall Disciples, Wang Meng and Ma Tian’er didn’t know much about this history. Furthermore, the Holy Hall’s ranking wasn’t particularly high, so they had only learned of many secrets after entering the Cultivation Academy. But even then, information about the Star Alliance was difficult to obtain.
"But a few decades later, the Star Alliance changed. It established the Cultivation Academies and the Slaughter Space, bringing all the Sects of the Small Thousand Realms under its unified control."
Wang Meng couldn’t help but interject, "Senior, doesn’t that system seem very beneficial for the Sects?"
The existence of the Cultivation Academies gave opportunities to many Cultivators from less developed Small Thousand Realms.
"What is the Cultivation philosophy of the Cultivation Academies?" the Great Elder asked.
"To use the Five Elements as a foundation, hone one’s Magic skills, and focus on excavating one’s own innate power," Ma Tian’er replied. She had a nagging feeling that the people before them were against the Star Alliance. ’It seems we’ve stumbled into the lion’s den,’ she thought. ’But judging by their noble bearing, it’s hard to believe.’
"Haha! The Five Elements as a foundation, excavating one’s own power... That isn’t the way of humans. That’s the way of the Demon Race!"
"Demons are uniquely blessed, possessing immense power from birth," the Second Elder said. "And the Demon Race is a people that combines both wisdom and power. They also have the ability to control Exotic and Demon Beasts. Their Cultivation doesn’t require external aids; it originates from the powerful source within their bodies. But we humans are not like that. Our advantage lies in our intellect. For us to defy the heavens and achieve long life, we need to rely on various external aids—Artifact Refining, Alchemy, Array Refining. Are these things emphasized in the Cultivation Academies?"
Wang Meng and Ma Tian’er were stunned. While the Cultivation Academies did cover those subjects, they were clearly considered far less important.
The Third Elder saw their confusion. "The Star Alliance won’t forbid those arts. The more something is forbidden, the more people will research it. So they just downplay their importance."
"Senior, are you saying the Star Alliance is run by the Demon Race? But wasn’t the Star Alliance founded by us Human Cultivators as the Demon Destruction Alliance?"
Wang Meng asked, horrified. ’Something big is about to happen.’
The Third Elder smiled faintly. "The rule of the Slaughter Space is that Saint and Demon cannot coexist. But before the Star Alliance, Saint, Demon, and Evil were merely different paths of Cultivation. Being a Saint Cultivator didn’t mean you were good, and being a Demon Cultivator didn’t mean you were evil. Good and evil lie in the heart; it was only a difference in method. But in the Slaughter Space, the battle between Saint and Demon has become irreconcilable."
"So, you’re saying this is the Demon Race’s way of making us exhaust ourselves with infighting?"
Wang Meng and Ma Tian’er remained skeptical. "I’ve been to the Slaughter Space," Wang Meng said. "As far as I know, it’s the Star Alliance’s method for distributing resources fairly. It’s better than all-out wars between Sects, and it provides more opportunities for the strong."
"Haha. We humans have been practicing Cultivation for millennia. When have we ever needed something like this?" the Great Elder said. "In the past, the Sects interacted, but no one was trapped in this kind of endless conflict."
Wang Meng shook his head slightly. "Even if that’s true, you still haven’t convinced me, Senior."
The three Elders smiled. "This Five Elements Desert Space you’ve entered is actually the Small Thousand Realm of our Celestial Secret Sect."
"The Celestial Secret Sect? Weren’t they wiped out?" Wang Meng thought of the Five Elements Cultivation Array, which had been remarkably sophisticated.
"Haha, the Star Alliance has its own version of the story. That’s because our Celestial Secret Sect discovered the truth. The Demon Destruction War was a victory, yes, but in another sense, it was a failure. The Demon Race used some kind of Secret Technique to infiltrate the Star Alliance. Now, within the core of the Star Alliance, some of the members—or perhaps all of them—have become part of the Demon Race!"
"Our Celestial Secret Sect possesses the Celestial Secret Skill, which allows us to make prophecies. That is why we met with disaster," the Great Elder continued. "However, we were prepared. What the Demon Race destroyed was merely a facade. This is the true Celestial Secret Sect."
Wang Meng’s guard went up instantly. ’According to the rules of the street, I’ve just heard something I shouldn’t have. This is the part where they silence you for good.’
The Great Elder seemed to notice Wang Meng’s wariness. "Young man, don’t be so tense. If we wanted to kill you, we wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble."
Wang Meng shrugged. "Seniors, so if I understand you correctly, the Star Alliance has secretly been taken over by Great Demons? And to keep us Human Cultivators from finding out, they’re using the Cultivation Academies and the Slaughter Space to slowly wear us down?"
The Great Elder glanced at Wang Meng. "You may ask any questions you have."
Wang Meng nodded and stood up. "I’ve had contact with the dean of the Starlight City Cultivation Academy. I’ve never seen what the Demon Race looks like, so perhaps my own ability is too low, but I couldn’t sense any Demonic characteristics from him whatsoever."
’Wang Meng possessed Godhood. If Lv Yuantian were a Demon, it’s impossible that his Godhood wouldn’t have reacted in the slightest. This was his greatest secret.’
"He is likely human. Within the core of the Star Alliance, there are members of the Demon Race, but there are also humans willing to coexist with them."
"Senior, are you saying that some people know the Demon Race is among them and are still willing to cooperate?" Ma Tian’er couldn’t help but ask. The idea was terrifying and unbelievable.
"For hundreds of years, no one has ascended. The Star Alliance Saintess has devised a plan to open a path to ascension, but it requires an unimaginably vast amount of resources. For the chance to ascend, some will do anything. But how can the Power of Laws be defied by mortal strength? For the Demon Race, it doesn’t matter whether the plan succeeds or fails. In either case, all of humanity’s Sects will be ruined in the process, never to recover."
the Great Elder said.
’This whole thing is getting terribly complicated,’ Wang Meng thought. ’It’s not something a small fry like me should be getting involved in.’
"Is the Saintess part of the Demon Race?" Wang Meng asked. "With so many experts around, why not just take her out?"
All three Elders couldn’t help but laugh, which only confused Wang Meng further.
"The Star Alliance comprises over eight hundred Sects, and our Extreme Dao Alliance has over five hundred. If a real war were to break out, humanity would be the one to suffer the ultimate losses. The Demon Race would probably love nothing more."
"But a considerable number of our fellow humans are still within the Star Alliance, which is why the current balance is maintained."
’So they’re enemies, but they aren’t actually at war.’ Wang Meng’s head was spinning.
"Seniors, we’re just small-timers. We can’t help with matters this big, and there’s nothing we can do. But we promise not to say a word. So there’s no need to silence us, right?"
Wang Meng asked, deciding it was better to be direct than to hide his thoughts. ’If they really intend to silence us, I’ll fight to the bitter end.’
The three looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh. "You’re an interesting kid. Joining our Extreme Dao Alliance is voluntary. We don’t force anyone."
Wang Meng’s eyes glinted. "What happens if we join? And what happens if we don’t?"
"If you don’t join, we’ll act as if this never happened and send you back, though this memory will have to be erased. If you join, you can choose to remain within the Star Alliance or stay here in the Extreme Dao Alliance to cultivate and wait for the arrival of the Demon Race’s holy war."
’In other words,’ Wang Meng thought, ’one option is to be a spy, and the other is to be a ’rebel’.’
’To be honest, whether it was the Demon Race, the Star Alliance, or the Extreme Dao Alliance, it made no difference to him. He had simply realized after coming here that the world was too vast, and the power he once relied on was far too small. He was never in control of his own destiny. But this was the path of Cultivation. He had to adapt.’
