Back at the Tiansang Spirit Palace, it was early morning, and the sun was about to rise.
It’d been almost a day since Xu Xiaoshou and the rest entered the Tianxuan Gate.
Zhao Xidong was fast asleep in a dark room at the side of the Council Hall.
As one of the ones prioritized by the spirit palace for cultivating, he’d been given the very important task of guarding the Tianxuan Gate despite his repeated mistakes.
The room was empty, and, save for Zhao Xidong, who was dead asleep in the room, there was only a table and a purple crystal spirit wheel hovering midair.
The wheel was very intricate and beautiful, with dragons and phoenixes carved into it.
12 white jade pearls were hovering on the wheel, and they looked sapient. All of them brought about a curtain of bluish-green light, which made them look rather mystical.
The Spirit Curtain Wheel of the 12 Pearls.
The pearls corresponded to the 12 realm-stabilizing treasures in the Tianxuan Gate.
It’d taken a massive ton of financial and human resources on the part of the Tiansang Spirit Palace to connect with an extradimensional realm with that wheel. As such, the task of guarding it could be considered both a heavy and a light burden, depending on how one looked at it.
Zhao Xidong was tasked to guard the spirit wheel. If nothing went afoul for three days, that would mean everything within the Tianxuan Gate was doing fine.
Yet, if something were to happen with the wheel… the way Zhao Xidong saw it, there was still utterly nothing he could do, as he was outside the Tianxuan Gate and couldn’t do anything to salvage anything inside the gate.
The only thing he could do was report the abnormalities to his superiors.
Furthermore, if it hadn’t been for Elder Xiao saying there might be a traitor or a mole in their ranks, the higher-ups probably would’ve sent just about anyone to guard the wheel, as they’d done in past years.
Arrhhh!
Zhao Xidong, who was leaning against the door as he dozed off, was suddenly jolted awake. He’d dreamt that Xu Xiaoshou had made a breakthrough inside the Tianxuan Gate and blew up the entire secret realm.
Thump!
His head slammed against the door, and it hurt so bad that he hissed.
Zhao Xidong wiped the drool off of his mouth and turned around, wiping the drool on the door with the back of his hand as he stood and focused on the Spirit Curtain Wheel of the 12 Pearls.
Everything was fine.
“Huff… seems like I’ve been overthinking things. Well, it’s not like someone like Xu Xiaoshou could end up blowing the entire secret realm, right? It was nothing but a dream, then.” He drank from a cup, then sighed.
“What’s with this Xu Xiaoshou anyway? He keeps popping up in all my dreams as of late. Man, something is wrong with him.
“That guy really is a living nightmare.”
A clear cracking sound reverberated in the room as he put his cup on the table.
Crack!
He was immediately stunned. The sound definitely hadn’t come from that cup before his eyes, but from behind him.
He was trembling as he turned around. He then saw that one of the protective barriers on one of the pearls on the wheel had cracked.
The shimmering pearl immediately turned dark.
“Holy sh**!”
He was felt like he was about to go crazy. “What the h*ll!? It actually broke!?”
The protective barrier on that pearl corresponded to the three protective layers guarding the treasure stabilizing the realm. The pearl darkening meant that the treasure had been taken.
“There really is a mole among us?” He was utterly shaken.
He opened the door with a bang and rushed outside, thinking to report the matter to Elder Xiao at once, yet he quickly turned around.
He then carefully carried the wheel with him. The wheel couldn’t be chucked into a space ring, as it was connected to an extradimensional realm. The spatial clashes could bring quite the disaster.
“Sh** does happen. The boss really knows stuff indeed.”
He left the Council Hall and headed straight for the Spiritual Affairs Division.
Crack!
Yet another pearl’s protective barrier shattered as soon as he took flight, causing him to wobble midair and crash to the ground.
“Oh good heavens. What the h*ll is happening inside the Tianxuan Gate? Who’s causing all that mess in there!?”
The pearl that had lost its protective barrier flashed briefly, looking like it was about to turn dull, yet it still emanated light somehow.
“Hold on, man.”
He anxiously sped up and disappeared from the skyline.
…
Four men were gathered in a dark, stifling-looking room.
Qiao Qianzhi was so puzzled as to why Elder Sang had taken a liking for braised pork feet all of a sudden that he actually didn’t even bother taking a bite of the roasted goose that he used to like so much.
He put down his chopsticks and said in a serious tone, “The Holy Divine Palace has made their statement. The target of the ‘Holy Vassal’ this time is the 21 Famed Swords. Legend has it that a miracle will happen with all 21 of them collected.
He paused and then continued, “The Holy Divine Palace shouldn’t have made such a statement. This case was initially known only to a handful, yet now the entire continent is talking about it.
“I heard that there are some who are faking it. In some places, the sword wielders have switched hands for an untold number of generations already.”
Elder Sang didn’t bother looking up. “How do you know that the ones faking it are not the ones from the Holy Divine Palace?”
Xiao Qixiu, who was off to the side, was stunned, and put down the roasted goose. “That’s impossible. The Holy Divine Palace has been maintaining order across the continent for so long. If they were after the famed swords, they would have long since gathered them in one place.”
Elder Sang snickered. “Do you really think it’d be that easy? I’m afraid that even the most powerful force in the entire continent would find it impossible to do something like that without anyone knowing about it.
“The ones in power only gain the most benefits in times of chaos. Do you think the ‘Holy Vassal’ could’ve developed so quickly throughout the years otherwise?”
Ye Xiaotian voiced his disagreement. “If we can’t even believe in the Holy Divine Palace, then there’s no place for the spiritual cultivators across the continent to rely on.”
Elder Sang glowered at him and said, somewhat irked, “That’s why I said the spirit palace has rendered you all fools throughout the years!
“When the fight for the Great Path is concerned, who would you believe other than yourselves, eh?”
All three of them fell silent. They couldn’t refute this.
Qiao Qianzhi chuckled and tried to blow the whole matter over. He waved his hand and said, “Well, no point talking so much about it. The issue has little to do with us, and you, Xiao, I’m afraid you’ll have to be more alert, and don’t let Qianqian go anywhere.”
“Sure.” Xiao Qixiu nodded and, deeming it unwise to do anything rash at such a critical time, decided to securely put his token away.
“There’s one more thing…” Qiao Qianzhi looked at the three of them. His expression was solemn.
“The ‘White Cave’ has been up to something as of late. It’s rumored that a fabled treasure has appeared there, and now everyone knows it.”
“The ‘White Cave’… treasure?” Xiao Qixiu only pondered this for a split second before a passionate look appeared in his eyes. He was shocked enough to get on his feet and say, “One of the swords of the Eighth Sword Deity?”
Qiao Qianzhi gestured for him to sit down, but he nonetheless knew why the other man was so shocked.
No swordsman would turn a blind eye to anything left behind by the Eighth Sword Deity. He nodded and answered, “Yes, I’m afraid that the Holy Sword Land of the East will be shaken because of this.”
Elder Sang rolled his eyes and said, “You lot have been overthinking things. Rumors are just rumors. Which sacred ground in the world doesn’t have rumors about things he left behind, eh? Have any of you actually seen anything?”
Qiao Qianzhi then replied calmly, “But this time, the thing was specifically named the ‘Fourth Sword.'”
Elder Sang was rendered speechless for a moment.
“Who spread such rumors?
“The Holy Divine Palace?
Elder Sang was irked. “What is wrong with that d*mned palace, eh? So they’re the ones verifying it, then?”
Qiao Qianzhi nodded slowly. “Yes.”
All three of them understood why Elder Sang was so ticked off.
That old man before their eyes put his life on the line over 30 years ago and had only brought back the scabbard of the “Fourth Sword.” He’d been waiting for the moment when the sword could be properly sheathed again.
That was one of his purposes for returning to the spirit palace to resist the machinations of that masked man after traveling all over the place.
His second purpose was to wait for the day when the “White Cave” was opened again.
Yet, with the news leaking out like that, there was just no telling how many in the world would interfere in the matter.
Elder Sang sullenly took a gulp of wine and looked at Ye Xiaotian. “How about a bet?”
“Hmm?”
“I assume that all of you don’t buy that the Holy Divine Palace is up to no good despite their glamorous façade. How about a bet to see if they’ll do something this time, then?”
Ye Xiaotian was stunned and asked, “What if the Holy Divine Palace does get up to no good?”
“Nothing.” Elder Sang smirked. “I bet those clean, pristine people will definitely come up with some glamorous excuse to get slots to enter the ‘White Cave’ from the spirit palaces of the 10 prefectures.”
Ye Xiaotian raised an eyebrow. “That huge of a bet, eh?” he thought. “Betting on even how the palace will act?”
“The stakes?” he asked.
Elder Sang put his chopsticks down and said in a serious tone, “That regardless of what Xu Xiaoshou manages to get his hands on in the Tianxuan Gate, you’ll all turn a blind eye to it.”