However, if someone else were to intervene and force Traveling Monk Hui An into a problematic situation, the Buddhism bigwigs would have no choice but to discard their initial plan and deal with the issues that they were facing.
Yan Zhaoge stared at Gao Han, and Gao Han nodded, “You’re right. This is indeed the case.”
He smiled, “On the other hand, if the Roc of Ten Thousand Cloudy Miles made a move, the group of Bhantes would make a move. When the other Demon Race Great Sages also make their move, no one would pay attention to Traveling Monk Hui An anymore. That would be our chance.”
“If everyone else doesn’t make a move, we’re fated not to acquire the Three Brilliances Sacred Water anymore.”
Gao Han said calmly, “After all, in this world, there are many matters that wouldn’t go our ways.”
“You’re right. However, there’s one other possibility.” Yan Zhaoge remained expressionless. “You’re aware of the usefulness of the Three Brilliances Sacred Water. I’m aware of it as well. Then, do the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord, and the Immortal Court heretics know about it?”
“Is this bait used to lure the Roc of Ten Thousand Cloudy Miles, or to lure… us?”
He looked directly into Gao Han’s eyes, “Although the Immortal Court is currently at a disadvantage against the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus, and the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord can’t seem to divert his attention away, this involves the matters regarding the Heavenly Essence Stone’s fragments. No matter if it’s them or us, none of us would ignore this matter.”
Gao Han’s gaze glittered more and more as he welcomed Yan Zhaoge’s gaze.
This time, an expression of commendation was in the full display within his gaze.
“This was precisely the matter that I’ve previously been worried about.” Gao Han clasped his hands and smiled, “However, there’s no need to worry about it anymore.”
“Oh?”
Yan Zhaoge’s brows frowned, “What do you mean?”
Gao Han smiled and said, “Just recently, the Maitreya Buddha had personally descended upon the lands of the Immortal Court. Before the Buddha light shone, the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus had already taken over eight hundred of their Immortal Territories [1].”
“Does that mean that the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord is currently too busy to deal with other matters?” Yan Zhaoge came to a revelation.
If the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord doesn’t take any action himself, the Southern Extremity Longevity Emperor and other orthodox Daoism’s Grand Heavenly Immortals would be able to deal with those from the Immortal Court.
Only, as they had to be wary of the Western Pure Lands’ surveillance, the Southern Extremity Longevity Emperor and the others would have to remain low-key and always stay behind the scenes. Only by doing so would they have an enormous leeway.”
“Please believe me. My actions serve the same purpose as Daoist Shao, Daoist Yan, and the others. Ultimately, our goal is to allow Daoism to flourish once again. Only, our way of doing so is different,” said Gao Han in a friendly manner. “In a sense, Daoist Jiang is the same as us. Of course, his path completely differs from ours.”
Yan Zhaoge said calmly, “Forgive me for saying this, Exalted Solar Luminary, but your method also differs from ours.”
The Exalted Water Luminary – Chen Xuanzong, the Brocade Emperor – Fu Yunchi, and Yan Zhaoge’s mother – Xue Chuqing would’ve thought so as well.
“So, about the matter regarding the Three Brilliances Sacred Water, what do you plan on doing?” Gao Han didn’t mind Yan Zhaoge’s criticism. His smile was still as friendly as ever.
“Before we discuss the Three Brilliances Sacred Water, I have something I’d like to inquire from you. Please do satisfy my curiosity.” Yan Zhaoge suddenly said, “Within the Eight Extremities Worlds, there was a treasure that was passed down in my sect – the Broad Creed Mountain.”
“It was the Jade Clear lineage’s Lord of Broad Accomplishment’s treasure. According to the myths, a coroner of the Cyclic Heavenly Seal had been shattered apart, and fell off.”
“Only, this treasure seemed to have disappeared without a trace later on. You’ve been to the Eight Extremities Worlds before. Do you have any clues regarding this?” Yan Zhaoge calmly looked at Gao Han.
Have you lost something? Look for Gao Han instead!
Although this method might not be accurate, Yan Zhaoge felt that this method was the most efficient method.
The Exalted Solar Luminary blinked, and the smile on his face widened.
Yan Zhaoge was smiling as well. Only, his gaze sharpened.
Gao Han slowly retracted his smile. He bore an emotional expression, and a jarring brilliance shone from his eyes.
“During that time, I only felt that leaving this treasure in the lower world was like casting pearls to swine, which was why I brought it away. I never expected things to turn out like this.” The brilliance within Gao Han’s eyes faded, and he reverted to his usual calmness and kindness. As he was talking emotionally, he waved his hand.
A clump of light slowly flew towards the front of Yan Zhaoge.
[1] “Immortal Realm” is within the cultivation realm context, while “Immortal Territory” refers to locations.
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 1378 - Cyclic Heavenly Seal Fragment
The clump of light flew towards Yan Zhaoge. An irregularly shaped fragment was shrouded within the cluster of light.
Yan Zhaoge extended his hand to grab it and felt his hand sinking downwards,
He had cultivated the Cyclic Heavenly Scripture and other sorts of supreme martial arts, which granted him an overbearing amount of strength. With his current cultivation, carrying an entire terrain wouldn’t even pose any difficulty upon him.
And yet, when the seemingly negligible sharp fragment entered his hand, Yan Zhaoge seemed struggling to hold onto it.
However, at the same time, he could also clearly feel the martial arts concept contained within overlapping with each other.
Since it originated from the same place as the Cyclic Heavenly Scripture, the concept reached an ultimate charm.
Yan Zhaoge had cultivated the Cyclic Heavenly Scripture. Even before he was a Martial Saint, his perception towards the Cyclic Heavenly Scripture had already far surpassed other True Immortals.
When this fragment entered his hand, he felt an intense attachment to it.
At this moment, his mind seemed to have cleared up, and his thoughts reversed through the flow of time. Not only did it reach the pre-Great Calamity period, but he had also even come in contact with the once vast great thousand worlds. At the same time, his thoughts had reached the ancient eras.
His thoughts traversed through the Middle era, and even the Ancient era, and finally reached the Primitive era, where everything was of primordial barrenness.
“According to the legends, the Cyclic Heavenly Seal was refined using the mountain head of the Primitive era’s Heaven-Bearing Divine Mountain after it broke off. From the looks of it, this legend was true after all.” Yan Zhaoge calmed his heart once again. After breathing out, his entire body seemed to be trembling slightly.
When Gao Han saw this, he clapped and complimented, “Such talents in perception. Only by coming in contact with the Cyclic Heavenly Seal’s fragment, your perception towards the Cyclic Heavenly Scripture seemed to have improved. In the phase that you’re in, any sort of improvement would be deemed extremely precious. And yet, you’ve improved so easily. It’s apparent how thick your accumulation must’ve been. You only lack an opportunity to break through that barrier.”
As long as an opportunity was present, he could immediately break through it.
“Thanks, Exalted Solar Luminary.” Yan Zhaoge didn’t conceal anything from Gao Han. His body’s tremble immediately stopped and returned to normal. Then, he kept the fragment.
Seeing his actions, Feng Yunsheng knew that the fragment wasn’t a counterfeit product. It was indeed the Cyclic Heavenly Sea
l’s fragment.
As a Broad Creed disciple, she had naturally heard of the myths related to the Cyclic Heavenly Seal’s fragment before. She was aware that the Broad Creed Mountain’s very first Grand Master had acquired this treasure within the Eight Extremities Worlds.
A part of the Eight Extremities Worlds’ Broad Creed Mountain lineage’s martial arts originated from this Cyclic Heavenly Seal fragment.
At that time, in the lower world, martial arts practitioners’ cultivation didn’t even surpass the Merging Avatar Realm.
The Cyclic Heavenly Seal fragment’s value was depreciated within that world. The higher one’s cultivation was, the more they could perceive the uniqueness contained within. If one’s cultivation wasn’t sufficient, the rewards they could obtain was comparatively limited.
However, even so, the treasure still granted insurmountable benefits to the Broad Creed Mountain. It allowed them to become outstanding among all other sects of the Eight Extremities Worlds even in history and managed to reach its prime.
Only afterward, the treasure had disappeared.
From the looks of it now, Gao Han had indeed taken it along with him when he was in the Eight Extremities Worlds.
“About the matters regarding the Three Brillainces Sacred Water, if your information is right, and the situation could be controlled, I don’t see a reason for us not to attempt it. Only, I might not be of help,” said Yan Zhaoge after he kept the Cyclic Heavenly Seal fragment.
Gao Han smiled slightly, “With your wife coming along, things would be easier for us.”
“You’re too courteous, Exalted Solar Luminary,” said Yan Zhaoge. “If that’s the case, I’d like to contact the Sky beyond Skies first. I want to convey everything that happened in the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus’s Obscured Way World’s Five Elements Mountain to my elders. Please do be patient for a while.”
Gao Han made a “go ahead” gesture, “It’s what you should do. I want to report all the information to the Southern Extremity Longevity Emperor as well.”
After they finished their matters, Yan Zhaoge and Feng Yunsheng followed Gao Han towards the boundless void’s depth.
As the three of them were on the journey, they had naturally probed each other. Such actions were continuously happening on the way.
Yan Zhaoge was already on guard against Gao Han. Meanwhile, Gao Han kept his mouth shut as well. As a result, Yan Zhaoge couldn’t acquire any valuable information from him.
However, Gao Han didn’t mind telling Yan Zhaoge information about the war between the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus and the Immortal Court.
“Does this mean that a Grand Heavenly Immortal of the Immortal Court had almost perished?” asked Yan Zhaoge with great interest.
“That’s right,” answered Gao Han. “Their amount of Grand Heavenly Immortal Realm and Grand Virtual Immortal Realm experts are truly at a disadvantageous number. Among the heretics, True Immortals and Profound Immortals were easy to be compensated for, but advancing any further would be extremely difficult for them.”
“Of course, purely based on the results alone, it was much easier for them.”
Yan Zhaoge touched his chin, “With eight hundred of their Immortal Territories occupied by the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus, the areas required to be guarded by the Immortal Court had lessened. This had instead solved their problem of lacking manpower. They pretty much exchanged space for time, which allowed them to relax a little. This might also be considered as a strategic retreat.”
“Your theory is right. However, it’ll be hard for them to reclaim their lost lands.” Gao Han chuckled, “Among the eight hundred Immortal Territories, there are over ten thousand worlds, with hundreds of millions, and even billions of citizens within. These are the sources of the faith power in which the heretics prioritize over anything else.”
“They could try to bring away the population and move them to other places. However, it’ll take some time for them to be able to bring away their resources and treasures.”
“Even if no one was left behind for the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus, whether the population of the eight hundred Immortal Territories could fit into the rest of the Immortal Territories was a problem as well. They would require lots of effort to assign them.”
Gao Han said, “Now that twenty years had passed, the chaos at the very start should have died down by now. The desire to reclaim their land and their wish for revenge would become stronger and stronger. After receiving the Immortal Court’s higher-up’s guidance, they would materialize a much stronger faith power.”
“However, even with this burst of energy, it would still decline and slowly cease to exist. If they couldn’t reclaim their land after such a long time, no matter how much they worshipped the Immortal Court, it would still waver. In fact, they would also be unsatisfied and remain doubtful towards the Immortal Court. After all these pent up emotions had been accumulated to a certain amount, if their anger couldn’t be vented to their external foes, their arrows of frustration would point towards their faction.”
If it were any other place, nothing much would happen if the citizen’s hearts wavered.
However, for the worlds that the heretics managed, no matter if it was the Immortal Court or the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus, these were extremely important. Without the trust of the public, they would face the risk of damaging their foundations.
If the influence was small, and the people affected were just a few, nothing serious would happen. However, this time, the Immortal Court had suffered too much of a loss. The moment an internal revolt happens, the impact brought along with it couldn’t be taken lightly at all.
If they continuously and repeatedly illuminated others manually to strengthen the effect, they might prevent it from declining.
However, the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus didn’t intend on letting the Immortal Court relax. Their attacks had never stopped, while the Immortal Court could only fend off their external foes. They couldn’t shift some of their attention away to deal with their internal problems.
“Not only the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord, but even the Immortal Court experts could also enjoy the benefits of the faith power when they reach the Exalt Martial Saint Realm.” Yan Zhaoge softly clapped his hands, “As the faith power declines, while the Immortal Court’s higher-up experts wouldn’t experience a drop in their cultivation realm, it would still more or less affect them. As a result, it would be harder to replenish their perished higher-up experts.”
History's Strongest Senior Brother Chapter 1379 - Three Thousand Immortal Realm
“Naturally, it would affect them,” said Gao Han with a smile. “Upon reaching a certain realm, the heretical martial art practitioners could already enjoy the benefits of the faith power. If their connection to the faith power were cut off, even if their cultivation realm wouldn’t plummet, they would still slowly decline in their current realm.”
“As for to what extent it declines, it differs from each person. Rarely any heretics wouldn’t get affected by this. However, if there were people that wouldn’t be affected…” After pausing for a while, he continued, “That would be those prodigies that don’t walk the path of heretics. Using their talents and potential, they would attempt to rise to the same realm as others.”
Yan Zhaoge and Feng Yunsheng understood, “People like the Sword Devil – Yin Shiyang.”
Gao Han nodded, “That’s right.”
“Speaking of it, I’ve encountered a heretic Emperor that originated from the Immortal Court. It was a woman. Although her talents and strength pales in comparison to the Sword Devil, she was still outstanding.” said Yan Zhaoge. “She claimed to have enjoyed five territories’ worth of faith power [1].”
“As expected, she’s a more outstanding individual among the True Immortal heretics,” said Gao Han. “Among the heretic’s Three Thousand Immortal Territories, under normal circumstances, every True Immortal can only enjoy the faith power released by four to five territ
ories.”
A scornful smile appeared on his face, “The higher the heretic martial art practitioners reach, the higher the possibility of them coming in contact with the truth. They would slowly understand that their path wasn’t as righteous and equal as others made out to be. As long as they were sincere, everyone else would have a chance as well. Of course, the chances also differ with each individual.”
The more outstanding True Immortals could enjoy the faith power coming from five territories, while normal True Immortal heretics could only enjoy four territories’ faith power.
Yan Zhaoge touched his chin, “To be frank, I had been moving around within the Immortal Court heretic’s lands for a while in the past. Only, the Immortal Realm heretic experts that I’ve encountered were comparatively little, and their understanding of the subject was limited.”
“At that time, there was someone called the Han Emperor, who was killed by the Exalted Fire Luminary. Some said that he enjoyed the faith power of twelve territories. What kind of level was he at?”
He looked towards Gao Han and asked.
Han Emperor was one of the two Profound Immortal heretics that Yan Zhaoge, the Brocade Emperor, and the Encompassing Emperor had encountered when they first entered the Nine Underworlds in search of Feng Yunsheng.
Afterward, they injured the Mars Halberd, driving Suo Mingzhang to incite immense havoc within the Immortal Court.
During that time, Suo Mingzhang had unintentionally captured an Immortal Court expert that had besieged the Exalted Wood Luminary – Shao Huangjun in the past. With this, he finally knew that the location in which Shao Huangjun had disappeared was the Original Nebula.
“Twelve territories should be considered quite little. He must be a Duo Qis Fused Aura Profound Immortal,” answered Gao Han. “Normally speaking, a Profound Immortal heretic can only enjoy the faith power coming from twelve to fifteen territories.”
Typically, an Exalt Martial Saint could only enjoy a few worlds’ faith power.
History's Strongest Senior Brother c1-1474 Page 740
