Chapter 2373: The Protector Swords
When he saw how Donglin Qiushui, who also stood as a lord of a main peak, no longer argue with him, Gongsun Zhi became even more arrogant. It was to the point where he started to look down on them.
Afterwards, Gongsun Zhi looked towards the gateway to the miniature world and looked down at the Radiant Saint Masters there who wanted to enter the miniature world but dared not. He said coldly, “I want to know everything about Jian Chen, along with everything about his current situation in the outside world. I will give whoever provides me with the most accurate and most complete information permission to enter the miniature world. If you satisfy me, I can even watch out for you specially in the future.”
Gongsun Zhi’s words caused a disturbance among the Radiant Saint Masters outside. Many of them became interested, and immediately, a few left. They were heading off to collect the information that Gongsun Zhi wanted.
Gongsun Zhi’s identity now was very different. Many Radiant Saint Masters, even Radiant Godkings, wanted to develop ties with him for the future. As a result, plenty of people were willing to serve him.
Nine sword-shaped mountains stood quietly within an extremely well-hidden space within the Tower of Radiance.
Who knows how many years the mountains had stood there. They gave off a heavy presence of age.
A snow-white sword was planted on each of the peaks.
There were a total of nine swords. They shone with dazzling light, like miniature suns atop the mountains.
The space around the swords was all twisted, a phenomenon caused by extremely great power. The power originated from the nine swords.
A devastating power was sealed with the nine swords. It was terrifyingly powerful.
The artifact spirit appeared silently among the nine mountains as a middle-aged man. He glanced past the swords on the mountains and murmured, “The master of the Tower of Radiance had nine extremely powerful retainers who fought wars with him, leaving behind a meritorious record of service. When the master of the Tower of Radiance died, his nine retainers did not choose to continue living either. They used their innate secret technique to condense their vital essence, condensing their bodies and their power into nine swords. They left these swords to the artifact spirit of the Tower of Radiance to keep suppressed here so that they could serve the next master of the Tower of Radiance in battle.”
“As long as someone possesses one of these nine swords, they will possess the power of one of the nine retainers. They’ll immediately be able to fend off peak experts…”
“I learnt from the memories of the artifact spirit that the nine retainers transformed themselves into these nine swords after the master of the Tower of Radiance died. Afterwards, the swords were stored here by the artifact spirit. As a result, the control over the swords should be with the artifact spirit…”
The artifact spirit stared at the nine swords, and his brows furrowed tightly. “Although I’ve learnt of the existence of these nine swords, I don’t know how to allocate them. It looks like I need to fuse with even more memories of the artifact spirit to learn the method of allocation in greater detail.”
“But the lingering consciousness of the artifact spirit will have a greater and greater influence on me if I do that. I might even become a second him and cease to be me…”
The artifact spirit hesitated. Clearly, he understood the huge risk involved in fusing with more memories from the artifact spirit of the Tower of Radiance.
However, very soon, the artifact spirit made up his mind and became determined. “Master has gone to such great lengths to make me the artifact spirit of the Tower of Radiance, yet he’s facing great danger outside, and I can’t do anything about it…”
“Once the nine swords have been allocated, they might be able to help master. I can’t think too much about it now for master’s sake…”
The artifact spirit suddenly vanished.
…
“What did you say? The Martial Soul lineage is the imperial clan among us Radiant Saint Masters?” Xuan Zhan stood within the sacred hall; he stared at Yu Chen with widened eyes and disbelief.
Yu Chen nodded. He seemed to be in a slight daze as he said, “That’s indeed what I learnt from the artifact spirit.”
Xuan Zhan stared at Yu Chen closely. After confirming that Yu Chen was not joking, he sucked in a deep breath and said, “I really never thought that the Martial Soul lineage we never got along with would actually- actually… Sigh. What do you plan on doing next? Do you plan on announcing this or keeping it hidden?”
Yu Chen shook his head and said sternly, “Only you and I know about this right now. Let’s not tell anyone else for now. Even I can’t accept the fact that the Martial Soul lineage is the imperial clan, let alone others. After all, the grievances between our Radiant Saint Hall and the Martial Soul lineage has already reached the point of no return. If we announce this news, it’ll probably only lead to an upheaval.”
Xuan Zhan sighed gently, “This news is just too shocking. It is indeed inconvenient for too many people to know about it.” Xuan Zhan stared at Yu Chen and changed the subject. “What do you plan on doing about the cultivation method with Jian Chen?”
Yu Chen stood with his arms behind his back as he stared at the endless sea of clouds outside. “Ever since Gongsun Zhi learnt that the blood of a Grand Exalt flows in his veins, his mentality has begun to change. He cares about this even more than me, and he desires the Grand Exalt’s cultivation method severely. If Jian Chen survives three years later, a battle will definitely happen between the two of them.”
“One of them belongs to the Martial Soul lineage, the imperial clan of the Radiant Saint Masters, while the other one possesses the bloodline of the master of the Tower of Radiance, making it extremely likely for him to become its second master. Their battle should be extremely interesting…”
At the same time, in the residence of an elder somewhere else in the sacred hall, the white-robed Bai Yu knelt on the ground as her body trembled gently. Her head was buried deeply as tears flowed from her eyes constantly. She was filled with utter sorrow and grief.
A white-robed, middle-aged woman sat before her emotionlessly.
The middle-aged woman was an elder of the Radiant Saint Hall, Mu Shui.
“Master…” Bai Yu knelt before Mu Shui and sobbed.
“Bai Yu, you should go. Return to your Soaring Clouds Peak. From today onwards, you are no longer my disciple,” Mu Shui said firmly. Her gaze towards Bai Yu contained some pity. She continued, “Don’t blame me for being vicious. Blame the second senior brother of your Soaring Clouds Peak. Your second senior brother is Jian Chen of the Martial Soul lineage in disguise. You were so close with him, so even if you had no idea about his true identity, I still can’t accept you as my disciple.”
“From today onwards, our bond is severed. We no longer know each other. Go,” Mu Shui said coldly.
Bai Yu’s heart immediately shivered when she heard Mu Shui’s heartless words. She said nothing at all. After bowing her head nine times towards Mu Shui, she wiped away her tears and stood up before leaving the sacred hall in low spirits.
“Master, Bai Yu knew nothing before. She’s innocent. Why must you be so heartless?” Donglin Yanxue walked in afterwards and looked at Mu Shui furiously.
Mu Shui’s feelings became extremely mixed as she looked at Donglin Yanxue. There was undisguised disappointment. She sighed deeply and said, “Yanxue, you were always so clever, so why have you become so dumb now? You clearly knew that the Martial Soul lineage is our mortal enemy, yet you still helped Jian Chen escape, which was a huge mistake.”
“I know what I’m doing. Master, do you plan on severing your ties with me just like junior Bai Yu?” Donglin Yanxue said without any regrets at all.
Mu Shui treated Donglin Yanxue completely differently from Bai Yu. She sighed gently and said, “Yanxue, what you should be thinking about isn’t something as simple as the severance of our relationship but the incoming punishment instead. You know that your situation is far more severe than Bai Yu’s.”
“I’ll just relinquish the position of Chosen Saint. I am a part of the Donglin clan. Our Donglin clan may not be as great as the Radiant Saint Hall, but we’re still a peak organisation that dominates an entire region. I refuse to believe that the Radiant Saint Hall is bold enough to execute me,” Donglin Yanxue was fearless.