Chapter 843: Eighty-Three Oaths & A Clue
Karmic Luck Value: 44,122.9.
First Calamity: Survived - 7/7.
Second Calamity: Claimed - 1/1.
Third Calamity: Suppressed - 15 Years.
Karmic Luck Value: 44,659.9.
First Calamity: Survived - 7/7.
Second Calamity: Claimed - 1/1.
Third Calamity: Suppressed - 15 Years.
The temporal flow of the world normalized. Along with it, the two Earthly Saints" facial expressions were ashen. There wasn"t a speck of Gong Lau"s existence remaining, body or spirit, and this was a terrifying reality. Their shock swiftly became panicked fear.
Zhang Ziyi gulped. While they might be Ascended beings that wielded powers that exceeded Mortal Limits, reigning as some of the strongest in their world, this event had regressed their thoughts and reminded them of their vulnerability to those with true power.
Han Yuhei clenched his teeth, looking at Wu Yu who wore a faint satisfied smile. That satisfied smile that he had seen numerous times before. He felt as if he had become thousands of years younger, when he was forced to bow his head and acquiesce to another"s will. He couldn"t help but tighten his hands into trembling fists.
"Why did…" Zhang Ziyi started to speak in a disbelieving voice, seeking an explanation, but she stopped herself from continuing as a strike of lightning crashed into her mind. This lightning was one of realization!
Gong Lau, the leader of the True Origin Faction, the spy of those parasites, had met his untimely end. Due to a variety of mythical oaths constraining them, the Earthly Saints were unable to act against each other, each other"s factions, or those parasitic clans outside the True Element Sect. But Wu Yu wasn"t subjected to any oath or restraints.
Was this an opportunity?
While the two Earthly Saints experienced their own mental booms, Wu Yu stared at his palm. The sensation of ending an Earthly Saint"s life lingered. However, that growing confidence was doused as he was reminded of that elemental beam of death. He couldn"t allow himself to grow complacent or satisfied, so his smile slowly vanished from his face.
"537." Wei Wuyin"s verified his various thoughts after this development. While this wasn"t enough to have indisputable proof that Gong Lau was a member of Trueborn, he was definitely a Sinner. However, from his a.s.sumed reduction of Karmic Luck off second-hand kills, this Gong Lau was certainly a heavy sinner. This large quant.i.ty of Karmic Luck could be attributed to his Ascenced being status rather than Karmic Sin earned. Unfortunately, Wei Wuyin didn"t have an exact calculation sheet.
"Since this is the case, the third Earthly Saint that escaped from the Legion Commander is the Elementus Domain"s multi-clan leader. The timing would be too coincidental otherwise. Also, for fear of being noticed or tracked down, they likely hid in another Domain in secrecy." When he recalled the World Prison True Queen"s death after escaping from the Legion Commander, he felt that the Earthly Saint had gone into hiding in fear for their life. If Zhang Ziyi was correct, then he was at the Golden Life Pavilion, a notorious neutral force in the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region.
Wei Wuyin"s thoughts kept circulating; this discovery and theory was bringing him all sorts of fresh ideas. "Are Trueborn members being hunted by something or someone?" This thought couldn"t help but emerge after some consideration. There was some evidence that may be the case.
The Soul-Rising Saint"s vanis.h.i.+ng act after the failed Trueborn a.s.sault in her domain was quite strange. Was there more to it?
A shadow war behind the scenes?
Wei Wuyin decided to get a more detailed report of the stellar region when possible, preferably by purchasing it from the Golden Gate Pavilion. Ma Zheng might have access to more answers. With his goals set, he had to ensure that operating with ignorance wasn"t his go-to.
As such, Wei Wuyin was quite familiar with the overall detail of the True Element Sect"s internal politics and crisis. He didn"t expect for Gong Lau to have killing intent for him considering the nature of his faction and interests. In fact, he didn"t mind Gong Lau existing alongside him, which is why he hadn"t given Wu Yu orders to act freely before. Gong Lau had some uses.
But after learning that he might be a member of Trueborn, and considering they might act against him after Bai Lin"s existence was connected to him, he decided to verify his theories, eliminate a potential threat, and soothe his thoughts.
"Young Lord, what about these two?" Wu Yu asked.
Wei Wuyin"s train of thought came to a conclusion, and he heaved a heavy sigh. His reaction caused both Han Yuhei and Zhang Ziyi to tense up. The latter wanted to speak, but Wu Yu sealed her throat with a wave of his hand. Besides some choking noises, she couldn"t say anything to plead her case.
Wu Yu knew what Zhang Ziyi wanted to say. He decided to save her the embarra.s.sment. She was an Earthly Saint, while she was kneeling before a mortal, her life decided by his whim, it would be endlessly humiliating for her to beg like Gong Lau. Whatever concessions she was intending to make or deals, there was no need.
After all, if Wei Wuyin wanted them dead, he wouldn"t have ordered him to avoid slaughtering them. Gong Lau"s folly was showing his killing intent and suspicions of being a part of Trueborn, an organization that Wei Wuyin had mercilessly dealt with several times. Of course, Wu Yu had no way of knowing all of Wei Wuyin"s motivations.
As for offering wealth, Wei Wuyin could loot this entire Domain without anyone capable of stopping him.
"First," Wei Wuyin "looked" to Han Yuhei, "I want to first apologize for my heavy-handed manner of dealing with all this. It was only in self-defense after Gong Lau had decided to act against me, lying to you two. Since you two had learned of his betrayal and manipulation early, dealt with Gong Lau, deactivated the array, sparing and saving my life as a result, I am forever thankful.
"It was just unfortunate that I had Wu Yu act after you suffered weakness. That was a major mistake of mine."
"..." Han Yuhei.
"...?" Zhang Ziyi.
Wu Yu couldn"t hold his smile, clearly unable to conceal his amus.e.m.e.nt. A story was being sewed together, weaved with a fabric of twisted lies. At the moment, the majority of the population was unaware of various details that happened in the Elementus Domain, just that they fought a great enemy. Those on Origin, however, were deeply aware of what happened. Those high-level cultivators might be aware of the end-result.
There might even be recording jades being used.
But Wei Wuyin was fabricating a story to explain it all away, putting the blame on Gong Lau and suggesting that he betrayed the sect. The True Element Sect and the Elementus Domain had exhausted themselves thoroughly, so if they laid this at Gong Lau"s feet, then his faction would be responsible for the misuse of the formation. All responsibility laid at their feet.
Wei Wuyin was clearly aware of the financial instability the sect faced, and Gong Lau"s faction held tremendous wealth.
"...Why?" Han Yuhei was silent for a long while. This was his decision. In fact, he had calmed down after Gong Lau"s death. He felt that he was certainly next. After all, he used an entire domain to a.s.sault Wu Yu. It didn"t make sense why such a tyrannical cultivator would spare his life.
Wei Wuyin turned to Wu Yu. "Trust me, I"m baffled too. If it wasn"t for Wu Yu, I would kill all three of you without a blink of an eye, collapsing the True Element Sect today, and scavenging the remains for myself. But since he seems to care about you, I"m fine with this result too. As long as…" Wei Wuyin returned his focus to Han Yuhei, continuing: "As long as you"re willing to accept it and swear a mythical oath."
"..." Han Yuhei was stunned. Care? He couldn"t help but look at Wu Yu. Han Yuhei wanted nothing more than to kill Wu Yu, yet Wu Yu cared for him? He was incredibly confused, in complete and utter disbelief. He couldn"t accept that statement. How could he?
There was only hate, vengeance, repressed anger, and a sense of inferiority born in his heart when he thought of Wu Yu. He didn"t have so much as a single good memory in his mind relating to this abhorrently arrogant man! Yet he cared?
It would be an understatement to say confused at this point, he felt as if the world wasn"t the same as it was a minute ago. Wu Yu had killed people for far less than trying to kill him.
"Little Yu, don"t overthink it. If you want, I can still kill you." Wu Yu said, a cold chill in his eyes.
The feeling splashed Han Yuhei awake. He hastily responded, "I"ll do it…I"ll swear that oath." This was a blessing, a gift that couldn"t be understood, but it didn"t matter. If the alternative was death, he much rather choose life. He was still so young, having over twenty-thousand years of life left.
Wei Wuyin nodded. While the story might have to be refined a little, this was for the best. Zhang Ziyi didn"t even have a say in this, she just had to agree. Wu Yu had indeed saved her from making any embarra.s.sing attempts basing her dignity, since the choice wasn"t in her hands.
The mythical oaths were sworn, covering many details, especially concerning Wei Wuyin"s safety and protection. While in the Aeternal Sky Starfield, the two swore to a.s.sist Wei Wuyin with any objective he had, as long as it didn"t infringe on certain liberties, principles, or threaten their lives. The oaths were extremely reasonable and airtight, but only lasted for three thousand years. To Earthly Saints, three thousand years was short.
They weren"t his subordinates or slaves, but just helpers if needed. Furthermore, information regarding certain topics couldn"t be disclosed. Even if discovered later on, this would remain strong.
The two were thoroughly shocked by the contents of these oaths. They weren"t very restrictive. This was the punishment for their act of trying to kill them? Wei Wuyin saw their shock and attributed it to Wu Yu"s personal request, once again causing Han Yuhei"s stomach to grow uneasy and his thoughts to feel messy.
While Han Yuhei was unable to know that Wu Yu had never asked for any of this, Wei Wuyin merely said these things in the hopes of easing relations for now, to better suit his purpose. Moreover, killing them would actually negatively affect his plans. He needed at least one of them alive, but two made it seem less deliberate and honest.
Once again, Wu Yu was reminded of Wei Wuyin"s scariness. He could visibly see the aggression in Han Yuhei"s eyes lessen, feeling guilt even, likely questioning everything. Of course, if it was up to him, Wu Yu would"ve unhesitatingly crippled them both and taken over the sect.
As long as the Lin Clan survived, the True Element Sect"s oaths would remain strong. As such, this would be an amazing base of operations, especially with the Imperial Clan held back by their old mistakes. But this worked too. Wei Wuyin had kept two guardians to maintain this safe house of his.
Furthermore, he learned thoroughly about all those restrictive oaths the two swore with the various mystic-tier forces and Imperial Clan. When he learned that more than a hundred different oaths were sworn, he was absolutely staggered by all of this, even more so by the contents of the oaths.
He now knew why the parasites decided to be parasites.
Holy f.u.c.k!
Not only were those territories in the Elementus Domain essentially lost forever, it was the True Element Sect"s responsibility to protect it from all sorts of invaders. And those oaths affected every member of the True Element Sect, former or otherwise, so leaving the sect didn"t help. Even if you did, and found a way to free yourself from the oaths, intending to eliminate the parasites, the True Element Sect was the first line of defense!
Yet the external clans had no real obligation or oaths in place to force them to act. If they decided, they could abandon the True Element Sect without any repercussions. For example, if the Imperial Clan freed themselves from all oaths and came knocking. The True Element Sect must defend while those clans could escape.
If it wasn"t for Gong Lau being considered a member of the True Element Sect, not the external clans, Wei Wuyin would"ve been forced to kill these two Earthly Saints right now.
It was extremely depressing.
Wei Wuyin couldn"t help but think about what other oaths were sworn by the various forces, and why was this a rampant part of their culture? Or was this a way to handle matters with absolute certainty? Especially in times of weakness?
Eventually, Wei Wuyin and Wu Yu shrugged off their astonishment. The latter had thought about eliminating those parasitic clans, but with how these oaths were worded, the True Element Sect wouldn"t regain their territories as long as one person from these clans remained anywhere in the Aeternal Sky Starfield. Any violation would invoke punishment from the oath.
Perhaps it would be better to disband the True Element Sect, but doing so meant being open for a.s.sault from all sides, especially from the Lin Clan, and they would have no resources to use. They would never escape.
Wei Wuyin decided to ignore this. The abyss-like hole of the True Element Sect was dug unless the King of Everlore"s conditions were met or his oath-breaking product was concocted. There was no other alternative.
"Have any of you heard of the Everlasting Spirit of the Nine Flames Spell?" This was the ocular spell that Ai Shenwu, the elf from the Four Extreme Continent, had mentioned. It had a similar structural foundation as the Eye of Immortality. Since the Everlore Starfield was long gone alongside the Four Extreme Continent and Myriad Monarch Sect, he could only hope these two knew of it.
If not, he intended to use Wen Mingna to scour for any information since the answer was here.
Zhang Ziyi was confused, clearly ignorant. But Han Yuhei"s eyes had some reaction.
"Why?" He asked.
Wei Wuyin"s heart leapt with antic.i.p.ation.