Chapter 689: Sect Leader Chi

The moment Cult Master Chi laid eyes on the intelligence report, his face remained a mask of calm, yet a cold sweat broke out across his back.

To think that Cult Master Yun, whom he had encountered at that mundane barbecue joint, was actually an immortal; this meant the Heavenly Court Sect possessed two ancient immortals within their ranks.

What was the point of trying to orchestrate internal divisions within the Heavenly Court Sect for profit anymore? It would be wiser to simply capitulate and join them outright.

Presently, the Nine Netherworld Sect was entirely consumed by their barbecue business, leaving a distinct lack of any entity to divert the imperial court's attention, and the Radiant Sun Sect had narrowly escaped detection by the authorities during their last few operations.

If this state of affairs persisted, exposure was an absolute certainty.

Cult Master Chi duplicated the intelligence report into several copies and distributed them, ensuring that the upper echelons could clearly perceive the sheer might of the Heavenly Court Sect.

With two great immortals presiding, they possessed the power to overthrow the Great Xia Empire itself, placing them on an entirely different plane from a demonic sect like theirs, which was constantly pursued by the realm's forces.

The high officials of the Radiant Sun Sect were visibly shaken by the staggering power of Cult Master Yun; this was a force far beyond their station to scheme against.

In all likelihood, before any plot could even be set in motion, they would be utterly eradicated, leaving not a single shred of their souls behind.

"Another immortal... the Ancient Heavenly Court is truly terrifying."

"Do you still recall the Phoenix Ancestor? Her identity was one of the Four Sovereigns, which implies the remaining three are likewise half-immortals."

"I heard from the contacts at the Nine Netherworld Sect that the adversaries of the Ancient Heavenly Court were the Four Ancient Immortals. If that holds true, the Heavenly Court Sect likely possesses hidden measures yet to be revealed."

"Are we then to seek refuge with the Heavenly Court Sect? How utterly preposterous! Are we to surrender the very foundations of our sect simply because they possess great strength?"

"Do they, the Heavenly Court Sect, believe in the power of the sun? Can they assist us in spreading our faith, so that the world might revere the solar force?"

"It is not a matter of surrendering our foundation, but merely seeking asylum; it is not nearly as dire as you imagine!"

"Not dire? I fear that when the time comes, the choice will no longer be ours to make!"

The high officials erupted into a clamor of arguments, each holding fast to their own perspective, refusing to yield an inch.

The longest-serving elder stroked his beard and spoke deliberately, "The Ancient Heavenly Court indeed possesses formidable strength, yet this does not dictate that we must submit to them."

"The Radiant Sun Sect possesses its own pride; how can we deign to live beneath the shadow of another?"

"Should we align with the Heavenly Court, whether we become true members or mere cannon fodder remains an entirely open question!"

The elder's discourse garnered widespread nods of agreement from the assembly.

"Indeed, we cannot entrust our destiny into the hands of others."

"Furthermore, so long as our research yields results and we bring mankind to worship the power of the sun, we can emulate the ancient ancestors. By leveraging the power of faith to bestow life upon the sun, we shall have the supreme Sun God as our protector, and our sect will not necessarily be weaker than the Heavenly Court!"

The founder of the Radiant Sun Sect had been an archaeologist who discovered that in an era far more ancient than that of the Four Ancient Immortals, while the primeval ancestors were still exploring systems of cultivation, their collective faith had imbued the objects of their reverence with life, which they termed "deities."

This very phenomenon had served as the catalyst for discovering the "Deity Transformation Stage."

At the inception of the Radiant Sun Sect, their objective was firmly established: to draw power from the sun, to propagate its grandeur, to bring all mortals to believe in it, and to transform the sun into a true living deity.

Cult Master Chi found a degree of merit in these assertions.

"Since a consensus cannot be reached among us, perhaps we might each take a step back and approach the Heavenly Court Sect by making contact with Holy Son Long Jingzhou. Would that be acceptable?"

This time, Cult Master Chi's proposal received the unanimous assent of the high officials.

Once the assembly dismissed, Cult Master Chi let out a long, weary sigh, relieved that the meeting had finally concluded.

"I wonder when these days of being the Cult Master will finally come to an end."

Back when he was a mere low-level cultivator, his greatest pleasure had been gazing upon the stars and the moon at night, though his cultivation back then was too meager to discern them clearly.

By a stroke of fortune, he discovered that observing objects through two specific lenses caused them to appear magnified.

Based on this revelation, he invented the telescope, capable of bringing the stars into sharp focus.

After registering the patent, he caught wind of a local society of astronomy enthusiasts nearby and followed the trail to locate them.

It was only after joining that he realized the place was a cursed demonic sect.

Once one entered a demonic sect, there was no escape; defection meant death, leaving him with no choice but to comply and integrate.

Originally, he had hoped to maintain a low profile and live out the remainder of his days in peace, but when the upper echelons learned of his invention, they deemed him a rare talent, nurturing him aggressively and promoting him with such speed that he inadvertently rose into the high command.

Having reached the inner circle, he figured he might as well drift through life in that position forever.

Yet, during the election for the new Cult Master, he was somehow chosen by an overwhelming majority, the justification being that his bald head resembled the sun.

At the time, he consoled himself with the thought that becoming the leader meant no one would be left to command him.

Only later did he realize that the seat of the Cult Master was a treacherous trap; called a leader in polite terms, it was nothing short of a sacrificial offering in truth.

Whenever the Radiant Sun Sect suffered a major setback—such as a failure in their solar research or the destruction of their outposts by the imperial court—the officials deemed it a punishment from the sun, requiring the Cult Master to appease the heavens.

This was no mere matter of the leader bowing a few times toward the sun; it demanded that the Cult Master serve as the literal sacrifice, a tradition reportedly established by the very first leader.

Taking the solar ascension experiment as an example, should it fail once more, he would likely be the next one sent to ascend into the sun.

His ascent from the high ranks to the position of Cult Master had occurred so rapidly that he had not even managed to look into how his predecessor had met his end.

Only after assuming office did he discover that the sky had once been dominated solely by the sun, while the stars were mere illusions—a phenomenon the Radiant Sun Sect had traditionally held as a symbol of the sun's absolute grandeur.

Then, one sudden day, the stars ceased to be illusions and became tangible celestial bodies, and the sun was no longer the sole master of the firmament.

This event threw the Radiant Sun Sect into a panic, and deeming it an ill omen, they sacrificed the previous Cult Master.

Hearing this filled Cult Master Chi with a lingering dread, terrified that the officials might sacrifice him under some similar pretext, though fortunately, they remained rational enough not to sacrifice their leaders in rapid succession.

The upper echelons were entirely comprised of the Body Integration Stage, and the longest-serving elder had even attained the Tribulation Transmutation Stage; resistance on his part was utterly impossible.

During his tenure, he had encountered several major crises of the sort that demanded a leader's sacrifice, yet he possessed his own methods for surviving unscathed.

The telescope he invented brought in a steady stream of patent fees, making him immensely wealthy, which legally required the payment of taxes.

Whenever a crisis arose that called for sacrificing the Cult Master, he would deliberately evade his taxes, prompting the imperial court to arrest and imprison him. The authorities had no inkling that he was the leader of a demonic sect, treating him merely as an ordinary cultivator of the Body Integration Stage guilty of tax evasion.

Typically, such an offense earned him a few decades in prison, and once those decades passed and he was released, he would resume his duties, by which time the high officials would have dropped the matter of the sacrifice.

"If only I could defect to the Heavenly Court Sect." The Heavenly Court Sect was bound to be infinitely safer than this dreadful place.

He drew forth a token—the Radiant Sun Token, functioning on the same principle as the Nine Netherworld Token, enabling communication across vast distances.

During their last encounter with the Heavenly Court Sect, he had given a token to each of their representatives.

"This one should belong to Holy Son Long Jingzhou."