Chapter 207: The Traitor's Identity, the Temple Master's Fall

After the terrifying blazing sun appeared, four figures emanating terrifying aura each walked out from the other two directions of the Central Divine Temple.

Behind these four people were a White Tiger with Hanging Eyes whose body was filled with Xuanming qi, a terrifying giant python guarding against terrifying poisonous miasma all over its body, a strange phoenix bird wreathed in flames, and, like a strange peak of the Heaven-Reaching Immortal Mountain.

Including the old man who walked out of the blazing sun, the five of them formed an encirclement, surrounding the entire Central Divine Temple.

Upon seeing these five people appear, everyone in the Dark Divine Temple was dumbfounded.

"Have the Five Emperor Lords of the Great Expansion Dao Sect all come?" Qi Shaoyu frowned and glanced at the five.

After rising, the four elders of the Dark Divine Temple also came to Qi Shaoyu's side, their faces solemn as they looked at the five figures whose aura surged like a flood.

The Five Emperor Lords of the Great Expansion Dao Sect are each beings above the Dharma Appearance Realm.

The Dharma Appearance Realm can commune with the gods; therefore, the realm above the Dharma Appearance Realm is naturally the God-Communion Realm.

In this realm, a cultivator's body has already ignited divine fire; upon reaching this realm, a cultivator's strength can rival that of ancient deities, and the strong in the God-Communion Realm possess the power to slay ancient deities.

The Great Expansion Dao Sect suddenly dispatched five emperor lords here, evidently intending to take advantage of the temple's divine son selection to wipe out the entire Dark Divine Temple in one fell swoop.

But the problem is that the Dark Divine Temple's divine son selection in Heavenly Wasteland City is supposed to be a secret.

The disciples who could come here had all undergone layers of selection, and before setting out, these disciples did not even know where they were going.

Moreover, numerous hidden posts surround Heavenly Wasteland City, each controlling an alarm formation; even a God-Communion Realm powerhouse could not silently reach the Central Divine Temple.

Once the alarm formation is triggered, the hidden posts will immediately send word; the temple elders will immediately activate the grand formation, combining it with a spatial formation to transfer all the temple disciples present out of the area.

But now, all these arrangements seem to have failed.

Allowing five God-Communion Realm powerhouses to appear directly before the Central Divine Temple, one can tell without thinking that the surroundings of Heavenly Wasteland City must have been laid with a flawless formation by the Great Expansion Dao Sect.

Being able to do this silently admits only one explanation.

A traitor has appeared within the temple, and this traitor's status is not low.

Because only the temple master and the five temple elders know of the hidden posts around Heavenly Wasteland City.

Qi Shaoyu's face looked somewhat grim.

During the divine son selection, the temple's five elders have always been in the Central Divine Temple.

If it weren't for them revealing many of the temple's arrangements to others, then the traitor could only be……

Qi Shaoyu dared not think about it.

The other few temple elders also dared not think about it at this moment.

They all considered themselves blameless, and could only suspect their fellow brothers and sisters at their side.

No one wanted to suspect the person they respected the most.

The five temple elders dared not think about it, and naturally the disciples of the various sects below the temple also dared not speculate wildly.

They merely suspected that the traitor was one of the five people on the stage.

"Brother Zhongli, long time no see."

"Reckoning the time, our last fight should have been two hundred years ago, right?"

The old man who walked out of the blazing sun looked toward the second elder on the high platform and smiled, saying,

He is called the Purple Yang Emperor, also known as the Central Emperor, and is the strongest among the Five Emperor Lords of the Great Expansion Dao Sect.

"Two hundred and twelve years!" the one-armed Zhongli Hui replied coldly, his eye twitching as he involuntarily touched his empty left sleeve with his remaining left hand.

It was precisely that great battle two hundred and twelve years ago, when he had just entered the God-Communion Realm, that the Purple Yang Emperor destroyed one of his arms, greatly reducing his strength.

For over two hundred years, Zhongli Hui has bitterly trained his left hand, hoping to return to his peak and make further progress, then find a chance to take revenge.

"How time flies, it's already been two hundred and twelve years…"

"Brother Zhongli, your cultivation seems to have made little progress over these years."

Faced with the Purple Yang Emperor's mockery, Zhongli Hui's face looked grim.

Over these two hundred years, his cultivation has indeed not improved much.

Having lost his right arm, managing to keep his strength stable over two hundred years is already enduring great hardship; wanting to advance further is easier said than done.

"Is the Seventh Elder perhaps the mysterious chairman of the Ascension Society?" The Purple Yang Emperor seemed to lose interest in mocking Zhongli Hui, turning instead to ask Qi Shaoyu.

The Dark Divine Temple's remaining five temple elders, the other four he already knew about.

Only the newly appointed temple elder Qi Shaoyu made the Purple Yang Emperor somewhat wary.

Because according to rumor, this mysterious Seventh Elder is the chairman of the Ascension Society, his sword Dao cultivation having exhausted all brilliance, faintly showing signs of becoming the temple's foremost person.

However, Qi Shaoyu is a very low-key person.

So low-key that nobody noticed her appearance.

The Great Expansion Dao Sect's attention to Qi Shaoyu began when, a few years ago, someone attacked the Immortal Island where the Ascension Society was located.

And that Immortal Island actually fled its original spot on its own, disappearing into the endless sea.

Furthermore, the Great Expansion Dao Sect received a divine edict from the Heavenly Will, stating that there was a disciple of the Ascension Society named Fang Xu who had secretly cultivated a forbidden technique.

The Heavenly Will's edict instructed the Great Expansion Dao Sect to use every possible means to ferret out Fang Xu.

These two matters both concerned the Ascension Society, so the Great Expansion Dao Sect spent resources to investigate this third-rate power.

Without investigation it would have been fine, but upon investigating they discovered that the mysterious founder of the Ascension Society was actually the Dark Divine Temple's newly appointed temple elder, Qi Shaoyu.

The Great Expansion Dao Sect then used some means to investigate Qi Shaoyu's past, discovering that her true strength was terrifying.

In the Purple Yang Emperor's eyes, among the Dark Divine Temple's five temple elders, the greatest threat is precisely Qi Shaoyu.

From the sect that attacked the Ascension Society, they learned that they had accidentally discovered in an ancient text that the East Sea of the Heavenly Mystic Realm has an Immortal Island, on which remnants of ascended beings' cultivation insights were left.

After many years of searching, they finally narrowed their target to the Immortal Island where the Ascension Society resides.

At that time, they only roughly knew where the Immortal Island was.

But lacking specific guidance, trying to find in the vast sea an Immortal Island hidden by ascended beings is enormously difficult.

Coincidentally, at that time there were rumors that someone had obtained a token capable of guiding the location of the Immortal Island.

And precisely because of this, the Battle of the Immortal Island broke out.

In the Purple Yang Emperor's view, if it is truly as the legend says, there indeed exists on the Immortal Island the cultivation insights left behind by Ascendants.

Then Qi Shaoyu surely has mastered the secret of the Ascendants.

Only thus can it be explained why Qi Shaoyu, unknown and unheralded, could become the top expert of the Heavenly Profound Realm.

Faced with the Purple Yang Emperor's question, Qi Shaoyu did not deny.

She knew the Great Expansion Dao Sect must have investigated her origins; denying it now was pointless.

"Elder Seven should know, ascendants are not tolerated by Heaven and Earth."

"If you can tell me the ascendant's secret and the current location of the immortal isle, I can intercede with the Sect Leader to obtain an emperor's position for you."

The legend of ascendants predates even antiquity.

At that time, the Heaven Profound Realm was still in a barbaric era, and the first humans appeared between Heaven and Earth.

They cultivated by sensing Heaven and Earth and following natural methods; these people were called Qi Practitioners.

At that time, the energy of Heaven and Earth was abundant; even the simplest breathing technique could make humans very powerful.

Many Qi Practitioners, relying on the rich Heaven and Earth energy, continually transformed and eventually discovered a way to depart this world and ascend to a higher realm.

But the energy of this world is constant.

The appearance of an ascendant signifies that a large amount of Heaven and Earth energy has been plundered.

As ascendants departed one by one, the energy of this world grew ever thinner.

Later, the Will of Heaven and Earth arose, but bound by rules, it could not stop Qi Practitioners from cultivating; it could only send tribulations at specific times to harshly screen them.

Qi Practitioner after Qi Practitioner died in the tribulations, their cultivation returning to Heaven and Earth.

Over time, fewer Qi Practitioners could ascend, and many of their lineages were buried in the river of time.

As some primordial beings of this world continually evolved into Divine Spirits, the path of the Qi Practitioner was blocked, and the Martial Way began to rise.

The Will of Heaven and Earth also seized this opportunity, gradually gaining control over the entire world.

But whether Divine Spirits or martial cultivators, they still rely on this world's energy to elevate their life level.

In a sense, in the eyes of the Will of Heaven and Earth, any being that absorbs energy is a pest.

Thus, under the covert arrangements of the Will of Heaven and Earth, the God War began.

A great number of gods and powerful humans died in battle.

As a result, Divine Spirits were extinct in the Heaven Profound Realm, and human experts found it very hard to reach the Divine Realm.

Nowadays, the Dark Divine Temple that worships Divine Spirits has not been wiped out, and the legacy of ascendants has reappeared.

Moreover, with the appearance of Fang Xu, an anomaly, the Will of Heaven and Earth has grown somewhat anxious.

The Great Expansion Dao Sect is the spokesperson of the Will of Heaven and Earth.

After the Will of Heaven and Earth and the terrifying existence behind Fang Xu clashed and were wounded, it continually urged the Great Expansion Dao Sect to act swiftly, eradicating all unstable factors.

"The conditions offered by the Ziyang Emperor are indeed generous." Qi Shaoyu gave a light smile, then added, "But I refuse."

The emperor's position stands above some elders of the Great Expansion Dao Sect.

Within the Great Expansion Dao Sect, the emperor's position is equivalent to the Divine Temple Elder of the Dark Divine Temple.

It is second only to the Sect Leader of the Dao Sect.

"Elder Qi, though young, has reached such a level in the Martial Way; it is truly rare."

"This talent, if used on the proper path, could in the future give you a chance to contend for the Sect Leader's position."

"You should know that in the present Heaven Profound Realm, our Great Expansion Dao Sect is the uncrowned king; becoming Sect Leader would make you the ruler of all under heaven."

The Ziyang Emperor seemed eager to persuade Qi Shaoyu to submit.

In short, he also did not want to fight Qi Shaoyu.

Sword masters, specializing in slaughter, have always been the most troublesome existence among martial cultivators.

One like Qi Shaoyu, who nearly commands the entire sword law, he cannot guarantee he can retreat unscathed.

Qi Shaoyu's heart stirred slightly, then she shifted her tone: "In that case, agreeing to the Ziyang Emperor is not impossible."

As soon as her words left her mouth, everyone present from the Dark Divine Temple turned pale.

They could never have imagined that the Divine Temple Elder Qi Shaoyu would harbor a heart of defection and betrayal.

Some gritted their teeth and glared at Qi Shaoyu.

Some looked thoughtful, as if considering whether they too should seize this chance to leave the Dark Divine Temple and live openly in the sunlight, which is far better than hiding all day in a lightless stronghold like rats.

Still others wore wooden expressions, momentarily at a loss what to do.

Among the crowd, Fang Xu also looked at Qi Shaoyu with some doubt, believing she would certainly not defect.

As expected, Qi Shaoyu slowly spoke amid the varied gazes: "However, I have a condition."

The Ziyang Emperor was delighted and hurriedly asked: "Elder Qi, please speak."

"I want to know who betrayed the Dark Divine Temple today."

Upon saying that, everyone's expression changed again.

The Ziyang Emperor also furrowed his brows.

He is no fool; he realized Qi Shaoyu was toying with him.

She never had any intention of surrendering to the Great Expansion Dao Sect.

Behind Qi Shaoyu, the four Divine Temple Elders who had been filled with righteous indignation now also laughed.

At the same time, they all guarded their glances toward each other, trying to discern the traitor from their reactions.

Given the current situation, Qi Shaoyu is unlikely to be the traitor.

Thus, the remaining traitor can only be one of the other three among them.

"Elder Qi, are you just trying to amuse me?" the Ziyang Emperor's face darkened.

Qi Shaoyu shook her head: "I am serious; as long as the Emperor tells me who the traitor is, after I clean up the sect, I will consider joining the Great Expansion Dao Sect."

The scene instantly fell into silence; no one knew whether Qi Shaoyu's words were true or false.

The Ziyang Emperor also couldn't tell for a moment whether Qi Shaoyu was still playing him.

He knows the traitor's identity.

He was weighing the gains and losses, wondering whether to trade a traitor for the limitless-potential Qi Shaoyu.

If he could recruit Qi Shaoyu into the Great Expansion Dao Sect, the sect would gain not only a limitless-potential expert but also the ancient secrets of ascenders.

Furthermore, as an Elder of the Ascension Assembly, he might even learn Fang Xu's whereabouts from Qi Shaoyu, thus in one stroke fulfilling the heavenly edict.

These would far outweigh the value of that traitor.

The problem is that this all hinges on Qi Shaoyu's words being true; if he reveals the traitor's identity and Qi Shaoyu turns against him, the loss would be huge.

"Ziyang Emperor, there's no need to make things difficult."

Just as both sides were scheming, a voice suddenly rang out.

In the distant sky above Heavenly Wilderness City, a figure stepped through the air.

Upon seeing that figure, nearly all the Dark Divine Temple disciples' eyes filled with admiration.

On the high platform, Qi Shaoyu and his companions wore complex expressions.

The person who appeared was none other than the Dark Divine Temple's Mysterious Hall Master, Xing Lin—the very one they had never dared to suspect.

But now Xing Lin's sudden appearance gave them a vague sense of foreboding.

The Divine Temple Hall Master, Xing Lin, stepped through the air and slowly descended onto the high platform.

He glanced at Zhongli Hui and the others, then fixed his gaze on Qi Shaoyu: "The traitor you mentioned is me."

As soon as he spoke, everyone was petrified.

No one could believe that the one who betrayed the whole Dark Divine Temple was actually the Divine Temple's Hall Master!

Qi Shaoyu was also a little surprised, then quietly looked at Xing Lin and asked, "Why?"

Xing Lin said nothing, just turned to the Ziyang Emperor and said, "In your eyes, my dying body might be worthless compared to Old Seven, right?"

The Ziyang Emperor felt a little embarrassed.

Xing Lin had just presented a great gift to the Great Expansion Dao Sect, yet he was already thinking of reneging and sold him off.

Even though he was a God-Communion Realm cultivator, he couldn't help feeling embarrassed.

Seeing his silence, Xing Lin smiled and shook his head: "It's fine; I was blinded by my own greed."

"Well then, today's events have given me great enlightenment."

Having said that, he turned to Qi Shaoyu and said, "Old Seven, I have come to atone."

Before his words faded, a phantom of a heaven‑penetrating, earth‑penetrating cauldron loomed behind him.

The cauldron quickly solidified, soon engulfing the entire Heavenly Wilderness City; its terrifying suction pulled in all the Dark Divine Temple disciples and drained Xing Lin completely.

The Hall Master of the Dark Divine Temple was left with only a few scraps of clothing—proof that he had once existed. (End of chapter)