Chapter 396 – Decaying Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital

Regarding the events currently unfolding in the outside world, the high-level cultivators and Star Lords within the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital remained both unaware and unobservant.

To them, perhaps nothing held greater importance than gaining entry into the Sanctuary of the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital.

If there were exceptions, it might be the descent of an Immortal into the mortal realm.

Or perhaps someone successfully achieving Ascension.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t spare even the slightest glance.

This attitude was undoubtedly deeply resented by the Immortal Alliance, and even by Xiao, who herself belonged to the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital.

“These fellows have truly regressed! Have their minds long been assimilated by the Heavenly Dao, making them believe they are the supreme Heavenly Dao that treats all beings as straw dogs? Preposterous!”

After yet another failed attempt to contact the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital, Xiao furiously slammed the Thousand-Mile Sound Talisman in her hand onto the ground.

The talisman, comparable to an ordinary Magic Treasure, shattered into countless fragments under the force of someone of Xiao’s stature.

Thus, the Thousand-Mile Sound Talisman—priceless to outsiders for its ability to traverse vast distances—ended its existence without any regard.

Xiao paid this no mind, or rather, the attitude conveyed by the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital was her current primary concern.

Xiao glanced beside her, where Lu Chen seemed to have anticipated her failure to contact the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital.

With a casual wave of his hand, the shattered Thousand-Mile Sound Talisman began to rapidly reassemble before Xiao’s eyes.

This restoration was peculiar, as if time itself was reversing for the talisman.

Returning it to its original state.

Though Xiao’s expression remained unchanged, a flicker of astonishment passed through her eyes.

She then inquired curiously, “I never imagined Fellow Daoist would possess such a Divine Ability.”

Lu Chen held the intact talisman, seemingly surprised by the effectiveness of his action.

Playing with the Thousand-Mile Sound Talisman in his hand, he smiled and said, “Just some trivial tricks, hardly worth mentioning.”

Xiao shook her head earnestly. “Mending broken mirrors and reversing cause and effect—these are no trivial tricks.”

“Though I am not versed in the arts of spellcraft, my cultivation at the Transformation Soul Stage and my Divine Soul are evident. I distinctly sensed that for a moment, the Dao of this realm was manipulated by you, Fellow Daoist.”

“While I do not know which Dao it corresponds to, it is certainly no ordinary Dao.”

“It seems the secrets you carry, Fellow Daoist, far exceed what I had imagined.”

As she spoke, Xiao stood up and moved to face Lu Chen.

If three days prior, Xiao had considered Lu Chen extraordinary, it was primarily due to the coffin atop the Great Wilderness Pagoda and the attitudes of the other Immortal Statues toward him.

But now, Xiao no longer thought so.

As the current Pagoda Master of the Great Wilderness Pagoda, even if she could not fully control this ancient Celestial Artifact, she could still perceive much that others could not.

Such as the earth-shattering battle that had once erupted between the Thousand-Year Elder and Lu Chen.

Though she had been unable to divert much attention due to the constraints imposed by the Body Venerable, the traces left by that conflict unmistakably testified to the immense power of both combatants.However, for a certain special purpose, Xiao ultimately helped Lu Chen cover up these matters.

She publicly declared that she had completely annihilated the Thousand-Year Elder by borrowing the power of the Celestial Artifact from the Great Wilderness Pagoda.

The outside world naturally had no doubts about this.

Although many people had seen Lu Chen pursuing the Wing Venerable at the time,

no one believed that a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage could directly defeat, let alone kill, a cultivator at the Transformation Soul Stage.

Even if it was a Transformation Soul Stage cultivator who had been imprisoned for over a hundred years.

As for why Xiao did this,

the reason was actually quite simple.

After all, she was counting on Lu Chen to slap those old fossils of the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital in the face before they could react.

And what could be more humiliating for these self-important individuals than being directly defeated by a mere Nascent Soul Stage junior?

Just thinking about this scene made Xiao uncontrollably excited.

This was, after all, the thing she had been looking forward to the most in the past few hundred years.

And Lu Chen had precisely calculated this, which was why he chose to reveal some of his trump cards to Xiao at this moment.

After all, people’s hearts may change, but established facts do not.

Rather than speculating about someone’s intentions, it was better to bind them to one’s own war chariot, turning them into a community of shared interests.

Eternal interests are the most reliable alliance.

At this time, Xiao and he shared such interests.

They both wanted to change the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital, and that was enough.

Before achieving this goal, they did not need to worry about any unforeseen changes between them.

With this shared interest as a premise, Xiao straightforwardly told Lu Chen some secrets about the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital.

“The so-called Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital actually refers to nine cultivators who have reached the Transformation Soul Stage and completely control a Star Domain each.”

“The origins of these Star Domains can no longer be traced, but it is known that their existence predates the establishment of the Immortal Alliance.”

“Different Star Domains have different environments and unique natural treasures.”

“Additionally, these Star Domains themselves are not small. Overall, each Star Lord is equivalent to the Dominator of their respective Star Domain. Even the Immortal Alliance cannot command them.”

“They only follow the decrees of the Sanctuary, and only the decrees of the Sanctuary.”

In response to Xiao’s words, Lu Chen smiled and said, “But aren’t their current actions going against the Sanctuary?”

Lu Chen made no attempt to hide the mockery in his words.

After all, in his view, the Star Lords who chose to close off the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital and prevent anyone from entering, thereby delaying his entry into the Sanctuary, were essentially opposing the Sanctuary.

Or rather, they did not want a visible ‘lord’ to appear above them.

In the past thousand years, although the Sanctuary occasionally sent people out and ordered the Star Lords to do certain things,

these individuals were, in a sense, only agents, not the Overlord of the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital.

They were existences of the same level as the Star Lords.

But if, according to the current decree of the Sanctuary, an Eternal were to enter the Sanctuary,

that would no longer be an agent but a true Celestial Capital Lord who could potentially stand above them.

For the highly self-regarding Star Lords, this was not good news.

They could follow a lord who was invisible, intangible, and had not shown himself for hundreds or thousands of years,

but they could not accept having a visible, tangible lord above them.Though seemingly similar, these two situations are fundamentally different.

After all, how many Deity Transformation Stage cultivators would truly wish to be governed by others?

Yet the unique nature of Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital prevents them from genuinely violating the Sanctuary’s decrees, even if they wished to.

This is precisely why they made the decision to seal the Heavenly Capital.

From the perspectives of Lu Chen and Xiao, this is undoubtedly openly challenging the Sanctuary.

It is an undisguised defiance of the Sanctuary’s will.

However, from the Star Lords’ viewpoint, they haven’t actually violated the Sanctuary’s decree.

Because their core purpose in sealing the Heavenly Capital is to better locate the legendary Eternal.

After all, no one specified whether this Eternal must be inside or outside the Heavenly Capital.

They believe the Eternal is within the Heavenly Capital, and to prevent external interference,

sealing the Heavenly Capital appears perfectly reasonable.

In truth, this isn’t merely the Star Lords’ justification.

Many within current Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital share this perspective.

This relates to the unique nature of Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital.

As an entity independent of the Immortal Alliance, perpetually confined within an isolated space,

both cultivators and mortals within have developed an inexplicable sense of superiority over time.

This superiority manifests as every native of Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital subconsciously considering themselves superior to outsiders.

With this mindset, now that the Sanctuary has confirmed the Eternal’s emergence,

there can only be one possibility – the Eternal must originate from within Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital.

Arrogance, stubbornness, decay…

It was through this observation that Xiao identified the fundamental flaws in current Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital.

These individuals have remained in one place for so long they genuinely believe they control heaven and earth.

They fail to properly consider: which is truly greater, Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital or the external Immortal Alliance?

There was a period when Xiao shared similar tendencies with these people,

born with the inherent arrogance of a Heavenly Capital native.

But after prolonged exposure to the outside world, Xiao gradually corrected this bad habit.

After all, while Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital has powerful figures, the Immortal Alliance possesses even more.

Once one experiences the outside world, such narrow perspectives naturally evolve.

But what of the current Star Lords within Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital?

Xiao doesn’t believe they’re unaware of external circumstances.

They intentionally isolate themselves within the Heavenly Capital, deliberately avoiding these realities.

The Immortal Alliance’s non-interference with the Heavenly Capital is enshrined in the alliance’s founding charter.

If not for their aversion to the outside world, how could Xiao – the most junior Star Lord – have become the Pagoda Master of Great Wilderness Pagoda?

Simply because, from the Star Lords’ perspective,

serving as the so-called Pagoda Master in the Immortal Alliance is equivalent to imprisonment – an undesirable chore no one wants.

Xiao now deeply despises these people’s mentality.

“If what you say is true, current Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital is essentially a completely sealed black box – those inside won’t come out, and outsiders can’t enter.”

“Forcibly breaking in would equate to directly attacking Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital. Not only could all Star Lords justifiably intervene, they could even seek assistance from the Immortal Alliance.”

“Considering this, the situation appears rather troublesome.”

Understanding everything, Lu Chen naturally recognized the difficulty of entering Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital.

And what Lu Chen understood, Xiao naturally comprehended as well.Since she was willing to cooperate with Lu Chen, she naturally had a means to break this deadlock.

“Under normal circumstances, outsiders indeed cannot enter the Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital at present. But don’t forget, there is currently a Star Lord still outside the Heavenly Capital.”

Hearing this, a faint smile curled at the corners of Lu Chen’s lips.

Because he had already understood what Xiao meant.

“Indeed, those Star Lords can use the excuse of searching for the Eternal to close the Heavenly Capital. But you, as a Star Lord, can also use this same excuse to make them open the Heavenly Capital and let you in.”

Xiao nodded, indicating that was exactly what she meant.

However, there were still some other obstacles to accomplishing this.

After all, those Star Lords were merely arrogant, not fools.

If Xiao were to forcibly enter the Heavenly Capital at this time, even a fool would know something was amiss.

By then, multiple Star Lords would undoubtedly come to confront Xiao.

Moreover, entering the Heavenly Capital did not mean the matter was completely resolved.

It was true that the Star Lords could not defy the Sanctuary’s decree.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t achieve their own goals by distorting the decree’s intent.

After all, the Sanctuary only required the Eternal to enter the Sanctuary.

But the condition of this Eternal…

Or whether they could become the Eternal, left much room for manipulation.

And this was the real problem Lu Chen and Xiao faced.

They were about to confront a group of corrupt, greedy, and… potentially deranged cultivators at the Transformation Soul Stage.

This time was entirely different from before.

Previous opponents often restrained themselves due to fear of the Immortal Alliance, only mobilizing limited forces that never amounted to much.

But the Star Lords were different.

Each Star Domain was equivalent to a Small World and a top-tier Sect comparable to those in the Immortal Alliance.

In extreme circumstances, what they would face wasn’t merely multiple Transformation Soul Stage cultivators.

But rather a cultivator army formed by multiple allied Sects, led by numerous Transformation Soul Stage cultivators.

The intricacies and uncertainties in this were far too numerous.

Although Xiao had long received confirmation from Lu Chen, now at this critical juncture, she couldn’t help but want to ask again.

“Fellow Daoist Lu, are you certain you truly don’t wish to borrow the Immortal Alliance’s power to resolve this matter?”

“Although I said seeking help from the Immortal Alliance would complicate things, having the Immortal Alliance’s backing would significantly reduce your personal risk.”

“Even if we ultimately cannot enter the Sanctuary, you yourself would face no real danger.”

“But if we handle this alone, those Star Lords naturally wouldn’t dare do anything truly drastic to you. However, imprisoning you, or using similar means to trap you within the Heavenly Capital—these would hardly be difficult for them.”

“After all, each of those fellows has been operating within their respective Star Domains for over a thousand years. Who knows what methods they have hidden.”

“You can still change your mind now. Once I decide to open the Heavenly Capital Gate, there will be no turning back.”

In response to Xiao’s concern, Lu Chen remained remarkably calm.

“Rest assured, Fellow Daoist. Throughout my cultivation journey, I have never acted without certainty.”

Lu Chen’s placid tone made it seem as if entering the so-called Nine Luminaries Celestial Capital was nothing more than a casual trip to some place, utterly devoid of danger.Seeing that Lu Chen had spoken to this extent, Xiao simply stopped saying anything more.

After all, he was someone recognized by the figure at the top of the Great Wilderness Pagoda.

There must be secrets about him that she was unaware of.

And these secrets might very well be the source of Lu Chen’s confidence.

At this point, aside from trusting Lu Chen, it seemed she had no other choice…

(End of Chapter)