Chapter 692: Circumstances Behind the Sect's Demise

Immortal Lord Hot Flame was instantly rooted to the spot upon hearing this, following which an incredulous look appeared on his face.

"Why is Master serving at the Heavenly Court?"

Han Li had already anticipated this, and his gaze roamed over Immortal Lord Hot Flame and Chi Rong in a contemplative fashion.

Su Liu seemed to be aware of what had happened all those years ago as well, and he was observing the two disciple brothers with a look that was bordering on amusement.

"The circumstances from back then are rather complex, so you should ask Master directly when you see him. For now, let's join forces and take care of these Reincarnation Palace scoundrels first," Chi Rong said with slightly furrowed brows.

Fox 3 and Bi She exchanged a complex glance with each other upon hearing this.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame appeared to be rather insignificant, but given the current circumstances, even a slight change in the power balance would severely impact the state of the battlefield.

On top of that, without Immortal Lord Hot Flame on their side to tame the Fire Age Fireflies, they were not going to be easy to deal with.

A hesitant look appeared on Immortal Lord Hot Flame's face upon hearing this.

"Is it still not already clear enough to you, Fellow Daoist Hot Flame? Qi Mozi was only able to survive the demise of the True Mantra Sect as he had already betrayed the sect and defected to the Heavenly Court well in advance!" Han Li declared.

Chi Rong's expression instantly darkened significantly upon hearing this, and he turned to Han Li with a furious expression as he spat through gritted teeth, "Who are you to be referring to my master directly by his name?"

"Why did Master do this?" Immortal Lord Hot Flame asked.

"Why do you say that like our master did something wrong? At the height of its powers, the True Mantra Sect was the sole dominant force in the entire Black Soil Immortal Region, but it was still nothing compared with the Heavenly Court. It's just a pity that aside from our master, everyone in the sect denied this fact, harboring delusions that the sect could coexist with the Heavenly Court in harmony," Chi Rong sneered.

"That's impossible... Our patriarch was always so kind and benevolent. Even though our sect was going from strength to strength, we never had any conflict with the Heavenly Court, and we've evenly actively suppressed our own expansion. Otherwise, given our patriarch's powers and reputation, we could've easily taken several of the nearby immortal regions.

“On top of that, we were in support of the Heavenly Court's plan to established the Four Allies Immortal Palace to oversee the four allied immortal regions, but it was the Heavenly Court that went back on their word to attack us," Immortal Lord Hot Flame said in a disbelieving voice.

"I didn't think you were so naive, Senior Martial Brother. No wonder Master made up an excuse to send you away from the sect in advance. Back then, the Heavenly Court had proposed for the True Mantra Sect to nominate a disciple to serve as the palace master of the Four Allies Immortal Palace in order to forge a friendly alliance with the True Mantra Sect.

“On the surface, it appeared to be an act of appeasement, but in reality, it was nothing more than a form of placation," Chi Rong scoffed.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame was still rather perplexed upon hearing this, but Han Li was already able to read between the lines, and he said, "So it was all a ploy to divide and conquer the True Mantra Sect. Even without this Four Allies Immortal Palace, the four immortal regions were all in the True Mantra Sect's scope of influence anyway, so the Heavenly Court was essentially just gifting the True Mantra Sect control of an area that they had already had control over.

“Once the Immortal Palace is established, it'll gradually grow more and more distant from the True Mantra Sect, becoming a thorn in its side. The fact that the True Mantra Sect agreed to this proposal at all is already a huge concession, so why is it that the Heavenly Court still decided to wipe out the sect?"

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Chi Rong took a glance at Han Li, then said in a meaningful voice, "If the True Mantra Sect had accepted the Heavenly Court's proposal to make Master the first palace master of the Four Allies Immortal Palace instead of insisting on nominating Mu Yan, perhaps the sect would've ultimately fallen into destitution anyway, but it definitely would've have been wiped out in such brutal fashion."

At this point, realization had dawned upon Immortal Lord Hot Flame as well, and he asked, "You're saying that master had already defected to the Heavenly Court even before the Heavenly Court sent those envoys to our sect to discuss this matter?"

"That's right. In fact, our master was the one who proposed the establishment of the Four Allies Immortal Palace to the Heavenly Court. If things had continued according to their original trajectory, then a battle between the sect and the Heavenly Court would've been inevitable. Our master was trying to find a way for our sect to survive," Chi Rong replied with a nod.

"Don't make him sound so noble! He was trying to find a way for the sect to survive? All he did was sacrifice the sect's interests for his own selfish gain! If he wanted to defect to the Heavenly Court, then he would've had to prove himself useful, and what better way to do that than to offer up the heads of Patriarch Miro and his four disciples on a silver platter?" Han Li sneered.

At this point, Chi Rong couldn't be bothered to try and make any further excuses for Qi Mozi, and he merely replied, "Patriarch Miro was the biggest threat to the Time Dao Ancestor, so he would've ultimately met his demise regardless of whether Master decided to take this route."

"So the proposal to establish the Four Allies Immortal Palace and for one of Patriarch Miro's disciples to serve as its first palace master was nothing more than a sham. The Heavenly Court only used this excuse to send those envoys into the True Mantra Sect as scouts in preparation to take down the sect," Han Li said in a derisive fashion.

Chi Rong's expression darkened even further upon hearing this, and he turned to Han Li with barely repressible fury in his eyes.

At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder how Han Li was able to be so spot-on with all of his analysis of this situation;

Immortal Lord Hot Flametook a moment to compose himself, then said, "I have another question: who was the mysterious individual that suddenly came to visit the True Mantra Sect while the Heavenly Court's envoys were here?"

"It was the palace master of our Reincarnation Palace," Fox 3 replied before Chi Rong had a chance to.

Han Li turned to Fox 3 with a surprised expression upon hearing this.

"Our palace master came to warn Patriarch Miro of the Heavenly Court's intentions. Unfortunately, Patriarch Miro had some deep-rooted biases against the Gray Realm, and he regarded our palace master as untrustworthy due to our Reincarnation Palace's connection to the Gray Realm.

“Hence, he wasn't willing to join forces with our Reincarnation Palace. Otherwise, there's no way that he would have perished under such tragic circumstances," Fox 3 sighed.

This was a clear indication of just how weary cultivators of the True Immortal Realm were of beings from the Gray Realm.

"So that means you already knew the truth behind our True Mantra Sect's demise even before coming here. In that case, why did you deceive me?" Immortal Lord Hot Flame asked with tightly furrowed brows.

Fox 3 hesitated momentarily, then replied in a candid fashion, "Firstly, I didn't know if you were actually completely oblivious to the circumstances leading to the demise of the sect, and secondly, I really did you to lead me into these ruins."

"Why are you still wasting time talking to him, Senior Martial Brother? Do you not want to return to the Golden Origin Immortal Region with me to see our master?" Chi Rong asked with a disdainful expression.

"I came here to find out the truth behind the demise of our sect, and I fully intend to get the answers that I came here for. I want to know what kind of role our master played back then," Immortal Lord Hot Flame said as he turned to Chi Rong.

"Is it not already obvious enough? He was a traitor! Your senior martial uncles, Mu Yan and He Ze, both perished by his hands," Fox 3 declared in an expressionless manner.

Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and he immediately understood why He Ze had told him to kill Qi Mozi back in the Water Divination Palace, and why Mu Yan had been filled with so much resentment and indignation at his time of death.

"What happened after that visit from the Reincarnation Palace Master?" Immortal Lord Hot Flame asked as he turned to Fox 3.

Fox 3 took a moment to collect his thoughts, then replied, "Patriarch Miro didn't agree to join forces with our Reincarnation Palace, but the seed of doubt had been sowed in his mind, so he paid a visit to the Devil Realm to borrow a spatial immortal treasure from the Devilish Monarch using a time-attribute immortal treasure as collateral.

“He used the immortal treasure to secretly bolster the True Mantra Sect's protective array, and if he had successfully completed the procedure, then even if the Heavenly Court had attacked, the sect would've been able to put up some resistance. Unfortunately..."

Immortal Lord Hot Flame could already guess what Fox 3 was going to say, but he still couldn't help but ask, "Unfortunately what?"

"Unfortunately, Qi Mozi reported Patriarch Miro's meeting with our Reincarnation Palace Master to the Heavenly Court, so the Heavenly Court attacked the True Mantra Sect, accusing it of colluding with the Reincarnation Palace and the Gray Realm. The True Mantra Sect's new protective array still hadn't been completed, and Patriarch Miro was weakened from the strain of setting up the array, so the sect was wiped out," Fox 3 sighed.

"No one could've anticipated that the Time Dao Ancestor would make an appearance during the battle to kill Patriarch Miro. Both of them possessed unfathomable power, and their battle spread fear and panic across the entire Black Soil Immortal Region.

“If it weren't for the conscious effort that Patriarch Miro had made to keep the battle within the boundaries of the True Mantra Sect, much more would've been destroyed than just this one sect," Fox 3 continued.

"Up to this point, you've only mentioned three of Patriarch Miro's five disciples. What happened to the other two?" Han Li suddenly asked.

"After the battle, Jin Yuanzi vanished for a long time. It's said that he later returned at a far higher cultivation base than at the time of the sect's destruction and challenged the Time Dao Ancestor, but was also killed. As for Wu Yangzi, he joined our Reincarnation Palace and is currently serving as a deputy palace master," Fox 3 replied.

"Senior Martial Uncle Wu is still alive?"

At this point, Immortal Lord Hot Flame didn't know whether he should be elated or concerned in response to this news.

"Back when our palace master visited Patriarch Miro, Deputy Palace Master Wu had also been present, and he was the only one willing to heed our palace master's warning. Unfortunately, he couldn't go against his master's wishes, and he couldn't join our Reincarnation Palace on his own.

“However, after the event, he did contact our palace master in secret, imploring our palace master to save Patriarch Miro should he ever be in life-threatening danger, but due to Qi Mozi's betrayal, everything happened far too abruptly, and our palace master was only able to save him," Fox 3 said.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame fell silent, while Han Li was mulling over what he had just heard.