Chapter 1659: Sacred Void Resonance Sect's Downfall

"What happened to the Sacred Void Resonance Sect in the end? The war ended with the Shadow World greatly crippled. That should have been the best time to end the chaos," Heavenly Emperor Jiang asked.

This was the question that all of the current Heavenly Emperors had pondered over to no end. Since the Legendary Sect Master had managed to escape from the depths of the Shadow World and even retreated with his men, why would the flourishing sect suddenly collapse, causing the divine continents to lose the power that had accumulated over an era?

After that point, the divine continents had fallen into a disadvantageous position, only capable of buying time to survive amidst the massive pressure exerted by the Shadow World.

The Pill Saint calmly replied, "It's not that we didn't want to end the chaos. It was just that the Sect Master was different after he left the depths of the Shadow World."

Her words carried a deep sense of sadness.

"When the Sect Master returned from the Shadow World, he spent long periods of time in seclusion. His personality had changed significantly. No one really minded at first because they deeply respected and blindly trusted the man. Everyone in the sect, including me, assumed that it was just a side effect of the battle with the Origin of Absolute Corruption. But one day, the Kings of the sect started to disappear mysteriously."

Upon hearing this, everyone present felt a chill arising from the soles of the feet, swirling around their limbs, and encasing them in an ominous cold. Even after countless years, they could still feel the suffocating pressure that loomed over the grand sect that once reigned supreme.

"The sect initially only conducted a simple investigation. However, as more Kings disappeared, the entire sect began to panic. The Void Resonance's Six Sons personally launched an investigation to keep everyone at ease. What we discovered was that all of the missing Kings had personally entered the Sect Master's secluded chambers, never to be seen again. Their life lamps had extinguished as well."

The world turned deathly silent. Even Heavenly Emperor Jiang was a little dazed as his expression turned serious.

From what he was told, the Sacred Void Resonance Sect's destruction seemed to have been linked to the Sect Master. With the knowledge that the Sect Master's personality had changed, the only possibility was that he had been corrupted in some form during the battle with the Origin of Absolute Corruption.

Only an existence of that level was capable of such a thing.

"We didn't know what to do with that knowledge. Furthermore, after the Sect Master left seclusion, everything had gone back to normal. In the end, we chose to keep the results of the investigation concealed as the prestige of the Sect Master couldn't be tarnished. Several years later, the Sect Master secretly summoned us and told us a heaven-shaking secret. When he had left the depths of the Shadow World all those years ago, the Origin of Absolute Corruption had followed him out."

That last sentence caused the Pill Saint to tremble. She could still remember the time the Sect Master had told her all this, and how horrified she was.

However, she wasn't the only one feeling this way right now.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Everyone present, whether it was Heavenly Emperor Jiang, Li Jingzhe, Li Luo, or Pang Qianyuan, could sense a gloomy chill that caused their hair to stand on end.

The Origin of Absolute Corruption had left the Shadow World?

Was it still in the ten divine continents?

Heavenly Emperor Jiang frowned as he asked in a low voice, "Where is it, then?"

The Pill Saint sighed.

"Within the Sect Master's body. The battle between the Sect Master and the Origin of Absolute Corruption had not ended when he left the Shadow World. On the contrary, it had just started... For the following years, the Sect Master was constantly struggling against the Origin of Absolute Corruption.

"It was during the meeting that I received the secret order from the Sect Master to take his windflame resonance away and seal it, hiding across the ages. At that point, I had a vague feeling that the Sacred Void Resonance Sect was about to come to its end. The Sect Master also told me not to trust Yin Qingkun and to watch out for the extinction resonance, his most destructive and deadly resonance. It was capable of extinguishing life force, and even Divine Fruit Grand Devil Kings had perished to it.

"I'm not clear on the rest of the details, but I know that the Origin of Absolute Corruption had not only resided within the Sect Master's body, it also corrupted the extinction resonance. The Origin of Absolute Corruption is a parasitic existence, and it was attempting to turn the tides by devouring the Sect Master.

"I assumed that the battle would last for quite a long time and believed that the Sect Master would emerge victorious. This is because even though the extinction resonance was exceptionally overbearing when it came to destruction, he possessed an even more powerful resonance—his light resonance."

At this point, Li Luo's eyebrows jumped.

Heavenly Emperor Jiang immediately followed up.

"If I dare ask, did his light resonance surpass the supreme ninth-grade?"

That could only mean it was at the tenth-grade! Since time immemorial, every single Heavenly Emperor had sought to pursue a higher realm. It was rumored that only by raising a resonance to the tenth-grade could the chaos in the world end.

"It surpassed even supreme ninth-grade Divine Fruit resonances, of course. Otherwise, why would the Sect Master be considered the strongest expert since ancient times?" the Pill Saint arrogantly replied.

"However, the Sect Master himself once said that although the light resonance had surpassed the supreme ninth-grade, it had not truly entered the realm of the tenth-grade. Thus, he deemed it as a quasi tenth-grade."

The Heavenly Emperors present were left in a daze by this revelation. Although it was only approaching the tenth-grade, it could still be considered to be on the cusp. Just how talented was that man? How amazing was his potential?

Heavenly Emperor Jiang had entered the Divine Fruit realm many years ago, but he knew that he couldn't go any further. Thus, he was unable to even come in contact with the quasi tenth-grade.

"So the Sect Master was unable to protect himself despite having a quasi tenth-grade light resonance?" asked Heavenly Emperor Zhang in disbelief.

No one could believe that the Sect Master would fail at this step.

The Pill Saint fell silent for a long while before replying, "Perhaps the extinction resonance also reached the quasi tenth-grade thanks to the corruption of the Origin of Absolute Corruption. Furthermore, the Sect Master should have left one final card behind."

She raised her head and directed her colorful eyes towards the sinister black coffin in the air, which seemed to be listening to each and every word she was saying.

"That coffin is a shell for the extinction resonance. This also means... that it is the one object sealing away both the extinction resonance and the Origin of Absolute Corruption!"