The old monk muttered, “That’s right. Originally, it should’ve been tens of thousands more years before another attack. There is even a possibility of another hundred race war erupting as a result of this.”

The Daoist priest spoke with confusion. “Why is Brother Jin Yue speaking in circles? This information is obvious. How is this related to what we were talking about? Aren’t the various races fearful of being drawn into this war?”

The old man slowly said, “Fear being drawn in? Hehe, now that this matter has appeared, what race can't? In accordance to the appearance of past profound heavenly treasures, it will provoke a storm of blood before it can be formed. The race that will acquire this treasure in the end can consecrate it to attract a True Spirit-grade existence to protect their clan and turn it into the strongest tribe in the spirit realm. These True Spirit-grade existences are superior to Immortals from the True Immortal Realm. Of course, before a powerful True Spirit appears, the tribe in question will have to protect it. Otherwise, it will only be seized away by others. If the race that acquires this treasure is weak, they may even offer the treasures to a stronger tribe in a request for protection or abandon it in a wild area to prevent the extermination of their own clan.”

The Daoist priest didn’t understand the monk, but he didn’t interrupt him.

The monk paused, and then continued, “It is reasonable to say that with our strength, it is difficult to predict which tribe will receive the Profound Heavenly Treasure. However, the demons have a Body Integration cultivator that has some prophetic abilities. Because they are aware they have no chance of surviving their next tribulation, they activated their potential and used their life’s magic power to divine the whereabouts of the next treasure. As a result, it was shown the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword will appear in the northwest portion of what is known to humans as the Tian Yuan Continent. Although the Tian Yuan Continent is the smallest of the three, it has far more races than the other continents. The so-called north-west corner consists of humans, demons, spirit tribe, wood tribe, nightfiend tribe, shadow tribe, and six other races. In other words, the newly appeared Profound Heavenly Treasure can appear in human lands. As of current, only humans and demons are aware of this situation, but it won’t be hidden for long. After all, there are certain to be spies from the other races in our ranks. There are no walls where air doesn’t pass through. If the other foreign races were to discover this, you should realize what will happen.”

When the monk finished, he wore a wry smile.

“What? It was like that? In that case, if we aren’t careful, it is possible that we will be exterminated.” The Daoist Priest’s face turned pale.

The monk sighed, “According to ancient legends, when a great number of powerful beings are exterminated in an area, a mysterious blood offering technique can be employed, forcibly calling down a profound heavenly treasure. Those powerful tribes don’t care about exterminating humans or demons. They are only using us as a blood offering. In the last hundred race war, the fourth ranked Heavenform Shield caused turmoil for myriads of years. They swept in most of the tribes on the continents and exterminated the weaker ones in a massacre. So regardless of which tribe acquires the treasure, we will have to launch a war to evade our fate as a blood offering and have other tribes take that place."

“So it was like that... so you had the newly ascended cultivators leave the city to a foreign land...” The Daoist Priest suddenly realized something.

The monk solemnly said, “Profound Heavenly Treasures are heaven-defying treasures able to reverse the realm’s laws. But they might not all come from the spirit realm, and could be brought up from a lower realm. Although the possibility of this is extremely slim, there have been suspicious ascended cultivators in the last hundred years. They’ve all been released from Deep Heaven City on the most dangerous missions to the foreign tribes. Regardless of whether they succeed in their mission, they will eventually discover in a short time that they will not be able to return to Deep Heaven City. Of course, there are also a few suspicious cultivators from natives that were also moved out from Deep Heaven City or were forcefully exiled to the wilderness for whatever reason. Apart from these people, there are also a few with astonishing potential and aptitude that were also sent to the wilderness. This way, if they truly carry the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword, we are effectively moving them away from the source of calamity. If we happen to be defeated in the war, these people will be able to continue the lineage of humans and demons and have them flourish once more.”

“There is no need to go through so much trouble. If we investigate whether or not these people truly possessed a Profound Heavenly treasure, we can...” The Daoist priest trailed.

The monk explained, “We can search through the entirety of their spiritual sense with mind-controlling techniques, but what advantage is there if we find out that the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword is on our hands? It is only a source of trouble. Are you able to guarantee that no one from the panel of elders is actually a foreign being taking their form? If this is leaked, not only will our human clan become a target in a short time, even the demon clan may break their alliance with us for self-preservation. Humans will truly be exterminated in that case.

“We aren’t some powerful race. We can’t hold the treasure until a True Spirit-grade existence comes knocking on our door. Even if we present the treasure to a stronger tribe for protection, I reckon the shadow race and the others won’t let this chance pass them by. Instead of feigning ignorance, it’d be best we deal with the coming war. If we don’t have the certainty of which race possesses the Profound Heavenly Treasure, it will most likely be the Wood Tribe and the shadow tribe that attacks us. With the humans and demons manning Deep Heaven City, we will most be able to block them. The spirit tribe and the nightfiend tribe will join in the war with fierce vigor after finding out this information. At worst, great injuries will befall the various tribes and we’ll fulfill the blood offering requirement to call upon the Profound Heavenly Treasure. Regardless of who the treasure originally belongs to, so long as the treasure is summoned, we will have survived this calamity. But to prevent those powerful tribes from finding us, we must first achieve victory. I reckon that this battle will be different from the hundred year long city sieges. I reckon that this war will have an outcome in several years that is far more wretched.

“Hehe, the other tribes controlling them most likely think the same. Otherwise, the other tribes would’ve looked carefully for the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword. They are all preparing for the war,” The old monk finally finished.

After the Daoist priest heard this, he remained in place for a long while. Then he unhappily asked, “When did you find this information? Last time, I wasn’t told about this. Could it be that the panel of elders have hidden this from me?”

“It's quite simple. We only did this after we found out there was something wrong with your identity. I don’t know if I should continue to address you as Lei Luo or as elder purple shadow.”

“What purple shadow? What does Grandmaster Jin Yue mean?” The Daoist Priest asked with a frown.

“Hehe, its about time. Let’s start.” The old monk ignored the Daoist priest and swept his gaze to an exquisite incense burner in the corner of the room. The stick of incense was burned halfway.

“It’s about time? Don’t tell me, the incense...” A purple light flashed from the Daoist Priest Eyes and his face vastly changed. At nearly the same time, a purple shadow shot out from the Daoist Priest’s body and pounced at the old monk.

The monk remained still in his seat and he swept his sleeve.

A bang sounded and golden light flashed. Series of Buddhist texts floated in the air.

The purple shadow struck the wall as if receiving a strike of immense force. Soon after, his body violently trembled and turned into a ball, incapable of any further action.

At that moment, the wall flashed with azure light and an azure jade bowl suddenly appeared. It flipped out and spat out an azure mist, instantly taking in the purple shadow into it.

“Not bad, the Four Spirit Incense is worthy of its reputation in restraining the Shadow Tribe. It even restrains a purple shadow.” White light flashed from the wall to reveal a middle-aged scholar. He wore white robes and had a relaxed expression.

“Brother Tian Yuan! Many thanks for your spirit incense. It would’ve been difficult to deal with this evil creature otherwise.” The monk looked at the scholar and stood up, saluting him.

“Grandmaster Jin Yue praises me too greatly. It just happened to cultivate a new ability that allowed me to take notice that Lei Luo was possessed. It is a pity that a genius of Lei Luo’s talents had met his end.” The scholar glanced at the Daoist priest’s body and sighed.

The life from the possessed body soon faded and its flesh became shriveled.

The monk softly chanted with a trace of anguish on his face. Soon after, he flicked his finger and a golden flame shot from his finger.

Suddenly, the body turned to nothing in the golden flames.

“According to common convention, although the purple shadow is of equivalent strength to a Body Integration cultivator, with Lei Luo’s abilities, it shouldn't have been easy for him to be possessed. It seemed my old friend was plotted against when he last journeyed into the wilderness a hundred years ago. The purple shadow was extremely devious and kept his cover for many years when he returned to the city. Were it not for the Holy Sovereign's keen senses, I fear that we would still be tricked. The evil creature thought to gather together all the ascended cultivators and send them to their doom under the guise of protection.”

The middle-aged man that appeared was the renowned master of Heavenly Origin City, Holy Sovereign Tian Yuan.

The Sovereign gracefully smiled and said, “However, over the past years, my old friends favor the native cultivators a bit too much. It is no wonder ascended cultivators have become resentful.”

The monk’s face turned sullen. “I’ve always remained in secluded cultivation these past years and neglected these matters. Now that a great enemy has appeared, I can’t deal with these small affairs. It is known how much information leaked after Fellow Daoist Lei Luo’s body was possessed. Deep Heaven City’s defenses and restrictions must be changed.”