The Sims: I Open the Immortal Path for All Beings

Chapter 827: Chapter 777: A Leap to the Heavens, Fate Plays with Man

The True Martial Sect, once the most powerful force in the Great Ming World and a Holy Land within the Taoist School on par with Dragon Tiger Mountain, was not completely overshadowed, even after Pei Xuanjing’s meteoric rise to prominence leading the Shenxiao Sect.

Then, as Heaven and Earth revived and various forces voraciously rose up, the True Martial Sect, which had been as brilliant as the midday sun, suddenly quieted down and no longer made much noise, maintaining an unusually low profile.

Even if it weren’t for the appearance of Zhang Jiao, the Qingxu Taoist of the True Martial Sect, at the early Shenxiao Debate Conference, where he demonstrated extraordinary power, many might have forgotten this force entirely.

Of course, that was all there was to it. Looking back at the native alliance of several major forces that once dominated the Great Ming World, to this day, only Shenxiao Mountain continues to thrive, the Great Ming Divine Dynasty develops rapidly, and the Outer Alliance and Demonic Cult occasionally make some news, while the rest – the Great Families Alliance, Buddha Way, Taoist Schools like the True Martial Sect, Chunyang Sect, Baiyun Temple and other forces – began to fade into obscurity.

In this current Great World, standing still means falling behind, and when all forces are seizing opportunities to rise rapidly, even an existence that once stood unrivaled at the forefront of the world’s forces must continue to grow stronger, or it will lose all that it once had.

After all, when the forces from the Sky Wasteland returned, even though Pei Xuanjing intimidated them, allowing for the integration of the two worlds to be less violent and terrible than anticipated, and maintained the most basic peace, the power gap between them was temporarily irreconcilable. In a competition under equal conditions, the advantages gained by the forces from the Sky Wasteland were significant, as they continued to plunder the benefits of the revival of Heaven and Earth and grew increasingly stronger.

The True Martial Sect, once one of the Holy Lands of the Taoist School, didn’t have sufficient strength, and even though they might be many times stronger than before, they still couldn’t gain more advantages in this Great World and gradually faded from the public eye, forgotten by many cultivators.

However, this was the impression and understanding that all cultivators across the world had of the True Martial Sect up until that point. They believed that the True Martial Sect, which had dominated the world for hundreds of years, had reached its limit and could never return to the glory days of its founding patriarch, Master Sanfeng.

Until today, the world shook, and all the forces, countless cultivators, were stunned, expressing astonishment at the True Martial Sect’s Zhenwu Plan and its outcome.

No one had thought that the True Martial Sect, which they considered to have declined, would organize such an impressive display, turning heads among the Heroes.

By uniting the power of many Divine Positions within the True Martial Sect and then forcibly transforming the intangible into tangible, they crafted the Divine Position of the True Martial Emperor. With this leap to the heavens, the True Martial Sect ascended to the ranks of first-rate forces.

“Indeed, it’s the True Martial Sect that once led the world, with such ambitious aspirations.”

“The True Martial Sect should not be underestimated; unless something unexpected happens, there’s a nine out of ten chance it will rise to become a major power.”

“Replacing gods with people, this innovative concept is truly impressive; perhaps some of these ideas could serve as a reference?”

“Concentrating Divine Position forcefully, this idea isn’t bad.”

“…”

The day when the evil god emerged on Taihe Mountain, the event was of immense magnitude. Even though Pei Xuanjing quickly suppressed it, in that brief period, everything that had happened within the True Martial Sect became known to the world, and many marveled and praised the Sect’s ambition and grandeur.

Moreover, it must be said that the ideology of replacing gods with humans and the attempt to forcibly consolidate divine positions profoundly enlightened many strong figures, offering them numerous insights.

“As I thought, I wasn’t wrong. The True Martial Sect has kept such a low profile over the years because they were scheming something big,” Zhao Baiyang said, his eyes flashing with complex emotions.

You should know that back when Pei Xuanjing had yet to rise, there weren’t many among the many masters of the Daming World who the Mire Sect leader Zhao Baiyang considered a threat — only a few. Among them was Qingxu Taoist, a master second only to the old Celestial Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain and the one Zhao Baiyang found most enigmatic.

Back then, the True Martial Sect was so powerful that even Zhao Baiyang did not dare to lightly provoke its edge. Even though the Qingxu Taoist often kept a low profile within the True Martial Sect, Zhao Baiyang always remained vigilant against him.

Later, as Zhao Baiyang had predicted, Qingxu would rarely act. But when he did, it was earth-shattering. He joined forces with Pei Xuanjing, changed the course of the world, intervened in imperial succession, and even helped promote the Great Ming Empire to Divine Dynasty, reaping countless benefits for the True Martial Sect.

Therefore, even after the Revival of Heaven and Earth, when the True Martial Sect once again fell silent and resumed its uncompetitive stance, everyone felt the Sect had fallen behind the times. Zhao Baiyang, however, never underestimated them and suspected they had some grand scheme in preparation.

Had it been the past, with such suspicions in his heart, Zhao Baiyang would have surely sent someone to probe their secrets, to see what benefits could be gained or to disrupt their plans. @@novelbin@@

But times had changed. With the return of the many forces of the Sky Wasteland, the world’s dynamics shifted. While they might have different ideologies, the Outer Alliance and the True Martial Sect could still be considered part of the same camp, especially when facing the various forces of the Sky Wasteland.

Thus, Zhao Baiyang halted his former intentions and focused all his energy on how to strengthen himself, for his own power was ultimately the most crucial aspect.

“But who would have thought the True Martial Sect’s plan would be so audacious, to replace gods with humans and create innate deities, and they even succeeded,” Zhao Baiyang mused profoundly.

He himself had spent untold resources to slowly build up the Outer Alliance to where it stood today. Still, even now, the Alliance was only comparable to some powerful second-tier forces, with a considerable gap to the first-tier ones.

However, according to the intelligence he received, while the True Martial Sect’s Zhenwu Plan encountered an unexpected issue and didn’t merge with the True Spirit of Master Sanfeng, the founder, under Pei Xuanjing’s assistance, Qingxu Taoist merged with one of the innate deities. Once fully mastered, this would yield an eighth-tier innate deity of the Spirit Realm, a peak figure capable of contending with the supremely strong at the fifth tier of the Spirit Realm eightfold with the Divine Position’s blessing.

Under such circumstances, even if the True Martial Sect had no other cultivators at the eighth or even seventh level of the Spiritual Realm aside from Qingxu Taoist, it would still rank among the top-tier forces, just as Pei Xuanjing did at Shenxiao Mountain.

“I thought I had surpassed them, but who would have expected that an old companion would ascend to the heavens in one step and overwhelm us once again? How can one not be moved? Indeed, destiny plays tricks on us!” The leader of the Demonic Cult, Xue Wuheng, said with a wry smile, expressing the thoughts of many.