Chapter 2840: The Origins of the Virtuous Sages

“The Wood Spirits!” the Darkstar Emperor uttered those three words sternly. The words “Wood Spirits” seemed to possess some kind of magic, which made his emotions fluctuate and prevented him from remaining composed.

Even his expression changed. It was something difficult to describe with words, but most of it was bone-deep hatred.

That was because the Wood Spirits were the bitter enemies of their Darkstar race. In the battle countless years ago, the Darkstar race had been defeated. Not only did the Grand Exalt of the Darkstar race die at the hands of the Wood Spirits, but even their entire race had become trapped in this miniature world for generations upon generations, never to emerge for their entire lives.

But even when their Darkstar race had declined to such a state, the power left behind by the Grand Exalt of the Wood Spirits still created a place like the Two World Mountains to suppress the Darkstar race.

Without any exaggeration, an extremely long period of time had already passed since the battle back then, but the hatred between the Wood Spirits and the Darkstar race had not been reduced at all. Instead, this hatred gradually sank into the very being of every member of the Darkstar race as time went on.

It was hundreds or even thousands of times more difficult for them to break through compared to the outsiders. Outsiders could directly cultivate to Grand Prime, while they could only reach Infinite Prime.

The outsiders could roam freely in the vast sea of stars, visiting wherever they wanted to go, while they could only hole up in this miniature world.

The root of all of this was connected to the Wood Spirits.

This was a bitter feud, a hatred of an entire race that no one could pacify!

“Virtuous Sage of Heaven, how powerful are the Wood Spirits in the outside world?” the Darkstar Emperor asked. He had once been apathetic to the situation of the Wood Spirits in the outside world because they were unable to leave this place, while the Wood Spirits clearly were not bold enough to enter. As a result, even with their bitter hatred, the two races were not fated to meet one day.

The situation was different now. Their Darkstar race already possessed a sliver of hope to break out of this prison, so they could not help but re-evaluate the existence of the Wood Spirits.

“The Wood Spirits right now are nothing to be feared. It’s just that the clan they’re a part of has already produced a supreme figure who can claim invincibility below Grand Exalts in the Saints’ World of this day and age. And, this person has already become our enemy.”

“And they don’t even know about the details of my background yet. If the matter of us secretly developing an organisation in the Saints’ World is found out by the Wood Spirits, our forces in the Saints’ World will be in even greater danger if the Wood Spirits fan the flames on the side,” said the Virtuous Sage of Heaven. As soon as he mentioned the supreme figure, his tone became evidently sterner.

Together with it was a deep feeling of fear.

The Darkstar Emperor frowned. “I never thought our race actually has such a great opponent in the outside world. Looks like even if we break out of here in the future, we need to carefully remain in hiding for a while.”

“Your majesty, there’s still quite some time before we can break out of this prison. We can discuss the matters of the Saints’ World in the future. Right now, it’s best if we gather the hall masters and vice hall masters and explain to them in detail the process and characteristics of the great ceremony.” The Virtuous Sage of Heaven changed the topic as if he was rather reluctant on expounding on the matters of the Saints’ World too much.

The Darkstar Emperor nodded and said in thought, “Fair enough. The great ceremony this time is different from the past. We require the Virtuous Sage of Heaven to reside over it in person. If that’s the case, we obviously can’t keep your identity a secret anymore. Though, it’s about time we tell our upper echelon about the two virtuous sages of our race.”

Afterwards, the Darkstar Emperor immediately summoned the hall masters and vice hall masters of the ten divine halls. This time, apart from the people of the ten divine halls, even the five strongest city lords of the thirty-six major cities had arrived.

The five city lords were also Primordial realm experts, but they were all First Heavenly Layer Infinite Primes.

“The Virtuous Sage of Heaven!” Jian Chen noticed the Virtuous Sage of Heaven as soon as he arrived in the Darkstar Divine Hall, as the Virtuous Sage of Heaven’s current location was far too conspicuous. He stood right beside the Darkstar Emperor. It would be difficult to not notice him.

The Virtuous Sage of Heaven’s presence immediately made Jian Chen raise his vigilance. He became extremely careful as he watched himself with everything he had to avoid revealing any openings.

That was because among the Darkstar race, the Virtuous Sage of Heaven was the only one he could not read. Even though the illusionary body he currently presented did not possess particularly great strength, Jian Chen found the Virtuous Sage of Heaven rather unfathomable.

The hall masters and vice hall masters of the nine other divine halls clearly noticed the illusionary figure beside the Darkstar Emperor too. They were all taken aback and filled with doubt.

Very clearly, all of the Primordial realm experts present, apart from Jian Chen, did not even know the Darkstar Race had a figure like the Virtuous Sage of Heaven.

The Darkstar Emperor glanced past everyone gradually. He first said, “Since everyone is present, then it’s about time I announced a secret that only past emperors of the race had the right to know.”

The Darkstar Emperor’s words made the gazes of all the Primordial realm experts present stiffen. Many of them subconsciously glanced past the Virtuous Sage of Heaven who stood on the side as they sank into their thoughts. They all guessed that the secret that the emperor mentioned was probably related to this illusionary figure.

No one said anything. Everyone was waiting for the Darkstar Emperor to speak because as the upper echelon of the Darkstar race, they all knew that there were many absolute secrets that even hall masters had no right to learn about. Throughout the years, only the Darkstar Emperor of each generation could come into contact with this top-secret information.

The Darkstar Emperor only said slowly after a small while of silence, “Countless years ago, our race once possessed some seniors and sages of great wisdom. In order for our race to break free one day, they came up with countless ideas and undertook countless experiments, paying a price well beyond our imagination before finally coming up with a method that could utilise the residual powers left behind by our ancestor like holding the great ceremony.”

“Soon after the discovery of the great ceremony, our seniors discovered that once they performed the ceremony and utilised the residual powers of the ancestor, it would momentarily clash with the powers of the Grand Exalt of the Wood Spirits. When this clash occurs, the seal the Grand Exalt of the Wood Spirits placed over our race will weaken for an instant.”

“As a result, the seniors of our race chose the two most talented seniors in our race and imbued them with the great fortune of our race before utilising our ancestor’s residual power through the ceremony. While our ancestor’s power clashed with the power from the Grand Exalt of the Wood Spirits, they finally managed to send out these two seniors who possessed the fortune of our race in hopes that they could find the way for our race to escape in the Saints’ World.”

“Ever since then, these two seniors became the virtuous sages of our race, as not only is the fortune of our race condensed on them, they also carry all of the hopes of our race breaking free on their shoulders, as well as the responsibility to watch over and protect our race one day in the future.”

“These two virtuous sages were revered as the Virtuous Sage of Heaven and the Virtuous Sage of Earth by later descendants, as they are the future hope of our race, the hope to bring our race to a new world…”

“And the one standing right beside me is one of the virtuous sages, the Virtuous Sage of Heaven!”