Redemption of a Born Demon

After a moment of consideration, Yi Beidou finally recounted his experience in the Ancestor Realm, though he refrained from elaborating on his own speculations.

The God-Sealing Alliance had treated him with courtesy, even if their goal was simply to learn the truth. Since he had been in the wrong for forcibly breaking into their Ancestor Realm, he felt that revealing what he knew would settle the karmic debt.

However, Yi Beidou’s words made everyone’s eyes go wide with shock.

This was especially true for the Divine Sealing Leaders.

Each of the Five Divine Sealing Veins possessed an Ancestor Realm, and within these realms resided the Fruit Position Gods. These Fruit Position Deities numbered in the hundreds, even thousands, each with its own unique abilities and proclivities.

But the Fruit Position Gods were not disconnected from one another. They were organized into what was known as a "Pantheon," and the Cultivation methods of each Divine Sealing Vein were passed down based on these entire pantheons.

After reaching a certain level of Cultivation by practicing the secret arts of a particular Pantheon, a Divine Sealer could communicate with the Ancestor Realm and attempt to fuse with the lowest-level Fruit Position of that Pantheon.

Success meant reaching the so-called "follower" realm, granting them power comparable to that of a Half-Step Ascension.

As their Cultivation progressed and they reached the next stage, they would earn the recognition of both the Ancestor Realm and the Fruit Position within them. This would allow them to draw upon the power of the Ancestor Realm to advance their Fruit Position, ascending to a higher-level one within the same Pantheon.

They would cultivate step-by-step in this manner until the Fruit Position they had fused with reached the pinnacle of its Pantheon, allowing them to fuse with the Fruit Position of that Pantheon’s supreme god.

These were the Fruit Positions represented by the four great gods within the Mystical Palace.

The Five Divine Sect Leaders, all at the Celestial Monarch Level, were such beings.

One could say that these "great gods" were the source of every Pantheon, and thus the source of all power for the Divine Sealers.

The Divine Sealers had always believed that the great gods of their respective veins were beings akin to Void Deities. But now, Yi Beidou was claiming that what they saw was merely an Illusion—that their true bodies were still "alive"?!

That they were living beings with physical bodies?!

"What exactly do you mean by ’alive’?!"

At this very moment, Durand could no longer maintain his gentlemanly composure. He gripped his cane tightly, leaned forward, and fixed his eyes on Yi Beidou as he asked.

The others weren’t faring much better; they had all lost their composure, unable to school their expressions.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Yi Beidou said slowly. "Alive, just like you and me. Flesh and blood."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could they be alive? For thousands of years, they’ve sat there, immortal and indestructible. How could they possibly be living beings?"

"You must have been mistaken! Perhaps you didn’t truly see through the illusion. Or perhaps you saw nothing at all and are just lying to us!" Ditru exclaimed.

They hardly dared to follow that line of thought to its conclusion.

What kind of being could live for thousands, even tens of thousands of years, without dying, all while possessing such transcendent power?

In their collective knowledge, and in all of Earth’s verifiable history, only true Earth Immortals were capable of such a feat.

Wasn’t Yi Beidou telling them that the very source of their power as Divine Sealers came from Earth Immortals?

It was an utterly absurd notion. If it were true, then what would all their years of steadfast resolve as Divine Sealers amount to?

They had believed themselves to be the descendants of ancient heroes, a force safeguarding the world and human society. But if this was true, they had actually been serving Earth Immortals for all these years, reduced to mere pawns in some grand scheme.

They were fighting against Earth Immortals, yet the very gods they relied upon—and possibly even their so-called ancestors—were Earth Immortals themselves?

The efforts and struggles of generation after generation, everything they had done for thousands of years, would be nothing more than a joke. How could any of them possibly accept that?

If the other Divine Sealers were to learn of this, their Daoxin would likely collapse. They would fall from their current realms, a rift forming between them and the Fruit Positions within their bodies. It would throw the entire God-Sealing Organization into chaos.

They would rather believe it wasn’t true—that it was all a lie fabricated by Yi Beidou.

"I have said what needed to be said. Whether or not you believe me is your own affair."

Yi Beidou didn’t bother explaining or defending his words. If the five leaders refused to believe him, he wasn’t going to force the issue.

He would simply do what he had to do.

Even without the God-Sealing Organization’s help, Yi Beidou was confident he could uncover the final truth on his own.

"I need a quiet place for temporary secluded cultivation. Can you arrange that?"

Ignoring the Five Divine Sect Leaders and their chaotic expressions, Yi Beidou turned to Meng Qianyuan of the Donghua Group and asked his question.

He had just narrowly escaped death in the Ancestor Realm and had expended a tremendous amount of energy.

In truth, the ordeal had been incredibly perilous. If he hadn’t already mastered the Penglai Jade Power and its unimaginable regenerative abilities, he likely wouldn’t have survived, even after managing to conjure the Black Flame to escape the Ancestor Realm.

After all, at that point, most of his body had melted together into a single ball of flesh. Even a Saint Expert would have found it difficult to survive such a state.

However, the rewards had been equally immense.

By harnessing the power of the Mystical Palace, he had managed to forge his own path, breaking free from the shackles of the Penglai Power.

No matter how strong the Penglai Power was, it was still the power of the Penglai Earth Immortal.

And the Penglai Earth Immortal himself had considered himself a failure—nothing more than a Fake Immortal.

"No problem. I’ll contact the organization right away..."

Meng Qianyuan nodded, about to make the arrangements.

"Mr. Yi, this place is plenty spacious and quiet," Durand suddenly interrupted Meng Qianyuan. "If anything unexpected happens, we can communicate immediately. Furthermore, our God-Sealing Organization can satisfy any of your needs. If you all enter secluded cultivation here, we can watch over one another, especially since the great war could break out at any moment. What do you think, Mr. Yi?"

His expression had become calm again; it seemed he had managed to regain control of his emotions.

He couldn’t have Yi Beidou leaving now. If any other questions arose, he still wanted to be able to consult him.

Moreover, Yi Beidou’s current strength had reached a terrifying level. With him present, their chances in the coming war would be much greater.

"Are you trying to restrict our freedom?" Meng Qianyuan said, his expression darkening.

"That is not our intention at all! Mr. Meng, please don’t misunderstand!"

Durand hurriedly waved his hands in dismissal.

’Restrict his freedom? Given how terrifying that Black Flame was, trying to restrict Yi Beidou’s freedom would likely come at a cost no smaller than fighting a war against all the major Secret Organizations combined.’

"Fine."

Yi Beidou waved a dismissive hand. He didn’t particularly care, and he certainly wasn’t worried that the God-Sealing Organization posed any threat to him.

If these guys were actually willing to play their final card and summon a complete Celestial Monarch to deal with him, Yi Beidou would be delighted.

That way, he might finally be able to see through to the true nature of those Celestial Monarch gods.

As he was now, he was ready to challenge all the supreme powers of the world.

"In that case, we will take our leave."

Durand took a deep breath and gave Yi Beidou a slight bow. Then, he quickly led the other Divine Sealing Leaders away.

They needed to calm their frayed nerves, organize their thoughts, and get their blank minds working again.

「A short time later」

Inside the conference room, the Five Divine Sect Leaders sat in silence.

"So, what do you think? How much of what Yi Beidou said can we believe? Are they... really alive? Could they... truly be complete Earth Immortals?"

Finally, someone couldn’t bear the silence any longer and spoke up.

"Absolutely impossible! Even if Yi Beidou isn’t lying, his senses must have been mistaken. Remember, his condition at the time was far from ideal. Who knows if he really saw what he claims, or if it was just an error made under duress? We can’t just take his word for it!"

"But there’s a certain logic to what he said. In all these years, we’ve never seen the complete corpse of an Earth Immortal. Even finding one that’s a third intact is exceedingly rare. That’s highly illogical! To be honest, I’ve always had my own doubts about where our power truly comes from."

"Don’t question who we are! Even if they are complete Earth Immortals, it must have been a move made by our ancestors. Our ancestors destroyed their era and borrowed their bodies to prepare for the future! This only serves to prove the might of our Sealing God Lineage!"

"..."

The broken silence gave way to a heated argument, the leaders’ voices growing louder and more uncontrollable.

"Everyone. Let’s set aside the question of whether Yi Beidou was telling the truth for a moment. I just want to ask one thing."

"After all these years, don’t any of you want to know what we truly are? Where our power comes from? And where we are ultimately headed? Even if it is considered ’blasphemy,’ there are some things I feel I must understand, even if it means being crushed to dust, body and soul."

Long Yichen’s words cut through the argument, silencing everyone.

The room fell silent once more.