Chapter 266: The Truth Revealed
In the blink of an eye, the Forbidden Sea was thrown into chaos. Everyone from the Emperor-Receiving Prefecture was visibly stunned.
The first to react was the group closest to the Seazombies, and that was the Seven Sect Coalition. Almost instantly, six immense figures appeared, projected above their headquarters. They included both men and women, and their faces were obscured. Only their eyes were visible, bright and radiant.
“Seven Blood Eyes....”
“They actually managed to create a taboo treasure.”
“Sir Bloodsmelter really is a man of rigorous schemes and deep foresight. He’s not to be underestimated!”
These six figures were patriarchs and matriarchs who were on the senate of the Seven Sect Coalition. As they communicated with divine will, they rose high into the air. Then they began moving, taking steps forward before vanishing in the direction of the Seazombies. They appeared in the air over the Seazombie ancestral land only a moment later. As the immense bronze mirror rotated, the terrifying power of a taboo treasure struck them to the core. When a magical treasure became a taboo treasure, it involved very unusual transformations. Gruish abilities would manifest, which would then determine the full extent and capabilities of the taboo treasure.
“Punishment.... I can’t believe it! This thing has the power of capital punishment!”
“The Seven Blood Eyes taboo treasure doesn’t have the power to destroy a sect. Instead, it can do something even more unique. It can destroy an individual! Based on what I can sense, it has a destructive power that is… absolutely terrifying!
“Once it locks onto someone, it has a ten percent chance of instantly detonating them! And because of the nature of that mirror, it can target people from a great distance!”
“Even though the success rate is only ten percent, that’s only for a single eye. This thing has seven eyes! For all intents and purposes, that means it has a seventy percent chance of succeeding. Who would dare to take a chance against something like that?”
“Sir Bloodsmelter is in the first stage of Void Returning. With this taboo treasure and its ability to inflict capital punishment, he could definitely target someone in second stage Void Returning!”
“Second stage... that’s the level the president of the Seven Sect Coalition is in.”
The patriarchs and matriarchs of the Seven Sect Coalition fell into silence. Each had their own thoughts on the matter.
A taboo treasure was the greatest threat a sect could unleash, and it wasn’t something that just any sect could unleash. Of the 136 sects that made up the coalition, there were only seven that had taboo treasures. What was more, taboo treasures were things that other people couldn’t just take away. They had spirit automatons, and could defend themselves. For example, if anyone attempted to take Seven Blood Eyes’ taboo treasure, it was entirely possible that the treasure could be unleashed against them.
Seven Blood Eyes’ taboo treasure had other unique aspects. It was powered by seven zombie ancestor statues. Therefore, when any of its seven eyes opened, it would unleash terrifying power.
After assessing the situation, the patriarchs and matriarchs of the coalition exchanged glances, then performed incantation gestures that instigated a long-distance teleportation. Then they vanished in the direction of Seven Blood Eyes.
In a matter of moments, all of the various factions in the Emperor-Receiving Prefecture on the Revered Ancient mainland were using their own methods to observe what was happening above Seven Blood Eyes. And all of them realized... that the structure of the Seven Sect Coalition was going to change. By extension, that meant that the structure of the Emperor-Receiving Prefecture was also going to change.
Storm clouds were on the horizon.
All of the Seazombies in the Seazombie ancestral land were trembling in despair. In contrast, the Seven Blood Eyes disciples who were stationed there all seemed incredibly excited.
Of course, most astonished of all was the person currently having trouble breathing steadily, and that was... Patriarch Soaring Cloud, who hovered in the air above Seven Blood Eyes. Sweat had broken out on his forehead, and his eyes were narrowed. It was impossible for him to prevent his shock from showing on his face as he stared in the direction of the Seazombie ancestral land.
Although he couldn’t actually see what was happening there, he could sense that something had locked onto him, and he knew that with a mere thought, Sir Bloodsmelter could bring deadly catastrophe to him. From the mere sensation of that force locking onto him, it was obvious that he was in an absolute crisis.
Capital punishment... seven shots at capital punishment!
Breathing unsteadily, he looked at Sir Bloodsmelter with bloodshot eyes.
“Now do you think Seven Blood Eyes is worthy to be a supervisory sect?” Sir Bloodsmelter asked coolly.
Patriarch Soaring Cloud opened his mouth to speak, but then realized he didn’t know what to say. All of a sudden, it occurred to him that everything Seven Blood Eyes had done was part of one unified strategy.
It had only seemed that Seven Blood Eyes was targeting the Seazombies to absolutely destroy them. In reality, that wasn’t their plan at all.
Seven Blood Eyes actually had two goals.
The first had been to create a path to the Revered Ancient mainland. Patriarch Soaring Cloud could envision that path in his mind. The starting point was Seven Blood Eyes. Second came the Merfolk Isles, third were the Seazombie fortified islands, and fourth was the Seazombie ancestral land. The fourth location on the path was very close to the Seven Sect Coalition on the mainland. That path was essentially a straight line from Seven Blood Eyes to the Seven Sect Coalition.
However, Seven Blood Eyes' strategy was complex. They had attacked the Merfolk during the Seventh Peak’s Grand Competition, all in order to draw out the Seazombies. Sir Bloodsmelter chose that moment for his breakthrough, in order to attack and injure the Seazombie patriarch.
That was the main reason why the Seazombies were ultimately defeated.
The next logical step was for them to attack the Seazombies, and slowly conquer their fortified islands before moving onto their ancestral land. It was a clean operation, and during the entire time, Seven Blood Eyes didn’t give any indication that they had the power to do anything beyond achieve this first goal of theirs.
Of course, the Seven Sect Coalition had quickly realized what that first goal was.
That was why they stepped in to prevent Seven Blood Eyes from taking over the Seazombie ancestral land. The Seven Sect Coalition had taken advantage of the moment to destroy the Young Arbiter Sect and restore the flow of the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River. But that didn’t mean they weren’t paying close attention to Seven Blood Eyes. Their action had been an act of shaking the mountain to frighten the tiger. In this case, the mountain was the Young Arbiter Sect and the tiger was Seven Blood Eyes. In that manner, they won a victory without expending much effort, and made sure that Seven Blood Eyes was put into place.
However, no one in the Seven Sect Coalition had even considered that Seven Blood Eyes actually had a second goal. And that second goal was cloaked in profound deception. In fact, it had been hidden so perfectly that, right now, Patriarch Soaring Cloud’s scalp tingled when he thought about it. Now he realized that Seven Blood Eyes had intentionally made their first goal obvious. And the reason was to prevent anyone from realizing what their second goal was.
This was not Sir Bloodsmelter’s usual style.
The second goal was to acquire the zombie ancestor divine likenesses, and then use them as a power source. By doing so, they could upgrade their sect’s magical treasure to the point of becoming a taboo treasure.
The success of the operation hinged on two premises. First, they needed a way to use the zombie ancestor statues as power sources. Second, they needed to locate several zombie ancestor statues that were floating around outside of the Seazombie ancestral land.
Clearly, Seven Blood Eyes had fulfilled both premises.
Seven Blood Eyes had even calculated that the Seven Sect Coalition would interfere with their operation, and force them to end the war. All of their previous anger and defiance, as well as all their haggling, had been for a purpose. And that was... to make sure they could get the final two zombie ancestor statues they needed.
Even after the negotiations were complete, Seven Blood Eyes still showed restraint. Despite how the Seven Sect Coalition’s chosen came and issued dueling challenges, causing Seven Blood Eyes to lose a lot of face, they kept quiet and just waited for the spell formation construction to be completed. Supposedly, that spell formation had been built to transport war reparations. It seemed like something any conquering force would do. But the reality was that it wasn’t built to transport two statues to Seven Blood Eyes. It was built to transport five statues from Seven Blood Eyes.
With that one teleportation, the number of statues around the formation reached a total of seven. What was more, upon being returned to the Seazombie ancestral land, they awoke from their state of slumber.
Gritting his teeth, Patriarch Soaring Cloud growled, “So when our coalition disciples issued challenges to your disciples, you intentionally put on a weak front? All to trick us? In that case, what’s your ultimate goal? You want to be an independent force on Revered Ancient?”
Sir Bloodsmelter didn’t answer the first question, as it wasn’t important. He just smiled and said, “I’m old. I want to enjoy a life of retirement on the mainland. But at the same time, I hope to see a new seat added to the Seven Sect Coalition’s senate.”
Patriarch Soaring Cloud didn’t respond. He was incredibly frustrated and annoyed. His sect’s life lamp had been taken, and his grandson had been seriously injured. However, those things were secondary to Seven Blood Eyes’ sudden show of decisiveness and ambition.
Seven Blood Eyes was very still and quiet. The ordinary disciples didn’t know exactly what was going on, but they could sense that the atmosphere had changed. And when they heard their patriarch’s words, their hearts started racing. They could guess what was coming.
Xu Qing looked out at the sea. A moment ago, he had sensed something happening out there, and he could speculate about what it was.
“So, that’s what’s going on here,” the Captain said quietly, but loud enough for his fellow apprentices to hear. “The old man really is a cunning old fox. Now I get what the secret weapon is.”
Xu Qing looked over at him. So did Third Elder Brother. Second Elder Sister, on the other hand, was still sending voice messages.
“You really know what’s going on, Eldest Brother?” asked Third Elder Brother. “Is it a taboo treasure? Does Seven Blood Eyes finally have a taboo treasure?” Third Eldest Brother seemed hesitant about that assessment.
As for Xu Qing, he kept his eyes on the Captain. He was also hesitant.
The Captain sighed deeply. “Something like this is worth about 1,000 spirit stones. Whoever wants to know, just pay up, and I’ll tell you.”
“You don’t know squat!” Master Seventh said.
Looking embarrassed, the Captain cleared his throat.
“I worked a hundred years to plan this thing for the patriarch,” Master Seventh continued. “Step by step, we’ve carried out the operation to this point.
“There’s no need for you four to speculate about the details. I’ll tell you. Out in the Seazombie ancestral land, we created a taboo treasure that belongs to Seven Blood Eyes. It will be the eighth taboo treasure to exist in the Seven Sect Coalition. With it, we can control everything around us, and also ensure safe passage to the Revered Ancient mainland.
“After this, the Seven Sect Coalition is going to have to change its name.” Looking back at his four apprentices, Master Seventh smiled. “What do you think? Does ‘Eight Sect Coalition’ sound good? I think it does.”
As the words left Master Seventh’s mouth, the sky above shimmered as powerful auras suddenly spread out everywhere. Six god-like beings appeared in the dome of heaven around Sir Bloodsmelter and Patriarch Soaring Cloud.
These were the patriarchs and matriarchs from the senate of the Seven Sect Coalition.
In almost the exact same instant that they arrived, an old woman walked out of Seven Blood Eyes and flew up into the air. Arriving next to Sir Bloodsmelter, she looked at the people from the Seven Sect Coalition and smiled.
“Hey everyone. Long time no see. I was napping earlier when I heard someone mention handing over Xu Qing. My granddaughter really likes that kid, and I’m thinking of marrying them. If you kill him, my granddaughter wouldn’t be very happy. And that means I wouldn’t be happy either. I don’t have much in my old age, but I do have my granddaughter. Therefore, if I’m not happy, I’ll make sure the lot of you are very unhappy!”