Seeing that Tie Dan seed to have cald his murderous intent sowhat and didn’t mind chatting while lying in ambush, Treasure Shopkeeper also let out a sigh of relief and continued chatting,
"That’s right, after all, I’m a businessman, and the most important thing for rchants is information. I’m skilled in Earth Escape, have traveled all over the famous mountains and rivers of the Twelve Countries, and thus have a wide range of acquaintances. When I’m at gatherings with everyone, I also enjoy chatting away, haha, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or false, just chatting. The gossip and anecdotes of the cultivation world, the feuds and romances of the Three Great Sects, anything you want to know, feel free to ask, I know everything and will tell all."
"Secrets of the Three Great Sects..."
Tie Dan actually doesn’t hate talking; it’s just that when he used to serve as a henchman, no dog would chat with him, so he never developed the habit of speaking since he was young...
Later, at Yanzi Cave, everyone too wasn’t much of a talker, whether it was the eldest senior brother who constantly squinted his eyes all day long or the second senior brother who sharpened swords until midnight, or the gloomy cripple, or the mad woman who chased to hack him with a sword. Recently, it’s been constantly practicing swordmanship and hacking people, a repetitive cycle, leaving no one to have a normal conversation with him. As a result, until now, he hasn’t even half-comprehensively understood many basics about the Three Great Sects.
As for the inside information about the Mystic Sect and Immortal Palace, Tie Dan had his own channels and experiences to spare, but when talking about the Three Great Sects, indeed there was still one whose presence was always elusive.
So since the other party ntioned it, Tie Dan took the opportunity to ask directly.
"The Mystic Sect is the removed Immortal Army Guard, what is this Ten Extres Demon Sect? Is it also so Immortal Army?"
The shopkeeper actually knew and explained,
"To sum it up, the Divine Sect isn’t inherited from our Immortal Army side. It should be considered a split from the Immortal Gate."
"Immortal Gate?"
"It’s those Gate Valve clan scholars, you see. After vanquishing the monster hordes and establishing order, we martial artists were of little use. The court employed scholars as officials because the nobles wanted to indulge in pleasures, yet there always had to be minions to govern the people and collect taxes."
The shopkeeper explained,
"Although the Gate Valve openly swears allegiance to the Ziwei Immortal Palace, the Life Gate of the External Elixir Dao is always held firmly by the Three Constellations, and the secret traditions of the Ancient Dao’s inner core are mostly sealed in the Orchid Platform Daoist Collection. The cultivation path of the Human Clan is firmly in the grasp of the Immortal Palace, and naturally, no one wishes to remain forever subordinated to the heavens.
So ever since Xuan Nu assassinated the Immortal Emperor, and chaos ensued, with the strength of the Immortal Palace declining steadily, trust in the Immortal Army Guard diminished. Moreover, they distrusted the Royal Vassal Kings, but those Gate Valve scholars who ca into power through governance and recomndation seized the opportunity to rise.
The current situation needs no further explanation from . Gate Valve clans inter-recomnd, only employing their disciples and old officials as officials, monopolizing land, inheriting official positions by heredity, forming marriages and alliances, building factions, and competing for power in the Taiwei Constellation. It’s said they are also stealing the Immortal Palace’s exclusive Ancient Daoist Collection secret techniques, researching to break through the restrictions of internal and external elixir cultivation thods.
rely competing for power and profit might be tolerable, but the Ziwei Constellation naturally cannot tolerate house slaves stealing the crucial alchemy secrets, attempting to escape its control, so it repeatedly launched Party Bans, sending eunuchs to arrest and oppressively quash those ’party mbers’ in secret communion with the Demon Path.
But the ’party mbers’ too were deeply interconnected, entrenched, and not so easily purged. Furthermore, the eunuch officials took advantage of this situation to extort and pillage, competing with the Gate Valve for power, so the matter grew larger and larger, ultimately leading to the division of the Immortal Palace and the outbreak of the Divine Sect rebellion."
Tie Dan knit his brows,
"So it’s still an internal conflict of the Immortal Palace..."
The shopkeeper shrugged,
"The heaven’s resources and Daoist collections were originally all controlled by the Immortal Palace itself.
Under the sky, those incredibly talented, extraordinary, who can achieve such success mostly co from the background of the Immortal Palace.
If not inherently nobles, then going back eight generations or so, there always is such an ancestor who was a noble to inherit the true teachings. For example, my own ager abilities, when it cos down to it, it’s all ancestral stuff; relying solely on myself, I’d have starved to death long ago.
The world has deteriorated to this point, not many can succeed through solitary effort and starting afresh. With a lifeti of cultivation, how would you compete with people’s century-old inheritances? Even one of the Three Venerables, the Divine Lord, had to leverage power, rise with the wind.
Oh, but the founder of your esteed Mystic Sect, Xuan Nu, is a special case; she’s said to have suddenly erged from a mountain valley; no trace of her origins could be found, just a village girl."
Tie Dan was not angry; the story of Xuan Nu being a village girl he had heard his senior brother ntion, is tacit within the Mystic Sect. After all, which young lady with a wealthy family background would raise a monkey...
"So is the Divine Lord also a noble of the Demon Palace?"
The shopkeeper touched his mouth in contemplation,
"Noble might be too much, monitoring of the Emperor’s descendants is exceedingly strict, even branches of foreign nations can be traced by the Zongzheng Mansion. However, from the writings of later generations, the Divine Lord’s deanor and upbringing show that he likely cos from a noble family.
Thus, there are three versions in circulation. One says the Divine Lord was Ban Sheng from the Fu Feng Ban Family, once served as a history officer at the Orchid Platform and got entangled in Immortal Palace’s internal conflicts, clandestinely writing national history, thus imprisoned by the Lower Immortal Palace.
People suspect he once beheld the Immortal Palace’s Daoist collections at Orchid Platform, thus attaining enlightennt through the Heavenly Book while in prison, establishing the Divine Sect’s true teachings, with the initial version of the Blood Talisman Scripture supposedly the first manuscript copied by his family.
But there’s also a saying that Ban Sheng only organized and arranged a naless scripture fragnt he found in the Daoist collection, while the true author was soone else, yet this remains unknown as only those of the Dharma King Venerable’s level get to see this book itself.
Another version states the Divine Lord ca from the Hongnong Zhang Family, his true identity being one of the illustrious ’San Ming of the Western Country’, the virtuous statesman Zhang Ming.
Zhang Ming rose through examinations, obtaining top scores, serving variously as Anxi Protector and General of Western Expedition, opening Western Regions for the court, proficient in both civil and military affairs, serving as both official and military, honored as Minister of the Ministry of Rites and Minister of Agriculture, revered as the aristocratic leader of both court and nobles, his fa and martial prowess daunting to the Ziwei Constellation. During the calamity of the party mbers, frad and slandered by eunuchs, he was forced into exile.
The Ziwei Constellation specially dispatched factory guards to capture him, but his reputation was known across the land, with families supporting him wherever he fled, harboring him, and offering secret cultivation manuals for his critique, gathering family disciples to befriend him, introducing disciples and old officials for guidance.
Ultimately, Zhang Ming fled all the way to the Western Regions, attained the Orchid Platform Daoist Collection from the Ban Family, comprehending and mastering great divine skills, finalizing the Heavenly Book, then led his forr Western Expedition army to counterattack the Central Plains. Party mbers from all under heaven rallied in response, nearly toppling the Immortal Palace, leading to the establishnt of the Divine Sect.
However, Zhang Ming was already famous, so why hide his identity? So say the Divine Lord might simply be Zhang Ming’s reincarnation or a descendant.
The final version claims the Divine Lord’s real surna is Lu, with the na Qi, a descendant of Southern Country aristocrats. Raised with deep family learning, he later studied in Central Plains under Yuan Gate, mastering the Poetry and Book, governing Ritual, and analyzing Yi, well-learned in star calendars and arithtic, incomparably knowledgeable in Qin Dunjia.
Later, he too, for harboring Zhang Xiang and apprenticing in skills, got involved in the party mbers’ disaster, wanted by the court, was forced to flee to Western Regions. Later, he got enlightened from the Ban Family’s Daoist collection, joined with Zhang and Ban families, established the Divine Sect, and founded the sect’s heritage in the Western Territory."
The shopkeeper paused, swallowed, then added,
"But in my opinion, these three stories likely aren’t true. The Divine Lord always wore a ghost mask, never revealed his face, nor spoke of his background; how could he leave a na?
However, indeed the top echelon of the Divine Sect now comprises the Zhang, Ban, Duan, and Lu families, the absolute core from the founding of the sect. Thus, these families’ descendants received the Heavenly Book inheritance, consecutively serving as Ten Extres Venerable Masters.
Among these families, besides the Duan family, which was bestowed as the Three Ministers Grand Commandant by the Immortal Palace, commissioned to suppress Western Regions’ rebellion and vanquish the Divine Sect, who ended up rebelling due to failed bribery to the military eunuch supervisor, was backstabbed with scant military provisions, failing the campaign, annihilated in a full clan execution, ultimately cornered and forced to revolt, their origins are the most clear.
The other three families were mostly small noble families persecuted and eradicated by the Immortal Palace, exiled to Western Regions, unrecognized in the Central Plains, hence whether they are truly noble families or self-proclaid remains unknown. So these stories might just be concocted by the descendants of these three families to embellish their ancestors’ prestige."
Tie Dan frowned,
"How do you know so much? Are you with the Divine Sect?"
The shopkeeper smiled without a word.
Tie Dan understood,
"So you really are with the Divine Sect... Oh, then the Treasure Jade Hall..."
The shopkeeper smiled wryly and nodded,
"With my limited abilities, how could I guard so many strange treasures? I’m just working for the boss, manning the shop to earn a living.
The Treasure Jade Hall is actually the headquarters of the Kun Country Divine Sect."
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