Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

Star Palace, Ten Thousand Lands Realm.

As the realm barrier shattered and the heavens split open, a Sword Light rolled across the sky. It was so brilliant that even the myriad stars paled in comparison.

In an instant, all the Star Monarchs were alarmed.

"Wh-who is this Great Power?"

"A visitor from Beyond the Heavens? But this doesn’t seem like the Outer Dao."

"Let me take a look..."

At that moment, nearly every Star Monarch subconsciously activated their spiritual perception, casting it toward the Sword Light to see who this sacred figure might be.

The very next second, however, a Star Monarch’s eyes flew open as he hissed, "This is bad!"

Just moments ago, he had personally witnessed the sudden appearance of the Sword Light. At first glance, he noticed nothing unusual, only that the person wielding the sword seemed incredibly powerful.

But when he came to his senses, he discovered in horror that the Sword Light he had seen had, at some unknown point, followed the karmic links of his fleeting glimpse and shot directly into his Spiritual Space. There, it slashed down violently, and an endless flood of light instantly drowned all of his spiritual perception!

BOOM!

In that instant, the Star Monarch’s Dharma Body disintegrated and exploded, transforming into a ray of light that illuminated the heavens and covered all four directions, letting out a world-shaking sound.

And that wasn’t all.

With this Star Monarch’s death, his Cave Mansion and the starry continent beneath his feet also crumbled, the mountains and vast oceans collapsing along with them!

This was not an isolated incident.

Every single Star Monarch who had tried to observe the Sword Light and whose cultivation was below the Mid-phase suffered the same fate. Four or five of them died on the spot!

Such a massive disturbance naturally awakened several consciousnesses in the deepest reaches of the Star Palace. Their magnificent spiritual perception instantly drew a response from the myriad stars, and billions of starlights gathered at this moment, forming four phantoms of light. Their gazes were frigid as they stared intently at the Sword Light that had traversed the sky.

"How dare you..."

RUMBLE!

The Sword Light had no intention of conversing. It instantly tore through the four phantoms of light, obliterated their spiritual perception, and caused the stars to tremble and the entire Ten Thousand Lands Realm to shake!

However, the Star Palace’s response was extremely swift.

Cyan Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise—the Four Symbols Star Constellations underwent Resurrection in that moment. Billions of stars linked together, forming a majestic Grand Ward.

Yet the Sword Light remained undeterred.

The next second, the Sword Light struck the Grand Ward head-on. The explosive flash of light was so intense that even the Star Monarchs could not look at it directly and could only shut their eyes in panic.

A long time passed before the light gradually dimmed. It revealed that the Four Symbols Star Constellations and the Ten Thousand Lands Realm had, without exception, all suffered varying degrees of damage. Mountains had crumbled, vast oceans had run dry, and countless living beings had perished. Only the majestic palace at the very core remained completely unscathed.

「Meanwhile, in the Cyan Dragon Star.」

"A Great Perfected Lord... It must be a Great Perfected Lord!"

The Patriarch of the Zhu Xuan Clan swayed, barely recovering from the impact of that last strike. When he saw the miserable state of the stars, his face turned deathly pale.

"Are you kidding me!?"

"Such a sharp Sword Light, such Sword Intent... A Great Perfected Lord from the Immortal Pivot has attacked? Why haven’t the great ones in the Star Palace emerged to stop him!?"

Within the Star Palace, there were three other great families with status equal to that of the Zhu Xuan Clan.

Yet at this moment, they all felt the exact same thing: terror. With their hair standing on end, they looked imploringly toward the majestic palace at the center of the stars.

’Where are our teammates? We need backup!’

But even then, the majestic palace remained unresponsive. As the very origin of the name "Star Palace," this palace was the core of the entire Outer Realm.

And at that moment, several streams of spiritual perception were awakening within the palace.

"...Well? Shall we fight him?" an ancient voice asked, its tone deep, graceful, and majestic.

"Those people outside probably can’t stop him."

"There’s no need. He’s a cripple. He can’t perform many more of those slashes. Fighting him would be meaningless; we’d just lose half our lives for nothing," another voice chimed in, its tone cold to the extreme.

"The time is not yet right."

"Just ask him what he wants."

Soon, a stream of spiritual perception spread out, sweeping toward the Sword Light that cut across the heavens. It was clearly on a completely different level from the Star Monarchs’ earlier attempts.

Immediately after, the Sword Light parted.

True Monarch Gangxing stepped out from within, his face slightly pale. He coughed a few times, and his once-ruddy complexion now showed a hint of sickness.

"Daoist, for what purpose have you come?" the Nameless Divine Thought asked proactively.

Hearing this, True Monarch Gangxing chuckled. "I have come to request a Guardian’s Seal to enter the karmic links of the Celestial Human Residual Consciousness. I ask that you grant my request, Daoist."

"A Guardian’s Seal..."

At these words, the Nameless Divine Thought fell silent.

The Celestial Human Residual Consciousness wasn’t something you could just pick up anywhere, and a Guardian’s Seal was not so easily created. The entire Star Palace only had four of them available.

’And he wants us to just hand one over?’

The Nameless Divine Thought had no intention of playing dumb. After all, the man had already fought his way here and delivered a slash without a single word. Trying to be evasive would only backfire.

Thus, after a moment, it spoke:

"Daoist, you must be from the Sword Pavilion. I have heard that the Immortal Pivot Sword Pavilion upholds the Righteous Dao, emerging from the muck unstained. Are you now going to resort to extortion and robbery?"

True Monarch Gangxing laughed at this.

’With my experience, how could I not see through their intentions? Are they praising the Sword Pavilion? Of course not! They’re trying to guilt-trip me.’

Thinking this, he immediately shook his head. "You are mistaken. I am not here to extort or rob you. Rather, I hope the Guardian Lineage will repay a life-saving debt from the past."

"...A life-saving debt?"

"That’s right."

True Monarch Gangxing said gravely, "If the Bhagavat had not shown mercy back then, would there even be any Guardians left? Is that not a life-saving debt?"

The Nameless Divine Thought was speechless. It paused for a moment before continuing, "That is a debt owed to the Bhagavat..."

"You are mistaken again, Daoist."

True Monarch Gangxing laughed. "The Pure Land established by the Bhagavat is of the Righteous Dao. My Sword Pavilion is the Leader of the Righteous Path. Therefore, the affairs of the Righteous Dao are the affairs of the Sword Pavilion."

"And as the current master of the Sword Pavilion, the affairs of the Sword Pavilion are my affairs."

"Therefore, it is not wrong to count this life-saving debt as being owed to me."

"..."

For a moment, the Nameless Divine Thought was so angry it could have laughed. ’Truly, public morals are in decline! The Bhagavat is of the Righteous Dao? You might as well just say the entire Immortal Pivot is the Righteous Dao! And what’s this about it being owed to you? So shameless!’

However, since True Monarch Gangxing had put it that way, the Nameless Divine Thought could see his resolve. After a moment of thought, it made a decision.

"Zhu Xuan Clan, hand over the Seal in your possession."

At these words, the Patriarch of the Zhu Xuan Clan’s face turned ashen, but he did not dare to object. He could only obediently present a shimmering, multicolored Enchanted Seal.

"My thanks, Daoist."

True Monarch Gangxing took the Seal and, after a brief inspection, revealed a satisfied expression. The other party’s decision had not been beyond his expectations.

’In the end, they’re just a group of living dead, old relics lost in the past.’

’As for a Master of Dao... as if I don’t have one backing me. Besides, a Nascent Soul Daoist Lord is busy with countless important matters; they have no time to pay attention to such trivial events in the Current World.’

If that weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have dared to be so arrogant.

’In the end, all this talk of the Star Palace, the Twenty-Eight Star Monarchs, the Super Great Boundary Heaven... it’s all just them flattering themselves. They’re nothing but a bunch of has-beens I’ve defeated before.’

’A boss from the Immortal Pivot is still the boss here!’

The next second, True Monarch Gangxing retracted his Abilities. The roiling Sword Light transformed into a streak of Illusionary Colors that flowed back into his body, and then he turned and broke through the void, departing.