Chapter 77

The moment the Eternal Sage finished speaking, every member of the Order became serious, and the playful expressions they had worn only moments ago vanished completely.

The reason was simple: they all knew just how terrifying the Vile One’s curse truly was. It was unimaginably powerful, and not only that, it was one of the primary reasons the Order remained short on members.

If every member of the Long Family had been able to exist without one another dying, then they would very likely have become the most powerful family to have existed.

With their help, humanity might have already broken past the limits placed upon both themselves and the world, and perhaps the world itself would have already evolved enough for Sages to emerge.

In other words, the curse the accursed Vile One had placed upon the Long Family wasn’t merely detrimental to the Long bloodline alone; it was one of the greatest shackles restricting the entirety of humanity.

That was why the major purpose of the Order had always been to find a way to break the curse placed upon the Long Family.

They had tried for countless years, yet it had gradually begun to feel like a hopeless endeavor. Because of that, they had shifted part of their efforts toward finding the Vile One himself; the moment they found him, every single member of the Order would be mobilized to subdue him.

Hopefully, by killing him, the curse upon the Long bloodline would finally be lifted, and when that happened, the Long Family would rise once more; in turn, humanity itself would rise alongside them.

Every member wore a frown, even Thousand Faces’ ever-changing mask, which now displayed the expression of a gloomy man. He let out a long sigh: "Just when another major pillar had finally appeared, the Vile One reached him first."

The disappointment in his voice was unmistakable, and the others felt exactly the same.

A Sacred Grade cultivator, if allowed to grow, possessed potential that far surpassed even themselves; one had to know that the members of the Order mostly possessed Heaven Grade Spirit Roots, with only a select few having reached the Supreme Grade Spirit Root.

As for the Sacred Grade Spirit Root, it stood in an entirely different realm altogether, and the gap between it and every other Spirit Root was greater than the gap separating all the others combined.

It had a standard all its own. When the first Sacred Grade cultivator had appeared sixteen years ago, it had been a day of great celebration for the Order, because with a Sacred Grade cultivator, the future of the world had suddenly become just a little brighter.

Their existence represented hope... hope that humanity might one day survive the promised disaster that was steadily drawing closer.

The person wearing the deepest frown, although it was difficult to notice due to her childish appearance, was none other than Little Blue.

She should have known; she always knew. She had seen countless things through Fate, and something as important as the appearance of another Sacred Grade cultivator should have been among the very first things her Envisioning Gaze noticed.

There had only been a handful of times when her Envisioning Gaze had completely failed: the first was when she attempted to locate the Vile One, and the second was when she tried to peer into the origin of the First Order.

That discovery alone had shaken her deeply; apart from those two, no one had ever escaped the sight of her Envisioning Gaze. Refusing to believe it had failed once again, she immediately activated the Mark of Fate she had secretly imprinted upon Silent Reaper.

Using that mark, she traced the existence of the second Sacred Grade cultivator he had mentioned, and finally, she saw him.

The very instant her vision reached its destination, her gaze trembled violently. It was as though every strand of Fate surrounding him had become tangled together before disappearing into an endlessly shifting mass of shadows.

Another one... there was another existence with an unreadable destiny; another being untouched, unbound, and unconstrained by the Strings of Fate. The longer she looked, the more shocked she became.

This was troublesome; if she couldn’t read his destiny, couldn’t predict his future... just like the Vile One, or the First Order... didn’t that mean Silent Reaper’s son was yet another anomaly completely beyond her grasp? She didn’t like that... not one bit.

The first person to break the heavy silence was Iron Saint. "Since he’s cursed as well, wouldn’t that mean the Vile One will eventually find him too?" Iron Saint’s expression gradually became solemn.

"And we all know what happens when that day comes; he’s going to be killed by the Vile One as well."

"No, it won’t happen that quickly," Eternal Sage calmly shook his head, although beneath his calm voice lay unmistakable solemnity.

"He can’t find him that fast. Based on Silent Reaper’s report, the boy is still only within the First Realm of the Mortal Stage, and his presence within the world is still far too insignificant. There simply isn’t enough of him for the curse to allow the Vile One to locate him."

The eyes of everyone present immediately sharpened; they still had time.

"We should bring him into the Order," World Pillar spoke firmly, his gaze unwavering, "and protect him with everything we have. If we do that, we can nurture him until he’s strong enough to stand beside us against the threat."

Eternal Sage slowly shook his head. "No, that isn’t a viable option. Every single one of us already carries an extremely important responsibility, and those who don’t are mostly public figures constantly being watched."

As he spoke, his gaze shifted toward Golden Tyrant. The wealthy man casually sipped his alcohol with a solemn expression; looking at him now, one would almost question whether he truly understood how severe the current situation was, yet everyone present knew he did.

Golden Tyrant was one of the world’s most recognizable public figures, and he remained under countless watchful eyes every single day. The same was true for Little Blue, the world’s Divine Seer, and several others as well.

As for those who weren’t constantly under observation, their missions were simply too important to abandon... Dream Weaver, Iron Saint, Beast Emperor, Ashen Monarch... each of them was responsible for protecting entire fronts of the world.

Not only that, Thousand Faces constantly handled countless dangerous missions that required abilities only he possessed.

After eliminating every possibility, there was really only one option left: Silent Reaper himself. Perhaps, under ordinary circumstances, they would have simply entrusted his son to him, but everyone present knew that would be the most foolish decision imaginable.

After all, every member of the Order understood exactly what the curse would do whenever two members of the Long Family remained together: sooner or later, one of them would be forced to fight and kill the other.

Hearing Eternal Sage’s words, every member of the Order once again fell into silence.

The atmosphere became tense and silent. That silence, however, was soon broken by the unmistakable sound of someone snoring.

Every member of the Order couldn’t help but have the corners of their eyes twitch as they all turned toward the source of the noise; of course, there was only one person it could possibly be: Dream Weaver.

She was sound asleep once again, her head hanging low as gentle snores escaped from her lips. Eternal Sage sighed inwardly before snapping his fingers once more; this time, a much thicker wave of spiritual pressure slammed gently into her throne, immediately waking her from her slumber.

"Hmm...?" She blinked sleepily before looking around. "Wait... is the meeting over already?" Seeing the numerous twitching eyes staring directly at her, she awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. "Did I fall asleep again...? Sorry..."

Truthfully, no one could really blame her; after all, among every member of the Order, her mission was arguably the most mentally exhausting. Every single day she had to enter and manipulate the dreams of countless people throughout the entire world.

Only after everyone’s attention finally left her did Dream Weaver’s expression become serious once more; this time, she silently promised herself that she wouldn’t fall asleep again.

Eternal Sage lightly coughed before continuing. "I have a suggestion: I believe we should create a powerful Soul-Hiding Formation and use it to conceal the boy’s soul from the Vile One. After that, we’ll secretly send him to the Gold Valley Sect on the Continent of Lykana."

"By the time the Soul-Hiding Formation is eventually weakened and destroyed by the Vile One’s curse, the boy should already have grown strong enough to survive, and hopefully, before that day arrives, we would have already found a way to permanently remove the Vile One’s curse from the Long Family."

After hearing his proposal, everyone looked at him with complicated expressions. A formation capable of completely hiding someone’s soul from external detection was already unimaginably expensive.

It required enormous amounts of resources, consumed tremendous quantities of spiritual energy, and maintaining such a formation would place an incredible burden upon them spiritually. And perhaps the worst part of all, none of them could even guarantee that it would hold back the curse long enough for all of their preparations to be completed.

Little Blue suddenly spoke. "There is no need. The boy cannot be traced by the Vile One." The moment those words were spoken, every member present was stunned, and every gaze immediately shifted toward her.

Seeing the seriousness in her expression, they all felt a little relieved. Little Blue calmly continued: "In fact, I’m certain that if we create a Soul-Hiding Formation and implant it into the young lad, we’ll only end up sabotaging him in the future."

"The Vile One may even use the formation itself as a medium to trace him. The best option is to allow the boy to grow naturally within the Gold Valley Sect; let him carve out his own path. Meanwhile, we’ll continue making preparations, just as we’ve always done."

Everyone slowly nodded; they all trusted Little Blue completely. Her Envisioning Gaze had never failed before, and surely, it wouldn’t fail now. Little Blue, however, couldn’t help but sigh inwardly upon seeing the relieved expressions around her.

Because they had completely misunderstood what she actually meant; after all, she truly had seen nothing, and it was precisely because she had seen absolutely nothing that she believed the boy was safe.

As long as his destiny remained completely unreadable, she highly doubted even the Vile One could locate him; well, as long as nothing unexpected happened, that should remain the case.

...

Now that everyone finally felt somewhat relieved, Eternal Sage decided to ask about the progress of everyone else’s missions. His first question was directed toward Iron Saint: "Has the influx of Raja Bulls decreased?"

Iron Saint slowly shook his head. "It was just as we feared: the number of Raja Bulls seems completely endless. But don’t worry," he grinned confidently, "I’ve still got plenty of fight left in me; I should be able to hold them back for another several hundred years before I finally get tired."

Eternal Sage nodded before turning his attention toward Beast Emperor: "How close are you to taming it?"

Beast Emperor sighed, looking slightly ashamed of himself; after remaining silent for a brief moment, he finally answered: "I would say I’m only a little bit away from successfully taming it."

The moment he finished speaking, Iron Saint let out a mocking chuckle. "What a Beast Emperor indeed; you can’t even tame one little lizard."

Beast Emperor’s eyes immediately turned dangerous as he glared fiercely at him. "You bastard, that thing you just called a lizard is the Golden Dragon of the First King. It has already reached the level of a Pseudo Sage, and you expect me to tame it easily? You bastard, if you’re so capable, why don’t you go tame it yourself?"

Iron Saint didn’t answer; he merely continued laughing to himself. That only infuriated Beast Emperor even further. Ignoring the two troublemakers, Eternal Sage shifted his gaze toward another member of the Order: Silent Reaper. "Tell me; I’m more than certain you’ve already examined your son. How talented is he currently? And based on your estimation, how long do you think it’ll take before he steps into the Soul Stage?"

Silent Reaper remained silent for a moment as he carefully thought about the question.

"The boy is certainly talented; not only did he effortlessly surpass the Body Refinement Realm, he’s already far stronger than most Qi Gathering cultivators. He also possesses an exceptionally powerful ocular ability and a remarkably powerful physique."

Even Silent Reaper himself had only triggered the Long Family’s bloodline mutation after reaching the Core Realm, where he awakened a physique uniquely suited to himself.

That was another blessing of the Long Family bloodline; every member possessed the potential to awaken a physique perfectly tailored to their own existence, and the physique Silent Reaper had sensed within the boy was an exceptionally powerful one.

With all of those factors taken into consideration, he could even be considered a greater genius than Silent Reaper himself. After remaining silent for a while, Silent Reaper finally spoke: "Probably around sixty years from now."

The moment those words were spoken, every gaze turned toward him. Many of them believed he was exaggerating; after all, if breaking through into the higher realms of cultivation were truly that easy, then people wouldn’t remain stuck within a single realm for decades, sometimes even hundreds of years.

Yet, seeing the certainty within Silent Reaper’s expression, Eternal Sage slowly nodded. "It may sound preposterous, but for a Sacred Grade cultivator, it is entirely possible. By then, we should have made enough preparations, and perhaps we’ll finally be ready to take down the Vile One."

Eternal Sage then shifted his gaze toward yet another member of the Order, only to discover that Dream Weaver had fallen asleep once again. The corner of his mouth twitched.

Without hesitation, he snapped his fingers; this time, a far stronger wave of spiritual force, powerful enough to instantly crush an ordinary Core Realm cultivator, slammed into her throne.

Dream Weaver immediately woke up; the instant she met Eternal Sage’s gaze, she quickly looked away, forcing a serious expression onto her face as though she hadn’t just fallen asleep yet again.

Eternal Sage chose not to comment; instead, he calmly asked, "How is your mission regarding the search for Azarath’s Tomb? Any progress?"

Dream Weaver sighed softly before shaking her head. "I’ve only managed to find a few clues, but every single one of them eventually leads nowhere." She paused briefly. "Perhaps we should simply stop searching for the First King’s Tomb; we may never find it."

Her tone was noticeably somber; finding that tomb was one of the three most important missions entrusted to her.

"What about the location of the Vile One?"

Dream Weaver slowly shook her head once again. "No, I still haven’t found him either."

Eternal Sage nodded; he didn’t bother asking about the third mission.

That one was perhaps the most difficult mission of them all, but if there was anyone in the entire world who possessed even the slightest chance of succeeding, it was Dream Weaver... alongside Little Blue.

Since Little Blue’s Envisioning Gaze had no effect whatsoever upon the Vile One, Dream Weaver had become their only remaining hope of locating him.

Eternal Sage then turned his attention toward Little Blue. Before he could even ask, she already answered: "No, it can’t be stopped. No matter what we do, they will eventually break free from their chains, and when that happens, the world will once again descend into chaos."

Eternal Sage’s expression immediately became solemn. "So, those beings are finally going to break free." That was perhaps the most troubling piece of news... well, second only to the Vile One himself.

Even now, they still hadn’t been able to determine exactly what level of threat he truly represented. After discussing a few final matters and bringing the meeting to its conclusion, every gaze slowly turned toward the First Order; after all, it was his responsibility to officially end every gathering of the Order.

The First Order, who had remained silent throughout the entire meeting, finally spoke... his voice was smooth, calm, yet carried an authority that none dared question.

"The matter has been decided. Our business here is finished." He slowly rose to his feet. "Let Order prevail." The moment those words fell, his figure disappeared. One after another, the remaining members also stood.

"Let Order prevail." They repeated together before vanishing one after another; and just like that, the meeting of the Order had officially come to an end.

---------

Meanwhile, back within Burnold City, inside the enormous Li Manor, a loud bang echoed throughout the meeting hall. Elder Jin abruptly rose to his feet, his eyes burning with anger.

"What do you mean by giving the fifth spot to Li Yu? I absolutely refuse to accept it! My son, Li Bao, is stronger and far more deserving of participating in the Selection Tournament than Li Yu, who has only recently begun cultivating!"

The remaining elders exchanged complicated glances. None of them knew whose side they should support; previously, they would have undoubtedly stood alongside Elder Jin, but now, everything had changed.

Li Yu had regained the ability to cultivate, and not only that, he appeared to possess the talent of an extraordinary genius. If he were accepted into the Gold Valley Sect, the Li Clan would benefit immensely; after all, he was the clan’s rightful heir.

However, Li Bao was undeniably a genius as well, and before Li Yu’s return, he had already been chosen for the fifth and final spot.

"You can’t do this! This is cheating! Is this truly how the clan treats its own people? I refuse to accept such injustice!" Elder Jin roared, his spiritual pressure exploding outward.

However, the moment the Clan Lord slowly opened his eyes, that pressure was effortlessly dispersed. The Clan Lord calmly looked toward the furious Elder Jin before speaking: "I have already made my decision.

Tomorrow, Li Yu and Li Bao will fight in a duel. The victor will claim the fifth spot and will represent the Li Clan in the Selection Tournament."

His calm gaze swept across everyone present. "Tomorrow, it will be decided who is truly the more talented one... your son, or the clan’s heir."