Distraught and riled as they were, the three Soul Monarchs maintained a sense of dignity despite their individualistic challenges. The Soul Saint King had swept the situation into a prompt conclusion, sending all enemies away with two actions and two sentences. However, their emotions were as complex as the life cycle of a butterfly.
The Soul Martial Saint, still as bare naked as possible, his bulging muscles and gigantically exceptional physique aside, gazed thoughtfully towards the Spirits of War's departing route.
The Soul Falling Saint held the calmest expression despite suffering the greatest losses, only inspecting the approaching Soul Saint King with unreadable eyes. At the leaking stump of his left arm, continuously flowing dark-grey energies pulsated in a rhythmic manner. The time energies were slowly testing out the environment, hoping to initial Temporal Reversion at the soonest possible point.
The longer he waited, the more difficult it would be to reverse the damage he suffered. If he was forced to rebuild a new arm, he would lose thousands of years of effort refining his meridians, bones, and flesh within that arm. For life, he would have a permanent weak spot on his left side, which could be extremely fatal if capitalized on by experts.
The Soul Rumbling King was not the calmest, but he had the gloomiest expression despite suffering next to no injuries. After outplaying his enemies, exhausting them of their power, just about to sweep them clean, the Soul Saint King had intervened and sent them away. He had the greatest urge to interrogate and dissect those strange beings, an urge that would be very difficult to fulfil now.
When the Soul Saint King observed the three Soul Monarchs, he had a relatively aloof and neutral expression, clearly indicating his status as the elected leader wasn't for show. None of these three showed any ill-feelings when they redirected their fullest attention to him, reflecting the respect they had for him in their eyes. While the Ninestar Starfield wasn't a monarchy, more of a council of elites, the Soul Saint King was still the leader of this council and recognized as the strongest expert throughout the entire starfield—an expert worthy of their respect and pride.
"Sainthall Soul King," the Soul Falling Saint politely called out to the Soul Saint King by his official title, continuing: "What happened here?"
The Soul Rumbling King intervened directly after, "Who were those armored cultivators?"
The Soul Martial Saint chimed in as well, "Why is the Imperial Clan outside our borders?"
The questions were numerous, and these were just three of the greatest on their minds. Just earlier, they received a special transmission that the Mystic Ninestar Unity Array had been activated, a notice of activation alert was naturally sent out to all Soul Monarchs outside the Ninestar Starfield, designed to call them back immediately if possible. This function was initiated immediately after the Soul Saint King used the Mystic Ninestar Unity Array.
The three of them acted on their own will, returning back despite knowing that the Soul Saint King had activated the array and all things would easily be settled. Since there was no news of the Imperial Clan or Hexaflame Starfield acting against them, there should be no enemies that could deal with a Soul Saint King empowered by this exceptional array.
There were others who outright refused to delay their trip to the summit, fully trusting the Soul Saint King. After all, the alert was an alert of activation, not a call to arms. They had no obligation to return.
The Soul Saint King circulated his internal mystic power, further settling his injuries to prevent a flare-up, and took a slow breath. He began to explain.
The three listened attentively and they soon gained a sense of the full story, excluding portions that the Soul Saint King couldn't know of. Immediately, their expressions were warped by extreme shock, gaping disbelief, and uncontrollable emotional changes. They were all aware of a few crucial details already, especially the Soul Falling Saint and Soul Rumbling Saint, who sent representatives to seek out Yue Lixiang.
They didn't think Trueborn had the steel guts needed to launch an attack at the heart of their territory, using the Saint Cyclic Renewal Summit's procession as an opportunity. This was absolutely baffling to them. How brazen! How audacious!
They had an urge to react to this clandestine organization's outrageous act with heated response.
"We'll kill them all," the Soul Martial Saint said, his eyes leaked out almost tangible rays of murderous light. When he tightly clenched his two fists, his muscles bulged even further, serving to exude a terrifying physical presence.
The other two might not have such a strong physical reaction, but their gazes showed their thoughts and it matched perfectly with the Soul Martial Saint's. That said, the Soul Saint King merely swept his gaze briefly over the three.
'Who knows if any of you actually would,' the Soul Saint King thought with an inner sneer. This was especially directed towards the Soul Martial Saint, giving his extremely powerful yang-attributed physique a brief glance. It wasn't exaggerated to say that many rare, ill-acquired resources had supported their rises to the peak.
Cultivation was difficult.
That said, the Soul Saint King truly was absolutely livid at the Trueborn's actions, and knew this challenge had to be met with a swift, vicious reply. So he had already made a decision:
All Shadow Eggs in his territory shall be destroyed; all Trueborn associates will be slaughtered—with extreme prejudice.
A lesson must be taught.
A lesson MUST be learned.
"But to act with so many forces…for a single woman?" The Soul Rumbling Saint couldn't help but point out with a light of confusion flitting through his eyes. Yue Songli was a Soul of Mysticism female, yes, her beauty was sufficient to reach number one of the Immortal Saintess Ranking before, yes, but sending six Earthly Saints and so many Demi-Mortal Lords?
It seemed too far-fetched. It didn't match up with reality. Even if you factored in their excessive caution in case the Ennea Hall Alchemic Saint took unknown precautions or the Soul Saint King might return. Either scenario, six Earthly Saints might not be enough with such preparations or geographical advantage.
Suspicious, the Soul Falling Saint added: "Yue Songli's importance is either tremendous to them or they were simply excessive in their preparations, fearful of being a lion who carelessly loses their prey."
"We should investigate Yue Songli deeper, and find out what's special about her," the Soul Rumbling Saint suggested.
"If there's anything special," the Soul Falling Saint hammered. And clearly he believed Yue Songli was merely a heaven-toppling beauty, but beauties could not allow you to reach higher limits on the endless road of cultivation. They were merely distractions. His opinion was formed from his own experience and years, seeing numerous men shattered by these exceptional women, crushed and left feeling cuckolded by their choices.
As cultivators, obsessions were their strongest feature. It allowed them to endlessly cultivate in the pursuit of greater limits, tackling profound notions that exceed mortals in thought and essence, and stifle the loneliness needed to do so. It also made them easy to find a target of their affection, overly obsessing and visualizing a life beyond their means with this target. They would fight, kill, and agonize over this target's life, neglecting their own.
A distraction, often unhealthy.
"Forget Yue Songli; she's irrelevant as she is. We have more pressing matters to investigate," the Soul Saint King strongly stated.
"..." The three went silent. A knowing tension developed amongst them. That was entirely right! Something far more important needed to be investigated.
A Soul Monarch must've given the six Earthly Saints permission to enter the Soul Saint Domain, and even used a concealed Void Gate to do so. It wouldn't work out otherwise. Such planning was dangerous, and could've been used to launch a devastating assault if the Ninestar Sainthall had ever attacked Trueborn.
They revealed one of their strongest trump cards, even ousting their possible spy, and risked six Earthly Saints. That said, it was abundantly clear that Yue Songli's situation was not ordinary. After all, their trump card and spy would've been burned regardless of the result.
However, the Soul Monarchs weren't silent because of just that, but the knowing implication…
Chances were…amongst these three was the traitor!
"I'll locate the remnants of the Void Gate, you three stay here to watch over Yue Lixiang and Yue Songli, ensure there's no second wave." The Soul Saint King calmly instructed as he took this opportunity to depart with a flicker. The three Soul Monarchs remained silent, only assenting with nods.
As for inside their thoughts, they knew the Soul Saint King was clearly aware that the Void Gate in question was definitely destroyed, likely by the traitor to erase any evidence. While this might seem to be easily solved with oaths, Mythical Oaths were not like Spirit Oaths; they were unable to be used for upholding truths as Wei Wuyin had once done.
As for Spirit Oaths, they could be easily dealt with by beings at their level. And no one would ever know. Left with no choice, they now had a heavy investigation awaiting them. Not just towards them, but the other four Soul Monarchs with scepters!
What timing.
"Where's Zhang Ziyi?" Wei Wuyin's heart had calmed down after the situation had finally concluded. All the chips had been pushed to his side, and it was all too perfect. While reminded of the intensity of the fight, aware of his own weakness, he was also aware of his own strength—specifically his external strengths, Zhan Zheng and Wu Yu—and the unreliability of other forces.
Ma Zheng was helping seal away the captives with additional seals, a wisp of anticipation leaking as he wondered who each of these Earthly Saints were, when Wei Wuyin asked this. His expression suddenly became somewhat gloomy.
"The Radiant Jade True Queen suffered an extremely heavy rebound after the Soul Saint King forcefully severed our connection. She went unconscious, and I safely placed her into my Internal World." As Ma Zheng said this, he waved his hand to project an unconscious Zhang Ziyi via a Spiritual Projection Screen.
"Unconscious?" Wei Wuyin was startled.
"More like in a coma," Ma Zheng clarified. "She suffered severe damage to her Mystic Soul and Sea of Consciousness. She's lucky. Without Imperial Monarch Muyang and Sky Monarch Chaoyue helping her, she wouldn't be in a coma." As the one of the weakest types of Earthly Saint, a 1st Runic Ascendant, Zhang Ziyi was quite fragile. Relative to ordinary Earthly Saints, that is. While Tian Muyang, Yang Chaoyue, and Ma Zheng had been inflicted with injuries too, Zhang Ziyi suffered the absolute worst of it.
"A coma…" Wei Wuyin realized that he still suffered a loss here.
