The Saintess had a look of excitement mixed with anxiousness in her eyes upon hearing the name.
"The Yin-Yang Twin Serpents? At this time?" The Saintess furrowed her brows.
"Y-yes. I was confused too and checked it myself. I would not dare come speak to you before that." The Matriarch confirmed.
"For the Yin-Yang Twin Serpents to appear before all the other Ancestral Serpents have awakened is strange… it's not according to what was said in the old prophecies." The Saintess muttered.
"I'm quite confused about this too Saintess. At first I thought there might be more to the prophecy and hoped that you might be able to shed more light on this." The Matriarch stated.
"Hmm…" The Saintess didn't reply and instead took out a hexagonal mirror.
The mirror was about the size of a large platter and had elaborate designs on it along with intricate runes that were incomprehensible to most people. At the edges of the mirror, there was a gold and silver frame on which several serpents wrapped.
At the bottom of it though, one could see a large white gem set in a socket. The gem was perfectly spherical and could actually move in its socket!
~gasp~
Seeing the mirror, the Matriarch was surprised.
"I-is that… the Prophetic moon mirror?" The Matriarch recognized.
"Indeed. Is it your first time seeing this?" The Saintess asked.
"Yes… W-well in person. I've seen its portraits before, but this is the first time I'm seeing it with my own two eyes." The Matriarch said while her eyes reflected the image of the mirror.
Hearing this, the Saintess was a bit intrigued.
"How long have you been the Matriarch for?" The Saintess inquired.
"It's been about three thousand years since I was accepted as the Matriarch, Saintess." The Matriarch respectfully replied.
"And in that time your predecessor never showed you the Prophetic Moon mirror?" the Saintess asked.
"No. Unfortunately I never got to see it. The last I heard of it, it was supposedly in the hands of the ancestor." The Matriarch replied.
"I see… and then the ancestor brought this in with her the last time she came here." The Saintess remembered.
This matter was only of a momentary interest to the Saintess and she quickly got to the important task.
She lifted the Prophetic Moon Mirror up in the sky and aligned it with the green moon.
~HONG~
The moment it did, a sonorous hum came from the Prophetic Moon Mirror.
"Lend me your sight, mother." The Saintess muttered in a low voice.
The Matriarch could clearly hear the words of the Saintess even if they were low and was astounded.
'Mother? The Saintess really is… that…' The Matriarch decided to keep this hidden in her heart.
She knew the information she had heard could cause a great upheaval across the worlds. But at the same time she felt touched that the Saintess thought her worthy enough. If she didn't then there was no way the Matriarch would have known this bit of information.
The spherical moon socketed into the Prophetic moon mirror started to slowly turn. With each turn, stars appeared in the mirror. The moon spun faster and faster and soon became hard to see.
The scene in the mirror also became complex, turning into entire galaxies spread across the expanse of the universe.
Once it reached this point, the Saintess let go of the Prophetic Moon mirror, letting it float freely in the air.
"Now we wait…" The Saintess said.
"How long Saintess?" the Matriarch asked, not knowing.
"I cannot tell this either. It can take minutes… or months." The Saintess replied.
"I-I see…" The Matriarch was fine with anything.
Secretly, she was even happy that she would get to spend time with the Saintess.
'The light and hope of the Serpent Moon Sect is the Saintess, basking in her grace is the best gift I can ever get.' The Matriarch thought to herself with devotion.
But while she was in her thoughts, the Saintess moved.
~Ripple~
She lightly tapped the air, creating water like ripples in it. The ripples contorted and moved, before condensing into water vapor. The water vapor had unnatural proprieties and was firm to touch, not dissipating like normal clouds.
~shua~
The vapor turned dense and took on a complete cloud like appearance before assuming the shape of a table and two chairs.
"Absolute insights… Dao of Water… Dao of Clouds… Dao of wind…" The Matriarch could glance at the profundities form this small action of the Saintess.
She suddenly shook out of her short trance and hurriedly cupped her hands.
"THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME THIS CHANCE TO PONDER ON THE DAOS! SAINTESS!" The Matriarch said in an overwhelmed tone.
But the Saintess slightly furrowed her brows upon hearing this, and her ears twitched.
"Lower your voice. I do not like actions like these." She said firmly.
"I'm sorry Saintess! Please forgive me!" The Matriarch hurriedly replied.
"Mm… just make sure it doesn't happen again." The Saintess said before gesturing with her eyes. "Now, sit."
"At once," The Matriarch quickly followed the words, taking them as an absolute order.
A few minutes passed in silence while the Saintess rested her eyes. The matriarch didn't even dare to breathe, afraid that she might disturb the Saintess.
"Tell me… about the sect… what has happened since the ancestors visit." The Saintess spoke.
"Ah, I shall tell everything from that day then Saintess. Please bear with me." The Matriarch said before taking a deep breath.
"After the ancestor returned from seeing you, she asked for the fossilized form of the Three Clawed Terra Python to be brought to her. And as you commanded, she took it back to you before the revival was done." The Matriarch said and took a pause to glance at the Saintess, ensuring that there was no displeasure on her face.
"Once the Three clawed Terra python was revived, the ancestor brought it back to the Temple of the Serpents. We put the Ancestral serpent in its designated chamber to let it recover it strength.
Ever since that day, the Three Clawed Terra Python has been resting. We have not tried to disturb it either, even though a few elders wanted to gain enlightenment from it. I also put stringent requirements for all those going to the chambers to prevent any mishap from happening." The Matriarch explained.
"That's good." The Saintess agreed. "There is nothing more important than gathering the Seven Ancestral Serpents and ensure that they return to their peak strength."
"Of course, and we shall do everything in our power to do that." The Matriarch vowed.
The Saintess nodded her head before saying, "continue."
"After the Three Clawed Terra Python was secured, the ancestor gave me orders to monitor the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord. I understand he is an old enemy of the sect and I did as was commanded.
We had two million disciples assigned to monitor the movement and traces of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord. This also included the disciples, which are posted at the different powers of the four Immortal Courts as well as the Celestial Realm.
About two years passed before we picked up news that a certain group of world pirates were transporting old relics related to the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord. Of course, back then we thought that they were simply some miscellaneous items with distant link to the foe." The Matriarch said before taking a pause.
"But then… our raid brought us some shocking results. The goods they were transporting weren't just some miscellaneous items, but rather the 'Avatar seeds' of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord." The Matriarch added.
And when she said this, the Saintess opened her eyes, a hint of disgust appearing in them.
"So he really managed to stay alive… despite all that." The Saintess said, anger visible in her eyes.
~gulp~
The Matriarch felt pressure from the flame haired woman in front of her but held her courage.
"We then erased all of the Avatar seeds of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord as per the ancestor's commands." The Matriarch said.
"But that's not all… is it?" The Saintess Inquired.
"Unfortunately not. Upon investigating the world pirates more, we learned they affiliated to the Indigo World Hegemony. They are a power that has risen in the past fifty thousand years." The Matriarch replied.
"Mm… I know of them." The Saintess said.
"You do?" The Matriarch was surprised.
"Indeed… they've actually existed since before that. Just under a different name." The Saintess replied.
"What was that?" The Matriarch asked curiously.
"They were the remnants of the Hundun Imperial Order." She answered.
Hearing this, the eyes of the Matriarch wide.
"Those fiends! I thought they were exterminated by the joint powers of the celestial realm." The Matriarch said in disbelief.
"Things are not always how they seem to the eyes. And alliance are not fixed either." The Saintess stated.
"You mean to say… they were intentionally left alive?" The Matriarch was doubtful.
"That is what I think. The politics of the celestial realm are too much of a bother for me to deal with. My duty is not that." The Saintess stated.
"Of course!" The Matriarch nodded her head. "The Saintess should not be involved in lowly matters such as that." She agreed.
"What did you learn after that?" The Saintess asked further.
"Ah yes. Upon investigating further and wiping out a few branches of the Indigo World Hegemony, we discovered some documents which pointed to some secretive deals. These evidently go against the regulations of the Immortal and Celestial courts.
The Indigo World Hegemony was supplying a power from the mortal realm… A world only known as the Xiaofan."
