Chapter 503: Celestial Pavilion of the Myriad Stars, Tree-Born Demon of the Outer Heaven

“Of all the stars, this Red Meteor is the smallest. If it weren’t for the Pure Yang Fire Seed being here, it probably would have been ignored by everyone.”

Two figures stepped onto the planet in a stream of light. The leaner-looking one, a yasha, spoke first.

“Small doesn’t mean weak. We’re only just now coming to get the Pure Yang Fire Seed, and even Red Lotus died here.”

“It wasn’t ignored. It just wasn’t worth it,” the more burly Ghost King said.

“That’s true. For such a tiny planet to have birthed so many Extraordinary beings is certainly unusual,” a third voice chimed in.

In that instant, the hair on the backs of Ghost King and the yasha stood on end. They attacked the source of the voice without hesitation.

There were only two of them, but now a third person had appeared. This was definitely not one of their own; it could only be an enemy.

It was even possible that Red Lotus had died at this person’s hands.

But soon, they realized something was wrong.

Their Spiritual Power was circulating, but it failed to manifest as a Spiritual Technique to attack their foe. Instead, they were left striking a rather awkward pose.

“Retreat!” the yasha said at once.

This situation was completely unheard of, but he understood what it meant: the enemy was so strong that they had no hope of resisting.

Perhaps only their own mysterious and unfathomable leader possessed such strength.

But he was a step too slow. The moment he set foot on this planet called Red Meteor, any chance of leaving had already vanished.

A hand nonchalantly pressed down on his shoulder. The same happened to Ghost King on the other side; he was instantly restrained.

“You two have come from so far away. As the host, I haven’t even had a chance to welcome you yet. How could you leave so soon?” Qi Suian said, looking at the two of them.

Their Extraordinary system was also that of Spirit Masters, and their temperament, clothing, and so on showed no differences from the people of this planet.

They were like blood brothers.

But Qi Suian was certain they were not natives of this planet, which the two had called Red Meteor.

Because planets occupy different locations, there are naturally differences between their peoples.

Humans on a single planet develop differences based on their native regions, to say nothing of different planets entirely.

However, Qi Suian could be sure of one thing: these humans all came from the same origin. The differences that had formed were due to environmental factors.

There wasn’t even reproductive isolation; they couldn’t be considered a different species.

“Are you the Sect Leader of the Yanghuang Sect?” Ghost King asked, looking at Qi Suian calmly.

He had thought the man possessed the Pure Yang Fire Seed, but according to his Spiritual Technique scan, no such thing existed. To him, the man just seemed like an ordinary person.

He didn’t even have a Spiritual Power signature.

However, this didn’t mean the man was ordinary. Rather, he was so powerful that Ghost King couldn’t even perceive his strength.

“Nope. I’m just the owner of a candy shop,” Qi Suian said with a wide smile. “Just trying to make a living.”

“Of course, I’m very curious about where you two came from.”

“I presume you’re from the same faction as Layman Red Lotus, Cheng Zhen.” As Qi Suian spoke, he brought the two of them into the basement of his candy shop.

He skillfully tied the two of them up.

The entire process happened in a flash. The next thing Yasha and Ghost King knew, they were in a different place, hung upside down.

They had no idea what had just happened.

But a heavy feeling grew in their hearts. This level of strength was simply too outrageous.

‘Could their leader do something like this?’

“Would you two mind telling me about your organization and your goals?”

“I’m quite curious about you,” Qi Suian said as he prepared some torture instruments.

He figured he’d ask first while he had the chance, though he didn’t expect to get any answers.

His usual method involved a fair bit of torture before his subjects were willing to talk.

“I don’t mind,” Ghost King said. “Our organization is called the Celestial Pavilion. We want to free all the stars from war, suffering, injustice, and so on.”

“We want to create a great utopia among the stars.”

Hearing this, Qi Suian’s hand, which was preparing the torture tools, couldn’t help but pause.

Disbelief filled his face. He could tell that Ghost King’s words weren’t some high-sounding lie, but a genuine conviction from the bottom of his heart.

But that was the real problem.

“Really?” Qi Suian’s gaze shifted to the yasha.

“That’s right. This is the ultimate goal of the Celestial Pavilion. Sacrifices are unavoidable in the process,” the yasha replied calmly.

Qi Suian couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

‘Don’t tell me… I’m actually the villain?’ For a moment, Qi Suian began to doubt his role.

‘After being the protagonist in so many worlds, this is the first time I’ve seen a villain with such a noble-sounding goal.’

“So, how do you plan to accomplish this? You can’t just have a goal and an end result without the process in between, right?” Qi Suian continued to ask.

“The Five Elements Spiritual Treasures are the source of all Spiritual Techniques in the world. They were scattered across the stars after a war in the Outer Heaven. The Celestial Pavilion needs to collect these five spiritual treasures. Then, we can launch a war to unify the stars directly.”

“Through our leader’s selfless impartiality, the stars will be reformed and managed, allowing them to enter an age of permanent peace, justice, and happiness,” Ghost King explained without holding anything back.

Hearing this, Qi Suian felt it sounded quite reasonable.

‘They are speaking truthfully from the heart, which means they aren’t lying. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t been deceived. After all, if they believe it themselves, it’s not a lie to them.’

“How many stars are there?” Qi Suian asked the crucial question.

“Including Red Meteor, there are now only five left,” the yasha added. “Each one has one of the Five Elements Spiritual Treasures.”

“They serve as nodes supporting the Outer Heaven.”

Qi Suian understood immediately. It meant that there were only five planets habitable by Spirit Master humans in total, including his own, Red Meteor.

“Then where are the other four stars located?” Qi Suian asked.

But upon hearing this question, the two of them fell silent.

“Is it that you don’t know, or that you can’t say?” Qi Suian asked again.

“I both don’t know and can’t say,” Ghost King replied, turning the either-or question into a ‘both’.

Hearing this, Qi Suian’s expression remained calm. ‘That’s reasonable.’

Still, he could be certain of one thing: these five planets were probably not close to each other and were likely scattered at the edges of the universe.

‘The reason they weren’t at the center of the universe was naturally because the Fei hadn’t encountered them yet.’

‘The Fei had been continuously advancing, searching for the homeworld of that cosmic species, but it still hadn’t arrived.’

“Tell me about the war in the Outer Heaven.” Qi Suian didn’t press the previous question. That would have to wait for the interrogation later.

‘As for the leader of the Celestial Pavilion? He probably wouldn’t get an answer for that either.’

‘It was better to choose questions that these two would be willing to answer.’

‘One step at a time.’

“That… I’m not very clear on it myself.”

“However, after the Spirit Masters repelled the Celestial Demons in the Outer Heaven during that war, they also paid an enormous price.”

“That group of Celestial Demons were Tree-Born Demons. They themselves were fragile, but they could use demonic trees from the Outer Heaven to cast all sorts of powerful Spiritual Techniques.”

“Later…”

This time, Ghost King was willing to talk, describing what little information he had to Qi Suian.

However, because it all happened so long ago, there were no longer any eyewitnesses, so only rumors remained.

It was only because the Celestial Pavilion could travel between the five human planets that they were able to piece together a part of the truth. Otherwise, a planet like Red Meteor, where Qi Suian was, had no intelligence on the matter at all.

“So, you’re saying that the Spirit Masters of the past were very powerful, able to move about the Outer Heaven without restraint, and even occupied a large number of stars,” Qi Suian said, his eyes narrowing.

‘Based on this, the Celestial Demons that Ghost King called the Tree-Born Demons must be that powerful cosmic species I saw in space.’

‘Their extinction was likely the work of the Spirit Masters.’

‘But there was another problem here… how on earth did human Spirit Masters possess that kind of power?’

‘I’ve surveyed the surrounding planets; there were no traces of human activity at all. This meant that human Spirit Masters had been confined to planetary surfaces from the very beginning.’

‘But things weren’t so absolute.’

‘In fact, there was another possibility: that Ghost King was telling the truth, and at the same time, my own observations were not mistaken.’

‘When these two conditions collided, a theory formed in my mind.’

‘Human Spirit Masters were very likely not a native species of this universe.’

‘Instead, the so-called Tree-Born Demons were the original species of this universe. Humans were the invaders, and the Tree-Born Demons were the resistance.’

—————–

“Something’s wrong! There’s a problem with these three Spiritual Techniques!!!”

Xu Ziyang’s cultivation came to a sudden halt. A terrifying killing intent emerged from his body, spreading outwards in waves of heat.

“HACK…” He vomited, spitting out a glob of magma-like blood.

“Especially the Flame Demon Body Refining Technique! This doesn’t temper the body at all. Cultivating it to major completion just turns you directly into a Flame Demon!”

He scrambled to his feet and picked up a bronze mirror.

His reflection in the bronze mirror was wreathed in a killing intent that had coalesced into flames.

The image he presented to the world was the twisted, ferocious form of a Flame Demon.

Seeing this, a bleak smile appeared on his face. Without hesitation, he clawed open his own chest.

In that instant, intense heat billowed out, igniting the very air.

What met his eyes were not internal organs, but surging flames and flowing magma.

“The so-called Flame Demon Body Refining Technique transforms a person into a Flame Demon from the inside out.”

“It twists not only the body, but my will as well.”

Xu Ziyang looked at his reflection. The Flame Demon formed from the killing intent enveloping his body was now smiling at him, its mouth opening silently.

By reading its lips, he could tell what it was saying.

‘You found out. That’s too bad!’

Those words made his heart plummet into an abyss.

And because of this, various Spiritual Techniques for clearing the mind and calming the spirit were useless.

The killing intent wasn’t just a desire; it was another personality.

After he began practicing the *Flame Demon Body Refining Technique*, this personality had grown alongside his desires and Spiritual Power, until now, it was on the verge of taking over.

“Major completion… that is when you and I will merge.”

“Even if I am the dominant one in the future, the slaughter will have already seeped deep into my instincts and will.”

“From then on, I will not only be me, but also you.”