The Founder of Qi Cultivation, Reincarnates?

The old man name Third Monarch Gu simply nodded his head at their greetings.

“Have there been any problems so far?”

Ghuanyu shook his head and said.

“Respected Monarch Gu, there haven’t been any problems.”

“Hm, that’s good, well done. I was first hesitant to bring weak powers like yours on board but I see now my judgment to do so was correct.”

Despite facing the insult of their respected forces being called weak, Ghuanyu and Patriarch Evernight showed no reaction, simply because it was true.

In the face of the power being this old man, they were nothing more than ants to them.

“If this continues, the opening of the Hidden Fragmented Realm will go as planned. Our Fire Empire will use this Chosen Tournament to decide the disciples that can enter from the top one hundred.”

“Monarch Gu, is it really impossible for the Hidden Fragmented Realm to be opened secretly?”

Patriarch Evernight asked.

Monarch Gu shook his head and said.

“It can’t be hidden, and to avoid the suspicions and interference from those on the Water Bound Continent, we have to use this roundabout method to manipulate and occupy as much of the top one hundred as possible.”

Ghuanyu and Patriarch Evernight hearing this had doubts in their hearts. They knew the sudden interest the Fire Bound Continent had with their Hidden Fragmented Realm wasn’t as simple as them wanting the resources inside.

As for the Divine Beasts Legacies inside, they showed no interest in it before so why now? There must be something else they wanted inside.

The ones who organized the Chosen Tournament were actually them, so they could cover up their desire for the Hidden Fragmented Realm. Holding the Tournament on the Star Bound Continent and inviting everyone to participate was just an extension of that.

Having each power invest in the tournament by giving some of their resources to award to the winners, was also their idea.

However, they suddenly took a back seat to prepare the event and left it to the Star Bound and Maple Continent. This gave everyone the impression that it was their Continents that were putting on the Tournament and was only inviting those from the Fire Bound Continent and Water Bound Continent.

As if reading the doubts in their hearts Monarch Gu smiled and said.

“I think it’s about time I tell you two why we are doing this, perhaps this will motivate you to help us wholeheartedly.”

Ghuanyu and Patriarch Evernight hearing this listen closely.

Monarch Gu began speaking after a while.

“There are signs that showed that in the past, our four Continents weren’t separated as it was now. It was instead one large Continent that was split in four by some unknown event.”

Ghuanyu and Patriarch Evernight was surprised but weren’t overly so. However, Monarch Gu was just beginning.

“It was because of this unknown event that the Second Prince of the Qin Clan who runaway from marriage found this place.”

Ghuanyu and Patriarch Evernight were confused about which clan that was, but they didn’t interrupt Monarch Gu.

“After he found this place, he settled down and even got married into a lowly clan that could barely be considered a cultivation clan. That clan was called the Li Clan and it would be the first clan to be considered a branch family of an Ancient Clan, and have the Golden Lotus Bloodline.”

Ghuanyu's pupils shrank upon hearing that but said nothing.

“As time passed, the Qin Clan on the Central Continent found their Second Prince and realizing his marriage, his father was so enraged that he was prepared to wipe out this entire sub-region along with the others in the surrounding area.”

Ghuanyu and Patriarch Evernight’s faces were tranquil but in their hearts, they were completely shocked.

Wipe out this entire sub-region and those around it? What kind of power did this person wield? Was he in the legendary Heavenly Palace Realm?

The voice of Monarch Gu brought them back.

“However, before the Patriarch of the Qi Clan could destroy this sub-region, he discovered to his shock that a sliver of God Qi was present here.”

“God Qi?!”

Patriarch Evernight was a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator and was a peak existence that few on the continent could stand up to, but even then, he couldn’t control his emotions and ended up blurting out that in shock when he heard the mention of God Qi.

Ghuanyu might not have had the same reaction as him due to having more experience, but his immediate change in expression could make one tell he was equally as astonished.

Just what was God Qi?

It was the only thing stopping peak-level Soul Transformation Realm existences from stepping into the legendary Heavenly Palace Realm. This place had no God Qi whatsoever, which was why those existences of the major powers would leave either to the Central Continent or the planet entirely.

If either Ghuanyu or Patriarch Evernight gained a sliver of God Qi, they would be able to form their Heavenly Primordial Soul partially and become a Quasi Heavenly Palace Realm existence.

Only four persons were rumored to have this level currently on the Maple Continent. That was Lu Xue Wen of the Celestial Academy, his daughter Dongmei, the first Guardian Elder of the Li Clan Goddess Mei, and the current Emperor Li Shu. The last two having left possibly to find a way to break through.

Ghuanyu had always wondered how Li Shu had stepped into the Quasi Heavenly Palace Realm and even formed a second Heavenly Primordial Soul so early, when everyone else had taken thousands of years to barely formed half their Heavenly Primordial Souls.

‘So God Qi exists on this Continent and he perhaps found more than just a sliver of it?’

Ghuanyu thought to himself.

He was speculating that given time the past Emperors of the Li Clan had forcefully entered the Quasi Heavenly Palace Realm after thousands of years of meditating on the Dao of heaven and earth. Li Shu wasn't thousand years old so he must have gained a sliver of God Qi somehow.

Ghuanyu wasn't sure of this speculation, he felt that he was missing something.

Soon, Ghuanyu and Patriarch Evernight was drawn out of their thoughts by Monarch Gu.

“Indeed he found God Qi in this sub-region, but he could not hide it and before long most of the top powers on the Central Continent had reached this place. After forming an alliance, they tore open space and discovered the Hidden Fragmented Realm. At that time, the Hidden Fragmented Realm wasn’t just located on two Continents, but was large enough to cover all four.”

Reaching here, even Monarch Gu showed desire in his eyes as he continue speaking.

“What they found inside was an abundant amount of God Qi. The war that ensued further destroyed the Hidden Fragmented Realm, leaving it at the size that they are now. In fact, this war was the reason it is called the Hidden Fragmented Realm. The laws inside were destroyed so much so it now prevented anyone above the Nascent Realm to enter.."

Monarch Gu sighed heavily.

"In just a thousand years, all of the God Qi inside the Hidden Fragmented Realm was taken by those Ancient Clans. One can only imagine the power they now wield on the Central Continent. As for us, what remained from their rampage was several branches of their Ancient Clans with the weak ones slowly dying out or being destroyed by other Ancient Clans leaving behind seven, that eventually fell to four. Fabricated information had also been left behind by them to their branches to cover up the existence that God Qi was once abundant here.”

After finishing this retelling, Monarch Gu went silent.

However, to Ghuanyu and Patriarch Evernight, his silence was too abrupt, it seemed there was more to the story he wasn't telling. As if there was another reason the Ancient Clans fabricated those lies and even destroyed information about their existence on the Central Continent.

This even left these branches of Ancient Clans to think they were the main Ancient Clans who found some Bloodline Inheritance Tomb, not knowing they were only a frog in the bottom of a well.

Ghuanyu and Patriarch Evernight wondered how Monarch Gu and his Fire Empire knew of such information if the Ancient Clans wiped the information before they left, but they didn’t ask.

“So, does that mean there is God Qi inside the Hidden Fragmented Realm?”

Patriarch Evernight asked this because despite the disciples entering and bringing back treasures from there in the past when it was opened, there was never any mention of… wait.

Patriarch Evernight suddenly thought of something.

The last time the Hidden Fragmented Realm opened was a thousand years ago. Wasn’t that the same time his wretched Master supposedly became a Quasi Heavenly Palace Realm existence?

Even before that, there were the past Emperors of the Li Clan. If he traced back the time they had become Quasi Heavenly Palace Realms existences, he had a feeling it would match up to when the Hidden Fragmented Realm opened.

What could this mean?