Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Chapter 1313: Chapter 710: Salvation Plan and Tianzhu’s Dire Straits

Given Zhao Sheng’s realm, just a glance was enough for him to see that among these Demon Cultivators, there were many with the bloodline of the Zhao Family.

The once-worshiped members of the world’s most prestigious family had now fallen to mingling with Evil Demons. It was a disgrace to the face of the Heavenly Pillar Zhao Family.

Zhao Sheng, with his meticulous mind, quickly realized that there must have been a significant change of events that he was unaware of.

The intelligence previously sent by Zhao Xuanjing must now be considered outdated and of limited value, useful only as a reference.

Too lazy to question these ants one by one, Zhao Sheng immediately dispersed dozens of strands of Divine Thought, which shot into everyone’s Purple Mansion Soul Sea like lightning.

In just an instant, everyone’s memories were turned inside out by him.

After reviewing them, Zhao Sheng’s face darkened, and he felt some dissatisfaction in his heart.

Originally, the intelligence had predicted the internal division within the Heavenly Pillar Zhao Family.

Now, six hundred years later, just as predicted, in the past two hundred years, the Zhao Family did indeed "splinter apart", splitting into what were called the Central Sect, Southern Sect, Northern Sect, and Overseas Four Branches; countless other sects also branched off.

Among them, the "Central Sect" claimed to be the primary line of the Zhao Family and controlled both the Heavenly Pillar Mountain and Divine Dragon Valley -- two great spirit lands -- while secretly managing the mundane Zhao Dynasty, holding the greatest power.

The Southern Sect, centered around Xinglong City, formed an alliance with the Elixir Cauldron Sect and the Beast Taming Sect, with influence spanning the entire Southern Border and the Southern Yan Continent.

The Northern Sect voluntarily moved to the Northern Cold Continent, where it not only annexed Shui Mu Palace, becoming the new sovereign of the Northern Cold Continent, but also developed close relations with Ancient Buddhism, forming an alliance to resist the assaults from Demon Path forces.

The last of the Overseas Four Branches each occupied an ocean in the Outer Sea, barely preserving themselves but lacking power to return to the Central Region.

As it’s said, the trend of the world is to unite after long division, to divide after long unification — such is fate, beyond human mending!

Zhao Sheng had long anticipated the split within the Heavenly Pillar Zhao Family, so he wasn’t surprised at all.

What displeased him, however, was that some unworthy branches of the Zhao Family had decided to collude with Evil Demons, now becoming accomplices who inflicted harm on the Human Clan of this realm.

These wastes not only felt no shame, but instead took pride in it, brainwashing their kin with nonsense about how the rise of the demons and decline of the Dao is an irreversible trend, portraying themselves as wise for understanding the times!

Given Zhao Sheng’s current level of insight, he no longer distinguished between the righteous and the demonic.

It wasn’t surprising at all that many members of the Zhao Family’s branches practiced Demon Techniques and thus became demon path practitioners!

With a population of billions in the Zhao Family, it was entirely normal for a few Demon Cultivators or Ghost Cultivators to emerge among them.

He wasn’t upset by this; he was angry that these fools were being used as puppets without realizing it.

Now, Zhao Sheng was deeply convinced that behind the Zhao Family’s fragmentation were numerous forces clandestinely fueling the situation.

He could even call out the names of several "culprits", foremost being the Supreme Sensing Sect, with the Primordial Demon Sect and the Immortal Device Sect also undoubtedly being accomplices.

Why was Zhao Sheng so sure that the Supreme Sensing Sect was the biggest hidden hand?

The inside story is long!

To truly start from the beginning, one must look back to the time when the Blood God was slain.

But those are "old stories" from more than six thousand years ago, and there’s no need to dwell on them now.

The real event that intensified the conflict between the Supreme Sensing Sect and the Heavenly Pillar Zhao Family had to be mentioned, which was the "Salvation Voyage" from three thousand years ago.

Because many descendants of the Zhao Family had ascended to the Spirit Realm, Zhao Xuanjing was well informed about the "Salvation Voyage" plan, and thus his reports detailed it thoroughly.

In short, the "Salvation Voyage" plan was proposed due to the rapidly declining Spiritual Energy of the Tianzhu Realm, an inevitable slide into becoming a "Spiritless Desert".

It could be said that three thousand years ago, all the top Cultivation Forces in the Tianzhu Realm sensed the realm’s hopeless future.

Amidst the panic and confusion among the wise, the Supreme Sensing Sect suddenly proposed a "Salvation Voyage" plan.

The core goal of this plan was singular: to move a small number of core members from each Great Sect to the "Spring Birth Realm" beyond Sixteen Constant Years, preserving the Primordial Qi and fire of sects in this realm.

To this end, the Supreme Sensing Sect even presented a blueprint for refining a "Supreme Divine Ship".

The Supreme Divine Ship could traverse the Void Realm, significantly reducing the voyage time, though its greatest downside was the immense difficulty in refining it and its limited capacity, not exceeding three hundred people.

Even so, this Divine Ship was undoubtedly a lifesaver in the eyes of all who knew of it.

So, when the "Salvation Voyage" plan was proposed, it was immediately embraced by all top forces, with the Heavenly Pillar Zhao Family exerting immense effort in it.

During the centuries of refining the Divine Ship, the Supreme Sensing Sect was virtually the "Crownless King" of the Tianzhu Realm, and even the then-mighty Heavenly Pillar Zhao Family had to avoid its edge.

It was during these centuries that the Supreme Sensing Sect silently accomplished the consolidation of its power, marked most notably by the Primordial Demon Sect and Immortal Device Sect willingly subordinating to it, while the Lingxiao Palace was battered into fragments, with Confucian cultivators falling to the level of lower-class side paths.

For the so-called "great cause of salvation", the Heavenly Pillar Zhao Family could only watch as the Supreme Sensing Sect continued to expand its influence, yet couldn’t confront it directly.