The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6230

But right then, the white-haired Guardian Elder standing at Aurelius's left suddenly let out a cold laugh.

He stepped forward and broke the stillness himself.

"Godric, that all sounds real nice. Better than a song. Big promises, plenty of sincerity on the surface. But who knows if any of it is true? Who knows whether you're trying to fool us?"

"And what if you're only planning to use the Celestial Basilica as a shelter? What if you're swallowing it for now, waiting for the storm to pass, waiting for your wounds to heal and your strength to rise again, and then the moment you're back on your feet, you turn on us? If that happens, wouldn't we be opening the door to a wolf and raising a disaster inside our own house?"

Another Elder with a dark face picked it up at once. His voice came out cold, not hiding a shred of distrust.

"That's right. The men of the Celestial Palace have always been slippery and scheming, with tricks buried deeper than anyone can see. Back when you were fighting over the seat of rightful rule among the celestials, who knows how many filthy methods you used in the dark? One plot after another, never ending."

"And now you suddenly come running here to seek refuge, talking this low and humble. Who knows what you're really after? Who knows if there's some hidden plot underneath all this?"

A third Elder, thin as a rail, joined in with a twisted little smile.

"And another thing. You people from the Celestial Palace have always treated the Sacred Mountain as more important than your own lives. The secrets hidden in there, and the dirty business tied to them, probably aren't that simple, are they?"

"I've heard it for a long time now. Under the name of pilgrimage and blessings at the Sacred Mountain, your Celestial Palace has been secretly abducting countless wandering cultivators and members of smaller clans, draining their spirit and blood essence. Cruel methods. Rotten to the core. All of it just to revive some forbidden existence and do something that should never have been done."

"If filth like that, if a stain like that, ever got out, it would be enough to damn your Celestial Palace forever. And if the Celestial Basilica took you in, wouldn't that mean we'd be dragged down with you? We'd carry your blame, get cursed by the world right alongside you, and end up as the target of everybody's hatred."

The instant those words landed,

every person from the Celestial Palace went rigid.

The color drained out of their faces until they looked like the dead.

Draining cultivators of their spirit and blood essence.

Trying to bring a forbidden existence back.

That was the biggest secret the Celestial Palace had.

The darkest thing tied to it, the one thing that could never be dragged into the open, the handle anyone could use to bring the entire Celestial Palace under siege by every race and wipe it out for good.

It had been buried deep.

Outside the upper ranks of the Celestial Palace, almost nobody knew.

And yet the Celestial Basilica had known about it all along.

Godric's face turned stark white.

He rushed to speak, trying to force an explanation out before the room closed in on him.

"Elders, you've misunderstood. You absolutely can't believe rumors like that. Those stories were spread on purpose by people with bad intentions, enemies who wanted to frame the Celestial Palace. They made all of it up out of malice."

"Rumors?"

The white-haired elder gave another cold laugh.

His gaze cut like a blade as he broke straight across Godric's words.

"Lord Godric, do you take everyone sitting here for three-year-old children? Do you really think we're that easy to fool? Did you think the Celestial Basilica never investigated those missing cultivators, those wandering cultivators who died for no reason and ended in utter soul-ruin, without even the chance to reincarnate?"

"Did you really think the filth your Celestial Palace did could stay buried forever?"

Godric opened his mouth, trying to argue again.

But when the words reached his lips, there was nothing he could say.

Those things had happened.

Back then, the Celestial Palace had done them for power and for ambition.

The proof was stacked like iron.

He had no way to deny it.

For a moment, all the color drained out of Godric's face until it looked like paper.

He stood there stiff and lost, not knowing what to do with his hands or his feet, trapped under the weight of it.

"You have no idea how horrifying Skylar's strength really is! You never faced it. You don't even know what despair looks like! Today, you laugh at us. You humiliate us. But when the day comes that the Demon Dragon slaughters its way through you and Skylar crushes you underfoot, we'll see whether any of you can still laugh then!"

"Insolence!"

A sharp shout cut straight across his words.

One of the Celestial Basilica's golden-robed elders flew into a rage.

Holy radiance burst from his body in a violent swell. The crushing pressure of the True Immortal Realm swept through the great hall in an instant, heavy as a mountain as it slammed down on the Celestial Palace Elder.

"You dare bellow inside the Basilica Hall and insult the Basilica Elders? You're courting death!"

The golden-robed elder's eyes turned glacial, and he moved to suppress him.

But before he could make a move, on the throne, Aurelius—who had worn that same mild smile the whole time—slowly raised his right hand.

It was a simple motion.

He released no aura at all, and he made no sound.

But the golden-robed elder, who had been throwing his weight around a moment ago, went rigid on the spot.

The holy radiance surging off him snapped back at once. He didn't dare say another word. He quietly stepped back, lowered his head, and stood there in complete respect.

The whole great hall fell silent in an instant.

Aurelius still sat on the throne.

That mild smile was still on his face. But now there was nothing warm about it. It sent a chill straight up from the soles of the feet to the crown of the skull.

His gaze rested calmly on the Celestial Palace Elder who had just been shouting himself raw.

Then he spoke. His voice was gentle, but the weight behind it left no room for doubt and no room for defiance.

"Finished?"