Yuan wore a dumbfounded look on his face after hearing about the Celestial Overlords' situation from Senior Bai. He was, without a shadow of doubt, confident that he was responsible for their karma's decline.
After all, he'd recently killed thousands of soldiers from Heaven's Mandate, servants of the Celestial Emperor, and such an act was definitely considered defying the heavens, a crime worse than killing innocent people.
Naturally, he never had such intentions. In fact, he didn't even consider how his actions could have such tremendous effects on the faction. Unfortunately, it was too late, and there was nothing he could really do about their karma. Unless he killed every individual within the Primordial Realm, since exiles granted a lot of karma, it would likely take millions of years of hard work for them to return to fix their karma.
"So, what are the members doing about this?" Yuan asked.
"For starters, we're investigating the cause of this phenomenon," Senior Bai replied.
"Honestly, many of us believe it's some kind of mistake, given how unprecedented this situation is. As I mentioned earlier, even the massacre of an entire city of innocents wouldn't result in such a drastic loss of karma. And since there's been no report of any major incident, we suspect it may simply be an error."
Since word of Heaven's Mandate's defeat had yet to spread at this moment in time, no one was aware of what had truly happened.
After a brief silence, Yuan spoke. "Forgive me for being blunt, but does a faction's karma really matter that much? Isn't it just a measure of how righteous they appear to be?"
"If you look at it that way, then no, it doesn't seem that important," Senior Bai explained. "However, most factions treat their karma as a reflection of their reputation, and some even see it as part of their strength. To possess high karma is to have Heaven's approval, and the more you have, the more trustworthy and revered you become."
"How long would it take to recover the karma that was lost?" Yuan then asked out of curiosity.
"That's…" Senior Bai had to ponder his question for several minutes before responding, "If we consider how much karma we gain every decade on average for the last ten thousand years, it'll take at least seven million years to regain what we lost."
Yuan swallowed nervously when he learned that he'd erased seven million years of the Celestial Overlords' hard work in less than half an hour.
"Sorry…" Yuan subconsciously apologized.
"Hm? Why are you apologizing? It's not like you're responsible… right?" Senior Bai looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"I just felt like apologizing…" Yuan said with a stiff smile.
Despite his close relationship with Senior Bai, Yuan couldn't bring himself to reveal the truth. It wasn't a matter of trust—he simply didn't want to drag the old man into his troubles. Yuan knew that even if Senior Bai learned the truth, he wouldn't place any blame on him.
Senior Bai sighed, "Anyway, that's our current situation. Let's switch topics."
He then said, "The Sword Emperor Qualification concluded a few years after you earned your title. We had planned to hold the celebration soon after, but since you weren't available—and the Heavenly Son insisted he'd only attend if you were present—we decided to postpone it until your return."
"Now that you've returned, what do you think about participating?"
Yuan shook his head and said, "Unfortunately, I have my hands full right now. I also plan to climb to the Ninth Heaven soon."
Senior Bai pondered for a moment before replying, "Well, we've already delayed the celebration this long—waiting a little longer won't hurt. More importantly, if neither you nor the Heavenly Son is present, no one would care to attend anyway. It'd be meaningless."
"Sorry for the trouble."
"It's fine. I know you're busy, especially considering how much you've progressed since I last saw you. To be honest, I almost didn't recognize you—no… I likely wouldn't have recognized you if I didn't know you were waiting for me," Senior Bai admitted.
Naturally, he wasn't talking about Yuan's appearance but his aura and presence.
Senior Bai glared at Yuan with a profound expression.
"At this rate, you'll be at the God Ascension realm during our next meeting," he continued.
Yuan smiled and said, "Well, I am definitely not too far away from achieving the next realm…"
He wasn't exaggerating, either. All he needed to do to reach the God Ascension Realm was comprehend Celestial Qi—something he had been neglecting. If he took his cultivation seriously for a while, he would undoubtedly break through the Immortal Realm. The only uncertainty was whether his physique still had any bottlenecks left.
"Enough about me. What about my friends? How have they been doing?" Yuan then asked about the Demon Sealing Faction.
"They've been working hard ever since they set out to walk their own paths," Senior Bai said.
"Hm? What do you mean?" Yuan asked, unaware of their circumstances.
Senior Bai then explained how each of the members had joined different sects and taken on new masters to broaden their experience and deepen their ties with the cultivation world.
"Let's start with your partners," Senior Bai continued with a smile on his face.
"Meixiu accepted Kelan's sister, who is a bow expert, as her new master and has been traveling the Nine Heavens, undergoing all sorts of training."
"Kelan's sister? I didn't know he had a sister." Yuan remarked.
"He doesn't like to talk about his family," Senior Bai said with a smile.
"Chu Liuxiang joined my sect, the Gates of Heaven in the Ninth Heaven," he continued. "To be honest, she's been struggling to adapt, as the gap in talent between her and the other disciples is considerable. Even so, she hasn't given up and continues to work hard to improve. I was planning to transfer her to the Gates of Heaven in the Seventh Heaven, where she'd be more comfortable, but I decided to wait until she chooses to give up on her own."
Although Chu Liuxiang was undeniably talented—far surpassing most of her peers—she still fell short compared to the true prodigies and monsters of the Ninth Heaven, where the most gifted cultivators in existence gathered.