goodnovel Chapter 449: Breaking the Taboo
Chapter 449: Breaking the Taboo
Chen Yan wasn't surprised at all by Zhou Jinyun's answer.
Because in this world, no matter the era, Chen Yan, who had experienced thousands of years, had already begun to understand the operating rules of this cultivation world.
Strength was paramount.
When you possessed enough power to crush all enemies in this world, then whatever decision you made was undoubtedly correct.
Just like back when Immortal Venerable Fusheng stood above Heavenly Summit Mountain, dominating the Chenping Continent for tens of thousands of years.
Or like a thousand years later, when the Falling Star Realman could command the Grand Elders of the Five Great Sects with a single word.
Possessing strength that could sweep everything before it naturally meant having no worries at all.
All the world would submit to you.
But in the vast majority of cases, the disparity in strength between each other was often not enough for the winner to take it all.
Thus, mutual checks and balances were needed—games of power.Scheming and wielding the arts of political intrigue.
It was precisely for this reason that the Five Great Sects had divided up the cultivation resources left behind after Heavenly Summit Mountain's fall, partitioning the Chenping Continent among themselves.
This also meant that, in the absence of a being strong enough to dominate eternity alone, the cultivation world required order and rules.
No matter what happened, it needed a justifiable reason for action.
Otherwise, if one lost the people's support, even a behemoth like the Five Great Sects would find itself in a very difficult position.
In the Chenping Continent's cultivation world, compared to various cultivation methods, offensive techniques, and movement arts, the most despised thing had to be illusions.
And since Mirage Palace was famous throughout the world for its illusions, cultivators were naturally born with a certain degree of hostility toward Mirage Palace's existence.
Seventy thousand years ago, Heavenly Summit Mountain's Pure Dust True Person, Qiu Siruo, at a formal discourse attended by various top-tier sects from across the Chenping Continent, directly referred to Mirage Palace disciples as "cockroaches."
On such a formal occasion, this kind of humiliation toward Mirage Palace undoubtedly caused them to lose all face.
After that, the term "cockroach" became the world's derogatory name for Mirage Palace disciples.
Of course, very few people dared to address Mirage Palace disciples this way to their faces.
Except for that famously ill-tempered Pure Dust True Person.
It wasn't until later that Mirage Palace's Sun-Eroding True Person emerged, suppressing the petty scoundrels with thunderous methods, causing the world to gradually forget that old incident.
Prestige and reputation were extremely important.
It was precisely for this reason that Mirage Palace imposed such strict controls over the secret transmission illusions of Weaving Dreams Tower.
Over these hundreds of thousands of years, Weaving Dreams Tower's illusion arts had been continuously developing and evolving.
Especially after they developed the ability to share the senses of those affected by the illusions, some disciples of Weaving Dreams Tower began to conceive of even bolder ideas.
What if they could achieve complete control over others through illusions?
In fact, the disciples of Weaving Dreams Tower had indeed realized such a method.
But it was quickly halted by Mirage Palace's Supreme Pivot Court, which listed this branch of Weaving Dreams Tower's illusion arts as forbidden.
Because the consequences were simply too horrifying.
If the world came to know that Mirage Palace's illusions could easily manipulate them, the people's trust in Mirage Palace would collapse rapidly.
The other four great sects would become wary of Mirage Palace, perhaps even besieging them.
Yet eight thousand years later, Mirage Palace's Xiao Bo'an, when seizing someone else's body, showed no scruples whatsoever.
And Mirage Palace's internal organs raised no objections to this at all.
One had to know that back when Xiao Bo'an had seized Qian Xun, or that waiter at the Gambling Den in Taiyun City, he was merely a small cultivator at the Martial Spring Realm.
It was almost impossible that Weaving Dreams Tower's inner circle didn't know what he was doing.
That meant Mirage Palace, at the very least, had tacitly approved of Xiao Bo'an's actions.
This completely contradicted what Zhou Jinyun had just said.
If she wasn't lying, then this meant that, over these eight thousand years, a major upheaval might have occurred within Mirage Palace, causing them to change their attitude toward Weaving Dreams Tower's illusion arts.
Kang Zongdan.
That old man's face, over ninety years old, surfaced in Chen Yan's mind.
Then Kang Zongdan's features began to gradually merge with Kang Keyang's.
Body possession.
If there had been some variable within Mirage Palace over these eight thousand years...
Then everything happening now...
Indeed, this possibility could not be ruled out.
This was the critical moment of Mirage Palace's transformation.
"Zhou Jinyun."
Chen Yan's tone was calm as he addressed the young woman beside him, who was disguised in gray daoist robes to conceal her identity.
"This junior is here."
Zhou Jinyun replied.
"Do you think, how did Kang Zongdan manage to possess Kang Keyang?"
Chen Yan asked.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Jinyun first lowered her eyes slightly, pondering for a moment, then suddenly lifted her head.
"This junior believes it's likely related to the sheepskin parchment Elder Zheng gave to Kang Zongdan."
"It is said that the content recorded on that sheepskin parchment was a fragment of the Bi Lian Sect's Lian Ti cultivation method."
Chen Yan said.
"Do you think it was because of the Bi Lian Sect's Lian Ti cultivation method?"
Hearing this, Zhou Jinyun didn't hesitate at all. She shook her head.
This chief disciple of Weaving Dreams Tower had a very meticulous mind.
She had already done her homework, studying the Bi Lian Sect's Lian Ti cultivation method, and had learned that this technique was merely a relatively ordinary cultivation method, with nothing special about it.
Awarding a fragment of this method to a rogue cultivator as a prize didn't seem jarring at all.
"Then what was it for?"
Chen Yan continued to ask.
"Perhaps that sheepskin parchment recorded more than just the Lian Ti cultivation method's fragments. It might have written other things as well..."
Murmuring to herself like this, Zhou Jinyun's eyes grew wider and wider.
She seemed to have thought of something.
Weaving Dreams Tower's illusion arts.
Over the long years, Weaving Dreams Tower's illusion arts had developed many branches.
Most of these illusion branches were only fleeting.
Only the core illusions were passed down through a single lineage, continuously evolving.
But not everyone could cultivate Weaving Dreams Tower's secret transmission illusions.
Having talent for illusions alone wasn't enough; one also needed sufficient adaptability.
Sometimes, entire generations could pass without a single disciple capable of cultivating Weaving Dreams Tower's secret transmission illusions.
Take Zhou Jinyun, for example.
Before her appearance, going back four generations, not a single cultivator from Weaving Dreams Tower had been able to master the tower's core secret transmission illusions.
Now, across the entire Mirage Palace, including the four Grand Elder Courts, the number of people who could cultivate Weaving Dreams Tower's core secret transmission illusions was no more than twenty.
And Zhou Jinyun's Weaving Dreams Tower illusions were personally taught by Mirage Palace's Supreme Imperial Law Elder, Shang Ao.
"Does Senior mean..."
Zhou Jinyun already had a guess in her heart.
But she didn't dare believe it.
"The method by which Kang Zongdan possessed Kang Keyang was accomplished through your Mirage Palace's Weaving Dreams Tower illusion arts."
Chen Yan said.
"That means, the greatest taboo of Mirage Palace's Weaving Dreams Tower has already been broken by someone."