Chapter 88 - The Sky Sect History (2/2)
This was the main reason Shin Sumi suspected that the present meeting regarded something bigger than just them, something important to the Ghost Pavilion as a whole.
With a resolute expression on her face and a heart that was now calm like a mountain lake, Shin Sumi advanced to Fen Wudao's courtyard door.
”The door is open, please come in, Seventh Sister.”
Fen Wudao's voice was warm and gentle, as always. When Shin Sumi opened the door, he greeted her from afar. He was crouching near a bush of spirit plants that radiated a strong Yang type Shinsoo.
Shin Sumi drew closer as he tended to the bush, pouring spring water from a skin pouch he held attentively.
Shin Sumi probed her surroundings with her divine sense, to no avail. Even if there were more Ghosts in the vicinity, her divine sense level was too low to register any presence.
”Nuan, no-” Shin Sumi blurted out in panic as, from nowhere, Nuan decided to jump out of her robes, glide over Fen Wudao and land on the spirit plant bush.
”Ah-ah-ah, and what might that cutie's name be? Nuan?”
Fen Wudao laughed heartily. Sticking out a finger, he gently approached Nuan's lion muzzle. The black beady eyes of the Lion Bat perched onto the bush's upper branches looked at the finger with interest and a mix of mistrust.
”I am so sorry Brother Fen, she is sometimes unpredictable... I'll get her out of your spirit plants garden, I promise-”
”No, no, it's fine. These Fire Berries have already caught her attention, she might as well have some of them.”
As a proof to his point, Fen Wudao retracted his finger then picked up a small amber-colored fruit from a lower branch. This time, Fire Berry in his palm, Nuan's eyes showed no sign of mistrust, the fruit disappearing in the Lion Bat's mouth faster than what Shin Sumi thought possible.
”Ah-ah, good. My Fire Berries are properly ripe it seems. I wasn't sure whether they were ready for harvest, but a spirit b.r.e.a.s.t naturally wouldn't eat a fruit that isn't properly ripened. See how she didn't touch the Soul Cry Citrus bush?”
Shin Sumi smiled. She didn't know Fen Wudao was so knowledgeable in spirit fauna and flora.
”Nuan, you've had a treat. Do you want to leave Brother Fen's plants alone now?” Shin Sumi was crouching too, extending her arm until Nuan perched onto her shoulder.
Fen Wudao had turned to look at Shin Sumi, a cryptic smile on his face. Was he gauging her?
”Seventh Sister, what do you know about the Sky Earth Sect?”
The abrupt question took Shin Sumi by surprise. Her mind instantly spun and weaved thoughts, trying to make sense of why she had been summoned there.
”The Sky Earth Sect, the sister sect to our own... Both used to form the Sky Sect but something happened and they split up. My humble guess is that the Dark Sky Starry Sect now stands on the grounds that once housed the Sky Sect, and this is the reason the Sky Earth Sect wants war with us. There probably are resources, relics, treasures that we kept and that they want a share of... or all of them.”
Fen Wudao was about to answer but Shin Sumi's eyes still wandered a bit, as it seemed she still had more to say.
”...And I am not sure how this is related but I also think the constant cover of clouds over the valleys have to do with the internal strife within the Sky Sect as well. Is that right?”
Fen Wudao's eyelids twitched a little bit. He was impressed at what Shin Sumi had gathered from what was essentially a sort of taboo.
Fen Wudao suddenly stood up, motioning to Shin Sumi to join him at the same tea table where she had met the Patriarch at an earlier date.
He then took a deep breath before recounting what he knew of the history of the Dark Sky Starry Sect and its predecessor, the Sky Sect.
”Generations ago, the Sky Sect was one of the strongest sects in the Blue Fire mountain range, which was called the Moonlit mountain range. The Blue Fire Sect was only a small group of cultivators and did not compare at the time to the power in place, the Moonlit Sect. It was in fact smaller than the Sky Sect.
The Moonlit Sect was the ruler of this part of the cultivation world, the Sky Sect being only a distant second in terms of resources and power. It had been that way for immemorial times, the Moonlit Sect ruling with a steel hand over the other sects and even the mortal empire.
That was until fate decided otherwise. Hungry for even more power, the Moonlit Sect wrongly decided to expand themselves onto the bordering nations. They even went as far as the Silver Lake Empire, to the west of Blue Fire Country. However the Moonlit Sect did not know how puny and weak this side of the cultivation world was until they touched upon the Silver Lake Sect's lands.”
Fen Wudao paused only to sip on his fragrant tea, occasionally offering to refill Shin Sumi's cup.
”The demise of the Moonlit Sect happened so quickly the records say that their name was forgotten in only a sixty day cycle. The power they had angered was no joke. And this is how the Sky Sect, which had always lived under the shadow of the Moonlit Sect, suddenly rose to prominence.
With their unexpected propulsion to the top, the Sky Sect strived for a long time. Only, since the demise of the Moonlit Sect, two mentalities had begun to oppose each other within the sect.
One faction could be said to be power hungry. While they viewed the fall of the previous ruler as a testament to the West's power, even more so they thought it was an opportunity to expand themselves, claim the Moonlit territory as theirs.
The other faction feared that what had happened to the Moonlit Sect was destined to happen to the Sky Sect, should they follow the same path.”
Shin Sumi, who had listened patiently to Fen Wudao's tale of the Sky Sect, felt the urge to interrupt him.
”Which faction do we originate from, as the Dark Sky Starry Sect?”
Fen Wudao's expression didn't change at all.
”You already know the answer. While the majority of the Elders of the Sky Sect mutually agreed that expanding the sect was a good thing, Patriarch Mui was strictly against it.”
Shin Sumi's eyes lit up. She had heard that name before from Lan Hui.
”Patriarch Mui was Patriarch Sen's master, right?”
”That is correct. He was also known as daoist Dark Sky.”
”What happened to him?”
”The other faction got him by surprise. Even with his strength as number one expert of the Sky Sect, he was powerless in front of an assembly of Elders. Even the reserve powers were too late against the maniganced revolution. Patriarch Mui died, while his full might turned into a curse for the entire sect.”
”But Brother Fen, I don't understand... I thought the Dark Sky Starry Sect had been founded previously to Patriarch Sen being the Patriarch. But if his master was still part of the Sky Sect, who founded the Dark Sky Starry Sect?”
”This is where it gets complicated. And it has to do with us. This is where the roots of the Ghost Pavilion lay.”
In Shin Sumi's head, all the pieces of the puzzle were slowly taking place and fitting each other. Fen Wudao only clarified the bits that were missing.
The Ghost Pavilion was even older than the sect, formed at first by the reserve power backing up Patriarch Mui. Upon the latter's demise, the silent Ghost Pavilion at the time only composed of four people, Patriarch Sen included, battled against the traitor faction. Ultimately, after a secret battle, the Ghosts drove the opposite group away.
This was where the Sky Earth Sect and the Dark Sky Starry Sect finally split up.
Fen Wudao's eyes reflected the gravity of the sect's history, ”Since then, both sects have been trying to erase the other from their history, going as far as to change their views and teachings of what really happened.
But us, as Ghosts, we have to perpetrate the truth while keeping it a secret.”
Shin Sumi's mind was spinning. So many revelations, yet her number of questions kept increasing with each new answer.
What was Patriarch Mui's curse? How did the battle between the traitors and the Ghosts remain hidden from all the other people's eyes? Couldn't the Sky Sect's internal conflict have been resolved any other way? And more importantly...
”What does all of this have to do with us younger Ghosts, Brother Fen?”