1643 The Truth Behind the Downfall

"You are going to tell me about the downfall of the Mountain Crushing sect?" Alex asked the King. He hadn't expected to hear anything else about this after today.

"Well, I'm involved in it somehow, so I will," the King said. "But… in exchange, I wish to buy some of your Earth and Fire Spiritual Root enhancement pills."

Alex shook his head, causing the King's spirit to dampen a little.

"I do not have a Fire Spiritual Root enhancement pill. I never had," Alex said. "But if you'll tell me about the Mountain Crushing sect's downfall, I will give the Earth Spiritual Root enhancement pill for free."

The King's spirit returned at once. "Okay, that will do too," said more than happily. 

"So… what did happen?" he asked.

The King took a deep breath and started. "The downfall of the Mountain Crushing sect, it… isn't exactly the fault of the artifact you bought," he said. "It is in parts, but it is only the accessory to a much larger cause."

Alex listened to it intently.

"The Mountain Crushing artifact was used carelessly in the past, but the elders had already recognized the slippery slope it created if it was to be let go for long. As such, everyone who says it is the artifact that caused the sect's downfall is completely wrong."

"They were already aware of the problem and were working to amend it."

"The real problem came when this kingdom lost its king," the King said. "Before this was the Ebony Kingdom, it was the Lin Kingdom. When the Lin Kingdom fell, the Emperor put someone to rule over the newly formed Ebony Kingdom."

Alex nodded. That was what he knew about the Eastern Continent before he had come here. There were 5 Kingdoms, ruled by individual Kings, who served the Empire as a whole.

But because of their rebellion, they were all executed, and new kings and queens were put in their places.

"About 4 thousand years ago, when the first King of the Ebony kingdom wanted to abdicate, the Emperor had to look elsewhere to find a suitable candidate," the man said. "Searching around, he found me."

Alex nodded. That was to be expected.

"I was only in the Saint Core realm at the time, but I had lived long enough and had enough experience to handle the kingdom," the man said. "However, instead of just letting me be the next king, the Emperor made a trade instead."

"What sort of trade?" Alex asked. 

"In return for me becoming the King, the Mountain Crushing sect was to let him use the Mountain Crushing artifact to improve his physical body," the King said.

Alex felt an understanding forming inside of him. A question he had for a long time was going to be answered here.

"The Mountain Crushing sect accepted his request, and I became the King," the man said. "Except, the sect never realized what sort of bargain they had made until the end."

"Instead of taking away the Mountain Crushing artifact to use elsewhere, the Emperor used it right there in the sect. And the elders were forced to stick to their side of the bargain by helping him body cultivate."

Alex's eyes went wide. "And he made them use it until they used up most of their resources?" he asked.

The King shrugged in response. "He brought 3 Saint Spirit Veins from what I hear, but they were far from enough. He forced the sect to keep using the artifact until he realized his body wasn't going to get stronger without stronger material inside the artifact."

"By the time he had realized that the sect had used most of what they owned," the King said. "Having spent it all on His Majesty, the elders didn't have much remaining for their own disciples, and slowly they had to lower the amount of disciples they took in."

"Being no longer able to body cultivate like they used to, these disciples also started leaving the sect one by one. Even some of the elders left," the King said. "The other sects took advantage too and started expanding, taking over what the Mountain Crushing sect previously had hold of."

"Slowly, the sect had to become smaller and smaller to not break from within. Now, its a husk of its former self, and even the artifact that gave them their name had to be sold so they can continue to keep going," the King said.

Alex remained silent for a while, taking in all the information.

He finally knew that the Emperor's physical body was as strong as one could get using that artifact in the Saint realm. He had always known the Emperor was strong physically as well, but this was better than he had thought. 

He would have to worry about that later when the time came.

"Does the Mountain Crushing sect have no chance of a comeback?" Alex asked.

"Only through a miracle," the king said with a dry laugh. It was the sect he was talking about. While he had left it long ago, he still belonged to it one way or another.

Just like Alex would always belong to the Hong Wu sect and the Tiger sect one way or another.

"Is that why they were so hesitant to tell me?" Alex asked the King.

"The Emperor told them to not talk about his presence, so they won't talk about it," the King said.

"Oath?" Alex asked.

"No, but an order from the Emperor is just as good as any oath," the King said. "I shouldn't be talking about it either, but…"

The King shook his head. "That's why I didn't answer it while we were returning. There were those guards, and I didn't want to say anything in front of them."

Alex nodded. "But you did now because of the pill," he said.

"Well, yeah," the King said. "I saw no reason to hide this information. You have the artifact now, so you deserve to know why the Mountain Crushing sect fell. And it was not entirely because of the artifact."

Alex nodded. "So if I make use of it in moderate amount, I will be fine," he said. That was good to know.

The King nodded. "Anyway, I will leave you for now. We have less than 6 hours before we need to climb the Celestial Peak," he said.

Alex nodded and quickly searched through his Soul Space to find the pill he was looking for. He put it inside a bottle and brought it out. "Here," he tossed it to the man.

The King caught the bottle with his Qi and slowly brought it to his hands. Opening the stopper, he saw a 5-veined pill inside. "Not 6 veins?" he asked meekly.

"I made these long ago," Alex answered. "I do not have the ingredients to make one currently. They are very hard to come by."

The King nodded. "Thank you," he said. "I will take my leave then, Your Majesty."

Alex nodded and the King left.

Once he was alone, Alex let a look of hesitation show up on his face.

"Dammit!" he said worriedly. "Not only does he have the strongest cultivation base under an Immortal, he also has the strongest physical body under an Immortal. How the hell am I supposed to defeat someone like that in a fight if it comes down to it?"