"We can tell him about it, but I doubt it will make any difference. After all, Qi of Calamity has the ability to influence a cultivator’s mind," replied one of the Supreme Realm True Monarchs.

"We can place a seal to prevent other people from seeing it. After all, we do not want other factions to use this fact to their advantage."

"Plus, if Bai Han and his group can quickly awaken from this disaster, then their state of mind should sublimate. At that time, reaching the Supreme Realm will become easier."

"That’s a good method. With this Path of Supreme slowly opening up, this is the perfect time."

So, all the True Monarchs decided on the next step of action. However, one person, Qiu Jin--Lin Fan’s Dao Protector--said: "None of that truly matters as long as this Qi of Calamity does not force Bai Han to start an Emperor Dao War on a whim. What I really care about is the reason for such a thing to happen?

"Isn’t it obvious? Heavenly Dao used the Qi of Calamity to clout Bai Han’s mind, thus making him act irrationally, thus ensuring that he remains Wang Wei’s enemy--despite the fact that bowing his head would be the wisest and best choice in this situation," said one of the True Monarch.

"That’s correct. If this was the normal Bai Han, he would never act in such a way," another another person.

"I know all of this," replied Qiu Jin. "The issue is why Heavenly Dao did this? Have you guys noticed that in this generation, the amount of time that Heavenly Dao intervened is quite high--especially the secret schemes?

"All of us here have lived for a very long time, but in our generation, I doubt that Heavenly Dao intervened even once--except for granted merits. Even then, it did not really show up, but the mechanism that is responsible for granting the merit merely activated itself once the requirements were met.

"But in this generation, Heavenly Dao showed many times. And most of the time, it involved that Sacred Son Wang Wei. What I want to know is why?"

As Supreme Realm powerhouses, they are beings closest to the Dao. So, they can feel that Heavenly Dao does not really like Wang Wei. As a matter of fact, even the True Monarchs of the Dao Opening Sect have also started to notice something wrong. But they have not completely figured out the reason yet.

"Maybe it has to do with the fact he brought Divine Punishment Thunder a few years ago?"

"Or maybe because of his soul. That thing is not natural."

"Maybe things are not that simple," said one of the True Monarchs. "Maybe we should go over the Secret Archives of the Academy and see if we can discover something."

"Agree."

"Agree."

After everyone came to a decision, the meeting came to an end. However, one person still had something else to say.

"According to this situation, we might have to intervene in the control of the Academy."

The conversation became silent. After a while, someone said: "According to our previous agreement, we would not intervene in the Academy’s management unless necessary, otherwise a power imbalance could be created, leading to infighting. Now, things have not reached such a level yet."

All the other True Monarchs nodded in acknowledgement.

The truth of the matter is that this generation was a strange one. According to precedent, all the previous headmasters, great teachers, and elder teachers were supposed to be in the Supreme Realm. As for the position of Supreme Elder or Supreme Teacher, this was a position or title reserved to the Dao Ancestors and Immortal Venerables of the Academy.

Unfortunately, the Path of Supreme was cut off in the last generation--making it impossible for the younger generations to reach similar height in cultivation level as the older generation.

Nevertheless, the older generation were old and weary, and in order for any factions to improve and move forwards, they needed the younger generation to take charge.

After noticing that there was no way to actually become True Monarch, the older generation realized that if they keep holding the power of their factions without passing it on, an imbalance of power might occur and the younger generation might become resentful; this was not conducive for the future development of their factions.

So, all of them came to the same decision: they will take a supporting role while giving all the power of their factions to the young generation. Hence the reason that Saint Realm True Persons like Wang Tian and Bai Han are in charge of their own factions despite their lack of cultivation,

As for the older generation like Wang Chang and Qiu Jin, they decided to only interfere when absolutely necessary.

...

Inside a plain and simple residence with few decorations. Bai Han had just returned to his residence when he received a notice from True Monarch Qiu Jin to come see him.

Albeit a little surprised and confused by the sudden visit, he still prepared tea to properly welcome the True Monarch. Although Bai Han used to be a True Monarch as well, since he was not currently, he still had to give the necessary respect.

"What? I’m enveloped by Qi of Calamity?" yelled Bai Han with great surprise. Then, instantly, he started using a secret technique. Immediately, he noticed a red hue hovering around his head, making his face very ugly.

As for Qiu Jin, he was a little surprised at Bai Han’s technique; it must be a very powerful one to be able to notice the Qi of Calamity in the Saint Realm--especially since it allows Bai Han to see his own Qi of Calamity.

The odd thing about Qi of Calamity is that other powerful people can see it on other people, but it is extremely difficult to notice it on themselves--making it very difficult to deal with.

"What are you going to do now?" asked Qiu Jin calmly.

Bai Han’s face became ugly after hearing this; he started to think about his next step of action. A part of him told him to stop his action against Wang Wei as he is just being used as Heavenly Dao’s pawn. Another part of him is telling him that he has come so far, and he is so close to succeed, so there is no need to stop. As for the Qi of Calamity, it just brought the deep desire inside his heart and had little effect on him.

Sweat started to fall down from Bai Han’s forehead, drenching his clothes wet. One of his eyes twitched constantly without stopping. After more than three hours, Bai Han sighed before saying: "The plan will continue!"

"Is that so?" replied Qiu Jin calmly without any surprise in his face; as he knew that this was the horror of Qi of Calamity. Even if someone knew that their mind was being influenced, they could not do anything about it. It takes a lot of effort and a very powerful state of mind to get rid of the influence of the Qi of Calamity. And sometimes, this was not even enough.

"So be it," replied Qiu Jin. After sealing the Qi of Calamity from Bai Han to prevent other people from noticing it, he left without saying anything else.

Qiu Jin and the other True Monarch did not really care about the situation; as long as the Academy had them and the Sleeping Ancestors, then nothing would truly happen besides maybe being forced to close their door for a while.

As for Bai Han, if he can go through this catastrophe, his mind will sublimate and set a powerful foundation for his Path of Supreme. If he fails, then he might lose everything.

Just like that, a few days passed by; the day of the Final Round of the Tournament began. Just like the First Round, Bai Han appeared in front of all the people watching to introduce the event. However, he did not immediately do so, but instead started to swear to Heaven and Earth and to the Dao that he and the Academy had nothing to do with Fan Li’s death.

While Bai Han was doing his little speech, inside the Di Family’s floating booth, Di Tian had a frown on his face as his eyes laid on Bai Han.

’Qi of Calamity? I remember the last time that I encountered this thing was during the Incense Era. These bald Buddhist Monks were covered from head to toe with that thing: it made them totally crazy.

’These monks’ pursued of the power of Incense became a destructive obsession. They were willing to do anything and kill anyone in their pursuit of Faith. Now that I think about it, the Absolute Beginning Emperor might have been affected by that thing too, otherwise it could not explain his obsession to eradicate Buddhism altogether."

After thinking about this for a moment, Di Tian sneered: ’It all made sense now. Heavenly Dao probably did not want the Myriad Emperor World to turn into a civilization of Faith under the power of Buddhism, so it secretly planned their destruction.

’Using Qi of Calamity on the entire Buddhist Sect led to them offending so many people in their pursuit of Faith. All it had to do was wait for someone that had the talent to become an Eternal Emperor and had a deep grudge with Buddhism. Then, by using that same Qi of Calamity, it can make that person completely eradicate the Faith Based Buddhism.

’Unfortunately, even Heavenly Dao miscalculated the hatred that the Absolute Beginning Emperor had and the power of Qi of Calamity.

"Buddhism as a sect is very beneficial to any civilization as it can bring peace and enlightening of the mind, only the faith aspect was detrimental. I’m guessing that Heavenly Dao only wanted that aspect to be eradicated--leaving the other part intact, but the Qi of Calamity might have affected the Absolute Beginning Emperor beyond its calculation--leading to him completely eradicating Buddhism from the Lower Dimension.’

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