Chapter 4028: Reason For The Storage To Be Here
Chapter 4028: Reason For The Storage To Be Here
The Justice Crushing Cestus disappeared into Zhenyu Mengli’s storage with a faint spatial fluctuation, taking the oppressive energy surrounding it along with it.
The chamber immediately seemed quieter without the Forbidden Relic sitting upon its pedestal, though the traces of its malevolent presence still lingered within the air. The disciples and elders of the Wild Peak unconsciously relaxed, with several only now realizing just how tense they had been while the Cestus was out in the open.
High Elder Palm Saber stared at Zhenyu for several moments before finally glancing around the Forbidden Relic Storage. There were still many things kept here, some of which he recognized while others were entirely unknown even to him.
He was still somewhat concerned about Zhenyu taking the Justice Crushing Cestus away, especially considering the danger posed by the weapon, but that concern had lessened considerably after witnessing what had happened.
The weapon had tried to assault Zhenyu’s mind, and the man had suppressed it as though its attempts were little more than an annoyance.
Even the strange cries and whispers released by the Cestus had failed to shake him. Palm Saber doubted anyone else currently present could have handled the Forbidden Relic with such ease.
"What do you intend to do about this place?" High Elder Palm Saber finally asked. "You came here for the Justice Crushing Cestus, but there are many other Forbidden Relics stored here."
High Elder Zhenyu glanced around the chamber once more before giving a small shrug. "Nothing."
High Elder Palm Saber raised a brow. "Nothing?"
"I came here because I wanted the Justice Crushing Cestus," Zhenyu replied. "Finding this place again was simply an added benefit. Consider it a reminder that the Wild Peak still has something like this hidden beneath it."
The elders exchanged glances.
Considering how long the Forbidden Relic Storage had remained forgotten, the reminder was certainly necessary. Even High Elder Palm Saber had known very little about it before today, while most of the disciples had not even known it existed.
One of the elders looked around curiously before a question appeared in his mind. "Senior Zhenyu, if I may ask something?"
"Go ahead." Zhenyu permitted.
"Why would the Forbidden Relic Storage have been built here in the first place?" the elder asked. "These are dangerous treasures, some of which might even cause calamities if they fell into the wrong hands. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to place them within the Core Court? Or perhaps somewhere even more secret where the sect could guard them directly?"
Several others nodded as it was something they had been wondering about as well.
Zhenyu stared at the elder for a moment before suddenly laughing. "Hahaha! That’s exactly the reason."
The elder blinked. "So it was placed here because the Core Court wouldn’t have been safer?"
"No." Zhenyu shook his head. "Think about what you just said. You immediately assumed something this important should be kept in the Core Court, didn’t you?"
"Of course."
"And that’s exactly what everyone else would assume too."
Understanding began appearing on some of the elders’ faces, though several disciples were still confused.
Zhenyu gestured toward their surroundings. "Think about the Wild Peak. What kind of cultivators live here?"
The disciples looked at one another.
"Body cultivators," one answered.
"More specifically, body cultivators who barely care about external weapons," Zhenyu replied. "You strengthen your flesh, bones, organs and blood. Your bodies are your weapons. Some of you use weapons, sure, but even then your cultivation remains centered around yourselves."
High Elder Palm Saber slowly nodded.
Zhenyu smiled. "So tell me, what better place could there be to hide a collection of dangerous weapons and relics?"
The answer finally became obvious. The Wild Peak was perhaps one of the strangest choices for storing powerful weapons, which was precisely what made it so effective.
Anyone attempting to find the Forbidden Relic Storage would naturally search locations associated with treasures, weapons, formations or the highest authorities of the sect. The Core Court would be an obvious target.
The Weapon Peak would be another possibility. Secret vaults belonging to the Sect Master or hidden chambers controlled by the Law Division would all seem more reasonable. But few would suspect the Wild Peak.
And even fewer would expect the Wild Peak cultivators themselves to covet what was hidden beneath their feet.
"The sect probably trusted the Wild Peak because its members would have the least interest in the things stored here," Zhenyu continued. "Someone who spends centuries turning his fist into something harder than an Immortal Weapon isn’t going to spend every night wondering what sword is hidden beneath his mountain."
Several Wild Peak disciples laughed.
High Elder Palm Saber rubbed his chin. "When you put it that way, it makes a surprising amount of sense."
"Sometimes the best hiding place is the one everyone dismisses immediately." Zhenyu glanced toward the doorway. "Though I’m only surmising the exact reasoning. The people who originally made this place are long gone."
Lin Mu knew this quite well.
Through Zhenyu Mengli’s memoirs and everything he had learned from the Sect’s archives, he had pieced together a considerable amount of the sect’s history. The Wild Peak itself was ancient by modern standards, though compared to several other divisions of the Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect, it was surprisingly young.
It had been established nearly fifty thousand years before Zhenyu Mengli’s own era.
Originally, the Wild Peak had not even existed as an independent division. Its cultivators had belonged to the Man Peak, which served as the principal peak of the sect’s Body Cultivation division.
As generations passed, however, certain members of the Man Peak developed methods, temperaments and habits that increasingly clashed with the rest. Eventually, those people had been separated into their own peak.
The archives had been unusually direct about the reason. The Wild Peak had been created to house members who were simply too "wild" to be kept in the other divisions. Those had been the exact words recorded in the sect archives.
Lin Mu had nearly chuckled when he first read them.
Considering everything he had seen from the Wild Peak since then, he couldn’t exactly disagree with the assessment either. Even after tens of thousands of years, the temperament of the peak had apparently remained remarkably consistent.
Still, the history made the placement of the Forbidden Relic Storage seem increasingly reasonable.
The ancient sect members had hidden dangerous treasures beneath a mountain occupied by cultivators who placed greater faith in their fists, palms, legs and bodies than external artifacts. It was surprisingly clever.