Among the eight Flag Masters named by the Holy Maiden, a hunched elderly figure stepped forward. He turned to address the crowd below, clearing his throat lightly before speaking: "Allow me to inform you all—ten years ago, the Holy Son of the Divine Cult had already secretly emerged. All this time, he has been biding his strength within the Divine Palace, honing himself!"
The great hall fell silent, then erupted into an uproar.
Everyone stared at the Xun Flag Master in disbelief. Many silently processed the sudden revelation, while even more cried out with questions.
"Flag Master Sikong, if the Holy Son emerged so long ago, how is it that none of us knew?"
"Holy Maiden, is it truly the case that the Holy Son emerged ten years ago?"
"Who is the Holy Son? What is his cultivation level now?"
...
Every person standing in this great hall at such a critical moment was a high-ranking member of the Divine Cult, every one of them a Shenyou Realm powerhouse—fully entitled to know the Cult's deepest secrets. Yet only now did they realize that there were matters within the Divine Cult about which they had been kept entirely in the dark.
Sikong Nan raised his hand slightly to quiet the clamor and continued: "Ten years ago, while carrying out a mission beyond our borders, I was ambushed by a group of powerful Ink Cult cultivators. Left with no choice, I took shelter at the base of a cliff to tend to my wounds. Suddenly, a youth plummeted from the heavens and crashed down right before me. His cultivation was still shallow at the time—surviving a fall from a cliff ten thousand feet tall was nothing short of a miracle. Once my injuries had healed, I brought him back to the Divine Cult."
He paused here, giving everyone a moment to digest his words.
Someone murmured: "There will come a day when the sky splits open and a figure descends from above, igniting the glory of light, tearing apart the shackles of darkness, and defeating the ultimate enemy!" Looking around at those beside him, the speaker's voice grew louder and more impassioned: "Isn't this exactly what the first Holy Maiden's prophecy foretold?"
"Indeed! Surviving a fall from a ten thousand foot cliff—this boy must be blessed with extraordinary fortune!"
"This has to be the Holy Son!"
"Wait, the youth descending from the sky does match the prophecy, but the prophecy also says 'the sky splits open'—how do we explain that part?"
Sikong Nan appeared to have anticipated this question, and answered at an unhurried pace: "What you may not know is that the place where I was hiding at the time is a formation known as Yixiantian—A Thread of Sky!"
The questioner's expression shifted to one of sudden understanding: "So that's how it is."
At a place like Yixiantian, looking upward, the narrow gap formed by the cliffs on either side truly resembled a crack splitting the sky.
Everything fit together perfectly.
The scene of the youth's descent from the heavens matched the prophecy left by the first-generation Holy Maiden—it was unmistakably the sign of the Holy Son's appearance!
Sikong Nan went on: "Just as you are all thinking now, when I rescued that youth, the first Holy Maiden's prophecy immediately came to mind. After bringing him back to the Divine Cult, the Holy Maiden convened the other Flag Masters and together they opened the Sealed Ground!"
"What was the result?" someone asked. Though everyone already knew it must have been positive, they could not help feeling a pang of nervousness.
Sikong Nan replied: "He passed the trial left by the first-generation Holy Maiden!"
"He is the Holy Son, without a doubt!"
"Hahahaha—the Holy Son emerged ten years ago! Our Divine Cult has waited for so many years, and at last the wait is over!"
"Now those dogs of the Ink Cult will finally get what's coming to them!"
...
Sikong Nan let the crowd vent their elation for a good while before continuing: "In ten years of cultivation, the talent, aptitude, and potential the Holy Son has displayed are all at the absolute pinnacle. When I first rescued him, he had only just begun cultivating. But now, his strength is no less than that of any Flag Master among us."
The crowd exchanged looks of profound shock.
The eight Flag Masters of the Divine Cult and the eight Commanders of the Ink Cult were all among the most formidable powerhouses in the world—but none of them had reached their current heights quickly. The shortest had cultivated for several decades, the longest for over a hundred years, and some for even longer.
Yet the Holy Son had achieved this in a mere ten years. He truly was the prophesied savior.
Perhaps such a person could truly break through the limits of martial arts in this world and, with his own supreme power, sweep away all the demons and monsters of the Ink Cult.
"The Holy Son's cultivation has reached a bottleneck," Sikong Nan said, his brow furrowing deeply. "We had originally planned to reveal his identity publicly in due course and allow him to officially emerge into the world—but who could have predicted that something like this would happen at such a critical juncture."
At once, several voices rose in righteous indignation: "Since the Holy Son emerged long ago and has passed the trial of the first Holy Maiden, his identity is beyond question. That being the case, the man who has yet to enter the city must be an imposter!"
"The Ink Cult's methods are as despicable as ever. Over the years they have repeatedly tried to exploit the prophecy's signs to plant agents within our Divine Cult, and not once have they succeeded. It seems they've learned nothing."
One person stepped forward, cupping his fists: "Holy Maiden, Flag Masters—please allow me to take men out of the city and cut down this impostor who dares to impersonate the Holy Son and defile our Divine Cult! Let it serve as a warning to all!"
He was far from the only one to make such a request—several more surged forward, volunteering to lead forces out of the city and slay the false Holy Son before he could arrive.