Glory Of Ancient Past

'I stood there, one knee on the ground, my army fallen scattered around me all unmoving. I was aware of his threat of his backing. Because of the existence of the Creation God sect and his powerful might, I had prepared intricately specifically for to repel him.'

'I had taken out our clans scared treasure, the Heaven Spliting Axe an immortal Artefact of our ancestor. I had assembled the most promising generation our kingdom had seen yet. With me and my son at its helm alongside the star busting formation we were nigh unstoppable.'

'Our heritage, our legacy was an ancient one. I grew up hearing stories of our proud ancestor galavanting across the stars defying the heavens themselves. He warred his way across the universe until he eventually arrived in this then infant world over a million years ago. He created our clan with his own two hands. A divine son of the legendary North Star.'

'Our divine ancestor was a true expert of the cosmos. Not a mere True Immortal as many will have you believe. No he was far greater, a transcendent Profound Immortal on the verge of cultivating the 3 spenders. He was truely invincible, then he died.'

'I like all those before me was trapped, without our him we were unable to progress. We lost the prestige we once held, we were incomparable to him could never reach him. When he passed we were left if naught but a legacy far too great for us mortals to handle.'

'I look at those years of humiliation, of our position regulated to be one amongst many. We were gods amongst men, always should've been. No one especially not that upstart sect and their street rat from a lower realm.'

'I remember that day clear as day, he came to our doorstep with his army of 50,000 agains our fortified 90,000 elites. We should've won, we had superior numbers and home field advantage. I had even bought out our divine inheritance from our ancestor.'

"So why did I lose?" Said the Celestial Star king as he knelt in a back chamber in the palace. He was kneeling before a tall statue whose face somewhat resembled his own. This figure held a mighty war axe and an azure pearl. If Hu Jin Shen had been here he would recognise the statue as that of the first Celestial Star king as depicted by murals.

"Why must I endure even further? Oh great ancestor please help me." The king kowtowed before the statue his head touching the floor. Incense burned with thin smoke dancing about. The lifelike statue remained there unmoving, a dead relic.

"You still wallowing in there" a voice rang out behind him. The king slowly got up and turned to look behind him. There stood a gaunt looking man who looked almost anorexic dressed in loose black silk robes. His face was sunken and he produced not aura. He was like an old mortal many who hadn't eaten for weeks.

"It helps me think" said the king glaring at the figure. How he loathed working with him but at the same time he knew it was his only real chance at victory. At this point in time he had given up restoring star kingdom to its mythical glory. But at least if it meant removing those upstarts as his masters.

"As long as you keep on schedule, we've already completed our side. That prince of yours just delivered us a perfect opportunity" the gaunt man said. The Celestial Star king did not stay silent for long, he quipped back, "Me keep on schedule? As I recall you were the one who failed to assassinate a single women too relaxed in an age of peace".

The gaunt man bristled, he humphed and walked away no longer wishing to speak with the Human Immortal. The Celestial Star king was left on his own in his chamber. He glanced at his ancestor and thought to himself, 'I'm such a failure'.

He walked out himself unaccompanied by guards. In these parts of the palace only he was supposed to enter. The gaunt man was a guest of his, it was extremely humiliating to have a foreigner treat his home like this but there was no choice in the matter.

They were a far more established powerhouse then he nor the empire could ever hope to be. There was no point to let that upstart to continuing running the place. At least with that powerful faction in charge the Celestial Star king could swallow his pride. After all they did not just descend from a legendary figure but also possessed them.

It was difficult for an inheritor of a great legacy like him to submit to such humiliation. But between a country bumpkin and a true powerhouse of the universe there was no competition. The choice was obvious.

…

"Must we keep hiding with this fool?" asked the gaunt man in loose silk robes. He sat relaxingly on a couch opposing several other figures dressed in casual silk robes. It was not a formal occasion nor battle hence no of them wore anything too special aside from standard Chinese aristocratic silk robes.

"We've got no real choice, unless the higher-ups can spare us Immortals we are forced to take the slow way" replied a pale skinned man who lied resting his head on his elbow as if unbothered by the going ons of the world. That man had short purple hair and radiated subtle power that was near undetectable. "Aside from a few treasures, we're on our own".

The man ate a truffle of grapes while the other people all seemingly agreed with him. After he swallowed the man spoke again, "Unless you've recovered from your injuries, we'll stick to how we're currently doing"

The gaunt man frowned, "16th young master will not be pleased, its already been 200 years and we still had not recovered the mandala amulet" he grumbled in impatience. The battle 200 years ago forced them to alter their plans. Originally he had thought he alone will be enough since the leading figures at the time were hopeless weaklings lacking even a single True Immortal. Unfortunately he was wrong and suffered greatly for it.

"Its useless to complain, the war effort is taking its toll on the sect. 16th young master's desires are important but sect leader simply cannot spare enough soldiers" an old woman spoke up. She had worn a simple grey dress unlike her compatriots.

"I hope we don't stay here long, it has already been too long" the gaunt man grumbled. He leaned back and began discussing their next course of action. The group was determined to retrieve their treasure however due to its location being known but hesitated for over 200 years due to the emperor Hu Wenxi. Now it has become even harder.

"Hu Wenxi had left the empire, what's more Hu Jin Shen had foolishly came here right to us. I say this is a perfect chance to nab him as an insurance" suggested the gaunt man. The pale man and the old women and everyone else nodded.

The old woman spoke up, "Makes sense, before he was always far but now he is close. What's more since Hu Wenxi is gone we can safely make our move". The pale skin man also chimed in, "But how do we know he's really gone, we already know one of his agents has been snooping. For all we know he's luring us out".

"I caught sight of him racing far away from this world, what's more he was traveling at FTL speeds. He hasn't turned up since or I would've seen it" said the gaunt man. Everyone else agreed at his assessment. This gaunt man may not be strong in combat even as a True Immortal but he was a supreme expert in the arts of detection and concealment.

This gaunt man was far superior then any of the Blades and had hid himself and others from Hu Wenxi for a very long time. Only coincidences and prideful carelessness had led to their original discovery. In fact they had long discovered Blade 1, yet at the same time they suspected that if they targeted this person who turned up to investigate them then they may draw the ire of Hu Wenxi.

Despite deep information concealment they were somewhat aware of Hu Wenxi having spies and agents. They did not wish to take that chance. After all with Blade 1's uncanny skill and young bone age they suspected that he was someone brought up by Hu Wenxi.

…

Hu Jin Shen examined the files given to him regarding the star kingdom over the past several hundred years. Aside from occasional tax delays there wasn't much suspicious activity. Although there was notable points of large caravans travelling from across the star kingdom into star city.

So far this had been dismissed by officers as large trading or delivery caravans on their way to deliver goods. Hu Jin Shen however only saw that these deliveries were in the early stages of the empire's development. Hence they were either outliers or they got better at concealing. The prince was betting on the latter.

'This is troublesome' he thought going from one article to another. He rolled his shoulders and looked at the moon from his window. "Stuck in foreign territory with a conspiracy on my hands, where are you father?".

Unknown to him small bits of invisible sand hung from his ceiling silently observing the going ons of the city. Hu Wenxi was far from stupid, reckless yes but not an idiot. He hadn't entirely left the world unlike what the gaunt man believed.

'I still cannot enter places in the palace, this is getting really annoying' Hu Wenxi thought to himself. Hu Jin Shen had been a great way to enter the palace undetected and lure the enemy into both a false sense of security and a misguided sense of confidence.

Hu Wenxi still did not fully understand what he is facing and hence decided to remain anonymous. From what had gleamed so far, the Celestial Star king was a definite traitor and there were certainly people helping him. Who or what they may be Hu Wenxi did not know but they certainly had impressive means.

As a True Immortal Hu Wenxi was very powerful however this unknown factor could still hide form him. The emperor suspected three things that likely worked together. The presence of an expert specialised in the area of concealment alongside powerful treasures that could shroud heavenly secrets can certainly hide from him. What's more the star kingdom had deep roots. They most likely had some methods too.

Hu Wenxi's true self left in hopes of drawing them out but it seems they didn't take the bait. Hence he lured his son here in hopes of drawing them out. You might call it heartless of a father to do this bit as an emperor Hu Wenxi saw it as necessary. He needed to fully understand his opponents.

Of course Hu Jin Shen had dozens of protection placed onto him. All of Hu Wenxi's children had vast amounts of security measures placed on them to save their lives. They just weren't aware of it as Hu Wenxi never informed them.

The small sands continuously scoured the places within the palace he could enter. These sands possessed little Qi and were concealed by temporal distortions. Chronomancy had allowed Hu Wenxi's sand to somewhat slip out of the time flow of the universe. This allowed them to be near undetectable. Under these circumstances Hu Wenxi will keep searching until he reached a breakthrough.