Chapter 162: The Millennium Pact of Purity

"I just don't know whether my full-powered burst would be stronger or weaker than that of a duke-tier powerhouse."

Records of duke-tier powerhouses taking action within the Sea Serpent Kingdom were far too scarce, and descriptions of the domain powers they wielded were equally sparse. Although Li Ju had once faced Ran Ze, a duke-tier powerhouse, Ran Ze had neither taken action nor actively displayed his aura at the time, making it difficult for Li Ju to estimate how he would stack up against a duke-tier powerhouse at full strength.

"However, looking at it this way, perhaps the swordsmanship system of this world suits me very well."

Li Ju thought to himself.

He frequently had to shuttle between various副本 (dungeon worlds), but during these traversals, only his soul could travel, leaving his physical body behind. For someone who had risen to prominence through martial arts cultivation, the lack of a physical body meant he could not unleash his peak-stage strength within those dungeon worlds.

Although he could enhance the physical strength of the bodies he controlled within the dungeons to match his true form, they were ultimately not his original bodies, and using them always felt somewhat discordant.

However, the cultivation method of the swordsmanship system gradually fused the physical body and the soul together, eventually forging them into a body resembling pure energy. If he could truly integrate his physical body and soul into one, he would be able to bypass the restriction of soul-only traversal and descend into every dungeon world completely in his peak state.

"Perhaps I can incorporate the advantages of the swordsmanship system into my Three-Origin Martial Arts."

Once Li Ju had reached the Greater Three-Origin realm, the path of the Three-Origin Martial Arts had seemed to reach its end. Although the appearance of the Three-Origin Demon Lord, Mo Jiaren, had shown Li Ju the potential of the Three-Origin Martial Arts, if Li Ju wanted to reach Mo Jiaren's level, he would have to expand the path of the Three-Origin Martial Arts beyond the Greater Three-Origin realm by himself.

During this process, gathering the strengths of all schools was undoubtedly essential. And the swordsmanship system of this nest world was currently very well-suited to be integrated into Li Ju's Three-Origin Martial Arts.

"Not just the swordsmanship system, but also the Qi martial arts and the extraordinary systems of the dungeon worlds I will travel to in the future—everything and anything can be integrated into the Three-Origin Martial Arts, until it reaches the ultimate pinnacle of the Three-Origin Martial Arts..."

Li Ju looked at his own palms, a fierce fire burning in his gaze.

A few days later, an order from the royal family reached the Iron-Gold Earldom. The Sea Serpent Queen personally issued an imperial decree elevating the reigning Earl of Iron-Gold to the Marquis of Iron-Gold, while granting the Iron-Gold family a massive bestowal of resources. This command immediately drew the intense attention of the entire aristocratic class of the Sea Serpent Kingdom.

Because of this ennobling decree, the nobility of the Sea Serpent Kingdom directly regarded the Iron-Gold family as part of the court nobility and began to look upon them with hostility. However, although these nobles were hostile, not a single one of them actually condemned or took armed action against the Iron-Gold family.

Because at this moment in the Sea Serpent Kingdom, anyone with discerning eyes could see that the Iron-Gold family had become a chess piece used by the royal family to counter the Grand Duke of Rock, plunging themselves completely into the vortex of confrontation between the crown and the various grand dukes.

All the neutral nobles in the Sea Serpent Kingdom wished to avoid getting entangled in this whirlpool and wanted no trouble brought to their doorsteps. They only wanted to watch the developments quietly and make their choices based on the shifting situation.

"Have you ever heard of the Millennium Sacred Covenant?"

On this day, Ran Ze came to find Li Ju once more.

"The Millennium Sacred Covenant?"

"Never heard of it."

Li Ju buried his head in his books and replied without even looking up.

He had been very busy lately. On one hand, he was occupied with integrating the swordsmanship system of the nest world into his own Three-Origin Martial Arts; on the other hand, he was busy gathering information regarding pure light birds and photon sprites, striving to locate the nest core of either of these two creatures so that the Gem Turtle could evolve once again into a duke-tier nest creature.

Pity that throughout the entire Sea Serpent Kingdom, no noble possessed nests of photon sprites and pure light birds. In fact, very little information regarding these two types of nest creatures circulated within the kingdom. Had Li Ju not heard the names of these creatures early on and consciously searched for them, he truly would not have found much relevant information.

"It's normal that you haven't heard of it. After all, this is a covenant that circulates only among the upper nobility of the kingdom. Though your strength was formidable before, you were after all merely a minor earl, and it was unlikely you would have heard of this pact."

Hearing Li Ju's negative reply, Ran Ze nodded in immediate agreement.

"So, what on earth is this Millennium Sacred Covenant?"

Li Ju finally found a moment to lift his head from the books and cast a glance at Ran Ze.

"As everyone knows, in this world of ours nurtured by the World Nests, the vast majority of the territory is ocean. The scattered continents spread across the ocean are where we humans survive."

"And the continent beneath our feet was ruled thousands of years ago by an empire called the Primordial Stone Empire. Because of its rule, this continent is also referred to by outsiders as the Primordial Stone Continent."

"The Primordial Stone Empire ruled the Primordial Stone Continent for thousands of years. Ultimately, a thousand years ago, due to the exhaustion of the lifespan of the emperor-tier nest controlled by the empire, the imperial family—having lost the support of the emperor-tier nest—began to lose the ability to maintain their rule over the vast empire. The nobles everywhere began to stir restlessly due to the weakening of the imperial house, and the entire empire descended into chaos."

Ran Ze pointed downward with his hand, and a luxurious black seat composed of shadow elements materialized beneath him.

He sat down heavily.

"After decades of chaos, the Primordial Stone Empire split into seven kingdoms and dozens of principalities. The imperial family of the Primordial Stone Empire was hunted down by various factions amidst the turmoil, until the last imperial prince died at the hands of the Ghost Eye Kingdom, cutting off the imperial bloodline of the Primordial Stone Empire forever."

"Our Sea Serpent Kingdom was one of the seven kingdoms established during that great chaos. Back when the kingdom was founded, His Majesty the First King, in order to gain more support of power, signed a covenant with the four grand dukes who served under the Primordial Stone Empire at the time."

"The covenant stipulated that the four grand dukes would assist His Majesty the First King in establishing the Sea Serpent Kingdom amidst the turbulent times. At the same time, upon the completion of the kingdom, the four grand dukes would retain their ducal titles, and neither they nor the royal family would wage war against one another."

"This covenant had a validity period of one thousand years and was known as the Millennium Sacred Covenant."

"It is precisely because of the existence of the Millennium Sacred Covenant that, for the long span of a thousand years since the establishment of our Sea Serpent Kingdom, we have never fallen into internal strife, constantly developing our national strength and even annexing another kingdom two hundred years ago."

Ran Ze said.

"So, what you're trying to say is..."

Li Ju looked at Ran Ze.

"This covenant, while playing a tremendous role in the history of our Sea Serpent Kingdom, unfortunately has only three years left before it expires. The peace of our Sea Serpent Kingdom for the past thousand years..."

"Is about to be shattered."