The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6227

The Basilica Hall stood at the very top of Saintlight Peak.

The great hall rose high and solemn, vast enough to press on the eye. Its whole body had been built from rare holy jade of light, and every piece of that jade had sat under holy radiance for countless years. A soft, sacred golden radiance flowed from it all.

It wasn't harsh. It didn't stab at the eyes. But it carried a force that made anyone looking at it lower themselves without meaning to.

From far away, the entire great hall looked as if it had been condensed out of light itself. It stood there in silence between heaven and earth, carrying a holiness and authority that seemed like it had never changed since ancient times.

The main doors of the great hall stood 300 yards tall. Carved across the two massive gates was the creation myth of the celestials—sun and moon, stars, mountains and rivers, grass and trees, and the countless living races. Every figure looked alive, as if the doors held the ultimate energy of an entire world inside them.

Above the doorway hung a massive plaque. On it were carved four ancient words in the script of the elder celestials: "the Basilica Hall."

The strokes were old and powerful. Every line of every character streamed with holy radiance, and somewhere inside that glow, the faint echo of a greater law seemed to roll through the air. One glance at it was enough to shake the mind and leave no room for the slightest disrespect.

The moment anyone stepped into the great hall, it felt less like entering a building and more like stepping into a true divine kingdom.

Thirty-six golden pillars, each so thick it would take dozens of people linking arms to wrap around one, stood in perfect rows and held up a dome that climbed into the clouds.

The pillars had been cast from pure gold. Their surfaces were set with countless tiny crystals of light, and scenes were carved all along them—epics of celestial ancestors fighting through the heavens, sweeping aside every race, and bringing all directions under control.

From the War of Gods and Fiends in the ancient age, to the suppression of the Abyss of Night, to the defense of the lives of all races in the Fourteenth Firmament, every carving was packed with detail and so lifelike it barely seemed still.

It looked as though, in the very next moment, those ancestors in divine armor with divine relics in hand would step down from the pillars and march out to war for the celestials all over again.

Every coiling dragon pillar gave off a faint pressure. It came from the aura of the celestial ancestors, from a majesty laid down over countless years.

Anyone who entered the great hall would rein in their own presence without thinking and lower their head.

Above the dome, there were none of the carved beams and painted rafters found in an ordinary palace, and no jewels or precious stones for decoration either. There was only the Sacred Sun, formed from the purest and most original power of light.

The Sacred Sun was not large, but it felt like the core of the entire great hall. It turned slowly, spilling down endless warmth and sacred light.

Where that light passed, even the dust in the air was purified. Anything dark, filthy, or violent dissolved away in an instant.

Under the Sacred Sun, the entire great hall shone bright as day. Holy radiance filled every corner.

Standing inside it felt like having the soul washed clean once over. All the stray thoughts in a person's heart, all the grudges and refusal to yield, were forced down for a time.

This was the holiest place in the hearts of the cultivators of the Fourteenth Firmament's Luminous Sanctuary. A sacred ground countless people spent their whole lives hoping they might worship at even once.

And now, Godric, the Lord of the Basilica, stood inside this great hall so many had only ever looked up at from afar.

In the vast, towering great hall, he looked especially small.

Especially alone.

There had been a time when he ruled a whole region with his name alone. He had been the master of the Celestial Palace, a figure who stood on equal footing with the Celestial Basilica, holding a foundation the Celestial Palace had built over tens of thousands of years, with powerful experts under his command, thousands upon thousands of disciples, and followers spread across every corner of the Fourteenth Firmament.

Back then, he had carried himself like the sky belonged to him. One lift of the scepter in his hand had been enough to shake heaven and earth and make every force lower its head.

Forget ordinary great clans. Even the other top powers had watched themselves in front of him and never dared show the slightest disrespect.

Back then, when had Godric ever taken the Celestial Basilica seriously?

In his eyes, the Celestial Basilica had been nothing more than a pack of old diehards clinging to tradition and refusing to move forward. They had occupied Saintlight Peak and called themselves the true orthodox line of the celestials, but as far as he was concerned, they were just hiding in one corner, too timid to step into the storms outside, crouching inside the Luminous Sanctuary and scraping by.

He had even mocked the Celestial Basilica in public more than once, right in front of countless celestial cultivators, without the slightest attempt to hide it.

He had called them "all reputation and no substance, sitting on holy ground and doing nothing with it."

He had said the people of the Celestial Basilica were "nothing but turtles with their heads tucked in, hiding in the Luminous Sanctuary and barely surviving."

He had said the Celestial Basilica wasn't worthy of being mentioned alongside the Celestial Palace, much less worthy of holding the name of the celestials' orthodox line.

Those words had landed hard, every sentence sharp enough to cut. They spread through the Fourteenth Firmament until everyone knew the same thing: Godric, Lord of the Basilica of the Celestial Palace, and the Celestial Basilica were sworn enemies, and he treated them as both the greatest rival of his life and its biggest joke.

At that time, no matter how far he tried to imagine ahead, he never would have believed the day would come when he would fall into a state like this.

But now...

Everything had changed.

Godric kept his head slightly lowered.

He did not look at the throne. He did not look at the Elders of the Celestial Basilica either.

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