Chapter 5: Cheonm and the heavenly demonic sect.

Yeonha was kneeling in a hall. A row of people behind her, twelve in total, stood in silence. They were the twelve palace leaders of the sect.

A palace leader was just like the title, a palace leader. A palace was a group or clan within the sect that held a major power and had distinguished martial arts.

It had been two weeks since she had woken up, and she had taken various 'recuperation lessons' to regain her 'memories.'

She was the sole daughter of the Cheonma, the heavenly demon, her mother was presumably killed in the war.

She was also 'retold' about various other information about the sect in 'hopes of helping her regain her memories.'

The Cheonma, her father, was a powerful man who had risen to power and had reached the Harmony stage with a step into the Origin stage in cultivation.

Cultivation levels were largely divided into three large segments of human, superhuman, and demi-god levels.

She only got to hear the names of the human stages without much of the details as there wasn't much time for her re-learn all she needed to before the Cheonma returned from the war.

The human levels consisted of body strengthening, qi reinforcement, and spirit cleansing in order.

As for the twelve palaces, this was the list she had to remember.

1. Sword Palace

2. Wrath Palace

3. Spear Palace

4. Moon Palace.

5. Lightning Palace.

6. Burning Palace.

7. Frozen Palace.

8. Poison Palace.

9. Demon Palace.

10. Star Palace.

11. Gold Palace.

And finally, 12. the Hidden Palace.

The palaces weren't ranked in order of strength, but each held a key role in the heavenly demonic sect. The headquarters of four of these palaces were located outside the sect: the Wrath, Frozen, Burning, and Gold Palace.

Learning the names, roles, and locations of the palaces and the names of the palace leaders was difficult for Yeonha. She had never taken proper lessons, though she doesn't know this fact, so her learning capabilities had been dull.

Of course, nobody mentioned this fact.

Anyways, the sect has been at war with the various forces of the central plains as their goal was to obtain better land and improve the living qualities of the sect members. The mountain ranges in which the sect was located in were mostly barren, with little food and water. The majority of the sect's resources were reliant on trade and imports, which the Gold Palace was in charge of.

The Gold Palace was the palace that was in charge of all monetary and supply-related duties. They were in charge of selling the various products the other palaces made in exchange for purchasing and importing the goods those palaces required or requested.

The Gold Palace, however, has been having a hard time recently. The orthodox sects and clans of the central plains had united to form an alliance and had been pressuring their business.

This was the cause of the Cheonma's trip to the central plains this time around. Their goal was to use force to drive back the orthodox alliance's forces and regain stability in some businesses.

Yeonha glanced at her so-called 'father' who met her gaze as she jolted and quickly lowered her head again.

The atmosphere was heavy, and she was starting to have a hard time breathing.

"Welcome back, Father." Yeonha quickly spoke out the dialogue that Shuri made her memorize.

"Hmm..." The Cheonma looked down at the frail little girl before him before smiling. "She has indeed woken up the shadow element. Good."

The shadow element.

Cultivators were prone to a specific type of qi, the so-called elements, but the shadow element was a unique trait to heavenly demons.

Yeonha did not know this, but none of the heavenly demons were actually blood-related. She would learn about this eventually in the future, but the sect would kidnap and brainwash children to become the next heir once they noticed they could use the shadow element.

Of course, it was not easy to find such candidates because of how rare the element was.

Not only that, Yeonha would have to survive the rigorous training that was to come.

"Come sit there." The Cheonma pointed to the chair that was a bit lower than his own throne and to the side. There was another empty chair on the other side, which Yeonha did not know the use for.

!!!

The palace leaders all looked at Yeonha in shock as she slowly walked up the steps.

Each step made her body feel heavier, but she finally reached the seat before sitting down.

"My lord, the seat is only reserved for the heir of the sect—"

The Poison Palace leader spoke out before being interrupted by the Cheonma. "And who decides the heir?"

"...You, my lord." The Poison Palace leader bowed as he quickly realized his mistake.

"I didn't gather you all here to give opinions on the new heir." The Cheonma glared at the twelve leaders as the atmosphere became even heavier.

'I can't... breathe...' Yeonha choked under the pressure.

The pressure made from qi was very light, but it was not something the body of a frail 7-year-old girl with no cultivation could withstand.

"Hmph." The air suddenly became lighter as the Cheonma stopped the pressure.

"Haa... Haaa..." Yeonha gasped for air.

"My daughter." Cheonma looked at her as he spoke. "Proper heir training won't begin until you are of age, but you'll need to have a foundation to survive that training."

He glanced at the palace leaders as he continued. "You will be given the opportunity to train under the palace of your choosing. I'm sure you know what each of them does. Which one would you like to join?"

The palace leaders all gulped as some slowly let out their auras to look good under Yeonha's eyes. The palace in which the heavenly demon originated from usually gained the most 'power' during that Cheonma's reign, and the majority of the palace leaders desired to become the next palace to train the next Cheonma.

Except for three.

It was the Sword Palace, Gold Palace and the Frozen Palace.