Qin Ziyu wanted to level up, striving to cultivate, waiting for the Third Awakening to challenge the Qin King Array of the Qin Family, and then defeat Qin Qiu to prove himself.

After parting ways with Qin Ziyu, Chen Guan and Duan Shulin returned to the sanctuary.

Although they didn't obtain the Secret God's Child this time, it wasn't entirely without gains; they got to witness a glimpse of the strength of these noble families and also learned Shang Ziyi's body technique and rhythm.

At night, Ji Nanhong curled up like a small cat in Chen Guan's arms, her fingers placed on his solid chest, plucking like playing a piano.

"The Ten Celestial Kings have always had authority above the Ancestral Court. To put it nicely, the Chief Judge is the highest enforcer in the Divine Land. To put it bluntly, the Chief Judge is merely a mediator chosen by the Ten Celestial Kings to resolve conflicting interests between the Ten Celestial Kings and the Ten Great Families."

"So you're saying the Chief Judge is just an empty shell?" Chen Guan pondered.

"Not exactly." Ji Nanhong thought for a moment and continued, "Whether the Chief Judge has power, and how much, depends on the balance of power among the Ten Great Families. If their powers are roughly equal, then the Chief Judge will wield significant influence and can profit by playing both sides."

"But if one of the Ten Great Families gains absolute dominance, then the Chief Judge's power becomes quite limited." Ji Nanhong paused and added, "Fortunately, since the rebuilding of the Ancestral Court, although the power among the Ten Great Families has fluctuated, it has remained relatively stable overall, preventing anyone from breaking that balance. Over the past eight hundred years, the Chief Judge's resources have nearly equaled those of the weaker families among the Ten Great Families."

"My father's lifelong wish was to bring the Ten Great Families under the real control of the Ancestral Court and achieve equality under its rule," Ji Nanhong sighed and said, "Unfortunately, there's one major issue that cannot be resolved."

"What's the major issue?" Chen Guan asked.

"Do you know why there are Ten Celestial Kings and not some other number like four, five, six, seven, or eight?" Ji Nanhong didn't directly answer Chen Guan but posed a question.

"Because the Ten Celestial Kings are the strongest?" Chen Guan wasn't very knowledgeable about this and just spoke casually, waiting for Ji Nanhong's answer.

Ji Nanhong nodded, "Yes, it's because the ten of them are the strongest, their strength is something even the Chief Judge cannot match."

"The reason it has always been the ten of them, and not some other number, hasn't changed for nearly a thousand years. No matter how the times change, the Ten Celestial Kings remain as steady as Mount Tai, never having fallen. That's because the Divine Land's Great Cave Heaven has only ten, each occupied by one Celestial King."

It was the first time Chen Guan heard about the Great Cave Heaven having such a powerful influence: "Is it because of resources that Great Cave Heaven has such influence?"

"Of course, resources are everything. With resources, you can have everything. The resources of the Great Cave Heaven are the foundation of the Ten Great Families, including the Secret God's Child and the Secret God's inheritance."

Ji Nanhong continued, "Each Secret Realm is vast, even larger than the Divine Land. No discovered Secret Realm has been fully explored yet, but some speculate that each Secret Realm has its own ruler."

"This ruler doesn't refer to humans, but to Secret Gods. The areas occupied by humans in the Secret Realm are just a tiny portion; for the ruling Secret God of the Secret Realm, it's just a trivial, fingernail-sized area."

"Some even speculate that the so-called emergence of the Secret God is just an experiment by the Secret Realm's ruler, allowing humans and Secret Gods to coexist to test the potential for humans and Secret Gods to grow together. It seems to benefit humans, but humans are merely experimental subjects."

"But even so, humanity has gained enormous benefits from it, with overall strength enhanced due to the emergence of the Secret God's Child."

"Even among Secrets God's Children, there are differences in power. Generally speaking, the Secret God's Child from a Grotto Heaven has a greater talent and strength than one from a Blessed Land."

"The Secret God's Child of the Great Cave Heaven is the strongest Secret God; they provide the strongest power to cultivators. Unlike ordinary pets, the Secret God's Child can also offer many other inherited abilities to the host, capable of merging with the host to fight."

Chen Guan understood and said thoughtfully, "So, the reason there are Ten Celestial Kings is because they each have a Secret God's Child pet from the Great Cave Heaven, giving them an absolute advantage in combat power that others cannot match?"

"Correct, unmatched by anyone," Ji Nanhong nodded.

"Then how did the Demon King Qingbai manage to breach the Ancestral Court?" Chen Guan thought and then asked.

"The Demon King managed to breach the Ancestral Court not because of anything the Demon King did, but because he was chosen by the times," Ji Nanhong contemplated and explained, "In my understanding, before the Demon King, the Great Families had almost monopolized ninety-nine percent of the resources. Ordinary people were on the verge of being unable to survive; they either perished in silence or erupted in silence. Even without the Demon King Qingbai, there would have been a Demon King Hongbai or Demon King Lvbai."

"Who that person was is not important; the era was destined to produce such an individual to break the monopoly of the Great Families. It was only after that that the Ancestral Court managed to gain some real power, allowing the Chief Judge to truly develop and reach a stage where they could slightly contend against the Ten Great Families."

Chen Guan nodded slightly, thinking that this explanation made sense.

Ji Nanhong continued, "But the same issue will keep resurfacing unless a solution is found. Over the years, resources have once again increasingly concentrated in the hands of the Great Families. Even though the Ancestral Court mediates, the resources held by the Great Families are reaching a critical point again."

"If the Ten Great Families can't be dismantled and a relatively fair distribution of resources can't be achieved, then, before long, another Demon King might emerge," Ji Nanhong sighed, "The reason my father is so devoted to the Chief Judge is the hope to overthrow the Ten Great Families and establish a relatively fair world order. Sadly, the Celestial Kings backed by the Ten Great Grotto Heavens are too powerful, and toppling them is extremely difficult."

Chen Guan thought to himself, "Whether the Chief Judge's people and the Celestial Court Army can enter the Great Cave Heaven to cultivate depends on the Ten Celestial Kings. Under such circumstances, overthrowing the Ten Celestial Kings is indeed very challenging. Even the Celestial Court Army, considered the Chief Judge's Personal Guard, is largely composed of members from the Ten Great Families. Even if they succeed in defeating the Ten Celestial Kings and overturning the Ten Great Families, they'd likely just end up choosing a few new Celestial Kings."

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