Sovereign Of The Three Realms Chapter 441-450

Sovereign Of The Three Realms

(SOTR)

 Chapter 441: A Hundred Flowers Bloom When Huang’er Smiles

Jiang Chen sat beneath the Precious Tree of the Rosy Dawn, gently extending his senses to perceive this towering tree. Spirit entities such as the Precious Tree all possessed their own consciousness.

Although this consciousness may not give rise to a living being, one could still conduct a formless sort of communication through careful comprehension.

Jiang Chen had eaten a red fruit and had partaken of some of the critical factors that had been infused into the fruit. It was as if he’d formed a mystical mental connection with this towering tree. This relationship was different than that of flesh and blood, but felt even more subtle and mysterious.

Forefather Thousandleaf’s sensational words weren’t enough to waver Jiang Chen’s dao heart or brainwash him. However, Jiang Chen’s feelings had somehow, unknowingly, been integrated into the Precious Tree of the Rosy dawn.

Of course, it wasn’t because of Thousandleaf’s words, but that Jiang Chen had somehow built a bridge with the Precious Tree in his meditations, bringing forth a kind of communion.

He felt that this kind of communication was quite useful and would have great benefits on training his strength of heart.

Time passed in seconds and minutes. Jiang Chen sat cross legged, as if an old monk deep in his meditations, in a profound state.

After who knew how long, Jiang Chen suddenly opened his eyes to see the stars dot the sky, scattering over the heavens as if on a chessboard. It was actually already twilight.

The mid and senior level executives next to him had long since disappeared.

“Heh heh, Jiang Chen, you’re finally awake.”

Forefather Thousandleaf’s voice suddenly sounded from the other end of the Precious Tree. He made his way around the tree.

“Forefather.” Jiang Chen rose to bow and greet the forefather.

Thousandleaf waved his hand. “Jiang Chen, you no longer need to bow in greeting when you see me. You have obtained that right, and I care not about these details.”

Jiang Chen could feel the sincerity in the forefather’s words and smiled faintly. “Forefather, I’ve sat here for a day and provided quite a laugh for everyone.”

“Hahaha!” Forefather Thousandleaf laughed heartily and lifted his head to look at the immense, starry skies, laughing merrily. “Jiang Chen, you say that you’ve sat there for a day?”

“Can it be more than a day?” Jiang Chen was taken aback. He’d fully immersed himself and enjoyed that state. It was as if the immortals had entered closed door cultivation. There was no sun or moon in the mountains, and so he had no idea just how much time had passed.

Thousandleaf extended three fingers.

“Three days?” Jiang Chen was quite surprised.

“Thirty days, precisely a month. It was a day of the waning moon when you entered this garden, and now it is another starry night of a waning moon a month later.”

Thirty days!

Jiang Chen also found this hard to believe. He hadn’t thought that he’d end up sitting down for thirty days in one go. However, he quickly accepted things when he thought about it.

After thirty days of meditation, Jiang Chen could noticeably sense the immense rise in his strength of heart, and that his mind was a lot calmer.

Inspiration about all aspects of martial dao also burst forth in endless streams.

“Jiang Chen, your destiny seems to have much to do with the Precious Tree at this time. Otherwise you wouldn’t have sat underneath it for a month in meditation.”

Forefather Thousandleaf handed a token to Jiang Chen. “This is the entrance token for the Garden of the Precious Tree. You can enter and train anytime with this token. But remember, do not go near the Divine Fruits. There are strong restrictions placed on all of the fruits. If you attempt to touch the fruits without removing the restrictions, you will surely be attacked.”

Although the Divine Fruits of Rosy Dawn were precious, Jiang Chen had no more use for them in his current stage, except if a purple fruit was produced.

“Be at ease forefather, I am not a greedy person. I have already taken a red fruit and have another green on my hands. I would never steal what has been entrusted to my care.”

Thousandleaf laughed heartily, “Good, Jiang Chen. I have not judged you wrongly after all.”

Jiang Chen had gained much after a month of meditation. When he returned to his own residence, he discovered that his followers hadn’t been overly worried.

They’d all heard that Jiang Chen was training in the Garden of the Precious Tree and were very excited to see him return.

They had heard many of the legendary heroics of their young master had accomplished over the year. That day, when the Sky Sect envoy had displayed overwhelming strength, victorious in a battle royal against the experts of the three great sects, Jiang Chen had emerged from closed door cultivation at the critical moment, when even the forefathers were helpless. He’d visited upon the intruders the same treatment they’d given the three sects and shattered their arrogant aura, overturning the situation with one move.

It could be said that everyone within the sect had been discussing Jiang Chen over the course of this month, discussing the genius who was second only to the two great forefathers.

That battle had been quite public, the results unassailable. Even the sect head had been unable to defeat Sky Sect’s Gu Xiong, but Jiang Chen had easily trampled Gu Xiong.

What did this mean?

It meant that Jiang Chen’s strength was invincible in the spirit realm and was enough to crush all spirit realm cultivators. He was an absolute spirit king.

“Have you all grown accustomed to life in the Precious Tree Sect?” Jiang Chen swept his gaze across all their faces.

Judging from their expressions, they were all very satisfied with life in the Precious Tree Sect and were living quite a good life.

“Good, none of you have disappointed me.”

Jiang Chen was indeed a bit surprised that after a month, Guo Jin, the Qiao brothers, and Wen Ziqi had all broken through to the spirit realm and become true spirit realm cultivators.

Xue Tong had even broken through to the third level spirit realm.

Gouyu had even more astonishing results, ascending to the fourth level and becoming a true earth spirit realm expert.

The Precious Tree Sect boasted of a superior environment and rich resources that made their cultivation level advance by leaps and bounds. But of course, this progress was inextricably linked to Jiang Chen’s aid.

His Five Dragons Opening Heavens Pill had brought about very noticeable changes to them. However, in the Skylaurel Kingdom, their cultivation hadn’t advanced rapidly due to the limitations of their environment.

Now that they’d entered the sect and could enjoy the benefits of abundant resources in a bountiful environment, the advantages of the Five Dragon Opening Heavens Pill were fully demonstrated.

Jiang Chen thought about things again and again and decided to gift the green fruit to Gouyu.

Gouyu was the eldest and the leader of his followers. Her strength was the strongest among them now, and having the green fruit would be akin to giving wings to a tiger.

With her potential and level, she would absolutely have the ability to assail the sky spirit realm within a year.

As for Xue Tong and the others, they were younger and thus their cultivation a level lower. They wouldn’t be able to make full use of the fruit even if he gave it to them.

Although Jiang Chen had much in resources, he was very particular about using it where it was needed the most.

After divvying up some of the resources, Jiang Chen spoke a few more words of encouragement and dismissed the others, leaving only Gouyu behind.

“Young master, do you have further instructions?”

“Gouyu, there are no outsiders here. Calling me ‘young master’ feels quite odd. Oh right, I happened to be rewarded with a green Divine Fruit of Rosy Dawn when I obtained the achievements against the Sky Sect on a fluke. I have not much use for this fruit, and it wouldn’t be a waste to give it to you.”

“Green fruit?” Gouyu was startled and cried out hoarsely. “A fruit of the Precious Tree of the Rosy Dawn? I heard that it only produces fruit once every hundred years.”

“A red fruit comes about only once every hundred years, a green fruit once every three hundred. This green fruit will unconditionally help you rise two levels in the spirit realm.”

Jiang Chen tossed it towards her, the fruit drawing a beautiful arc over to Gouyu.

Happiness had come too swiftly for her. She was a bit caught off guard as she subconsciously caught the green fruit. Her sexy lips trembled as she found the current situation completely impossible to accept. Her heart was deeply agitated.

What was the concept of an unconditional rise in two levels in the spirit realm? It was absolutely flabbergasting!

And yet the young master had given a fruit like this to her just like this.

Gouyu was truly assaulted by a storm of emotions at this moment. She wasn’t only thankful for her original decision to follow Jiang Chen now, but was also completely shocked by just how immense the young master’s genius was. Even something like the green fruit that all the geniuses of the Precious Tree Sect salivated over was not much use in his eyes!

This was what Gouyu felt was the most incredible and shocking.

“Young master, just… just what level are you?”

“I’m but one step away from the origin realm.” Jiang Chen smiled. “However, I don’t know when I’ll be able to take this final step. I hope those of the Sky Sect cause trouble later rather than sooner. I have a feeling that meditating beneath the Precious Tree seems to provide an advantage in training my strength of heart. After taking a red fruit, I seem to have built up a mysterious connection with the Precious Tree.”

“The origin realm? One step away?”

Gouyu was stunned and didn’t know what to say.

When she thought back to the Hidden Dragon Trials and how Jiang Chen had found it difficult to gather even three meridians true qi, she didn’t know how to describe a genius who was now touching the doorstep of the origin realm in the span of a few years.

Jiang Chen laughed heartily, “I’m going to go visit Miss Huang’er.”

Jiang Chen had a question in his heart he wanted to ask. Although he didn’t feel that Miss Huang’er would admit to it, he wouldn’t feel right if he didn’t ask it.

“Sir Jiang, why do you not enter when you hover outside the door?”

Huang’er’s gaze seemed to be able to cut through all obstacles and sense that her visitor was Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen started. He’d just arrived with light footsteps because he didn’t want to alarm Miss Huang’er. He’d been worried that Miss Huang’er was practicing her music or reciting scripture or something and couldn’t be disturbed.

He hadn't thought that Miss Huang’er would point out his actions with one word.

He made his way in and entered the small yard. Miss Huang’er had cleaned it up quite nicely, and there were many plants and flowers placed within the yard, giving it a lively appearance.

Jiang Chen was also temporarily mesmerized when he saw the presence of another world within the yard. Although he was no expert, he too had some insights when it came to gardening.

The layout of the yard was open and grand, with the placement of the flowers and plants giving subtle rise to another kind of meaning in their layout.

“Sir Jiang, Huang’er has heard that you’ve made a great accomplishment as soon as you entered the Precious Tree Sect. Congratulations and felicitations! True gold can shine anywhere it is placed.”

Miss Huang’er’s soft and clear voice had a kind of warm closeness in it, warming the hearts of listeners.

“It’s no major accomplishment. The one who scared off the Sky Sect envoys with a few music notes however, is the person who has truly rendered this meritorious service. Miss Huang’er…”

Huang’er laughed softly, her smile as radiant as a hundred blooming flowers in that instant. “I’d planned on concealing it from you but it seems to have been a futile effort in the end. Alright, Huang’er admits to doing it then.”

Chapter 442: The Origin of the Ninesuns Sky Sect

Huang’er was forthright and didn’t attempt to deny her involvement.

As a gentleman, Jiang Chen didn’t continue his line of questioning once Huang’er had admitted her part in things.

Huang’er actually looked at Jiang Chen with a slight smile. “Sir Jiang, Elder Shun once said that he estimated that you would enter the origin realm in three years. I scoffed at the idea then. Today, two of those three years have passed, and here you stand, already at spirit king, but half a step away from origin realm.”

Jiang Chen was also surprised. Elder Shun had thought so highly of him that he’d thought Jiang Chen would break through to the origin realm in three years?

One had to understand that there were many factors as to why Jiang Chen had had such a smooth journey so far. However, many of these factors had been ones that Elder Shun would’ve been unable to anticipate beforehand. Even so, the elder had made that prediction three years ago, a testament to his foresight and breadth of vision.

Jiang Chen was rather curious at this moment, just what was the cultivation level of this grandfather and granddaughter duo?

Although he’d known and seen many things in his past life, it was difficult to ascertain someone else’s cultivation level unless they purposefully displayed their strength.

Elder Shun and Huang’er kept such a low profile that Jiang Chen had no way of estimating their strength.

Only one thing was absolutely certain, that Huang’er’s cultivation level was far above the earth origin realm.

Jiang Chen wasn’t dejected or envious. His strength would rise one step at a time as long as he held true to his path.

“Sir Jiang, the Sky Sect will absolutely not rest easy after coming off worse in the exchange that day. The Precious Tree Sect’s foundations will find it difficult to withstand their blows. What plans do you have?”

Jiang Chen started slightly, not having anticipated Miss Huang’er’s words.

“I don’t know how strong the Sky Sect is, but since I’ve joined the Precious Tree Sect, I cannot leave as I would. The world of martial dao constantly turns, and there exists no one who can take advantage of both sides. At the end of the day, it’s best to have some principles. Although I’ve just entered the Precious Tree Sect, I seemed to have built a marvelous connection with the Precious Tree after a month’s meditation beneath its branches. I have a feeling that although the Precious Tree Sect lacks sufficient foundation and is weak, it’s a sect that will pass down a legacy of spirit.”

Jiang Chen’s words weren’t putting himself up on a pedestal. Although it hadn’t been long since he’d joined the Precious Tree Sect, he’d found a sense of home after sitting beneath the Precious Tree for a month.

Therefore, when Miss Huang’er had asked him what his plans were, he didn’t speak lofty words of dignity with self righteous zeal. His heart was filled with the resolution to never submit to the Sky Sect. Even though he wouldn’t quite go to the lengths of dying together with it, he would absolutely fight to the last minute.

It wasn’t because he had great feelings for the Precious Tree Sect, but because he had a deep emotional connection to the Precious Tree.

Huang’er’s question had also been a probing one. When she heard Jiang Chen’s response, she too nodded lightly and was privately impressed by how accurate Elder Shun’s assessment of Jiang Chen had been.

Sir Jiang was truly one who valued relationships, a genuinely dependable person.

Huang’er had come to experience human nature in abundance since childhood. Most had sought to conspire against each other and nurse their schemes close to the heart. Someone as open and forthright, as perfectly straightforward in his actions like Jiang Chen, and also direct and decisive about his debts of gratitude and grudges, were few and far in between.

Huang’er suddenly felt that taking up residence in the sixteen kingdoms was actually not a bad thing. At least, the people she’d come in contact with during this time had all been very friendly and quite openminded.

Taking those next to Jiang Chen for example, they were all very friendly and polite. They didn’t ostracize her for her looks.

It was precisely because of this that Huang’er felt a bit ashamed of herself. She felt that concealing her features and purposefully appearing thus rather showed her as being not as transparent as the others.

However, since things had developed thus, she couldn’t revert to her original looks any longer. She could only continue down this path.

She didn’t want the others to misunderstand her because of her looks and exile her instead, causing her to lose the friendships she’d made.

Huang’er was similar in age to Jiang Chen. The years in which she’d traveled around outside with Elder Shun were the most she’d seen of the ramshackle life of a wanderer.

But, they’d also been the happiest and most simple time of her life as well.

There was no need for plotting or politics, no need for anything complex.

She truly treasured this time, and had even wished that these days could continue, with no changes ever appearing.

Sadly, the wind continues to blow even when the trees wish to stay still.

The Sky Sect envoy had broken the peace she’d found during this time. She hadn’t wanted to become embroiled in this conflict.

Unfortunately, the envoy had been unforgivingly tyrannical. Had they swallowed the Precious Tree Sect, it would’ve impacted her life here as well.

She, and those she’d recently befriended, would see changes develop in their quiet lives.

This was something Huang’er never wanted to see happen, which was why she couldn’t help but make a move to protect this simple and joyful lifestyle.

At the same time, she truly viewed Jiang Chen as a friend after the times they’d spent together.

Huang’er was a considerate person, she didn’t want Jiang Chen to know that she’d helped. Although she knew that he wasn’t the sort to care unduly about face, some criticism would develop if the others knew that he’d relied on the help of a woman in the end.

She didn’t even want him to know it was her.

However, Jiang Chen was such a smart person that he’d been able to guess it was her from the sound of the music. Since he had asked, she naturally wouldn’t deny her involvement.

It was a good thing that Jiang Chen was an openminded person.

However, she couldn’t help but remind him, “The Precious Tree Sect is truly lucky to have Sir Jiang. However, the Sky Sect has quite a background to them and thus a strategy needs to be in place for their arrival.”

Jiang Chen knew nothing about the Sky Sect.

Although he’d seen much in his past life, it was impossible to know everything on every plane like the back of his hand.

Not to mention that he wasn’t certain at all if the continent on this plane of existence was a part of the myriad worlds he had known in his past life. After all, the universe was vast, and the various worlds just a small corner of the cosmos.

However, Jiang Chen felt that this world should have something to do with the myriad worlds in his past life.

There were simply too many things here that he’d seen and understood before.

However, he didn’t know anything about the structure of this world.

A thought struck him. Miss Huang’er was so mysterious and so powerful, she must be from a powerful place. Why not take advantage of the opportunity to ask her?

“Miss Huang’er, do you know of the Sky Sect’s background?”

“Mm, the Sky Sect, full name Ninesuns Sky Sect, comes from the Upper Eighth Region and is one of the eight great powers of that realm. They would count as a premier force in this world.”

A premier force even in this world, that was an impressive background indeed.

Huang’er smiled faintly as her slender fingers probed slightly, taking out an ancient book and placing it on the stone pedestal.

“Sir Jiang, this ancient book is named ‘The Annals of Mountains and Rivers’. It records the structure of our world and chronicles all the territories, powers, and cultures within. Although simple, it’s a book that acts as a map. This book has helped Elder Shun and I greatly in our travels these years. If Sir Jiang is interested, you can peruse this book.”

Jiang Chen accepted the book with the words “The Annals of Mountains and Rivers” written on the cover.

When he flipped open to the first page, the words “The Annals of the Divine Abyss Continent” appeared.

Such a book would never appear in a place like the sixteen kingdom alliance. In this small backwater, ninety nine percent of its people would never even have left their birthplace.

Even the extreme experts had only been to the Myriad Domain or other territories within. They’d never walked out of the area.

Therefore, a precious tome that encompassed the entire world would never appear here.

Jiang Chen caressed the book, sensing the passage of time contained within. He was more sure than ever that Miss Huang’er and Elder Shun had an impressive background.

Ordinary characters would never have such a literary work.

Jiang Chen didn’t shy away as he began to leaf through it seriously.

This continent was named the “Divine Abyss Continent”. The main part of the continent was divided into the Upper Eight, Mid Sixteen, and Lower Thirty Two Regions. The rest of the continent was made up of countless areas of desolate wilderness, the sea, and mysterious locations that wouldn’t be seen in maps.

However, when Jiang Chen saw the words “Divine Abyss Continent”, his heart spasmed.

He couldn’t help that reaction when some memories from his past life floated upwards in his heart. The face of his first father, the Celestial Emperor, flashed in front of him.

When he recalled his father’s careful and attentive care, the efforts he’d put into refining the Sun Moon Pill, how his father’s fate was still unknown after the heavens had shattered…

Jiang Chen truly found it hard to control himself.

The words of “Divine Abyss Continent” [1] really tugged on his heartstrings, since his father’s title had been Emperor Taiyuan—the emperor of the deepest abyss.

That single word “yuan” summoned endless memories from Jiang Chen’s past life.

The powers in the Divine Abyss were divided into upper, mid, and lower ranks, from rank nine to one.

The Ninesuns Sky Sect was naturally a first rank sect. All first rank sects would have the word “sky” in their names, illustrating their pinnacle level of existence with direct access to the authorities.

As for the four great sects in the sixteen kingdoms, they were likely seventh rank powers. In the greater scheme of things, that would place them firmly in the lower rank.

Jiang Chen couldn’t help but sigh when he read up to here.

That a first rank sect was looking upon a seventh rank Precious Tree, Myriad Spirit, and Flowing Wind Sect with favor also meant that the former was assured of victory.

Jiang Chen could understand in that moment why Zuo Lan had been so arrogant and domineering.

Even a rank four inspector from a first rank sect had the right to call the shots and do as he wished in the sixteen kingdoms.

Ordinarily speaking, who would be able to prevent the light of a first rank sect from shining on a small place like the sixteen kingdom alliance? Even a sneeze from a first rank sect would be enough to destroy a seventh rank sect.

Jiang Chen closed the book lightly and smiled ruefully. “The Ninesuns Sky Sect is a big house with great undertakings. I don’t know if their appetite is too big in wanting a poor place like the sixteen kingdom alliance, or if a door had slammed on their brains. No matter how one looks at it, it really is disgraceful for a first rank sect to bully seventh ranks.”

Huang’er smiled. “The competition between the eight powers in the Upper Eight Regions is wild and venomous. They itch to extend their influence to every corner of the Divine Abyss Continent. Using the Ninesuns Sky Sect as an example, they seek to make the sixteen kingdom alliance one of their divisions. I estimate that they have at least three thousand of these divisions scattered throughout the continent.”

Chapter 443: Regal Pill Palace, An Alliance Proposal

Three thousand divisions!

Jiang Chen smiled ruefully when he heard this number. Was there any purpose to having this many divisions?

From his past life, he was well aware that the strength of a faction didn’t lie in how broad its territory or domain was, but if there was a spark of spirit and a legacy rich enough to cause everyone in this faction to revolve around it. The faction’s people would entrust their life and death to the strength of this legacy. Only in this way would a faction be eternally strong.

Although blindly expanding influence and territory seemed to be building one’s strength on paper, this kind of a facade was completely useless in critical moments.

If a sect’s core legacy collapsed, then as wide of a territory as it might hold, it would all be as fleeting as the winds. All would scatter like monkeys escaping a falling tree.

“The senior executives of the Ninesuns Sky Sect are just as crazy as they are arrogant. Even if they had thirty thousand divisions, all is for nothing if they are unable to have their subordinates submit wholeheartedly, much less three thousand.”

Jiang Chen sighed lightly and shook his head. He also understood that the Precious Tree Sect was utterly minuscule compared to the Ninesuns Sky Sect.

As united or as fierce of a resistance the Precious Tree Sect may put up beneath the might of the Sky Sect, it would be impossible for them to obstruct the Sky Sect’s further progress.

It was now a question of how much the Sky Sect was willing to put in for this division.

Huang’er was slightly surprised. If it’d been any other young man speaking Jiang Chen’s words, Huang’er would’ve thought them to be boasting without much thought and putting on a front of a deep and wise person.

However, when Jiang Chen spoke, all had seemed so natural and given, truly the reflections of deep thought and not empty words of grandeur.

“If Elder Shun heard Sir Jiang’s words, he would absolutely think the person in front of him was his bosom friend. It seems to be true that the truly strong forces in this world aren’t those overweeningly arrogant sects with their tentacles scattered in every corner, but those hidden in the shadows. Once these powers make their move, the sun and moon will shift colors, the mountains and rivers will burst apart, and even order shall collapse…”

“Mm? Does Miss Huang’er mean that this Sky Sect isn’t the strongest power in the Divine Abyss Continent even though it is a first rank sect?”

Huang’er smiled faintly and nodded lightly.

However, she didn’t overly explain. Not because she was being demure or pretending to be a mysterious sage, but out of concern that her saying too much would disturb Jiang Chen’s dao heart.

However, Jiang Chen’s curiosity was only directed towards the structure of this world. He didn’t really care about how strong the powers were.

Even the strongest powers were only thus in this plane of existence, and the strongest planes of existence lay beneath the heavens.

“Sir Jiang need not worry, with a genius of your caliber, it’s only because you’ve been limited to the sixteen kingdom alliance that things are thus. Otherwise, had you been born in the Upper Eight Regions, your name would’ve long since resounded beneath the heavens. However, the drawbacks of birth are but a factor in the initial stages. The path of martial dao is long, and with your potential, you will make up for the lost time sooner or later and become a legendary character in the Divine Abyss Continent!”

Huang’er was worried that Jiang Chen’s emotions had been affected by these words, and so her response was half encouragement and half compliment.

Jiang Chen smiled dashingly, “Miss Huang’er doesn’t need to worry about me, I have never fretted over my birth. I quite agree with Miss Huang’er’s words that one’s birth is never an issue. In the long path of martial dao, he who runs first may not run up to the last.”

Huang’er also smiled winsomely when seeing Jiang Chen’s forthright attitude. She’d been worried about Jiang Chen’s dao heart, but it looked like she’d been overly anxious.

Gouyu’s voice suddenly sounded from outside the courtyard at the moment.

“Younger sister Huang’er, is the young master inside? Forefather Thousandleaf and Chonglou are looking for him.”

“Yes, big sister Gouyu.”

Huang’er rose to open the door, walking back hand in hand with Gouyu.

“Young master.”

Jiang Chen laughed heartily, “Keep Miss Huang’er company for a while, I’ll go and see what the forefathers have in mind.”

Huang’er smiled faintly and didn’t say anything, a slight smile on her face as she watched Jiang Chen leave.

Gouyu giggled, “Younger sister Huang’er, look at you stare at my young master. Have you taken a fancy to him?”

The two girls had spent so much time together that even though their personalities were completely different, they got along extremely happily.

Gouyu was open and impulsive, exceptionally vigorous in her style, her hates and loves clearly delineated and her words direct.

Huang’er was open-minded in her thoughts and demeanor, compassionate and empathetic, giving others a feeling of being bathed in the spring wind.

When she heard Gouyu tease her so, Huang’er only smiled faintly as her long lashes fluttered a couple times above her pair of lively eyes. There were no impurities in her limpid eyes, no irritation, no depression, and no regret.

“Sister Gouyu, your house’s young master isn’t something meant to be confined in a pondto a small pool. I’m sure there are many girls in the sixteen kingdom who are already crazy for him. Do you want to add another set of troubles for him?”

Huang’er’s tone was carefree and had a trace of humour within it, artfully deflecting Gouyu’s joke.

Gouyu sighed lightly when she heard these words. “I don’t know about the young ladies of other houses, but the main disciple of forefather Chonglou, Dan Fei, has deep feelings for my young master. Except, she seems to have disappeared lately with not a trace to be found.”

Gouyu and Dan Fei had once traded harsh words in the Jiang manor, but Gouyu knew that Dan Fei had no malicious intent and so she didn’t really dislike her.

In reality, when Gouyu had once confessed her feelings for Jiang Chen, she had indeed admired and felt something for Jiang Chen, but it was more of a desire to repay the promise she’d made before the Hidden Dragon Trials.

After she’d calmed down over this time, Gouyu was rather conscious of her own position. She knew that there was more than a small gap between Jiang Chen and her.

Fairly speaking, she wasn’t a good match for Jiang Chen no matter how she looked at things.

Therefore, the current Gouyu didn’t have much in the way of love for Jiang Chen, but viewed him as family instead.

She truly admired him.

Most men, even if they didn’t like her, would take advantage of the opportunity after she’d confessed her feelings to obtain some benefits from her body.

However, Jiang Chen hadn’t done so and hadn’t devoured her to nothing.

This made her respect and care for him even more.

Jiang Chen had obviously sensed her affection, which was why he’d reciprocated so and had given even a treasure such as the green fruit to Gouyu.

One had to know that that was something even the geniuses of the sect didn’t have the right to touch.

When Huang’er heard Dan Fei’s name, she smiled slightly and didn’t say anything. “Big sister Gouyu, I’ve grown a new crop of tea lately, please try some.”

The two walked inside, chatting and laughing.

……

When Jiang Chen arrived at forefather Thousandleaf’s residence, the two forefathers had already been waiting for a while.

“Jiang Chen greets the two forefathers.”

“Jiang Chen, come, sit here.” Ye Chonglou patted the seat next to him and called out to him.

There was no one else present apart from the two forefathers. It could be seen from this that Jiang Chen’s position now exceed Sect Head Xie Tianshu’s and esteemed elder Iron Long’s.

Jiang Chen sat down and asked, “The two forefathers must have an important matter to summon me so urgently?”

“Take a look at this first.”

Thousandleaf spread out his hand and summoned a message glyph to his palm.

This was a glyph with a bit more information than usual. Jiang Chen furrowed his brow when done. “Myriad Domain, Regal Pill Palace?”

“Indeed, the Regal Pill Palace is a premier existence in the Myriad Domain as well.” Ye Chonglou nodded.

The glyph was from the Palace and said that they had already sent out an envoy. They were en route, and would be here in roughly a day.

The glyph also hinted that the Regal Pill Palace proposed an alliance and promised to help the Precious Tree Sect resist the pressure from the Sky Sect.

In addition, the Palace didn’t wish to swallow the Precious Tree Sect at all. The sect could indefinitely maintain its heritage.Their only request was to share the genius Jiang Chen.

Thousandleaf smiled ruefully, “Jiang Chen, to think that your name would spread to the Myriad Domain in such a short amount of time. Even a top entity as the Regal Pill Palace looks covetously upon you. Jiang Chen, you should know how conflicted I and wise brother Chonglou are?”

Jiang Chen could naturally understand. It was naturally two entirely different concepts whether the sect had him, or didn’t have him.

From the two forefathers’ attitude, he could see that they had long since viewed him as the hope of the sect.

No wonder they were in a dilemma about this condition for help from the Regal Pill Palace.

They ardently craved help on one hand, but felt that this price was too big on another. What if Jiang Chen went to the Palace in the end when the two sects shared Jiang Chen. What advantages would the Precious Tree Sect have then? How would they keep Jiang Chen?

Jiang Chen knitted his brows together instead. “The Regal Pill Garden is only a premier faction in the Myriad Domain, but the Sky Sect is one of the eight forces from the Upper Eight Regions. Does the Palace really have the ability to fight against the Sky Sect?”

As of the preeminent sects in the Myriad Domain, the Regal Pill Palace was likely a fifth, or at the most a fourth rank sect.

The Myriad Domain was one of the Lower Thirty Two Regions. The strongest sect to be found there would be a third rank sect, but none such existed yet.

The Sky Sect however, was first rank?

Jiang Chen couldn’t identify what basis the Palace had to resist the Sky Sect. Could they possible be here to defraud the Precious Tree Sect and leave after making some gains?

It was one thing to be scheming against him. Jiang Chen was a grown man and knew how to recognize plots. But things would be difficult if they were scheming against the whole sect.

However, Ye Chonglou said, “A Regal Pill Palace by themselves would indeed lack sufficient strength to challenge the Sky Sect. However, the former has a backer as well. The roots of the various factions are all intertwined in complexity. No one stands alone. Take the four sects of the sixteen kingdom alliance for example, we were able to operate at peace for so long before because no one cared about this place and therefore us as well. We were regarded as a remote backwater place, to be exiled as desolate wilderness at any time. But now, the Purple Sun Sect has let the wolf in and caught the eye of the Sky Sect. This spells absolute destruction for the alliance. With my understanding of the terrain and history of the alliance, the Sky Sect is absolutely not setting their sights only upon the four great sects, but viewing the alliance as a whole for a new stronghold, a setting ground.”

“A setting ground? What do you mean?” Jiang Chen was baffled.

Ye Chonglou gave a long sigh. “These are just my speculations. No one apart from me in the alliance has spent time to think about this. I have kept watch over the fortunes of the alliance. After countless research and comprehension of the alliance’s secrets, I’ve reached to one conclusion. The alliance was to be exiled as desolate wilderness and was fringe territory after sealing the ancient demon tribe. Why has the alliance never been valued in the Myriad Domain? Why does the Myriad Domain occupy a low position in the Lower Thirty Two Regions? There is but one reason, these lands were once a taboo for humans. An ancient battlefield between the humans and the demon tribe!”

Chapter 444: Envoy from the Regal Pill Palace

Ye Chonglou’s words were so shocking that even Forefather Thousandleaf’s facial expression changed drastically.

It was rather Jiang Chen who recalled a matter that had come and gone. When he’d returned to the Jiang Han territory once, he’d put his younger cousin Jiang Yu in charge of a spirit garden.

However, all of the medicine ingredients in that patch of land had matured overnight.

When Jiang Chen had investigated and sent people out to do the same, he’d come to the conclusion that it was a place of great ill.

That the spirit ingredients had ripened overnight was actually a very inauspicious sign.

When he’d left the Eastern Kingdom, he’d taken his closest family with him from the Jiang Han territory and hadn’t continued pursuing the matter.

The reason was simple, he’d ascertained that it was an omen of great ill, and so he hadn’t wanted to uncover or provoke this trouble.

When he heard Lordmaster Ye Chonglou’s words, he felt that there was a great possibility to the Lordmaster’s words.

“Chonglou, you say that our sixteen kingdom alliance is a place where demons are sealed?” Thousandleaf found this a bit hard to believe. “If this is so, then why does the Sky Sect want to set up a division here?”

“I’m only speculating. A great sect as the Sky Sect may not fear the demon race. In addition, the fringes of this seal are the most advantageous place for observation. The place of the seal also encompasses the fortunes of the demon race. If the Sky Sect wishes to grow stronger, then there is much benefit to be had in the fortunes, treasures, and various foundations of the demon race. However, there is too little information in the world about the demon race. I can’t fathom why the Sky Sect is setting up a base of operations here either. However, if there’s a reason for what interests them in such a poor backwater here, the only one would be the seal.”

Ye Chonglou’s information was quite limited, and he had a pitifully low understanding of the ancient demon race.

So although his theories were flabbergasting, they didn’t convince forefather Thousandleaf.

It was rather Jiang Chen who found this very plausible.

“Jiang Chen, what do you think about the Regal Pill Palace’s suggestion?” Forefather Thousandleaf was not very interested in talk of the sealing grounds of the demon race. He changed the topic with a question to Jiang Chen.

“The two forefathers should make the decision in great matters of the sect. Just let Jiang Chen know if you need me to do anything. I will not refrain from doing anything that is within my abilities.”

Thousandleaf was quite satisfied with this response and smiled. “We plan on accepting the Regal Pill Palace’s suggestion of an alliance, but they ask to have joint custody over you. The problem is, the two of us worry that the Precious Tree Sect is inferior to the Regal Pill Palace and won’t be able to keep you.”

Although he said this in a joking manner, it did indeed represent the worries of the two forefathers.

Ye Chonglou also looked at Jiang Chen with a hint of a smile. “Jiang Chen, I trust your character very much so, and your potential even more. By nature, you’re not a person to remain within a pond but will soar to the skies as a dragon one day. There will come a day in which both the Precious Tree Sect and the Regal Pill Garden will be unable to retain you. We only hope that there is always a place for the Precious Tree Sect in your heart. When you come into your strength in the future, please protect the sect a bit if conditions allow.”

Of the two, Ye Chonglou was more familiar with Jiang Chen, so his words were direct and a call to the heart.

In reality, Ye Chonglou trusted Jiang Chen and knew that he was a loyal person who treasured comradeship. He would’ve done so even without these words from the forefathers.

Ye Chonglou was saying this for Thousandleaf’s ears in order to abate his concerns and take out the best resources for Jiang Chen to use, to fully cultivate and help Jiang Chen.

“Please be at ease, forefathers. I have never been one to forget my roots. What I have comprehended and gained beneath the branches of the Precious Tree during this time makes me feel that I share part of my destiny with it. Once a disciple, always a disciple. No matter what disasters occur, as long as I have one breath of life in me, I will ensure that the Precious Tree Sect isn’t snuffed out.”

Forefathers Thousandleaf and Ye Chonglou were all overjoyed. They knew his character, and if Jiang Chen had spoken thus, that meant these were truly his thoughts.

“Forefathers, I leave matters of alliances to you. I will take my leave now.”

Jiang Chen wasn’t familiar with the Regal Pill Garden. Even if they were a premier first rank sect in the Myriad Domain, he had no plans to leave his sect for the moment.

He was in no hurry to cultivate when he returned to his residence.

Having reached the level of spirit king and being one step away from the origin realm, this gap wouldn’t be bridged through tempering his spirit ocean and an appropriate amount of time spent in cultivation.

Breaking through to the origin realm required strength of heart and a breakthrough in consciousness. That split second of inspiration was also vital for breakthrough.

There were many spirit kings in this world, but likely less than one out of a hundred could make it to the origin realm.

Training one’s strength of heart was quite a mystical journey.

Jiang Chen always had a bit more inspiration and gains from his meditations beneath the Precious Tree. He also had the slight feeling that if he wanted to break through to the origin realm as soon as possible, he should spend more time meditating beneath the tree.

That month of meditation had swiftly raised the level of his mental fortitude. Adding his practice of the Boulder’s Heart, this enabled his strength of heart to reach new heights under this two pronged approach. He’d reached the requirements of the origin realm.

All was in readiness from spirit force reserves to his strength of heart. All he needed was that flash of inspiration.

When it appeared, the origin realm would be accessible through a simple piece of paper, apparent after one poke.

Jiang Chen was in no hurry. He knew this breakthrough required a steady, calm mindset, just like all his training beforehand.

Great haste does not always bring about success.

One night, Jiang Chen was sitting cross legged beneath the Precious Tree, paging through the “Annals of the Mountains and Rivers of the Divine Abyss Continent”. This book, borrowed from Miss Huang’er, had been greatly useful in understanding this world.

“Does this Divine Abyss Continent have anything to do with the myriad worlds in my past life?” Jiang Chen tried to discern some clues from this ancient tome.

It was a pity that although the information within was quite well rounded, on the whole, it was a shallow exploration of the continent, not chronicling any of its secrets.

This could be viewed as a classic, and not an arcane codex.

Even so, Jiang Chen still gleaned much from it.

This book gave a thorough overview of the eight powers in the Upper Eight Regions. This also gave Jiang Chen a deeper understanding of the Sky Sect.

“So it turns out that this Sky Sect is quite particular, even the inspectors are divided into twelve ranks. With Zuo Lan’s cultivation at earth origin realm, he was only a fourth rank inspector! There are eight more levels above him. It seems the Sky Sect truly has deep foundations. However, from Miss Huang’er’s words, it seems that there are even more mysterious powers in the continent. Can it be…”

Huang'er and Elder Shun were both equally mysterious, and it could be seen from her speech and demeanor that they had quite an impressive background—maybe one even stronger than the Sky Sect?

If this was the case, why had she left her home to drift around outside? Since Elder Shun knew of her illness, why not take her home?

Jiang Chen guessed that there must be certain reasons at play here. However, he knew that there was no point in inquiring about certain things if folks didn’t speak of them.

…...

In a secret cave residence somewhere in the Precious Tree Sect, a man in an almond yellow robe sat in the place of honor, with Forefather Thousandleaf and Ye Chonglou sitting at his side.

The yellow clad man was the envoy from the Regal Pill Palace. There was a large Bagua embroidered on the back of his almond yellow robes, the unique symbol of the Regal Pill Palace.

“This is the personal letter from the head of my palace. Please take a look first.

His attitude wasn’t arrogant. Rather, a faint smile hung on his face, giving others a feeling of quiet confidence.

Thousandleaf accepted it and scanned it, handing it to Ye Chonglou for a look as well.

Ye Chonglou also took a look. The letter was written in a genuine and sincere tone. From the perspective of the Regal Pill Palace head, he was being quite courteous and kind to men of talent.

“Gentlemen, the Ninesuns Sky Sect has stretched out their hands in all directions these years with a domineering air. Their influence has not stretched into our Myriad Domain before. However, the Sky Sect has erected more than ten divisions in the Myriad Domain in the past ten years, and those are only the ones out in the open. No one knows how much influence they’ve garnered in the shadows. Although the sixteen kingdom alliance is in a remote backwater in the Myriad Domain, our palace head has long since valued the Precious Tree Sect. He does not wish to see the sect swallowed by the Sky Sect. You should also know that your strengths are precisely ours in the Myriad Domain as well. Therefore, our two sects have quite some commonalities from a certain perspective.”

Forefather Thousandleaf nodded his head slightly. The Precious Tree Sect was most skilled at growing spirit medicine ingredients, and the Regal Pill Palace’s foundations in the art of pills was the strongest in the Myriad Domain.

They did indeed have this in common.

“Gentlemen, you know our condition. Please speak your mind if you have any conditions. Since we are to ally, we should lay bare our hearts and have a frank conversation.”

The man from the Regal Pill Palace appeared quite easygoing, but that was because of his background and that his cultivation was above even forefather Thousandleaf. Therefore, despite his relaxed manner, the forefathers were still at a disadvantage.

“We only have two concerns.”

Ye Chonglou knew that it wasn’t convenient for Thousandleaf to voice them, so he spoke instead. “Firstly, how do you propose sharing Jiang Chen?”

“Secondly, will the Regal Pill Palace covet my sect’s Precious Tree of the Rosy Dawn?”

The yellow clad man smiled slightly. “The Precious Tree is indeed a treasure, but the resources of my Regal Pill Palace far exceed the Precious Tree Sect. Apart from the purple fruits holding some allure for us, we find no value in the red and green fruits. However, the purple fruits are produced once every six hundred years. This duration is too long, why would my sect think further on this? My sect has heard of Jiang Chen killing Long Juxue of the azure phoenix constitution and have divined that this boy has great fortune. Otherwise, with my Regal Pill Palace’s legacy, why would we need to ally with the Precious Tree Sect?”

In the world of martial dao, there was often a matter as “borrowing fortune”. If a notable character had innate, great fortune, then all the parties having to do with this character could borrow his fortune and find great success and prosperity as well.

The Regal Pill Palace had set their sights on Jiang Chen’s great fortune!

Chapter 445: Initial Alliance Agreement

“Gentlemen, although it’s rare for two sects to share a disciple in the world of martial dao, it’s not unheard of either. Jiang Chen has great fortune and will surely benefit both our sects. What say you?”

The yellow-clad man looked at the forefathers with a sincere expression.

Although the Regal Pill Palace was strong and had absolute advantage compared to the Precious Tree Sect, they couldn’t be haughty about this matter. Nothing forcibly-done would be agreeable, just like a fruit forcefully plucked would not be sweet.

In addition, if the Regal Pill Palace used force, then it was bound to result in backlash and may even push the Precious Tree Sect towards the embrace of the Sky Sect.

After all, although the Palace looked more suited to the Precious Tree Sect from the looks of things, their strength was far below the Sky Sect’s. Although it had its own backers, it would never be as convincing as holding strength in one’s own hands.

“If the Regal Pill Palace has only this one condition, then my Precious Tree Sect is willing to ally. Combining our resources also makes it more advantageous for Jiang Chen’s cultivation and growth.”

Thousandleaf also nodded. “How should we proceed with the alliance?”

The yellow-clad man smiled happily upon hearing this. “Good! You are forthright and decisive folk. I will immediately relay the message back to the Regal Pill Palace now, and the sect will announce our alliance to the Myriad Domain.”

Ye Chonglou suddenly said, “We have a small request as well. The alliance ceremony must be held in our Precious Tree Sect.”

The yellow-clad man remained silent for a moment. He didn’t dare easily agree to this and had to inquire his superiors.

“I cannot make the decision in this matter, I must ask for guidance from my palace head.”

The yellow-clad man formed a hand seal and produced a jade slip for transmitting his consciousness, inserting some information inside.

Ordinary message glyphs wouldn’t be able to traverse this long distance, so more complicated treasures were needed for communication.

The yellow-clad man’s jade slip brightened in an obvious response after a moment.

He laughed loudly after reading the message within. “My palace head seems to value greatly this alliance. He says that as long as the Precious Tree Sect agrees to the alliance, we will follow your wishes in all of these small details. My palace head says that we must prepare for the ceremony immediately and use the name of the Regal Pill Palace to invite the various powers in the Myriad Domain to the Precious Tree Sect.”

Thousandleaf and Ye Chonglou were overjoyed to hear this. It seemed that the Regal Pill Palace head was placing high importance on Jiang Chen indeed, to be willing to personally lower himself to come to the Precious Tree Sect to attend the ceremony.

This was giving the Precious Tree Sect a great deal of face.

In addition, the Regal Pill Palace had exceedingly great repute in the Myriad Domain. It was a preeminent force in this area. Who would dare not show face to an invitation from them?

Almost none existed who would openly deny face to the Palace in the Myriad Domain.

This was because the Palace boasted of a unique advantage in the Myriad Domain that placed it unequivocally first.

As the various sects all needed a myriad of pills, they all had to toe the line and show respect to the Regal Pill Palace.

Therefore, unless a faction planned on erupting in open hostilities with the Palace, no one dared to not attend this ceremony.

Finally, the two sides agreed on holding the alliance ceremony in the Precious Tree Sect after half a month.

The Precious Tree Sect had just held an induction ceremony for Ye Chonglou and Jiang Chen a short while ago, but that ceremony had been completely wrecked by Zuo Lan and his cronies.

This alliance ceremony was obviously even more important, so the sect would have to spend a great deal of time and effort to host it.

Ye Chonglou planned on doing everything himself and personally oversee this matter.

The yellow-clad man was an elder in the Regal Pill Palace named Wen Lang. He held a rather high position in the Palace.

Once the two sides had agreed on everything, Elder Wen Lang asked to see Jiang chen, but was told that Jiang Chen was comprehending martial dao beneath the Precious Tree.

“Haha, the cultivation of geniuses are extraordinary and cannot be disturbed. Since this is the case, I’ll have to wait until he emerges.”

Wen Lang knew when to advance and retreat, not appearing domineering just because of his psychological advantage. He was easygoing in all matters, putting Forefather Thousandleaf and Ye Chonglou greatly at ease.

Although the alliance had been set in stone, the fact that a seventh rank sect was to ally with a fourth rank sect, the sheer difference in position and strength made Thousandleaf and Ye Chonglou feel more or less a bit uneasy.

When the Regal Pill Palace received the Precious Tree Sect’s final response, they spread the news of their alliance the next day in the entire Myriad Domain.

Word of this caused immense waves in the Myriad Domain.

All sorts of powers were shocked. Had the Regal Pill Palace gone mad? The sixteen kingdom alliance was an absolute morass at the moment.

Anyone who set foot in it could sink in deeply.

And yet the Regal Pill Palace had announced an alliance with the Precious Tree Sect at this critical moment?

This meant that the former wanted to intervene in the sixteen kingdoms.

To explore things further, this meant that they were playing with fire and prepared to challenge the authority of the Ninesuns Sky Sect. Everyone knew that the Precious Tree Sect had offended the Sky Sect and refused their desire for assimilation.

The Regal Pill Palace was snatching food from the mouths of the Sky Sect.

Therefore, all sorts of discourse arose in the Myriad Domain in this moment. All sorts of bafflement, censure, speculations, and skepticism abounded.

However, the Regal Pill Palace’s usual style wasn’t one of a power that would randomly commit foolish acts. On the contrary, the Regal Pill Palace was an entity that always proceeded safe and steady. They did things with absolute certainty, not loosing the falcon until spotting the hare.

And now, they were running the risk of defying the will of the people to ally with the Precious Tree Sect! There must be some benefit to this that no one could see.

Speculations flew thick and furious as to what that might be.

However, no one could reach a conclusive answer.

The Regal Pill Palace’s invitations reached all sects and factions in the Myriad Domain. It was written very clearly that everyone was invited to attend the ceremony at the Precious Tree Sect.

Although the invitation didn’t mean to force anyone to action, it expressed very subtly that the Regal Pill Palace was highly valuing this alliance and hoped that everyone would give them face.

The connotations were very clear. If someone didn’t attend, that was showing the Palace no face. Therefore, when this invitee had a request to make of the Palace in the future, they too would give no face.

The powers in the Myriad Domain were as numerous as stars scattered across the night sky.

There were six large sects at the same scale as the Regal Pill Palace, all solidly fourth rank sects.

There were at least 20 a step down as a fifth rank sect.

There was another hundred or so yet another step down as sixth rank sects.

The four great sects in the sixteen kingdom alliance could manage to scrape by as seventh rank sects. They were at the bottom of the totem pole in the entire Myriad Domain.

They didn’t even measure up to the third rate power, no wonder they’d been marginalized.

If the four sects banded together, their strength on paper could possible vault them into the ranks of the sixth rank sects, or barely qualify them as a third-rate power.

Roughly two hundred powers had accepted the Regal Pill Palace’s invitation, and the attention given to this matter was enormous.

……

“Is the Regal Pill Palace crazy? Must they drag us into their madness? How troublesome for everyone!”

The Myriad Domain, Sacred Sword Palace. An enormous sword hung in the hall of a tall and rugged sanctuary, inspiring awe.

A middle-aged man with a deep look in his eyes and wildly-dancing long hair stood beneath the sword, murmuring to himself.

At the same time, various sect heads of some other first-rate sects in the Myriad Domain were clutching invitations in their hands, their brows tightly knitted together, obviously not at all understanding the Regal Pill Palace’s intentions.

The Tristar Sect was another preeminent power in the Myriad Domain, a rank four sect like the Regal Pill Palace and Sacred Sword Palace.

The three sect heads of the Tristar Sect were gathered in a secret chamber. There were a few others present apart from the three, one of which was Inspector Zuo Lan of the Sky Sect!

Zuo Lan was sitting lower down at the moment, his expression wooden with none of his previous arrogance.

From the position he occupied, it could be seen that he didn’t have much of a right to speak in this gathering, and that his status was the lowest one there.

There were two others, also wearing the accoutrements of a Sky Sect inspector, sitting in front of him. There was no difference between their uniforms and Zuo Lan’s, apart from the color.

One of them was green, the other purple.

It was obvious that the purple-clad inspector had the highest status. The three sect heads in front of him were almost fawning on him.

There were twelve levels to the Sky Sect inspectors.

They would wear four different kinds of uniforms, with ranks ranging from lowest to highest of gray, blue, green, and purple.

From one to three five-pointed stars would be embroidered on the robes, representing different levels.

A gray one star was naturally the lowest level, a first rank inspector.

Three gray stars meant a third rank inspector.

Zuo Lan was a blue one star, a fourth rank inspector.

At this moment, apart from the purple and green clad experts, there were eight other inspectors wearing blue as well.

All of them looked to the purple clad inspector as their leader.

The single star on his purple robes indicated his status as a tenth rank inspector. This level of inspector was of first rate existence in the Sky Sect. He would be treated with the highest level of courtesy wherever he went.

“Zuo Lan, repeat what happened when you visited the Precious Tree Sect.”

The purple-clad inspector’s tone was remote as he directed his words at Zuo Lan.

Zuo Lan felt as if he’d descended into an icy cavern with this single look, the frost biting at his bones. He didn’t dare tarry and truthfully conveyed all that had happened.

He was a docile as a domesticated sheep in front of his strong leader, with none of his previous self assurance.

“A mysterious melody broke down your aura? When had such experts resided in the sixteen kingdoms?”

The tenth rank inspector snorted derisively and turned to look at the sect heads.

The most senior sect head smiled awkwardly. “The sixteen kingdom alliance is a desolate backwater. We’ve almost never paid attention to them and truly don’t know the answer. However, according our understanding, the strongest within them is only at the third level origin realm, nothing in the greater picture of the Myriad Domain. Many factions are calling for their removal from the Myriad Domain.”

“If this is the case, then explain this invitation to me. Explain this alliance between the Regal Pill Palace and the Precious Tree Sect. Who can give me an answer?”

The tenth rank inspector was quite displeased and found the competency of those beneath him sorely lacking.

The situation now was greatly impacting the overall plans of the Sky Sect!

Chapter 446: Regal Pill Palace Head

The Tristar Sect was a new power in the Myriad Domain. It’d only been a few hundred years from their rise until now. However, they’d been able to become a first rate power in the Myriad Domain in just a few hundred years.

The secret behind this was support from the Ninesuns Sky Sect.

The powers beneath the Sky Sect were as varied as the stars in the heavens, blossoming in all directions. The Tristar Sect was that only in name. In reality, it was just a front for the Sky Sect.

If it wasn’t for Zuo Lan meeting with defeat in the Precious Tree Sect this time, the higher ranked envoys would’ve never come and gathered in the Tristar Sect.

After all, the Tristar Sect was a secret front, and the Sky Sect wouldn’t want its identity to be revealed if it was unnecessary.

This tenth rank inspector came from the headquarters of the Ninesuns Sky Sect. To put things bluntly, his single word could decide the fate of the Tristar Sect.

Therefore, although his tone was strong, the sect heads of the Tristar Sect all stood there docilely, with no one daring to show their unhappiness on their face.

The most senior sect head smiled apologetically. “Please cease to be angry, Sir Feng. They are courting death that they dare fight against the Sky Sect. In your subordinate’s perspective, why not allow the Regal Pill Palace be since they wish to die? The Sky Sect merely needs to send some more experts to suppress the Regal Pill Palace and can take advantage of this to display all your cards. Destroy the Regal Pill Palace, make an example of them, and see which other sects dare act so wantonly?”

The tenth rank inspector snorted derisively, “Make an example of them? Do you think the Regal Pill Palace is any random chicken or duck, available for the slaughtering? Do they not have any backers even with their unbridled behavior?”

The sect head of the Tristar Sect more or less had some ulterior motives behind his suggestion. Suppressing the Regal Pill Palace and having the Tristar Sect step into the light and become the Sky Sect’s representative in the Myriad Domain, the Tristar Sect would be the strongest in the area then and able to do whatever they wanted.

This would absolutely be a great stroke of fortune for the development of the Tristar Sect.

However, his suggestion had been rejected out of hand by the inspector.

It wasn’t that the Sky Sect couldn’t make a move on the Regal Pill Palace, but that it would involve the forces backing the latter and could ignite a chaotic mess.

Although the Sky Sect was in a rush to expand, there was no need to take rash action and make enemies everywhere.

“Collect all information regarding the Regal Pill Palace and the Precious Tree Sect. Give it to me within three days. We absolutely need to destroy the alliance. This cannot be allowed even if the party involved is the Regal Pill Palace. Although the overall arrangement of the sixteen kingdoms isn’t terribly important, those above highly value it. If we don’t handle this well, all of us present may be punished.”

The inspector left with a flourish of sleeves when he was finished.

It was obvious that he was quite dissatisfied, whether towards the Tristar Sect or the competencies of Zuo Lan and the others.

As a strong power in the Myriad Domain, the Tristar Sect’s influence on organizations below it was too weak, resulting in the situation that they couldn’t do anything in the situation that was developing.

They hadn’t roped in a single of the four great sects in the sixteen kingdoms. This was an utter failure on the Tristar Sect’s part.

Those in the Myriad Domain felt incredulous towards the Regal Pill Palace’s decision.

And truthfully speaking, there were also many who were voices of dissent within the Palace.

At this moment, the palace head of the sect was having a secret meeting with two highly revered and influential elders in the internals of the palace.

These two were the chiefs of the elder council. One of them was the chief elder, and the other the former chief elder.

These two represented the will of the elder council.

The palace head wore a pale-green long robe, his body slender and his complexion as clear as jade, as if a baby’s face. He had a natural pair of phoenix eyes and looked quite gentle and tender, giving one the impression of a lady when they first looked at him.

However, a shrewd light sparkled with every blink of the phoenix eyes, projecting the impression of his eyes being as deep as the starry sky.

This person was Regal Pill Palace head Dan Chi.

He was also the undisputed most highly ranked expert in the Regal Pill Palace. Even those reclusive old monsters in the Palace had to admit that his martial dao potential was at he head of the sect.

Dan Chi had only just surpassed a hundred years old.

At his age, there were many cultivators in the Myriad Domain still fighting in the mid ranks, toiling away for a chance to reach a more superior position.

But Dan Chi had already ruled over the Regal Pill Palace for forty years.

This was to say that Dan Chi had only been fifty years old when he took the reins of power.

In the world of martial dao, this age was merely still being a child, in contrast to the world of mortals.

Yet Dan Chi’s control over the sect at such an age was a testament to his potential and talents.

At this moment, he was squinting slightly and smiling without a word in the face of the two elders’ earnest entreaties full of spittle flying everywhere.

He opened his phoenix eyes slightly when the two elders had dry mouths, holding the relaxed confidence of being able to cope with all strategies and schemes.

“Elder Chang Feng and Elder Jin Gu, I have naturally considered all that you’ve spoken. I have given a great deal of thought to the matter of the alliance. If the two elders have no desire to attend, you can stay in the Regal Pill Palace and hold down the fort. I will personally lead the team to the Precious Tree Sect.”

Dan Chi didn’t explain anything in response to the two elders’ words, but told them directly that he had made up his mind regarding the alliance.

Accept it if you can, accept it if you can’t.

These words were enough to demonstrate Dan Chi’s bearing and control.

The two elders looked at each other, the epitome of resignation.

“Palace Head, the Ninesuns Sky Sect would’ve have set their sights on the sixteen kingdom alliance for no reason. There really is no value enough in a mere Precious Tree Sect that is worth us running the risk of offending the Sky Sect. How would you hope to convince everyone with such intangible and uncertain talk of this Jiang Chen’s fortunes?”

Dan Chi laughed softly. “Convince everyone? Why should one who accomplishes great things be overcautious and indecisive? Another party may have very well taken a step forward after you’ve spent a great deal of time convincing everyone. I, Dan Chi, have my own opinions and charisma in conducting my affairs. I won’t consider fawning up to everyone and have no need to convince everyone.”

The domineering tone thoroughly displayed the mighty presence of the head of the Palace.

“Palace head, you are monopolizing power! A single misstep can possibly drag the entire Palace into the morass, leaving us unable to extract ourselves. To put it bluntly, offending the Sky Sect can possibly be our doom!” The current chief of the elder council, Elder Chang Feng was huffy with anger by now.

Dan Chi didn’t anger and smiled faintly, “Elder Chang Feng is right, I am monopolizing power. Since the Regal Pill Palace wishes for me to be its head, I naturally have the final say in this matter. If anyone thinks I am ill fitting for this position, they can all band together to censure me. As long as everyone thinks I am unsuited to be palace head, I will immediately dust myself off and leave without lingering.”

Elder Chang Feng and Jin Gu were both speechless.

To be honest, Dan Chi had had a decisive and swift manner in his decades as palace head. Every single matter he’d undertaken had been fraught with controversy.

But, the Regal Pill Palace had improved greatly as a whole these decades, and the unity and influence of the sect had noticeably increased.

Previously, the Palace was known throughout the Myriad Domain for their mastery of pills, but their martial foundations were still a bit weak compared to the powers in the Myriad Domain.

When Dan Chi took the stage, he greatly emphasized martial dao geniuses. He felt that since the sect held an advantage in the area of pills, it should leverage this strength and holistically develop their strength in martial dao.

In the world of martial dao, an advantage in the arena of pills was an indirect one.

Only strength in martial dao was the truest strength.

Dan Chi had wholeheartedly been scouting for martial dao geniuses over the past decades and cultivating martial dao strength. The sect had to admit that there had been great gains in this area during this time.

Although there was still a gap between them and other first rate powers in the area of martial dao, that difference had shrunk noticeably.

Therefore, Dan Chi was greatly beloved by everyone in the Regal Pill Palace. It was laughable to speak of censuring him.

With his popularity in the Palace, any who dare criticized him was creating trouble for themselves and would drown in spit from everyone in the sect.

The two elders were well aware of this, so they could only try to privately reason with Dan Chi and not encourage everyone to impeach him. That would absolutely be a fruitless endeavor.

They actually weren’t opposed to the alliance for the sake of opposition. From their experienced perspective, they felt that it was demeaning the sect to create such a big fuss for a mere young cultivator in the sixteen kingdoms and ally with the Precious Tree Sect.

What kind of sect was the Precious Tree Sect? Seventh rank at best.

The Regal Pill Palace was a solid fourth rank sect.

The Palace had voluntarily extended an offer for alliance in the face of such a pronounced difference and was even heading to the other’s territory for the ceremony!

Dan Chi’s decision was such self humiliation.

It was one thing to make a fool of themselves, but another to take the risk of offending the Ninesuns Sky Sect.

And all of this was for a so-called genius cultivator?

What kind of genius could arise from the sixteen kingdoms? Was it worth it to go to all this trouble?

The two elders didn’t think positively of this at all. In their eyes, the sixteen kingdoms were a poor backwater. They wouldn’t even take a serious look at that kind of place, not to mention any sort of genius actually arising from it.

If even that kind of place had geniuses, then why would the sixteen kingdom alliance be in that half dead state?

Geniuses weren’t born that easily in the world of martial dao.

This kind of deep rooted thoughts and prejudice made the two elders completely unable to accept Dan Chi’s decision.

It was such a humiliation that the Regal Pill Palace, a fourth rank sect, the most noble sect in the Myriad Domain, would have to bend the knee and go to a small place like the Precious Tree Sect!

The two elders had seen much in their advanced age, and it was very difficult to turn this kind of bias around.

“Elders, I have led the Palace for so many years, and although I am a bit dominating in my style, when have I ever led the Palace astray? Jiang Chen could kill one of an innate constitution, and was able to suppress the inspector of the Sky Sect even with his humble background. How many in the Myriad Domain has this kind of potential?”

Dan Chi hadn’t wanted to explain himself, but the two elders had great influence in the sect and so he could only patiently offer up a few words. He immediately rose afterwards, “I have spoken all I will. If the two elders still disapprove of my actions, let’s see if my decision today was correct in a decade or two.”

He waved his hands after speaking, indicating a send off of the guests.

Chapter 447: Gathering At the Precious Tree Sect

The two elders sighed and left the secret chamber.

As Dan Chi watched the two leave, a confident smile played at the corners of his lips. “Having an elder at home is like having a treasure. But the two elders of my home like to butt heads with me. However, they mean well. It’s just that some things cannot be spoken of in detail.”

He smiled faintly, thinking of the mysterious elder who’d come to visit a while ago. Emotions swirled in Dan Chi’s heart when he thought of the mysterious elder.

The elder had used a random, careless move to thoroughly trounce Dan Chi.

It had been that elder who told him of Jiang Chen in the Precious Tree Sect, and had him keep this person in mind, paying attention so that no accident would befall Jiang Chen.

Of course, the mysterious elder hadn’t treated him poorly. He’d given Dan Chi some cultivation pointers and passed on a secret art to him.

When Dan Chi practiced this art, he was immediately dumbfounded and knew that he’d gotten quite a deal this time.

The most critical factor was that the mysterious elder’s pointers had enabled his cultivation to breakthrough in a short two months.

This had been the most amazing of all. The mysterious elder’s level of martial knowledge and cultivation level was magical to the point of turning rock to gold with a single touch.

“Ai, that senior didn’t tell me his name in the end. To think that I, Dan Chi, would have such a fortuitous occurrence in my life that a mysterious expert would give me pointers! What a pity that the senior only stayed a few days. If he’d been able to teach me for a year or so, I surely would’ve been able to be hailed first in the Myriad Domain. The Regal Pill Palace would even have hope of making a play for the position of a third rank sect.” Dan Chi felt deeply moved when he thought of the mysterious elder.

“I must heed well the senior’s remarks. He wants me to use all of the Palace’s strength to search for a treasure called Requiem Wood. I cannot be lazy in this matter. And for this Jiang Chen to be so highly recommended, he must be someone the senior greatly values, if not the senior’s disciple. Perhaps the senior is purposefully tempering him in the Myriad Domain. I have received pointers from the senior and must take good care of him and not let the senior down.”

Dan Chi was also very curious about a young genius that would prompt such esteem from the senior and was in quite hurry to see him.

He’d been quite surprised by the information he’d collected about Jiang Chen’s rise.

The Eastern Kingdom was absolutely a kingdom of the lowest level in this world. How could the son of a small duke from this region have shown such genius in his rise and accomplished so many astounding feats?

These matters may appear easily accomplished from Dan Chi’s level, but any one of these feats could be hailed as miraculous for one rising from the mundane world.

For a cultivator to create a miracle once, that could be deemed an accident or a fluke.

Bu to do so again and again and with different kinds of miracles, that was no longer something that could be summed up with the word “accident”.

Particularly killing Long Juxue of the innate constitution, and killing the elders of the Purple Sun Sect—these battle accomplishments all validated Jiang Chen as a genius.

Suppressing the inspectors of the Ninesuns Sky Sect had been even more ridiculous.

Dan Chi would’ve doubted this as false news if it hadn’t been for irrefutable intelligence.

But the reports came in one after another, none of them fake. There wasn’t a hint of exaggeration in suppressing the Sky Sect inspector.

This news thoroughly stunned even Dan Chi.

This genius would be another stroke of fortune for him.

It was an opportunity to discover a genius, and a personal chance for him.

If he could make use of Jiang Chen to build a close relationship with the mysterious senior, then it would be a chance that Dan Chi would never have again.

Dan Chi was one to do things with strong charisma. He wouldn’t dither about uncertainly after capturing an opportunity and would make a decisive move.

In reality, many sects had received news of Jiang Chen suppressing the Sky Sect’s envoy.

However, without an exception, the heads of these sects all felt that it was Jiang Chen showing off too keen an edge. Offending the Sky Sect was to court death, and none of them would need to become involved.

Only Dan Chi, thanks to the reminder from the mysterious elder and his own sharp judgement, made a bold move and decided to cozy up to Jiang Chen first.

A genius trying his best in the ordinary world and still able to suppress an envoy that had been greatly cultivated by the Sky Sect, was there a need to doubt the value of this genius?

What kind of sect was the Sky Sect?

A first rank sect! Their inspectors weren’t any random cat or dog off the streets. Which one of them weren’t a genius chosen from ten thousands?

Which of them hadn’t enjoyed the rich resources of the Sky Sect?

And here was Jiang Chen, someone who’d carved his path from the mundane kingdoms.

His circumstances of birth and growth had been so inferior, but he’d been able to still suppress his enemies. This was enough to prove just how astounding his potential was.

The Regal Pill Palace formed an impressive convey and officially set out for the Precious Tree Sect after seven days beneath Dan Chi’s guidance.

No matter if the powers within the Myriad Domain were willing or not, they all sent out more respectable representatives to attend the alliance ceremony.

Everyone in the Precious Tree Sect was beyond excited when they learned that they were to ally with a first rate sect in the Myriad Domain.

Under Thousandleaf and Ye Chonglou’s leadership, the Precious Tree Sect almost emptied itself to welcome the arrival of the Palace’s entourage.

In the moment that Dan Chi appeared, hearts up and down the Precious Tree Sect beat rapidly. Even Thousandleaf had a feeling that he was meeting his idol.

Dan Chi’s cultivation had long since departed the origin realm, becoming a first rate sage realm cultivator.

How would those in the Precious Tree Sect not be emotional that such a character had personally come to the sect?

No sage realm cultivator had ever emerged in the Precious Tree Sect. Dan Chi’s arrival was breaking their historic record.

“A sage realm expert visiting is lending luster to our humble house.” Thousandleaf sighed with emotion.

Dan Chi laughed heartily, “I’ve heard that the Precious Tree Sect has a magical Precious Tree of the Rosy Dawn, and now that a genius such as Jiang Chen has appeared, all this is enough to demonstrate the sect’s extraordinary fortunes. Mm? Where is Jiang Chen? Why do I not see him?”

Dan Chi was able to identify with a sweep of his eyes that Jiang Chen was not amongst the Precious Tree Sect members.

Although he didn’t know this genius and had never seen him, Dan Chi was able to draw this conclusion with one look. Such was the vision of an expert.

“Palace head, Jiang Chen has been comprehending dao beneath the Precious Tree. Even I haven’t seen him in all this time.” Elder Wen Lang, who’d arrived to negotiate earlier, smiled in explanation.

“Haha, a genius cannot be disturbed in his cultivation. Come, let’s go inside and talk.” Dan Chi’s smile was quite bright and clear. Although the Precious Tree Sect was a bit shabby in their eyes, there was no reason for the Regal Pill Palace to look down on their ally.

Besides, the Palace was here for Jiang Chen. They didn’t really think they’d be able to obtain any reinforcements from the Precious Tree Sect.

That would simply be too unrealistic. The difference between the two were too great.

The various parties that the Regal Pill Palace had invited to attend the ceremony also arrived after the Palace.

“The representatives of the four families of the Great Cathedral have arrived!”

“The representative of the Sacred Sword Palace has arrived!”

“The representative of the Walkabout Sect has arrived!”

“The representative of the Dark North Sect has arrived!”

“The representative of the Tristar Sect has arrived!”

There were six first rate powers in the Myriad Domain, all of which were fourth rank sects. They were the Great Cathedral, Sacred Sword Palace, Walkabout Sect, Dark North Sect, Tristar Sect, and the Regal Pill Palace.

That made for one hall, two palaces, and three sects.

The hall’s strength was the strongest, having the hints of being able to become a third rank sect. The Great Cathedral was made up of four families.

They were the undisputed first in the Myriad Domain in terms of martial strength and foundations.

The two palaces and three halls were on par with each other and all had their strengths.

These six sects formed the strongest faction in the Myriad Domain.

The second rate and third rate factions beneath them had also received the invitation of the Regal Pill Palace. They were far inferior to the Palace.

Many of them had been startled by the attention when they received their invitations, and even less likely to not respond. The representatives they sent were their elites, giving the Regal Pill Palace more than enough face.

The other first rate powers had also shown great support and sent people who held actual power in their sects, as well as the elite geniuses from their younger generation.

It was obvious that everyone had received word that the Regal Pill Palace was allying with the Precious Tree Sect because of Jiang Chen.

Therefore, everyone was quite curious just what kind of genius was this Jiang Chen, that the Palace had made such a crazy move?

The geniuses of the various sects had found the intelligence of Jiang Chen suppressed the Sky Sect’s inspector hard to swallow. Hence, they’d all suggested in coming to watch the show.

It was apparent that geniuses walked a lonely path and would never submit to each other.

Although the Precious Tree Sect was a bit shabby, there was no problem in it containing a few thousand guests.

The alliance ceremony was held in the spacious square on the outskirts of the Precious Tree.

The towering Precious Tree could be viewed from far way in the square. It was impressive and grand, as if cutting straight into the clouds.

If there was anything worth mentioning for this sect, that would be this Precious Tree.

But to those first rate heavyweights, even the Precious Tree wasn’t enough to hold their eye.

No one looked at it again after flicking a careless glance at it.

“Honored guests, thank you for giving face to my Regal Pill Palace and the Precious Tree Sect today in coming to attend the alliance ceremony. The wine that you drink today is the exclusive Goddess Jade Brew from Palace. I hope everyone can drink to their heart’s content!” As the party wanting the alliance, Dan Chi was naturally the first to speak.

“I, Dan Chi, represent the Regal Pill Palace do hereby burn incense and swear that starting today, my Regal Pill Palace and the Precious Tree Sect enter into an alliance. We will support each other. If one side is trodden upon, the other must provide aid with no conditions attached. From henceforth on, we will share in each other’s glory and humiliation, and be of the same breath and branches.”

Dan Chi began to solemnly recite his pledge after he lit a few sticks of incense.

Thousandleaf was actually a bit nervous in front of so many pairs of eyes, but he still mimicked Dan Chi’s gestures and language and began his recitation as well.

The representatives of the various powers all hid meaningful smiles at this scene.

It was obvious that this scene looked beyond comical in their eyes.

A fourth rank sect allying with a seventh rank, and making such big fuss of things? How laughable!

Some didn’t even bother hiding the traces of mockery in their smiles.

Chapter 448: Strange Phenomenon in the Skies

Smearing animal blood on their lips, they swore to the heavenly law.

The alliance ceremony had been conducted in a very formal fashion. The two made their vows and paid their respects to the heavens.

“Heh heh, it looks like the Precious Tree Sect are some lucky bastards. What does the Regal Pill Palace see in them anyway?”

“I hear that they’ve set their sights on a genius disciple called Jiang Chen?”

“What genius disciple? Do you see any genius disciples amongst the Precious Tree Sect disciples?”

“A so-called genius disciple is likely just a pretext, isn’t it? The Regal Pill Palace’s true goal is probably the Precious Tree?”

“Heh heh, that’s probably it. The Regal Pill Palace is most proficient in the dao of pills. If there’s anything about the Precious Tree Sect that holds an allure for the Palace, it must be the Divine Fruits.”

“How laughable! The Precious Tree Sect thinks a meat pie has fallen from the sky in their good luck, but little do they know that this is leading the wolf into the house.”

“Heh heh, sheep allying with wolves. They’re looking to die!”

“Oh come now, perhaps the Palace really wants that genius? I’ve heard that genius killed the Purple Sun Sect’s innate constitution disciple and suppressed the inspector from the Sky Sect?”

“Hmph, suppressed the inspector from the Sky Sect? Who knows if that’s true or not? Did you see it with your own eyes? It’s very possible that the Precious Tree Sect exaggerated things to give themselves face.”

“But it doesn’t feel like it… I’ve seen information about that Jiang Chen, and the momentum of his rise is very peculiar. He was originally the heir of a small duke in a third rate kingdom within the sixteen kingdoms, but within a couple years he rapidly rose to walk amongst the clouds. It all feels quite miraculous.”

“Hmph, I still think the rumors exaggerate. Otherwise, why doesn’t this genius show his face today and open everyone’s eyes?”

Similar discourse rose and fell in every corner of the guests’ area.

It was apparent that no one looked favorably upon the current alliance. Most felt that the Regal Pill Palace had ulterior motives.

The ritual involving paying their respects to the heavens and smearing beasts’ blood on their lips came to an end at this time.

The sect heads on both sides exchanged tokens symbolizing the successful establishment of the alliance.

Dan Chi’s face was filled with delight as he said with a laugh, “From now on, my Regal Pill Palace and the Precious Tree Sect are allies. All the fellow daoists present please bear witness. From henceforth, the Precious Tree Sect and the Regal Pill Palace are brother-sects. Please take care of the Precious Tree Sect disciples as they travel around in the future.”

These words were delivered subtly, but it was a warning to everyone that when those of the Precious Tree Sect walked about the jianghu [1] in the future, you better not bully them like they come from a humble sect or abode. The Regal Pill Palace is backing the Precious Tree Sect now, whoever bullies them is pitting themselves against the Palace.

Those assembled could still read between the lines.

Forefather Thousandleaf and Ye Chonglou looked at each other, a hint of joy flashing through their eyes. Dan Chi’s attitude at least, was filled with sincerity.

A voice rang out from the guests’ area at this time. “Sage Dan Chi, it is indeed a great thing that the Regal Pill Palace and the Precious Tree Sect have allied. However, there are numerous rumors swirling these days and everyone is rather curious, why has the Regal Pill Palace chosen to ally with the Precious Tree Sect at this critical moment?”

“Indeed, Palace Head Dan Chi, we’ve heard that this sect is the prey of the Sky Sect. Aren’t the Palace’s actions making an enemy out of the Sky Sect?”

“Heh heh, I’ve rather heard that the Palace Head employed his utmost charisma for a genius youth in order to form this alliance. Palace Head Dan Chi, just who is this genius youth? Why doesn’t he show himself so everyone can take his measure and see if the Palace Head’s actions were worth all this?”

Those running their mouths were all heavyweights in the Myriad Domain and great personages who’d come from the six first-rate powers in the Domain.

Only this type of people dared voice such words at such an occasion. It was blatant that there were many who were privately irked that the Regal Pill Palace and the Precious Tree Sect were forming an alliance.

They subconsciously felt that this was the Regal Pill Palace expanding its territory. As another first-rate power in the Myriad Domain, the Regal Pill Palace was actually a latent threat to others.

Compared to the heavyweights of these sects, Dan Chi lacked much in terms of age and experience. However, he occupied a superior position and exuded the aura befitting it.

Dan Chi smiled noncommittally at these provocative questions.

“The consequences of whether or not my actions were worth it will fall on my Regal Pill Palace alone. I will experience the warmth and cold of the aftereffects, what need is there for you to assess the worth? As for the Sky Sect, the Myriad Domain is our territory. Does everyone think that preventing the Sky Sect from encroaching onto the Myriad Domain is the responsibility solely of my Palace? If we allow the Sky Sect to expand as they will, all of us present will be their vassals in less than a hundred years. I’m afraid you’ll see your own sect being made a fool of before you can poke fun of my Palace.”

Dan Chi laughed heartily, not affected at all by the slander from the outside world. Looking favorably upon my actions or not, I do as I wish.

“Palace Head Dan Chi is a forthright person alright, but we’ve all traveled such a great distance to participate in this ceremony. You should at least let us broaden our worldview, hmm? Just how amazing is the genius for Palace Head Dan to lower his gaze?”

“Indeed, look at how many geniuses in the Myriad Domain have come because of these news? They have come to see just how impressive the genius from the sixteen kingdoms could be. Palace Head Dan can’t just dampen spirits like this.”

“I heard that the genius killed one with an innate constitution and suppressed an inspector of the Sky Sect?”

“The rumors are so ludicrous, they’re making a mountain out of a molehill, no?”

Everyone could only refocus on Jiang Chen when they saw that they couldn’t faze Dan Chi. It was alright if they poked fun at the rumored genius that Dan Chi wanted, right?

If this was a fake genius, then Dan Chi’s intentions behind this alliance were suspect. If this was so, everyone could make use of the opportunity to wax eloquent.

If this genius really did have a bit of talent, then everyone could hoist high the dueling banner and send out their elites, thoroughly trouncing the genius and suppressing his glamour. They could cut off the genius’ path and suppress the weighty momentum behind this alliance, indirectly dissolving this alliance.

Dan Chi was contemplating when a shrill scream suddenly rang out.

“Eh? What’s that?!”

This voice stood out quite a bit and shifted everyone’s focus in its direction.

The man’s face was incredulous as he pointed at the sky, stammering out with agitation, “Look… look at the sky!”

Everyone was curious and looked towards the boundless skies his finger was pointing at.

Their expressions all changed drastically with a single look.

A strange phenomenon had appeared in the skies while they were exchanging words.

At this moment—-

Clouds were filling the heavens, half of them black and the other half white, cleaving the sky in two. It seemed to be a clash between two waves of clouds, forming an enormous vortex and churning up the entire sky. The black and white clouds were clearly outlined, each keeping to their side and forming the shape of two fish in a yin yang—the Taiji fish.

This enormous Taiji fish vortex loomed over the entire horizon.

Thick layers of clouds continued to intertwine and be sucked into the yin yang vortex.

The center of the vortex seemed to lead straight into a hidden realm of the universe. It embodied countless profound mysteries and caused the black and white clouds roil towards that center.

Suddenly, the center of the vortex shot forth with blinding chromatic light that abruptly illuminated the lands of the Myriad Domain.

Mesmerizing splendor rained down over a wide span of territory as calmness descended.

In that moment, the vividly-colored air currents actually formed rainbow bridges in the air!

The cloud layer continued to coalesce, grow, and change—coagulating into a magnificent view of the shapes of numerous celestials!

There were deities, fiercely glaring Buddha warrior attendants, dragons and lions, goddesses of the nine heavens, immortal mountains and treasure towers, tall buildings and pavilions, Buddha seats, blades and swords, spears and halberds…

Dragons soared and brightly-plumed phoenixes danced through the sky.

Chirp chip!

At this moment, countless birds’ cries traveled from all around. Numerous auspicious birds flocked in from every direction to gather around the celestial beings, emitting happy cries.

There were azure lesser phoenixes, rainbow-colored lesser phoenixes, vermillion birds, and divine phoenixes all gliding in an elegant dance around the figures in the skies.

It seemed that all the living beings on the ground had been startled as well. They rushed out of their territories and headed for a higher ground, baying and roaring in reaction to the strange phenomenon.

In that instant, everything below and within the heavens raged and roared as all living beings seem to form a marvelous accord and created this phenomenon that resonated between the skies and earth.

Everyone was dumbfounded by this scene.

They held their breaths and looked incredulously at the scene in front of them, unable to return to their senses for a long time.

Huang’er was playing on her instrument within the Precious Tree Sect. Her guzheng’s strings paused briefly and emitted a dull sound, disturbing her thoughts.

She too was extremely surprised when she lifted her head and saw the phenomenon. She put down her instrument, rose softly to her feet and looked incredulously at the landscape painting itself across the boundless skies.

She had been entertaining herself just now and had entered a state in which she was oblivious to the world. Such a state was a type of extremely deep meditation of the heart.

This kind of state was absolutely on par with Jiang Chen’s Boulder’s Heart.

Even so, she’d been startled awake. This was enough to prove how grand of an influence this phenomenon exercised.

Huang’er’s gaze was deep as she looked at the scene in front of her. Suddenly, her slender eyebrows quirked as a trace of surprise appeared and she looked in the direction of the Precious Tree of the Rosy Dawn.

This was because she could faintly feel that the center of the Taiji fish, the radiant splendor shooting in all directions, the communion with the earth, the source of everything, originated from the Precious Tree Garden!

A thought struck Huang’er as she looked astonished. She murmured, “Could it be… can it be that Sir Jiang has broken through to the origin realm and triggered this phenomenon? It’s impossible for a cultivator to cause this even when breaking through to the sage realm!”

Although Huang’er felt this was incredulous, she had a unique cultivation method that bestowed upon her exceedingly strong observation skills. She could faintly grasp that the source of this phenomenon was Jiang Chen, who was cultivating in the garden.

“Elder Shun… Huang’er is truly in awe of your foresight. If you were here at this moment, you would likely want to have him inherit your cultivation method?”

Huang’er sighed lightly, genuinely happy for Jiang Chen from the depths of her heart.

“Ask not where a hero comes from. Sir Jiang is a remarkable prodigy with great wisdom, immense breadth of mind, and a magnanimous bearing. Indeed, even wonders among skies and lands have arisen because of him. This marks the rise of an unparalleled power. The heavenly law cannot be hoodwinked. Only Sir Jiang is worthy of such enormous fortune.”

The entire Divine Abyss continent was shocked and awed by this occurrence, even some old monsters who were usually unconcerned from worldly affairs were completely taken aback.

How many years had it been since a phenomenon of this magnitude had occurred?

Chapter 449: Jiang Chen Enters the Origin Realm

“That direction is… the Myriad Domain? What’s happened there?”

“Could it be that a peerless powerhouse has appeared there?”

“Such frightening phenomenon must be the precursor to the emergence of a great being who can shake the Divine Abyss Continent to the core!”

The old monsters of the Divine Abyss Continent all stared toward the Myriad Domain, full of questions, confusion, and astonishment.

This phenomenon lasted for roughly two hours before slowly fading away. Everyone still hadn’t taken in their fill of it and they all stood there wonderstruck, staring dumbly at the skies, unable to believe that what they’d just seen was real.

Jiang Chen sat cross-legged beneath the Precious Tree, akin to a stone statue.

The circulation that had formed within his body at this moment was at the exact same wavelength as the various celestial forms in the sky, resonating with them.

He never would’ve thought that he would trigger such terrifying phenomenon when he ascended to the origin realm.

From the memories of his past life, those who could form such an astounding scene were only cultivators at the peak of the mortal plane ascending to the heavenly plane.

In this moment, a seal that wavered in and out of existence appeared in his consciousness.

There were nine spheres circulating the edges of the seal, as if water droplets forming another seal in the shape of a chain.

There was a mysterious seal within this chain, something beyond Jiang Chen’s grasp.

But as his consciousness reeled, he could feel the frightening power within the seal, as if it contained an ancient demon or ferocious beast that would destroy the entire Divine Abyss Continent if set free.

“Could it be that my reincarnation wasn’t just happenstance, but had something to do with my Celestial Father? Otherwise, why the seal in my consciousness?”

Even though Jiang Chen had trained the Boulder’s Heart in this life, never would he believe that a seal with such tremendous power would appeared out of nowhere.

He felt countless iron needles stabbing at his soul if he tried even slightly to meditate upon that mysterious strength.

With the current level of his consciousness, he was unable to even scratch the surface, much less unravel this mysterious power.

Jiang Chen guessed that this strength must have something to do with his father from his past life.

In the moment that he broke through to the origin realm, his consciousness had spun at high speeds as his bodily operations had cycled swiftly, accidentally brushing the seal and triggering the phenomenon.

Jiang Chen had been a bit dumbfounded in that instant.

Fortunately, he’d seen much in his past life and guessed that this phenomenon had something to do with his breakthrough. He’d hastily controlled his consciousness and avoided the seal in his mind. Otherwise, the phenomenon might have been even more ridiculous and lasted even longer.

Countless old monsters lying in wait within the entire Divine Abyss Continent cast sideways glances full of wariness at the Myriad Domain.

Meanwhile, Jiang Chen submerged himself in the gains he’d made and the joy of breaking through to the origin realm.

Once the gateway to the origin realm was open, countless doors to martial dao opened as well.

The Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice was growing at a rate visible to the human eye, having unlocked another set of it’s abilities after Jiang Chen entered the origin realm.

He could now simultaneously manipulate seventy two fire and ice lotuses.

The most critical thing was that many of the attributes of the Lotus were being slowly excavated after he’d entered the origin realm. Since there was a “yao” character in its name [1], it embodied quite a few magical attributes.

Jiang Chen naturally couldn’t overlook them.

“The Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice is also known as the Illusory Lotus of Fire and Ice. Now that I’ve entered the origin realm, I can use the Lotus to make illusory copies of my body and have the Lotus simulate myself, bewitching my opponents.”

He would meet drastically different opponents after entering the origin realm. Jiang Chen knew that he would have to continuously innovate new techniques, else his methods would be completely grasped by ever stronger opponents and as a result he would be completely suppressed in battle.

Apart from the art of “illusions”, the “Supernova Point” that Jiang Chen was cultivating as well could be melded with the Lotus.

The Supernova Point was a divine art, one that concentrated vast amounts of spirit power into a single finger before abruptly unleashing the power to destroy all.

Jiang Chen’s “Supernova Point” naturally wasn’t strong enough to destroy a planet just yet, but he could leverage the Lotus as a source of power.

A vast amount of strength from the ice and fire lotuses could turn into incredible lethal power when concentrated on his finger.

He’d conducted a small experiment against the Sky Sect inspector Wu Chen.

But he’d barely scratched the surface of this technique then, and had yet to venture further into training it.

Now that he had broken through to the origin realm and received an enormous increase to his strength, there was an inexhaustible source of origin power seeping through to his spirit ocean that enhanced his strength several times over.

The various forms of the Lotus had also increased multiple times over.

As such, the sources of his strength were even more abundant, at least five times over what he had access to in the spirit realm.

“The Supernova Point has innumerable mysteries. Although I can’t train the more complex ones right now, simple attacks infused with origin power will be destructive enough for me to do as I wish within the origin realm.”

Jiang Chen would only train three moves for now.

The first: Skyblaze Supernova Point

The second: Profound Dark Supernova Point

The third: Galaxy Supernova Point

The first incorporated boundless fire elemental energy concentrated into an attack that scorched the skies, as if a volcano erupting with incredible destructive force in an instant.

The second absorbed boundless ice elemental energy and concentrated into a mysterious, dark power of glacial ice, giving one the feeling of suddenly being crushed by a hundred ice mountains, freezing even the meridians.

The third, and most powerful one, leveraged boundless metal elemental energy concentrated magnetic power to lock the opponent in a prison of space before slicing it into fragments in an instant. This move was a metal elemental attack of the highest density and would dice one to death instantly.

These three moves were all heavenly techniques with astounding mysteries to them. The current level that Jiang Chen was training at wouldn’t result in even a hundredth of their peak forms.

But even so, Jiang Chen was confident that even if he faced off against that envoy Zuo Lan at this moment, he had absolute certainty in beating him face to face.

The advantages brought by the memories of his past life became even more apparent after he’d entered the origin realm.

When he’d been in the spirit realm, he’d been confined for various reasons and hadn’t been able to deploy his memories to his maximum advantage. He’d only been able to use the barest sliver of the magnetic golden mountain and the Lotus.

But now, this treasure vault of his would be slowly uncovered as it brought to him a spontaneous, explosive increase of battle strength.

Apart from the Lotus, the magnetic golden mountain could also bring to Jiang Chen matchless fighting abilities!

He’d been focused on summoning the magnetic storm throughout the time he trained with the magnetic power.

Magnetic power alone wasn’t a particularly strong restraining force against opponents, and was unable to influence opponents stronger than the user during a battle.

However, a magnetic storm was different. That was the berserk version of magnetic power. It was similar to the mysteries of wind. A refreshing breeze was no threat, but it was a different story when formed into a storm.

Such was the strength of the magnetic storm.

Once formed, it would devour everything like a rampaging wild beast. Even a cultivator stronger than him would be thrown in disarray, if not swallowed, when suddenly caught by a storm.

Wouldn’t his opponent be easy targets then?

The potential of the magnetic golden mountain was astounding, and the magnetic power a boundless, limitless source.

Apart from the magnetic storm, Jiang Chen’s training with the Evil Golden Eye was slowly progressing down the right path. His mastery over it was only at the novice level so his power was limited to only attacking someone on the same level once, or trampling the lower level cultivators.

But after entering the origin realm, the power of the Evil Golden Eye had similarly greatly increased. A single glance could shoot directly into his opponent’s soul. Even if he was challenging someone stronger than him, a single glance would be enough to make his opponent lose their concentration.

Jiang Chen was quite confident that if he matched up against Zuo Lan now, he’d be able to distract the other with the Evil Golden Eye.

He could clearly feel his strength increase holistically since entering the origin realm. His various techniques and methods had all improved in spades.

“The origin realm is an entirely different realm alright. Perhaps, after some time, I’ll be able to refine the magnetic golden mountain another step further and summon the golden monsters, or even the Lord of the Golden Seal.”

If he could fully activate the magnetic golden mountain, he would absolutely have an enormous treasure on his hands.

Jiang Chen lost himself in the joy of breaking through to the origin realm and continued training, ignoring all events and words of the outside world.

At this precise moment, those who had come to witness the ceremony in the outskirts of the Precious Tree Garden had yet to recover from the phenomenon they’d just observed.

That scene had given them too much of a psychological impact and was wholly outside their range of comprehension.

Those present were all heavyweights in the Myriad Domain. There were even those over 500 years old, but they’d never even heard of a scenario such as this, much less seen it with their own eyes.

It took them a long time to recover from the impact it brought to their hearts.

Dan Chi was the first to recollect himself and suddenly laughed loudly. “Good, good! This heavenly phenomenon is a greatly auspicious omen. No matter for what reason it has arisen, for our alliance to receive such a display and borrow such a fortuitous start is absolutely an indicator of the best of fortunes. This is foresight that the alliance between the Regal Pill Palace and the Precious Tree Sect is a match made in heaven.”

Dan Chi borrowed the fortunes resulting from such a phenomenon as he naturally wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to connect it with the alliance ceremony.

In the world of martial dao, talk of fortune and luck would always exist, however subtly.

No one could refute Dan Chi’s words. They were all still caught up in the unexpected events that had just occurred and had no way to challenge his words.

To be honest, the presence and momentum of what had just happened had been too astonishing. They truly didn’t dare speak out of line of this, lest they angered the gods.

In that moment, those against the alliance couldn’t help but wonder, could it truly be that the gods had shown favor upon this alliance and created such a stunning phenomenon?

It went without saying that those in the Precious Tree Sect were all filled with delight. They all felt exalted and knew that no one would ever dare look down on them in the Myriad Domain in the future.

“Daoist Thousandleaf, the heavens find favor with our alliance and this was truly fated in the stars!”

Thousandleaf was also beaming broadly and nodded repeatedly.

“Bullshit!” A loud rebuke suddenly travelled in from the distance.

Chapter 450: Sky Sect Against the Regal Pill Palace

The rebuke sounded like a clap of thunder on a sunny day, making everyone’s blood boil. Domineering and prideful, it filled the sky before the speaker had even arrived.

Roughly a dozen figures swiftly shot over.

Dan Chi’s gaze sharpened as he squinted in the direction of the newcomers, a cold smile playing about his lips. It was apparent that this scenario had been within his expectations.

It would’ve been entirely too strange if the alliance ceremony had gone off without a hitch and the Sky Sect hadn’t come to make trouble.

“Which friends have come? Why hide yourselves since you have come as guests to my Myriad Domain? Why not show yourselves so that we, the masters of the Myriad Domain, can properly host you?”

Dan Chi’s melodious voice billowed forth, traveling on the wind into the distance.

His voice alone reverberated 500 kilometers in every direction.

The expressions of the heavyweights of the Myriad Domain all become extraordinarily complicated after Dan Chi had spoken. They could sense the changes in his strength from these words alone.

“Mm? Dan Chi’s cultivation has risen again?”

“No wonder he’s being so arrogantly cocky, his cultivation level has advanced once more!”

“Dan Chi is only a hundred years old, yet his cultivation level is so impressive already. If he breaks through to the sage realm one day, then won’t his Regal Pill Palace become the lords of the Myriad Domain?”

These heavyweights all felt a Gordian knot of emotions. Dan Chi was the youngest of the powerhouses in the Myriad Domain, and had the least amount of experience to boot.

However, his potential was astounding and rate of improvement close to miraculous. He was the last to begin but the first to reach the goal, constantly breaking records in the Domain.

It was impossible for the heavyweights to not harbor the slightest bit of unease in their hearts as they saw the momentum of his rise.

When they saw that his strength had improved again, it naturally didn’t sit well with them.

“Hmph, it’s just because this Dan Chi has impressive potential that he’s stepped beyond his means and dares face off against the Sky Sect. It’d be best if the Sky Sect suppresses him, or he’ll become the tyrant of the Myriad Domain sooner or later.”

“Good, good, good! It looks like Dan Chi has hardened his heart to fight against the Sky Sect to the end. Listen to his tone, he fancies himself the ruler of the Myriad Domain! Heh heh, the Sky Sect is stretching their hands into the Myriad Domain and the Regal Pill Palace wants to be the ones to stick their necks out. I hope both of them end up sorely injured!”

Everyone present had their own schemes. Apart from a minority that continued to have a good friendship with Dan Chi, most were delighting in his misfortunes and hoped to see the Regal Pill Palace fight to a bitter end. It’d be best if both fought to the end and ended up gravely wounded.

That way, the Regal Pill Palace would decline and the Sky Sect would no longer have the ability to set foot in the Myriad Domain. That would be the best outcome.

The powerhouses all took it easy as they held the attitude of watching a fire from the other side of the river. They watched as a dozen silhouettes landed in front of the Regal Pill Palace, the wind of their arrival ruffling their robes.

The figures were all wearing the unique accoutrements of a Sky Sect inspector, but with vastly different coloration.

The leader wore purple accessories and had a large, five pointed golden star embroidered on his chest.

When they saw his attire, the heavyweights of the Myriad Domain all sucked in a breath.

The purple adornments indicated that this was a tenth rank inspector!

This person was naturally the tenth rank inspector who'd appeared in the Tristar Sect before. The people he was leading were all three star inspectors, equivalent to ninth rank inspectors.

These others all wore blue accessories. Zuo Lan was actually the weakest amongst them and stood in the back.

The blue uniforms either had three stars or two stars embroidered on their chest. It was obvious that they were all higher ranked than the one star Zuo Lan.

“You are Dan Chi?” The tenth rank inspector’s tone was ice as his vicious gaze cut like a knife, surging with killing intent as he spoke to Dan Chi.

Dan Chi smiled noncommittally and asked instead of responding, “Who might you be?”

The tenth rank inspector’s face grew frosty alright. How could he not realize that this was one of Dan Chi’s tricks?

Dan Chi hadn’t followed his line of conversation but asked who he was instead. This seemingly careless exchange hid the deeply meaningful battle of words.

They were both trying to seize the control of the discussion.

Dan Chi’s actions had been an obvious proclamation of his initiative. I’m the master here, so naturally I’m the one asking you.

This was a clash of authority, a formless battle for authority and morale. The first round had concluded even before the battle fires had been lit.

The sect heads of the Myriad Domain all quailed inwardly. Dan Chi was the youngest heavyweight of the Myriad Domain alright. His commanding presence and air didn’t give even an inch in the face of a tenth rank inspector from the Sky Sect. He had given them no quarter.

“Dan Chi, don’t you be so full of yourself! Master Feng is the tenth rank inspector of my Sky Sect, on speaking terms with our sect head. Mere leaders of the sects in the lower regions, how dare you be so discourteous? Have you never been taught the courtesies of the sects?”

Zuo Lan had conducted his affairs unsuccessfully before and had decided he wanted to regain some face here, standing out and blustering.

“Sky Sect envoy?” Dan Chi smiled, looking utterly unconcerned. “If I recall correctly, there is no subordinate relationship between the Myriad Domain and the Sky Sect. We will naturally extend the warmest of welcomes to the Sky Sect envoy if he has come as a guest. But if he is here to cause a fuss or raise trouble, then I, Dan Chi, have no intention of welcoming him.”

The tenth rank inspector’s eyebrow rose, “Dan Chi, I didn’t come here to waste my time bandying words with you. My sect has long since deemed the sixteen kingdom alliance as the Purple Light Division and have placed it onto the blueprints of our sect’s plans. Even if you are the local head of the Myriad Domain, you should understand the rule of precedence. Are you attempting to take food from the mouth of the Sky Sect?”

“Don’t want to waste words on me? Pardon my candor, I feel that you’re full of nothing but hot air. What Purple Light Division, what sect blueprint? Has the Precious Tree Sect agreed to this? The lands know of the Sky Sect’s culture of dominance. However, as high-handed as you may be, you haven’t degraded yourself to forcefully occupying other sects, have you? I don’t give a damn about you setting up a Purple Light Division and taking over the Purple Sun Sect, but the Precious Tree Sect has never given verbal or written consent of consent to the Sky Sect. If they have agreed to something along those lines, bring it out as proof. If it really exists, I will dust myself off and leave without another word, and will even offer you gifts in apology. But if you have no such evidence, then drop your paltry argument.”

“Hmm?”

The inspector’s expression grew chilly. “So this means that the Regal Pill Palace had hardened its heart to oppose the Ninesuns Sky Sect?”

The Ninesuns Sky Sect, one of the eight great powers of the Upper Eight Regions, was more than ten times the Regal Pill Palace whether in terms of foundations or strength.

Therefore, at critical moments, if the Sky Sect couldn’t reason with someone, they would use the presence of a first rank sect to overcome someone in the most direct and tyrannical way.

However, the inspector obviously didn’t understand enough of Dan Chi’s personality.

A trace of mockery flashed through Dan Chi’s face. “Oppose? The Ninesuns Sky Sect is far away in the Upper Eight Regions, millions of kilometers away from my Myriad Domain. Just how do we begin talking of opposition? The Precious Tree Sect and Sky Sect have nothing to do with each other, so why cannot my Regal Pill Palace ally with the former? Must we obtain the Sky Sect’s approval for this as well? If this is the case, then the Sky Sect is simply exercising too much jurisdiction.”

Although he wasn’t blatantly defying the Sky Sect, the undertone behind his words was quite obvious. Don’t try using your power to suppress me, I won’t roll over and play dead for you.

The inspector chuckled coldly and nodded with a sinister expression. “Truly a crazed person who doesn’t know the heights of the skies and depths of the earth. Since this is the case, the old rules apply. In the world of martial dao, the strong are venerated. Dan Chi, I hope your strength is as strong as your glib tongue.”

Dan Chi flicked his eyebrow. “What, you want to throw your weight around in my Myriad Domain by virtue of your dozen men?”

The inspector snorted derisively, “When has my Sky Sect ever been afraid of anyone when it came down to numbers?”

The senior sect head of the Tristar Sect stepped in appropriately at this time. “Gentlemen, please calm yourselves. You are both experts of our times. It is simply too unchivalrous to start a mob fight.”

The Tristar Sect being a front for the Sky Sect was a secret that no one knew in the Myriad Domain.

His actions now were something that he’d discussed with the Sky Sect inspector beforehand.

“Sect Head Zhu, what wise insight do you have?” Dan Chi asked mildly.

“Although the strong are respected in the world of martial dao, we are all experts here. There is no grace to be had in everyone rushing into a fight. Neither will it solve the issue at hand. I would like to propose the structure of a bet. The winner would be considered the victor of this argument and their word considered law.”

The tenth rank inspector had yet to open his mouth when a ninth rank inspector in green robes butted in from the side. “Bet? And how do we bet? You Myriad Domain sects are plainly all in collusion with each other, so why should we listen to your opinions?”

He purposefully spoke in this manner to conceal any hint that the Tristar Sect had anything to do with the Sky Sect.

Indeed, Sect Head Zhu’s tone grew displeased. “My Myriad Domain has never won on the basis of numbers. Since sir seems to believe we are all colluding with each other, then I will keep my mouth shut.”

It was rather the tenth rank inspector who spread out his hands and gestured for his man to move aside. He spoke to Sect Head Zhu. “What opinions do you have? Share them with us.”

“The core of the conflict between your two sides stems from the grudges between the Purple Sun Sect and the Precious Tree Sect, growing further to become a conflict between the Sky Sect and the Regal Pill Palace. Why not set an agreement of five or three matches, and whoever wins has the right to speak.”

This suggestion appeared quite just, and all those present for the ceremony nodded, showing their support of a good idea.

“Dan Chi, this is the suggestion of your fellow daoist in the Myriad Domain. Since you wish to be a fierce and ambitious person, do you dare determine the outcome through a bet?”

Dan Chi laughed heartily, “I wouldn’t bat an eye if even the head of the Sky Sect himself arrived. Here, it’s just you, and you’re trying to scare me with a bet?”

“If you’re not afraid, then we’ll make our bet. Five matches or three? You can decide.”

“Three are enough, what need of five?” Dan Chi didn’t want to drag things out either and made another proposal. “Only peers of the same level can battle each other. The minor origin cultivators against another similar, earth origin to earth origin, sky origin to sky origin. Since you and I are sage cultivators, we must be mortal sage to mortal sage, and earth sage to earth sage.”

Indeed, the strongest present was of the earth sage realm. There were no sky sage realm existences in attendance.

Zuo Lan walked over to murmur a few words in the tenth rank inspector’s ears when he heard this.

The inspector smiled faintly and nodded. “We will follow your suggestion. However, since the origin of this matter was between the Purple Sun Sect and the Precious Tree Sect, then those from their sect should participate. I propose that we send two each from our sects, and the Purple Sun and Precious Tree send one each. The outcome will be determined in three matches!”

The faces of those in the Precious Tree Sect all changed drastically when they heard this, and Dan Chi immediately saw through the other’s scheme.

The Regal Pill Palace would end up at most with one win and one loss if they fought the Sky Sect since apart from Dan Chi, no one else in the Palace had absolute confidence in winning.

But for the Precious Tree Sect, it was obvious that no one would be able to defeat old monster Sunchaser.

As opposed to calling this a hidden plot, it was more of a blatant scheme that mercilessly took advantage of the fact that no one in the Precious Tree Sect could defeat Sunchaser.

The most critical thing was that the Regal Pill Palace had no reasonable cause to decline this suggestion. The whole matter had indeed arisen because of the grudges between the two.

And considering the Precious Tree Sect was the host of the ceremony, it wouldn’t do if they didn’t exert themselves at all.