Just as Ye Zichen was pondering how to handle the Parliament of Stars, Jiao Qi and the others stepped inside. “Master, we’ve already dealt with the intruders.”
While Wei Jie was delivering his report, they’d sensed a group behaving unnaturally in Ice Blue City and had gone to investigate.
They’d already grown accustomed to this sort of thing. A similar group arrived every couple of days.
However, with Jiao Qi and the others around, none of these groups posed any threat whatsoever. In the past half-year, the resources they’d obtained from the invaders alone were comparable to just over half of their initial profit from selling the Sea Condensing Pills.
Ye Zichen nodded indifferently at them, then refocused on the issue of the Parliament of Stars.
In truth, Ye Zichen’s primary goal in selling so many Sea Condensing Pills was to learn what roughly kind of manpower the Divine Mountains could send to the lower lands. In the past year, he’d come to understand that they could send ninth-stage earth supremes at most. After reaching the sky supreme level, it was most likely no longer possible to descend to the lower lands, or at least, descending came at an extremely high cost.
Otherwise, after killing so many teams of earth supremes, the families of the Divine Mountains would have started sending sky supremes or higher.
Since they couldn’t send any sky supremes, Ye Zichen was essentially undefeatable.
“Jiao Qi.”
“Yes, sir!” When he heard Ye Zichen call his name, Jiao Qi immediately stepped forward.
“Gather up the general store’s medicines, precious artifacts, and talismans. We’re going with Wei Jie to meet that so-called ‘Parliament of Stars.’”
At the same time, on the Central Divine Mountain, in the Xiao Family estates…
“We sent him half a year ago. The other emissaries have all returned. Only the man we sent to the Northern Divine Mountain has yet to report back. What on earth is going on?”
Xiao Yan frowned at a youth carrying an ancient tome. The youth bowed at him and said, “I tried to contact him, but I’m not sure if he didn’t receive my message or is just deliberately ignoring it. Either way, I’ve yet to receive any sort of response. I sent someone down to investigate, and they should be back with news shortly.
Xiao Yan nodded, and the youth continued, “But lately, something extremely interesting has happened in the lower lands.”
“Oh? What is it?” Since taking his position as head of the family, Xiao Yan felt as if the weight on his shoulders only grew heavier and heavier. This was especially true after the Profound Pavillion charged their way into the Lightning Emperor’s Estate, then publicly criticized and utterly humiliated him.
Fortunately, in the past hundred years, that incident gradually faded from memory.
However, even now, when residents of the Lightning Emperor’s Estate encountered members of the Profound Pavillion, they felt a sense of shame. As a result, Xiao Yan felt an even greater sense of pressure.
If there was something interesting going on, he’d actually rather like to hear it and relax for a bit.
“A man called ‘Grandmaster Ye’ popped up in the lower lands and sold an enormous quantity of Sea Condensing Pills. In the past half-year, there have been at least a few dozen times as many ascenders as usual.”
“A few dozen times?” Xiao Yan couldn’t help but arch his brows. “Then which faction does he hail from? No, that’s not right. If he really belonged to some major power, he couldn’t possibly sell all those pills to other immortal kings.”
The scholarly youth smiled softly and said, “He doesn’t belong to any powerful clan, and it’s easy to imagine how much money he earned selling such vast quantities of Sea Condensing Pills. Numerous Families of the Divine Mountains have sent people to rob him, but all of them have fallen at the hands of Grandmaster Ye’s subordinates without a single survivor. Selling all those pills has dramatically affected the lay of the land. With so many people ascending, the lower lands are in a state of upheaval. Speaking of upheaval, a new gang has swept across the land, monopolizing roughly fifty percent of the territory in the lands below and swallowing up the local factions. They’re called ‘Upheaval’ and seem to belong to that Grandmaster Ye.”
Although the youth sounded relaxed, when he heard that, Xiao Yan’s expression darkened. He couldn’t possibly take this as lightly as he’d hoped.
Although what went on in the lower lands had little effect on the Divine Mountains, Grandmaster Ye’s intentions were obvious.
Especially when you considered his gang’s name: Upheaval!
Selling all those Sea Condensing Pills, seizing all that territory and all those resources, all of it was planned. His true goal was the same as his gang’s amee. He wanted to bring chaos to the lower lands, and even the Divine Mountains!
More importantly, Grandmaster Ye’s subordinates had slaughtered every team sent from the Divine Mountains.
Although Xiao Yan didn’t know for sure how strong those teams were, they definitely consisted of earth supremes. In the lower lands, just about everyone was at or below the immortal-king level. Although there were occasionally earth supremes, they were always sent by some powerful clan.
It was fair to say that, beneath the Divine Mountains, earth supremes were invincible.
Yet this Grandmaster Ye had killed not just one, but whole groups of them.
“Send someone to investigate this Grandmaster Ye.” Although Ye Zichen was currently only active in the lower lands, his behavior was already too disruptive for the Divine Mountains not to take notice.
“Don’t worry, My Lord,” said the bookkeeping youth with a laugh. “I sent someone to investigate weeks ago. I learned the information I said was ‘interesting’ from that investigation.”
“Well? What’s so interesting?”
“That Grandmaster Ye might very well have gotten his hands on the Yao-Sealing Pagoda.”
Boom!
Xiao Yan’s aura exploded uncontrollably outward, and his hands clenched his armrests. He trembled and gulped repeatedly as he stared intently at the youth.
The Yao-Sealing Pagoda!
The Five Elements Great Emperor’s ultimate treasure, a relic that the God Emperor, Emperor Hades, the Demon Emperor, and even the lich race attached a great deal of importance to. According to rumor, it contained a shocking, earthshaking secret within.
But the Yao-Sealing Pagoda had disappeared after the Five Elements Great Emperor’s death. Had it truly reappeared?
“Are you certain? Facing Xiao Yan’s imposing divine might, a fluorescent grow surrounded the youth as he resisted the pressure and trapped Xiao Yan’s aura outside.
At the same time, he chuckled and nodded. “There’s at least an eighty percent chance.’
When he heard the youth’s news, Xiao Yan’s aura receded. He leaned into his chair for a long time but said nothing.
The book-keeping youth broke the silence first. “The God Emperor has always been looking for news of the Yao-Sealing Pagoda. Should we share this information with him?”
To his surprise, Xiao Yan glared intensely and refused. “No!”
“Do you remember the legend of the Five Elements Great Emperor and the God Emperor?”
“It’s recorded in our innermost secret texts. They say that the Five Elements Great Emperor doted on his wife, a nine-tailed fox, so excessively that he betrayed the god race. When the God Emperor discovered this, he had him executed,” responded the youth as he flipped through his records.
“That’s right, that’s what they say.” Xiao Yan nodded solemnly, then sighed repeatedly. “But….. do you believe that?”