Although that female sky supreme was still a bit hesitant, she didn’t delay any further. She disappeared from the wastes.
The god race’s sudden activity caught the demons’ and yaos’ attention. Right now, they weren’t just faced with a single Xuan-Yuan Blade; this was an opportunity to ascend to the heavens!
The Yao-Sealing Pagoda!
It wasn’t just the God Emperor; the Yao Emperor and Demon Emperor were both eager to obtain it as well. Whoever obtained the pagoda and presented it to their respective emperors would change their future forever.
“Brother Jackdaw, should we….” A transmission entered Jackdaw’s mind. He instinctively looked up and saw Yin Hu giving him a meaningful look.
Jackdaw smiled coolly but kept at what he was doing: looking down and drawing circles in the dirt. At the same time, he sent a transmission back to Yin Hu. “You’re already looking to form an alliance? Isn’t it a little early for that?”
“I don’t think it’s too early at all,” said Yin Hu. He, too, intentionally averted his gaze and stared at the ground. “The Five Elements Great Emperor’s Yao-Sealing Pagoda can only be encountered by chance; if we pass this up, we’ll never find it. Tens of thousands of years ago, the Five Elements Great Emperor used it to wreak havoc on both our races; we’ve only just barely recovered our vitality even after all these years. If we let Chen Jiannan present it to the God Emperor, then we…..”
He left the rest unsaid. He trusted that Jackdaw would pick up what he was trying to say.
Jackdaw didn’t deny any of it. Tens of thousands of years ago, back when the Five Elements Great Emperor was still alive, he used the Five Elements Dao Heart and the Yao-Sealing Pagoda to suppress all other races. For the god race, that was a time of unprecedented prosperity.
Today, the God Emperor was one of the three race’s ultimate experts. If he obtained the pagoda, the yao and demons would undoubtedly return to the same predicament they’d been in all those years ago. They… truly couldn’t let Chen Jiannan get his hands on the pagoda.
However, Jackdaw was most concerned with just who was locked up inside the Yao-Sealing Pagoda.
Why had the Eastern Monarch Taiyi repeatedly begged the Five Elements Great Emperor to open it, then fought so hard, he didn’t even hesitate to burn up his origin energy?
According to rumor, the Yao Emperor wasn’t trying to steal the Yao-Sealing Pagoda. Rather, he wanted to force the Five Elements Great Emperor to release a certain someone.
Jackdaw nodded. “Before we join forces, I have a question for you. Just how is locked inside? Why is the Yao Emperor so desperate to set them free?”
“I don’t know either,” said Yin Hu. Even though they spoke through transmissions, his voice lowered. “The Yao Emperor and the Five Elements Great Emperor are both ultimate experts. How could a mere sky supreme such as myself know their deepest secrets? That said, I heard rumors that an old acquaintance of the Yao Emperor’s is locked up in there.”
After sharing everything he knew, he added, “Do you want to cooperate or not? Give me a clear answer.”
“Fine, let’s work together just this once,” said Jackdaw despite his disappointment. He hadn’t found out the answer to his questions! Even so, he agreed to join forces.
“That’s great! So long as we work together, Chen Jiannan will be no match for us.” He glanced ambiguously at Chen Jiannan, then said, “Just now, what did he send that woman out for? I had my divine awareness locked onto here, but it disappeared before she reached her destination.”
“What else could he be doing? He’s definitely playing some shameless trick.” Jackdaw, Yin Hu, and Chen Jiannan each represented their respective races’ younger generations. They were all young elites, so they were naturally acquainted with each other even before all this.
However, Jackdaw had always looked down his nose at Chen Jiannan’s character. He looked refined, gentle, and scholarly, but inside, he was always scheming. In short, he was a sanctimonious hypocrite.
For instance, Chen Jiannan invited that god race diviner in secret. If Yin Hu and Jackdaw hadn’t discovered him, Yin Hu would never have invited that yao expert.
“Then we’ll just have to be on guard,” said Yin Hu.
“On guard? Why bother? Let’s just ask.” Jackdaw’s eyes glinted sharply. He tossed the stone he was fiddling with aside and walked up to Chen Jiannan.
Meanwhile, back in the humans’ camp, one of Chen Jiannan’s companions walked up to him. He looked discreetly over at the other two encampments, frowned, and transmitted, “Brother Chen, it seems the yao and demons have reached a mutual understanding.”
In response, Chen Jiannan simply smiled confidently, rubbed a stone he’d plucked from the ground, and snorted. “Nevermind them. Even if they join forces, they can’t accomplish anything. Schemes and plots are nothing in the face of absolute strength.”
“Brother Chen.” Jackdaw walked up and interrupted their conversation.
Chen Jiannan, whose gaze was as dark as a deep pool mere moments ago, instantly plastered a warm smile across his face. “Brother Jackdaw.”
“I’m surprised that the few of us ran into the Yao-Sealing Pagoda. It really loves up to its reputation as a divine artifact even the Five Elements Great Emperor was proud of! Even diviners couldn’t so much as scratch it.”
“That’s only natural! If mere diviners could break through it, it wouldn’t be worthy of its position as the top auxiliary divine artifact in the Upper Three Realms,” chuckled Chen Jiannan.
“You’re right, Brother Chen,” said Jackdaw with a noncommittal nod.
The surrounding yao, human, and demon supremes all watched their conversation cautiously. They’d reached an agreement earlier on account of the Xuan-Yuan Sword, but the Yao-Sealing Pagoda’s appearance had made everything more complicated. Jackdaw taking the initiative to start a conversation with Chen Jiannan set their nerves on edge.
After a brief pause, Jackdaw got straight to the point and asked point-blank, “Hey, Brother Chen, I saw you send out that supreme earlier. What’s she going off to do?”
Chen Jiannan arched his brows and looked at Jackdaw’s smiling face. He smiled back, then said, “It’s nothing worth hiding. I send someone to force Ye Zichen out of his shell. We can’t just wait him out forever.”
Just as the words left his lips, the supreme he’d sent out returned to the wastes. She immediately sensed the tension in the air.
“You’re back,” said Chen Jiannan.
He said nothing more to Jackdaw. Instead, he walked up to her and asked, “Did you bring them?”
She waved her hands and a dozen or so men and women appeared before their eyes, including Xue Qi, Xue Lan, and Stone.
“Big Brother Jiannan, these are all members of the organization Ye Zichen left behind before he ascended. A few of them are quite close to him.”
“Good work.” Chen Jiannan chuckled. The members of the Leisure House were sealed and couldn’t talk or move, but when they heard Ye Zichen’s name, their eyes widened with undisguised horror.
Chen Jiannan coldly took in their terrified expressions. His ornamental divine sword appeared in his hands, and he placed its edge to one of the hostage’s necks.
“Ye Zichen, if you don’t want to watch these people die, hurry up and leave the Yao-Sealing Pagoda!”
