Glittering gold lit up the palace.
The gleaming pile of treasure appeared in an orderly fashion and hovered in the air. When they saw the artifacts, the great emperors’ eyes widened with unconcealed shock.
“These….” When the Jade Pool Palace Master saw the divine artifacts, she fell into a daze. Of them, quite a few were once hers, treasures Venerate Spirit Treasure had stolen. He’d since wiped out her spiritual imprint.
“That’s
“That’s my Purple Grosgrain!”
“This is Wan’er’s windchime!”
“This is….” The great emperors named the pile of treasures one by one. All of them were treasures Venerate Spirit Treasure had once seized from them.
The great emperors didn’t quite understand, but Bi’an, who was just on the verge of leaving, glowered. “Star Bearer Ye, are you trying to humiliate us?”
When he heard that, Ye Zichen was stunned.
Venerate Spirit Treasure had, naturally, proffered up these treasures at Ye Zichen’s orders. In order to convince him, he and Xuan-Yuan Xiang had used a mixture of temptation and coercion. It took a full three days before Venerate Spirit Treasure finally nodded his agreement.
They’d done all of this in order to return the divine artifacts to their rightful owners and refuse the conflict between the mighty yao and their allies. For Bi’an to react like this was rather terrifying.
“Great Emperor Bi’an….”
“Hah, so you’re showing off the treasures you stole from me? You’re trying to embarrass me, aren’t you? Is this your tactic? You’re using this to tell me, ‘you couldn’t do anything to him ten thousand years ago, much less now, in an attempt to make me back down, aren’t you?” The son of the dragon god gnashed his teeth.
Ye Zichen was having a hard time following his train of thought, but he could see that this misunderstanding was only going to get worse if he left it. He couldn’t help but arch his brows. “Why do you say that?”
“Don’t tell me I’m wrong?” roared Great Emperor Bi’an. “The moment we entered this hall, you told us that Venerate Spirit Treasure is one of yours. After that, you showed us that even if we joined forces, we couldn’t touch him. Now, you’re showing off his stolen treasures to remind us that we couldn’t touch him back then, either. Am I wrong?”
“Wait…” Great Emperor Bi’an had clearly misunderstood Ye Zichen’s intentions, but he wasn’t giving Ye Zichen any chance to explain.
Bi’an snorted, and, without pause, continued, “Star Bearer Ye, is it really worth humiliating us like this just for someone who was infamous even ten thousand years ago? Even if his cultivation is profound, is it really worth it? Since you insist on allying yourself with him, fine. I’m afraid that I, Bi’an….”
“Wait wait wait…! Stop!” The more Bi’an spoke, the further he got from the truth. Ye Zichen had to stop him as fast as possible. “Great Emperor Bi’an, you’ve misunderstood!”
“Misunderstood?” Bi’an arched his brows.
“That’s right! Venerate Spirit Treasure summoned all these treasures in order to return them to you. I said he came here with proof of his sincerity, didn’t I? Why would you leap to such a conclusion?” Ye Zichen seemed rather frustrated.
“What?” These words stunned Bi’an. He stared at Ye Zichen, then at Venerate Spirit Treasure in a daze.
How was this possible?
He’d made those assumptions since he knew that, after a treasure fell into Venerate Spirit Treasure’s hands, there was no way he’d ever give it back.
Even if you put a knife to his throat, once he claimed a treasure, he’d never, ever spit it up.
For instance, Venerate Spirit Treasure had once stolen from the Five Elements Great Emperor. The item in question was a symbol of his love for Fox Empress Su Qingyan. In order to buy it back, the Five Elements Great Emperor had offered five divine artifacts in trade.
Even so, Venerate Spirit Treasure refused, and he even set his sights on the Yao-Sealing Pagoda.
It was only after Five Elements, the Fox Empress, and Clan Head Su Wan’er beat him viciously that he gave up on the pagoda. Even then, he stubbornly refused to return the stolen object.
He was the type who’d rather die than cough up his treasures.
But now Ye Zichen was saying he planned to return their divine artifacts?
Great Emperor Bi’an even wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him.
“I’m telling the truth!” Ye Zichen shrugged. “These divine artifacts are all treasures Venerate Spirit Treasure stole from you back in the day. All of them are here, without exception. Considering that ten thousand years have passed, and that all of your cultivations have grown in the interim, Venerate Spirit Treasure is even willing to give a few extra treasures as compensation. You can take all the treasures here.”
“Then I…” Ye Zichen, Xuan-Yuan Xiang, the Venerate Spirit Treasure had discussed this matter among themselves; this was the Ocean Emperor’s first time hearing of it.
When he heard this news, Xue Yang hurriedly stepped forward. Remember, his Ocean God’s Ring was within Venerate Spirit Treasure’s hoard.
“Of course that includes your Ocean God’s Ring.” Ye Zichen flipped his hand and revealed a ring, as well as a spirit pearl the color of water. “This is your Ocean God’s Ring, as well as a pearl as compensation. Venerate Spirit Treasure himself said that it will increase your Ocean God’s Artifacts comprehensive power by one hundred and twenty percent.”
The Ocean Emperor accepted the ring and pearl in a daze. The moment the pearl entered his hand, he could sense the surging water element divine power within. It was highly compatible with his own divine power.
“Hmph, you’re really taking advantage of me here! I acquired that pearl all the way in the Western Sea’s Icy Pool!”
The other great emperors also reclaimed their former treasures. It’s worth noting that, for Bi’an, this was quite a harvest: he re-acquired a full thirty divine artifacts.
This was, however, clear proof of how long Venerate Spirit Treasure had once pilfered the Four Directions Palace.
In a flash, all the artifacts disappeared from the hall. Venerate Spirit Treasure’s eyes were full of undisguised pain. It was no exaggeration to say he’d spent almost half his life collecting all those treasures. Now, just like that, he’d given them back.
But Ye Zichen had promised to compensate him for his losses. Furthermore, he’d already absorbed the treasures’ core divine power. For him, they were really only useful as decorations at this point. When he thought about that, his spirits lifted a little.
“Everyone, are you satisfied with this?”
“Thank you for returning this jade hair clip. I’m truly grateful.” Fox Empress Su Qingyan clenched a jade hair clip, then bowed to Venerate Spirit Treasure. This had been a gift from the Five Elements Great Emperor, a token of his affection.
She’d been so angry at Venerate Spirit Treasure all because of this hair clip.
Now, she’d regained it, but the Five Elements Great Emperor was no longer in this world. Now, looking at this jade clip, she at least had something to remember him by.
“I…. I don’t have any objections either,” said the Jade Pool Palace Master.
“Me neither,” said Great Emperor Chao Feng.
“My true body and I are willing to set aside all our former debts and grudges with Venerate Spirit Treasure. At the same time, three divine artifacts appeared in his hands, then flew over to Venerate Spirit Treasure. “You have me this pearl. I am now offering you these three artifacts as a return gift.”
“Heh, at least you’re still clear-headed, Ocean Emperor.” Venerate Spirit Treasure grinned.
He’d practically opened up a vein, giving so many treasures away like this. His heart ached at the loss. Although the divine artifacts the Ocean Emperor had given him weren’t so great, they at least alleviated his losses somewhat.
What happened next was exactly what Ye Zichen wanted to see. The other great emperors also expressed willingness to end their enmity.
Finally, Ye Zichen turned towards the most difficult of the bunch. “Great Emperor Bi’an, what do you say?”
