What the two primes thought didn’t matter to him. Jiang Chen wasn’t going to change his mind once he’d made it up. Besides, he had Ziju Min’s support.
In fact, even the venerated forefather wouldn’t be able to change Jiang Chen’s decisions now. Neither could he order Jiang Chen around.
The young genius didn’t need the sacred land to survive. Quite the contrary, he was the reason why the Eternal Sacred Land still stood.
Starfate now housed all of the Yan family, Eternal’s members who were close to Jiang Chen, and An Kasyapa and his four servants.
Yan Wanjun sighed faintly. “Jiang Chen, your attitude may prompt the second prime to twist the truth before the venerated forefather.”
Jiang Chen smiled carelessly. “Then he’ll be asking for humiliation.”
Ziju Min chuckled. “Don’t worry, Daoist Wanjun. Jiang Chen is the venerated forefather’s go-to consultant on many issues. The second prime isn’t going to convince the forefather with his petty lies. The forefather may even reprimand him.”
Yan Wanjun fell silent. He wasn’t a member of the sacred land and thus had no place to say anything. However, it was clear from the way Jiang Chen held himself that he had the power to back his confidence up. Not even the venerated forefather was likely able to influence his decisions anymore.
Yan Wanjun was proud to call the remarkable young man his grandson-in-law. The whole world may mock the Yan family for its members’ demise, but one day, people would look at House Yan with envy for having Jiang Chen!
An Kasyapa had been looking over the airboat and clucked his tongue. “This is a very nice airboat, Jiang Chen! It doesn’t seem like modern workmanship.”
“It’s an ancient legacy. Many formations are hidden in it, integrating both offensive and defensive measures. It may look just like a regular airboat, but Starfate shines in actual battles.”
“I can tell. The airboat will be able to withstand even the full-strength attack from a god. What a remarkable construct!” An Kasyapa’s appreciation for Starfate was evident.
Jiang Chen smiled and changed the subject. “Where should we go next, Divine Kasyapa? Where do you think old Lightford will go?”
“He’ll be wherever your elites are.” Of that, Kasyapa was very certain of. Some deliberation was enough for him to conclude that Lightford’s current priority was to eliminate the sacred lands’ elites.
“You killed a few divine cultivators in the Eternal Sacred Land, Jiang Chen. You may think you’ve turned the tide. However, the ten sacred lands only stand a fifty percent chance of defeating Lightford. To be honest, you might lose anytime.”
His sheer candor were a bucket of cold water to the face, snapping one back to alertness.
Once Lightford found the ten sacred lands’ elites, a difficult fight would break out. If Lightford had brought with him a good number of divine cultivators, things would get worse and worse for the ten sacred lands as time went by.
Moreover, the ten sacred lands weren’t a united front. Even after forming an alliance, there was still tension between the members. If infighting broke out at a key moment, the consequences would be grim and unthinkable.
Now wasn’t the time to be optimistic.
“Where would the ten sacred lands’ elites be?” Jiang Chen frowned. Myriad Abyss was huge. Finding them would be akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
The sacred lands relied on formations to keep in contact, but he hadn’t received any news when in the Eternal Sacred Land.
That meant the ten sacred lands couldn’t spare the effort. They might be fighting a difficult battle and hadn’t had a chance to set up the formation to contact the Eternal Sacred Land.
Which part of the vast ocean should they go to in order to meet up with the ten sacred lands’ elites? Everyone, including Jiang Chen, was at a loss.
“Give me a map,” said Jiang Chen with a sigh.
A variety of maps were soon presented to him, illustrating the landscape of Myriad Abyss from different angles and points of view.
“Perhaps we can figure something out,” suggested Jiang Chen. “If we were the ten forefathers, what choice would we make after leaving Sandplain?”
Divine Kasyapa huffed. “You can only make logical guesses, Jiang Chen, but everyone has their own agenda. What if they didn’t make the most logical decision for the greater good of the ten sacred lands? Then we’ll end up picking the wrong destination. Moreover, days will have passed. If they’ve recovered one sacred land, they’d go to another. There’s no telling where they are now.”
“When I departed, the ten sacred lands were arguing about that. They agreed to make decisions that would be best for the greater good. No selfish desires were allowed on the table.”
“They might have reached an agreement, and they might be able to stick to the plan if things are going well. Once they encounter frustrations or unexpected incidents though, they’re likely to change their tune.” Kasyapa didn’t expect much from the alliance.
With heavy hearts, they kept trying to guess with the maps as their references.
No matter what the ten sacred lands had decided, Jiang Chen and the others could only follow down the path of the most reasonable speculations.
Human elements and the possibility of accidents happening came second.
He remembered that he’d given the ten forefathers some advice before he left. He told them to pick the most remote and unassuming sacred land first. From the maps, there were two sacred lands that matched the criteria: the Abyssal Sacred Land and the Nirvana Sacred Land.
Jiang Chen shifted his gaze between the two, trying to map out some possible routes. A rough picture emerged in his head.
“Everyone, it hasn’t been long yet and the elites of the ten sacred lands couldn’t have made that much progress. Their destination was either Abyssal or Nirvana. After running from the Eternal Sacred Land, Lightford will need time to gather his people, and it takes time for him to travel to either of the two sacred lands. I believe Lightford hasn’t located the ten sacred lands’ elites yet!”
