“Sovereign Chen Yong is really alive?”
“He has really returned?”
The crowd who had followed Liu Yang over exclaimed in astonishment.
They had been a little doubtful while listening to Liu Yang’s story, but upon hearing those words from the guard, all of the doubts vanished from their minds.
It seemed like Sovereign Chen Yong was indeed alive! To put it in other words, the story that Sovereign Chen Ling had told the world was fake as well… To collude with the humans to murder a fellow Sovereign, this was intolerable!
“Quick, let’s head over!” Liu Yang exclaimed with a hint of joy and relief in his voice.
While others might be unaware of what was going on, he had liaised with Sovereign Chen Yong and his teacher in advance, so he knew what the two of them had prepared.
They had gathered every power that they could rally, and the fact that they were there meant that they had already put together a force that could stand against Sovereign Chen Ling’s faction. A battle for supremacy in the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe was about to begin!
Sou!
Together with the alliance that had just been formed, he flew right toward the center of the capital.
It did not take them too long to arrive at their destination. At the area where the ritual was conducted, a towering pedestal that pierced right into the clouds could be seen. The winding stairs around the pedestal were coated in a sinister stream of fresh blood.
Flags that rose along the winding stairs fluttered angrily amid the tempest, and dark clouds loomed eerily over the sky. A tornado had formed at the center of the pedestal, drawing endless energy into its eye.
At that very moment, Sovereign Chen Ling was floating right above the pedestal, allowing the raging air currents to swirl around him.
Beneath the pedestal was a massive congregation of Otherworldly Demons. As if they had lost their consciousness, they kneeled in a daze before the pedestal, unfazed by the furious air currents battering them. All in all, there were tens of thousands of them. It was clear that they were the tributes.
Laid out several steps ahead of them were countless precious artifacts, medicinal herbs, and ores. Zhang Xuan recognized some of those items as the ones that he had appraised back at Sovereign Chen Ling’s palace as Wu Tao.
Standing opposite Sovereign Chen Ling was Sovereign Chen Yong. He looked upon the floor filled with corpses and fresh blood with a crack of anger on his face.
“Sovereign Chen Ling, you colluded with the humans to assassinate me; that’s an act of disloyalty! You have chosen to massacre so many of your tribesmen for your own welfare; that’s an act of gross self-centeredness. A person as vile as you does not deserve to live. Today shall be your death date!”
He had known that Sovereign Chen Ling was an extreme individual, but who could have predicted that he would actually commit something so ridiculous?
It was one thing for the other party to conspire with the humans to assassinate him, but to capture a hundred thousand of their tribesmen and offer them as tributes… there was no bamboo scroll large enough to detail the weight of his crimes!
“You wish to kill me?” Sovereign Chen Ling sneered with a hint of disdain in his eyes.
If it had been the Sovereign Chen Yong of the past, he might have feared him. However, the other party was already on the verge of death, such that even clinging on to life was a difficulty. Yet, the other party still wanted to kill him? Dream on!
“What about the rest of us then?”
Huhu!
A gust of wind blew across the area, and several more silhouettes appeared in the air. They were Ancient Sage Mo Ling, Ancient Sage Allfire, and the others.
“Mo Ling, you treacherous little scoundrel…” Sovereign Chen Ling narrowed his eyes contemptuously. “Sovereign Chen Yong, you actually want to work with someone like him? You must not be aware that he played an integral role in how you ended up in your current state!”
Were it not for Ancient Sage Mo Ling liaising with the Hundred Schools of Philosophers, there was no way that Sovereign Chen Ling, given his limited prowess, would have managed to lay his hands on Sovereign Chen Yong!
“Do you think that such a news makes any difference to me now?” Sovereign Chen Yong harrumphed coldly.
There was no doubt that he hated Ancient Sage Mo Ling as well for scheming behind his back and putting together the plan for his assassination. However, the positions were very clear at the moment. The greatest enemy that he wished to slay right now was Sovereign Chen Ling, and Ancient Sage Mo Ling was someone who would help him to achieve that.
It would be foolish to turn against someone who was his ally at the moment.
“It doesn’t make any difference?” Sovereign Chen Ling burst into cold laughter. “You sure have fallen, Sovereign Chen Yong!”
He turned his gaze toward the massive beast standing next to Ancient Sage Mo Ling ,and his face suddenly turned incredibly ugly. “Ancient Sage Allfire, Sovereign Chen Yong was the one who drove you and your tribesmen away from your homeland. I’m sure that you have a bone to pick with him. Do your pride and dignity really allow you to work with your nemesis? As long as you help me, not only will I maintain peace with your Beast Tribe as long as I live, I’ll even return your homeland to you and compensate for all the wrongdoing of our Spirit Tribe over the years!”
If it was just Ancient Sage Mo Ling, he would have been confident that he could emerge victorious. However, if his opponents included Ancient Sage Allfire as well, that would make things extremely difficult.
At his peak, Ancient Sage Allfire had possessed strength that was even greater than his. He was an expert that commanded a fighting prowess second only to Sovereign Chen Yong himself. If he had to face Ancient Sage Allfire in his current state, chances were that it would end in his death.
“Like I told you before, we of the Beast Tribe have our own pride to uphold! If I was willing to collaborate with you, I would have long agreed to an alliance!” Ancient Sage Allfire waved his claws impassively.
In truth, before Sovereign Chen Yong came to look for him, Sovereign Chen Ling had knocked on his door many times before, only to be driven away.
Hearing those words, Sovereign Chen Ling narrowed his eyes.
He had been thinking that given how severely wounded Sovereign Chen Yong was, the latter would only be able to rally a bunch of weaklings to oppose him. Never could he have expected Ancient Sage Mo Ling to openly betray him and Ancient Sage Allfire to actually submit to the latter…
How in the world did Sovereign Chen Yong manage to do it?
“Sovereign Chen Yong, I concede that you do have some tricks up your sleeves. You are more formidable than I thought. However, if you think that you can kill me just like that, I must say that you are really underestimating me!”
Knowing that there was no point saying anything more, Sovereign Chen Ling exhaled deeply before grandly straightening his posture. “You lot should come out as well!”
Huala!
The next instant, the many Ancient Sages whom Zhang Xuan had met at Sovereign Chen Ling’s palace gathered together simultaneously and formed a line. They emanated an incredibly powerful aura that shook the air.
“Something’s amiss…”
Taking a look at the crowd, Sovereign Chen Yong and Ancient Sage Mo Ling exchanged glances with one another as their faces turned grim.
The reason that those Ancient Sages had chosen to help Sovereign Chen Ling in the past was because their interests coincided with one another. An alliance built on benefits could not possibly be resilient.
But at that very moment, they were guarding the area resolutely, determined to lay down their lives to protect Sovereign Chen Ling.
When had this group of fellows become so loyal?
“He must have controlled them using some trick,” Zhang Xuan said grimly with a deep frown.
Based on his deep understanding of soul arts, he could tell that even though these Ancient Sages still retained their sentience, their consciousness had been taken over by someone else. They had become something reminiscent of a puppet.
If it was just an alliance of benefits among them, they would have been able to undo their partnership by dropping a mixture of threats and tangible benefits. However, the only things that puppets were capable of doing was following orders. It seemed like they would have to go through quite a bit of trouble in order to get to Sovereign Chen Ling!
Most likely, it would be a bitter fight!
“Is he using his soul to control them like puppets? T-this… How is this possible?” Ancient Sage Mo Ling dared not believe what he was seeing.
He had spent his entire life studying souls, and his comprehension of the subject had already reached an incredibly profound level. Despite that, it was still impossible for him to forcefully bend the will of an Ancient Sage.
Yet, the person before him was manipulating so many Ancient Sages that were not much weaker than him. It was a sight that Ancient Sage Mo Ling found hard to believe even when he was witnessing it with his own eyes.
Sovereign Chen Yong suddenly recalled something, and his body stiffened. “It’s the Seeds of Acquiescence!”
Looks of confusion could be seen reflected in the eyes of Zhang Xuan and the others. “Seeds of Acquiescence?”
It seemed like the Seeds of Acquiescence were objects that even Ancient Sage Allfire, Ancient Sage Mo Ling, and the others were ignorant of.
“They’re an artifact left behind by an Immortal’s Envoy. They can be planted within one’s body, and once they’re activated, one must unconditionally obey the commands of the person who planted the seed. Otherwise, if a Seed of Acquiescence explodes, one will die without a shred of doubt!” Sovereign Chen Yong explained.
“Immortal’s Envoy?”
“Back then, when my grandfather was killed by Kong shi in a decisive fight, my tribesmen were in an extremely vulnerable position, at risk of being eradicated at any moment. Cornered, they began making offerings to the heavens. After paying a hefty price, they managed to summon an Immortal’s Envoy from the upper world to descend to the Master Teacher Continent. In order to control the situation, the Immortal’s Envoy planted a Seed of Acquiescence in the body of every single Ancient Sage! My father has one of it in his body as well!” Sovereign Chen Yong explained.
“However, the Immortal’s Envoy was eventually taken away by Kong shi, and the effects of the Seed of Acquiescence faded, thus sparing everyone from a calamity. Otherwise, the entire Spirit Tribe could have been wiped out!”
