Sovereign of the Three Realms

News of Cao Jin perishing instantly traveled through the Sky Sect. Even ordinary elders had to make way in front of one of the ten great disciples, because for those people, becoming a powerhouse in the sect was only a matter of a few decades. If no accidents happened, they would always end in a position higher than an elder.

“Investigate this closely! Whoever supplies valuable information will be awarded a hundred thousand saint spirit stones and one thousand Heroic Sage Pills!” Elder Chen Lei was enraged beyond measure after he confirmed that Cao Jin had perished and immediately promised a heavy reward.

The Sky Sect was extremely large and spread out, with over tens of millions of disciples. Elder Chen Lei had many personal disciples, but Cao Jin was undoubtedly the one he was most proud of. He had bestowed the Moonshatter Awl, Ocean Cover Sword, and Apocalyptic Darklightning Rune onto Cao Jin after all. It could be seen from this just how much Elder Chen Lei spoiled Cao Jin.

Elder Chen Lei was more than a thousand years, and had two disciples whose cultivation had surpassed the emperor level. However, they were ones he’d taken in hundreds of years ago. They had all formed their own factions now, their wings fully grown, and were sect heavyweights in their own right. However, Elder Chen Lei was still most satisfied with Cao Jin because the latter was so young with much untapped potential. He was already half step emperor realm at his young age. His potential was obviously not something that an initial emperor realm cultivator of several hundred years of age could compare to.

Elder Chen Lei had also always practiced a laissez-faire philosophy when it came to his disciples. He didn’t overly discipline them and didn’t even really restrict their movements. Thus, he wasn’t very clear on Cao Jin’s latest adventures.

This was actually the attitude that most in the Sky Sect held as well; very few would ever ask about the matters of others. Therefore, no one responded immediately with any valuable intelligence when Elder Chen Lei’s reward was announced. This meant that no one knew where Cao Jin had perished.

This both infuriated and shocked Elder Chen Lei. He’d always felt that someone who had free rein would have more ambition and vision. But who knew that Cao Jin had been given so much freedom that Elder Chen Lei didn’t even know where he’d died!

The elder immediately summoned all his subordinates and disciples, howling at them, “Investigate this!! Get to the bottom of this even if you have to overturn the heavens and earth!”

Elder Chen Lei clenched his teeth as boundless killing intent overflowed from his his eyes. As an expert of eighth level emperor realm, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the entire sect trembled when he was enraged. There were very few who had an eighth level emperor realm cultivation, after all.

……

Jiang Chen was able to control the formations at his whim after refining the Crimson Heaven formation disk, and could naturally come and go as he would. There was still a bit of time until the Myriad Grand Ceremony, so he took a detour to take a look at Mt. Rippling Mirage before he departed. Two years of time had passed, just like that, and his heart naturally filled with emotion. However, Jiang Chen knew that he would be back.

The two wyverns had actually wanted to leave with Jiang Chen, but he’d felt that that would be too conspicuous, so he left them within the mountain.

Since entering the sage realm, not only had Jiang Chen’s own strength grown immensely, but so had the Cicada Wing art. It was now very suitable to use for flight. It only took him a few days to arrive in Regal Pill Palace territory. But with his cautious nature, he didn’t hurry back to the Regal Pill Palace, but dressed up as a wandering cultivator.

Since the Tristar Sect had revealed the secret, Jiang Chen had no idea what the current situation in the Myriad Domain was and naturally wouldn’t make any move lightly. But it looked like the region was calm for now. There didn’t seem to be any drums of war beating just yet.

……

The Regal Pill Palace had returned to normal after Cao Jin’s disturbance. However, because of the Tristar Sect revealing the secret, the entire Myriad Domain had sunk into a bizarre fear, the feeling that disaster was coiled and just waiting to strike.

Although Palace Head Dan Chi often stepped forward to boost morale, this emotion more or less lingered and spread. It was a good thing that the Regal Pill Palace wasn’t entirely without good news. There were only a few days left until Myriad Grand Ceremony, and second genius Jun Mobai also broke through to the sage realm, right behind Shen Qinghong. This was an undoubted boost to Myriad Domain morale that two geniuses had broken through, one after another.

However, as the Ceremony drew near, the other sects all secretly put forth their strongest efforts as well. They weren’t willing to be left behind as the Regal Pill Palace continuously reported their good news. On the Sacred Sword Palace side, Wang Han broke through to second level sage realm and managed to keep his fierce momentum all the way to peak second level sage realm, just one small step away from third level sage realm. The Great Cathedral was even more ridiculous. Their top geniuses Xiang Qin and Yue Baize all broke through to third level sage realm, and Xiang Qin must’ve eaten some sort of heaven defying item as he looked poised to breaking through to the earth sage realm! This left all the other sects speechless. Xiang Qin was so young, yet already showed signs of breaking through to fourth level sage realm. This alone made the top geniuses of other sects pale in comparison.

“Sigh, it looks like all the other sects have made good use of the vast amounts of earth rank spirit herbs that they received.” Palace Head Dan Chi sighed lightly.

Now that the Tristar Sect had revealed the secret of the ancient herb garden, everyone in the Myriad Domain knew of this matter. So there was no compulsion to keep it a secret anymore.

Elder Yun Nie sighed. “The Great Cathedral has always been extraordinarily strong. They’ve gained much this time and have come out ahead.”

“It’s a pity that the only person I favored to challenge the order of the Myriad Domain, Jiang Chen, was unable to emerge from Mt. Rippling Mirage. Of all the plans we’d made, that was the one development we overlooked.” Palace Head Dan Chi was still full of regret when speaking of Jiang Chen even today, two years after the fact. Elder Yun Nie had spent so much time with Jiang Chen that he too quite valued the boy. He also felt extremely depressed.

Elder Lian Cheng however, laughed coldly. “He brought it down on himself! If he’d left with Yun Nie and the others, he might not have gone through all that then.”

Some of the other elders were also thinking this, but they weren’t at liberty to say it. Elder Lian Cheng was in fine spirits now because his disciple Shen Qinghong had broken through to the sage realm, cementing his position as first amongst the younger generation. Without Jiang Chen, there was no one to block his glory. Elder Lian Cheng was naturally happy to see this unfold.

“Alright, more than two years have passed since that incident. We should look forward. Palace Head, what is the goal of our Regal Pill Palace in the Myriad Grand Ceremony this time?” It was Forefather Qi, the junior brother of the previous palace head, who spoke up.

Dan Chi didn’t dare hide anything in front of the forefather and said solemnly, “We can only do our best this time. Shen Qinghong and Jun Mobai have broken through, but the geniuses of the other sects are quite stunning as well. Setting the Great Cathedral aside, those of the Sacred Sword Palace are our death rivals. I’m worried that they’ll seek public retribution for private wrongs. As for Wang Han’s strength, the younger generation of our Regal Pill Palace…”

Dan Chi didn’t finish his words, but everyone knew his meaning.

Elder Lian Cheng however, was openly displeased. “Palace Head, although Wang Han is strong, Shen Qinghong has broken through to the sage realm and isn’t necessarily that much worse than him. When one engages in a serious spar, one has to have the momentum and courage to fight for victory. If we start cowering before the battle, how will our Regal Pill Palace rise above all the sects?”

Elder Lian Cheng’s mentality had undergone a slight shift since Shen Qinghong had broken through to the sage realm. The most important thing was that he had been sorely injured after Cao Jin had visited last time, and his mindset had been affected as well. He felt that he’d been purposely kept out of the loop for the ancient herb garden and left to wallow in his ignorance. Due to all of these reasons, Elder Lian Cheng now had a belly full of anger towards Dan Chi and Yun Nie.

Although information about the ancient herb garden had been restricted due to the heavenly oath, that clearly hadn’t passed through Elder Lian Cheng’s mind. He felt that he’d been ostracized by Dan Chi and Elder Yun Nie. He hadn’t received a single spirit herb stalk out of so many! He was naturally infuriated.

Dan Chi flicked a noncommittal glance at Elder Lian Cheng. “Stubborn blindness is not the way forward for cultivators of our generation. If Elder Lian Cheng had gone to Mt. Rippling Mirage, you would’ve known how much hostility the Sacred Sword Palace bears towards the Regal Pill Palace. Wang Han hates our sect with a passion.”

Elder Lian Cheng snorted coldly again. “Wang Han has just broken through the sage realm not long ago, why is he able to ascend to the second level and even come close to third level? This is because his sect values him enough to willingly expend resources on him! Our sect has sky and earth rank spirit herbs far in excess of the Sacred Sword Palace. I don’t understand why we still refuse to use resources on our geniuses?!”

Not only were these words a precursor to a tantrum, but they were also interrogative. Elder Yun Nie couldn’t help but speak up, “Brother Lian Cheng, this is a bit out of line, isn’t it? Of the two sky rank herbs we received, one went to the palace head and the other went to me. No one had any objections to this. As for the earth rank spirit herbs, we obtained 45 of them and already split them up! Brother Lian Cheng, you took two yourself, isn’t this right?”

Although 45 stalks seemed plenty, there were many senior executives in the Regal Pill Palace as well. Two going to each one meant that many of the elders wouldn’t get any, even if distribution was limited to one each. As for the younger generation, they’d reached a consensus of not distributing any for the time being.

After all, only those in the sage realm and above had the right to receive earth rank spirit herbs in the ancient herb garden. Shen Qinghong and the others hadn’t gotten any either. Out of consideration for this, it was reasonable that the younger generation didn’t get any. After all, there wasn’t enough to go around in the older generation, so why would the younger generation be satisfied first?

However, it would’ve been better had Elder Yun Nie not said this. Elder Lian Cheng grew incensed when he heard this. “Hmph! Are there only two sky rank spirit herbs? 45 earth rank spirit herbs? I’ve heard that Jiang Chen gave you half his spirit herbs when he left, so there are three sky rank spirit herbs, hundreds of earth rank, and almost three thousand blades of Sage Fledgling Grass!”

So this was what Elder Lian Chen was most put out about. Elder Yun Nie didn’t hide anything. “Jiang Chen gifted these to the sect, and it wouldn’t be good if we split it up before he emerges. Therefore, this all goes to the public domain and no one has the right to divvy it up. It belongs to the sect.”

“Since it’s in the public domain, why can’t people who need it, such as Shen Qinghong, use them?” Elder Lian Cheng pressed further.

“Shen Qinghong is one of your disciples. Since you’ve received earth rank spirit herbs, why don’t you give one to him? Not to mention that having just broken through to the sage realm, it’s too early for him to use earth rank spirit herbs. His ability to use them isn’t in question, but it would just be a waste. He’ll be able to use them sooner or later, so why the rush now?” There was sense in Elder Yun Nie’s words.