Sovereign of the Three Realms

“A chance, you say?” Jiang Chen stared closely at that bald headed man, the former’s eyes as chilly as killing knives. He looked as if he was engraving this Gong Wuji’s countenance into his heart.

“Hehe, judging from the look in your eyes, I can see that you’re obviously going to squander this precious chance of yours.” Gong Wuji shook his head and sighed, “In that case, prepare yourself for judgment!”

Jiang Chen abruptly broke out in laughter, “Does that mean you don’t want the sky and earth rank spirit herbs, or even the Longevity Pill’s pill recipe anymore? Also… don’t you want to know where your sect’s spy, Lin Hai, is?”

Gong Wuji’s face abruptly darkened when he heard Lin Hai’s name. Lin Hai was a pawn he’d mentored personally and planted in the Dark North Sect. He’d never called upon Lin Hai to reap the rewards. So how could he not be shocked when he heard Lin Hai’s name from Jiang Chen’s lips? He was sure no one knew of his pawn’s identity. How did this Jiang Chen figure it out? He admitted that the sky and earth rank spirit herbs were incredibly attractive, but even they had to wait when the great matter the Eternal Celestial Capital had pursued for over a millennium was involved.

“What are you talking about, kid? Who told you about Lin Hai?”

Jiang Chen decided that he might as well start blathering nonsense, “Isn’t it obvious that Lin Hai’s identity was going to be exposed during the Myriad Grand Ceremony? As the saying goes, the Ninesuns Sky Sect’s bark is worse than their bite. When they raised such a high profile, it was your Eternal Celestial Capital who was the treacherous snake plotting in the dark. If my guess is correct, the Great Scarlet Mid Region must have come under your sect’s control since a long time ago, right?”

Jiang Chen had more or less surmised what was going on. He’d always thought that the Ninesuns Sky Sect was the greatest threat to the Myriad Domain, but it was only now he realized that the Eternal Celestial Capital, keeping a low profile all this time, was the greatest mastermind. Even the insufferably arrogant Great Scarlet Mid Region was controlled by the Eternal Celestial Capital. It was obvious that not even the Ninesuns Sky Sect had realized this.

Obviously, if Gong Wiji hadn’t thought that he had Jiang Chen and Huang’er for sure, there was no way he would’ve exposed his own identity. The Ninesuns Sky Sect had plotted openly while the Eternal Celestial Capital worked their manipulations from behind the scenes. Now, it would seem that the Eternal Celestial Capital would ultimately be the bigger winner.

Gong Wuji smiled indifferently and said, “I see that you know quite a lot of things, kid. The Ninesuns Sky Sect? They thought themselves clever and made up the so-called Imperial Jade Seal and Guardian Dragon Seal so they could get someone else to do their dirty work. We simply followed their line of thought and used their trick for our own gains. Haha, the Ninesuns Sky Sect wanted to play the good guy and mediate things between the Great Scarlet Mid Region and the Myriad Domain, but could we Eternal Celestial Capital possibly allow this?”

Jiang Chen felt a shiver as he listened to these words. He instantly understood the entire situation. He couldn’t believe that a tiny place like the Myriad Domain would draw such crazy plots from so many forces. The Ninesuns Sky Sect wanted to coerce someone else to do their dirty work and had lured the Great Scarlet Mid Region into attacking Myriad Domain. Once the conflict began, they would make a showing, uphold justice, and take advantage of the opportunity to insert themselves into Myriad Domain. However, they hadn’t realized that the Eternal Celestial Capital was the mastermind behind the Great Scarlet Mid Region. Therefore, the Ninesuns Sky Sect’s plot to use the Great Scarlet Mid Region had only given the Eternal Celestial Capital themselves a chance to play their own plots. Naturally, there was no way the latter would allow the Ninesuns Sky Sect to jump out and uphold ‘justice’.

First rank sects often fought and acted as a restraining force on each other. They often simply canceled out each other in the end. Once he’d figured out the ins and outs, Jiang Chen couldn’t help but feel great sadness for the Myriad Domain for a moment. It was just an unwitting victim from the beginning to the end. The seeds of disaster had been planted back when Emperor Featherflight escaped into Myriad Domain. The many tragedies that happened later was but a continuation of this incident. The Regal Pill Palace and him were just ignorant victims who had been caught up by the push of great forces.

In that moment, Jiang Chen could keenly feel what laws of the jungle meant. Everything was about as cruel and as direct as one could imagine. The strong caused havoc while the weak waited for their turn to be slaughtered. Jiang Chen forcefully restrained the impulse to use the palace because he knew that the restrictions only had one charge left. If he were to use up that charge, then he wouldn’t have this trump card when he went to save Gouyu and the others. That was why he forcefully restrained himself even though he was sure he could kill Gong Wuji and his men.

He could always take revenge later. It was at this moment a gray robed subordinate quickly walked over and reported to Gong Wuji, “Master Gong, there were two wealthy marks, but we only caught one of them. The other one had reacted quickly and escaped.”

The gray robed man pushed a person into the place. It was none other than Shen Qinghong! Jiang Chen was dumbfounded when he saw that Shen Qinghong was captured again. However, he felt a bit of relief knowing that Ling Bi’er had escaped.

Gong Wuji’s expression darkened, “You let them escape even in this kind of situation?”

The gray robed man stuttered, “That girl seems to carry some sort of powerful escape glyph with her. We couldn’t actually stop it. It was strange.”

Gong Wuji humphed coldly and waved him off, “You lot are all useless. Go away. I’ll be teaching you a lesson if this happens again.”

The Thunder Note Hall sect head came forward and said flatteringly, “Master Gong, please allow us Thunder Note Hall to deal with these two people.”

The Great Roc Sect’s sect head hurriedly followed, “Master Gong, we Great Roc Sect are willing to serve!”

Gong Wuji nodded coldly, “Don’t screw up. I want to deal with that true dragon myself. Unbelievable, to think that a true dragon would appear in the likes of the Myriad Domain!”

Jiang Chen frowned slightly and sent a message to Huang’er, “I’m sorry I caused trouble for you, Miss Huang’er. Stay close to me while I open a path for us.”

Huang’er shook her head slightly and replied, “Sir Jiang, this is an emperor realm domain. The average escape glyph may not work against it. Let me try.”

Huang’er was normally calm and collected, but right now her tone was a bit more serious than usual.

“Miss Huang’er, the Generation Binding Curse is just waiting for a chance to engulf you. You cannot deploy your consciousness recklessly,” Jiang Chen said hastily.

“Sir Jiang, we are in a life and death crisis right now, so we’ll just have to deal with that later. Prepare the escape glyph while I attempt to break the enemy’s domain. The escape glyph will work if there’s even a tiny gap in his domain.”

Jiang Chen knew that Huang’er had already made up her mind when he heard her tone. He also knew that his chances of success was actually quite low if he didn’t use his final trump card against the enemy’s emperor’s domain.

“Brother Long, come back quickly,” Jiang Chen called out in secret. At the same time, a jade green bamboo abruptly appeared around Huang’er and soared towards the sky like an ancient totem. It dragged a long, jade colored tail of light behind it. The crisp-green light rammed into the walls of the palace on the sky.

Bam!

The palace in the sky shuddered greatly before a hole was abruptly blown open at the center, and Jiang Chen’s escape glyph shattered at the same time. A ray of light wrapped around Jiang Chen and Huang’er and chased after the jade light, flying out of the palace and city walls. They were gone in the blink of an eye. This series of changes had happened so quickly that almost no one were able to react in time.

Gong Wuji was among the very few whose reactions were quick. When he saw the jade light charging towards his own domain, he sneered inwardly, thinking that these two little fellows were fools who thought they could break through an emperor’s domain with their puny strength. However, his sneer didn’t manage to manifest on his face before shock replaced it.

Contrary to his expectations, the jade light actually blasted a large hole in his domain. His opponent’s escape glyph followed closely behind the jade light, and his captives vanished right under his nose just like that. The emperor’s domain was connected to his consciousness. When his domain was blasted open, naturally his consciousness was shaken tremendously as well. For a time, he wasn’t able to react towards their escape. The light had long vanished when his mind finally recovered. For a time, the scene was so quiet that only some strictly repressed soft breaths could be heard. Be it the Thunder Note Hall or the Great Roc Sect, everyone present in the area bowed their heads and didn’t dare reveal a bit of expression on their faces.

Master Gong Wuji had just called them useless for letting a mark escape a moment ago. In the next moment, two bigger marks had slipped right from under his nose. It was almost as if Master Gong Wuji had set himself up to be slapped by himself! A person would have to be crazy to show any expression at this moment. Master Gong could easily misinterpret any kind of expressions as an attempt to ridicule him.

Gong Wuji’s eyes bulged, and he roared towards the sky. Then, he punched the ground in front of Jiang Chen’s residence.

BAM!

The residence instantly collapsed into a pile of ruins. “After them! You must capture those two bastards no matter what the cost!” Gong Wuji had almost gone berserk when he roared out this order and sent spittle flying everywhere. He nearly lost all self control at this moment. If the news that he, a fourth level emperor realm cultivator had actually allowed a sage realm brat to escape his grasp were to spread, it would be a great stain on his reputation.

Gong Wuji abruptly recalled something and swept a dominating glance across the place, “Remember, you will tell no one about today’s matter. If anyone of you were to squeak even half a sentence about this, I will lead my men and personally destroy the Thunder Note Hall and Great Roc Sect!” Gong Wuji’s tone was overbearing and brooked no disobedience at all.

Even the sect heads of the Thunder Note Hall and the Great Roc Sect shuddered when Gong Wuji’s ferocious gaze had swept across their body. They could only nod repeatedly in response, even though they were second level emperor realm cultivators themselves.

“Master, about this kid…” The Thunder Note Hall sect head pointed at Shen Qinghong and asked, “Should we just kill him immediately?”

“That can wait. This kid was a part of their group, so they should be pretty close to each other. Let’s interrogate him first. He may have some useful information.”

Shen Qinghong laughed loudly, “A warrior can be killed, but his honor will not stand for humiliation. You can capture or kill me, but you will never see the day I become a traitor and betray my own sect!”

“Tsk tsk, your tough talk is useless here. Let’s see if you can keep it up after we torture you, kid!”

Shen Qinghong was obviously prepared. He spat, “Kill me if you want to, but there is no way you’re getting anything out of me! Remember this well: my junior brother, Jiang Chen will one day return ten times the suffering you’ve inflicted onto Regal Pill Palace! Hahaha, I, Shen Qinghong, am useless and will not live to see that day. But it will come. That day of retribution will definitely come!” Once he said this, Shen Qinghong shouted and pushed his internal energy to the max.

Bang bang bang!

Shen Qinghong had actually chosen to detonate his own spirit!

The scene was filled with chaos for a time. It was obvious that not even Gong Wuji had expected his captive to be so idealistic.