For thousands of years, the five biggest sects had been searching for the other half of the Infinite Star Sea Void Map. Once they had the other half of the map, they would be able to enter the Infinite Star Sea and do some explorations. There was a chance that they would be able to find some rare treasures from olden times. What was so special about the treasures was that even the 33 Heavens had not been able to find them. Because of this, the five biggest sects set up some strict rules. No matter how high ranking a person was, as long as one found the other half of the map, he had to report the find to the respective sects. Then, the five sects would share the map, and the one who found it would be greatly rewarded. No one would have thought that the map would eventually end up with Yan Yuntian. The cunning fellow, however, did not report his find to his sect and kept it a secret. At the most crucial moment when he was in trouble, he had used it to save himself.
This act stunned everyone. However, the five biggest sects did not really bother about it. Now, their primary focus was on analyzing the complete Void Map. Once they came up with something, they would send in their experts to explore and make up for the loss of Azure Heaven.
“Well, do you have any ideas?” Seeing that Zhou Bao was still in a daze, Wang She smiled and asked, “Would you interested to take a look together?”
Zhou Bao raised his eyebrows and asked hesitantly, “Are you sure this half of the Void Map is the real thing?”
“Of course, it is impossible to forge the Void Map. Be it the materials or the text, they can only found in olden times. Even if one found them and tried to recreate, without the other half, how would he ever do it?”
“That’s true!” Zhou Bao thought, a whole map would be easy to recreate but it would be a joke to create only half. No idiot would attempt to recreate without looking at the other half.
“You know, my ambitious old father-in-law did a complete turnabout. He went against the orders of the five biggest sects. So will you all close one eye and not punish him?” Zhou Bao asked with a smile.
“Your father-in-law should know right from wrong and will definitely have made plans for himself. Do you think he will willingly hand over the map to us? I’m sure there will be conditions attached and if we don’t meet his conditions, he will destroy everything indiscriminately. The old guy has suffered too much and has become a little crazy. We do not have the time to dally with him,” Wang She said softly. There was scorn in his voice as he said, “so, even though the old guy has angered us, no one is willing to bear the consequences, so we agreed to his conditions!”
“Eh, indeed, the older, the wiser. It would be quite a show!”
“Indeed, one of Yan Yuntian’s conditions was that from today onwards, no one from the five biggest sects should interfere in Jin’s matters, directly or indirectly. This made Tian Long Taoism very upset. He had been preparing to rebuild Mingyi School and sanction the nine well-known families. Oh, sorry, it should only be eight of them now!”
“That’s nonsense, he does not have that much power!”
“Do you think he will look for you?”
“Yes, he definitely will, but he will also know what my answer will be. But according to his character, as long as there’s a slight chance, he will go for it. This is what I admire most about him.”
“He is your father-in-law, of course you would admire his character. But it would be better not to get involved. He may decide to do an about turn again, but it is still far from achieving his big dream. This time around, he has basically offended the five biggest sects, especially Divine Wind Palace. It supported him in the past, but now there are too many people inside that are angry with him. Hence, if he wants to become a candidate for the Jade Emperor, it would be much more difficult than before!”
“Is that title really so important?”
“Of course it is! If not, there wouldn’t be so many people fighting for it. At least the emperors of the strongest countries in Four Eastern Regions are fighting for it. They want their dynasty to last forever!”
“How can there ever be such a dynasty?” Zhou Bao laughed coldly, “They’re just a bunch of daydreamers!”
“That is where you’re wrong. You’re too powerful, so in your eyes, this emperor position means nothing to you. You can even kill the emperor in whatever way you want in just a blink of an eye. However, you’re missing an important point and that is, one man’s effort is very limited. You can be the strongest person, but you’ll still be on your own. You have to do everything by yourself, like getting the elixir when you’re practicing, or getting your equipment when refining celestial devices. Do you still remember when you refined the Air-frozen Bead? You spent so much time and effort just to compile the ingredients and had to stop your practice because of that. Once one becomes the Jade Emperor, things would be different. With just a single command, anything you ask for will be brought to you and anything you need to be done will be taken care of instantly. With such a resource, would there be anything to worry about when you are practicing?”
“Don’t forget, this is different from the past, the human emperor cannot rule the heavens and realms!”
“Don’t forget too, when the descendants of the emperor practice, they can do it at the fastest speed and enjoy the largest resources. They do not have to think of anything else except to focus on their practicing. Hence, the number of experts in the royal family will definitely not be less than that of the nine well-known families of Jin, and so too their power!”
“You mean to say that there are Genuine Immortals of Venerable Realm in the royal family?” Zhou Bao was thinking about the Qin Family of South Mountains especially that of the Venerable Patriarch in the Qin Family of South Mountains.
“Huh, of course not!” Upon hearing that, Wang She stopped for a moment. An awkward expression came across his face. “The Qin Family of South Mountains was an exception. That old man is extraordinary. Apart from the Qin Family, there is at least one Individual Immortal from Mysterious Realm in each of the other eight well-known families. Of course, the power of an Individual Immortal is insignificant to you, but it is enough to deter the Great Jin. Furthermore, there are three of them in the royal family of Great Jin. Each of them possess a Pure Yang Celestial Device!” Speaking of which, he looked at Zhou Bao meaningfully, “You have to think about it, the Yan family may be royalty, but when compared to the nine well-known families, they’re just like newcomers. However, within a short span of less than 500 years, they’re able to amass such great power today. As for the families with thousands of years of history, they are not even comparable to the Yan family. This is what royalty is all about!”
“When compared to genocide, this little benefit is so insignificant! Becoming a royal would definitely put one in the spotlight. When the time comes to have a change in the royal family, that would be the day when they all die!”
“That is why, for every dynasty, each ambitious Emperor would look forward to the grand unification. They all dream of reliving the legendary glories of the Heavenly Court and of being in control of all heavens and realms. This is to prevent future incidents of genocides!”
“No matter how glorious the Heavenly Court is, or how great their influence was, didn’t they all disappear?”
“The destruction of the Heavenly Court was done by the tribulation of the earth. Back then, even Immortals would suffer. There was no way the Heavenly Court would only protect itself. Furthermore, even though the Heavenly Court was destroyed, the Uniform Dao was passed on. Also, didn’t that Yu family proclaim repeatedly that they’re the descendants of the Yu Emperor? At least the family did not go into extinction!”
“Listen to what you’re saying, they are saying that they’re the descendants, who knows if it’s true? We need evidence right? Even if there is, after so many years, how will we know if it’s real or not?”
“But this at least explains why the Heavenly Court did not completely disappear. Look at the dynasties before Great Jin. How many people actually remember them and reminisce about them?!”
“Let’s not talk about unimportant things, I’m not interested in building a dynasty. Even if the place I am at is the site of Nine Dragons convergence, I will not turn the Zhou family into royalty, that’s too dangerous!”
“You may say it now, but what if your family wants it in the future?”
“I will kill the person with one blow!” Zhou Bao laughed coldly, “I will see who would dare to do it!”
“Okay, fine, let’s not talk about this. Back to the Void Map. So are you interested in the Infinite Star Sea or not?”
“What, you just got hold of the Void Map and now you want to explore the Infinite Star Sea already?”
“Not exactly, However, we must have a plan. You know that not everyone can enter the hollow. Even if we want to explore the area, we need at least a Genuine Immortal from the Venerable Realm. The Four Eastern Regions cannot be compared to the Sea Area. There are less than 100 Genuine Immortals from the Venerable Realm in the five biggest sects. Even the strongest, Divine Wind Palace, only has about 50. And they can’t all go together!” Suddenly Wang She laughed in a weird manner. “Think about it, even if we have the Void Map, the deep ends of the Infinite Star Sea is very dangerous. We won’t be safe even if a Venerable is with us. Those from the five biggest sects who are going are all Genuine Immortals from the Venerable Realm; The strongest fighters in each sect will all be together in the Infinite Star Sea. Won’t that make us more powerful? It is possible for someone else to make use of this chance to eliminate a sect, and what will happen if we don’t send anyone there? What if someone else found some rare treasure in the Infinite Star Sea, comes back with more power and then proceed to destroy us? Hence, this matter requires the five biggest sects to sit down and settle certain issues : like how many and who to send, who to stay here and so on. All these need to be discussed so that nobody loses out and nobody takes advantage of anything. I think this won’t be settled that easily, it will take at least another few years.”
“Yes, there are no dumb people on this earth, especially in big sects like yours. Those who call you dumb are the dumb ones! Are you looking for me because Elder Qing wants me to be involved?!”
“Indeed, but it all depends on you. If you want to go, nobody will stop you. If you don’t want to go, nobody can force you!”
“Oh, how come you are so accommodating?”
“Many people want you dead in the Infinite Star Sea. There are also many who would like to have you on their side. The opinions are divided inside the Immortal Palace.