Chapter 854: The Holy Kings of the Eternal Celestial Capital Meet
After a quick mental inventory, Jiang Chen abruptly realized that he possessed an unbelievable amount of trump cards. Any one of the items could transform an average genius into a first-rate genius. The fact that he alone possessed all of these trump cards left him in wonder at his extraordinary fortune. In fact, Emperor Peafowl himself had noticed that Jiang Chen’s fortune was remarkable after the emperor awakened his All-Seeing Eye. Naturally, Jiang Chen found this theory of fortune to be perfectly reasonable. It was simply impossible for a person who’d managed to survive the destruction of the heavenly plane and obtained a new lease on life not to have fortune on his side. As long as he didn’t try to commit suicide or actively seek death, his fortune alone would carry him through most problems.
This was obvious if one were to take another look at his past. Despite losing his sect, and hunted by two first rank sects, Jiang Chen had still been able to live freely. Of course, fortune alone wasn’t enough to carry one all through their life. If a person of great fortune stepped into their own death, then no amount of fortune would be able to change their outcome.
There were plenty of geniuses of great fortune in the world of martial dao, but not all of them could grow to their full potential and reach the end. It was common for geniuses of great fortune to lose everything in the end because of a flaw in their personality. Jiang Chen didn’t consider himself unparalleled just because he was a person of great fortune.
He went into closed door cultivation after making up his mind. Right now, his first priority was refining the Featherflight wings. He needed to quicken his cultivation of the Five Thunder Divine Sound Sword Technique too. That being said, sword technique wasn’t something that could be cultivated in just a few days’ worth of time. For now, Jiang Chen planned to nurture the sword with his aura and foster his relations.h.i.+p with the swords first. The cultivation of the sword technique could come later.
A sky rank divine sword was no ordinary divine weapon. A sword at this level possessed spirit energy of its own. If the wielder was lucky, the sword might eventually even nurture a spirit of its own. Although the Pentecolor Divine Swords didn’t seem to have a sword spirit, this was good news for Jiang Chen. He would have to spend time communicating with the sword spirit and foster a relations.h.i.+p between them.
No sword spirit meant less ha.s.sle. Of course, if a thread of destiny were to exist between Jiang Chen and this set of swords, then it wasn’t impossible for him to nurture the swords long enough for it to develop to a sword spirit of his own.
If he managed to develop a sword spirit, then the Pentecolor Divine Swords would definitely grow ma.s.sively in power. They would also become his true personal weapon. If he wished to cultivate the Five Thunder Divine Sound Sword Technique, then he had to first familiarize himself with this set of swords first. If he became so used to the swords that they practically felt like an extension of his body, then his cultivation of the sword technique would grow by leaps and bounds.
No one was surprised that Jiang Chen would announce closed door cultivation now. Taiyuan Tower was now on the right track, and nothing major was going on at Sacred Peafowl Mountain. However, a middle aged man in a certain area of Veluriyam Capital was frowning in the courtyard. “Pill King Zhen is cultivating in seclusion, they say? Is this true, or is it a lie?”
The middle aged man was a spy that Pillfire City had left behind in Veluriyam Capital. He had been gathering intelligence in Veluriyam Capital for a long time. In Pillfire City’s opinion, their plan to kill Jiang Chen with the poisoned secret letter was foolproof. As such, Emperor Pillzenith had purposely instructed him to watch Pill King Zhen closely and to send him a report the moment he heard anything. The emperor was obviously waiting for news of Pill King Zhen’s death to reach his ears.
However, no news of Pill King Zhen’s death came even though so many days had pa.s.sed. Everything in Taiyuan Tower operated as usual. It was impossible that Taiyuan Tower could act this calmly if something really had happened to Pill King Zhen. No one in Sacred Peafowl Mountain would be able to keep calm upon hearing this news, much less Taiyuan Tower. It would be stranger still if the sudden death of a pill king that could change Sacred Peafowl Mountain’s entire fortune caused no waves at all. But Veluriyam Capital looked as calm and peaceful as ever. The stories of Pill King Zhen trouncing Pillfire City continued to spread everywhere.
“Maybe… Pill King Zhen hasn’t read any of those letters?” The middle aged man was completely puzzled by this outcome. In the end, he could only justify the lack of news this way. “Maybe Pill King Zhen is too busy with work and social niceties to look at those letters. After all, those poisonous letters were refined by Emperor Pillzenith himself. There’s no way he could’ve survived that if he did touch those letters. Yeah, I should wait patiently and see what happens. Maybe he’ll get bored and think of those letters. If he so much as touches them, he’s dead, and there’s no better outcome than him dying in his own private room while he’s in seclusion. If his body is discovered too late, it’ll be too hard conduct an investigation! Hahaha!” The middle aged man comforted himself in this way.
…...
There was another group of people gathered at a secret base of their own. It was in fact an Eternal Celestial Capital base of operations in Veluriyam Capital. A couple of holy kings had all gathered inside. Holy King Ke, who’d gone to negotiate with the Majestic Clan, was present. Holy King Mu, the one who locked down the city gates of the Myriad Peoples City, was there as well.
Both saint holy kings were amongst the highest existences in the Eternal Celestial Capital. Their status was only a bit lower than the sect head of the Eternal Celestial Capital himself. The two saint holy kings were gathered together with a few other holy kings who were one rank lower than them, a rank shared by the deceased Gong Wuji. A total of ten people were present at this place.
The person who attended to the holy kings’ needs was a spy the Eternal Celestial Capital had planted in Veluriyam Capital dozens of years ago. Everyone called him Holy King Bei even though he was just a reserve holy king. He hadn’t been given an official t.i.tle yet, though he already possessed the qualification to become a holy king. That being said, It was only a matter of time before he was given an official t.i.tle considering the years he spent at Veluriyam Capital gathering intelligence for the Eternal Celestial Capital. The reason he wasn’t given the t.i.tle yet was because he was still a spy, and it wasn’t the right time for him to expose himself. Of course, Holy King Bei’s status couldn’t compare to the saint holy kings. That was why Holy King Bei appeared very respectful before the two saint holy kings. He dutifully relayed everything that had happened in Veluriyam Capital as of late to the two saint holy kings.
“My lords, the Longevity Pill has now been monopolized by the Sacred Peafowl Mountain. Not even the other great emperors of Veluriyam Capital were given the right to refine them. There’s no doubt that Sacred Peafowl Mountain plans to enjoy the spoils of the Longevity Pill by themselves,” Holy King Bei said.
Saint Holy King Ke humphed coldly, “How on earth did the Sacred Peafowl Mountain acquire the Longevity Pill recipe to begin with?”
Everyone in the Eternal Celestial Capital was indescribably sour about the final outcome when it came to the Longevity Pill. Despite all the work they had put in and the expenses they’d swallowed, the Longevity Pill fell into the Sacred Peafowl Mountain’s hands in the end. The pill recipe they had spent so much effort to pry out of their victims’ mouths had now been monopolized entirely by another party. This wasn’t a declaration made solely by Sacred Peafowl Mountain, but one by every major representative of the pill industry. Even the Eternal Celestial Capital didn’t dare go up against every pill industry heavyweights of the entire human domain simultaneously.
Plus, everyone knew that the Longevity Pill belonged to the Sacred Peafowl Mountain now. Even if they tried to refine some Longevity Pills anyway, no one would buy it or accept a broker deal. While there would be some fearless criminals who would dare sell the Longevity Pill on the black market, the consequences of discovery would be the anger of the entirety of Veluriyam Capital.
No one dared take a risk like that. Emperor Peafowl was acknowledged as one of the strongest great emperors in the human domain, a person no sane person would ever intentionally offend. Offending him would only mean death. Even their sect head didn’t wish to provoke someone like Emperor Peafowl.
Saint Holy King Mu was surprisingly unaffected by their loss, “What’s gone is gone. If this is the price we have to pay to make Veluriyam Capital a sworn enemy of Pillfire City, then who cares? Even if the pill hadn’t fallen into Sacred Peafowl Mountain’s hands, it still would’ve been taken by Pillfire City anyway. A thing like this wouldn’t have lasted long in our hands. I heard from the sect that Pill King s.h.i.+ Yangshu had gone to Pillfire City to meet Emperor Pillzenith, and Pillfire City had s.n.a.t.c.hed our pill formula right from his hands the second it was presented. Emperor Pillzenith never planned to partner with the Eternal Celestial Capital from the very beginning. All he wanted to do was to rob us. Unfortunately for them, they failed to defeat Sacred Peafowl Mountain despite all their schemes and actually ended up worse off than when they started. Serves them right, that’s for sure.”
The Eternal Celestial Capital’s hatred towards Veluriyam Capital was actually smaller than their hatred towards Pillfire City. After all, Veluriyam Capital hadn’t robbed the pill formula directly from their hands. Whereas, Pillfire City had just taken possession of the pill formula and kicked the Eternal Celestial Capital out of the game. This wasn’t something a first rank sect like the Eternal Celestial Capital could swallow with grace.
Thankfully, Pillfire City ultimately lost to Sacred Peafowl Mountain and failed to retain owners.h.i.+p of the Longevity Pill. The Eternal Celestial Capital might not have the right to refine the Longevity Pill, but the owners.h.i.+p of the pill hadn’t fallen into Pillfire City’s hands either. The Eternal Celestial Capital couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief at this outcome. You robbed us, sure, but I wonder who’s the bigger loser in the end, Pillfire City?
Everyone shared a look of perfect understanding when they heard Holy King Mu’s words. It was obvious that everyone had learned of Emperor Pillzenith’s malicious robbery of the Longevity Pill after Pill King s.h.i.+ Yangshu sent back a message to the sect. The Eternal Celestial Capital was deeply dissatisfied with the Pillfire City’s unreasonable aggressiveness. It was only natural that they enjoyed Pillfire City’s double loss after trying to trick the enemy. Even the irksome Veluriyam Capital was looking more friendly than Pillfire City right now.
“Oh right, Holy King Bei, you’ve stayed at the Veluriyam Capital for a very long time, haven’t you? Did you figure out anything about Pill King Zhen yet?” Holy King Mu asked.
Holy King Bei pondered for a moment, “This Pill King Zhen’s background is extremely mysterious. No one knows where he comes from. I have tried to inquire about him in secret, but I can find no clues whatsoever.”
Holy King Mu had been trying to catch Jiang Chen at Myriad Peoples City all this time. In the end, a long enough time had pa.s.sed for him to realize that his plans to intercept Jiang Chen had failed. That was why he’d chosen to sneak into Veluriyam Capital. It was all to gather information.
“What are your opinions, Brother Mu?” Holy King Ke asked curiously.
Holy King Mu frowned, “I don’t know why, but I can’t shake the feeling that this Pill King Zhen has something to do with us.”
“Something to do with us? What do you mean?” The group of men looked puzzled.
“I’ve seen this Pill King Zhen at the Myriad Peoples City before. At the time, he was travelling together with the young master of House Wei, Wei Jie, and making his way to Veluriyam Capital. We stopped him at the roadblock, and he showed us a pill king token to prove his ident.i.ty. Though, the surname on the token was a different ‘Zhen’ character. But I wonder if the two are actually connected?”
“So he’s a member of the House Wei. What does that have to do with us?” Holy King Ke still didn’t understand his meaning.
“Sigh. I suspect that this Pill King Zhen is that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Jiang Chen.” Holy King Mu couldn’t help but feel a bit of pain in his heart when he said this. He’d never talked about what had happened during the inspection until now, and he never stopped regretting the decision he had made that day. If he’d been a little more resolute that day, if he had insisted in inspecting that Pill King Zhen, he might have found the person he was looking for. However, he’d ultimately decided against inspecting Pill King Zhen by force and yielded to the authority of Veluriyam Capital. The more he thought about that day, the more he found it suspicious. That was why he had come to investigate this matter more deeply.