Chapter 585: Rules of Division
The entire scene had fallen silent. There was no one who couldn’t feel how much hatred was imbued within those two slaps that hit w.a.n.g Han’s face. And the person responsible for this? A fifth level origin realm cultivator from the Regal Pill Palace!
Elder Chen’s face was also ashen. Although it was w.a.n.g Han who’d slapped himself, Elder Chen had also suffered an extreme loss of face. After all, w.a.n.g Han hadn’t just slapped himself, but had dealt a blow to the Sacred Sword Palace’s entire reputation as well.
“Jiang Chen, I, w.a.n.g Han, swear I’ll kill you one day!”
Jiang Chen couldn’t be bothered with such threats. Would w.a.n.g Han have coexisted peacefully with him, even if the events of today hadn’t come to pa.s.s? w.a.n.g Han had attacked without a word when they’d found the Sage Fledging Gra.s.s.
“You should be thankful that I didn’t make you eat s.h.i.+t.” Jiang Chen responded with an indifferent smile, dismissing w.a.n.g Han’s pointless provocation.
Elder Chen also glared darkly at Elder Yun Nie. “Our Sacred Sword Palace will remember this!”
Elder Yun Nie scoffed. “Sure, go ahead and record it. Who are you trying to scare?”
The relations.h.i.+p between the Regal Pill Palace and the Sacred Sword Palace was already antipathic enough to be akin to fire and water. Since the two didn’t get along to begin with, what did it matter if new hatreds were added to old animosities? Not to mention, this time, it’d been the Sacred Sword Palace picking a fight.
Elder Xiang Gan chuckled. “Alright, alright. Any and all misunderstandings should be cleared up by now. Fortunately, we didn’t waste too much time. Now that most of us have arrived and not much time remains, shouldn’t we think about how to distribute the treasure from the island in the lake?”
The eyes of those a.s.sembled gleamed and filled with desire when the topic of the core island of the lake was mentioned. However, Elder Wu Hen from the Walkabout Sect furrowed his brows. “Wait a moment, our Walkabout Sect is still missing someone.”
Elder Xiang Can was unsympathetic. “We’ve all waited so long. If we wait for everyone to gather, we may run out of time. Who’s willing to wait?”
Most of the sect elders shook their heads, those from the fifth rank sects even more vigorous in their efforts. It had taken so much effort to enter this place that they were unwilling to wait.
Elder Wu Hen glaced at Wei Xing’er nearby and asked, “Has Wei Qing responded yet?”
Wei Xing’er shook her head. “We’re unable to contact him.”
Elder Wu Hen’s heart skipped a beat. Although Wei Qing was arrogant, he was still a genius after all. There were only very few who were capable of harming him in this ancient herb garden. If he hasn’t arrived by now, has Wei Qing actually… perished? Elder Wu Hen couldn’t help but glance at Jiang Chen when his thoughts traveled here.
With Elder Wu Hen’s understanding of Wei Qing, Wei Qing certainly would’ve gone to create trouble for Jiang Chen. But here, Jiang Chen was perfectly unscathed, and Wei Qing was now mysteriously missing. Although he had no evidence, Elder Wu Hen’s initial hunch was that Jiang Chen had slain Wei Qing. Only, this sort of guess was not something he could bring up without evidence. He could only sit silently on his speculations.
Elder Chen of the Sacred Sword Palace also interjected, “Our Sacred Sword Palace’s Du Lihuang has also yet to arrive. Elder Xiang Gan, how should we deal with this?”
Elder Xiang Gan mocked him right back, “What the h.e.l.l does Du Lihuang have to do with this old man? Do you think this old man is responsible for babysitting your Sacred Sword Palace’s brats?”
Elder Chen refuted, “Didn’t you originally promise that your Great Cathedral would not make trouble for our disciples?”
“Do you have evidence that my sect’s disciples did anything?” Elder Xiang Gan’s tone turned cold.
Elder Chen’s first thought was that Yue Baize had killed Du Lihuang in revenge. Seeing Elder Chen look at him, Yue Baize bristled. “What are you looking at me for? If I really killed that idiot, why would I be afraid to admit it? He was lucky and didn’t run into me, or I wouldn’t have minded smas.h.i.+ng him to death with a single punch!”
Yue Baize’s anger clearly had not abated from Du Lihuang ruining his plans for the Silverlion. Although Du Lihuang seemed to have run into trouble, Yue Baize still resented not having personally beaten him to death.
Elder Chen carefully observed Yue Baize for a while and realized that he really wasn’t putting on an act. Elder Chen’s heart skipped a beat. If Yue Baize really hadn’t killed Du Lihuang, then who was responsible? Elder Chen broke out in a cold sweat as he came to terms with the fact that the Sacred Sword Palace seemed to have quite a few hidden enemies within the Myriad Domain. If not someone from the Great Cathedral, was it possibly someone from the Regal Pill Palace? But they weren’t necessarily strong enough to kill Du Lihuang. Even the half-step sage realm Shen Qinghong was only slightly stronger than Du Lihuang. The former wasn’t so strong as to kill Du Lihuang in a one-sided battle.
The opponent must have exerted overwhelming strength in order to kill off Du Lihuang such that he couldn’t even get a message out. Was it an elder?! But that seemed unlikely; all the elders would’ve focused on approaching the center of the herb garden. They had a low chance of b.u.mping into Du Lihuang.
Suddenly, Jin Feng from the Sacred Sword Palace spoke up. “Elder Chen, junior brother Du sent me a message previously that he was going to make a deal with Wei Qing from the Walkabout Sect.”
“Oh?” Hearing this, Elder Chen’s expression s.h.i.+fted as he glanced at Walkabout Sect.
Elder Wu Hen dismissed his glance. “Don’t look at me. Wei Qing has probably perished too.”
Everyone was shocked to hear this news. Two top geniuses from fourth ranked sects had actually perished here? This ancient herb garden really was a dangerous place!
“Did they accidentally run into those two fierce wyverns?” Some folks wondered.
“It’s highly likely. If it wasn’t those two wyverns, it would be virtually impossible for a normal expert to kill off both Wei Qing and Du Lihuang.”
“Ai, who knows? Maybe those two encountered a dangerous situation and escaped by crus.h.i.+ng their jade tokens? There’s no point in worrying about it right now. Let’s just treat those people who haven’t arrived already as having forfeited.”
Elder Chen sighed and could only hope optimistically that the situation was really thus. Mt. Rippling Mirage was isolated from the outside world, so they really wouldn’t know if the two had left the mountain. The truth would only be known once all of them left Mt. Rippling Mirage.
Elder Wu Hen seemed expressionless, but was inwardly taken aback. Wei Qing combined with Du Lihuang hadn’t been able to take out Jiang Chen, but might have been killed in return instead?
His vigilance towards Jiang Chen grew even more. This youth, who only boasted a fifth level origin realm cultivation, seemed to be a wellspring of surprises again and again. This only went to prove that Jiang Chen really wasn’t as simple as he appeared.
Unfortunately, aside from the Sacred Sword Palace and the Walkabout Sect, no one else paid much attention to the missing Wei Qing and Du Lihuang. No one cared much about whether they were dead or alive. Their primary concern at the moment was how many precious spiritual herbs and priceless treasures could be found on that island in the middle of the lake.
Someone shouted out suddenly, “Look! The mist over the lake seems to be dissipating.” As everyone looked up, they saw the mist shrouding the lake gradually thinning. The gradual dispersal of the mist allowed the island to grow clearer, revealing details that were previously hidden.
At first glance, the island didn’t seem overly large, being less than a hundred acres. However, it exuded an unbelievable amount of spirit power. More than anything else, it was clear proof that the island was hiding a great amount of precious treasures. Just seeing the layers of spirit power emanating from the island caused everyone to burn with enthusiasm. Who wouldn’t be ecstatic at a rare stroke of great fortune avidly waving at them from the island?
“Everyone, let’s be blunt first. The Great Cathedral has a priority claim on any treasures that are found.” Elder Xiang Gan stepped ahead of the group and stated. His tone brooked no opposition, a domineering presence emanating from his words.
Since the Great Cathedral’s strength was the highest among the six great sects, the other five sects couldn’t object to the arrangement set forward by the Great Cathedral. However, the remaining five sects were relatively equal in strength, so ranking them in order of priority was a difficult task. After all, it was clear that it may not be possible to evenly split the profit from this venture. On the other hand, looting as they pleased would only create complete chaos.
“I propose that we use the rankings of the Pill Battles to decide priority.” Ouyang De of the Regal Pill Palace suggested.
“Absolutely not!” rejected Elder Chen. “Why should we use the Pill Battles to decide the order?”
“If the Great Cathedral is willing to abide by the pill compet.i.tion rankings, then our Walkabout Sect is also willing to.” Since the Walkabout Sect ranked second during the compet.i.tion, they were okay with a relatively high priority ranking.
Elder Xiang Gan scoffed, “What now, your Walkabout Sect is trying to scheme their way above our Great Cathedral?” The Great Cathedral was the strongest among them, and would naturally not agree to use the Pill Battle rankings.
“Let’s draw lots then,” advocated Elder Tan Lang of the Tristar Sect. Since his sect had no advantage in either the Pill Battle rankings or overall sect strength, then he might as conduct a random drawing. At least this way, they might get lucky.
“Right, let’s draw lots. Our Dark North Sect also supports this suggestion.”
Elder Chen coldly intoned, “I have no comment about drawing lots.”
“Fine, drawing lots it is.” After Elder Wu Hen deliberated for a bit, he also felt that drawing lots was the best method.
Elder Xiang Gan sneered, “It’s decided then. The five of you can draw lots. The Great Cathedral will retain our number one priority.”
Imperious and dominating without question! Elder Xiang Gan’s strength was unquestionable, and the Great Cathedral the first sect amongst all in the Myriad Domain. Everyone could only helplessly endure in silence in the face of his haughtiness. So other than the Great Cathedral, the remaining five sects drew lots. The fifth ranked sects were completely marginalized in this process, since they didn’t have the qualifications to partic.i.p.ate. The Regal Pill Palace’s luck turned out to be average, drawing the fourth ranking.
Thus, the Great Cathedral was first, the Walkabout Sect was second, the Sacred Sword Palace was third, the Regal Pill Palace was fourth, the Dark North Sect was fifth, and Tristar Sect ended up sixth. Although Elder Tan Lang was quite unhappy with the result, he dared not voice his ire after receiving one of Elder Xiang Gan’s glares. Instead, he could only swallow his resentment with dejection.
“Now that the order is set, everything else is straightforward. We’ll use the priority sequence if anyone comes across sky rank herbs. Each sect can only pick one herb. After all six sects have picked one each, if there is a seventh sky rank herb, then the Great Cathedral will kindly accept it. If there are twelve sky rank herbs, then congratulations to everyone as each of the fourth rank sects will end up with two sky rank herbs. As for the fifth rank sects, they are allowed to take earth rank herbs, but only after the fourth rank sects have done so. The same goes for true saint rank herbs. As for sage rank herbs, they belong to whoever harvests them.” Elder Xiang Gan thus laid out the rules.
He couldn’t be too overbearing with his rules. If he was too oppressive, then the five other great sects might band together to resist him. Thus the rules were balanced such that, overall, the six great sects had roughly the same treatment.
Of course, having number one priority meant his Great Cathedral had an innate advantage. In case there was only one sky rank herb, it would naturally end up with the Great Cathedral.
Jiang Chen appeared as if he wasn’t listening as they discussed the rules of distribution. Instead, he’d opened his G.o.d’s Eyes and was observing the dissipating mist. His brows were furrowed, as if engrossed in thought.