“Don’t worry about it. The Six Horn Sea Serpent can be considered part of the dragon bloodline. My spiritual mark will be absorbed by him without him knowing,” answered Evilmoon.

When the old sea serpent had started admitting defeat, Long Chen had been planning on giving him some slow poison to weaken him until he eventually died. But Evilmoon had actually reached out to him and asked if it could hide its spiritual mark within a medicinal pill to give to the old sea serpent.

Evilmoon said that as long as it worked, when Long Chen advanced to Netherpassage, he would be able to use his Spiritual Strength to control that old sea serpent. He might even be able to turn him into a puppet.

Evilmoon required Long Chen to use its full power. That was the restriction that Yun Shang had forced on it when he had refined it into a weapon. Perhaps Yun Shang had been worried about Evilmoon killing Long Chen.

As long as Long Chen was strong enough, he would be able to unleash Evilmoon’s full power. But the current Long Chen had yet to reach that level.

“Nice, this way we can tell what secrets lie beneath the Martial Heaven Sea-Ring.” Long Chen clenched his fist.

Long Chen returned to the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. After that, Cloud and Dong Mingyu went into seclusion. In the depths of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race, Liu Ruyan had summoned her true body. Willow branches wrapped around the Dragonblood warriors, pulsing with life and death energy.

Liu Ruyan had fully refined the energy that the Yin Yang Immortal Grass had bestowed upon her, giving her the ability to manifest the Dao of Life and Death. This was a kind of mental realm that could enlighten others and allow them to advance their comprehension of life and death rapidly.

Within the entire Dragonblood Legion, there were only three people who didn’t need Liu Ruyan’s help. One was Yue Zifeng, one was Wilde, and the last was Long Chen.

Yue Zifeng cultivated the Sword Dao. He walked a different path from everyone else. Long Chen had told him to go into seclusion in the Heavenly Sword Gate. This place didn’t need his help for now.

Wilde had returned to the Wild World. There, he had enough to eat and never had to worry about an empty stomach.

As for the corpses of the sea demons from the last battle in front of the Yin Yang World, Wilde had stored them. For someone who had suffered from hunger for a long time, Wilde was profoundly aware of just what kind of torment it was. He had stored many rations now, and in the Wild World, he wouldn’t need to touch these rations.

As for Long Chen, he was busy refining pills. Time passed quickly, and seven days went by in the blink of an eye. On this day, a gathering took place on the continent.

However, Long Chen didn’t participate. He just waited for the news, and as expected, that evening, Qu Jianying came. But this time, the old man who had been following her for a while now didn’t come.

“Alliance head, why do you look displeased?” Long Chen smiled at Qu Jianying comfortingly, pouring tea for her. Qu Jianying’s expression was extremely ugly.

“Isn’t it all because of you? Fine, it’s actually because of those bastards from Pill Valley.” Qu Jianying sighed.

“They’re causing trouble once more?” Long Chen simply smiled. This was very normal and completely within his expectations.

This was why he hadn’t gone. If he had, there was a ninety-nine percent chance of a fight breaking out. There was nothing for him to discuss with those sanctimonious hypocrites.

“Pill Valley, the ancient races, the Corrupt path, the Xuan Beasts, the Bloodkill Hall, the ancient family alliance, and others said that the qi flow eruption was caused by you, and as the one to benefit the most from it, the Dragonblood Legion should be the only one to bear the consequences when the Sovereign seal breaks.” Qu Jianying clenched her teeth furiously. Even now, these bastards refused to give up on targeting Long Chen.

Originally, Qu Jianying had thought that the battle in front of the Yin Yang World would be enough for the Dragonblood Legion to intimidate them. After all, their current power was very frightening. They seemed unstoppable. Once the Dragonblood Legion advanced to Netherpassage, they would have enough power to flatten any of the powers, but they still dared to target them. That was no different from courting death.

“What a huge joke. The qi flow eruption benefited the whole world. It wasn’t as if the Dragonblood Legion consumed it all. And so what if I occupied the biggest qi flow stream? If I didn’t occupy it, would those cowards have dared to fight the sea demon army when they came? Wouldn’t the sea demon race have occupied it then? Would they also order the sea demon race to stop the Blood race?” Long Chen scoffed.

“I said the same thing, but they had too many people. I can’t out-talk them, and I almost blew up in anger,” raged Qu Jianying.

“Why didn’t the old man come?” asked Long Chen.

“His temper is worse than mine. He really did blow up in anger. Right in front of the outer branches of the divine families, he killed a few of the worst offenders and was then expelled from the gathering. He raged back to his home. When I went to see him, he refused to see me. He’s probably angry at me,” sighed Qu Jianying helplessly.

She knew that the old man was angry that she was too weak. What was the point of talking reason with those people? In his opinion, such people should simply be killed.

Long Chen smiled. The old man was pretty domineering. He didn’t care about some outer branches of the divine families. If someone provoked him, he wouldn’t mind killing them regardless. That was a real man.

“You shouldn’t have brought him,” said Long Chen.

“Brought him? He’s the one who forcibly came with me. I couldn’t even kick him away,” snorted Qu Jianying.

“Just what was the point of holding such a huge gathering? Were the divine families trying to show their power?” Long Chen changed the subject.

“It was not a show of martial power. The divine families only sent four experts to manage the gathering. They were all fourth step Netherpassage experts, on the same level as Daoist Heavenly Feather. Their auras were powerful, but they spoke very gently. They said that they wanted to hear everyone’s opinions and views on the upcoming dark era, but in reality, it was just a formality. The divine families are truly powerful. They sent four fourth step Netherpassage experts, so their true foundation must be frightening. They definitely have existences above the Netherpassage realm. With how powerful they are, perhaps we will be able to stop the invaders even without a Sovereign. Ah, there was also one person who told me to apologize to you, saying that the matter inside the Grand Xia was managed by someone wrongly and that the person in charge of it has already been handled. He says that he hopes this matter will not break the unity of the continent. How do you see this?” asked Qu Jianying.

“How else? With my eyes.” Long Chen shook his head.

“Be serious.” Qu Jianying rolled her eyes at Long Chen.

Long Chen seriously said, “Alright. I actually have no opinion on that. The important thing is that no one knows how much of what that person says is true or false. Actually, at that time, I was very curious why the divine families’ outer branches would support the Grand Han. There are some suspicious points that I still haven’t understood. However, in my opinion, the outer branches would only do such a thing with the approval of the true divine families. Otherwise, they wouldn’t dare to do so. After all, their relationship with the Grand Han doesn’t bring them any benefits to speak of.”

This matter was truly suspicious. Long Chen had no idea about the motivations of the outer branches of the divine families.

Qu Jianying nodded. “The divine families have always been a legendary existence. It is said that they even had a close connection with the Sovereigns. But once the Sovereign rises, they no longer interfere. When the Sovereigns aren’t present, they will appear to save the continent. However, for some reason, there are very few records of the divine families. There are only some folklore and legends. But in any case, their emergence is a good thing for the continent. All the sects can set their minds at ease.”

“It’s the opposite for me,” said Long Chen.

Qu Jianying looked at Long Chen and sighed, “You’re just like that old ghost, like a stone covered in crap. Both smelly and hard. I don’t know what possessed me to fall for him. This old heart of mine has already broken worrying about him, so I don’t have the energy to worry about you. When Lingshan reaches the Netherpassage realm, I will pass the Martial Heaven Alliance over to her, and then I can also start drinking and laughing. To tell the truth, the position of head of the alliance is so tiring.”

A weariness that Qu Jianying had never allowed herself to show in public finally appeared in her eyes. Leading the continent’s Righteous path was a heavy burden, especially in the recent turbulent times. The pressure was sometimes so great that it felt like she couldn’t breathe. Sometimes, she had to make decisions she didn’t want to make, decisions where she didn’t know if what she was doing was right or wrong. She could only rely on her experience.

She had already lost the heart of a true martial artist, and her cultivation base had stagnated. It could be said that she had given her entire life to the Martial Heaven Alliance.

Although Long Chen didn’t quite approve of Qu Jianying’s conservative method of handling things, he admitted that she was a strong woman worthy of respect. To be able to maintain a selfless heart in this selfish cultivation world was very precious.

“You and the old man can take a break. Sometimes you need to relax and leave things to the junior generation. Perhaps that might bring some blessings,” said Long Chen.

The old man and Qu Jianying were both stubborn. They were the pillars of the organizations they controlled. Due to that, they were unable to maintain their relationship. That was truly pitiful.

Qu Jianying smiled. “That old fellow finally grew a heart and promised me to revisit our old haunts from back in the day. He actually had a good idea.”

“Hehe, the old man’s not bad in this aspect. I can learn some things,” praised Long Chen.

He also wanted to bring Chu Yao and the others to the Eastern Wasteland to look back on the path they had taken and dredge up those memories. That would definitely be romantic. Who would have thought that the old man actually knew something about romance? 

Qu Jianying seemed to be lost in those past affairs and smiled. It was only after a while that she recovered.

“Let’s get back to the topic. Although Pill Valley and the others targeted you, there were others who supported you like the Nangong family and the Beitang family. But the unexpected thing is that even the Ximen family supported you.”