The Coiling Dragon Great Emperor's words actually voiced what many people were thinking. As for the Asura Great Emperor, he did have some fame in the Glazed King City. But when it came to that fame, aside from his own followers, most people didn't exactly hold him in high regard.
Internally, however, the people under the Asura Great Emperor were quite domineering. Take the old Royal Court great faction for example — they had strutted about the Glazed King City, throwing their weight around and committing all manner of misdeeds.
The Asura Guard from the Asura Dojo had an equally terrible reputation in the Glazed King City.
By comparison, the Peacock Sacred Mountain enjoyed a far, far better reputation than the Asura Dojo. It wasn't just the personal charisma of the Peacock Great Emperor — the Peacock Sacred Mountain's Peacock Guard also had an excellent reputation. At the very least, the Peacock Guard seldom interfered in worldly affairs except under extraordinary circumstances.
When it came to choosing the ruler of the Glazed King City, many people really weren't willing to pick the Asura Great Emperor. Not for any other reason, but because the Asura Great Emperor had truly accomplished nothing of note in the Glazed King City's external affairs.
His personal fame was built almost entirely on internal power struggles within the Glazed King City.
Some said this was because the Asura Great Emperor was selfish and self-serving; others said it was because the Peacock Great Emperor was too transcendent, leaving the Asura Great Emperor no room to shine.
But the fact remained: in external affairs, the Asura Great Emperor had indeed never made any contributions to the Glazed King City.
"In peace he cannot stabilize the state, in war he cannot win the hearts of the masses" — though the saying was a bit extreme, it still carried some weight when applied to the Asura Great Emperor.
Compared to other Great Emperors, the Asura Great Emperor's martial strength was naturally a cut above. But against the Nian Great Emperor, the second-ranked Great Emperor, he wasn't necessarily guaranteed a win.
It was just that the Nian Great Emperor had a mild and indifferent temperament, and had never been particularly enthusiastic about such matters of scrambling for fame and profit.
If the Peacock Great Emperor were still here, no one would even consider the Asura Great Emperor.
But now, rumors were spreading everywhere that the Peacock Great Emperor had passed away, and this had set people's hearts atremble, filling the Glazed King City with anxiety and dread.
The Asura Great Emperor was merely seizing this opportunity to exploit the vacuum.
There had been no possibility of competition between the Asura Great Emperor and the Peacock Great Emperor, but competing against Young Master Zhen was a very different matter.
In truth, among the younger generation of the Glazed King City, Young Master Zhen enjoyed tremendous support. Setting other things aside, though Young Master Zhen had risen to fame only recently, the contributions he had made to the Glazed King City were plain for all to see.
Just the feat of defeating Medicine King
This was a tremendous contribution that the Asura Great Emperor had never managed in three thousand years of fame.
And Young Master Zhen had come to the Glazed King City and comprehended all nine Glazed Steles. Not long ago, word had spread that Young Master Zhen had gone to Pill Fire City and swept through its alchemy world on the bounty stage. At the
Every detail pointed to one conclusion: Young Master Zhen was a true genius — whether in alchemy or martial arts, he was an undisputed top-tier talent.
A genius like that, given time to grow, would be the undisputed successor to the Peacock Great Emperor's position in the future — and might even surpass the Peacock Great Emperor's achievements, at that.
The Peacock Great Emperor had ruled the Glazed King City for three thousand years and made many outstanding contributions. He had also clashed with some first-rate sects of the Upper Eight Domains on external matters.
Relying on the Peacock Great Emperor's superior strength, the Glazed King City had come out on top time and again in those conflicts, defending its illustrious reputation.
But when it came to facing Pill Fire City, the Glazed King City had actually always been at a disadvantage. The two cities sat at opposite ends of the Upper Eight Domains — one in the south, one in the north — so they had no territorial disputes and no large-scale martial conflicts.
However, these two powers had actually clashed many times in the field of alchemy. As the largest alchemy force in the southern Upper Eight Domains, the Glazed King City had always wielded considerable influence, and its impact on the surrounding domains was substantial.
But over the past several thousand years, that influence had actually been steadily declining. While the Glazed King City could still influence the surrounding domains, in more distant regions, alchemists tended to favor Pill Fire City. They would rather bypass what was close at hand and gravitate toward Pill Fire City instead.
In every other area things were fine, but in alchemy, despite the many measures the Peacock Great Emperor had taken, progress had remained elusive.
In alchemy, the gap between the Glazed King City and Pill Fire City had actually been widening.
All along, the Peacock Great Emperor had been troubled by this matter. He had made many adjustments and even cultivated a group of Medicine Kings within the Peacock Sacred Mountain.
He had also established Vermilion Bird Avenue in the Glazed King City, dedicated to nurturing alchemy forces, and encouraged factions of all kinds to vigorously develop in the alchemy field.
These measures had indeed sparked a wave of enthusiasm for alchemy in the Glazed King City. But the city's foundations were ultimately a bit shallow, and no truly dazzling genius had ever emerged in its alchemy ranks.
The battle over the Myriad Longevity Pill had been especially significant — Jiang Chen, under the name Medicine King Zhen, had decisively defeated Pill Fire City's Medicine King Ji Lang. That battle was nothing short of a milestone!
After that battle, the alchemy atmosphere in the Glazed King City had clearly risen to a new level, and the long string of setbacks against Pill Fire City had finally begun to turn around.