"Young Master, why must we wait for the Peerless Great Emperor?" Canghai Great Emperor was stationed outside the imperial palace perimeter, glancing left and right, practically itching to lead his elite forces and storm straight into the Scarlet Cauldron imperial palace.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "What do you think of this formation?"
"I reckon that even if the Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain has some tricks up its sleeve, with our strength as Great Emperors, we could simply blast through it with raw power. Wouldn't crushing them head-on be far more satisfying?"
Jiang Chen replied with a calm smile, "If you think that way, the people of the Scarlet Cauldron royal family would be only too delighted. This formation is no ordinary thing. If you charge in blindly, even an Emperor-realm expert could get swept up by the formation. You might not perish, but there would certainly be a measure of danger."
"Oh?" Canghai Great Emperor was somewhat skeptical. Could the Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain, a mere mid-tier domain, really possess such a formidable formation? Canghai Great Emperor had long resided in the Glazed Royal City, and the first-rate sects of the Upper Eight Domains barely registered in his eyes, let alone this trifling Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain.
"Young Master, is this formation truly that extraordinary?" Canghai Great Emperor studied the formation for a while longer and couldn't help but ask again.
"This formation is undoubtedly an ancient inheritance. Moreover, the imperial palace itself was likely rebuilt upon ancient ruins. As such, the terrain of the palace is anchored to the formation. This formation contains not only an illusion array but also an entrapment array and a killing array. It is a comprehensive and powerful ancient formation. If you charge in headlong, there's no telling how deep it goes. One moment of carelessness, and your Emperor-realm experts could genuinely suffer for it."
An ancient formation — the work of an ancient era. That was something else entirely.
They might not fear the people of the Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain, but they dared not look down upon its ancient inheritances. Whenever something was connected to the ancient past, it was never to be taken lightly.
Because the layout of the ancient era was completely different from today. The Eight Upper Domains were not necessarily the core of humanity, nor was the Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain necessarily a barren wilderness.
Even if the Scarlet Cauldron Central Domain was a relatively remote place in ancient times, its ancient inheritances were still enough to pose a threat to today's powerhouses.
Hearing Jiang Chen say this, Great Emperor Canghai also set aside his contempt.
Towards Jiang Chen, Great Emperor Canghai had always felt a measure of instinctive reverence, but now, built upon that foundation, was also a great deal of trust in his judgment.
Young Master Chen was a figure who had even forced Great Emperor Shura to suffer a setback, making it impossible for Great Emperor Canghai not to believe him.
Half an hour later, the slaughter within the outer formation finally came to an end. The three great sects had ultimately held the advantage, completely wiping out the royal guards and the palace experts from the imperial forces.
"Young Master, it's dealt with. Do we charge straight into the palace, or do we continue to let the three great sects take the lead?" Jiao Yun came to report.
Following Jiao Yun were also the sect leaders of the three great sects.
Hearing Jiao Yun's words, looks of misery appeared on the faces of the three sect leaders. In the battle just now, although their sects could not be said to have suffered devastating casualties, they had fought until they were utterly exhausted, and had indeed sustained significant losses.
If they were now to be asked to take the lead again in attacking the inner courtyard's formation, it was entirely possible that their three sects would be utterly annihilated.
"Heh heh, the three great sects have been through a brutal fight and are an exhausted army. Sending them to charge the vanguard now would just be sending them to their deaths." Jiang Chen smiled lightly, glancing at the three sect masters. "Rest assured, I have already seen your sincerity."
The three sect masters felt a warmth spread through their hearts upon hearing these words, and a strange thought flashed through their minds—this Young Master Jiang Chen was not as terrifying as they had imagined, not as cold and unfeeling as they had expected!
At the very least, these words showed consideration, showing awareness of their hardship without throwing them into the fire.
"You three sects, rest in place for now. Once the inner courtyard's formation is broken, the mopping-up will still require the efforts of your three great sects."
The three sect masters nodded eagerly upon hearing this, their faces breaking into visible relief. What they feared was not killing men, but breaking formations.
Slaying other humans, blades flashing, flesh and blood flying—that was a kind of battle they could see and understand.
What they feared was fighting against formations. Charging into a formation with no experience in breaching one, relying purely on brute force—not only was such an approach hopelessly inefficient, but it also resulted in devastating casualties.
Therefore, upon hearing Jiang Chen say that he only needed them to handle the cleanup and not break the formation, every one of them felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted from their shoulders, and they breathed a deep sigh of relief.
The royal family was already at the end of its rope. If the formation truly fell, with the three great sects joining forces, sweeping through the imperial palace would pose no problem at all!
It was at that very moment that, from within the inner perimeter of the formation, a ripple of void suddenly flashed into view.
Suddenly, a voice boomed from the void: "Jiang Chen, you little wretch — a remnant of the Dan Qian Palace, slinking around who-knows-what shady tricks just to cling to the Blissful Royal City's coattails. At the end of the day, you're nothing but a stray dog with its tail between its legs. And now you come to our Red Cauldron Central Region to strut around?"
The voice was theatrical, dripping with contempt.
Jiang Chen's brows furrowed, while Emperor Canghai and Jiao Yun flew into a rage.
"Young Master, these insolent curs deserve no mercy. Let me take a squad of our best men and cut straight through! I'll lop off that Red Cauldron Emperor's dog head myself!" Emperor Canghai stepped forward to volunteer once again.
"Young Master, I'll go!" Jiao Yun was even more direct.
"Hmph. Such clumsy bait — do they really think it can enrage me?" Jiang Chen smiled calmly. "The more they resort to this sort of thing, the more it solidifies my resolve to wash this place in blood." His tone was cold and indifferent, yet a terrifying killing intent radiated from every inch of his body.
"Jiang Chen, you little mongrel — come, take a good look! These are all the fine treasures we plundered from the Dan Qian Palace. Every last one was pried from the cold hands of your dead Palace brethren. Weren't you all so arrogant? Go on, keep being arrogant! If you've got the guts, why don't you take these back?"
"And oh — it seems your Dan Qian Palace had quite a few female disciples, didn't it? Tsk tsk. That batch from back then? We turned every last one of them into slaves to serve the royal household. You can't imagine just how enjoyable it was to have them at our beck and call... Hahaha — I wonder, was any of them your kin?"