Heavenly River Palace and Heavenly Sound Temple immediately sent people forward to express their willingness to go.
They were already bound together with Pill Fire City's interests—there was no turning back. At a time like this, they had to demonstrate their initiative in front of Emperor Danji.
Six emperor-realm cultivators, including those from Pill Fire City, Heavenly River Palace, and Heavenly Sound Temple, departed from the cave dwelling palace and headed for the
Inside the cave dwelling,
He had to admit that Pill Fire City's methods had truly become completely unscrupulous.
"This Pill Fire City will stop at nothing to deal with me," Jiang Chen muttered. Watching the six emperor-realm cultivators depart, he could no longer sit still. "I absolutely cannot let Qingxuan fall into their hands. If that happens, the consequences would be unimaginable."
A trace of anxiety crept into Jiang Chen's heart.
"I absolutely cannot let this happen. I have to stop them."
Jiang Chen began to deliberate on a counterstrategy.
After a brief period of thought, he arrived at a decision. He would leave the cave dwelling palace first. This dwelling had been refined by Jiang Chen—even left here, no one else could take it away.
Moreover, the dwelling had several hidden exits, and Emperor Danji and his people had only sealed off one of them.
"That bastard Danji is sitting there waiting for me to walk into his trap. He won't leave before the group returns from the Moon God Sect."
"If I slip out of this cave dwelling without anyone knowing, he'll have no idea. He'll keep thinking I'm still inside, and they'll continue waiting."
With this thought, Jiang Chen already had his plan.
After observing the surroundings from within the cave for a while and confirming that no one was watching from outside, Jiang Chen slipped out through one of the dwelling's hidden exits.
"Danji, oh Danji—go ahead and guard my empty hall. Enjoy your wait of a few months," Jiang Chen murmured to himself, though he dared not relax even slightly.
He activated the Sky Kun Flowing Light Escape, pushing his speed to its absolute limit. On top of that, he had to avoid the six emperor-realm cultivators along the way, which was an enormous test for Jiang Chen's velocity.
Fortunately, although those six emperor-realm powerhouses were also rushing to get there, they were not pushing themselves to the point of sparing no cost.
Jiang Chen, on the other hand, was going full speed.
Right now, he needed to treat every second as if it were gold, racing against the clock. He had to arrive at the Moon God Sect before those emperor-realm cultivators. Otherwise, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Undying Tiandu's route to the Moon God Sect, even the shortest path, required passing through Heavenly Sound Temple's territory, then entering Pill Fire City's domain, before circling northwest to reach the Moon God Sect.
The journey traversed three major powers, along with numerous smaller factions sandwiched between them. The route was extraordinarily long.
However, under Jiang Chen's full-powered efforts, he finally managed to leave the six emperor-realm cultivators far behind.
Once he was within Pill Fire City's territory, a bold notion suddenly surged in Jiang Chen's mind.
"If that Danji intends to capture Qingxuan to threaten me, why can't I give him a taste of his own medicine?"
This audacious thought flashed through Jiang Chen's head and instantly spiraled into something unstoppable.
Jiang Chen was a man of action—when he decided to do something, he did it.
After disguising himself, Jiang Chen entered Pill Fire City. He sat in the city's busiest tavern for two hours, and in that time, he gathered clear and thorough intelligence on many of Pill Fire City's affairs.
Emperor Danji had two sons and three daughters in Pill Fire City. One daughter had perished early on. Of the two sons, one had been born years ago, while the younger had been born only within the last few decades. It was said that despite his youth, his talent was extraordinarily outstanding, making him Emperor Danji's most beloved child.
In the Dao of Alchemy, Emperor Danji had always supported Alchemy King
This youngest son was currently not yet fifty years old. In the world of martial cultivation, fifty was like a child in the mortal world.
Of course, certain geniuses could generally break through to the Emperor Realm between the ages of thirty and eighty. Only by reaching the Emperor Realm within that age range could one be considered among the absolute top-tier geniuses of the Upper Eight Regions.
If one failed to break through to the Emperor Realm during that window, one could at best be classified as a second-tier genius of the Upper Eight Regions.
Given that Emperor Danji doted on and valued this youngest son so greatly, the boy had undoubtedly already entered the Emperor Realm.
The problem was that Emperor Danji had always protected this youngest son very carefully. Within Emperor Danji's estate, for Jiang Chen to break in and capture the young master was obviously impossible.
Just as no one could break into the Young Lord's manor, a great power like this would naturally be guarded by powerful formations and formidable prohibitions.
"To capture this son, I'll have to lure the snake out of its hole," Jiang Chen had already planned.
However, Jiang Chen had also learned that Emperor Danji's youngest son was closely associated with the Purification Temple. Jiang Chen was no stranger to the Purification Temple.
Back when he had assumed the identity of Young Master Shao Yuan, he had even participated in the Purification Temple's bounty arena.
Jiang Chen had heard that Emperor Danji's youngest son had given himself the title of "Young Master Tianlin." It was said that this Young Master Tianlin had deep ties with the Purification Temple, visiting nearly every day.
Whether these rumors were true or false, Jiang Chen could not be certain. But at this point, he could only take the gamble.
"I'll give it two days—success or failure, I stay for no more than two days," Jiang Chen warned himself in the depths of his heart. His reasoning was that he could only have a two-day head start on that group at most.