The Palace Master of the Heavenly River Palace actually never wanted to sink so low in the first place. Their earlier allegiance to Dan Fire City had been a matter of necessity, not choice. After all, the Heavenly River Palace lay right on the borders of Dan Fire City's territory. If they had refused to obey, Dan Fire City would have had no shortage of methods to destroy them.
Even short of outright annihilation, there were countless ways to weaken them—marginalize them, strip them of their rank as a first-rate sect.
Now that Dan Fire City was gone, if they shamelessly threw themselves at the Wind and Cloud Cult, that would be nothing short of willing degradation.
The last time Jiang Chen had chosen not to crush them, but this time he might not hesitate.
After much deliberation, the Palace Master of the Heavenly River Palace crumpled the secret letter in his hand and reduced it to nothingness.
"Forget it, forget it. Our Heavenly River Palace lost its integrity once—shall we lose it a second time? This Wind and Cloud Cult rose to power in just three or four years. There must be hidden forces pulling strings behind the scenes. Perhaps once again, the human territories will be thrown into chaos. We cannot afford to offend the Wind and Cloud Cult, but surely we can afford to keep our distance?"
The Grand Elder, however, shook his head. "Palace Master, hiding is without question the worst strategy. In my humble opinion, we should be watching the Glazed Jade City's stance. Young Master Jiang Chen of the Glazed Jade City has ambition, has strategy, and has ability. How could he tolerate a rival sleeping at his doorstep? With the Wind and Cloud Cult surging like this, it would be extraordinary if the Glazed Jade City didn't grow hostile. As I see it, the reason the Glazed Jade City has yet to make a public statement may be precisely because they are secretly observing the reactions of all factions—testing us."
These words gave the Heavenly River Palace Master pause.
Indeed, by all rights, the Glazed Jade City was now the universally acknowledged leader of the human territories. With respect to a force like the Wind and Cloud Cult that had risen so abruptly, the Glazed Jade City should be the most alert, the most wary of all.
So why had the Glized Jade City remained silent?
Could this not be a test in itself?
…
Around the same time, the Heavenly Sound Temple and the Moon God Cult had each received similar ultimatums. The secret letters left the Wind and Cloud Cult's ambition and sharp edges barely concealed.
Strangely, the Summer Rain Heavenly Sword Sect and the Heavenly Cicada Ancient Academy had not received any such threatening letter. The Wind and Cloud Cult clearly exercised some restraint toward those two factions, with the Glazed Jade City standing between them.
As for the Glazed Jade City itself, there was no panic. After everything the city had been through, its people had weathered storms enough to qualify as seasoned veterans.
Had not Dan Fire City, once so arrogant and overbearing, been wiped out by Young Master Jiang Chen between laughs and conversation?
So although the Wind and Cloud Cult now surged with momentum and rode the crest of its fame, it had not managed to intimidate anyone in the Glazed Jade City.
Nowadays, even the Peacock Emperor was rarely mentioned. Young Master Jiang Chen had risen to a position of status and prestige that arguably surpassed even the Great Emperor who had ruled for over three thousand years.
It was not that the people of the Glazed Jade City were ungrateful—it was simply that what Jiang Chen had accomplished in recent years was genuinely extraordinary.
Even tracing back ten thousand years, there had never been a young genius capable of achieving such an absurd level of success.
The people of the Glazed Jade City could remain calm, but not everyone had that luxury.
That someone was Shangguan Yanqing—a patrol envoy from the Nine Yang Heavenly Sect.
The last time Shangguan Yanqing had attended the Dragon and Tiger Wind and Cloud Assembly, his proper attitude had won Jiang Chen's goodwill, and he had since served as a reliable intermediary between Jiang Chen and the Nine Yang Heavenly Sect.
This time, the Nine Yang Heavenly Sect had come under threat from the Wind and Cloud Cult, and had dispatched Shangguan Yanqing to the Glazed Jade City to seek aid.
The reason was simple: Shangguan Yanqing was the person most capable of speaking with Jiang Chen on the Nine Yang Heavenly Sect's behalf.
During the Northern Alliance affair, the Nine Yang Heavenly Sect had held firm, refusing to be swayed by the Young Sun Emperor and staying out of the Northern Alliance entirely.
That decision had prevented the sect from earning Jiang Chen's enmity.
In hindsight, the so-called Young Sun Emperor had been an impostor all along. The real Young Sun Emperor had vanished without a trace.
Precisely because the Nine Yang Heavenly Sect's relationship with Jiang Chen had never been broken, everyone in the sect felt that seeking his help was the most viable course of action.
Even the two Grand Elders, Wu Gong and Chen Lei—both of whom harbored deep hostility toward Jiang Chen—raised no objections this time.
Clearly, both old men could see the writing on the wall. Against the formidable Wind and Cloud Cult, the Nine Yang Heavenly Sect could not stand alone. Without the Glazed Jade City's support, they risked becoming the second Heavenly Dragon Sect.
The thought of the Heavenly Dragon Sect—once a proud first-rate sect—being nearly wiped out in such a short time sent a chill through every heart. The initial schadenfreude was gone, replaced entirely by the grim kinship of rabbits mourning a dead fox.
Shangguan Yanqing had been in the Glazed Jade City for a full two or three months now. But every person he spoke to told him the same thing: Young Master Jiang Chen was in seclusion.
In the world of martial cultivation, seclusion was second only to life and death in importance.
In other words, under ordinary circumstances, one was not permitted to disturb a cultivator in seclusion, as doing so could easily trigger qi deviation or other catastrophic consequences.
"Daoist Coiling Dragon, when exactly will Young Master Jiang Chen emerge? You have to give me a straight answer!" Shangguan Yanqing was truly at his wit's end.
Emperor Coiling Dragon smiled bitterly. "The Young Master is in seclusion. How would I know when he will emerge? Seclusion is such that even the Young Master himself probably cannot give a definite date for his return."
Shangguan Yanqing was so anxious he could feel the heat rising in his chest. "This is a fire burning at our eyebrows! That Wind and Cloud Cult is brimming with ambition—they've crushed the Heavenly Dragon Sect, and now they're eyeing our Nine Yang Heavenly Sect with a predatory gaze. If their ambitions aren't stopped in time, then after Dan Fire City, the human territories face an even greater crisis!"
This was no idle scaremongering.