The martial dao tea gathering, with its grand rewards revealed, saw the atmosphere immediately brighten considerably.
Everyone received a copy of the "Grand Celestial Dao of the Heavenly Canopy," and the Celestial Realm powerhouses were all beaming from ear to ear, as though they had obtained a priceless treasure. They lavished nothing but praise upon
When they had first arrived, some among them had harbored at least a trace of wariness toward Jiang Chen, and a few even nursed open hostility. By now, however, all such resentment had completely vanished.
There was no doubt about it—Jiang Chen's performance had won them over entirely.
Afterward, the attendees sat together and discoursed on the dao, and Jiang Chen was generous with his knowledge. With the breadth of his experience, he wove occasional insights into the conversation, leaving the assembled experts utterly enchanted. Each of them felt a pang of envy, and the same thought arose unbidden in every mind: "How wonderful it must be to have such a powerful teacher!"
The martial dao tea gathering continued in this pleasant atmosphere for a full three days before finally drawing to a close.
Nearly every Celestial Realm powerhouse in attendance declared their intention to re-emerge from seclusion and shoulder the greater cause of the human race.
Jiang Chen did not press them with any harsh demands. He simply said, "All of you senior experts, though long in retreat, have not forgotten the greater cause. On behalf of the countless ordinary people of the human race, I thank you all for your noble resolve."
Most of them departed, but Elder Crane did not rush to leave.
Jiang Chen had specifically asked the old man to stay behind for a private conversation, and Elder Crane, who held Jiang Chen in very high regard, agreed readily enough.
"Elder Crane, I apologize for asking you to remain. I hope you'll forgive the imposition."
"Ha ha, not at all! At my age, to have the chance to befriend such an interesting young man as yourself brings this old man genuine joy."
Jiang Chen smiled. "Elder Crane flatters me. The reason I asked you to stay is that there are certain matters I wished to discuss with you in private. To be honest, there were many senior experts at this tea gathering, but Elder Crane has always been the most dependable of them all."
Elder Crane's expression turned serious. "I wonder what business Young Master Jiang Chen still has?"
"It concerns the Demon Race," Jiang Chen replied without evasion.
"Oh? Could it be that there are things regarding the Demon Race that Young Master Jiang Chen cannot speak of openly in front of everyone?"
Elder Crane's face shifted, and his expression grew solemn.
Jiang Chen nodded. "Yes. We must be on our utmost guard against the Demon Race. Although the demonic calamity is unlikely to erupt in an instant, the horror of the demons is not something we can afford to underestimate. From what I know, the Demon Race comprises ten lineages, each with its own distinct characteristics. And the Heavenly Demon clan—the Celestial Demons—are demons among demons, the royal bloodline of the entire race. The last time, in the Chenxiang Valley secret realm, the one who broke free from the seal was the Heavenly Demon Lord, one of the demon lords. He was suppressed by an ancient formation and yet did not perish even after hundreds of thousands of years. That alone should tell you how terrifying the Demon Race truly is."
Though Elder Crane was advanced in years, he knew precious little about the ancient Demon Sealing War. After all, that war had taken place hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Since the Demon Sealing War, history itself had developed gaps. The landscape of the human territories had long since been transformed beyond recognition.
Those who knew of the Demon Sealing War had either perished afterward or left the human territories entirely. Those who remained were minor figures with negligible participation in the conflict. Their descendants, generation after generation, gradually evolved into the population of the present-day human territories.
And so the human territories of today were in truth separated by a profound break from the ancient human race.
Many of the lineages and techniques that predated the ancient Demon Sealing War had been lost.
Some had been carried away to the Abyssal Islands.
But the vast majority still remained within the human territories, buried beneath layers of historical dust. The Danxiao Ancient Sect was one such example.
Elder Crane had already steeled himself for discussions about the Demon Race.
He pondered for a moment before asking, "Last time you said that hope of resisting the Demon Race was slim, unless a turning point appeared. What exactly is this turning point you speak of?"
Jiang Chen said, "During the ancient Demon Sealing War, the major leading sects pooled enormous quantities of manpower and resources to activate a formation called the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Spirits Divine Locking Formation. It was activated once during that war, but because the first wave of the Demon Race's army consisted of slave soldiers captured from other planes—essentially expendable pawns—the battle failed to annihilate the demons in one stroke. In the end, at tremendous cost, they managed to seal the Demon Race. If we could reactivate the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Spirits Divine Locking Formation, there would at least be a glimmer of hope against the demons."
Elder Crane was visibly shaken. "What are the chances this formation can be reactivated?"
Jiang Chen shook his head. "Slim. Consider—even the great leading sects of antiquity had to expend vast manpower and resources to activate that formation. The human territories today possess less than a tenth of the resources and strength available in the ancient era. The difficulty of reactivation defies imagination. Most importantly, the method of reactivation itself remains unknown. The only thing I currently know is where the formation is located."
"Oh? Where?" Elder Crane asked with keen curiosity.
"In my birthplace—the Sixteen Kingdom Alliance of the Wanxiang Region. Primarily within the Eastern Kingdom and several of its neighboring kingdoms."
"The Eastern Kingdom—Young Master Jiang Chen's old home, is it not?" Elder Crane knew a thing or two about Jiang Chen's origins.
"That's right." Jiang Chen did not deny it.
Elder Crane began to fill in the gaps on his own. "The senior who guided you was surely a human elder as well. He must have had his eye on that formation, and upon seeing that you were the one fated to act, he took a particular interest in you, wouldn't you say?"