With the Eternal Sacred Land's public declaration of support, Jiang Chen was satisfied. He hadn't actually expected the Sacred Land to intervene and help him seize someone from the Yan family — that would have been far too crude.
As long as the Sacred Land's stance was firm, and the outside world could see that the Eternal Sacred Land was fully backing his proposal to marry Yan Qinghuang, that was more than enough.
When he raised no objections, Ziche Min reminded him of something else. "There's one more important matter you need to know. That Xiahou Zong — he's emerged from seclusion!"
"He's out?" A sharp gleam flashed through Jiang Chen's eyes. "Did he say anything?"
"No word yet. Rest easy. Given the Xiahou family's style, even if Xiahou Zong intends to go to the Yan family and take their girl away, they'll spend considerable time preparing and make a grand production of it. Besides, the Divine Kingdom's grand tournament of geniuses is only a few months away. At this stage, with Xiahou Zong having emerged, he absolutely will not go back into closed-door cultivation. If he's not in seclusion, he won't need to use any furnace cauldron. So the Yan family's young lady is safe for the time being. You can put your mind at ease on that score. Of course, if there's even the slightest movement, the Sacred Land will know well in advance."
Jiang Chen fell into thoughtful silence, his expression grave.
Ziche Min advised, "Shao Yuan, at a time like this, there's no need to overthink things. If you can defeat Shi Xuan, none of these problems will matter. Do you understand what I mean?"
The corner of Jiang Chen's mouth twitched slightly, a flash of haughty amusement crossing his lips. He murmured softly, "Shi Xuan… Xiahou Zong…"
In Jiang Chen's eyes, these men were nothing more than stumbling blocks on his path forward. And if these stumbling blocks insisted on standing in his way, then all he had to do was step on them and stride past.
"Elder Ziche, how are the preparations for the grand gathering progressing? Will that Shi Xuan actually attend? If he doesn't show up, everything will have been for nothing."
"Rest assured. Unless Shi Xuan is in some sort of death seclusion, there's no reason he'd refuse an invitation this enticing. Shi Xuan is not the type who is indifferent to fame and fortune. By the way, Shao Yuan, about your plan to insult him — are we still proceeding with that?"
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "Since the lure alone should be enough, why dirty my mouth? Besides, insulting him is nowhere near as enjoyable as defeating him outright. Still, a man like that is likely to have an iron will. Even if he loses to me, he probably won't take it as hard as Elder Zimu did."
Ziche Min let out a soft sigh. "You're right. That fellow's mental fortitude is truly formidable. There's absolutely no chance he'll be angered to death."
"I'll do my best," Jiang Chen replied with a smile.
Defeating Shi Xuan was something he was supremely confident about. But replicating what Shi Xuan had done to Elder Zimu — actually driving him to death through provocation — that, Jiang Chen truly had no guarantee of achieving.
Unless a person had fundamental flaws in their temperament, it was simply impossible to be literally angered to death. So there was no way Jiang Chen could replicate that feat.
…
The Eternal Sacred Land was organizing a grand alchemy gathering, and it boasted a grandiose name — the Heaven Restoration Assembly. The event was, naturally, named after the Taiyi Heaven Restoration Pill.
If it had been merely an invitation letter, the Eternal Sacred Land's invitation in the field of alchemy would have carried very little weight.
After all, the Eternal Sacred Land had virtually no presence in the world of pill refinement.
But the Sacred Land's envoys didn't just deliver invitations — they also brought along a genuine Taiyi Heaven Restoration Pill. That pill was far more persuasive than any letter could ever be.
When the various factions learned from the envoys that this miraculous pill had been independently developed by the Eternal Sacred Land, and that the origins of the pill would be publicly disclosed at the Heaven Restoration Assembly, the response was an entirely different matter.
Clearly, everyone who laid eyes on the Taiyi Heaven Restoration Pill was struck with shock and brimming with curiosity. They desperately wanted to know: what was the Eternal Sacred Land — always considered weak in the alchemical arts — cooking up this time? Could it really be true that this miraculous Taiyi Heaven Restoration Pill had been developed by the Sacred Land themselves?
The claim sounded almost unbelievable.
The other nine Sacred Lands of the Ten Great Divine Kingdoms knew full well what level of heritage and expertise the Eternal Sacred Land possessed.
Yet now, precisely this Sacred Land had dropped this bombshell of news. And from the way the envoys spoke, it seemed the surprise the Sacred Land had prepared extended beyond even the Taiyi Heaven Restoration Pill.
However, every time anyone tried to press for more details, the envoys' answers were diplomatically vague. They simply said that everyone was welcome to attend the Heaven Restoration Assembly in person, where the Sacred Land's higher-ups would reveal the answer and satisfy everyone's curiosity.
Without a doubt, the alchemical world of the Ten Great Divine Kingdoms was thrown into an uproar. Curiosity had been stoked in every corner.
As a result, the various Sacred Lands and major factions treated the Eternal Sacred Land's envoys with extraordinary courtesy. They personally penned reply letters for the envoys to bring back to the Sacred Land.
And they stated that they would certainly attend as promised.
Moreover, the Sacred Lands were generous in their own right — each offered a single Taiyi Dragon Scale Fruit in exchange for the Taiyi Heaven Restoration Pill.
With this exchange, the name of the Taiyi Heaven Restoration Pill swept across the entire Myriad Abyss Island in an instant, becoming the hottest topic in the island's alchemical world for the foreseeable future.
Virtually everyone was consumed by one question: how exactly had this Taiyi Heaven Restoration Pill been developed? Who were the people behind it? Or had it been discovered in some forgotten corner as an ancient pill recipe?
Regardless of the answer, the appearance of the Taiyi Heaven Restoration Pill made the alchemical giants of every Sacred Land feel that the Eternal Sacred Land had struck it lucky this time.
After all, in this particular domain of pill refinement, the entire Myriad Abyss Island had been a blank slate. If this pill's efficacy stood the test of time, the benefits it would bring to the Eternal Sacred Land would be beyond estimation.