Given the Eternal Sacred Land's strength and deep reserves of resources, hosting an alchemy grand gathering was entirely within their capabilities.
This time, the Sacred Land had arranged the event in one of its most secluded secret realms. Every invited guest had undergone rigorous screening and identity verification before being granted entry.
Though it was called a grand gathering, the number of factions qualified to attend was not large. Each divine kingdom had been allocated only twenty or thirty spots.
On top of that, the major factions within the Eternal Divine Kingdom itself were each permitted to send a handful of representatives.
The Eternal Sacred Land had also selectively invited alchemy titans from some of the second-tier islands and nations of the Myriad Abyss Island.
All told, the total attendance would not exceed five hundred.
But the smaller the number, the more it underscored the prestige of this gathering.
Aside from the Ten Great Divine Kingdoms, even many second-tier factions' leading alchemists — so long as they did not have ties with the Eternal Sacred Land — had not received invitations.
As for the Eternal Sacred Land's own side, the Three Holy Sovereigns naturally made their personal appearances.
Jiang Chen, for his part, was the very picture of discretion. He followed behind Ziche Min along with several senior alchemists of the Sacred Land, drawing no attention to himself, his demeanor perfectly calm.
Yan Qingsang technically did not qualify to attend. However, Jiang Chen had secured a spot for him, keeping Yan Qingsang at his side as his assistant.
This naturally gave Yan Qingsang an opportunity to step into the spotlight — the sort of opportunity that was exceedingly rare for someone in his position.
After all, given Yan Qingsang's standing within the Eternal Sacred Land, there were quite a few young prodigies more accomplished than him. By the standards of seniority and merit, it would never have been his turn to attend.
At the venue, every area had been strictly delineated. Which factions and which guests were assigned to each zone had been made explicitly clear.
With this arrangement, as guests arrived, Eternal Sacred Land disciples guided them to their designated areas. Everything proceeded in perfect order.
The guests arrived one after another. Taking in the grandeur of the Eternal Sacred Land's arrangements, their curiosity only deepened.
Over the past stretch of days, they had all been studying the Taiyi Heaven-Mending Pill with the utmost concentration. They found the pill extraordinary beyond belief, and each of them was eager to extract some insight from it.
Yet the complexity of the Taiyi Heaven-Mending Pill far exceeded their estimates. No matter how they analyzed it, they could not find a thread to pull.
They knew the Taiyi Dragon Scale Fruit was its primary ingredient, but that single pill alone yielded no discernible leads.
And so, every one of these alchemy titans had come here brimming with curiosity and an insatiable desire for answers.
Under the adulation of the crowd, the Three Holy Sovereigns emerged from the eastern host's section.
Jiang Chen trailed behind Ziche Min, his expression composed, as though deep in meditation. He appeared utterly indifferent to the several hundred guests seated before him — as if they simply did not exist.
Suddenly, Jiang Chen's brow twitched. He sensed a tendril of divine sense, charged with extreme aggressiveness, darting toward him from some corner of the venue.
His dharma eye flashed open, and his gaze snapped in that direction.
In that section sat a man and a woman, whispering to each other. The man was strikingly handsome, his eyes like twin stars glinting with a trace of cold light, and he was sizing Jiang Chen up.
The woman, Jiang Chen actually recognized — it was none other than Xiahou Ying of the Xiahou clan.
The man bore a certain resemblance to her in his features. His lips were curved in a slight, easy smile, and between his brows radiated an innate arrogance — a carelessness, a disdain for all others — the unmistakable air of someone who believed that scarcely anyone in the world was worthy of his attention.
A thought flickered through Jiang Chen's mind, and a name surfaced at once.
"Xiahou Zong?" Jiang Chen's gaze sharpened, his eyes carrying a thread of cold indifference as he studied the man in turn.
Xiahou Zong had clearly noticed Jiang Chen studying him, and — what was more — the look in the other's eyes seemed to carry a hint of provocation.
This caught Xiahou Zong slightly off guard. Those starlike pupils of his suddenly flared with a violent radiance. Accompanied by the crushing pressure of his formidable divine sense, a sharp wave of hostility shot directly at Jiang Chen.
Xiahou Zong was genuinely irritated. As the foremost genius of his generation, he had been unrivaled throughout the Eternal Divine Kingdom. No matter where he went, not a single young prodigy dared to bare their teeth at him, make faces behind his back — let alone meet his gaze with an openly provocative look.
In the entire Eternal Sacred Land, even the Five Young Masters might not have dared to do such a thing.
And yet this brat had the audacity to be this brazen. Xiahou Zong felt profoundly offended. He was the kind of man who acted on every whim — he did not care that they were inside the Eternal Sacred Land. If someone offended him, he would teach them a lesson on the spot.
Xiahou Zong himself practiced the ocular arts. His Eye Technique contained within it his tyrannical Solar Divine Sense, explosive in its violence like a stellar detonation.
His ocular arts were well known throughout the Eternal Divine Kingdom. They possessed formidable offensive power, and when combined with his naturally overwhelming divine sense, the effect was nothing short of domineering.
And so, when he realized Jiang Chen was provoking him, his fury twisted into a cold smile. This brat was practically begging to die — daring to challenge him with nothing but a look.