The Vermilion Bird Divine Bird and
However, Jiang Chen had no intention of bringing them along for the time being. He said, "Lu Che, since you've chosen to submit to me, I won't waste words. If you serve me with unwavering loyalty, the blessings you reap in the future will exceed anything you can imagine. But if you ever betray me, I trust I don't need to explain what will happen."
Lu Che hastily swore an oath to the heavens. "Rest assured, Master. Having already surrendered, we harbor absolutely no divided loyalties. Moreover, falling into Master's hands may well be a stroke of fortune in itself. We can see clearly that killing us would require nothing more than a wave of your hand."
These fellows' greatest skill was reading the situation and knowing which way the wind blew.
They were precisely what Jiang Chen called men who understood the times.
The reason Jiang Chen considered taking them as servants was based on his own calculations. He currently had no real power base in Myriad Abyss Island. Although he had earned some reputation at the
True, the Eternal Sacred Land was no ordinary place—it had the Sovereign, the three Holy Sovereigns, and numerous powerful experts. But given the Sacred Land's current state, Jiang Chen could not rely on it for much.
In fact, it was entirely possible that the Eternal Sacred Land might come to rely on Jiang Chen himself someday.
And so, building his own force and making it strong was something he had to consider.
Originally, he had thought about sending them to Dongyan Island, but he ultimately decided against it. Their combined strength was not inferior to
Jiang Chen therefore decided to let them operate freely for the time being.
"Go back to the City of Miracles for now and settle in there. Be ready to answer my summons at any time. Remember—in the City of Miracles, you are free to do as you please. However, you must keep yourselves alive and useful. You are my servants. If I haven't ordered you to die, you absolutely must not die!"
"Yes, sir!"
Hearing that Jiang Chen would not keep them by his side, they felt a measure of relief. At least for the moment, they were still free.
They could never return to Small Tang Island anyway. Settling down somewhere like the City of Miracles was actually quite acceptable. In terms of prosperity, the City of Miracles far surpassed Small Tang Island.
"Very well, you may return to the City of Miracles now." Having issued his instructions, Jiang Chen dismissed them.
It didn't matter whether they tried to run to the ends of the earth. He had already planted a spiritual consciousness imprint on them. As long as they drew breath, summoning them was nothing more than a thought away.
Watching Lu Che and the others depart, the Vermilion Bird Divine Bird suddenly chuckled. "Chen Shao, it's been a few years, and your cultivation has advanced rapidly—your methods have improved as well. You played those Celestial-realm experts like puppets, and they couldn't put up even a shred of resistance."
"Haha, this time it was all thanks to Senior Vermilion Bird's imposing presence." Jiang Chen was, in truth, guilty of borrowing someone else's thunder.
"Ha ha, stop calling me 'Senior Vermilion Bird.' Xiaoxuan will get upset. Just call me Brother Vermilion Bird. I may be much older than you two, but my heart is as young as yours. Ha ha ha!" The Vermilion Bird Divine Bird had completed its life nirvana and was in an exceptionally jovial mood.
Jiang Chen casually produced a pill and tossed it to Long Xiaoxuan. "Brother Long, this is the Heaven Cauldron Pill. It can elevate your cultivation by one sub-realm within the Celestial level, unconditionally."
Long Xiaoxuan's eyes lit up, and he caught it without hesitation.
The Vermilion Bird Divine Bird sighed. "The greatest strength of your human race is your intelligence and wisdom. By rights, the human bloodline is relatively weak. Yet you possess advantages that many other races do not. You are adept at integrating the bloodlines of other races, and you have an all-around wisdom that other races lack. In the art of alchemy, the human race truly has a tremendous edge."
Jiang Chen was not the least bit smug, for he knew that in the vast myriad worlds, there were still races more gifted in alchemy than humanity. Many races possessed even more extraordinary talent in that field. However, those races fell far behind humans in terms of reproductive capacity and the ability to fuse bloodlines.
As they caught up with each other's recent developments, Jiang Chen learned that the Vermilion Bird Divine Bird had indeed broken through to the Demigod realm. He was genuinely delighted for it.
As for Long Xiaoxuan, he was at the fourth level of the Celestial realm—the same as Jiang Chen. This brought Jiang Chen considerable comfort; he had initially assumed Long Xiaoxuan was already at the fifth or sixth level.
It seemed he had been mistaken. But to wield such terrifying power at only the fourth Celestial level was something that filled Jiang Chen with admiration.
"Brother Long, I've been cultivating diligently the whole time, and with the aid of the Heaven Cauldron Pill, I only just reached the fourth Celestial level. To think you reached it effortlessly—that's truly enviable."
Long Xiaoxuan did not boast. In truth, he was rather impressed that Jiang Chen had made it to the fourth Celestial level as well. After all, when they had parted ways, Jiang Chen had only been at the Imperial realm.
To go from the Imperial realm to the fourth Celestial level in just a few short years was, for a human, nothing short of a miracle.