The Vermilion Bird Divine Beast and Long Xiaoxuan decided to travel together, giving Jiang Chen a tremendous sense of security all at once. For a moment, it felt like the old days when they had faced life and death side by side.
"Brother Vermilion, Brother Dragon—let us make our mark on the Myriad Abyss Island. Brother Vermilion's cultivation has already reached its peak. To break through to the Divine Dao realm, you need a new catalyst. Hell Island can no longer satisfy your needs for the Divine Dao. In my view, from now on you must constantly fight, constantly absorb spiritual energy. Only then will you have a chance to comprehend the Divine Dao, achieve supreme divinity, ignite your divine fire, and condense your divine seat!"
Jiang Chen was brimming with spirit.
"Well said. Fight to grow stronger—that's the path to a breakthrough. Many geniuses of the ancient era broke through precisely by this method."
The Vermilion Bird Divine Beast sighed. "In terms of bloodline purity, perhaps my Vermilion Bird bloodline isn't as rich as Little Xuan's True Dragon bloodline. For Little Xuan to break through to the Divine Dao, normal cultivation and steady progress should suffice—when the time comes, things will naturally fall into place. But for me to break through the Divine Dao, I must endure all manner of life-and-death trials. From ancient times until now, how many hardships have I weathered before this opportunity finally came? To me, meeting Chen Shao was the greatest stroke of fortune in my fate."
Jiang Chen felt somewhat abashed. "Brother Vermilion, please don't say that. I hardly deserve such praise."
"Hahaha, stop being modest with us, kid. From the very first day I met you, I knew you were destined for great things. Perhaps the days of adventuring together will be truly spectacular. Right, Little Xuan?"
Long Xiaoxuan nodded, though he wore a pensive expression.
Clearly, news of the Grand Sow White Tiger had put a touch of pressure on him as well. He was silently pondering how to maintain his edge over the White Tiger.
After leaving that stretch of sea, both Long Xiaoxuan and the Vermilion Bird Divine Beast transformed into human form. Long Xiaoxuan still appeared as that same thin, lean youth.
As for the Vermilion Bird, he became a broad-shouldered young man in crimson robes, sporting an unconventional hairstyle—bald on both sides, with a ridge of red hair running down the center like a coiling worm.
His signature crimson robes made him quite distinctive.
The Vermilion Bird rubbed his nearly bald head and laughed. "I just completed my life rebirth, so I'm practically a young man now. I'm allowed to show off my youth a little, aren't you two going to mind?"
Jiang Chen laughed too. "That look is quite a twist—I never imagined Brother Vermilion would look so adorable in human form, hahaha."
The Vermilion Bird scratched his head again, a bit sheepishly. He actually felt he was being a little vain about his youthful appearance. But on the whole, he was quite satisfied with it.
"From now on, don't call me Vermilion Bird—call me Zhu Que. Don't get it wrong, you two!"
Vermilion Bird, Zhu Que—it was all the same thing, really, just a slight difference in pronunciation.
Once the Vermilion Bird Divine Beast and Long Xiaoxuan had taken human form and concealed the bloodlines of the Four Divine Beasts, no outsider would be able to tell anything unusual about them.
Back in Miracle City, Jiang Chen quietly investigated and found that Lu Che and his men had been obedient enough. Sure enough, they remained in Miracle City and hadn't tried to flee.
If Lu Che and his group had attempted to run, Jiang Chen wouldn't have hesitated to unleash his divine consciousness and annihilate them on the spot.
Seeing that they were behaving, Jiang Chen didn't bother disturbing them. He and the two beasts stayed in Miracle City for one night. Jiang Chen also quietly made some inquiries, but the city likewise had no news whatsoever of any rebellion in the Eternal Divine Kingdom.
This left Jiang Chen rather incredulous. Logically speaking, the night he had left the Eternal Sacred Land and slaughtered those fellows from the Cloud Wave Sect, he'd heard the rebellion was supposed to break out within the next day or two.
Now more than two months had passed. If a rebellion was going to happen, it should have begun long ago. Why had no news surfaced until now?
Jiang Chen found it puzzling, but he didn't let his guard down. In his view, there was definitely something behind this.
He activated the Starlight Flying Vessel, though not with the same urgency as when he'd arrived. If the rebellion was going to erupt, it should have happened already. If it hadn't, there was no rush over a day or two.
The incident of him wiping out the Cloud Wave Sect elders would certainly have come to light by now, arousing suspicion among the allied factions. If the rebellion had indeed occurred and those allied forces had stormed the Eternal Sacred Land, they would have discovered that he, Jiang Chen, along with Yan Qingsang and Huang'er, were all missing.
A simple deduction would reveal that the one who had left the Sacred Land that night and killed the Cloud Wave Sect elders was none other than Jiang Chen.
If that were the case, he might already be the target of covert enemies lurking in the shadows.
This was a possibility Jiang Chen had to guard against.
That day, Jiang Chen piloted the Starlight Flying Vessel to a region several thousand li from the Eternal Divine Kingdom. Once he reached that area, he decided to abandon the vessel.
Entering the Kingdom aboard a flying vessel would draw far too much attention. The situation was far too delicate for that kind of display.
He set aside the vessel, and the man and two beasts joined a group of wandering cultivators, blending in as they crossed into the Eternal Divine Kingdom's territory.
The moment they set foot in the Kingdom, Jiang Chen could immediately sense that the atmosphere was very different.
On the surface, everything appeared unchanged.
But on closer inspection, the situation felt subtly precarious—a delicate balance of outward calm masking intense undercurrents. From the moment they had entered the Kingdom's borders, it seemed as though hidden eyes were watching their every move.
It wasn't just them being watched—every wandering cultivator who entered the Kingdom appeared to be under strict surveillance.