Gu Yunjin was greatly encouraged by these words. This unexpected news had instantly transformed his near-despair into the joy of a second chance at life.
Yet the elation didn't go to his head. He still sighed with no small amount of worry: "Shao Yuan, you've only been part of the Holy Land for such a short time, yet you've done so much for it. It truly puts many of the old guard to shame. Ziche Daoist Brother was right about you back then. The Holy Ancestor saw it too. All three Holy Masters saw it. My only regret is that we haven't given you enough time to grow. If you had a hundred years, two hundred years, I'm certain the Holy Land would have risen to new heights under your influence."
Jiang Chen picked up on the implication—the Holy Land must have had some internal problems.
But he didn't press the matter. In a catastrophe like this, it was inevitable that not everyone would remain loyal. Some would certainly have abandoned the Holy Land—sneaking away quietly, or even defecting outright.
"Palace Master Gu, everyone follows their own path. The fact that the Holy Land has held together this long against the Alliance's fully prepared assault speaks to its deep foundations. A few turncoats will always exist. By the way, how are the Holy Ancestor, the Holy Masters, and Elder Ziche?"
"The three Holy Masters and Elder Ziche are all alive. However, the Second Holy Master was injured during the fighting—a coordinated attack by a group of powerful experts. He's currently combat-capable. There's no threat to his life, but if he doesn't receive proper treatment for an extended period, there could be lasting consequences. He might never fully recover his strength."
The Second Holy Master?
An image of the man flashed through Jiang Chen's mind.
"What happened?" Jiang Chen asked.
"During the first wave of the attack, the Second Holy Master led a team of experts to repel the Anti-Saint Alliance's assault. But the Alliance had assembled a group of experts specifically to target him. The Second Holy Master possesses formidable Divine Abilities, but he was caught off guard and sustained serious injuries. Originally, even those injuries might have been treatable—but our strongest alchemists either perished or were trapped. Worse still, the region around the Spirit Medicine storehouse has fallen into enemy hands. We can't get our hands on the medicines needed for his recovery. The Second Holy Master's condition has been left to deteriorate. The Holy Land has already sent several teams to try and retrieve medicines from the storehouse, but they've all failed."
"Where is the Spirit Medicine storehouse?" Jiang Chen's interest was piqued.
Gu Yunjin's eyes lit up as he looked at Jiang Chen. A bold idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
Within the Holy Land's grand formation, reaching the storehouse was extremely difficult, since it was now heavily guarded.
However, the storehouse area had always been protected by the Holy Land's own defensive formations—extraordinarily complex ones. Even though the imperial family now controlled the area, they had been unable to crack those defensive formations and gain entry to the Spirit Medicine storehouse.
As a result, that zone remained under a kind of lockdown—occupied but not penetrated.
"The Spirit Medicine storehouse isn't actually that far from here. But it's now under imperial control and heavily secured. Getting close would be extremely difficult."
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "Do you have a map of the Holy Land? Give me one."
"I do, actually." Gu Yunjin's eyes brightened. He produced a map and began pointing out locations. "You're currently in this area. The Holy Land's grand formation covers this entire region. The Spirit Medicine storehouse is located here. Oh, and these are the approximate positions of the Alliance's various defense zones. This is intelligence we've gathered over the past few days. You can use it as a reference."
This was genuinely invaluable information for Jiang Chen.
Having just returned to the Holy Land, he knew nothing about the Alliance's defensive zone assignments. That was precisely why he had tried to wrangle information out of Elder Xun.
He certainly wouldn't have learned anything useful from Prince Shang.
After studying the map, Jiang Chen was visibly pleased. "This is exactly what I need. By the way, Palace Master Gu—how many guards does the Spirit Medicine storehouse actually have? How many strong experts are stationed there?"
"That's hard to say precisely. For the Holy Land, even reaching that area is no easy feat. The storehouse should have several dozen guards. The strongest among them is likely at the eighth tier of the Heavenly Rank."
The eighth tier of the Heavenly Rank—by Divine Capital standards, that already counted as a first-class powerhouse.
After all, cultivators at the ninth tier of the Heavenly Rank were few and far between. Half-God cultivators were even rarer. Those who had truly stepped into the Divine realm could be counted on one hand.
An eighth-tier Heavenly Rank expert guarding a location meant it was of the utmost importance.
"The eighth tier of the Heavenly Rank? How many of them?" Jiang Chen pressed.
"I don't know the exact number. But Shao Yuan, I really must advise you not to risk going to the Spirit Medicine storehouse. The Holy Land needs you right now. Your potential means everything to us. You are the future of the Holy Land."
Gu Yunjin's private feelings were entirely against letting Jiang Chen take that risk. In his view, this Shao Yuan was the Holy Land's future—and gambling the future on the present was not a rational choice.
Jiang Chen nodded. "I'll act within my limits. One more thing—I've heard that the Holy Ancestor was sealed away by two Divine realm experts, trapped for two thousand years and unable to leave. Is that true?"
"Sigh, it's true. If the Holy Ancestor hadn't been ambushed, the Alliance would be nothing. He could have reduced them all to ashes in the blink of an eye."
It was precisely because the Holy Ancestor was such a towering presence that the Holy Land had always grown complacent, believing the imperial family and the Xiahou clan could never cause any real trouble.