Eliminating Patriarch Golden Bell had indeed given Holy Sovereign Ningyan a great deal of confidence. It made her deeply realize that the young genius standing before her was someone who could genuinely influence the course of the battle at the True Martial Sacred Ground.
Perhaps this young man had not yet reached his full potential for the time being, but could someone capable of simultaneously wielding the Vermilion Bird Divine Beast and possessing the True Dragon Bloodline be anything but extraordinary?
And so, Holy Sovereign Ningyan placed her full confidence in Jiang Chen. With the Eternal Sacred Ground's success as precedent, she was even more convinced that this partnership might well prove to be an opportunity.
Helping the Sacred Ground escape its predicament while also resolving the appreciation problem with the Supreme Dragon Scale Fruit—this was killing two birds with one stone.
And all the Sacred Ground stood to lose was a single document.
If that document were given to anyone else, it might not even produce any value at all.
Once both parties had settled on the terms of cooperation, they began drawing up a strategy.
They unanimously decided to capture the ringleaders first. If they could eliminate the three remaining demigod patriarchs—or even just two of them—the rebel forces would collapse into disarray.
The rebel army was never a monolithic block to begin with. It was a motley collection of factions, scraping together out of petty self-interest and a shared enemy.
If their interests diverged, or if the situation shifted, this coalition would crumble very quickly. After all, there was nothing holding them together—no bonds of brotherhood, no blood ties, no moral commitment.
The only connection between them was profit.
Truthfully, the method used to eliminate Patriarch Golden Bell had been quite effective. However, under the current circumstances, the other three patriarchs would surely be on high alert after learning of his fall.
Attempting the same trick again was out of the question.
Assassinating these three demigods would be vastly more difficult, without a doubt.
Still, there was always a way.
Jiang Chen's assassination techniques were endlessly varied. With the Vermilion Bird Divine Beast as his trump card, he was confident he could take down one or two demigods—especially with the element of surprise. Even a demigod patriarch was not so difficult to handle when caught off guard, after all.
After all, the Vermilion Bird Divine Beast was an entity on the verge of breaking through to the Divine Dao at any moment. Its combat power alone already far surpassed that of a demigod patriarch, rivaling that of a true deity.
Both sides deliberated on several countermeasures and devised multiple plans.
Each plan was studied in meticulous detail—from execution procedures to contingency protocols for unexpected developments, everything was accounted for.
Once all of this had been settled, Jiang Chen finally took his leave. "Holy Sovereign Ningyan, my companions are still waiting outside the perimeter. I won't linger here any longer. Whenever it's time to depart, I will be ready and waiting outside."
With a cupped-fist salute, he turned and walked out.
Holy Sovereign Ningyan watched Jiang Chen's retreating figure, her emotions in turmoil. Even after he had disappeared from sight, her mood lingered in a state of indescribable complexity.
"Who would have thought that the Eternal Sacred Ground had quietly produced a talent of this caliber," she murmured, a trace of melancholy in her voice, glancing at Saintess Yuling beside her.
Yuling was also a young genius—among the younger generation of Myriad Abyss Island, she was already considered exceptional.
Yet compared to Jiang Chen, she fell short in every regard. Had the gap between young geniuses truly grown so wide as to be unbridgeable?
For a moment, Holy Sovereign Ningyan felt a pang of sorrow.
"Master, is this Jiang Chen gentleman… not trustworthy?" Saintess Yuling noticed her master's somber expression and couldn't help but ask.
"No." Holy Sovereign Ningyan quickly shook her head. "Yuling, if you can build a good relationship with Young Master Jiang and foster goodwill, it may well prove to be a blessing for your future."
A blush crept across Saintess Yuling's cheeks. "I have no interest in fostering goodwill with him."
"Yuling, you are still young. I've never let you venture out much to gain experience on your own. You're clever enough, but you lack adaptability. In many matters, you're truly lacking in the necessary training. Look at this Jiang Chen—he has already pulled far ahead of everyone in the younger generation. Our True Martial Sacred Ground's young talents cannot even compare to someone of his level. Even someone like Xiahou Zong from back then—we fell considerably short of that level too."
Holy Sovereign Ningyan's assessment was, on the whole, quite fair.
"Master, is he really that impressive?" Saintess Yuling had more or less set aside her reservations about Jiang Chen, but hearing such high praise from her master stirred a fresh wave of reluctance.
"Impressive or not, just look at what became of Patriarch Golden Bell," Holy Sovereign Ningyan said calmly. "Let me put it this way: if Jiang Chen wished to do harm to our True Martial Sacred Ground, this formation passage might not even be enough to stop him from entering. If he wanted to plunder our spiritual medicine base, all of us combined—even with our formations—probably couldn't prevent it. Fortunately, this young man chose not to take advantage of our predicament."
Holy Sovereign Ningyan was, after all, a figure of great experience and wisdom who had witnessed much of humanity's darker side. That was precisely why, when she had first left the valley to welcome Jiang Chen, she had brought along the Sacred Ground's main forces—it was wise to be cautious.
It was only now that she was truly convinced: this Jiang Chen had indeed been sent by the Eternal Sacred Ground, and he genuinely wanted to help the True Martial Sacred Ground break free from its crisis.