Kasyapa Divine Lord was usually quite an arrogant man by nature, but at a time like this, he had to give Jiang Chen at least some face.
Since Jiang Chen had personally introduced him, he couldn't very well put on airs. He offered a faint, courteous smile in greeting, though he did not bother with any false modesty. Instead, he said, "This old An acts for two reasons — first, because of his grudge against that old fool Guangdu, and second, because of Jiang Chen. It has little to do with any of you. If you must express your gratitude, just reward me with something tangible."
Everyone present didn't know whether to laugh or cry. They hadn't expected Kasyapa Divine Lord to be so blunt.
The Eternal Sacred Ancestor chuckled and said, "Once this matter is settled and we've destroyed that old demon Guangdu, we will have received a great favor from you, friend. Naturally, we shall repay you."
"Precisely. We will absolutely not let you toil in vain for nothing." This time, the Extinction Sacred Ancestor was equally forthcoming. If anyone was in the best mood, it was him.
The reason was simple — the grand army was now stationed within the Extinction Sacred Land, which meant the Extinction Sacred Land was currently the safest zone.
The Sacred Ancestors of the Bright Sacred Land and the Rising Sun Sacred Land naturally had no objections either. At the end of the day, they were all beneficiaries.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. He knew Kasyapa Divine Lord had only been joking. What he hadn't expected was that every single one of these fellows had taken it seriously.
But he didn't call them out on it. Instead, he said, "We can discuss these matters later. The pressing order of business right now is to figure out how to deal with that old fool Guangdu. As expected, Guangdu's army should be arriving at the Extinction Sacred Land soon. Do we wait here at our leisure and let them come to us, or do we strike them proactively midway? We need to settle on a plan. Time waits for no one."
At this stage, nothing was more important than dealing with the old man Guangdu.
The Eternal Sacred Ancestor's gaze was filled with anticipation as he looked at Jiang Chen and asked, "Jiang Chen, how many Divine Path combatants do you have on your side right now?"
Jiang Chen did a quick tally. Including the newly defected Lan Tianhao and Xu Yigu, along with Yu Gong, plus Kasyapa Divine Lord, and the two True Spirits — that already made six.
And those six were at least equivalent to nine ordinary Divine Path cultivators in combat power.
Moreover, Jiang Chen himself and Long Xiaoxuan also possessed combat strength on par with Divine Path cultivators. Factoring that in, their side's strength was by no means inferior to the combined might of the Ten Great Sacred Ancestors.
Jiang Chen calculated for a moment and said with a smile, "Our combat strength should be roughly equivalent to that of the ten Sacred Ancestors. Now that our forces have joined together, our power has effectively doubled."
The Sacred Ancestors of the Ten Great Sacred Lands were all greatly shocked upon hearing this.
Combat strength equivalent to ten Sacred Ancestors? Wasn't that... a bit too exaggerated?
But seeing how calm and composed Jiang Chen looked — not at all as though he was boasting — no one dared doubt him. After all, this was the man who had driven back the old man Guangdu before.
"What about Guangdu's side — what's his current strength like?" the Eternal Sacred Ancestor asked curiously.
"His strength should already be inferior to ours. Most importantly, their morale has also hit rock bottom. Once they discover that the Bright Sacred Land, the Rising Sun Sacred Land, and the Extinction Sacred Land have all been reclaimed by us, and that they fell for one of my tricks and were made to run around in circles — they'll be absolutely livid. When that happens, as our morale rises and theirs plummets, we may be able to crush them in one decisive stroke."
By all logic, given Jiang Chen's age, he should have been the type to burn hot and act on impulse. But what these Sacred Ancestors saw in him was a kind of composure and rationality that the young typically did not possess.
Everyone had already witnessed Jiang Chen's methods firsthand. None of them dared dismiss his words as empty talk.
…
At the Bright Sacred Land, several flying vessels descended continuously around its outer perimeter.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh — figures streaked out one after another, landing at the edges of the Bright Sacred Land. Among them was a cultivator of extraordinary bearing and overwhelming authority — none other than the old man Guangdu himself, who had departed from the Eternal Sacred Land some time ago.