Xia Tianze's eyes lit up with understanding upon hearing this. He laughed and said, "In that case, it all makes sense. So the Myriad Abyss Island and the Ten Great Lineage Powers — they really are still controlling Myriad Abyss Island. It seems heaven has been watching over things all along, just as one would expect."
"Senior, you've been going in so many circles that I'm getting dizzy," Jiang Chen said with a wry smile.
"Young man, you don't need to call me senior. If you pass this trial today, you'll become the new master of the Glazed King City, and the mysteries of this world will finally be fully revealed. At that point, I, Xia, will be your subordinate. How could I possibly accept such an address as 'senior'?"
Jiang Chen was momentarily stunned. "So you and the Great Glazed God Sovereign had a master-subordinate relationship?"
"Indeed. Of the Six Inheritance Palaces, only my trial was manned by the God Sovereign's loyal confidant. All the others were people he recruited through various means." When he said the word "recruited," Xia Tianze couldn't help but let a smile escape. Clearly, the methods used back then had not always been entirely polite.
A few cases had even been somewhat... less than honorable. Of course, for great cultivators of the primordial era, none of that was a big deal.
Extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures.
Jiang Chen already knew this, of course. He had gotten along well with the guardians of the previous five palaces and had learned a good deal from their conversations.
Take Tian Kun Shangren, for instance — he had been tricked outright. For reasons unknown, he had been deceived into a duel with the master of the Glazed King City, soundly defeated, and then left to guard his palace here for free.
Naturally, the true cost and benefit of it all was hard to judge. Judging by the tone of Tian Kun Shangren and the others, while they still harbored some lingering resentment over what had happened, there was no deep hatred — only the mild annoyance of having been fooled. To put it bluntly, they were just a little sore about it.
But being chosen for this place — whatever divine ability the Great Glazed God Sovereign had employed, their lifespans were preserved in perpetuity, sealed within the Six Inheritance Palaces.
No matter how the outside world changed, no matter how many ages passed, they remained exactly as they were. They never had to worry about time eroding their years.
"All right, since you can't guess the reason, let me spell it out for you. I have a feeling about you — you possess a certain quality. You are the future master that the Great Glazed God Sovereign foresaw."
Xia Tianze seemed utterly convinced of his own reasoning, and his words left Jiang Chen at a loss for how to argue back.
Not that he could have argued, anyway. Hadn't he come to the Six Inheritance Palaces precisely to unravel the deeper mysteries of the Glazed Pagoda?
Now Xia Tianze's words were clearly aligning with Jiang Chen's own suspicions — that the Glazed Pagoda harbored profound secrets, and that the entire human domain itself held mysteries no one had yet uncovered.
"Please offer your guidance, Senior," Jiang Chen said.
"I already told you not to call me senior. I don't deserve it," Xia Tianze complained.
"Order between elders and juniors must be maintained. At the very least, I am not yet the future master of this Glazed Pagoda," Jiang Chen replied, showing his characteristic stubbornness.
"Fine, fine. I can see you're a stubborn one. But perhaps that's exactly why you've made it to the Sixth Palace," Xia Tianze sighed.
"To speak of the Glazed Pagoda, one must begin with the Glazed King City of antiquity. The Glazed King City was the seat of the Great Glazed God Sovereign's lineage. He was the supreme commander of the ancient Demon Sealing War, one of the three great human leaders — and, in truth, the foremost among them."
When he spoke of the Great Glazed God Sovereign, Xia Tianze's tone brimmed with reverence. It was clear that, as a subordinate, he harbored an almost blind adoration for the God Sovereign.
"During the ancient Demon Sealing War, the God Sovereign commanded from behind the lines and participated in virtually every battle against the demon race. The Glazed King City's lineage bore the brunt of the demons' greatest firepower. The most powerful demon ancestor of all — the Heavenly Demon Clan's demon progenitor — was personally sealed by the God Sovereign himself. Alas, the God Sovereign paid the price of his very life in that battle, and it took everything he had just to barely manage the seal."