"Green Wood, you have indeed betrayed my trust and squandered the cultivation I invested in you. So, I took your Great Luo Cloud Blossom Tree. I'd say we're even now. You may leave as well."
The Celestial Emperor of Taiyuan was surprisingly courteous, surprisingly magnanimous.
Green Wood Divine King was utterly shocked: "The Great Luo Cloud Blossom Tree… it was moved by Your Majesty?"
The Great Luo Cloud Blossom Tree had once been the very root of Green Wood Divine King's life force. He had never imagined, not in his wildest dreams, that it had been taken away by the Celestial Emperor of Taiyuan himself.
Back then, Green Wood Divine King had assumed it was his own failure in cultivation that caused the Heavenly Dao to reclaim it!
Green Wood Divine King hung his head in dejection. His mouth opened and closed, but he no longer had the face to say anything more. He shuffled toward the door, but still managed a mournful plea: "Your Majesty… will I be treated the same as White River?"
"The same." The Celestial Emperor of Taiyuan's tone was indifferent.
As for those who had betrayed him, the Celestial Emperor of Taiyuan would not kill them, but neither would he show mercy. Although Green Wood and White River were not the masterminds, the fact that they had opposed his release just now spoke for itself.
That left only one person — the Nine Cauldrons Divine King.
The Nine Cauldrons Divine King's face was ashen. He had been the one who cursed the Celestial Emperor of Taiyuan most viciously just moments ago.
All the fingers pointed at him. All the clues converged on him. He was on the verge of tears.
He was innocent!
The Nine Cauldrons Divine King had also despised the Celestial Emperor of Taiyuan for refining the Sun Moon Divine Pill. He had even participated in the plot to overthrow the Celestial Emperor. But he was not the mastermind behind the curtain, and he had never targeted the other lords.
Yet now, even with a hundred mouths, he would be unable to explain himself.
"Nine Cauldrons, you cursed me quite heartily just now, didn't you? Some of what you said was actually not entirely wrong. But shifting all the blame for the declining fortune of the Grand World of Taiyuan onto this Emperor — that is nothing short of malicious scheming. You had ambition. You wanted the Token of Creation. You wanted to move me away. I can understand all of that. But distorting right and wrong — that is a mark of low character. The Grand World of Taiyuan of the future will have no room for you either. Slap yourself three times, and get out, just like the rest of them!"
"Father!" Jiang Chen could not accept this. This bastard had harmed his father, had sabotaged the Grand World of Taiyuan for hundreds of thousands of years — and three slaps was all he would get? That was letting him off far too easy.
The Celestial Emperor of Taiyuan smiled faintly. "Do not be agitated, my son. This old Nine Cauldrons — his level of ambition and his ability are far from sufficient to make him the mastermind."
"What?" Jiang Chen was startled.
Jiang Huan was startled too. Everyone present was startled beyond belief.
Even the Nine Cauldrons Divine King was stunned. He knew he was innocent, but he had never expected the Celestial Emperor of Taiyuan to know it as well.
The mastermind was not Green Wood Divine King, not White River Divine King, and not the Nine Cauldrons Divine King either.
Then who was it?
The three most suspect individuals were none of them the true mastermind?
The Nine Cauldrons Divine King was not the only one left speechless. Scarlet Water Divine King, Ling Han Divine King, and every last Divine King and lord present were all frozen in astonishment.
This situation was growing more tangled by the moment.
"Could it be them?" Someone's gaze drifted toward the Northern Darkness Divine King and the Celestial Emperor of Qingtian. But looking at those two — pale-faced and trembling from head to toe — they clearly didn't have the nerve for it.
And aside from them, the remaining Divine Kings and lords were even lower in standing, their strength and resources utterly insufficient.