Almost simultaneously with the grand assembly of the Purple Sun Sect's upper echelon, the leaders of the Treasure Tree Sect had also gathered together.
Thousand Leaves Sovereign had clearly not given up on Jiang Chen. The moment he returned to the Treasure Tree Sect, he began digging up every piece of information related to Jiang Chen.
"Laughable! That boy Jiang Chen spent nearly two years in our Tiangui Kingdom, and you lot, as the sect's senior leaders, somehow never noticed this monstrous prodigy? Tell me — what exactly have you been doing?"
Thousand Leaves Sovereign was known as an easygoing old man, but that didn't mean he lacked a temper entirely.
In the current situation, he was furious. Jiang Chen had stayed in Tiangui Kingdom for a full two years, displaying monstrous talent, and his reputation had long since spread throughout the Treasure Tree Sect.
Yet despite all that, the sect had failed to recruit this genius!
Not only had they failed to recruit him, but people from the sect had continuously targeted and harassed Jiang Chen, making his life difficult. Chief among them was the Qianlan Northern Palace, one of the four great dojos of the outer sect, which had repeatedly attacked and schemed against Jiang Chen on multiple occasions.
And the Tie family, in their efforts to suppress Jiang Chen, also had quite a few dishonorable deeds on their record.
This truly enraged Thousand Leaves Sovereign, and he slammed the table hard.
"Cat got all your tongues? Every day you lot only know how to fight amongst yourselves, and now, after this selection, you finally see the gap? If not for Jiang Chen's unexpected appearance, our Treasure Tree Sect would have lost so badly we couldn't even show our faces. Xie Tianshu, Tie Long — how exactly have you been nurturing the young disciples all this time? How have you been scouting talent? The sect has given you so many resources — what on earth did you do with them?"
It was no wonder Thousand Leaves Sovereign was raging. The Treasure Tree Sect's resources were abundant, rightfully the richest among the four great sects. Yet the disciples they produced couldn't even crack the top four.
Lian Canghai, who had been cultivated under the Tie family's guidance, ranked highest among their selections — and still only came in fifth. That was only because of luck. If the selection schedule hadn't been suddenly changed to one year, Lian Canghai's ranking would likely have dropped even further.
Xie Yufan, a direct descendant of the Xie family, had given it his all and still only managed seventh place.
As for Tie Dazhi, he didn't even need to be mentioned — he was pure embarrassment.
Meanwhile, Tang Hong — that fellow nobody seemed to care about — had been the one to pull off a stunning performance. His standout display was even more eye-catching than Lian Canghai's or Xie Yufan's.
Sect Master Xie Tianshu and Grand Elder-in-Chief Tie Long didn't dare meet Thousand Leaves Sovereign's gaze, both consumed by guilt.
"Hmph, feeling guilty now, are you?" Thousand Leaves Sovereign's anger hadn't subsided. He glared at them and barked, "Do any of you even know the arc of Jiang Chen's growth? Someone tell me — the more detailed, the better."
The Tie family had actually investigated Jiang Chen's trajectory.
However, at a time like this, asking them to recount Jiang Chen's life story was something the Tie family members were unwilling to do. After all, along Jiang Chen's path to prominence, the Tie family had absolutely been the most pathetic stepping stones.
In Jiang Chen's rise within Tiangui Kingdom, the Tie family had served as the perfect launchpad.
Such a shameful history — naturally, the Tie family had no desire to discuss it.
Xie Tianshu, at least, knew some basic information about Jiang Chen and recounted it briefly.
Thousand Leaves Sovereign frowned. "That's all common gossip. There's no one in the four great sects who doesn't know this. Is there anything more inside? For instance, who is backing Jiang Chen?"
"Isn't it the Protector Spirit King, Ye Chonglou?" Xie Tianshu asked, surprised.
Thousand Leaves Sovereign let out a cold snort. "Ye Chonglou also came from our Treasure Tree Sect. I've always appreciated his talent. However, this matter is clearly far more complicated than just Ye Chonglou! Is there any deeper intelligence?"
Xie Tianshu smiled bitterly. "We truly don't know. Perhaps we could invite Elder Ye Chonglou to the sect for a conversation?"
"Sect Master, Old Master Ye Chonglou entered closed-door cultivation over a year ago and has yet to come out," one of the sect elders said quietly.
Thousand Leaves Sovereign grew somewhat agitated. There were also unsolved mysteries swirling in his mind.
On that battle platform, the scene of Jiang Chen slaying Long Juxue had lingered in Thousand Leaves Sovereign's mind ever since. He still couldn't fathom how Jiang Chen had accomplished it.
With Jiang Chen's humble, commoner origins, what kind of extraordinary fortune would he need to rise from the mortal world and slay Long Juxue — someone with an Innate Spirit Body?
And when Jiang Chen killed Long Juxue, Zhuiyang the Old Monster had clearly been lunging toward the platform, only to suddenly be struck by some unknown force, sent crashing to the ground, coughing up mouthfuls of blood.
Who was it that had struck?
After leaving the Immortal Mountain, all the major powers had tacitly avoided mentioning the incident, but deep down, every single one of them was fixated on it.
What kind of heaven-defying figure could make even Zhuiyang the Old Monster vomit blood?
Such a powerful individual operating within the Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance was enough to fill Thousand Leaves Sovereign with intense curiosity.
He wanted to know — what was the relationship between that person who intervened and Jiang Chen?
It was precisely this burning desire for answers that had prompted Thousand Leaves Sovereign to summon everyone and gather intelligence on Jiang Chen.
But their performance had left him deeply disappointed.
The Treasure Tree Sect's intelligence had deteriorated to such a pathetic degree that Thousand Leaves Sovereign genuinely felt like flying into a rage.