The Asura Great Emperor's words were tantamount to announcing that he was prepared to take a step back. This retreat did not stem from a love of peace, nor from any magnanimity or yearning for open horizons.
It was, rather, so that he could take a greater stride forward in the future.
The Asura Great Emperor had spent eight hundred years in painstaking preparation, building his strength to its peak. In his own estimation, he was already more than capable of going head-to-head with the Peacock Great Emperor!
And this Glass Royal Tower gathering was the perfect opportunity.
By taking this step back, the Asura Great Emperor had effectively delivered the Royal Court Clan Lord and his son to the blade's edge of the Peacock Guard. Still, they had put up one final fight.
When the Seven Great Emperor factions gathered together, the Asura Great Emperor's side raised a question: did the formula for the Myriad Longevity Pill truly belong to Peacock Sacred Mountain?
When the Seven Great Emperor factions sat down together, the Peacock Guard naturally had to present their evidence. Two Pill Kings personally refined Myriad Longevity Pills on the spot. With ironclad "facts," they defended the ownership of the Myriad Longevity Pill.
With this, the other Great Emperor factions all concluded that the Royal Court Great Clan had indeed stolen the pill formula, and unanimously agreed that the Royal Court Clan Lord and his son had earned their deaths.
With this, even the Asura Great Emperor could not save the Wang family father and son.
Moreover, the Asura Great Emperor had absolutely no desire for the Royal Court Clan Lord to bring up the Undying Heavenly Capital. What good would mentioning the Undying Heavenly Capital do now? It would only blacken his own name—not an ounce of use.
On the contrary, it would hand the Peacock Great Emperor's side a handle to grasp, confirming the Wang family's collusion with the Undying Heavenly Capital. That would only widen the scope of the scandal and the damage.
Left with no choice, the Asura Great Emperor could only sacrifice the few to save the many.
The Wang family father and son were sentenced to death.
The Wei family father and son's case, however, was comparatively much simpler. After a thorough investigation, numerous doubts emerged regarding the allegation that the Wei family had been selling counterfeit pills.
The so-called eyewitness testimony and physical evidence could hardly hold together on their own.
The Asura Great Emperor's side clearly had no interest in dwelling on the matter, and went with the flow, releasing the Wei family father and son along with Shen Sanhuo. They knew full well that if they didn't let them go, the Peacock Great Emperor's side would only continue their campaign of retribution with even greater frenzy. Once the matter of the Wang family's collusion with the Undying Heavenly Capital got dragged in, it would become impossible to argue one's way out.
There was clearly no such thing, but the yellow mud had already fallen into his trousers—whether it was shit or not, it certainly looked like it.
After the Seven Great Emperors met, they all tacitly agreed not to escalate matters any further. The greatest tragedy, without question, befell the Wang family father and son, who lost their heads.
And the execution took place right in the bustling heart of the Shennong Market District.
On the day of the beheading, the onlookers were innumerable. The spectacle was absolutely electric.
The Royal Court Clan Lord and his son showed no struggle, no resistance—like walking corpses, they had their fine heads severed.
With this, the scandal that had churned for so long finally drew its curtain.
As for the man at the center of it all,
When the Taiyuan Pavilion reopened, he simply sent Alchemist Lu Feng to hold the fort.
Having witnessed so many events, Jiang Chen's understanding of the situation had grown far clearer. The Royal Court Great Clan, the Asura Great Emperor—neither of them was the endpoint of his martial path.
In the end, it all came down to strength. Possess strength, and you possessed a voice—and others would not dare offend you.
Take this counterattack, for instance—if he hadn't possessed the formula for the Myriad Longevity Pill, if the people from Peacock Sacred Mountain hadn't intervened, where would there have been any room for a counterattack?
Forget counterattacking—he wouldn't even have had the qualifications.
With his own strength alone, the most he could do was cause a bit of trouble from the shadows. As for killing the Royal Court Clan Lord and his son? There was simply no hope whatsoever.
Jiang Chen was different from other Holy Realm cultivators. Last time, he had obtained a massive quantity of Holy Infant Herbs from the forbidden grounds of Illusory Wave Mountain and refined countless Holy Infant Pills.
This gave him a resource advantage in the Holy Realm that no one else could match.
On top of that, there was the dragon crystal that
Jiang Chen secluded himself for a full month. In that brief span, he broke through a barrier that would have taken others several years!
Holy Realm Fifth Stage!
Jiang Chen felt the changes in his body after the breakthrough, yet still felt no sense of satisfaction.
Since arriving in the Upper Eight Domains, he had become ever more acutely aware of the various constraints that a gap in strength imposed.
"Breakthrough. I have to keep breaking through. The Glass Royal Tower gathering is less than a year away. Before it arrives, I must break through to the Holy Realm Seventh Stage and become a Heavenly Holy Realm cultivator!"
This was Jiang Chen's short-term goal. It was an ambitious one, but not unrealistic.
In principle, after this breakthrough to Holy Realm Fifth Stage, the potential of the Holy Infant Pills and the dragon crystal had been fully exhausted. Attempting another such breakthrough in a short time would be far more difficult.
However, Jiang Chen still had the Holy Smile Pill.
The two Holy Smile Pills gifted by the Coiling Dragon Clan Lord—though he could only consume one—represented the irresistible temptation of an unconditional promotion of one full stage.
So, just as he had back in the Yuan Realm, Jiang Chen would absolutely not squander this opportunity lightly.