The Pill Fairy, Nangong Zuiyue, and Beitang Rushuang represented three of the top powers on the continent. Without them, this entire gathering had lost its meaning.

The others all left. Originally, their goal was to create a plan for the qi flow eruption and how they should face the dark era.

Long Chen’s absence wasn’t anything important to them. He didn’t represent a major faction. He and his Dragonblood Legion were nothing to them.

However, his departure caused a chain reaction. There was no way to continue holding this gathering, so Dongfang Yuyang could only send people away.

Once everyone was gone, the family head and Dongfang Yuyang entered a private room gloomily.

The family head’s warm smile had long since vanished, replaced with iciness. “Do you know your greatest mistake this time?”

“I underestimated Long Chen’s daring,” sighed Dongfang Yuyang.

“Wrong. You were in too much of a rush. Did you really think you could eliminate Long Chen this way?”

“Family head, I sense something from Long Chen that gives me a grave sense of danger. Although it’s just a feeling, it’s very intense. I must get rid of him.”

“What is it?” The family head was startled by this.

Dongfang Yuyang shook his head. “I’m not sure. I can’t say where this feeling comes from. It’s just a sense of danger, a sense of pressure greater than any other expert. This feeling of danger seems to come from my soul yet it is also like some kind of external power. I can’t say for sure, but Long Chen is definitely the greatest pillar of the Righteous path. He must be eliminated.”

The family head thought about it for a while before shaking his head. “That’s why you set up that trap for him on his way here? You wanted Zhao Wuji to form an enmity with Long Chen, and with him as the lead, make all the other experts who have enmity with Long Chen join together to kill him?”

“That was my original plan.”

“Don’t you feel like that was forcing things too much? Furthermore, you left clues. Aren’t you afraid of drawing Long Chen’s suspicions?”

“The qi flow eruption is coming soon. I have no choice but to take some risks.”

“You’re still too young. You could have used a much better method to get rid of Long Chen without raising any suspicions. Don’t think that Long Chen is just one person. He has allies. Those two girls from the Nangong and Beitang families are interested in him and support him. As for the Pill Fairy from Pill Valley, it’s said that they were once in a relationship. It’s still too early to say whether they are friends or enemies. Before even making things clear, you already made such a rash move. It was fated that you would fail.”

“That truly was out of my expectations. It seems I’m still not mature enough.”

“Specialize in your own field. Your talent lies in cultivation, not scheming. Well, in any case, you’ve managed to push Long Chen into the center of the storm. It wasn’t a complete failure.”

“But this gathering was a failure,” said Dongfang Yuyang apologetically.

“No, although it wasn’t a success, it wasn’t a failure either. At the very least, we’ve displayed our power, and the auction went very well. We should have a monopoly over any high level trades in the future. All the money we spent, we’ll get back a hundred times over,” said the family head. “As for the rest, just keep playing your good character. Don’t fight if you don’t have to. Don’t expose your power. As long as you continue doing what you’ve done, then even with all these geniuses and monsters, the only one capable of becoming a Sovereign is you. As for Long Chen, don’t bother with him. I’ll arrange things. He cannot be allowed to delay your big plan. Just do your best not to expose your identity, or it’ll be troublesome. When it comes to that, you should be careful of a few characters. Don’t underestimate Kun Pengzi just because he’s a Xuan Beast. He’s extremely intelligent and frighteningly cool-headed. When Long Chen and Zhao Wuji first exchanged blows, he could already tell who would win. There’s also the Pill Fairy. I don’t know what Pill Valley is planning to be acting so mysterious. Finally, there’s that girl from the Bloodkill Hall. Do not offend her no matter what. An assassin that might appear behind you at any moment is a nightmare.”

Dongfang Yuyang nodded. This was a glorious era where all kinds of monsters were appearing.

“There can only be one Sovereign. The rest of you will just be accompanying figures.” A smile appeared on Dongfang Yuyang’s handsome face, but compared to before, this smile was a bit more sinister.

…

“Long Chen, why are you going so fast? It’s not like anyone’s chasing after you.”

Long Chen was pulling Ye Zhiqiu away when Beitang Rushuang’s voice rang out behind him.

Ye Lingshan, Beitang Rushuang, Nangong Zuiyue, and Zi Yan had all come. Long Chen smiled and cupped his fists toward them to express his thanks.

“Long Chen, I have to return to the Illusive Music Immortal Palace. With all these powerful geniuses appearing, you have to take care.” Zi Yan gave Long Chen a profound look before saying goodbye to the others and leaving.

“Long Chen, although you’re an irritating fellow normally, when the fighting starts, you really are manly enough. That fight of yours was quite satisfying. If you ever have time, you can come to my Beitang family as a guest. Our gates will always be open to you,” said Beitang Rushuang grandly.

“The Nangong family is the same. We would welcome you as a guest,” said Nangong Zuiyue.

This was truly a symbol of kindness. He was currently surrounded by enemies. For them to invite him as a guest was clearly indicating that they would protect him.

“Many thanks. If I have time, I’ll definitely come.” Long Chen cupped his fists toward them.

Nangong Zuiyue and Beitang Rushuang parted ways with them there. Long Chen waited for a moment, but Hu Feng never appeared. He must have left on his own.

Taking out his flying boat, he, Ye Zhiqiu, and Ye Lingshan hopped on. For Long Chen, this gathering of past and present heroes had ended in a satisfactory manner.

“Long Chen… how am I supposed to give an explanation to my master about this?!” cried Ye Lingshan.

“That’s your matter. I’m not going with you,” said Long Chen nonchalantly.

“This was all your fault! Don’t think you can toss the responsibility onto me! You have to go back with me!” raged Ye Lingshan.

Long Chen controlled the flying boat. He smiled slightly. “Girl, you’re still too immature. In truth, this gathering was nothing good. There were many things that they already arranged to go a certain manner. No matter what you did, things would have ended the same way.”

“What are you talking about?” Ye Lingshan and Ye Zhiqiu looked at Long Chen curiously.

“This so-called gathering of past and present heroes was the Dongfang family’s method of showing their power. They not only gathered the people, but they also gathered the resources. Don’t listen to their nonsense about thinking about the continent and all the lives on it. If you really believed that, you’d be an idiot. This gathering was a trap for me, and I even suspect that my enmity with the Mechanism Sect on the way here was also arranged, or that would be too much of a coincidence. Every step I took within the ancient city, I stumbled across Zhao Wuji, or Huang Feiyan, or Shi Lingfeng. They repeatedly provoked me, making me stay in an angry state. At first, I really was too angry to see things clearly, but when those disciples of the original devil race appeared, I realized that this was all a trap prepared for me.”

Upon thinking of those disciples, killing intent once more appeared in Long Chen’s eyes. That disciple had clearly recognized him. But to not implicate him, the disciple had used the original devil race’s secret art to kill himself and even take his companions with him.

Just how much pain had he been in to kill his companions? There was no way others could imagine just how helpless he had felt.

When that disciple shouted the name Mixihaweiya, that was when Long Chen realized that it had all been a trap.

Although it was just one name, through different syllables, it could express different meanings. In his shout, that disciple had managed to convey a piece of information to Long Chen. They had been interrogated by Dongfang Yuyang.

They had seals in their souls that didn’t allow Dongfang Yuyang to get any valuable information from them, but this information was what made Long Chen realize that it was Dongfang Yuyang who had created this trap for him. He was a complete hypocrite. He had been hiding his true self very well.

Long Chen didn’t know what method Dongfang Yuyang had used to hide his hostility toward Long Chen despite him having the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.

Long Chen had never felt well toward Dongfang Yuyang, but he had assumed that it was simply some form of envy. After all, whether it was in terms of looks or position, there was no way for Long Chen to compare to him.

However, now that he thought back on it, that feeling of dislike might be a reaction from instinctively sensing his hostility.

“You mean that Dongfang Yuyang wants to harm you? Impossible. Mister Dongfang is a very good person!” exclaimed Ye Lingshan with disbelief.

Long Chen didn’t reply. He just silently controlled the flying boat.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” asked Ye Lingshan.

“What is there to say? Since you trust him, whatever I say is meaningless. I can’t be bothered to waste the effort,” said Long Chen indifferently.

Ye Lingshan chuckled. Long Chen was actually angry? “Who said I didn’t believe you? If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t be leaving with you. So then, what are you planning to do next?”

“Next? Next, major changes are on the horizon!” A ruthless light appeared in Long Chen’s eyes. Those disciples of the original devil race could not be allowed to have died for nothing.