“I’ll handle it. Don’t worry,” promised Long Chen. He appeared calm on the surface, but inside he was raging.

He didn’t know why the heavens were always going against him. At the moment the Dragonblood Legion needed to grow, the heavens gave him a vicious blow, making him see stars.

The Dragonblood Legion had just entered the Wild World, with their main forces, Gu Yang, Li Qi, and Song Mingyuan there.

As for Chu Yao, Tang Wan-er, and Ye Zhiqiu, they had yet to come out of seclusion. This was their weakest moment, but their enemies had launched a ferocious attack.

It was all thanks to Zi Yan coming at the right time to tie down the Pill Fairy that Long Chen hadn’t been stopped and had managed to return fast enough.

If Meng Qi and Cloud hadn’t been able to stop Kun Pengzi, the latter would have charged into the heart of the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race’s territory. Tang Wan-er and the others would have been woken up from their deep meditation and would very likely have faced grievous consequences.

Long Chen was sure that there were no traitors within the Dragonblood Legion, the original devil race, or the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. Thus, this attack’s timing was coincidental or perhaps simply a result of his amazing bad luck.

“Long Chen, what is with that saber of yours? It lacks any divine power. It wasn’t like that before. If it could have helped out, we definitely would have killed Kun Pengzi. I’m irritated thinking about it,” grumbled Mo Nian. It was embarrassing to have failed to kill Kun Pengzi when the two of them had joined hands.

“Evilmoon is busy and can’t activate its divine power right now. It’s too irritating to talk about. What about your side? What happened to you?” asked Long Chen. Mo Nian was covered in blood.

Before Mo Nian could reply, Bao Buping opened his mouth, furious. “We also had trouble on our side. Xie Wentian personally led an army over. The old man was blocked by them and then the ancient family alliance came. That girl actually wanted to challenge our ninth form of Split the Heavens. Fortunately, Mo Nian came in time, or the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect might have been destroyed.”

“That girl is the Blood Emperor’s daughter, Xue Luocha,” supplied Mo Nian.

“Oh really? The Blood Emperor’s daughter?” asked Long Chen.

“Who else? Why do you think I’m in this state? That woman’s terrifying, not at all weaker than Kun Pengzi. I knew things were urgent, so I went all-out. After several exchanges, we were both injured, but we were still evenly matched. It was the Wine God Palace’s Tu Qianshang that came over just in time. Unexpectedly, that fat butcher is really powerful. With one swing of his blade, he managed to trade injuries with Xue Luocha, giving me an opening to heavily injure her. She fled. Then fatty Tu went to help the old man, while I rushed over to your side. Now I’m embarrassed because I wasn’t even able to kill Kun Pengzi.” Mo Nian clenched his fists.

Seeing their gloomy expressions, Qu Jianying said, “You’re already very powerful. Kun Pengzi and Xue Luocha are descendants of the Peng Emperor and the Blood Emperor. To be able to match them is already an amazing achievement.”

“That’s right. To be able to fight with the heirs of the Emperors will definitely raise your prestige,” added another Elder of the Martial Heaven Alliance.

Emperors were the existences known to be able to challenge Sovereigns. Their descendants had inherited their foundation, and to be able to match them was already shocking.

For people like Mo Nian and Long Chen, who had come from a desolate place like the Eastern Wastelands, to be able to fight evenly against those Emperor heirs was extremely heaven-defying in other people’s eyes.

“Everyone, you’ve seen that the Corrupt path has no qualms about attacking the Righteous path. Although they were targeting me, I’m sure everyone here knows the truth,” said Long Chen.

These people were the leaders of the various large powers of the Martial Heaven Alliance. They were Qu Jianying’s fervent supporters.

“That’s right. The reason they are targeting you is because you are the greatest threat to them. Long Chen, there’s no need to explain. We all understand. Only people who are incurably stupid would blame you. Well, those people have been bought and are used to slander you. But they can’t confuse us,” said one elder.

Long Chen cupped his fists. “Many thanks. The reason I established myself outside the Martial Heaven Alliance is because I didn’t want to implicate you. But now you’ve seen it. The Corrupt path, the ancient races, the Xuan Beasts, and the ancient family alliance have formed a profitable collaboration. To put it frankly, the Corrupt path is our true enemy, while the other powers have become accomplices. You’ve seen their true faces this time. After this battle, Pill Valley will once more try to sway public opinion and have more sects cause internal strife within the Martial Heaven Alliance.”

“There’s no need to worry. Those people won’t be able to make any waves,” sneered someone. Those who could be bought and shaken with just this were all minor characters. Just martial pressure was enough to handle them.

“Senior has misunderstood my intention. What I want is to have those sects forever leave the Martial Heaven Alliance, just like how we cleaned up those treacherous sects in the Martial Heaven Alliance back in the day. We will no longer include them. They can simply live or die on their own. With the great era present, we need allies we can trust, not a fake army. An army that might betray us at any moment might be more dangerous than our enemies. So I would ask everyone not to bother the people who start making noises after this. Those people have their own brains. If they were fooled, then they’re idiots. For a bit of profit dangled in front of them, they have no qualms about betraying their allies. So we should decide not to keep them. No matter how those people try to make a fuss, sway others, or plot, just let them be. Just tell them that once they betray the Martial Heaven Alliance, there is no coming back. They will no longer have any connection to the Martial Heaven Alliance,” said Long Chen.

“Isn’t this all too vicious?” Some of the elders were hesitant.

“Special times require special methods. The dark era is coming. If we don’t kick out those people with weak wills, how will we unite our people’s hearts?” said Mo Nian. “The Dragonblood Legion is the best example. Why is the Dragonblood Legion united? Because there is not one person who is so fickle as to switch sides with just a breeze. Just one would be enough to crumble the legion’s cohesiveness. With so many people in the alliance, there will naturally be some idiots. We have to trim ourselves to maintain our power. Kindness will only ruin things.”

Mo Nian’s words were hard to accept. After all, the Martial Heaven Alliance was a giant organization. Stability was very important. But there was also no way to challenge his words. In the end, everyone looked at Qu Jianying.

With a struggle, Qu Jianying said, “We’ll discuss this further later.”

She also found this decision difficult. Any sect would have a complicated interior. Long Chen’s methods were harsh and dogmatic. They weren’t quite suited to the Martial Heaven Alliance.

Long Chen nodded. He also knew that the Martial Heaven Alliance would have difficulty accepting such a thing. He had said what he wanted to say, so the decision was up to them.

“Long Chen, do you have any plans? You can tell us,” probed Qu Jianying.

If she knew Long Chen’s plans, she could see if she could help him out. After all, the various large powers were already keeping an eye on them. If he were to fall, it would be a huge blow to the Martial Heaven Alliance.

“I have no plans. I will simply make sure to get back at my enemies for this loss, with interest. Many thanks for everyone’s support. If you have any troubles in the future, you can come find me and I will definitely help.” Long Chen once more cupped his fists in thanks

The various experts that had come nodded. Although they had come late, Long Chen still remembered this favor.

Qu Jianying was disappointed. Long Chen had said ‘everyone’. That was not a reference to the Martial Heaven Alliance. In other words, this favor he remembered was not to the Martial Heaven Alliance, but to her and these people who had come.

However, there was no way around it. The Martial Heaven Alliance’s interior was very complicated, with many people scheming for an advantage over their allies. There was also Pill Valley and the other powers trying to cause trouble.

On the other hand, to abandon some sects just because they were hard to look after would betray the foundation of the Martial Heaven Alliance and the reason they were formed in the first place. So Qu Jianying had great difficulty accepting this suggestion.

Seeing that Long Chen didn’t want to talk anymore, Qu Jianying said some courteous words to Que Yuzhu before bringing her people away.

After sending off Qu Jianying, Long Chen turned to the old man. He stealthily said, “Old man, when you go back, go find the alliance head.”

“Why would I care about her?” glared the old man.

“Because the alliance head is tired. She has so much on her shoulders but no one to lean on. Are you not distressed to see her bitterly pressing forward alone?” asked Long Chen.

“So? Kindness cannot control troops. Her character is not suited to be the alliance head. She pulls these burdens on herself all the time. Who can help her?” The old man snorted.

“No one but you. Her burdens can only be seen by others, but you’re the only one with whom she can share the burdens. Even if you don’t understand her, sometimes you still have to help her, or how can you be called a man? A man has a man’s responsibilities,” said Long Chen solemnly.

“Fine, I know. How troublesome. I’ll make a trip after I get back,” grumbled the old man before leaving.