Starfate was flying as fast as it could go.

Aside from the Black Tortoise, the sacred beasts knew Jiang Chen’s situation well. They understood his rush back to the Eternal Sacred Land; he was worried about Huang’er.

After some conversation with the Vermilion Bird, the Black Tortoise caught up to speed with its new young master’s circumstances. At the same time, it became curious as to Jiang Chen’s path to ascension.

It conversed with the crimson fowl the rest of the way. The stories about Jiang Chen’s rapid rise astonished it.

It was rare for a young human to get so strong so quickly, especially considering his race’s history.

“Brother Black, you haven’t been with young master Chen long, so you haven’t experienced his charisma in action. When you spend a bit more time with him, you’ll appreciate him a lot. He’s always been sincere in his dealings with us. Though we are strong, we can’t guarantee we’ll stay safe in this chaotic world. It’s safer to have him by our side.”

The Vermilion Bird’s words were heartfelt.

The Black Tortoise was touched. “Old Brother Vermilion,” it sighed, “you’re a bit older than me when it comes to age. I should call you my older brother. I can see that all three of you are very loyal to Jiang Chen. He must have something to draw and bind you to him. Don’t worry. Since I’ve agreed to join your team in earnest, I will slowly become one of you as well. Like you said, I can’t possibly evade disaster just by tucking my head under the water.”

“Indeed. We’ll fight with our combined strengths from now on. All for one, and one for all. Jiang Chen won’t let us down or give us anything but the best,” the Vermilion Bird replied seriously.

“I can see that. Young master Chen is a responsible youth. There are ten divine forefathers leading Myriad Abyss currently, but he will obviously become the leader sooner or later. Even these old gods will bow down to him after a short while.” The Black Tortoise spoke something amazing.

“Oh? Why do you say that?” the Vermilion Bird asked, smiling.

“Take a look at how we left Sandplain Island. The others were helpless before a problem that Jiang Chen solved with ease. Aside from raw strength, what part of him is inferior to the divine forefathers? He has more than enough experience and accolades to match.”

This was the tortoise’s judgment.

“You’re exactly right. Jiang Chen isn’t the leader of humanity in name yet, but he’s on his way there.” The bird nodded, smiling. “Let us usher in a new glorious era. What can the four sacred beasts gathered under one banner accomplish? That depends on what young master Chen can dig up!”

Jiang Chen didn’t pay attention to the conversation between the two more senior sacred beasts. He was analyzing possible situations at the Eternal Sacred Land with Ziju Min.

Either the sacred land was successfully resisting, or the enemy had occupied it, killing half and imprisoning the remainder.

Aside from these, it was possible that Divine Kasyapa would interfere on Huang’er’s behalf.

In fact, this third option seemed the most likely.

Given what Huang’er’s grandfather had done so far for his family, he cared a lot about his relationships. Since the divine hadn’t joined Master Lightford’s forces, there was no reason he should stand idly by while his granddaughter was besieged.

“Don’t be worried. Even if they are brigands who’ve escaped from the Boundless Prison, and even if they’ve occupied the Eternal Sacred Land already, they won’t kill everyone there. At the end of the day, recruitment is important for them. How are they supposed to gather any popularity by indiscriminately slaughtering everyone in their path?”

Ziju Min tried to comfort Jiang Chen in spite of his own anxiety.

Jiang Chen sighed softly. “Never mind. We’ll see what’s happened as soon as we return. I think the sacred land can hold for a while yet.” He instinctively believed that Divine Kasyapa would naturally defend Huang’er’s home.

Given the divine’s clout, even Master Lightford would afford him some degree of respect. Though the latter might hate the former, he would only seek revenge in secret. Before his plans came to fruition, he could not risk openly breaking with Kasyapa.

The road from Sandplain to Eternal was a very long one.

Jiang Chen accelerated Starfate again and again, burning away an incredible amount of spirit stones in the process.

....

Right now, the Eternal Sacred Land was a lot more active than Jiang Chen expected.

There were a fair few cultivators sieging the place, led by two divine cultivators – though they were notably rather upset right now.

They’d just been frustrated in their attack on the sacred land. At first, the defensive formation around it had deterred them from launching a frontal assault.

Just as they were about to break through it after studying it sufficiently, an unwelcome guest arrived on their doorstep. It was Divine Kasyapa, Huang’er’s maternal grandfather.

His advent thwarted Lightford’s plans. The two gods attempted to use their superior numbers to take on Kasyapa, but the two of them together could only tie with their stubborn opponent.

The two sides were locked into a temporary standstill.

The two gods on Lightford’s side had disliked Divine Kasyapa from the outset. His unwanted presence made them furious.

Alas, they couldn’t defeat him no matter how hard they tried.

The Eternal Sacred Land was given a reprieve to set up better defenses after the divine’s appearance. Since the forefather and first prime were both absent, the second and third primes were in charge.

They knew that Divine Kasyapa was the maternal grandfather of Huang’er, who was Jiang Chen’s dao partner.

Therefore, they treated the man with utmost reverence. Without his abrupt arrival, the fall of the Eternal Sacred Land was inevitable.

The old divine wasn’t much interested in their attitude, however. He had come only to protect his granddaughter.

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