On the surface, the Graceful Spiritual Bow appeared gentle. However, with a little injection of Spiritual Qi, its aura would shine all over the place, as jubilant as the stars and the moon. Qin Wushuang had only heard about it. Thus, he only observed this bow without initiating his Qi.

Without question, this Graceful Spiritual Bow had gone through the hands of countless exceptional hosts. Each time, most likely, it must carry different stories.

"How can I maximize its power with my current strength? What level was that momentary gold flash from Devil Boy’s defensive charm?" Qin Wushuang wanted to solve this problem urgently. If he could determine the level of Devil Boy’s final defense, he could make a rough estimation of how much power this Graceful Spiritual Bow could unleash and what level of elite warriors it could deal with.

The Graceful Spiritual Bow was a trump card! He would never use it, except in the most dire circumstances.

"I can only use it when the Stargaze meets a life threatening situation. If the Head Palace Master could enter the Perfect Stage, I could lend him the bow to send out a powerful strike, it would be possible to save us from a desperate crisis..."

Qin Wushuang put the Graceful Spiritual Bow back into his storage sack and returned to the secret chamber training room in the Green Cloud Palace to continue his training.

Although the entire Stargaze Palace had a intense atmosphere, they did lose their ground.

...

On the other hand, when Zhu Dazhong returned to the Archaic Mysteries Sect, the entire sect was enveloped in an intense atmosphere. They felt even more depressed after losing this Friendly Competition.

Fortunately, the disciples of the law enforcement group of the Nine Palace Faction was here. Gao Yue and the others put on a pleasant mood to receive these disciples.

The law enforcement disciples also felt somewhat depressed since they could not catch Shang Ye. And being treated as VIP guests by the Archaic Mysteries sect made them feel somewhat better.

After staying for a few days and after Gao Yue and the other leaders tried to speak all the good words, they started to drop hints about making friends with them. If they could let the Leader of the Archaic Mysteries sect go to the Nine Palace Faction to discuss some matters regarding forming the alliance, the Nine Palace would be able to make up for their loss by extending their hands into the Three Eastern Empires.

For your information, regarding the Endless Eastern Sea, even the great leader of the Nine Palace Faction longed for it. Unfortunately, the border of the Endless Eastern Sea was too far from the Red Dragon Empire. Since they could only go there by going around the Three Eastern Empires, the Nine Palace Faction must weigh this fact.

With the power of the Red Dragon Empire, they had a good chance of dealing the Three Eastern Empires. However, they must consider the situation in their vicinity and prevent the other Empires from aiming their gazes at them when their backs were turned. Thus, the Nine Palace Faction could not deal with the Three Eastern Empires with their full attention.

However, currently a crack had opened up internally between the Three Eastern Empires. With the Archaic Sect giving out such an opportunity, the Nine Palace Faction could get involved secretly. They could pretend to go along with one path while secretly planning another.

When he thought here, the Nine Palace group leader, Senior Brother He, said to Gao Yue with a pleasant expression: "Head Gao, this is a significant matter. I hope you could come with me to the Nine Palace and see my three bosses. It would be much clearer discussing these details face to face."

Overjoyed, Gao Yue said: "That would be for the best."

"The matter is not to be delayed, let’s leave now." That Senior Brother He immediately settled this matter.

Naturally, Gao Yue wanted it to be done as fast as they could. He immediately walked out and gathered the other four Leaders to discuss this matter. The other Leaders did not object to this plan. Bai Gujing said: "Boss, as long as we can maximize the profits for the Heavenly Lake Empire, so what if we let the Red Dragon Empire into our territory? The Red Dragon already has such a large territory, surely they would not be too interested in the Three Eastern Empires. They are more interested in the Endless Eastern Sea."

"Yes, as long as we agree to let the Nine Palace Faction participate in the exploration of the Endless Eastern Sea, how could they not agree to this?"

"Of course, we must set some conditions." Zhu Dazhong said.

Gao Yue nodded: "The problem is how to issue the conditions. Everyone, gather your thoughts and talk about it. What are some conditions we can state, and which ones could we not?"

Bai Gujing said miserably: "It would be best if they could give me someone like Devil Boy."

Gao Yue immediately shook his head: "That’s impossible. Although the Red Dragon Empire is flourishing with talent, they would not be willing to give their talent to us for free."

Bai Gujing gave a long sigh and shook his head helplessly. In these few months, he could not forget about Devil Boy and could not accept that he had lost his disciple.

Zhu Dazhong said: "Head Leader, the law enforcement disciples from the Nine Palace Faction came to catch someone, do you guys know why?"

"Why?" The other Leaders asked curiously.

"I heard that runaway criminal stole a treasure of the Nine Palace Faction, it is called—Nine Refinements Ying Yang Wine. This treasure seems to have been extracted from a marvelous spring from someplace in the Red Dragon Empire. This wine could help solidify one’s foundation and help to stimulate a breakthrough to the next stage. I think that since the Nine Palace Faction cannot give us their disciples, why not let us send our disciples to them, to ask for their help in cultivation and hopefully they could suppress the Stargaze and the Dragon and Tiger sect during the exploration to Endless Eastern Sea after three years. Think about it, if our Luo Guiyun could reach the Advanced Stage. Even if we only have four spots during the Endless Eastern Sea exploration, we would have a formidable advantage."

The other leaders’ eyes brightened up when they heard those words. Gao Yue nodded solemnly: "Third, you are right. We can issue this condition. We can do it this way—After three years, during the Endless Eastern Sea exploration, we could give two of our spots to the Nine Palace Faction. The two people sent by the Nine Palace Faction must have the same strength as the ones from our sect. This way, they must try everything to help our disciples to increase their strength. Or else, they could only send out Middle Stage and Initial Stage..."

Zhu Dazhong was overjoyed as he praised: "Head Leader, this is a great idea! Your smart idea will tie the Nine Palace Faction together with the Archaic Mysteries Sect."

All the other leaders were overjoyed and in agreement.

After the five Heads had met, no one was to suffer a loss. They decided to let Gao Yue and Zhu Dazhong lead the team and take one disciple from each line of the Heads. On the surface, they were going to see the world. In fact, they had other ideas in mind.

Gao Yue found that Senior Brother He and told him their intention. Naturally, that disciple He did not dare to promise anything. However, he comforted them: "Head Gao, as long as it benefits both sides, my leader is easy to talk to. Most importantly, you must show your sincerity to my leader."

Gao Yue said: "Of course, the Archaic Mysteries sect is serious about it."

Both sides departed after making the initial agreement. The Red Dragon Empire was ten thousand crags and torrents away from the Heavenly Lake Empire. They had to travel for a few tens of thousands of miles.

After a month of hard travelling, they finally arrived within the Red Dragon Empire.

If Gao Yue were to travel with all his strength, it would only take him ten days. However, these Nine Palace disciples did not have the strength of the Advanced Stage. Thus, it took them almost a month.

It was not the first time Gao Yue had come to this Red Dragon Empire. However, it was his first time paying a visit to the Nine Palace Faction. As soon as he arrived before the mountain gate of the Nine Palace Faction, Gao Yue had immediately developed a feeling of awe at the towering mountain.

After all, this Nine Palace Faction was not ordinary. Just its presence had surpassed any sect inside the Three Eastern Empires.

historical

Further past the mountain gate, there were layers of stairs that continued and extended in many directions. With so much intersections, it appeared like a maze. If no one was there to lead you, an outsider that came here for the first time would get lost.

After all, Gao Yue and Zhu Dazhong were a generation of grandmasters. They could hold their ground since they had seen the world. The other young disciples of the Archaic Mysteries sect were a little nervous. Besides Luo Guiyun who remained calm, the other disciples were intimidated.

Finally, they had arrived at the core area of the Nine Palace Faction. Inside the mountain gate, a few law enforcement disciples let them go inside after negotiating with them.

That Disciple He arranged Gao Yue and the others into the guest houses and said: "Head Gao, I am going to report to the Law Enforcement Palace. The Elder of the Law Enforcement group will pay a visit to the Head on this matter. I am afraid that you must wait for a while during the process. Please rest here, I have arranged all accommodations. There should be an answer in three days."

Despite being a grandmaster, Gao Yue did not dare to have any objections inside this Nine Palace Faction. Although such arrangement somewhat insulted him, a Head Palace MAster, the Nine Palace did have a lot of elite warriors. Indeed, he could say nothing against such an arrangement.

At the moment, he said with pretended courtesy: "Ok, please speak a little more about the benefits and gains before your Elder. It would be best if they could treat it with much more importance."

"Yes, of course. We’ve received a lot of help from the Archaic sect in the Heavenly Lake Empire. While you are here at the Nine Palace Faction, we shall of course repay the favor."

This disciple He was efficient at making things work. After he had left, he went to report back at the Law Enforcement Palace. Although he had failed the mission, he had smartly led the Archaic Mysteries sect out and said that even two Heads of the sect could not catch that thief. He strongly suspicions that thief had connections within the Three Eastern Empires.

This shifting of responsibility was extremely delicate. With the two Heads of the Archaic Mysteries sect stepping forward to hack him up, their failure was easy to understand since two Advanced Stage warriors also could not resolve it.

Indeed, that Elder of the Law Enforcement Group said with a solemn face: "The two heads of the Archaic Mysteries sect still could not catch that guy? Didn’t our previous information say that person was only at the Initial Stage? Or else, why would we have only sent you guys?"

That Disciple He said: "I am afraid that person had deliberately revealed flaws and pretended to be weak to the enemy. He was trying to confuse the Nine Palace Faction."

"Anyways, let’s talk about this matter later. Gao Yue, the Leader of the Archaic, has come? This is interesting. I am going to see how our leader thinks. Haha, the Three Eastern Empires fortress is no longer fortified? How come some internal problems have emerged? This is a rather good chance..."

After he had finished, that Elder stood up and walked toward the Lotus Flower Palace overseen by the three great Leaders. Indeed, this news was interesting. If they could enter the eastern territory, it would be a piece of fat and juicy meat. Especially that Endless Eastern Sea, to the Nine Palace Faction, it was an unexplored area...