Jiang Chen’s sudden appearance injected comedy into the scene. What was a young cultivator doing in a clash between top godkings?
“Cease this insolence at once, young Zhen!” Crimsonwaters immediately called out. “Back off! This is a confrontation between premier titled godkings. What are you muddying yourself in the waters for?”
Jiang Chen returned a faint smile. “Nothing, save for this old bastard’s traitorous words! Come out, old fart Ninecauldrons, so that I can make mincemeat out of you!”
There was a confident violence upon his face.
Ninecauldrons was utterly vexed. Where did this kid of all people, find the courage to call him out? Were Crimsonwaters’ servants all brainless idiots?
“Are these the manners to be expected from your followers, Crimsonwaters? You’re a poor excuse for a teacher, so I shall teach in your stead!” The offended godking pressed his apparent advantage.
Jiang Chen felt his anger and rage focus upon a single point. His blood boiled! Hundreds of thousands of years worth of repressed humiliation channeled through him.
Boom!
The emotions coursing through his blood forged a breakthrough past the peak of his assimilated bloodlines!
Jiang Chen vaunted to godking realm in one bound!
At the same time, the seal in his consciousness shattered into a million motes of light.
A token that was a little longer and thinner than a man’s palm floated before him. He felt a world, an endless cosmos, open up to him. It was the creation token!
Jiang Chen’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately grabbed and absorbed it into himself, imprinting his own consciousness upon it.
Claimed by a new master!
Under the imprint of Jiang Chen’s consciousness, the token emitted the powerful energies of creation. They whipped themselves about the young man in immense vortices, bringing a new world into being.
An experienced cultivator immediately cried out, “What is that? Is that the Taiyuan token?”
“It’s the creation token!”
“How could this kid have something like that?!”
“Stop him! Stop him!”
Mass chaos swept through the crowd. Even Skypillar, who’d previously fallen silent, flared with burning greed.
Darknorth immediately sprang in the direction of the disgraced usurper, “Your Majesty, if you take that creation token for yourself, you will be recognized by creation once and for all. Who would possibly dare disrespect you henceforth?”
Blood shot through Skypillar’s eyes. “Let us combine forces! If you help me obtain the creation token, we will jointly rule Taiyuan Plane!”
Crimsonwaters couldn’t quite take in everything he’d seen. Still, he recovered with remarkable aplomb.
“Come here, young Zhen!” he called out. “I will protect you!”
Hoarfrost was a little taken aback as well. His look toward Jiang Chen was thoughtful rather than avaricious.
Greenwood, Ninecauldrons, and Whiteriver found it difficult to repress their own ambitions. They very much desired to rule Taiyuan Plane themselves by taking the token for their own.
The prospect of becoming lord over these heavenly planes filled them with deep avarice.
By now, Jiang Chen was quite surrounded.
The other vassals scattered to find the godking whom they were respectively closest to, poised to join the battle for creation token themselves. The weaker cultivators could only flee in self-preservation.
Elders Ge and Xu were scared out of their wits. They were so terribly afraid that they wanted to disappear on the spot. How could the young Elder Zhen have the creation token? He had dragged them into trouble they wanted no part in!
Grinning coldly, Jiang Huan slowly stepped in front of Jiang Chen.
He was entirely unafraid despite the arrayal of other godkings. The smile upon his visage was sardonic. “Ninecauldrons, Greenwood, Whiteriver. Which one of you is the mastermind? Or perhaps you three are all conspirators?”
“Who are you?” Ninecauldrons glared at Jiang Huan.
The servant of the previous celestial emperor discarded his disguise and revealed his true strength.
“Who am I? I want to know the answer to that very same question! I have been without an identity for hundreds of thousands of years. Long have I waited to restore my position and what the house of Jiang has lost.
“Listen up! I am Jiang Huan, the Taiyuan Celestial Emperor’s distant relative and loyal servant. Today, I receive His Majesty’s only son, Crown Prince Jiang Chen, who has brought back the creation token with him. Surrender, traitors!”
He exuded the power of a mature godking.
What?
The celestial emperor’s only son? The trash with a yin constitution?
Ninecauldrons roared with laughter. “Jiang Huan? Never heard of you! You should make up a more believable lie. Crown Prince Jiang Chen had a yin constitution. Everyone knows how useless he was! Do you take us for mere children?”
Even Crimsonwaters shook his head to himself. Evidently, he shared a similar opinion.
Jiang Huan snickered. “Ignorant fools! You know nothing of the celestial emperor’s might and ability. His Majesty has sent the crown prince through the process of reincarnation. Today, Crown Prince Jiang Chen is a godking himself. Moreover, he has the power to create heavenly planes of his own!”
As he said this, he swept his razor-sharp gaze over the rest of the crowd. “Fellow daoists, you are all pillars of Taiyuan Plane. Do you desire to keep living under the black terror you’ve suffered for hundreds of thousands of years? Do you want your realm to continue to decline? Do you not long for the glory that we once had?
“His Majesty did indeed disobey the heavenly dao by refining the Sun Moon Pill. However, his long imprisonment is more than redemption enough. His son’s inheritance of creation token will reverse the realm’s fortunes and grant it new life. Are you willing to continue as accomplices of the true villain rather than accept the change for the better?”
Jiang Huan’s eloquence was above the norm. Every statement resonated with his audience.
Crimsonwaters was overjoyed. “Young Zhen,” he glanced at Jiang Chen, “are you truly the reincarnated Crown Prince Jiang Chen?”
The young man took this moment to draw his father’s sword.
“This is the Edge of Evermore. My father sealed it within my consciousness. As his core vassals, you should all recognize it, yes?”