“Money? What money?” asked the old man.

  However, the High Priest and Ma Ruyun didn’t reply nor did they mention this topic again. After a while, Qu Jianying finally managed to have the old man restrain his curiosity and not pursue this topic.

  The High Priest solemnly said, “The Martial Heaven Continent was just ravaged by a large battle. The dragon woman has been killed, along with most of the sea demon race. All that remains is the sea demon emperor. He activated the Heaven Devastating Bracelet by sacrificing a great deal of his longevity and his realm. It is probably difficult for him to even stabilize at the late Heaven Merging realm. However, that doesn't mean that we can relax our vigilance. We must send people to keep an eye on him. If we find him, then he must be killed immediately to remove this scourge.”


  Qu Jianying nodded. “Junior has sent people to keep an eye out. If we notice anything from the sea demon race, we will immediately report it to senior.”


  The High Priest turned to the Music Master. “Is the Southern Sea Zither still not acknowledging a master?”


  The Music Master shook her head. “I don’t know why, but the Southern Sea Zither refuses to communicate with Zi Yan. Although Zi Yan can use a portion of its power, the Southern Sea Zither still seems to be in slumber. It is truly inexplicable.”


  “What of the Northern Source Sword?” asked the High Priest.

  Daoist Heavenly Feather said, “Zhiqiu finally managed to link up with the Northern Source Sword after advancing to Heaven Merging. She went into seclusion yesterday in order to formally begin the process.”


  The High Priest seemed to talk to himself. “The Western Desert Ax brought Wilde to who knows where in order to recover as quickly as possible. The Central Plains Cauldron has accepted Mo Nian but doesn’t seem to like him too much. It might choose a different master at any time. Meanwhile, the Northern Source Sword still needs some time to finish the process of acknowledging a master. Based on the battle back then, the Southern Sea Zither should have taken the least damage, so it should be the first to recover and accept a master. Why does it still refuse? Is it waiting for a better master?”


  Everyone looked at the Music Master who shook her head. “The Southern Sea Zither once roamed the world under the identity of the Seven String Sea Suppressing Zither. No one knows the reason for that. When the Southern Sea Zither formed a connection with Zi Yan, it told Zi Yan that its true name was the Seven String Sea Suppressing Zither and not the Southern Sea Zither. Although the Southern Sea Zither has been in the Illusive Music Immortal Palace this entire time, we must still treat it reverently. We can’t ask it questions it doesn’t wish to answer. If it doesn’t wish to acknowledge a master, it must have its own reasons.”


  The High Priest didn’t pursue that topic. He said, “Four of the supreme divine items have appeared. Only the Eastern Wasteland Bell refuses to appear. If it does appear, then even though our enemies are powerful, we should have a high chance of victory with all five supreme divine items gathered. Right now, that depends on the Eastern Wasteland Bell.”


  “But where is the Eastern Wasteland Bell? There hasn’t been the slightest news of it after so many years,” said someone helplessly.

  The High Priest said, “Once the other four supreme divine items accept masters, they can join forces to sense its direction. Right now, we’re only missing Zi Yan.

  Seeing everyone looking toward her, the Music Master hastily said, “I will definitely urge on Zi Yan. No matter the price, she must master the Southern Sea Zither.”


  After a bit more discussion about the battle plan, everyone left. Now all that remained were four people, the High Priest, Daoist Heavenly Feather, the old man, and Qu Jianying.

  “She is not speaking the truth,” said Daoist Heavenly Feather.

  The old man and Qu Jianying were startled. They guessed who she was referring to. While everyone was leaving, Daoist Heavenly Feather had only been staring at the Music Master.

  The High Priest nodded. “The Illusive Music Immortal Palace’s history stretches back all the way to the immortal era. With that kind of long inheritance, they can be considered one of the most important members of the Martial Heaven Continent. However, they have remained indifferent this entire time. Before this, it was still reasonable to say that they transcended the mortal world and disdained involving themselves in petty affairs. But for their attitude to remain the same even now is thought-provoking.”


  The Illusive Music Immortal Palace seemed to be not the least bit concerned about the Martial Heaven Continent. It was as if they didn’t care about its life or death.

  Even if their mastery of the Music Dao meant breaking free from the mortal world of dust, this kind of indifference was not right.

  “Do you think that it is the Illusive Music Immortal Palace that did something to the Southern Sea Zither, resulting in it not acknowledging a master?” probed Daoist Heavenly Feather.

  “That is not very likely.” The High Priest shook his head. “The Southern Sea Zither has preserved the most power out of the four supreme divine items so far. The Illusive Music Immortal Palace should not be able to interfere in that manner.”


  “Then why is it still waiting?” asked Daoist Heavenly Feather helplessly. If it continued to wait, then they wouldn’t be able to find the Eastern Wasteland Bell, and their survival chances in the upcoming fall would sharply decline.

  “Perhaps only the Southern Sea Zither knows the reason. Find a chance to tell Long Chen to be on guard against the Music Master,” said the High Priest.

  “Could it be…” The old man and Qu Jianying’s hearts pounded. Was there really a problem with the Music Master?

  “Don’t harm others, but be on guard against others trying to harm you. Taking note of her isn’t a bad thing. The two of you will be busy during this time because the entire Martial Heaven Continent’s powers depend on you. As I have to return and pay my respects to the Wine God, I won’t be able to help you during this time. Everything will be up to you,” said the High Priest.

  The old man and Qu Jianying hastily sent the High Priest off. Once he left, Daoist Heavenly Feather also departed. With a battle imminent, she also had to prepare.

  While the old man and Qu Jianying were busy at work, Long Chen remained in slumber. In this slumber, he had countless dreams.

  There were countless scenes of Sovereign Yun Shang, Qing Xu, Mo Li, Han Wei, and Zi Yang. Scenes of their youth, scenes of their journey, scenes of them becoming Sovereigns and protecting the continent. There were also many bloody scenes.

  In just a short three days, he had seen countless images. They were random, not linking up. However, these were the experiences of the Sovereigns.

  The five Sovereigns had a somewhat similar past as him. They had all met various misfortunes in their youth and had tasted the bitterness of life. Also, they had advanced through a path of their enemies’ corpses.

  The only difference was that when they reached the very peak of the cultivation world, their light radiated so brightly that they won over all others on the continent, causing all the races of the continent to swear allegiance to them.

  As for Long Chen, no matter how his light blazed, he still ended up with countless enemies. No one submitted to him, so he could only kill and kill with no rest.

  “Sovereigns are Sovereigns. Even if they were harmed ninety-nine times, they would still give the others another chance. They used their own magnanimity to embrace this world, and they still believed in the beauty of this world.”


  Long Chen suddenly smiled, awakening from his slumber. He seemed to understand what the Sovereigns felt.

  “Oh? What’s this? Pill formulas?”


  Long Chen suddenly noticed that more things had appeared in his spiritual memories. He immediately sat up, causing Meng Qi and the others who were guarding by his side to cry out.