Jiuzhou had no response after hearing this either. He kept his opinions to himself.

“Hmph! If he is no longer immortal in this generation, one of us will die before the end! This is my only chance to usurp him!” Gu Zun scowled and said.

“Master, I have no problem with you wanting to fight against His Excellency. However, leading Soaring Immortal into our sect, just one misstep will make all your plans awry like leading a wolf into our home. It could bring eternal damnation to Heaven Suppression.” Jiuzhou pondered before speaking from a different perspective.

“Don’t worry, just Long Zhantian alone wants to play against me? He’s still too inexperienced. Hmph, if it wasn’t for his backing in the shadow, I would kill him, sooner or later.” A frightening glint flashed in Gu Zun’s eyes.

To which Jiuzhou responded: “But this will turn our sect into a battleground, a truly negative outcome.”

“There are battlefields everywhere in this world.” Gu Zun said: “In this momentous generation, no one should just worry about themselves unless they want to hide forever, never coming into being. If people did that in the past, our sect wouldn’t be as successful as we are now, reigning for three generations.”

Jiuzhou became tongue-tied and couldn’t respond.

“Even if self-preservation is the key, it’s not always possible.” Gu Zun explained: “We have the authority in Heaven Suppression, you think he’ll just let us do as we please? In his eyes, Heaven Suppression is his own property and won’t share it with us. It doesn’t matter if we are allies with Soaring Immortal or not, he will eventually make us disappear from this world!”

“If we can’t play nice, then it’s time to fight to see who will be the last man standing. Everyone dies eventually, even emperors can’t escape fate. If I lose and die to him, that’s not shameful at all. Emperors have been killed by him, let alone someone like me. But, if I were to be successful, then I will be an ant that has bitten a dragon to death. I shall surpass the constraint of time, my name will be immortalized!” Gu Zun revealed a peaceful smile as if he had seen through life-and-death.

Jiuzhou eventually asked: “Master, you have been wise your whole life but His Excellency’s calculation has been flawless as well. Please excuse my impudence but I don’t think you have a good chance of defeating His Excellency at all.”

Jiuzhou finally revealed his opinion that he had been keeping to himself in the past.

Gu Zun looked at him and said: “Jiuzhou, there is fear in your mind. This is not suitable for your dao heart.” 

Jiuzhou earnestly said: “Yes, I do have fear about your fate, master. I don’t mind dying. It will just be His Excellency condemning and killing me. It’s not my first time facing death either, it’s not that scary. What I’m worried about is if you take action again, losing will result in certain death. His Excellency won’t spare you in this generation.”

Gu Zun pondered for a bit before laughing: “Right, I know that he will kill me since I’ve done the unforgivable in revealing the coordinates of the Immortal Demon Grotto and led Ta Kong there. Even my brother-in-law wouldn’t forgive me, let alone him.” [1]

He smiled freely without any sign of guilt. Of course, the brother-in-law, in this case, was the Black Dragon King.

“But…” Ye Jiuzhou said. Gu Zun interrupted him and waved his hand: “Jiuzhou, I am not afraid of death either since I rather die compared to being imprisoned in the eye of the sea. That was my most humiliating period! Only brother-in-law thought that being alive was still better than death! In my mind, there’s no shame in dying to an existence of the Dark Crow level.”

“Brother-in-law only wanted me to live in order to keep his promise with my sister. Hmph, but that left me with a fate worse than death!” Gu Zun said flatly: “I have been unbeatable for so long with peerless talents yet I have to live under the shadow of the Dark Crow, relying on the Black Dragon King’s relationship with him. That’s no different than death!”

“With my power and grand dao, I would have been emperor long ago if it wasn’t for the Dark Crow. I would be up above the nine heavens to become the most brilliant of them all.” Even the calm Gu Zun scowled at this point.

Jiuzhou didn’t speak since he didn’t want to judge his own master on this matter. Right and wrong didn’t matter, he would stand with his master. In his mind, his master was like a father who gave him life and directions. Because of this, even against the legendary master and the rest of the world, he would still pick to stand by his master.

He wasn’t afraid of death, but he didn’t wish to see his master loses all of his fame before eventually dying!

***

After defeating Long Aotian, Li Qiye continued exploring the Grand Sea. He eventually remembered the full geographical momentum of the place, every single detail and branch.

In the end, under the great momentum, Li Qiye connected the entire area in order to borrow the strength of the earth. With the help of the girl in the yellow cloth, he took one step at a time inside this momentum.

“A bit interesting.” He said slowly: “No wonder I didn’t find it before. So all of you left behind these seals back in your epoch, but due to the vicissitudes and polishing of time, they have changed completely. Future descendants couldn’t see these little details.”

“Hmph, how can you imagine our epoch? We were the most resplendent…” She said smugly since she was very proud of her golden epoch.

“Alright, no need to flatter yourself.” Li Qiye interrupted her: “I know of your epoch, an amazing one indeed but the reason why the mysteries in this place can pass down has nothing to do with your epoch’s strength. It is because this place is blessed by the high heaven, your group only added a little to it.”

She wasn’t unhappy with this evaluation and snorted: “You didn’t live in our epoch so you wouldn’t know how incredible it was. Hmph, if you were there, you would be scared silly. Maybe you’ll just be an insignificant nobody there.”

“If your Archtruth Epoch was as powerful as you said, then it should have been lucky enough to survive till now instead of disappearing in the river of time.” Li Qiye had no interest and retorted with a smile: “Your epoch is no different from the others, including ours at the present. The only big difference is the cultivation method.”

“Hmph, what do you know? We were once at the top of all ages. Our experts in that period are beyond your imagination, same with our cultivation method…” The girl immediately boasted.

“Is that so? Then why did it disappear? Why is there nothing passed down including your amazing cultivation methods?” He leisurely said.

“You!” The girl became quite annoyed and angrily said: “You don’t know what this world truly faces at the very end of the path, you don’t know the terrible changes incoming in the future…”

Li Qiye chuckled: “No, you are mistaken. I am fully aware, even more so than you. Don’t forget, I am someone who has returned alive from that location. Because of this knowledge, I want to fight again to end in all in this generation.”

With that, he stared straight at her and asked: “I dare to go all the way again for another attempt at the final battle, but you, if you come back to life, do you dare to fight again? Or rather, if your entire epoch has another chance, do all of you dare to face it once more?”

The girl pondered quietly. In the beginning, she was only having a bit of fun with him. After all, after being trapped in the cloth for so long, a verbal bout could be very enjoyable. But now, he brought up a heavy topic.

1. Something of note is that Gu Zun never call the emperors by their full title, it shows a big disrespect  Even Li Qiye calls them by their full title 90% of the time, outside of people he knows like Min Ren or Tun Ri☜