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There was a proverb that said “it’s hard to act impartially after accepting a favor.”

This applied to the great emperors, too.

At the end of the day, their grudge against Venerate Spirit Treasure was because he’d stolen their divine artifacts.

Now, he’d returned all of them. Of course, the artifacts had belonged to them to begin with, but still, Venerate Spirit Treasure had returned them himself.

This reduced the intensity of their grudge significantly. If they kicked up too much of a fuss now, it wouldn’t look good.

Besides, they’d even received new divine artifacts as compensation!

Especially the Ocean Emperor!

He now possessed the complete Ocean God artifact set, as well as a water element pearl that could boost the set’s comprehensive power by one hundred and twenty percent.

Just what kind of a concept was a one hundred and twenty percent increase in strength?

Within range of the ocean, even the likes of Zhou Wu would be nothing but a small fry.

The one in the most awkward spot was now Bi’an. Venerate Spirit Treasure had robbed him far too many times in the past, and his anger had left him muddle-headed. Now, all of his divine artifacts had been returned to him, and he’d even received a few extras as an apology. It had all happened so suddenly that he didn’t quite know what to do with himself.

Also, he’d spoken so viciously early; there was practically no room to back down now.

“Weren’t you planning to leave the group? Go on then, be quick about it. Just looking at you makes my head hurt.” Venerate Spirit Treasure rolled his eyes. The amount he’d returned to the other great emperors was actually rather trivial, but Bi’an...

He’d returned dozens of artifacts, plus around a dozen or so apology gifts.

Those were all his prized possessions! Just looking at Bi’an pissed him off.

“Venerate Spirit Treasure!” Ye Zichen frowned at him. Great Emperor Bi’an had accepted the divine artifacts; that was equivalent to a nonverbal agreement to let Venerate Spirit Treasure join them. So why was the toad still arguing just for the sake of arguing?

If Bi’an really left in a fit of rage, it would be a major loss.

Venerate Spirit Treasure fearfully rubbed his nose. Ye Zichen then turned to Bi’an and said, “Great Emperor, your grudge with Venerate Spirit Treasure originated due to these divine artifacts. Since they’ve all been returned, there should be no more grudges between you. Let’s start off with a blank slate, okay? We’re all denizens of the God Realm, and Zhou Wu is just champing at the bit to deal with us, while the yao and demons eye our borders hungrily. Our alliance has to remain united if we hope to contend with our enemies. Besides, with Venerate Spirit Treasure’s lofty cultivation, he’ll be an enormous help. I trust in your magnanimity. You surely won’t let something like this get between us, right?”

Ye Zichen laughed as he spoke. His words were a show of respect.

It was just as Ye Zichen said: Bi’an’s grudge with Venerate Spirit Treasure was entirely due to the stolen artifacts. But it wasn’t quite that simple; what infuriated him the most was the several hundred year period in which Venerate Spirit Treasure dwelled within the Four Directions Palace. Whenever Bi’an obtained a new treasure, the greedy yao was sure to devour it.

It was only natural that his resentment would deepen over time.

Still, with all his treasures back in his hands, he felt no hatred to speak of. Ye Zichen was giving him an out, so Bi’an didn’t put on airs. He went with the flow, nodded, and said nothing, but this was enough to indicate his tacit support.

“Everyone’s happy! Ha ha ha…!” It was then that the Hermit Emperor walked inside and stood between Venerate Spirit Treasure and Bi’an.

He then glanced meaningfully at the Ocean Emperor, who immediately realized what this venerable senior was trying to say. “Everyone, it’s rare that we’re all together like this. Today, we’ve resolved our enmity with Venerate Spirit Treasure and welcomed a new member to our alliance , increasing our collective might. Let’s seize the opportunity to celebrate! How about you stay here for a few days and drink to your heart's content?”

“Alcohol? I love the stuff!” laughed Venerate Spirit Treasure.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

All of the great emperors had matters to attend to, especially in a tumultuous time like this. They couldn’t afford to leave their factions unattended for long.

In the end, Venerate Spirit Treasure joined their ranks without encountering any significant obstacles. Ye Zichen even added him to the war prep group chat.

From time to time, he was seen joking around with the great emperors. There was no trace of their earlier “I’ll kill you or die trying” energy.

Ye Zichen, Yang Jian, Pu Jingwan, and Venerate Spirit Treasure now stood on the first floor of the dungeons, near the doorway to the second.

They’d just come upstairs. Although there was a restriction between the first and second floors, they could still sense that terrifying spiritual pressure emanating from the third floor.

“It seems he’s still feeling rather temperamental.” Ye Zichen sighed. This was their fifth visit in the past two weeks.

It didn’t matter whether they went at dawn, in the morning, at noon, or in the middle of the night. The former Demon Emperor’s mood was always unstable, and he lost his temper without rhyme or reason. His aura and the resulting shock had even aged many denizens of the second floor prematurely.

Ye Zichen still had yet to make contact with the former Demon Emperor, and he was starting to get frantic.

The message the Outsider Master of the Stars had left him included a line about the former Demon Emperor, as well as a line about when the Third Era was due to reach its end.

He absolutely had to make contact with the former Demon Emperor before that happened.

Time was running out! Ye Zichen knit his brows.

“How about I just take you down there anyway? That guy might be strong, but he can’t touch me.”

“That won’t work.” Ye Zichen shook his head.

They had to wait for the former Demon Emperor to calm down before making contact. He didn’t just want to go down there to verify the man’s identity; he wanted to talk to him and reach an agreement.

That wouldn’t work unless he were calm and clear headed.

Otherwise, even if they went, they wouldn’t make any meaningful progress.

“Forget it, then. I’m happy to take it easy.” Venerate Spirit Treasure shrugged. “To tell you the truth, even my legs quiver at the thought of really fighting that guy. If you don’t want to go down there now, I certainly won’t force you. But from the look of things, we won’t be going down there today. Let’s head out, then.”

Ye Zichen nodded and turned to leave the dungeons. As soon as they stepped outside, they saw the Great Sage, who’d been missing half a month now, standing out there with his staff and waiting for their return.

“...” Yang Jian and the others were speechless, while Venerate Spirit Treasure evaluated him curiously.

“So, you’re out!” The Great Sage walked over and examined Venerate Spirit Treasure. “Is this the old Demon Emperor?”

“Monkey, what are you saying?” Yang Jian rolled his eyes. “This is the second floor’s Venerate Spirit Treasure. What ‘Demon Emperor!?’ Anyway…. Where the hell have you been? What are you doing, acting like a dutiful guard? You’ve been gone for two weeks! If anything really had happened down there, we’d be dead, and you wouldn’t even know it!”

“You all know about that?” The Great Sage smiled sheepishly and scratched his head.

“I…. What, did you think we’d spend a whole two weeks in there?” Yang Jian didn’t even know what to say.

Ye Zichen patted him on the shoulder, indicating that there was no need to say anymore. Then, he turned to the Great Sage. “Where’d you run off to? We sent you all those messages but you never responded.”

“You sent me messages?” The Great Sage froze, then took out his phone and looked at the chat software.

Yang Jian, Ye Zichen, and Pu Jingwan had all sent him quite a few messages. The Great Sage laughed sheepishly and scratched his head. “I didn’t notice!”

“I’m just glad you’re alright, but the past half month….”

“Heh, I went back to the Heavenly Court!”