Most of what An Kasyapa said was true. The touch of embellishment painted a terrifying picture.
The blue-haired man looked at An Kasyapa with a grim expression. “It’s strange, fellow daoist. Shouldn’t the elites of the ten sacred lands be together? If they’ve been distracted by you, who were the cultivators who defended Eternal? Where did they come from?”
An Kasyapa feigned surprise, “Hasn’t Master Lightford told you?”
“Tell us what?” Conflicted looks blossomed over the faces of both the blue-haired man and his companion. They really hadn’t heard much of anything, being where they were.
It was true that Lightford played favorites. Yuxian and Panyuan, the ones sent to Radiance, were his loyal supporters. Lightford thus had imparted more details about what’d happened in Eternal.
The two divine cultivators stationed at the Void Sacred Land weren’t as close to Lightford, at least, they weren’t confidantes. Therefore, Lightford was always slightly reserved with them. He only told them to defend the sacred land with their lives and wait for the army to come.
The differential treatment made An Kasyapa’s attempt to drive a wedge between them even more effective.
“You really don’t know.” An Kasyapa rubbed his nose. “Lightford and his two enforcers suffered a terrible defeat in Eternal. The sacred land have two divine sacred beasts on their side. An Kasyapa, the powerful divine master, was there as well. There was also a genius called Jiang Chen, who could rival a divine cultivator.”
The blue-haired man started. “Two divine sacred beasts? And An Kasyapa? What the...”
They couldn’t help but shudder. They knew how strong An Kasyapa was. The old man could take on two of them on his own.
In addition, a divine spirit creature, even one who had just ascended to divinity, could easily overpower a human cultivator at the same level.
Even by the most conservative estimation, the two divine sacred beasts could rival at least three divine human cultivators.
In total, their enemies possessed at least the power of five divine cultivators. If what their peer said about Jiang Chen was true, they’d essentially be facing six divine cultivators.
That didn’t bode well for them. It was no wonder that the cultivators and two enforcers sent to attack Eternal were killed, and even Lightford driven away.
If the divine cultivators, the enforcers, and Lightford had attacked at the same time, they wouldn’t have lost. However, they had gone at three different times. Of course they’d failed!
An Kasyapa continued to push, “Even we know all of the details. Were you truly in the dark?””
“We were.” The blue-haired man smiled wryly. They all served Lightford, but the differential treatment due to Lightford’s wariness of them was clear.
The blue-haired man was quite upset. His companion’s expression darkened as well, displeasure clear in his eyes.
“He shouldn’t have kept that from you,” An Kasyapa pressed. “If those people depart from Eternal to attack you while you aren’t prepared… it won’t end well for you.”
The blue-haired man looked at An Kasyapa cautiously and said in a low voice, “Fellow daoist, we don’t know about all this even when we have a transmitting formation here. How do you know so much when you’ve been leading the ten sacred lands on a merry chase?”
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An Kasyapa huffed. “Because we’re smarter than you are. I don’t want to leave my survival to Master Lightford. After all, we aren’t his most trusted confidantes. We simply took his side due to circumstance.”
He’d finally hit a nerve. A myriad of expression flashed through the blue-haired man’s face. In the end, he said faintly, “Alright, it doesn’t make a difference for us to know later than you do. It’s not too late yet!”
His companion was clearly still upset. “Don’t try to fool yourself, Brother Lan. Lightford trusts neither of us. We’re nothing but pawns in his eyes. Even if we’ve risk our lives fighting the ten sacred lands, even if he does end up conquering Myriad Abyss Island, the sacred lands will be under the control of his confidantes. We’ll get nothing.”
That was what bothered them the most.
All of their hard work would end up benefiting only other people. How could they not be upset? They had no doubt that they wouldn’t get any of the ten sacred lands. There were barely enough sacred lands for Lightford’s trusted men. It’d never be their turn.
Best case scenario was that they’d be rewarded with a second or third tier faction, giving them a place to settle down at.
In Myriad Abyss, however, the second and third tier factions were nothing compared to the ten sacred lands. There was a world of difference!
The blue-haired man responded coolly, “It’s too early to consider that. We can’t just abandon this post, can we? Or are you honestly suggesting that we betray Master Lightford?”
Despite his anger, the companion fell silent when reminded about the reality they were facing. Neither of them dared betray Lightford, at least not at the moment.
Meanwhile, An Kasyapa and Yu Gong had gone ahead of them, discreetly blocking the way back to the sacred land.
The blue-haired man was observant enough to notice. He came to a halt and levelled An Kasyapa with a piercing gaze. “It seems that you haven’t come just to join up with us.”
His companion stared at An Kasyapa and Yu Gong with a scowl as well.
An Kasyapa cackled. “Do you think I wanted to waste my time talking to you? You’re not returning to the Void Sacred Land, gentlemen.”
The blue-haired man raged, “What do you mean? Have you betrayed Master Lightford already? No wonder you’ve been trying to turn us!”
An Kasyapa laughed. “Betray? I never pledged my loyalty to him. How is this a betrayal?”
He spoke in his own voice now. With a flourish of his sleeve, he took down the disguise.
“You!” The blue-haired man gaped at Kasyapa. He’d recognize the divine master anyday.
“An Kasyapa!” his companion cried out in recognition.
An Kasyapa’s expression darkened. “That’s right. It’s me. However, what I told you is nothing but the truth. We’ve already attacked Radiance and Sunrise. Yuxian and Panyuan refused to listen to reason, and they paid the price with their lives. You two seem smarter. Although you’ve yielded to Lightford, you haven’t yet committed too many atrocities. There’s a chance for you to redeem yourselves.”