Chapter 368

Being able to leave such traces is rare even among the myriad heavens and worlds.

After a brief silence, he suddenly burst out laughing.

The laughter started low, then grew louder, shaking the shattered palace's glazed tiles below until they shattered one after another.

"Interesting. Too interesting."

The black-robed man raised his pale hand and pointed at Gu Yuan.

"You reek of that waste Tian Qi's bloody smell; I heard recently his Forty-Eight Pavilion was trampled through by a single kick, and that waste Tian Qi's lower half was ground into minced meat—was that done by your family's elder?"

Gu Yuan stood where he was, without responding.

Tian Qi, Forty-Eight Pavilion.

These two words quickly flashed through his mind.

Back in the Tian Shu Source Realm, Grandfather Gu Cangsheng indeed followed the causal line across worlds and beat the Immortal King called Tian Qi half to death.

In that case, they must be colleagues.

However, from what Gu Yuan heard, he felt the other's relationship with Tian Qi… seemed not very friendly.

Perhaps… this is an opportunity that could be used.

"Don't be nervous."

Seeing Gu Yuan not answer, the black-robed man instead withdrew that heaven-shaking, earth-destroying pressure.

"I am You Quan; you can call me Pavilion Master You. I have no interest in avenging Tian Qi; on the contrary, I want to thank your family's elder—if he hadn't beaten Tian Qi into that sorry state, the resource share of the Forty-Eight Pavilion wouldn't have fallen to me to take over a part of it."

He looked down on Gu Yuan, his tone now carrying a condescending air of charity.

"Young man, although you are a descendant of the Jue Dian Immortal King, I know the world behind you is merely a small world, right?"

"Oh? How so?"

"For Gu Yuan, or more precisely for the Jue Dian Immortal King behind him, You Quan patiently explained: 'A world only qualifies as a true great world, a celestial domain, when it has given birth to immortals and already surpassed them—existences known as Immortal Kings.'"

"Although your Jue Dian is strong, I know he carries little Immortal King–level karma, which shows the number of Immortal Kings he has come into contact with does not exceed ten."

"You are a smart person, able to see through the essence of this Dragon Qi Returning to Origin Technique; such vision, placed in your lowly native world, would be considered astonishing."

"Are you interested in changing your way of life?"

You Quan threw out an olive branch:

"Join the Now Faction: Zang Tian Ge, and I will personally recommend you to take over that waste Tian Qi's position as Forty-Eight Pavilion Master—a fat post that controls the life and death of thousands of lower worlds; just nod, and I will settle the mess caused by your elder behind you—how about it?"

Recruitment?

"Forty-Eight Pavilion Master?" Gu Yuan said in a lax tone, with just the right amount of skepticism, "It sounds impressive, but since Tian Qi could be kicked into uselessness by my family's old man, the supposed Pavilion Master's value doesn't seem high either."

You Quan let out a cold snort, and the mist roiled.

"Tian Qi? What is he? If it weren't for his early dumb luck finding a broken fragment of the World Tree Roots for the Grand Pavilion Elder, with his meager cultivation he wouldn't even deserve to sit as a Pavilion Master."

You Quan's tone revealed undisguised contempt: "The foundation of the Now Faction: Zang Tian Ge far exceeds your imagination; the Lord's might is such that even the supreme heavenly dao of the myriad heavens must retreat threefold, and Tian Qi is merely a watchdog—when he dies, another dog can take his place at any time."

Gu Yuan sneered inwardly: "If Tian Qi can be dismissed like a watchdog at whim, then even if I and my grandfather truly joined, our eventual fate would likely not be good."

Most importantly…

Neither he nor his grandfather likes the Now Faction: Zang Tian Ge's methods!

Still, it's rare to meet a villain willing to speak up and reveal important info, so Gu Yuan, following the principle of asking more, tried to gather as much information as possible.

"If the Lord is so powerful, why bother with these covert extermination plans in the lower realms? Wouldn't it be simpler to just send an army to swallow these worlds whole?"

"Ignorance."

You Quan found Gu Yuan's short-sightedness laughable: "The operation of the myriad heavens and worlds has its inherent underlying logic; forcibly destroying a world only invites backlash from the great dao, whereas what we do is guidance."

Gu Yuan ignored the attitude in his words and drawled: "Like the Great Yin Divine Dynasty? You drop a technique, leave a seed, and they will themselves, for that illusory chance at sainthood, drain the world's origin, walk the wrong path, and ultimately bring about their own ruin."

You Quan gave Gu Yuan a deep look.

No answer.

But his gaze gave Gu Yuan an answer that was probably nine-tenths correct.

But the problem arose.

They… are afraid of what?

For a world without Immortal King power, why not just strike directly? Why all this roundabout maneuvering?

"Then, besides the Lord, does anyone else exist among you Pavilion Masters?"

You Quan furrowed his brows and still answered: "There are also five Grand Pavilion Elders who oversee us."

"The Grand Pavilion Elder sits in the main pavilion, overseeing the whole; we Pavilion Masters are like shepherds, and you lower-world beings are merely sheep kept in a pen—once you join us, you can go from sheep to whip-wielder."

Gu Yuan listened quietly, quickly piecing together the structure of the Now Faction: Zang Tian Ge in his mind.

Lord, Grand Pavilion Elder, Pavilion Master.

Using contamination of the cultivation system as a means, harvesting world origins as the goal.

Tian Qi's position is unstable, with internal factions proliferating and undermining each other.

And just as Gu Yuan was about to continue asking.

You Quan seemed to sense something as well, his extermination-source power surging: "Alright, you've asked me so many questions; now it's my turn to ask you… how about your consideration, join… or die."

"The benefits do sound tempting."

Hearing that, Gu Yuan felt a bit regretful inside, secretly shaking his head, yet on the surface he nodded, his tone drawn out.

You Quan thought Gu Yuan was moved, and his extermination-source power eased a bit.

"But…"

Gu Yuan lifted his eyes, his gaze clear and unafraid.

"I have a quirk: having grown used to being a young master, I don't much like being anyone's dog—especially not a dog for a bunch of turtles that dare not show their true faces."