Parting of the Ways

He Ming stroked his beard and laughed. "Heavenly Being and I may not necessarily be in the same camp. If we truly were, any impropriety during the battle would not have escaped Senior Sister's notice."

Xi Yue's face was as dark as still water. Exactly so—He Ming and Heavenly Being had truly fought tooth and nail. There was no way that could have been concealed from an Unshackled Realm cultivator. Precisely because of that, she had lowered her guard against He Ming more and more. But what was going on?

"Though we are not in the same camp, we can make a deal." He Ming smiled. "Tianhong Zi fled wounded. The remaining two know perfectly well how difficult it would be to seize this Gate back from us. If I propose a deal now, they will listen."

Xi Yue's thoughts raced, and clarity swiftly dawned on her. "You would help them pluck Bei Yuan and the others' peaches. In exchange, they would stop tangling with you, and the Gate would belong to you."

"Exactly."

"You obtained the Gate, and you do not intend to hand it over?"

"Correct." He Ming sighed. "If I possessed a Gate myself, I could become a supreme sovereign of my generation. Replicating He Dao's path would be nothing unusual. Why should I listen to anyone else?"

When referring to He Dao Zhenren, master of the Celestial Pivot Divine Palace, he no longer showed even a shred of courtesy, directly calling him by name.

It seemed that toward what He Dao had achieved, he felt both envy and jealousy. There had never been any respect.

It was understandable, really... An Unshackled Realm powerhouse would be a hegemon anywhere, yet in the Celestial Pivot Divine Palace, he ranked third, like some little lackey... He had probably long