Hearing Ancestor Yan Tian's grave words, the 170 Dao Sages of the Western Wastes gradually quieted down, their expressions growing stranger by the moment.
They had all caught on.
Ancestor Yan Tian had not summoned them to wage war on Bright Moon Spirit Tide Valley after all.
If they were not going to war, why summon so many of them?
And why do it through such an extreme ultimatum, declaring anyone who failed to come an enemy?
"Hostages..."
The quicker ones immediately grasped the crux of it.
Bright Moon Spirit Tide Valley was holding thirty-nine Dao Sages hostage, yet Ancestor Yan Tian and the others had returned safely. That was far too strange.
If Bright Moon Spirit Tide Valley was the inescapable net and dragon's den Ancestor Yan Tian had described, why would it detain thirty-nine Dao Sages yet let his group return so easily?
What a load of crap.
There was only one explanation.
Bright Moon Spirit Tide Valley had released Ancestor Yan Tian and the others for one purpose: to bring back a ransom!
Only that made the whole affair add up.
At the thought, some of the Western Wastes Dao Sages below began to look grim.
None of them were fools.
If Bright Moon Spirit Tide Valley had sent Ancestor Yan Tian back to fetch a ransom, why had he summoned them so forcefully instead of simply gathering it himself? Obviously, he wanted them to share the cost!
The hell? Why should they?
Because the Setting Sun Divine Palace thought it could get away with anything?
The Setting Sun Divine Palace had caused this mess. It was the Setting Sun Divine Palace that had issued the Setting Sun Summons by force, getting even more Dao Sages detained in the Southern Border.
Now that trouble had struck, shouldn't