Within just a few days, the news that the Three Hegemon Races all wanted to form an alliance was discovered by the Shadow Kings and passed on to Yi Chen.
Yi Chen did not take it to heart at all and remained focused on his cultivation.
Naturally, he had no interest in forming an alliance with any hegemon race.
He had sought alliances with the three hegemon races partly to gather the materials needed for the sixth and seventh generations of Blessed Grotto Heavens and for his top combatants to raise their realms.
Secondly, he wanted to buy time.
By Yi Chen's estimate, once they learned that he refused to ally with them, the three races were very likely to join forces to suppress the Great Flame Empire.
The longer he dragged things out, the greater his and the Great Flame Empire's odds of victory would become, until they reached the point where even if the three races joined hands, they still could not suppress them.
And the way to buy time was very simple.
He would just let things take their course.
It would take time for the Three Hegemon Races to send people over with the ransom.
Negotiations would also take time.
Even reaching an alliance among the three races would take time as well.
That time would be enough for him and the Great Flame Empire's strength to rise another level.
After the second round of expansion, the Great Flame Empire successfully incorporated the territories of three more small races into its domain. While its sphere of influence increased considerably, Yi Chen's talent bonus also improved by quite a bit.
His cultivation speed had not slowed because his realm had risen. Instead, it had become slightly faster.
Half a month later, the higher-ups of the Federal Parliament