After more than a hundred thousand years apart, Chi Xue and the others were filled with emotion at seeing Ling Tian again. That was especially true after they learned from the twenty-second-level cultivators they had captured that Ling Tian had reached the peak of the twenty-first level and was showing faint signs of breaking through to the twenty-second. They knew that at his current level, Ling Tian was strong enough to threaten them. At the very least, it was nearly impossible for them to threaten him.
The one chance they'd had to make Ling Tian stumble had turned to smoke. No wonder Chi Xue and the others felt so frustrated.
But they soon recalled their earlier conclusion: joining forces with Ling Tian would bring them considerable gains. That thought put them at ease, and before long, they were even looking forward to it—especially when Ling Tian bluntly said he had something important to do. In Chi Xue and the others' minds, what Ling Tian needed to do was surely join forces to deal with the Outer Realm Cultivators.
And just as they had expected, Ling Tian openly proposed discussing an alliance. Once Shi Meng and the others confirmed why he had come and considered what they might gain, they grew even more excited.
"An alliance?" Chi Xue feigned surprise, then said, "If I'm not mistaken, Fellow Daoist Ling Tian received the same task from the Lord of the Universe that we did: to find various Saint-grade Heavenly Treasures. We could tell that from the fact that you began searching for them as soon as you left the God Realm. Since our task is the same, we're competitors. How can we join forces under those circumstances?"
"We're both clever people. Let's skip the roundabout talk," Ling Tian said. Then his tone