The Shaoyan Clan's Great Opportunity

Three days later, Ju Hua received notice to head to the central command tent. After a brief moment of contemplation, he set aside his current tasks, departed the Zhuanshui Clan's encampment, and made his way toward the center of the camp.

If his guess was correct, Jiuhua Immortal was likely summoning the lead generals of the major tribes to hold a war council.

The central command tent was located in the heart of the camp, guarded on all sides by fifty thousand Yinglong Army soldiers. Ju Hua walked past vast stretches of the Yinglong Army's tents and soon arrived inside the main command tent.

At this moment, only three people were present: Jiuhua Immortal, who sat in the primary seat, and an elderly man in red robes and a cold-faced young woman sitting to the side.

"Ah, it is Fellow Daoist Ju Hua. Please, take a seat!" Upon seeing Ju Hua, a smile appeared on Jiuhua Immortal's face as he gestured toward the table and chairs beside him.

"Then I shall not stand on ceremony!" Ju Hua cupped his hands in a salute, then strode forward and sat down.

After Ju Hua took his seat, the young woman nodded at him, and Ju Hua returned the gesture with a polite nod of his own.

As for the robed old man, he did not even glance at Ju Hua. Ju Hua, in turn, could not be bothered to acknowledge him; from start to finish, the two acted as if the other did not exist.

The black-robed woman bore the emblem of the Heishen Clan; she must be the lead general of the Heishen Clan!

The Heishen Clan possessed formidable strength and was one of the top clans in the Great Xia World. However, the relationship between the Zhuanshui Clan and the Heishen Clan was neither good nor bad. Throughout their long history, the two sides had both cooperated and waged war, making their relationship incredibly complex.

In fact, this was the standard state of affairs between the major tribes of the Great Xia World!

As for the non-standard states, those were either absolute friendship or absolute hatred. Absolute friendship was rare, to say the least, but as for absolute hatred, there was a prime example right before his eyes.

If Ju Hua was not mistaken, the red-robed old man hailed from the Shaoyan Clan, and the Shaoyan Clan and the Zhuanshui Clan shared a deep, burning enmity.

The source of their hatred was long lost to history, but in Ju Hua's memory, the two clans had been locked in a cycle of struggle and mutual attrition for countless years.

It was precisely for this reason that the red-robed old man acted as if Ju Hua were invisible!

Just as Ju Hua could identify the red-robed old man as a member of the Shaoyan Clan, the old man could naturally identify Ju Hua as a member of the Zhuanshui Clan. When attending a meeting involving various major clans, it was standard practice for people to carry items identifying their own lineage.

For instance, the clothing Ju Hua wore was embroidered with the symbol of the Zhuanshui.

Ju Hua sat and waited for a while, soon turning his gaze back to the red-robed old man of the Shaoyan Clan. However, he was not interested in the man himself; rather, the man's identity reminded him of certain things.

Other clans of the Great Xia World rarely appeared in Desolate Era, and some were never even mentioned, but the Shaoyan Clan had a high appearance rate—though it was always as a major antagonist.

The plot of Desolate Era was quite interesting, but that was not what Ju Hua was thinking about now; he was thinking of the Shaoyan Clan's ancestor.

Shaoyan Chou, known as the Poisonous Ugly Immortal, held a status that rivaled that of Celestial Gods and Loose Immortals, despite being only a Celestial Immortal!

Aside from a few monstrous geniuses, very few Celestial Immortals could achieve such a feat. However, the Poisonous Ugly Immortal managed it not because he was particularly monstrous, but simply because his luck was good enough!

Desolate Era mentioned that Shaoyan Chou was born into the ancient "Shenhuo Clan," but was the product of a union between a God-Devil and a human woman.

Because of his ugly and strange appearance, Shaoyan Chou was ostracized by his tribe, so he left the Shenhuo Clan and founded the Shaoyan Clan.

To Ju Hua, Shaoyan Chou's history was merely an interesting anecdote, but one treasure in Shaoyan Chou's possession made Ju Hua's heart stir.

The reason Ju Hua considered Shaoyan Chou lucky was that the man had once stumbled upon a heaven-defying treasure. It was precisely by relying on this treasure that he was able to achieve a reputation rivaling that of Celestial Gods and Loose Immortals while still a Celestial Immortal!

According to the contents of Desolate Era, this treasure was called the "Nine Directions Chaos Stele"!

The "Nine Directions Chaos Stele" came from the Nine Directions Chaos Kingdom beyond the Three Realms. It was a prison used by a World God to extract chaotic spiritual liquid and incarcerate criminals. At the same time, the "Nine Directions Chaos Stele" recorded seven great techniques, each of which was inconceivable!

Matters regarding World Gods were far too distant for Ju Hua. Based solely on the content of Desolate Era, Ju Hua could not verify the truth, but he knew that if the "Nine Directions Chaos Stele" truly existed, it would undoubtedly be one of the greatest opportunities in the Three Realms today.

Shaoyan Chou's ability to build such a massive reputation as a Celestial Immortal was inseparable from two powerful techniques on the "Nine Directions Chaos Stele": the Taowu Eighteen Avatars and the Nine Dissolutions of Insect Beasts.

Setting aside the techniques, the truly precious aspect of the "Nine Directions Chaos Stele" was the chaotic spiritual liquid contained within it, and the fact that the criminals imprisoned inside included beings like Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals.

In the Three Realms, Ancestral Gods and Ancestral Immortals were true powerhouses comparable to the Three Sovereigns of humanity or the leaders of the Daoist and Buddhist sects.

For the current Ju Hua, Celestial Gods and Loose Immortals were figures he could only look up to, let alone beings of the level of Buddhist and Daoist leaders!

The criminals imprisoned within the "Nine Directions Chaos Stele" had all held extraordinary status and power within the Nine Directions Chaos Kingdom, and they possessed many inconceivable treasures and secret arts.

The protagonist of Desolate Era, Ji Ning, defeated a Celestial Immortal inside the "Nine Directions Chaos Stele" and obtained three hundred and sixty top-grade Pure Yang immortal swords from him, later acquiring the Heaven-Peering Taihao Pagoda, a chaotic wonder capable of accelerating time.

The secret arts were even more incredible: the "Nine-Horned Thunder Snake Evasion Technique," which rivaled the legendary divine ability "Solar Golden Rainbow" in speed, and the "Ice-Fire Golden Core Tempering Technique," which could elevate the grade of a Golden Core.

The various benefits were simply too numerous to list.

If everything is true, then this is an inconceivable, massive opportunity! Ju Hua said to himself silently, then settled in to wait for the lead generals of the other clans to arrive.

It was not that Ju Hua did not want this opportunity, but that he had absolutely no chance of obtaining it!

Moreover, even if the Poisonous Ugly Immortal were to voluntarily gift the "Nine Directions Chaos Stele" to Ju Hua, Ju Hua currently had no way to access the treasures within.

Neither Celestial Gods nor Celestial Immortals could refine the "Nine Directions Chaos Stele"; one had to be at least a Loose Immortal to truly refine it!

In the Three Realms, while the combat power of Celestial Gods and Loose Immortals was entirely comparable, the divine power of a Celestial God was ultimately inferior to the Pure Yang immortal energy of a Loose Immortal!

The Poisonous Ugly Immortal had possessed the Nine Directions Chaos Stele for countless years and had only mastered the two techniques of Taowu Eighteen Gods and Demons and Nine Dissolutions of Insect Beasts; he was still a hundred and eight thousand miles away from refining it, let alone Ju Hua!