Three Origins Island.
The Jiang Family's ancestral grounds.
Countless pavilions and towers stretched across the island, clustered around a lake.
At the bottom of the lake lay something enormous, radiating a terrifying demonic aura comparable to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.
Inside the council hall.
Jiang Ziyan, alluring in every glance and movement, sighed as she looked at those attending the clan meeting.
"Ancestor, must we really side with the Sea-Extinguishing Alliance? The Azure Sea Sect has two Core Formation cultivators now. They clearly have the advantage—"
The Jiang Family patriarch was a middle-aged scholar. He urged earnestly, "Our family scraped together everything we had, and only with great difficulty did we advance the Turtle Ancestor to Second-Order High Grade. We can barely maintain our independence. With war upon us, we should be keeping our heads down."
The Jiang Family's Foundation Establishment cultivator, Jiang Zidu, had been a prodigy in his youth but knew little of worldly affairs. He had reached Foundation Establishment at forty, yet his obligations to the Lineage had kept him at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage ever since.
But his attitude was firm now. "I've made up my mind. Precisely because the Sea-Extinguishing Alliance is weaker, they're willing to offer greater benefits and agree to more conditions. Not only have they paid us a Foundation Establishment Pill in advance, they've also promised the Turtle Ancestor an Earth Baleful Crystal. That's a Core Formation spiritual treasure!"
Jiang Zidu did not mention that the Sea-Extinguishing Alliance had also promised him a pill to help him break through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
"A Core Formation spiritual treasure?"
At those words, Jiang Ziyan and the other Lineage elders could not help breathing harder.
"The Earth Baleful Crystal seems to be suitable only for members of the Demon Race