The young man stared at the poem on the page. He froze, then his expression turned grave. But after a few breaths, he drew a deep breath and burst out laughing!
"I underestimated the Chen after all!"
The laughter faded, but not a trace of a smile remained on his face.
"No matter how carefully I laid my plans or targeted Chen Cuo, he only rose to fame halfway through. Compared with the white python, Wuzhiqi, or the Lu Clan, his roots were shallow. I looked down on him for that, at least a little. And now I've finally paid the price!"
As the thought crossed his mind, he grabbed the cover of the thick book and moved to close it!
But the book trembled. The words inside leaped without cease, and the black lines forming them began to quiver as though they had minds of their own.
At once, the roar of a river rose from within. A surging force erupted and stopped the pages from closing!
"Oh? Even I get treated like this!"
The young man wore a smile that was not quite a smile. As his gaze touched the Seal Script, the black lines forming its characters twisted slightly, as though trying to evade his sight!
The next moment, the lines became docile again. Yet when he tried to break them apart and erase the poem, a sharp pain stabbed through his head.
A flicker of anger crossed his eyes.
"It's already been imprinted in the River of Time. My Dao Mark has been tainted, and there's no room left for compromise between Chen Cuo and me. I'll have to make him fall from his path."
As he spoke, the young man sighed, then smiled. "Still, to have an opponent like him is a blessing in this