Shen Gongbao.
A formidable figure in the Investiture of the Gods, reputed to be capable of tricking anyone to their death.
In the original great Investiture of the Gods tribulation, if he had not sent ten thousand Interception Sect immortals to their deaths, he had sent at least eight thousand!
Now that Shen Gongbao had left the Jade Void Palace, he brimmed with confidence, feeling that with a divine saber in hand, the world was his.
Wasn't it just a matter of screwing over the Interception Sect?
He knew that business inside out!
His tongue was slick beyond belief. With a single "Fellow Daoist, Please Stay," he had tricked countless Interception Sect immortals to their deaths.
Now, without the headache that was Jiang Ziya, he naturally felt refreshed and invigorated, not giving Jiang Ziya a second thought.
Shen Gongbao had first-rate social skills. He was a born diplomat.
Having left the Jade Void Palace, he first planned to visit his old friends in the Interception Sect, chat about life and discuss their aspirations. At the very least, he would lay the groundwork.
Once the great Investiture of the Gods tribulation began, he would be ready to screw people over at any moment.
But when he actually started working, he discovered that things did not seem quite so simple.
Shen Gongbao's first stop was Mount Emei Luofu Cave.
He considered Zhao Gongming a talented man. After all, Zhao Gongming was the foremost elite disciple of the Interception Sect's outer ranks, and the two of them got along well.
Most importantly, he was also the elder brother of the Three Maidens of Sanxiao of the Three Immortal Islands.
Shen Gongbao would first see whether he could win him over and sow some division. If his silver tongue could convince Zhao Gongming to join the Chan Sect outright, that would be perfect.
Even if that failed, he could at least put a thorn in Zhao Gongming's side and make him resent the Interception Sect. Getting him to defect would work too.
If nothing else worked, he would strengthen their friendship first, then trick him to his death when the time was right.
Three plans!
Shen Gongbao refused to believe he could not handle Zhao Gongming.
If he succeeded, he could deal with not only Zhao Gongming, but even lure his three younger sisters, the Three Maidens of Sanxiao, into his trap.
He imagined effortlessly taking out four elite outer disciples of the Interception Sect with his very first move.
Perhaps he could make his name in a single battle. If the sect master was pleased, he might even reward him with some magical treasures.
But even clear skies could suddenly turn stormy.
When he arrived at Mount Emei Luofu Cave, he searched for ages without finding Zhao Gongming.
Where was he?
Where had that whole grown man gone?
"This shouldn't be happening. Zhao Gongming is obsessed with cultivation. Unless something comes up, he practically never leaves his cave abode."
"He actually isn't home. Where could he have gone?"
"Could he have gone to see the Three Maidens of Sanxiao?"
"The Three Maidens of Sanxiao are the people Zhao Gongming cares about most. That must be it. Looks like I should head to the Three Immortal Islands first."
Although his campaign had stumbled out of the gate, Shen Gongbao did not mind.
He simply had not found the man. A whole grown man could hardly vanish, so he would find him eventually.
There was no hurry.
Truly, there was no hurry at all.
His expression remained perfectly calm as he mounted his White-Spotted Black-Striped Leopard and rode the clouds straight toward the Three Immortal Islands.
But after an arduous two-month journey, when he finally reached the Three Immortal Islands in the North Sea, his face stretched long, and his expression instantly darkened.
Because he still had not found anyone.
Not only was Zhao Gongming nowhere to be found, even the Three Maidens of Sanxiao were not home.
What was going on?
Were they deliberately making things difficult for him?
Not only had he failed to find Zhao Gongming, but even the Three Maidens of Sanxiao had mysteriously disappeared.
Something was very wrong here.
Shen Gongbao knew perfectly well that these old friends of his were practically all homebodies.
They would not budge if they could help it, and rarely left their cave abodes.
Even if they occasionally had matters to attend to outside, surely it could not be such a coincidence that none of them were home?
Shen Gongbao's mind began racing, but even after thinking for ages, he still could not figure it out.
In the end, he decided to set Zhao Gongming aside for now.
After all, he had plenty of friends. He could deal with Zhao Gongming later and go hoodwink his other friends first.
Next, he arrived at Golden Turtle Island.
Not Golden Ao Island, but Golden Turtle Island.
This was not Tongtian's territory, but that of the Ten Heavenly Lords.
The ten were Qin Wan, Zhao Jiang, Dong Quan, Yuan Jiao, Golden Light Holy Mother, Sun Liang, Bai Li, Yao Bin, Wang Bian, and Zhang Shao.
The Ten Heavenly Lords were also experts of the Interception Sect. The Ten Absolute Arrays they laid down together were among the sect's ten great formations.
After failing to find Zhao Gongming, Shen Gongbao immediately thought of them.
But he still found no one.
Not only were the Ten Heavenly Lords absent, even Han Zhi Xian and Immortal Caiyun, who also lived on Golden Turtle Island, were not home.
Seeing this, even if Shen Gongbao had been a fool, he would have known something was wrong.
Shen Gongbao dared not delay. Next, he went to Skull Mountain to look for Shi Ji Niangniang, and to Skull Cave to find the One Qi Immortal, Ma Yuan.
Just as before, he still could not find anyone.
Everything was deserted. They had all mysteriously vanished.
After that, he raced on without stopping, searching for friends in every place where he had connections.
But he nearly fell into despair.
Fire Dragon Island, Nine Dragon Island, and every other place he knew well...
There was no one anywhere!
Shen Gongbao spent roughly three to five years accomplishing nothing, wasting all that time on the road.
And it did not help in the slightest.
He had achieved nothing, and had made absolutely no progress on the task the sect master had assigned him.
In the end, left with no other choice, he could only go to Yin Shang.
This time, he was not disappointed. He finally found living members of the Interception Sect.
However, most of them did not know the details either.
After all, Tongtian had never intended to summon the disciples serving as officials in Yin Shang back to Golden Ao Island, so naturally, he had not notified them.
At last, in Chaoge, Shen Gongbao finally found his good friend.
Wen Zhong!
Finally, he learned the truth from Wen Zhong.
It turned out that Saint Tongtian had summoned all members of the Interception Sect who were abroad and not serving as officials in Yin Shang back to Golden Ao Island.
No wonder he could not find anyone.
"Senior Brother Wen Zhong, might I ask you to tell me why Martial Uncle Tongtian summoned everyone back to Golden Ao Island?"
"Well, I don't know either."
"Senior Brother Wen Zhong, are we still friends or not?"
"No!"
"Why? I'm truly heartbroken."
"The great Investiture of the Gods tribulation. Is that reason enough?"
"Even the great Investiture of the Gods tribulation shouldn't affect our friendship, should it?"
"Once the great Investiture of the Gods tribulation is over, we can still be friends."
Shen Gongbao was utterly at a loss.
Wen Zhong did not trust him at all now, leaving him deeply frustrated.
In fact, it made sense when he thought about it.
During the original great Investiture of the Gods tribulation, the Interception Sect immortals had fallen into Shen Gongbao's traps largely because Shen Gongbao himself had been acting with the Interception Sect's interests in mind.
Back then, during his struggle against Jiang Ziya, he had long since been expelled from the Chan Sect.
Otherwise, the members of the Interception Sect would not have been so foolish as to let Shen Gongbao lure them all to their doom.
But things were different now.
Shen Gongbao had not been expelled from the Chan Sect. He still represented it, so how could the members of the Interception Sect trust him?
After all, the great Investiture of the Gods tribulation was itself a contest between the Chan Sect and the Interception Sect.
It was a fight to the death between the two sides!
Besides, as the Grand Tutor of Great Shang, how could Wen Zhong be duped by a few words from Shen Gongbao?
Wasn't that wishful thinking?
Before you continue