Time rolled back several months, to the day of the Sacred Capital Upheaval.
After intimidating Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan into submission, Li Chen did not attack them. Instead, he made a declaration from on high, revealing his identity.
He was not afraid of them exposing his secrets. The two had already become Second Sages and would never again place their futures and destinies in the hands of the Three Sages.
Added to that were the grievances between the Four Great Academies and the East Zou Lands, the disputes among the various Confucian Dao sects, and the interests of their disciples. Opposition had become inevitable.
They would remain here and carry out his strategy of opposing East Zou in his stead.
As such, it was essential to let them know part of the truth, lest they misjudge the situation.
Once matters here were settled, Li Chen returned to the Bone Kun Warship.
His figure passed through layer upon layer of void, arriving in a single leap at the Minor Grotto-Heaven that housed the Azure Billow Immortal Abode. Countless voices rang out from every direction.
"Welcome back, Master!"
Those were the voices of the seven virtual personalities within Heavenly Pivot, echoing endlessly like range upon range of overlapping mountains.
Over the years, she had deployed sensing terminals such as void satellites throughout every corner of the Azure Billow Immortal Abode's Minor Grotto-Heaven, using the mechanical Dao to achieve, by another means, the function of merging with a local minor heavenly dao.
"Heavenly Pivot, you've grown." Li Chen sighed softly, recalling how he had deliberately left her during these years to develop on her own.
During that time, he had transferred supplies only a few times, after subjugating the Rebel Kings and obtaining the four sacred spirits origin and cultivation provisions from