By the time Fang Qianyuan returned to the residence where he was staying, Bai Aoxue was already waiting inside. Seeing Fang Qianyuan and the others return, she came out to greet them and asked, "How did it go? Did everything proceed smoothly?"
Fang Qianyuan said, "The discussions finally yielded a result. The goal of nine records united has been achieved."
Bai Aoxue said, "That is wonderful."
But when Fang Qianyuan told her what had happened afterward, she could not help knitting her brows and saying regretfully, "Why did it turn out that way? Can no one in this world truly see past self-interest?"
"Of course not. Forget them-even I cannot see through it," Fang Qianyuan said calmly. "Everyone knows that if we all devoted ourselves to the common good and cooperated wholeheartedly, we would soon unravel every secret hidden within it, perhaps even find the path to immortality and imperishability. But nothing in this world has ever been that easy."
"No wonder this is an age of declining dharma. Ordinary mediocrities scramble like flies and skulk like dogs for scraps of gain, while elite experts and mighty powerhouses are just as unable to escape that vicious circle," Bai Aoxue lamented.
"Let us leave that aside for now. How are those two?" Fang Qianyuan asked.
Bai Aoxue said, "They know their own situation well enough. They realize they cannot escape, so they have been quite well behaved."
"Is that so?" Fang Qianyuan said. "I will go and see."
When Fang Qianyuan came to attend the Cloud Summit Gathering, he had brought his captives, Venerable Azure and Venerable White, with him. He intended to bring them into his service and learn more of the Supreme Heaven Sect's secrets, as well as the hidden treasuries buried earlier, so he could not simply treat