"A hundred days have passed. Has Venerable Fang still not emerged?"
On the Heavencrystal Snowfield, at Great Snow Mountain, Grand Elder Tian Heng came before Central Preservation Palace to inspect it personally, accompanied by Deng Xiong and the senior figures of the Azure Cloud Sect.
He gazed for a long while at the solid ice covering the entire palace before finally asking in a subdued voice.
Yu Shixian said, "Grand Elder, Venerable Fang left instructions beforehand. Should anything go awry, the Heavenly Realms Alliance and the Righteous Path will have to rely on you. Please bear with us."
Grand Elder Tian Heng said, "I am truly overwhelmed that Venerable Fang holds me in such esteem. But I am already an old man, and I fear I may fail this weighty trust."
Deng Xiong said, "There is no need to be modest, fellow cultivator. Before Venerable Fang rose to prominence, you were already one of the strongest in the world, single-handedly keeping its many great figures in check for years. Now that you have taken the Immortality Elixir and have ample years of life remaining, how could you not shoulder this responsibility?"
Although Fang Qianyuan had decided to let Tian Heng oversee the situation rather than Deng Xiong, who belonged to his own sect, Deng Xiong had no objections whatsoever. He knew he was mediocre and could not compare to Tian Heng.
However, Deng Xiong also understood that Tian Heng's reluctance was not modesty.
Tian Heng likely also felt keenly that dragons and serpents were dancing wildly throughout the world, with powerful figures carving out their own territories. With his abilities, he could at most preserve the overall balance of the past, rather than sweep all before him as Fang Qianyuan had and establish such an enormous alliance.
That was not