After seeing Ling Feng off, Chen Ming stood at the harbor, watching the silvery-white Spirit Boat disappear where sea met sky. He remained motionless for a long time.
The sea breeze swept over his robes, making them snap and flutter. His gaze was deep and calm, but countless thoughts churned within him. The olive branch the Star Palace had extended carried far too much weight. So much that he had to weigh it over and over, turning it through his mind.
Guest elder.
The title sounded glorious, but the interests and risks behind it were far beyond what most people could imagine. As the overlord of the Chaotic Star Sea, the Star Palace had ruled these waters for more than ten thousand years. Across those millennia, countless powers had risen and fallen, countless geniuses had emerged and perished, yet the Star Palace alone had remained standing, sitting unshaken like an angler on his platform. When a behemoth like that extended a hand to pull you up, it could certainly send you soaring into the clouds. But that same hand could withdraw at any moment-or turn around and press you into the mire.
Chen Ming had never believed that pies would simply fall from the sky. The Star Palace had to have its reasons for showing him goodwill. Perhaps it genuinely wanted to support him as a counterweight to Tianxing City, or perhaps it had some other aim-something he possessed, such as the Heaven and Earth Universe Art, the secrets of that ancient cultivator's cave abode, or even his own body, which had only just broken through to the nascent soul stage.
He was not someone who easily let profit go to his head. After struggling through the cultivation world for so many years, he had seen far too many people