Venerable Yufeng

"Wenhuang and Hongku have gotten too close!"

"Does Hongku have some kind of hold over Wenhuang?"

Inside a palace in the Sacred Land, Venerable Black Mountain and Venerable White Bone sat facing each other, placing their pieces at an unhurried pace.

When they spotted Venerable Wenhuang's swaying figure descending the mountain through the surveillance lantern, they paused their game.

Their former ally had gone straight over to Hongku's side, and many of the venerables found it hard to believe.

After all, because of the limitations of her own incantation arts, Venerable Wenhuang had previously been extremely wary of Hongku and had often charged straight into the fray against him.

Yet after Hongku became a venerable, Venerable Wenhuang spent every day at his side. The other venerables couldn't make sense of it.

Some even wondered whether the two had taken a fancy to each other and wanted a late-life romance.

The idea was absurd, but it was quite possible.

The current venerables had unquestionably split into three camps.

One was the group led by Hongku, whom Venerable Wenhuang had joined.

Another consisted of venerables like Venerable Lei, who only sought neutrality.

The last was the original group of venerables from the Yedie River Holy Land.

Their positions had remained unchanged for decades, and the venerables had formed a bloc of shared interests. While guarding against potential challengers, they also used their status in the Sacred Land to extort benefits.

Venerable Black Mountain and Venerable White Bone could sit in the palace playing chess at their leisure without lacking anything they needed, all thanks to offerings from the Xiong State royal family and the major tribes.

They only had to let word of what they needed get out, and plenty of people would take care of it for them.

Normally, once Hongku