Novel Full Chapter 2026: 1972–1973:
Chapter 2026: Chapter 1972–1973:
“The bustling world is all for profit, and the turbulent world is all for profit! No matter who we support, once they have matured, they will inevitably oppose us.” These were the words spoken by Lord Divine Skill Miaoji and various Taoist Monarchs from the Taoist School, and they received universal acknowledgment.
Even by choosing to support the ascension of the Five Old Lords, these Taoist Monarchs were not naive enough to believe that the other party would be entirely under their command, and there wouldn’t be any conflicts between the two sides.
This is an impossible matter.
Just like in the past, the Six Imperials were supported by many veteran Daoist Monarchs. Initially, they were deeply grateful to those Daoist Monarchs who supported them. But once they matured, conflicts of interest inevitably arose between the two sides, leading eventually to a split.
Precisely because of this, within the Taoist School, several veteran Daoist Monarchs, led by Pei Xuanjing, held a noncommittal attitude toward supporting the Five Old Lords.
They allowed it, did not oppose it, but expecting them to fully support it without a strong chance of victory was entirely impossible.
For Lord Divine Skill Miaoji and several others, their current goal was to leverage their support for the Five Old Lords ascending to the Emperor of Heaven’s throne to gain substantial returns, much like their support of the Support Dragon Court in the past. Even though they knew in the future there might be a falling out, as long as there were sufficient returns, that was enough.
However, people like Pei Xuanjing had already gained enough from the last establishment of the Heavenly Court, so even if the support of the Five Old Lords succeeded, they couldn’t gain more, at most just maintaining the status quo.
However, even if they didn’t move, their due share wouldn’t be lost. The so-called disproportionate effort and reward made them unconcerned, allowing them to sit calmly by, while the actual operations were carried out by Lord Divine Skill Miaoji and his group.
The act of the Five Old Lords arbitrarily eliminating the former Wood Virtue Star Lord had already shown signs of their uncontrollability, further validating Pei Xuanjing and his people’s views.
Lord Divine Skill Miaoji was also very dissatisfied with this matter. Over the years, there had been some resource inclination to support the Five Old Lords, causing some discontent within the Taoist School. It was only through their prestige that they were able to suppress it.
This incident allowed many dissatisfied True Monarchs within the Taoist School to seize the opportunity, stirring up considerable chaos internally, but it was only due to the suppression by people like Pei Xuanjing that it wasn’t widely publicized.
Nevertheless, the internal situation of the Taoist School was somewhat dire, with many True Monarchs dissatisfied with the Five Old Lords forming cliques to ostracize, and even with the Taoist Monarchs’ support, they would only follow orders, not execute them.
Lord Divine Skill Miaoji was displeased with such a situation, yet he was powerless. The Five Old Lords were their chosen candidates, but the other True Monarchs of the Taoist School were their foundation, and it was impossible to completely discard them and support the Five Old Lords’ reckless actions without limits.
If they truly did that, disregarding how veteran Daoist Monarchs like Pei Xuanjing viewed it, the other True Monarchs of the Taoist School would surely be enraged, causing more chaos in the situation.
Therefore, to quell dissatisfaction, these Taoist Monarchs could only sacrifice considerable interests to clean up the situation for the Five Old Lords and calm the discontent.
This is also why they supported the Three Immortal Sects in taking action against the Buddhism School, as the three Taoist Monarchs had truly paid a significant price this time, and their assets weren’t as substantial as those of Pei Xuanjing and the others, so they had to seize the opportunity to bite into the Buddhism School to replenish themselves.
At this time, Taoist Monarch Xuantian expressed his support for the Human Race Five Emperors, allowing Lord Divine Skill Miaoji to realize that perhaps it wasn’t necessary to support the Five Old Lords unconditionally, and there were other possibilities.
Anyway, it would ultimately be a breakup, now that the Five Old Lords were incompetent, and the Human Race Five Emperors were isolated and helpless, it might be better to offer timely help, even pulling the Xuantian Sect into the fray, which could save some resources for themselves, which wasn’t necessarily a bad choice.
Of course, they only had a preliminary idea and hadn’t really made a decision yet; after all, having invested a lot of resources and support in the Human Race Five Old Lords, abandoning it easily at this moment would entail too much sunk cost.
However, when the Heterodox Alliance made a decision and informed them that they had reached an agreement with the Human Race Five Emperors, only needing the nod of approval from the Taoist Monarchs, their agreement grew even stronger.
Similarly, after obtaining the preliminary consent of these Taoist Monarchs, Tie Qianshan once again went to meet the Human Race Five Emperors, expressing the Heterodox Alliance and Taoist Monarchs’ ideas, and also received the promise of the Human Race Five Emperors in return.
It is undeniable that in this matter, the Heterodox Alliance played the role of a broker and they utilized the situation where there were no direct talks between the two parties, exaggerated the matter like a show, and developed it to its fullest.
They first told the Taoist Monarchs of the Taoist School that they had received the support of the Human Race Five Emperors, and then turned around and told the Human Race Five Emperors that they had already discussed with the Taoist Monarchs, waiting for them to nod, asking them directly if they would join.
The simplest and most straightforward manipulation, but it was very effective. Even if after the fact both parties understood the ins and outs of the matter, they didn’t refuse, as the cooperation was beneficial to everyone.
Despite some calculations throughout this process, in fact, for both sides, it was a satisfactory result, or rather, a good beginning, providing a foundation for cooperation.