"Idiots, don’t you see Death Reverence is tricking you?" the Slaughter Ancestor cursed.

"Who are you calling an idiot?" the Nine Spirit Lion roared. He was in his Demonic Form, which meant a towering silver lion with nine heads. The angered Saint opened his mouth, and his nine heads each fired a white beam. The Slaughter Ancestor twirled his spear to generate a potent rotational force that blocked the attack.

"We can help you retrieve your prince," the Karma Root Monarch hurriedly promised. The situation was rapidly deteriorating, and she knew she needed to do something. "As long as you’re willing to cooperate, I can help you find his karma thread."

For a moment, the Infinite Divine Court paused. Even the furious Star Manifestation showed a bit of hesitation. Jiang Ye was too important to them, and all of them present were willing to do whatever was necessary to retrieve him, even if it meant working with the devil.

"No need," the Heaven Wolf Khan said. "Today, you people must die."

"Khan, what are you doing? Weren’t you the one who was most opposed to us fighting these Primordial Beings?" Star Manifestation asked through their secret communication channel.

"We can’t allow these people to get involved in the Prince’s matter," Heavenly Wolf Khan explained. "Otherwise, they will use it to blackmail us, or worse, use him to find their path forward. Now, our best choice of actions is to capture this woman. If we can sacrifice her, I should be able to find the prince’s karma thread using a ritual."

"Good. I always wanted to get rid of these bastards," the Myriad Gourd Empress sneered. Those arrogant Primordial Beings invaded their timeline, killed most of their citizens, and now, they acted as if they could work together. The Myriad Gourd Empress despised their shameless behavior.

"But, can we do it?" the Yin-Yang Origin Dragon asked. They were still outnumbered, and with their array not operating to its fullest potential, their chances of winning this battle were slim, let alone successfully capturing one of the enemy’s top powerhouses.

"Under normal circumstances, probably not. But they are now heavily divided," the Heavenly Wolf Khan stated. "The three cardinals, no, I mean two of them, are not putting much effort. That woman, the Erudite Duchess, is also not using all her strength, and the swordsman seemed distracted. If we go all out, we should be able to capture the karma woman."

"What about Death Reverence and the Beyonder? What if what they said is true?" the Nine Spirit Lion asked. As much as they don’t trust the Primordial Beings, their explanation made a lot of sense.

"Don’t worry about him for now. He won’t intervene for a while," the Khan reassured them.

"Very well," Star Manifestation responded, not questioning the latter’s reasoning. Then, without hesitation, they used a secret technique to drastically increase their power at a severe cost. Star Manifestation’s eyes, body, soul, and [Existence] burned brighter than the most luminous star before rushing toward Trinity Venerable and using the technique, [Infinite Meteor Punch].

"Damn, these idiots," Trinity Venerable cursed mentally as he blocked the attack. However, their clash immediately left him injured. Although it was a minor bruise, this result reminded him what his next course of action should be: activating the last ego to complete the War Set. Otherwise, he might be severely injured before even meeting the true threat.

"These people should understand by now that Death Reverence used us to get rid of one of the major threats that could stop his plan, but they chose to do his bidding for him just out of anger." A terrifying aura emanated from the Trininity Venerable’s body, and with one swing of his Daoist Sword, Star Manifestation took a dozen steps backward in the void. However, this setback did not deter the latter. On the contrary, they became even bolder; the starlight emanating from their eyes intensified before they unleashed a barrage of punches.

"Something is not right," the Karma Root Monarch reminded them. It was one thing if only one of them used a secret technique to improve, but all of them? At first, she had thought these divine beings had allowed anger to control their actions, but after seeing even the Heavenly Wolf Khan had made the same choice, she felt this might be a calculated move.

"You damn Cardinals, you already owe us an explanation for that damn cat’s action. So, you’d better put in more effort as the first sign of your apology," the Slaughter Ancestor cursed. However, the answer these people gave him almost made the ancestor rage out.

The Heaven Cardinal remained indifferent, while the Qi Cardinal calmly stated, "Grand Dao’s mission takes priority over all your petty squabbles." Then, without hesitation, she gave up attacking her opponent, held the hands of the Time Cardinal’s projection — who was acting more like a puppet than a sentient being — and disappeared from the battlefield.

Heaven Cardinal squinted, "The only thing that would be more important than Beyonder’s descent would be his invasion of the [Prime Source]. Since the Chaos Origin Realm was created as a grand scheme, this timeline should indeed be connected to it. However, the fact that Grand Dao didn’t summon me meant she knows of my plan or has already suspected me. I can’t wait any longer."

Heaven Cardinal did not immediately act. Now was not the time. The situation hasn’t intensified yet, and Death Reverence’s lack of presence hurries him. So, he would only make his move when he knew who all the major players were. Even better, the Heaven Cardinal hopes to see these players make one move before making his.

Death Beam, Death Dimension:

The protective shield Future Reverenced used to protect them from the [Sword–Saber Source Dao] was nothing but a cover for their plan, and now that everything had been executed, the two returned to their base: the Death Dimension.

Death Reverence looked in the distance, sighing to himself. He didn’t expect it would be so challenging to eliminate just the vessel of a third-step powerhouse — a vessel that was just in the preparatory stages.

"What should we do now? Do you want to keep searching for Jiang Ye?"

"Under normal circumstances, he should be removed from the chessboard after that attack; he should be a useless piece," Death Reverence stated. "But, there are a few people in this timeline that could bring him back to the game."

Future Reverence immediately thought of a few names: Heavenly Wolf Khan, Erudite Duchess, Karma Root Monarch, Trinity Venerable, Heaven Cardinal, and lastly, Wang Wei. All six of these people — whether because of their unique Dao or their intelligence — could indeed find a way to utilize Jiang Ye if they get their hands on him.

"I can continue searching for him."

Death Reverence shook his head. The power that saved the latter’s life was definitely the third step. So, unless they summoned some power from the fight in the [Prime Source], it’s impossible to find Jiang Ye. Unfortunately, that battle is beyond his jurisdiction.

"Let’s focus on our own task. Our priority should be to get our hands on Wang Wei, the primary vessel, and if he doesn’t work, Kong will have to do."

"The Descending Ritual is almost stabilized. Once it’s done, I only need less than three seconds to demolish the array and get to him," Future Reverence nodded.

"Be careful when dealing with him."

"I know," Future Reverence nodded. Although he was an alternate future version of Death Reverence, he did not have the habit of underestimating his enemy. Furthermore, they have heard of what happened to the Chaos Origin Realm and deduced the cause and effect of the entire event.

"What about these people fighting? What do you want to do with them?"

"Some of them are still minor threats, so for now, let them kill each other. We can observe and gather information to determine how great a threat they pose. However, we cannot allow the Divine Court to get its hands on the Karma Root Monarch."

With their deep karmic connection, the court should be able to locate Jiang Ye and help him recuperate after capturing the Karam Root Monarch, which Death Reverence finds unacceptable.

"I’m still worried about Suiji," he continued. Currently, she is the greatest problem they are facing. First, she is the only one who can threaten Future Reverence physically, but more importantly, she has too much authority over the Six Paths Samsara. Death Reverence could accept her controlling any of the other Grand Constructs, but not this one. Unfortunately, fate played a trick on him, and this woman chose to use him as a means of recuperating from her injuries. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Future Reverence frowned, "Over the years, she’s been getting better at evading us. Do you think someone else is helping her? A third party?"

"I’ve been thinking the same thing, but there hasn’t been any evidence, which of itself is also worrying," Death Reverence sighed, his morbidly pale complexion became gentle, which added a unique charm that people into death and the macabre might find quite appealing.

"Hmm?" Future Reverence muttered just as he was about to say something else. Then, he roared, "Damn it..."