During this time, Li Gang fell into another trap set by the Elemental Emperor.
However, he was cautious enough.
The Global Commerce and Trade Chamber was created by a Rank 8 Warrior who was also a subordinate of the Elemental Emperor, Wu Yuan.
His name was Lin Chi.
The Global Commerce and Trade Chamber had many branches, both official and unofficial. The place where Li Gang purchased the Arcane Stormrider was also one of its unofficial branches, unknown to most.
Wu Yuan wanted Li Gang to purchase a stronger Spiritual Beast without lowering the price. Unfortunately, this was not possible. He understood Li Gang's cautious nature. All he could do was prepare countless traps and hope Li Gang would fall into one of them. Unfortunately, he never succeeded. He could not openly scheme, lest he expose his identity to the Immortals, and this was a huge disadvantage for him.
Wu Yuan's ambition was much greater. He understood that there were two Emperors openly drawing the Immortals' attention, and that he should keep a low profile and scheme from the shadows, creating a three-way trap. In fact, both He Fan and Kong Xuan more or less realized that the Immortals wanted something from Li Gang. By giving Li Gang more attention and observing any abnormal behavior or situation he was involved in, they could figure out what the Immortals were trying to achieve.
Even the Immortals were incapable of hiding all traces, especially from He Fan, Kong Xuan, and Wu Yuan. They knew that these three might form some implicit cooperation, and in that situation, the trio of Emperors would definitely share information with one another.
Thus, in order to stop them from actively cooperating, the Immortals did not hide their tracks completely. This would lead each of He Fan, Kong Xuan, and Wu Yuan to gather information separately, and they would subconsciously believe they were capable enough on their own and did not need to cooperate with one another.
However, could the Emperors not see through this trap?
Of course they could.
They were not stupid enough to fall for it blindly, but they would still fall for it—despite knowing all the causes and consequences.
The reason was simple.
Wu Yuan.
He was hiding in the shadows, and trying to transmit such crucial information would definitely force him to send a clone. The Immortals wanted nothing more than this kind of opportunity. The more clones Wu Yuan sent, the more traces he would leave.
Last time, they had already deduced that Wu Yuan was one of the members of the Monarch Inheritance. How many people could partake in the Monarch Inheritance?
They had already narrowed down the candidates.
Returning to the current situation, the Elemental Emperor wanted to kill Li Gang by letting the Arcane Stormrider behave abnormally when moving at full speed. Wu Yuan was simply laying as many traps as possible along Li Gang's journey.
In fact, his ambition could have been easily achieved through Ji Changchen, but he wanted to foil the Immortals' plan. Why was he so obsessed with revenge?
There was a specific reason for this.
Just as advancing to Rank 7 allows one to perform a ritual to obtain an additional Spiritual Imprint from the Heavenly Dao, there is also a corresponding ritual when breaking through to the Immortal Realm.
However, this time, the ritual is fixed:
One must inspire awe among the Immortals.
The greater the awe—and even despair—stirred in their hearts, the stronger the divinity one would gain.
Wu Yuan wanted to kill Li Gang and cause the Immortals' plan to fail. This would inspire awe in the Immortals' hearts, since they were trying to protect him. Of course, Wu Yuan knew that he could not kill Li Gang with just this, but he would continue laying traps regardless.
Not only was Li Gang cautious enough to never use the Arcane Stormrider at full speed, he also discarded it after learning how to fly with swords. This happened later.
Before all this, Li Gang had an encounter with Ji Changchen.
It was no coincidence.
It was an Immortals' scheme, designed to allow Li Gang to obtain the Heavenly Lotus.
It should be noted that the Immortals had no control over Ji Changchen himself, but they did have significant control over his subordinates. They had long noticed the abnormality in Ji Changchen and knew he was out of control. They even suspected whether the memories they were reading from him were accurate.
There was a specific reason for this: Ji Changchen's pupils.
They often constricted as if focusing on empty air. The Immortals could directly observe this and determine that there was something Ji Changchen could see that they could not. It was likely some kind of artifact helping him escape their control.
Ji Changchen's task of searching for various "protagonists" also attracted the Immortals' attention. From this, they deduced that the artifact consumed destiny power to sustain itself.
Since the Immortals were capable of deducing Heaven's Chosen Ones based on various patterns—after all, only Heaven's Chosen Ones behaved in unpredictable ways that made the future uncertain—they quickly connected the dots.
They realized that by harming these chosen ones and taking away their opportunities, Ji Changchen was gathering their fate power. This fate power served as fuel for the artifact he possessed.
They could not control Ji Changchen due to the existence of the System, so how could they manipulate him into meeting Li Gang?
Chosen Ones.
They did have control over these so-called "protagonists."
All they had to do was allow one such protagonist to appear near where Li Gang resided and guide Li Gang toward them at the same moment Ji Changchen arrived.
It was the Immortals who asked Jiang Fugui to close down the city.
They understood Li Gang's cautious nature. He would definitely sense something amiss and leave as soon as possible.
Then all they had to do was subtly influence his subconscious and guide him toward Ji Changchen.
When Li Gang first saw Ji Changchen fight, he knew Ji Changchen was exceptional and possessed great skill. He also deduced that Ji Changchen was a rich second generation based on his attire and temperament.
What then?
Of course, he felt greed.
But with his cautious nature, he would never attack without knowing the other party's identity, whether someone was protecting him, or whether he could truly benefit from the situation.
However, he did harbor greed in his heart. The Immortals intensified that greed and subtly influenced him to become more impulsive.
This led him to attack Ji Changchen with a poisoned arrow.
After killing the Shadowstalk Panther, Ji Changchen smiled. "Oh, you are going to the Harmony Fang Sect? That's good—I am also heading there. We can travel together."
Qin Feng frowned upon hearing that, but just as he was about to say something—
Suddenly, a sharp arrow flew past Ji Changchen's shoulder and embedded itself into the corpse of the Shadowstalk Panther.
Ji Changchen looked at the fallen panther and narrowed his eyes. He shouted, "Come out."
A young man stumbled out from the woods and stuttered, "He—hel-lo, young master. I—I was j-just passing by..."
Ji Changchen interjected, "You don't have to be nervous. Just tell me your name."
The young man replied, "My name is Ren Ying, young master."
The arrow that passed Ji Changchen had grazed his shoulder and poisoned him.
As a Rank 7 Warrior, would Ji Changchen's protector fail to identify the presence of poison?
But why?
Even without direct knowledge of poison, he should have been able to perceive abnormalities in Ji Changchen's internal organs or blood flow.
Yet he failed to do so.
Once again, it was Immortal interference.
The moment Li Gang realized Ji Changchen was the Celestial Sect's Holy Son, he instantly recalled Huang Ling's words about the existence of the Heavenly Lotus within the Celestial Sect.
He became bold and attempted to snatch meat from a tiger's mouth.
His boldness also stemmed from his awareness of the Immortals' existence. Somewhere deep in his heart, he knew he would not die—even though he never consciously thought about it.
Ji Changchen looked at Qin Feng and Qing Hongyi and said, "You two wait a moment. I need to talk to this young man."
Without waiting for their response, he signaled someone.
From the void, an old man appeared and quickly created a barrier. Ji Changchen looked at Li Gang and said,
"Your name is Li Gang, right?"
Li Gang was surprised. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Ji Changchen. At the same time, he activated his token, ready to leave the place as soon as he sensed danger. Even though the token required a large amount of Spirit Stones to activate, it had been fed by the old man before his death and could still be used once.
Li Gang said lightly, "How do you know?"
Ji Changchen smiled. "Finding your background isn't difficult for me."
Li Gang didn't reply and became even warier inwardly. 'He's formidable.'
Ji Changchen looked at Li Gang, satisfied by his reaction. "You don't have to worry. I don't mean any harm. Be my subordinate, and I'll help you reach the top. All you have to do is take care of a few tasks I assign."
Li Gang took a deep breath. "I can't trust you. At least tell me your identity."
Ji Changchen smiled inwardly. 'Success. No rejection means he's tempted. A person with Rank 4 battle strength despite Rank 3 cultivation is no ordinary villain. Seems he's just an unlucky soul that even heaven stands against.'
He said, "I am Ji Changchen, Holy Son of the Celestial Sect."
Li Gang's expression changed. 'Oh no... Did I just try to scheme against the Holy Son? What's he doing here? The deed is done. I've already stepped into the abyss—now I can only go all out. Otherwise, only death awaits me.'
Ji Changchen was about to say something when a red alarm suddenly rang in his mind.
Ding! Warning, warning!
Ding! Host attempting to form a subordinate bond detected!
Ding! Alert: The target is too dangerous to be made a subordinate!
Ding! S-grade quest initiated.
S-Grade Quest: Kill Li Gang
Reward: 10,000 Destiny Points, Nine Heavenly Lightning Slash – Second Slash
Ji Changchen froze. He looked at Li Gang again, killing intent flashing in his eyes, but he suppressed it and asked inwardly,
'System, what do you mean he's dangerous?'
Ding! The system has its own criteria to determine danger levels. The host is advised to eliminate the target as soon as possible.
Ji Changchen frowned. He wasn't satisfied with that answer. But before he could act, his vision started to blur and twist.
Ding! Life-and-death danger detected!
Ding! Host has been poisoned!
Ding! Searching for recovery solution... Found!
Ding! Forcefully using Destiny Points for detoxification.
A light burst from Ji Changchen's body, purging the poison instantly.
But before he could react, a sword pierced through his body.