The thin man was somewhat astonished. They were to give up everything that had been in the works for so long?
But he did not dare disobey Empyrean Lord's orders, especially when right in front of him. He politely replied, "Yes, I understand."
Sect Master Boor Ancestral, Patriarch Monkey, and Aged Fiend Goat Horn exchanged looks.
"Empyrean Lord." Sect Master Boor Ancestral bowed and said with a sycophantic smile, "We spent ten grueling years setting up that array formation. All sorts of rare treasures were sent here from the fiendcelestial world, many of which I can't even identify. But the ones I can… are at least medial-grade Numinous treasures. Are we really just going to destroy them? Isn't that too huge a price to pay?"
"Yes, shouldn't we fight it out? Are we really abandoning everything to escape?" Aged Fiend Goat Horn said immediately. "Isn't that too cowardly?"
Although Patriarch Monkey did not say a word, he also looked at Empyrean Lord expectantly.
Although the trio had regarded him with smiles hanging from their faces, they were clearly disagreeable with his decision.
"Oh?"
In the distant space, high atop a throne, the figure masked shrouded in darkness frowned as he looked at the three fiendcelestials.
"What impudence!" The thin man shouted in a shocked rage. "How can Empyrean Lord's orders be disobeyed?"
"Yes, yes, yes." Aged Fiend Goat Horn chuckled in reply. "Our Boor Ancestral Sect has lasted to this day all thanks to the treasures and manuals Empyrean Lord has bestowed on us. The gratitude we have towards Empyrean Lord… is remembered by every generation of our Boor Ancestral Sect. We only serve Empyrean Lord. We have also never hesitated to do your murderous bidding. However, now that you ask us to abandon the Boor Ancestral Sect and escape for our lives, that is not something we are capable of."
"We can't do it." Sect Master Boor Ancestral and Patriarch Monkey said in unison.
"If the three of you stay alive, it will not be difficult to reestablish the Boor Ancestral Sect in the future," said the man immediately.
"Skyfiend Jiuhu," Sect Master Boor Ancestral turned his head to bow at Empyrean Lord. "Empyrean Lord, we do not mind abandoning the Boor Ancestral Sect! After all, reestablishing it isn't that difficult, it's true. But to ask us to flee for our lives? Right now, there's Qin Yun inside the sect and Daoist Divine Firmament and company outside. How are we to escape?"
"Shut down the array formations that isolate the sect in the Boor Ancestral Sect. When the time comes, the four of us are to immediately use a Void Transference treasure to escape! As long as you are fast enough, there will still be hope," said the man.
"Hmph!"
Sect Master Boor Ancestral, Patriarch Monkey, and Aged Fiend Goat Horn looked at the man with a sneer.
"Hope?" Aged Fiend Goat Horn scoffed and said, "That Qin Yun has definitely reached the Skyimmortal realm. One strike of his can seal the void! That might be ignored, but Daoist Divine Firmament, East Sea Skydragon, Skydemon Palatial Lord, Bodhisattva Mahākāśyapa, and the rest are just outside the sect. They will immediately discover that our Boor Ancestral Sect's isolation array formations have been shut down. They will probably instantly seal the surrounding space. Trying to escape before they seal off the area? Void Transference isn't that fast!"
"Just think of a way to confuse them," said the man. "After which, you can seek the right opportunity to flee."
"Hmph!"
Sect Master Boor Ancestral looked coldly at the thin man. "There's Qin Yun inside and there are powerful existences outside! We do not even have a ten percent chance of successfully escaping! You want us to escape? Hmph! Even if you are about to die, Empyrean Lord will probably help receive you. If the three of us die, there will truly be no return."
"You want us to flee? Only if there is more than a fifty percent chance of surviving will we risk it. If not, we are only sending ourselves to our deaths," said Aged Fiend Goat Horn.
"Forgive us for we are unable to agree to it," said Patriarch Monkey.
"The three of you. How bold of you to actually…" the man said in anger.
"I can promise to receive all of you after you reincarnate and awaken your memories," said Empyrean Lord as he looked from afar.
"Receive us?"
Sect Master Boor Ancestral, Patriarch Monkey, and Aged Fiend Goat Horn exchanged looks.
"We are not reincarnating voluntarily but would die in combat. Who knows where we will be reincarnated?" said Sect Master Boor Ancestral with a shake of his head. "Without any target, finding our reincarnated bodies and awakening our memories is already an extremely difficult task. To do it for three, would you really go through that much trouble? Are you willing to pay such a huge cost? We are not Skyfiends. We are only three peak third Firmament fiendcelestials. Empyrean Lord, the truth is you think nothing of us and are just beguiling us, isn't it?"
At the other end of the distant space, the eyes of the blurry figure blanketed by darkness shimmered.
They were only three tiny ants!
Yet, they dared…
If they were really physically in front of it, just one look would be enough to obliterate the three ants.
"How impudent the three of you are," shouted Jiuhu.
"If we give up," said Aged Fiend Goat Horn. "You want us to send ourselves to our deaths? We were demons to begin with. We entered the Boor Ancestral Sect to seek immortality, to seek freedom, not to die!"
"Even an Empyrean Lord has no right to send us to our deaths!" said Sect Master Boor Ancestral with a sneer.
What were fiends?
For themselves, they could sacrifice the billions of lives in their homeworlds without a second thought. When it came to their own life and death, so what if they lost decorum with an Empyrean Lord?
Furthermore, they weren't very afraid of the fiendcelestial.
What was there to be afraid of when they were separated by distant space?
Even in the history of the Boor Ancestral Sect, seniors that had their strength reach the Skyfiend realm would not dare to try the Heavenly Tribulation in the Great Chang world. They would enter the Other Realm cosmos and rush… to a slightly further fiendcelestial world to survive the Heavenly Tribulations there.
The world Empyrean Lord was in was just too far!
There was no way to get there!
Therefore, the trio would rather choose to be refugees in the Other Realm cosmos, for there was no way they could find Empyrean Lord's world. It was impossible for them to ever encounter Empyrean Lord in person, so losing decorum meant nothing.
"The three of us understand." Patriarch Monkey's wrinkled face had a smile. "That mysterious array formation was set up by Skyfiend Jiuhu. To destroy it? Perhaps Skyfiend Jiuhu can destroy it without us knowing it. We can't stop him! But… that mysterious array formation is something the three of us have seen with our own eyes. If you force us, we will tell Daoist Divine Firmament and company everything. We will describe the mysterious array formation thoroughly to them. I believe that, as a personal disciple of the Dao Ancestor, Daoist Divine Firmament will be able to guess what the mysterious array formation is from the information we provide! He will know what your plans are."
The thin man had a nasty look on his face.
"We do not want to cooperate with Daoist Divine Firmament and company. After all, we ultimately belong to the fiendcelestial lineage. However, if you pressure us we will not hesitate to do so," said Sect Master Boor Ancestral with a smile. "Sect Master Boor Ancestral, our request is simple. All we want is to live. As long as we live, the three of us are still willing… to continue serving Empyrean Lord!"
"Yes, we are willing to serve Empyrean Lord," added Aged Fiend Goat Horn.
The thin man raised his head to look at Empyrean Lord situated across distant space on the other end of the void rift.
Empyrean Lord gave the three tiny ants a good look.
All this time… the Boor Ancestral Sect had always been obedient. He was already accustomed to them being obedient towards his every instruction.
"In order to live, you dare throw away decorum with me? Hmph, they are only this bold because they are separated by distant space. If they were here with me, I would have long planted Mental Demon Seeds in them." Empyrean Lord was secretly raging. "I never expected that the plan I have been scheming for so long would end up being forced to this point by three tiny ants."
The construction of the array formation did not allow for any mistakes.
It was the reason why it was constructed inside the Boor Ancestral Sect's lair!
Empyrean Lord instinctively believed that it would take a hundred years to finish constructing the array formation. It was unlikely anyone could overrun the Boor Ancestral Sect in that century! After all, the Boor Ancestral Sect had been in existence for hundreds of thousands of years.
He never accounted for such a major slip up.
Qin Yun had managed to silently enter the Boor Ancestral Sect's lair! Furthermore, he was too powerful!
Now these three ants even dared to threaten him in order to live.
"If they were to tell everything to Daoist Divine Firmament, then all my plans will be exposed." Empyrean Lord chagrined. "Darn it."
"Empyrean Lord."
Sect Master Boor Ancestral continued his plea. "All we need is Skyfiend Jiuhu to help us fend off Qin Yun! Skyfiend Jiuhu's realm is a lot higher than ours. If he were to take action, and we aided him… there is a chance of us trapping Qin Yun. If we manage to do so, preventing him from destroying the array formation and hence, stopping Daoist Divine Firmament and company from entering, our Boor Ancestral Sect would be safe. Empyrean Lord, your array formation will also be safe. As for Skyfiend Jiuhu's identity? So what if they suspect him to be a Skyfiend? It's not as though Skyfiends have never descended into the Great Chang world before. They would not be able to guess your true motives."
From afar, Empyrean Lord watched the single-horned ox fiend speak and thought to himself. "Fool. Once they discover the existence of a Skyfiend, Daoist Divine Firmament and company will definitely be alarmed. They will investigate the matter thoroughly. It's impossible to prevent exposure."
Although he understood this point, Empyrean Lord had no other solution at the moment.
Across such distant space, what use were immense Dharmic powers?
"Jiuhu," instructed Empyrean Lord finally. "In that case, listen to the three of them. Help them to ensure the safety of the Boor Ancestral Sect! If you can't… trigger the array formation."
"Trigger it?" Skyfiend Jiuhu was alarmed.
"Yes, move out ahead of time! Although it's a little rushed, it's better to try it if it's about to be exposed. Perhaps it might even succeed..." said Empyrean Lord. With that said, he shot a glance at the delighted trio. He had originally planned on destroying the array formation without a trace and finding an opportunity to construct another one. He did not care if he lost some treasures and a few more decades.
But the trio had forced him to hasten the movement.
"Whoosh." As the void rift closed, Empyrean Lord's figure vanished.