Chapter 2060: Bowing One's Head

Which of the Celestial Venerables present here did not possess substantial wealth?

Over the past hundreds of thousands of years, the Southern Realm Alliance had monopolized more than seventy percent of the elixir market in the entire Southern Realm, amassing immense riches.

But no matter how immense, they could not keep pouring it into a bottomless pit!

Moreover, although their families and businesses were vast, most of their gains had to be contributed to the Heavenly Emperor's Dao Arena.

Without the protection of the Heavenly Emperor, they would be nothing.

Take the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, for instance. It was precisely because it had the backing of the Ten Thousand Treasures Heavenly Emperor that Piao Yu had the confidence to break away from the Southern Realm Alliance.

Otherwise, these people would not have engaged in any commercial warfare with Celestial Venerable Piao Yu; they would have directly gathered a host of Celestial Venerables and wiped out the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

After nine years, these people felt deeply exhausted.

Fighting a battle that could never be won was utterly meaningless!

Especially the intervention of Chaoyuan Tianzun and the seven hidden aristocratic families dealt them a fatal blow.

Danyu Tianzun's expression shifted between gloom and uncertainty, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "How infuriating! I never expected that they, without our knowledge, would bring out the seven hidden families. What a terrible miscalculation!"

Lieyang Tianzun sighed, "The chips they hold are too strong! Even the seven hidden families cannot resist being tempted by these pills. After all, they represent power!"

The power of pills was so immense that they could create a great family in just a few thousand years.

Take the Tianying Imperial City, for example. With Ye Yuan alone, in just a few hundred years, divine beings were already everywhere.

Recall when Ye Yuan first entered Tianying; they had only two divine realm experts!

This was the power of pills.

With the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion unveiling so many epoch-making pills at once, how could the hidden aristocratic families not be tempted?

"Alas, what's done is done, and further words are pointless. In my view, we should bow our heads to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion!" said Heavenly Lord Riding the Wind with a sigh.

He and Heavenly Lord Flowing Radiance were close friends, and back then, Heavenly Lord Flowing Radiance had advised him not to wade into this muddy water.

But faced with enormous benefits, Heavenly Lord Riding the Wind ultimately could not resist.

Of course, more importantly, he simply did not believe that a mere Ye Yuan could turn the entire Southern Domain upside down.

Now, however, reality had dealt him a merciless slap.

The sky of the Southern Domain had truly changed!

After this battle, the Southern Domain Alliance was severely weakened and would henceforth have to follow the lead of the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

Heavenly Lord Riding the Wind's words instantly stung everyone's nerves.

The word "bow" was something they had kept on the tip of their tongues, yet dared not utter.

Every one present was a big shot whose mere stomp could shake the Southern Domain three times; uttering such a word meant humiliation.

In truth, how could they not see that this battle was already unwinnable?

What had sustained them until now was face.

Killing a thousand enemies, losing eight hundred of one's own.

They would rather suffer mutual destruction with the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion than bow their heads.

But today, in the end, they still had to bow!

"No! Our Southern Domain Alliance unified the alchemy world of the Southern Domain, and now we must bow to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion? Who will respect us after this?" Heavenly Lord Soaring Cloud was the first to jump out in opposition.

Of course, he spoke with righteous indignation, but everyone knew his calculations.

But his words struck the most sensitive nerve of everyone present, and they all fell silent.

The muscles on Danyu Tianzun's face twitched. After a long silence, he finally slowly closed his eyes and said, "Ao Yun, this matter started because of you. Go to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion and bow your head in apology! Also, Brother Chengfeng, I leave the negotiations with the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion entirely in your hands. Remember, we are admitting defeat to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, not to Ye Yuan!"

Upon hearing this, Ao Yun Tianzun's face turned ashen, and a wave of humiliation surged over him.

This was Danyu Tianzun's move to sacrifice the rook to save the king!

Ao Yun Tianzun was unwilling, but he had no choice.

Leave the Southern Domain Alliance?

Ye Yuan had the confidence to do so, but Ao Yun did not.

Once he left the Southern Domain Alliance, his fate would be to be devoured by those present, leaving not even a trace!

...

In the tenth year of the fierce battle, the Southern Domain Alliance finally bowed its proud head and admitted defeat to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

On that day, Chengfeng Tianzun led a group of Tianzun-level experts to the capital of Emperor Jin Huan to negotiate with Piaoyu Tianzun.

But Piaoyu Tianzun kept them waiting for a full month.

Under a pavilion halfway up Cloud Dream Mountain, several figures were enjoying wine and conversation.

"Good wine! Truly excellent wine! Young Friend Ye lives up to his reputation as a master. This Dreamlike Wine, once drunk, truly makes one feel lost in a dream!" an old wine lover praised endlessly.

Ye Yuan smiled and said, "Brother Beitang, if you like, I'll have someone bring a few jars over later. But this wine is not easy to brew, so I can't offer too much."

The old man's eyes lit up at the words, and he said in surprise, "Is that true?"

Ye Yuan laughed and said, "Would I deceive Brother Beitang?"

The old man laughed heartily and said, "Then I won't stand on ceremony with you!"

This old man was Beitang Li, a master of alchemy from the Beitang family, whose alchemical skills had nearly reached the perfection of the Dao realm.

However, the Beitang family had always kept a low profile, so they were unknown to outsiders.

Seeing this, the others also asked Ye Yuan for Dreamlike Wine, and Ye Yuan naturally obliged them all.

Dreamlike Wine indeed had an excellent taste, and even those who did not usually care for wine found it irresistible.

This time, the seven great families had provided tremendous support to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, so Ye Yuan did not hesitate to give small gifts in return.

Piaoyu Tianzun, standing by, was also filled with emotion. Even before the war began, he had never imagined that in just ten years, the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion would sweep through the Southern Domain Alliance like a whirlwind, forcing them to submit!

His initial expectation was that the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, under the pincer attack of the Southern Domain Alliance, could secure a foothold within a hundred years—that was already his highest estimate.

Who would have thought that the pill formulas Ye Yuan had brought out would sweep across the entire Southern Domain, even forcing the seven great families, who had long been in seclusion, to emerge?

These seven great families did not come because the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion begged them one by one; they came on their own initiative!

The allure of these pill formulas was simply too great!

When the seven great families first approached the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, Piaoyu Tianzun told them that the pill formulas belonged to Ye Yuan. They refused to believe it, thinking that the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion was just being secretive.

Later, Beitang Li and others, unconvinced, challenged Ye Yuan and were thoroughly defeated. Only then did they believe that the pill formulas were indeed Ye Yuan's.

However, this conflict led to friendship.

Now, the seven great families, including Beitang, held Ye Yuan in the highest esteem, and they had become close friends despite the age difference.

With the addition of the seven great families, the Southern Domain Alliance became vulnerable.

After several rounds of wine, Beitang Li chuckled and said to Ye Yuan, "Brother Ye, hehe, friendship is friendship, but interests are interests. You see... the Southern Domain Alliance has already bowed its head. Shouldn't our agreement take effect now?"

Ye Yuan laughed heartily and said, "Brother Beitang is really impatient! Am I the kind of person to be stingy? The pill formulas are here!"

With that, Ye Yuan took out a pile of jade slips and distributed them to the representatives of the seven great families.