Seeing Senior Commander-in-Chief say this, Shao Siming could only dejectedly respond, "I know, do you think I don’t understand the situation?"
Shao Siming gave Senior Commander-in-Chief a glance, voicing her dissatisfaction.
Senior Commander-in-Chief smiled slightly, not saying anything more.
There was a sharp gleam in his eyes, it seemed he needed to arrange things properly.
Some of these Ancient Gods of Kunlun could be persuaded to join our side.
He did not believe that all of them were entirely loyal to the Queen Mother of the West; there were always those who yearned to side with the more powerful ones.
Tenth Son of the Golden Crow returned to his residence where Baize was waiting for him.
"Your Highness must be extremely cautious lately. I have a feeling that the Jade Emperor might fall this time," Baize spoke solemnly.
Tenth Son of the Golden Crow was startled, his gaze shifting to Baize.
"What do you mean?" he asked, taken aback. Baize would never speak without basis.
If it were not for confidence, Baize would never have uttered such words.
With a grave expression, Baize announced, "Ziwei Heavenly Court has capable individuals. If my guess is correct, Yang Jian and Ziwei Heavenly Court are putting on a play to plot against the Jade Emperor and engage in an assassination attempt."
"Yang Jian is really going to assassinate the Jade Emperor?" Tenth Son of the Golden Crow exclaimed in shock.
He had thought it was merely a legend, or even nonsensical rambling.
But now Baize was telling Tenth Son of the Golden Crow that it was all true.
The goal of Yang Jian was to assassinate the Jade Emperor.
He almost thought he had misheard.
Otherwise, why would Baize say such a thing?
Nodding, Baize said gravely, "Indeed, has Your Majesty noticed the conflict between Yang Jian and the Heavenly Court which did not result in any casualties, save for Sa Shoujian being injured? But to an Immortal, an injury is trivial, as long as they are not soul-scattered, they can be saved. Not only that, everything that happened between them was too coincidental, flawlessly making one believe there were no doubts."
"That is precisely the most dubious part. I conducted thirty-eight analyses on the matter and concluded that Ziwei Heavenly Court wants to topple those under the Jade Emperor using the least collateral, hence the assassination plot."
"They will not succeed; the Jade Emperor’s strength is no less than my father’s," Tenth Son of the Golden Crow dismissed, shaking his head.
A smirk crept on Baize’s lips as he said, "True, the strength of the Jade Emperor is indeed comparable to the Eastern Emperor, but the Tenth Prince must not forget that Ziwei Heavenly Court is brimming with mighty warriors. Most likely, they will deploy several powerful beings to kill or severely wound the Jade Emperor in one fell swoop."
"Do you have any evidence?" asked Tenth Son of the Golden Crow.
Baize smiled confidently and declared loudly, "Simple. If, before the investiture, Ziwei Heavenly Court deploys troops at the standoff location and several Great Heavenly Venerates make an appearance, then my conjecture is right. Because Ziwei Heavenly Court, aiming to conduct an assassination, would naturally not allow the Jade Emperor to have too many tell-tales around him; ideally, they would draw away all the Great Heavenly Venerates from his side."
"Wouldn’t the Jade Emperor keep one or two to protect himself?" Tenth Son of the Golden Crow said before his expression turned rigid, aware that he had spoken foolishly.
Not to mention the Jade Emperor, when had his father, the Eastern Emperor Tai Yi, ever needed guards?
Anyone capable of defeating his father would have to be among The Three Pure Ones; no others could possibly be a match.
After all, the Eastern Emperor Tai Yi is the supreme master of their Divine Dynasty.
"How terrifying a thought; I never imagined Great Emperor Ziwei could be so deeply calculating, having led the Jade Emperor into a trap without him even realizing it," Tenth Son of the Golden Crow mused.
Baize shook his head, emphatically stating, "This matter definitely wasn’t plotted by Great Emperor Ziwei. Although Great Emperor Ziwei is somewhat shrewd, he surely does not have such meticulous foresight. This kind of strategy must have been designed by someone extremely adept at scheming and who also understands the Jade Emperor intimately."
Upon hearing this, Tenth Son of the Golden Crow immediately thought of someone.
"It’s that Old Bald Donkey."
"Correct. It should be Tathagata. In the Three Realms, only he could calculate against the Jade Emperor to such an extent that the Jade Emperor would fall into the trap unknowingly," Baize concurred with a nod.
Though his own scheming skills were not inferior to Tathagata’s, he did not have such a profound understanding of the Jade Emperor; even if he were the one to arrange it, he couldn’t have managed such an exquisite maneuver.
Towards these newer generations of Living Beings, Baize felt a sincere reverence.
And Tenth Son of the Golden Crow took a deep breath, feeling truly terrified by Tathagata Buddha.
If such a person were his opponent, he doubted he would even be able to sleep at night.
"Should we inform the Jade Emperor about this matter? After all, he counts as our ally right now," Tenth Son of the Golden Crow asked.
The way he looked at Baize had changed; Tathagata Buddha might be fearsome indeed, but if Baize could see through Tathagata Buddha’s arrangements, how could he be much inferior to Tathagata?
Thinking of how he hadn’t valued this strategist highly, Tenth Son of the Golden Crow felt ridiculous.
How many in the Three Realms could compare to Baize?
He, in particular, felt a vast gap between him and Baize.
From the previous analysis alone, Tenth Son of the Golden Crow could sense it.
"Of course not; the Jade Emperor is not our friend. If he is defeated, it will only drive him to further madness, and if he attacks the Living Beings between heaven and earth in a fit of desperation, resulting in the obliteration of some of them, it would actually be a good thing for us," Baize explained with a smile.
It didn’t matter if it wasn’t an official ally like the Jade Emperor or even an official ally like the Queen Mother of the West—it was a relationship to be discarded whenever convenient.
To him, an ally was just a commodity to be traded.