An Lin's expression didn't change in the slightest upon seeing the arrival of Su Wenjun.

Everything was within his control. After all, he had traced Dong Guo's divine intent, and he knew that Su Wenjun was nearby.

Su Wenjun possessed the Return to Void Intermediate Stage cultivation base. This was not enough to kill An Lin, and if a battle did erupt between the two, a full-blown war between the Four Nine Immortal Sect and the Green Wood Imperial Family would be inevitable. He trusted that Su Wenjun knew how to weigh up the pros and cons and would come to the correct decision.

The other first-rate sects could just take the phoenix egg and run. However, where could the imperial family run to? Were they just going to leave the Purple Star State behind? The resources in an entire state definitely surpassed the value of a phoenix egg.

Hence, Su Wenjun wouldn't take the risk and nor would he dare to do so.

"Mr. An Lin, what would I need to do for you to release Dong Guo?" Su Wenjun looked down at the suicidal man lying on the ground before turning to An Lin with a respectful expression.

It was easy to talk to sly old foxes like this one. He didn't even need to say anything, and Su Wenjun already knew that he was going to state some conditions.

An Lin paused for a moment before proposing, "It's quite simple. You all have to swear a dao heart oath to protect the members of the Four Nine Immortal Sect until we find a way out of here."

Mental demons would materialize if one renounced a dao heart oath, and their cultivation bases would struggle to progress for the rest of their lives. However, the restrictive power of this oath wasn't absolute. At least, there were some mighty figures who could find ways around the restrictions placed on them by dao heart oaths.

"No problem. Even if you didn't state this condition, the Green Wood Imperial Family would be happy to offer our assistance to our friends from the Four Nine Immortal Sect." Su Wenjun immediately nodded with a smile.

An Lin thought to himself for a moment before adding a condition, "Also, Dong Guo has to establish a slave contract with me."

Dong Guo immediately flared up in rage upon hearing this. "Didn't you say I was too weak to become your slave? Why are you changing your mind now?"

"I thought about it, and I feel like I can accept you as an outer-circle slave," An Lin replied with a serious expression.

"Pfff…" Dong Guo threw up another mouthful of blood.

What the f*ck was an outer-circle slave?!

Was there even such a thing in the cultivating world?

"Well…" A difficult expression appeared on Su Wenjun's face.

"Don't worry, I won't make this slave stay by my side. He can stay at the Green Wood Imperial Family for the majority of the time, and I'll only call on him if special circumstances arise," An Lin continued.

Su Wenjun was a little worried. This wasn't a f*cking plot by An Lin to plant spies into the imperial family, was it?

However… this wasn't an unacceptable condition. They would just have to make sure that Dong Guo would never come into contact with any important information and that they would only use him in battles. In the future, he could even become a vital link between the imperial family and the Four Nine Immortal Sect.

After all, these two forces didn't have to be enemies. A win-win situation was something everyone wanted to see.

Hmm, if Princess Yun Le and An Lin did become a couple, these two powers might even merge to become a superpower in the future…

Countless thoughts flashed through Su Wenjun's heart in a split second.

"You have to realize that Dong Guo is someone who should be dead right now. He tried to kill me, so I naturally had to act in self-defense." An Lin turned to Dong Guo with a mysterious smile.

A chill ran down Dong Guo's spine upon seeing An Lin's expression.

Su Wenjun sighed before nodding. "Alright, I don't have a problem with that."

He then turned to Dong Guo. "Divine General Dong Guo, what are your thoughts on this?"

Dong Guo felt extremely crushed. Su Wenjun had already agreed to it, so what else could he think? It would be all over for him if he didn't establish a slave contract!

Survival was the most important thing.

Thus, all the negotiations were settled, and Su Wenjun swore a dao heart oath.

Dong Guo didn't need to swear an oath; all he needed to do was to accept the drop of blood essence An Lin had flicked at him.

A slave contract was much more binding and effective than any oaths that he could swear. It was the most restrictive oath in existence as the slave was prohibited from doing anything of detriment to their master. If they were to harm their master, their dao foundation would immediately crumble, and they would suffer from a fearsome backlash.

Thus, An Lin took a trashy Return to Void Stage slave under his wing.

Da Bai finally flew over to him from afar before landing beside An Lin. "Big Brother An, is that slave number six?"

"No, he's too weak, so he doesn't deserve a number," An Lin replied with an indifferent expression.

Dong Guo: "…"

Su Wenjun: "…"

"Oh, right, Senior Su Wenjun, I'll have to trouble you to protect the members of the Four Nine Immortal Sect for me if you encounter any of them. We'll meet at this giant mountain!" An Lin said.

"No problem, I'll be sure to do that." Su Wenjun had to find Su Xin and Su Qianyun anyway, so this was just something he would do on the side.

Dong Guo couldn't help but argue, "Why didn't you assign this duty to me? I can do it as well."

An Lin shot a glance at Dong Guo. "You? Su Qianyun and Liu Qianhuan can deal with any enemies that you can deal with. On the contrary, any enemies that Su Qianyun and Liu Qianhuan won't be able to deal with are too powerful for you to deal with, so what's the point of assigning this duty to you?"

"Pfff…" Dong Guo felt as if a sword had been stabbed into his heart, and this only worked to compound his injuries as he threw up another mouthful of blood.

Su Wenjun slapped a palm to his face. He was too ashamed to look at this divine general of the Green Wood Imperial Family.

What An Lin had said was the truth. Su Qianyun and Liu Qianhuan were essentially able to defeat all Soul Formation Stage cultivators.

As for Tina and Xiao Ze, hehe, they could kill Dong Guo with a sneeze! If he were to send Dong Guo to protect them, they would end up protecting Dong Guo instead!

Su Wenjun bade farewell to An Lin before flying in another direction to continue his search.

Dong Guo swallowed a spirit pill before sitting down to meditate in order to facilitate recovery.

An Lin thought to himself for a moment before letting Dong Guo use the Blood Soul Jade Coffin. That way, he could recover from his injuries faster and waste less of An Lin's time.

Dong Guo was extremely shocked and envious when he saw An Lin pull out an immortal tool so easily, but he didn't say anything as he obediently lay down in the coffin to recover from his injuries.

A crimson light burst forth in a radius of close to ten kilometers as the vitality of all the plants within a five-kilometer radius was sucked away and absorbed into Dong Guo's body.

"Heh, I have to admit that he's creating a much bigger stir than you had when you were recovering from your injuries, Da Bai." An Lin said with a teasing smile, "Dong Guo can only prove to everyone that he's actually a Return to Void Stage mighty figure when he's recovering from his injuries."

Within the coffin, Dong Guo's injuries had only just started to show signs of recovery when he almost threw up a mouthful of blood again.

No matter how much his master abused him with words, he could only maintain a smile on his face.

The arm that An Lin had severed from Dong Guo's body had already been reattached. Return to Void Stage mighty figures had extremely powerful life-force energy and reattaching a severed limb was no big deal to them.

Rumble…

The gargantuan mountain suddenly began to tremor lightly.

"Hmm? Is something happening?" An Lin unleashed his divine sense with all his might to cover a radius of a hundred and fifty kilometers in the blink of an eye.

Such a large-scale detection obviously wouldn't allow him to observe minute details, but he could sense some rough events, such as powerful energy clashes.

An Lin turned his eyes toward one side of the gargantuan mountain. "There. Let's go, Da Bai!"

He leaped onto Da Bai and grabbed the coffin with one hand as he flew toward the direction the battle was taking place.

An Lin detected a very familiar aura from that direction!