"Looks like further talk is pointless. You have no willingness to negotiate at all. Then we have no choice but a battle to the death. But before that, let's hold the wager battle first. Both sides will send people to set up barrier formations! Regardless of how much is won or lost, the moment the wager battle ends, we go all-out immediately." The gaunt old man was blunt and straightforward enough.
He probably knew that at this point, trying to convince the three great cultivators to back down was nothing but wishful thinking.
"A wager battle is fine, of course, but what about the prisoners you promised? If we don't see them, heh heh..." Old Devil Hehuan stared at the old man and let out a cold laugh.
Hearing this, the old man paused for a moment, but after thinking it over, his lips moved slightly as he transmitted a few sentences to the rear.
Immediately, the rows of Spell Warriors behind him stirred.
Over a thousand cultivators, completely unarmed with nothing but the clothes on their backs, were pushed forward from the ranks.
As soon as these cultivators reached the front lines, their expressions varied — some flushed red with anger, while others glared furiously at the Spell Warriors.
On the opposing side among the cultivator army, a slight commotion also arose.
Many fellow sect members among the assembled cultivators recognized these prisoners.
Supreme Zhiyang and the others exchanged glances, their expressions softening slightly as they nodded.
"How about that? You've seen them. Now you should be at ease. Let's start the wager battle quickly!" The short man surnamed Bi among the Mulan Divine Masters grew impatient.
"Why are you in such a rush? Could it be that you plan to pull some trick during this wager battle?" Wei Wuya said unexpectedly.
"If you don't dare to fight the wager battle, then we'll sacrifice these prisoners to the banner first. And then we'll start the actual battle — how does that sound to the three of you?" The short man's expression changed as he made his threat.
"You're threatening us!" Wei Wuya's eyes flashed with cold light, and he spoke in a stern voice.
"Threatening is rather a strong word. But if you're unwilling to participate in the wager battle, keeping these prisoners is useless to us anyway. Using them as a sacrifice to boost morale before battle is certainly not out of the question." The gaunt old man's expression remained unchanged, but his voice took on a more sinister edge.
"We'll agree to the wager battle. But release the prisoners first, and then we'll give our consent." Supreme Zhiyang spoke slowly after his brow twitched several times.
"Release them? Do you think we'd do something so foolish?" the short man said bluntly.
"But we don't trust you either! What if you don't honor your word after the wager battle ends?" Wei Wuya said calmly.
"Even so, we—"
"Enough. No more useless talk. Before the wager battle, we can release half the prisoners first. The rest will depend on whether you win or lose. You shouldn't have any objections to that! If that still won't work, then go ahead and leave — we'll just start fighting right now." Before the short man could say anything else, the gaunt old man's eyes flashed with a vicious glint, and he cut in first.
"Fine, we'll do it that way! You release the people on your end, and we'll start setting up the barriers on ours." This time, Supreme Zhiyang exchanged a few transmitted messages with the other two, then agreed decisively.
These conditions were the maximum concessions the other side could make. If negotiations truly fell apart, they wouldn't be able to face the cultivators behind them.
Once the terms were settled, the six returned to their respective camps to make arrangements.
Han Li had already left his original position, concealing himself among a group of cultivators. Before the wager battle began, he didn't want to be noticed by the high-level Spell Warriors on the other side.
And the conversation between Supreme Zhiyang and the others and the three Mulan Divine Masters — with Han Li's powerful spiritual sense, he had heard every word crystal clear.
After a faint smile appeared at the corner of Han Li's mouth, the cultivators who had been pushed forward had the restrictions on their bodies removed by the Spell Warriors. Then, their faces filled with expressions of joy, they flew toward the other side.
However, Supreme Zhiyang had clearly made arrangements well in advance.
Before these cultivators could fly back into the main army, hundreds of cultivators had already come out to meet them, carefully inspecting each rescued cultivator to confirm that none were spies and that no tampering had been done to their bodies. Only then did they allow them to enter the cultivator formation.
"Those Tiannan fellows sure are cautious. It's a good thing we didn't have these cultivators take the 'Lost Heart Pill' back then — otherwise, it really would have been hard to get past this check," the short man surnamed Bi said with a reluctant cold snort from a distance.
"Of course! The three great cultivators of Tiannan are not to be trifled with. These petty tricks are better left unused. You have to strike a snake at its vital spot — otherwise, you'd only end up shooting yourself in the foot!" the scholar surnamed Zhong agreed.
The gaunt old man heard this without any change in expression. He merely stroked his sparse goatee, staring at the opposing cultivator army, his body perfectly still.
Under Han Li's distant gaze, a group of cultivators and Spell Warriors flew out from each camp. Then, at the midpoint between the two armies, they split into ten groups and began setting up spell formations.
These people were all formation masters among the cultivators and Spell Warriors, skilled in the art of formations. Although the barrier spell formations they were setting up were extraordinarily powerful, they were not obscure or unusual formations. Therefore, given these formation masters' expertise, any tampering by the other side would be immediately obvious.
Normally, setting up such barriers would take a great deal of time. But with so many formation masters working simultaneously, and with no sparing of precious materials and pre-made formation disks and flags to assist, in just one quarter of an hour, ten small spell formations glowing faintly with white light had already taken shape.
Then the formation masters from both sides activated the formations together, and ten white light domes, each covering an area of seventy or eighty zhang, appeared between the two armies.
After these formation masters inspected everything once more and confirmed there were no issues, they withdrew. In their place, ten Core Formation cultivators and ten Core Formation Spell Warriors stepped forward.
One cultivator and one Spell Warrior were assigned to jointly oversee the operation of each formation.
One of the Tiannan cultivators was none other than the woman surnamed Song from the Falling Cloud Sect. Her white robes billowing as she walked, she approached the second formation from the end on one side.