"But for now, it looks like I've gotten off to a good start. The battle intent I've converted is the most among all participants. As long as I can maintain this advantage going forward, the Immortal Gu House will be mine."
As the Xiao Family's Supreme Elder secretly encouraged himself, he was also clear in his heart: maintaining his current advantage was the biggest difficulty.
According to the wager, the next to deploy a pawn was the Wu Family Gu Immortal Wu Dang Zhi.
This female immortal from the Wu Family was also a very shrewd figure. She was willing to sacrifice some of her cultivation to allow her chosen pawn to enter Yitian Mountain ahead of schedule.
"I hope Xiao Shan doesn't disappoint me next."
This wish of the Xiao Family Ancestor was precisely what the other Southern Border Gu Immortals did not want to see.
Now that the Xiao Family Ancestor had established an early lead, the Southern Border Gu Immortals were hoping to see Xiao Shan defeated, or even killed, to break the Xiao Family Ancestor's advantage and give themselves an opportunity to seize it.
Wu Shentong arrived near Yitian Mountain.
"Everyone, this time I bear the heavy responsibility of my family on my shoulders. To eliminate this demonic stronghold, I will stop at nothing!" He pointed at Yitian Mountain, his expression solemn, his battle intent flaring.
Beside him, there were quite a few Gu Masters.
Among them, three had the highest cultivation, all being Fourth Transformation Gu Masters.
One was a Wu Family Elder, serving as Wu Shentong's personal guard. The other two were patriarchs of stronghold families who had allied themselves with the Wu Family.
Wu Shentong himself was a slave-path Gu Master at the Peak of the Fourth Transformation. He was thin and frail, with a pale complexion, and coughed occasionally. He looked like a sickly scholar who couldn't withstand the mountain wind for long.
However, none dared to look down on him in the slightest, precisely because he practiced the slave path. This school of thought was always capable of facing many foes alone.
"The strongest on Yitian Mountain is undoubtedly the former patriarch of the Xiao Family, Xiao Shan. Below him are two demonic path Gu Masters, Sun Panghu and Zhou Xingxing. All three are Fifth Transformation Gu Masters. In my opinion, it would be better to delay our attack slightly and invite some righteous path experts to bolster our ranks. This would not only be more secure but also allow us to win decisively in one battle, preventing these demons from escaping." One of the Fourth Transformation patriarchs suggested.
Wu Shentong's face darkened. He wanted to do exactly that, but this mission had been forcibly assigned by his family, with a strict time limit. Such harshness and urgency made even Wu Shentong suspect whether he had become a pawn in the family's political struggles.
He had exerted his utmost effort, leveraging his connections, to gather the manpower around him.
The true nature of Yitian Mountain, Wu Shentong would never understand until his death. The lofty Gu Masters he knew were merely tools being used by Gu Immortals in their gambling. Naturally, he would never know that at this very moment, countless Southern Border Gu Immortals had their expectant gazes fixed upon him.
"There is no need to dissuade me. As long as you all protect me, even if they possess Fifth Transformation combat power, how long can they hold out amidst my beast horde? Once their true essence is depleted, the meritorious deed of slaying a Fifth Transformation cultivator will fall to you all. Besides, since I am personally taking action, I naturally have confidence. Would I seek my own death?"
Wu Shentong was also a man of schemes. With just a few words, he dispelled the group's hesitation and boosted their morale.
Speed is the essence of war; the goal was to achieve a surprise effect.
Moments later, under Wu Shentong's command, the beast horde swarming across the hills charged directly up Yitian Mountain.
At this time, the Yitian Stronghold was still under construction.
The demonic path Gu Masters were thrown into disarray. They were accustomed to fighting alone, and despite Xiao Shan's strenuous efforts to organize them, no effective results were seen in the short term.
Xiao Shan was burning with anxiety, thinking: "The Yitian Stronghold has just been established and is still a small part away from completion. This is the first clash between the righteous and demonic paths. The stronghold is like a banner; it cannot fall! If it falls, our morale will surely plummet, like receiving a blow to the head, unable to lift our heads. If we lose our momentum and prestige, who will dare to willingly join me in the future?"
Thinking this, Xiao Shan hastily ordered all the demonic path Gu Masters to defend the Yitian Stronghold to the death.
Xiao Shan's reasoning was indeed quite insightful, but he greatly overestimated the demonic path Gu Masters' ability to cooperate.
If demonic path Gu Masters fought righteous path cultivators one-on-one, they often won more than they lost. But when numbers were involved, with equal forces clashing, the righteous path usually came out on top more often.
Without coordination, demonic path Gu Masters were just a mob.
Facing the massive beast horde charging at them, and without holding any advantageous terrain, they immediately fell into the situation Wu Shentong most wanted to see.
At first, a large number of wild beasts were killed under the demonic path Gu Masters' onslaught.
But soon, the demonic path Gu Masters' overwhelming wave of attacks grew thin and sparse. After all, the true essence of mortal Gu Masters was quite limited.
The wild beasts broke through the hail of attacks one after another, killing demonic path Gu Masters.
The demonic path casualties grew heavier and heavier, and the tide of battle quickly tilted toward the righteous path.
"Well fought."
"Brilliant..."
The Southern Border Gu Immortals gazed at the distant battlefield, their eyes filled with delight.
The Xiao Family Ancestor's face was as dark as water, his eyes fixed on Xiao Shan.
Xiao Shan was a seasoned veteran of the battlefield. He knew he absolutely could not let the situation continue as it was. He immediately bellowed, "Fifth Transformation, Fourth Transformation heroes, follow me! Charge down the mountain and kill that slave-path Gu Master! The rest of you, fight as you retreat!"
In this situation, the demonic side was suffering heavy losses. On the righteous side, although there were few Gu Masters, not a single one had fallen.
Everyone knew that acting alone would surely lead to ruin. Only by relying on each other could they carve out a path to survival and have a chance of escape.