"See? My calculations were spot-on. As long as we keep doing what we've been doing, everything will be fine." Gai Meng Tian Ji Zi sipped his fine wine and nibbled on peanut-like snacks, speaking without a shred of shame.
Bing Sai Chuan couldn't even be bothered to respond to him. Instead, he turned to the other Gu Immortals. "Fang Yuan's forces are this formidable? That's far beyond our expectations. If he attacks us, we'll be put on the defensive for certain. The Gu Immortals in the Wild Desolate Great World are the most numerous, but most of them are half-hearted and refuse to follow orders. If we could have united them, we would have ranked first long ago, eclipsing even the Heavenly Court."
Gai Meng Tian Ji Zi rolled his eyes. "Don't you know why? That Yellow Earth Great World was originally laid out by Blissful Earth Immortal Venerable. The Azure Lotus Blessed Land belongs to the Heavenly Court's Origin Lotus Immortal Venerable. But the Wild Desolate Great World was created by Wild Desolate Demon Venerable — it was only obtained by our Master afterward. The claim is neither legitimate nor convincing, so how could anyone be truly swayed?"
Bing Sai Chuan slammed the table again, unable to contain himself. "Let's not dwell on the reasons. We should focus on how to solve the problem before us. Does anyone have any good ideas for bringing in those unaffiliated Gu Immortals?"
Azure Lotus Great World.
At regular intervals, a path-type Gu Insect flew in carrying messages.
Qin Ding Ling's brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
"Fang Yuan's subordinates are this fierce? In just half a day, they not only crushed our main army but also broke through and smashed past three defensive lines!"
"Nearly twenty of our Gu Immortals have fallen. The defeated Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals are all gravely wounded and have gathered at the mountain's waist, requesting an audience with the Sage."
"Oh?" Fairy Ming Hao, who held the third-highest position, couldn't help but show a flash of interest. "Truly worthy of Fang Yuan. I didn't expect he'd be so skilled at nurturing his subordinates."
After a brief pause, Fairy Ming Hao asked in a baby-like voice, "So you're saying Eternal Life has also increased their deployment?"
"Yes." Qin Ding Ling nodded. "The moment they detected Fang Yuan merging his two forces to counterattack us, Eternal Life immediately dispatched reinforcements to hold Lord Yu Xiu and his company in place. This may well be the situation Fang Yuan wanted to see."
Fairy Ming Hao laughed. "Since they want to attack, then let them come. Withdraw all defensive lines and let them come at us with everything they have."
"Yes." Qin Ding Ling immediately relayed the orders and arranged the deployments without a moment's hesitation.
Ice Crystal Immortal King and Xiao He Jian thus surged forward unimpeded all the way to the center of the Azure Lotus Great World — the foot of the Sacred Mountain.
They looked up at the mountain and found it remarkably peculiar.
The entire mountain was rendered in only black and white. The rocks seemed to be outlined in black ink, as though the mountain had been constructed from large blocks of white paper.
The living beings on the mountain had also lost their true forms.
All of them had become white paper figures with their outlines drawn in black.
A tiny white paper figure flew down from the mountain's summit. The moment she left the Sacred Mountain's domain, she immediately reverted to a body of flesh and blood, transforming into a petite, exquisitely beautiful little girl.
Xiao He Jian and Ice Crystal Immortal King exchanged a glance, both sensing something deeply wrong.
The completely unopposed charge through the second half of their journey had already made them uneasy.
Now they had reached the enemy's headquarters, yet the other side had only sent a single Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal to face them.
This was the Heavenly Court they were dealing with!
Even if their base were nearly empty, the Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals who had retreated earlier should still be around, right?
So why send only a small girl?
Despite their fierce momentum, Ice Crystal Immortal King, Xiao He Jian, and the others had long been filled with unease.
This army had been gathered primarily from two Blessed Lands.
They had spent most of their lives cowering inside those Blessed Lands, trembling with fear and treading on thin ice, living in constant dread that the humans of the Five Regions would discover them.
If not for Fang Yuan's fearsome demonic reputation, which had kept them intimidated all along, and if not for the fact that their strength had surged during this period, bolstering their confidence — in their previous state, they would never have dared to launch such an attack.
"What do we do now?"
Ice Crystal Immortal King and Xiao He Jian communicated through voice transmission to deliberate, then selected one of their generals to probe the enemy's true strength.
That Gu Immortal was Ke Xin Hong.
He specialized in the Poison Path and was the strongest among the Mushroomman Gu Immortals.
Neither Ice Crystal Immortal King nor Xiao He Jian chose one of their own — they chose him instead.
After all, the Mushroomman race was the latest to defect to Fang Yuan, and none of them had truly pledged loyalty. So Ice Crystal Immortal King and Xiao He Jian, relying on their seniority, joined forces to order the Mushroommen around.
In truth, Ke Xin Hong's recent activities had aroused no small amount of envy.
His diplomatic missions were the most numerous — easy work that required nothing more than a few words, yet yielded enormous contribution points. This was practically his privilege alone.
It made many other Gu Immortals green with jealousy.
Ke Xin Hong took a deep breath and stepped forward to face Fairy Ming Hao.
His eyes blazed with sharp light, his fighting spirit soaring.
On one hand, the many diplomatic missions had earned him a vague undercurrent of hostility, and he desperately wanted to prove himself through combat. On the other hand, he hoped to seize this opportunity to earn merit and vie for the position of leader of the Mushroomman tribe, becoming a major power under Fang Yuan's banner — all the better to shield his tribe in the future.
"The Mushroomman tribe was the last to join the Master, so naturally we've been pushed aside by those who came before."
"But we genuinely wished to build good relations with Ice Crystal Immortal King, Xiao He Jian, and the others. Unfortunately, the Master's intentions were quite different."
"Why did the Master repeatedly entrust me with diplomatic missions? At first, the intention may have been simple, but as time went on, the deeper purpose became clearer."
"The Master's forces are divided into two main groups: the non-human races and the humans. The humans are few in number, so we can set them aside for now. The non-humans far outnumber the humans, led by Ice Crystal Immortal King and Xiao He Jian. These two factions grow more powerful with each passing day. Left unchecked for too long, their interests will become hopelessly entangled and they'll grow too large to manage — detrimental to the Master's control."
"So from the very beginning, the Master never wanted my Mushroomman tribe to get entangled in that dynamic. Why did he repeatedly assign diplomatic missions directly to me, if not to bolster the Mushroomman tribe and divide the power of the non-human factions?"
Ke Xin Hong sighed deeply in his heart.
The longer he served under Fang Yuan, the more profoundly he felt the unfathomable depth of Fang Yuan's mind and the shrewd, almost imperceptible precision of his political maneuvering.