Wang Xiao'er woke from his slumber.
"Weren't I supposed to be locked up? Where am I now?" Wang Xiao'er was bewildered. He found himself in the midst of a vast wasteland.
"Run!"
"Run, run!"
A massive crowd suddenly surged forward in a torrent.
Crack!
A deafening boom rang out as a bolt of lightning from a clear sky struck down with devastating force.
Then the earth trembled and heaved. Amid tremendous rumbling, the ground rapidly caved in.
After a dozen breaths or so, a colossal depression stretching ten li in every direction had formed.
The depression enclosed everyone within it, including Wang Xiao'er.
Wang Xiao'er stood stunned, swept along by the crowd around him.
The people nearby were in chaos, gripped by panic, and Wang Xiao'er felt exactly the same way.
He had no idea what had happened.
Before this, he had been captured by Fang Dongxi in the Sandbag Blessed Land. After a soul search, the latter had obtained the intel on the Hudi.
During the battle for the Sandbag Blessed Land, the soul core in Fang Dongxi's possession had been lost. Fortunately, having captured Wang Xiao'er, he had learned the secret intelligence about the Hudi from him.
Fang Dongxi used this precious information to redeem himself, and at the same time, he discovered something peculiar about Wang Xiao'er.
So Fang Dongxi locked Wang Xiao'er away inside his own immortal aperture, specifically constructing an underground cell. He conducted numerous in-depth examinations of Wang Xiao'er but never managed to figure out what exactly was so strange about him.
"All of you, shut your mouths!" A figure suddenly appeared in midair.
Wang Xiao'er and the others looked up.
"Your ancestor Fang Dongxi has perished in battle. Everything here now belongs to me, Xiao Yehu! And all of you are my captives! Stay right here — anyone who dares to flee, I will make them wish they were dead!"
Xiao Yehu's face was deathly pale, his features twisted into a savage mask.
The crowd that had been clamoring and chaotic fell deathly silent under his threat.
Fang Dongxi and Fang Anlei had fought to the death on the battlefield to cover Fang Dizhang's retreat. Both were Seventh Transformation Gu Immortals. When their immortal apertures fell to the ground, the aperture gates opened of their own accord, absorbing heaven and earth qi to form masterless blessed lands.
Xiao Yehu had seized the opportunity to enter one of them and scour it for spoils.
But the results of his scavenging had not satisfied him.
His losses this time had been catastrophic — the entire Gu house Night Urn had been destroyed by Fang Gong. Even emptying Fang Dongxi's immortal aperture would only recover a fraction of what he had lost.
"No, the Wan family has to give me an explanation!" Xiao Yehu's expression was grim. After stabilizing the situation within the Dongxi Blessed Land, he hurried off to find the Wan family.
At this point, the Alliance Against Fang had been pressing its advantage and had already successfully retaken the Wan family's stronghold blessed land.
The Immortal Masters of the Alliance Against Fang were all regrouping here temporarily.
Arriving before the grand hall, Xiao Yehu reined in his sour expression and called out in a loud voice: "Senior Wan Guchou, this junior Xiao Yehu, representing the Xiao family, requests an audience. There are important matters to discuss."
Times had changed.
Wan Guchou had suddenly resurrected, defeated the Fang family, and turned the tide entirely. Her prestige was thunderous, sending shockwaves throughout the entire Western Desert Gu Immortal world.
Facing such a powerful figure, Xiao Yehu had to restrain his attitude toward the Wan family.
Soon, Xiao Yehu received permission to enter the grand hall, where he beheld Wan Guchou seated in the seat of honor.
Wan Guchou was dressed entirely in white, her head full of silver hair, her appearance that of a frail, aged woman.
To her left stood Wan Haoguang, and to her right, Wan Xiao.
"Heh heh heh." She looked at Xiao Yehu and laughed, the sound hoarse and spine-chilling. "Young one from the Xiao family, you've arrived just in time. I have important matters to discuss with all of you. Please, take a seat and wait a moment."
"Yes." Xiao Yehu did not dare to object and simply chose a seat to sit down.
Before long, the rest of the Immortal Masters from the Alliance Against Fang were invited to the grand hall for the meeting.
Even Wan Zihong and Zhou Xiongxin, the two Gu Immortals from Heavenly Court, were present.
Wan Guchou surveyed those assembled and spoke directly: "Although the Fang family has been defeated, they have stolen a vast number of our clan's resource nodes. According to our prior agreements with the various families, the Wan family can no longer pay the promised compensation."
"However, there is now an excellent opportunity before us."
"The Fang family has suffered a crushing defeat and their strength is greatly diminished. As long as we press our attack while they're on the run, the Fang family will surely be unable to resist. They have degenerated into the Demonic Path and must be eradicated completely! When that time comes, we will divide the spoils together."
The Immortal Masters listened with a chill running through body and soul.
This Wan Guchou was utterly shameless — she bluntly declared she could not pay compensation, leaving the Alliance Against Fang no choice but to continue the fight.
Her methods were ruthless as well: she wanted to press the advantage and annihilate the Fang family completely.
Still, this truly was a golden opportunity.
The assembled Immortal Masters could not help but be tempted.
The Fang family had sold off a great number of the Wan family's resource nodes, but had sold relatively few of their own local resources. Their foundation remained intact.
Now was the time to beat a drowning dog.
"The Wan family is cunning — they deliberately concealed Wan Guchou and kept us all in the dark."
"Wan Guchou held back and waited. Only after we had all been defeated did she make her move, then crushed the Fang family in one sweeping blow, creating the situation that now most benefits the Wan family!"
"On the surface, the Wan family traded most heavily with the Xiao family, but in truth, their greatest partner is none other than Heavenly Court of the Central Continent!"
Not a single Immortal Master present was foolish. Over these past days, they had already figured it all out.
If Wan Guchou had made her move earlier, then even if the Alliance Against Fang had defeated the Fang family, the lion's share of the credit would have gone to the majority of the alliance's Immortal Masters.