Because the Divine Path cultivators from Pingsha Island had each occupied different areas, the details each of them described naturally varied from one report to the next.
Still, certain details were remarkably consistent.
For instance, the Taibai Spectral Convergence Formation had not managed to trap the Ten Great Sacred Lands. The formation had initially worked as intended, but at some point it came under intermittent attack. And then, somehow or other, it had been blasted wide open.
After the formation collapsed, every spy and informant they had planted on Pingsha Island went completely silent. Not a single piece of intelligence made it back.
Without their inside contacts, the impact on the battle was enormous. They had lost the ability to track the movements of the Ten Great Sacred Lands with any precision, and their ability to control the situation plummeted.
They could not even explain clearly how the enemy had broken through the poisonous fog at the end.
When Elder Guangdu heard all this, his fury boiled over.
They were six Divine Path cultivators, for heaven's sake — how could they have been so utterly clueless? They did not even know how the enemy had broken through the fog?
And then there was the Taibai Spectral Convergence Formation itself. The fact that it had actually been shattered sent a chill of alarm through Elder Guangdu.
By his estimation, the Ten Great Sacred Lands should not have possessed the capability to break the Taibai Spectral Convergence Formation.
"Do you have any idea how that formation was broken? Who led the effort to dismantle it?"
"Reporting to the Elder — we have no knowledge of how the formation was breached. By the time we learned what had happened, it had already been blown apart. It appears the enemy had uncovered the secret to breaking the formation and struck at two critical nodes simultaneously, causing the entire array to fail in an instant."
"Moreover, the enemy seems to have anticipated that we had planted inside agents, and they cleaned them out with frightening thoroughness. Not a single one of our intelligence lines was triggered. In other words, every single informant we had was eliminated."
The reports kept pouring in, each one making Elder Guangdu's heart grow colder.
But after a moment's careful thought, he arrived at a conjecture and let out a cold snort. "The Ten Great Sacred Lands are, after all, forces with ancient lineages. They must have suspected there were spies among them. So anyone who was not a core member of the Sacred Lands was likely placed under house arrest or cut off from all outside communication entirely. And the core members of the Ten Great Sacred Lands — we could never have bought them off."
This was true enough. The elite inner circle of the Ten Great Sacred Lands was beyond their ability to corrupt, and it would have been extraordinarily difficult to even attempt. This whole operation could only work as a conspiracy — the slightest leak would have ruined everything.
So the only ones they could hope to turn were the second- and third-tier powers outside the Ten Great Sacred Lands. This was precisely why they had arranged for the Blue Mist Island Domain to send so many prodigies to participate in the selection trials.
The real purpose had been to infiltrate the Ten Great Sacred Lands and plant eyes and nails within.
Unfortunately, everything had gone smoothly at first — the infiltrators had provided a steady stream of intelligence and contributed a great deal to the overall strategy. But in the end, the pipeline had been cut off without warning.
It seemed the Ten Great Sacred Lands were not as mediocre as they had imagined. There were capable minds among them.
"Even if they managed to break the Taibai Spectral Convergence Formation, that fog was laced with multiple varieties of rare poison. How is it that the Ten Great Sacred Lands came through completely unscathed? Even if they broke through, the process should have taken enough time to cause at least some damage from exposure."
"That is precisely what we find most puzzling. They seemed to be aware that the fog was toxic and had apparently taken precautions against poisoning. Furthermore, based on our analysis, the time they spent breaking through from Pingsha Island to the exit was remarkably short — far too brief for the poison to have taken any real effect."