"Shameless! Absolutely shameless!" Dongfang Wen Qing bellowed, his face flushed crimson with fury as he watched the disgraceful collapse.
Beside him, Duanmu Chao Fan's mustache trembled violently. The veins bulged on his forehead as he struggled to curse through his habitual stammer. "That… that… fucking… Li… Li… Li… Jue… Jue… Jue… that… that… mother…"
Another family head, Sikong An Ye, stood nearby with a face so dark it seemed drenched in storm clouds. He roared angrily, "Dammit! I'll kill everyone in front of my eyes! And you stop stammering! You haven't been swallowed by an Xuan Beast yet, so stop being so gloomy!"
"Bullsht! I… I still haven't finished… abusing… abusing…!" Duanmu Chao Fan snapped back, astonishingly smooth with that first word.
The "Bullsht!" rang out crisp and powerful, delivered without the slightest stammer, majestic and bold in its clarity.
"Stop talking!" Sikong An Ye exploded, drawing his sword in a flash of cold steel.
A golden tiger was already charging toward them.
Its body was massive, its muscles rippling beneath striped fur that shimmered like molten gold. Its jaws opened wide enough to swallow a man whole, teeth glinting like rows of daggers. Its tail lashed behind it like an iron rod, cracking the air with terrifying force.
Yet what made it truly horrifying was not its strength alone.
It moved with technique.
Each leap was measured, and each shift of its weight was precise. The wind whistled around it in controlled spirals, as if guided by deliberate intent. It was wild, yet refined, savage, yet disciplined. The rhythm of its muscular haunches was so coordinated that it almost resembled a martial arts movement.
Who could withstand Xuan Beasts that fought like trained masters?
Moments later, Dongfang Wen Qing and the others were submerged in the roaring tide. Level eight and nine beasts surrounded them, their immense bodies forming an impenetrable ring. Their spiritual senses flared in alarm, and every hair on their bodies stood on end.
Then something strange occurred.
The powerful beasts circled them once, their cold eyes sweeping across the humans as if assessing livestock.
And then, they simply walked away just like that.
The golden tiger flicked its tail playfully before bounding onward, its gaze fixed elsewhere.
Dongfang Wen Qing's expression stiffened.
Duanmu Chao Fan's mouth hung open, half-formed curses dying in his throat.
Sikong An Ye stood frozen, sword raised, as if unsure whether to feel relieved or insulted.
On the distant hilltop, the observers' faces turned dark as ink.
Lei Bao Yu's laughter rang sharp and clear against the turbulent backdrop of the battlefield. He extended a finger toward the chaos below, his sleeve fluttering in the rising gusts stirred by thousands of charging beasts, and turned his amused gaze upon Li Jue Tian.
"Is this how you arrange your troops in an indomitable formation, Li Jue Tian?" He asked, shaking his head slowly, the corners of his mouth curling upward in unmistakable ridicule. "The experts have left and have gone in different directions. They entered the battle without any commitment, and left their Supreme Commander exposed…! They've annihilated their own formation! Anyone who'd expose their Supreme Commander to such danger would've faced a criminal charge if this were an ordinary battle. Those three thousand men wouldn't have been allowed to live if that were the case!"
Each word was like a slap delivered in public.
Below them, the roar of the Xuan Beasts rose like a tidal wave, yet somehow Lei Bao Yu's voice cut through it effortlessly, every syllable landing with deliberate precision. His eyes gleamed with a mixture of mockery and curiosity, as though he were examining an exotic specimen rather than a fellow Great Master.
He chuckled again, softer this time, and added, "No wonder you didn't wish to accept those conditions. You never intended to win this battle! I presume that many amongst those four thousand are your enemies…? That is a great trick!"
The implication hung heavily in the air.
Li Jue Tian's expression stiffened.
Bu Kuang Feng, who had been observing the battlefield with narrowed eyes, finally spoke. Unlike Lei Bao Yu's overt teasing, his tone carried a faint note of genuine admiration, though it was directed elsewhere.
"That Supreme Commander is like a great expert of this generation when it comes to the 'art of war' by the looks of it," He said slowly, his gaze fixed upon the shrinking square of three hundred men who still stood firm amid the storm. "He had started by arranging the troops in the blade-edge formation. The blade-edge formation would defend against the attack in the beginning. In fact, that defense would've absorbed the brunt of it. He could then stabilize the situation… even if he wouldn't be able to defeat the Xuan Beasts."
His voice grew firmer as he continued, almost as if lecturing a room of inattentive students.
"Moreover, he had laid many traps at the front in order to minimize the casualties on his side. Then, they could've taken support from each other to garner strength for a counter-attack against the beasts if they had survived the first wave of attacks. That's such a brilliant arrangement! It's simply outstanding! It's a pity that a lowlife has ruined it…! Humph!"
The word 'lowlife' fell like a stone into still water, its ripples unmistakable.
Li Jue Tian's face instantly shifted between shades of blue and red. The veins at his temples throbbed visibly. His hands, hidden within his sleeves, clenched so tightly that his knuckles whitened.
He understood perfectly well whom Bu Kuang Feng was referring to.
Lei Bao Yu glanced sideways at him with an expression that seemed almost sympathetic, though the amusement in his eyes betrayed him.
"Great Master Li," He said lightly, "it appears that you don't care about your son's legs much. How could you have handled things in such a reckless manner if you were concerned with your son's well-being? This is unimaginable!"
That sentence struck deeper than any blade.
Li Jue Tian's lips trembled faintly, but no words emerged. For a man accustomed to having his will treated as law in the mortal world, this public scrutiny was suffocating. In his domain, no one would dare question his decisions. Those who disagreed would either bow their heads or disappear.
Yet the two standing before him were not mortals under his shadow.
They were envoys of the Elusive World of Immortals.
Over a hundred years of experience had sharpened their perception beyond that of ordinary experts. They had no need for military backgrounds to recognize brilliance when they saw it.
Jun Wu Yi's formation had not been a random act of desperation, but rather a calculated masterpiece designed to squeeze survival from certain death.
And it had been shattered from within.
Li Jue Tian's chest rose and fell heavily as he looked down at the battlefield.
The three thousand who had broken formation were now scattered across the flanks, colliding chaotically with the Xuan Beast tide. The once cohesive front had dissolved into isolated pockets of struggle.
Meanwhile, Jun Wu Yi and his three hundred men stood directly in the path of the densest wave.
For a fleeting moment, doubt flickered in Li Jue Tian's eyes.
He had indeed hoped to weaken certain factions through this battle. He had believed the chaos could be controlled. He had assumed no one of higher authority would witness the details closely enough to question him.
How could he have known that the Elusive World of Immortals would send observers?
In the mortal realm, his status as the Second Great Master was nearly absolute. Who would dare criticize him openly? Even if they disagreed, they would swallow their words for fear of offending him.
No one would willingly die to uphold principles against such power.
But now, he had not merely lost face.
He had lost it before the Three Holy Lands.
And worse, he had placed his son in peril.
--- ✦ ✦ ✦ ---
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