Royal Palace, Wei Dynasty
At this time, a very old man was looking at the warriors, accompanied by Wei Han personally, showcasing his extremely high status.
He was Ming Du, a Rank 7 Warrior, but his status was no less than that of a Rank 8 Warrior! He was a Rank 7 Poison Master, an extremely rare profession among Advanced Warriors.
He wasn't the only one here—Wu Dynasty's advisor, Gu Chen, was also present.
It turned out that after Wei Han captured Li Gang and discovered the poisoned warriors, he secretly sent a letter to the Wu Dynasty for emergency help.
Wei Han never had any intention of cooperating with Li Gang. He agreed to every term on the surface, acting as if he was extremely helpless, while scheming to betray him at any moment.
Back then, Li Gang never expected the Shu Dynasty to send 5 million warriors due to the unclear situation between the Wu, Shu, and Wei Dynasties.
It also involved the two Monarchs' interference.
It turned out they had a tacit cooperation with the Wu and Shu Dynasties. However, why would they cooperate?
The two Monarchs promised to help them unify the Northern Continent, but they could only support one dynasty, and they sided with the Wu Dynasty in this matter.
This was the reason they sent all 5 million troops for battle against the Wei Dynasty despite knowing it was a trap. They wanted to weaken the Shu Dynasty in this way.
It should be noted that everyone had their own ulterior motives. If they didn't help the Wu Dynasty, the Wu Dynasty wouldn't assist in tracking Li Gang's location and cornering him at crucial moments. At the same time, if the Wu Dynasty refused to help capture Li Gang, they would back off at any moment. With Li Gang's interference, and without the Monarchs' help, they couldn't unify the Northern Continent.
They also helped the Wei Dynasty in removing Li Gang's poison control over them. The Monarchs had arranged a Rank 7 Poison Master to treat those who were previously poisoned, but they only sent their help after the battle between Wei and Shu concluded.
Looking at Ming Du checking the pulse of the alchemist, Wei Han asked, "How is it, Master Ming?"
Ming Du nodded. "These are extremely rare poisons, but as long as they are Rank 6, I have a way to resolve them!"
Wei Han sighed in relief, as if things were finally under control with Ming Du's reassurance.
Ming Du stood up and smiled. "Do you know why it's so hard to find an Advanced Poison Master?"
Wei Han shook his head and looked at him seriously, as if waiting for the answer.
Ming Du said lightly, "In order to advance from Rank 6 to Rank 7, one has to break their Heavenly Core and circulate Spiritual Essence through their meridians to every single cell in their body. Each cell acts as a reservoir that stores high-quality Spiritual Essence."
He continued, "When an Advanced Warrior consumes any spiritual ingestibles like medicinal pills or poison, their entire digestive system is covered with a wall of Spiritual Essence, which can be used to separate harmful and non-harmful substances. This wall is created because every single cell overflows with Spiritual Essence. An Advanced Warrior's body is capable of storing medicinal materials in any part of their body. They can extract the essence of spiritual herbs or medicines and store them in specific areas, untainted by bodily fluids due to these Spiritual Essence walls. They can also manipulate these walls into any orientation with precise control."
"Poisoning a Rank 7 Warrior is extremely difficult, because the poison must not only harm their stronger body but also have the ability to corrode and pass through the Spiritual Essence wall. Otherwise, once they sense danger from what they consumed, they can separate the harmful substance and expel it through the pores of their skin."
"The poison must be deadly enough that the moment it touches the tongue, it bypasses the defensive Spiritual Essence wall and seeps into the blood and internal organs without alerting the warrior. Because even if it's deadly, warriors are quick enough to stop their blood flow and decisively cut off poisoned parts before it spreads!"
Outskirts of Dongning, Golden Crow Dynasty
In a remote settlement.
Li Gang explained to Zudas that he was an acquaintance of Jin Huang, and she had sent him here at his request.
Zudas couldn't trust him; however, he had no choice.
At this time, Zudas didn't know the extent of Li Gang's injuries, nor was he confident he could kill him. As a result, he hesitated, and to protect Chu You, he submitted.
Fooling someone like Zudas, who was only a Rank 3 Warrior, was no longer difficult for Li Gang. Zudas could easily take him out if he made a move; however, Li Gang's act of sending Chu You away made Zudas hesitate.
If Li Gang had been heavily injured and defenseless, it would have made sense for him to keep Chu You nearby to exploit Zudas' weakness. However, he sent her away without hesitation, making Zudas believe that Li Gang wasn't afraid of him. His injuries looked terrifying on the surface, but perhaps not internally.
Li Gang also began calculating.
He considered two possibilities.
First, the tracking mark was on him. Second, it wasn't on him, instead whenever the other party awakens within him, he reveals his location.
Let's consider first case.
Which faction had sent manpower to search for him? He thought of several possibilities—the Golden Crow Dynasty, Wu Dynasty, Shu Dynasty, Wei Dynasty, or the Monarchs' private forces.
The chances of the Golden Crow Dynasty sending warriors were the lowest, but it couldn't be ignored.
Why? Because his body had been taken over.
If his body could be taken over, then what about those who fought alongside him—Shi Tian and Jin Long? Was it possible that one of the Monarchs had taken over one of their bodies while the other took his? That would make the situation far worse.
In such a case, it would take time to dispatch warriors. They would need 4–5 days to do so carefully without alerting his main body. It would then take another 1–2 days to reach this place. The timing made sense, as they had yet to catch up with him. At the same time, they wouldn't have reached Jin Huang's cabin yet, which explained why the formation hadn't been triggered.
The Wu Dynasty.
The Wu Dynasty was too far from this place. Even with prior arrangements, it would take at least a day to begin their journey (since the Monarch would take some time to plant tracking element on his body after awakening within him), and 6–7 days to reach Jin Huang's cabin with a good Spiritual Beast.
Li Gang highly doubted if it was the Shu Dynasty. But even if it was, the timing would be similar to the Wu Dynasty.
After considering everything, he realized that every possibility remained plausible. The second possibility would take around the same amount of time, except they wouldn't be directly going for him instead they would go for Jin Huang's cabin first.
At the same time, as he looked at Zudas, a glint flashed in his eyes. He murmured, "Since you refuse to fall, then become my pawn once again and help me unify the Northern Continent!"
He smiled and said, "Do something for me."
Saying that, Li Gang narrated his entire plan.
As soon as Zudas heard it, he reacted immediately. "Impossible! I won't leave Chu You."
Li Gang laughed as he stood up. His cold eyes glanced at Zudas as he said word by word, "Do you have any other options? You admire the princess, yet she sent you to this remote place—exactly where I would pass if I wanted to enter Dongning. Do you think she did that without knowing anything?"
Zudas remained silent. Ever since he had followed Her Highness Jin Huang, he knew she was unfathomable—like a deity who knew everything. Everything she did had a reason.
He didn't know her reason this time, but he gritted his teeth and accepted Li Gang's decision after hearing his words.
Li Gang smiled. "Don't worry, I will keep Chu You safe."
Li Gang deliberately made Zudas leave alone. If he allowed him to leave with Chu You, he might escape. Li Gang needed leverage over Zudas to ensure obedience.
After Zudas left,
Li Gang's eyes deepened. He began processing Lin Fan's memories.
Back then, when he obtained Lin Fan's memories, they were encrypted. Unless he processed them and made them his own, he couldn't access them. He had only processed what was useful—mainly the understanding of the elements.
He Fan had tampered with Lin Fan's memories and left behind various pieces of information. Unfortunately, Li Gang hadn't processed most of it. As a result, he didn't know his body could be taken over through soul-type methods.
This time, he began processing information related to soul techniques. After some time, he realized what was happening.
In Lin Fan's memories, there was indeed a method to parasitize his body—and this was where the real problem began.
There were three phases.
The first phase was something he already knew. The soul could take over his body temporarily, depending on its Soul Power. In this case, control could last up to 2 days. It could be extended to 5 days, but then the next takeover would be limited to 1 day for several cycles. The gap between each takeover was roughly one day.
This wasn't a rigid rule, but something Li Gang inferred based on the gaps between actions from the two Monarchs.
Now he understood why he (one of the Monarch) allowed him (Li Gang) to awaken instead of suppressing his soul completely—it was because their control had limits. At the same time, Li Gang realized that escape was now nearly impossible.
"He" instead of "They"—because Li Gang realized that only one person could parasitize his body at a time. One Monarch was in his body, while the other was likely in Shi Tian.
Why Shi Tian? Because his cultivation was lower than Jin Long's, allowing more stable control.
This was only the first phase.
In the second phase, they begin gaining access to parts of the host's memories, strengthening their control.
In the third phase, they gain complete control over both the memories and the body.
In Lin Fan's memories, there was no way to stop this process unless the parasite left voluntarily.
Two hours later, in the dark of night,
A few black-robed warriors arrived at the vicinity of the settlement.
The leader, Chen Wang, was about to enter when he heard a sound nearby.
He immediately looked in that direction and saw someone sitting on a small rock in a meditative posture.
Chen Wang approached as he heard,
"You've arrived."
Li Gang smiled at them. "I have been waiting for a long time. It's a bit surprising that you visited that cabin before coming here."
According to Li Gang's calculations, no matter the situation, they shouldn't have gone there first. In every scenario, they should have been informed of his location before reaching Jin Huang's cabin—even if the Monarch inside him had awakened before giving orders.
He sighed. "Those two are truly scheming."
Why did he say that?
Chen Wang had gone to Jin Huang's cabin first. The direction from where he is returning is the path from Jin Huang's cabin. Despite that, they didn't trigger any formation. He believes the Monarch had already warned them beforehand.