"The third..."
Cultivators after cultivators from every direction!
The sound of rushing wind pierced the dark night as countless cultivators approached the vicinity of the Immortal Domain on flying swords.
Some drove spirit boats, while others summoned spirit beasts with their techniques.
The earth seemed to collapse under the strain, causing the mountains to shake and the ground to tremble.
Li Chang'an had not even finished his sentence.
Yet, within the Immortal Domain, every cultivator above the Golden Core stage paled with shock at this sudden disturbance, immediately sending out their Divine Sense to investigate.
The Three Families and Six Sects of the Azure Cloud Region had already gathered a hundred miles away!
The Jiang, Feng, and Mi families—once the greatest clans of the Azure Cloud Region—had spent the last two hundred years forming marriage alliances with the Li family branches.
With the Li family's help, they now possessed Divinity Transformation cultivators.
The Ghost Eye Sect, Black Tortoise Sect, Longevity Mountain, Artifact Sect, Skyveil Sect, Myriad Arts Sect—along with the recently resurging Azure Cloud Pavilion and Azure Phoenix Mountain—made for a total of eight great sects.
At this moment, nearly one hundred thousand disciples had established their formations, forming an airtight wall outside the Immortal Domain.
Without exception, the eyes of these Azure Cloud faction leaders held not a shred of fear when facing the Zhao clan and its so-called one-hundred-sixty-thousand-year foundation.
Instead, there was only long-awaited excitement and greed.
Li Chang'an's voice, usually warm, now sounded like the shrieking of malicious ghosts to the ears of the crowd as the Azure Cloud cultivators emerged.
"Our Li family once met a man. He told us: No one sleeps peacefully beside a sharpened blade."
"And that blade… is the third type."
The demonic words pierced their ears.
Chaos reigned within the Immortal Domain.
Led by Ding Yuanxiao, the various clan heads of Duravia Trade Prefecture looked around at the Three Families and Six Sects appearing on all sides.
Their backs were drenched in sweat, and their eyes darted about in panic.
"Prince Qian!!!"
Ding Yuanxiao trembled to his very core.
Inside the Great Formation, the many clan heads watched the smiling Li Chang'an with cold sweat streaming down their faces.
It was as if they were looking back at that man in Prince Qian's estate all those years ago—the one who had silently held everyone in the palm of his hand.
For every major family in the Duravia Trade Prefecture, even though nearly two hundred years had passed, the shadow of Prince Qian still loomed over them.
Prince Qian was a master of disguise. To outsiders, he always appeared weak and frail, yet hiding behind him were trump cards powerful enough to suppress everyone.
No!
The Li family was even more terrifying than Prince Qian.
They remained silent, posing as prey to lure the hunter—the Zhao clan—into the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
"Why are you spreading fear here?!"
Zhao Jingmiao let out a cold shout; he had already noticed the trembling of the crowd from the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
...
At this moment.
In Duskwild Prefecture, before the tombstone of the War God, a disheveled man was kneeling.
It was none other than the hidden poisonous snake of the Duravia Trade Prefecture from all those years ago—Prince Qian.
Over a hundred years had passed.
Prince Qian no longer possessed the elegant, gentlemanly demeanor of the past, yet he seemed to have let go of his burdens, his expression filled with tranquility.
"Heaven has abandoned me! Heaven has abandoned me! Hahaha!"
Facing the War God's grave, with Prince Yu standing beside him holding a blade, Prince Qian suddenly threw his head back and laughed.
After the laughter subsided, he looked calmly at Prince Yu beside him.
"Fourth Imperial Brother, if Heaven hadn't turned against me, forcing me to face that Li family in the lands of the two prefectures, I would surely have claimed a place for myself in this chaotic world.
It is a pity that I will never again have the chance to cross hands with you, nor step into the Heavenly Palace."
Hearing this, Prince Yu frowned slightly. "The Li family imprisoned you for over a hundred years, and tormented you for over a hundred years, yet they still could not grind away your arrogance and ambition."
Prince Qian merely gave a faint smile, his demeanor one of utter liberation.
"Over these hundred years… the Li family did not merely torment me."
In the beginning, it was Li Kuanghua who tormented him, but gradually, his days grew easier.
Members of the Li clan—like Li Kuangren, Li Chang'an, and Li Xinnian—would often visit his place of confinement to drink tea and converse freely with him, discussing this chaotic world and the affairs of the royal court.
From their initial anger, these Li family members gradually moved to understanding, until finally, he could even sense their admiration for him.
Had they not been enemies, he might have even become an honored guest of the Li clan.
Now, at the brink of death, recalling those hundred years of spirited conversation with the Li family, a trace of a smile slowly surfaced on Prince Qian's face.
He recalled the time the Li family had spoken to him about the Immortal Zhao Clan of Duravia Trade Prefecture.
Li Chang'an had asked, "The Immortal Zhao Clan is formidable. How should we deal with them?"
"How to deal with them?" Prince Qian murmured, causing Prince Yu to frown even more deeply.
A cool breeze drifted past as Prince Qian's faint voice floated out.
"Show weakness to the enemy to inflate their arrogance; show strength to the enemy by borrowing the power of others..."
...
"Show strength to the enemy by borrowing the power of others."
Li Chang'an's voice was ice-cold. Shedding all restraint, he looked Zhao Jingmiao straight in the eye.
"Whether it is your Immortal Zhao Clan or any other reclusive faction entering the Duravia Trade Prefecture, you will all learn one thing:
The Li family has a backer as vast as the heavens themselves!
Out of fear of the Human Emperor, the Imperial Preceptor, and the Grand Preceptor, you wouldn't dare touch a single hair on the Li family's head!"
"The Zhao Clan Banquet?" Ding Yuanxiao felt his courage shatter.
That day... that was precisely when the Immortal Zhao Clan had been deeply apprehensive of the Li family's backer!
Meanwhile, inside the high tower of the Zhao Clan's Grotto-Heaven.
"It wasn't the Zhao Clan Banquet." Fairy Bai's face was drained of color.
Even with her naturally aloof temperament, her expression was now filled with bitterness. Her slightly trembling voice reached Zhao Buqun's ears.
"It started from the moment I met Grand Elder Puci.
One cannot allow another to sleep soundly beside one's own bed.
How could the Li family not have seen that Grand Elder Puci was a fence-sitter?
Looking at it now, the Li family clearly had the power to kill him, yet they spared his life."
"Fence-sitters have their uses too.
When our Immortal Zhao Clan first arrived, the Li family appeared unable to defeat even the Ethereal Immortal Sect.
Perhaps that was the moment we stopped taking the Li family seriously.
And the very first time Grand Elder Puci met me, he immediately informed me about the backers supporting the Li family."
Zhao Buqun clenched his hands into fists.
He lowered his head, unaware of how much force he was using or how wide his eyes had grown.
"No one pays attention to an inconspicuous sheep, especially when the sheep's owner carries a hunting bow on his back.
We always assumed that the sheep could be snatched away at any moment; we never took it seriously.
The enemy we were guarding against was the owner of the sheep."