"He Hao? Zhen Wu?"
Li Yaozu followed his father into the temple, and the first thing that caught his eye was the seven-colored falcon.
He lowered his head slightly, his expression grim.
Seeing He Hao and Zhen Wu standing together, he realized it instantly: these two, just like Heavenly Lord Ning An, were both members of the Grand Tower!
Glancing at his father beside him, Li Yaozu suddenly understood.
No wonder.
No wonder his father had warned him not to disclose the affairs of the Grand Tower to anyone.
Now he realized that members of the Grand Tower could be hiding within any faction.
Rashly exposing them could easily trigger unforeseen consequences.
Perhaps if he had remained silent, Ling Xu would not have met such an end.
His father clearly placed no value on the lives of those from the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, but Li Yaozu had wanted to spare them.
After all, these people had taken great care of Tianyi.
He just hadn't expected that Ling Xu would die as a result.
"The Grand Tower truly possesses great capabilities.
Zhen Wu, one of the Four Great White Robes of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, and the Sect Master of the Eternal Immortal Sect...
Had you not given yourselves away, I truly would not have guessed your identities."
The chains binding the Heaven-Piercing Coffin to Li Dalong's body rattled as they gradually loosened their hold on the coffin.
Propping one hand against the coffin, he frowned, gazing at the two men before him who had so defied his expectations.
"It's you?!!"
Zhen Wu's eyes narrowed slightly.
As he observed the calm and composed demeanor of Li Dalong and Li Yaozu, the truth suddenly dawned on him.
"It was you who secretly provided intelligence to the Department of Immortal Suppression and exposed the true strength of our Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems!"
He was certain of it now.
The Li family knew them far too well; even Heavenly Lord Ning An's identity had been exposed by Li Yaozu.
It went even deeper... Li Dalong and Li Yaozu seemed to have been keeping watch over the location of the Divine Corpse of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems all along.
The moment the formation was opened, this father and son arrived.
"How is this possible?" He Hao was stunned.
Was this really the same clan that had been ostracized within the Department of Immortal Suppression?
The one that, even when this great war began, was dismissed as a negligible existence by so many factions within the Department?
"Hahaha! Where do you get such audacity?!!"
Zhen Wu suddenly burst into laughter.
"So it was you who took the Three Corpses, and you even dare to lie in ambush for our Grand Tower?
"You stalk your prey, blind to the hunter behind you—but ambition alone doesn't make the final victor. And you think that's you?"
But as he laughed, Zhen Wu found he could laugh no more.
The father and son merely gazed at him with mocking expressions, staring until his scalp went numb.
Without absolute confidence and strength, they would never possess such composure.
How could they dare?!!
Zhen Wu took a deep breath.
"Hand over the Three Corpses, and I can spare your lives.
The Grand Tower demands the lives of everyone here; only then can the matter of the Three Corpses be laid to rest.
The bodies of all the experts here will become their materials."
But Zhen Wu was suddenly struck dumb.
Li Dalong raised his head.
Within the Heaven-Piercing Coffin, a boundless sea of death surged like a rising tide, and the Heaven-Imprisoning Chains shot forth like striking dragons!
"You hold them in too high regard!"
...
The great battle on the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems raged on without end.
Yet, amidst the chaos, two sneaky figures dressed in the black robes of the Mountain could be seen riding a grotesque, mismatched stitched beast.
"Amitabha. May the gods and immortals bless us. Bless us, two brothers, ensure this journey goes smoothly, and let no one spot us."
Li Tianming had his palms pressed together in prayer.
To display such devout piety amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood was truly jarring to the extreme.
It made Li Tianqi, who was in front holding the reins, feel as though calluses were growing on his ears.
"Give it a rest, will you? What is there to be scared of?
We've traveled north and south for years. We've seen plenty of ghostly and supernatural things in Duskwild Prefecture and never flinched.
What does the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems amount to compared to that?"
"I'm scared... I'm scared, alright!"
Li Tianming looked aggrieved.
In his hand, a Storage Ring flashed with red light; inside it, a pool of blood could be seen, with a headless corpse lying within.
"Even Big Brother has been sent out, so where do you get such guts?
One wrong move, and both our lives end here.
I promised the elders and that person that I would take good care of you all."
"Argh! Enough, enough!"
Li Tianqi covered his ears, his expression twisting in annoyance.
"Isn't it just stealing a Divine Corpse? Our clansmen are fighting a war right now—isn't that way more dangerous than what we're doing?"
"Fighting a war?"
Li Tianming was stunned. "Fighting where? Isn't it over once we steal the Divine Corpse?"
Hearing this, Li Tianqi rolled his eyes.
"The Grand Tower's influence is massive, hehe.
Last time we were in the Ancestral Space, the clan had Su Chen search every corner of the world, and the ones he was looking for were exactly that bunch from the Grand Tower."
"Look at the situation now: the Grand Tower wants to wipe out the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems.
We predicted this years ago, back when we found out Heavenly Lord Ning An was one of them.
But regarding the eradication of the Mountain... do you really think they'd feel safe leaving the job entirely to the Department of Immortal Suppression?"
"If it were you, would you dare entrust a matter of life and death to outsiders?"
Li Tianming shook his head. "Definitely not."
"Hehe." Li Tianqi grinned broadly.
"I reckon they definitely have more undercover agents. And besides... our clansmen are watching the Grand Tower right now."
"Regarding the Three Corpses... the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems held the torsos, so the Grand Tower must certainly possess another portion."
"Now that the Grand Tower has dared to make a move, our opportunity has arrived.
With so many of their people here, I refuse to believe there isn't a single important figure among them.
Ideally, we can find their headquarters; then, the whereabouts of the rest of the Three Corpses will be brought to light."
"The Department of Immortal Suppression? The Grand Tower? The Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems?"
"Hmph! Let them fight it out. We've been preparing for nearly a hundred years.
Our Li Clan is the true fisherman! We don't just want their treasures; we want their corpses too!"
Li Tianqi yanked the reins of the stitched beast, his expression filled with excitement as they rushed out of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems.
"Let's get out of here now and send the Divine Corpse back home. We might even make it in time for the big battle—Big Brother is waiting for us outside!"
"Nooo!"
Li Tianming's face turned pale. "Tianqi, you promised that after we finished this one job, we'd quit! You liar!"
---
Donate on Ko-fi ➡️ [https://ko-fi.com/darktea] ⬅️
Get Early Access to 90 Chapters: Search for "Dark Tea" on Ko-fi (Explore tab) and join my membership to read ahead!