Highsun City.
The members of the Li Clan received a message from Ba Siyu.
"He wants to buy logistical supplies from us? To make up for the losses of the stolen supplies north of Highsun City? What a grand gesture."
Li Changyao pinched a jade slip sent by Ba Siyu. After reading the information within, the jade slip dissipated into smoke, vanishing just as it had when it arrived.
As the minister who had managed the Heavenly Principle Hall for many years, Li Changyao was far more interested in this jade slip than the intelligence contained within the letter.
"That little dog Ba's character isn't great, but his method of transmission is quite impressive. It's even better than our Hidden Nest of Crow.
The jade slip is utterly traceless, turning into a smoke-like method that drifts through the sky; only those at the Body Integration realm could possibly sense it."
Li Changsheng stroked his chin.
"This is Ba Siyu's way of showing goodwill. The authority of the mighty figures is about to fall onto our shoulders; we can act freely in Deston Prefecture.
They are imitating the Immortal Suppression Department, treating us as a usable blade."
"The Yun Clan has rebelled, and Bi Shihu's whereabouts are unknown; Ba Siyu is getting anxious.
He is afraid someone is plotting against him and doesn't dare to expend his own strength.
By returning to Highsun City, he wants us to deal with the Yun Clan and Bi Shihu, and he also wants us to ferret out the mastermind behind the scenes for him."
Having mingled in the Heavenly Principle Hall for a long time, the siblings could see through whatever devious schemes Ba Siyu was plotting at a single glance.
"Heh, and he calls himself a Body Integration mighty figure? His methods of managing subordinates aren't even as good as Third Prince Qian's."
After Li Changyao grumbled, she pondered for a moment. "Brother, should we give him the supplies?"
"This is a transaction." Li Xinnian smiled.
"Great-Aunt, when things are delivered right to our door, how could we possibly refuse them?
Ba Siyu is, after all, at the Body Integration realm. If we can avoid offending him, we shouldn't.
It just depends on how many treasures he asks for, and whether what he offers us in return is worth it."
Thinking about it carefully, Li Changyao shrugged. "True, let that little dog Ba have it easy."
"Now Yun Hongcai's whereabouts are unknown, and there's no sign of Bi Shihu over at the Golden Toad Divine Palace." Li Xinnian's expression turned grave.
"Granduncle, Great-Aunt, I deduce that someone behind the scenes is using them.
Both Bi Shihu and Yun Hongcai are chess pieces placed by a mastermind decades ago, and their target is Ba Siyu."
"Now that Ba Siyu wants to break the stalemate, we are one of his chess pieces."
Li Changyao's expression turned ugly. "He wants us to sell our lives for him?"
Sitting in his wheelchair, Li Changsheng remained as calm as an ancient well.
"If one cannot reach the Body Integration realm, they are destined to sell their lives for others.
Don't forget, we came to Deston Prefecture precisely to break the stalemate.
Only when someone in the family breaks through to Body Integration can we truly step onto the grand stage of the world and avoid being entirely passive. Furthermore..."
Li Changsheng rolled the wheels of his wheelchair to the window, gazing at the panicking crowds in Highsun City and then toward the direction of their family's home.
"Ba Siyu is a vile character, but if he falls, the various mighty figures and cultivators of Deston Prefecture will all suffer.
If Deston Prefecture is breached and the dynasty falls into crisis, it will be our Azure Cloud Prefecture's turn next."
.......
Decades ago, the defenses at major strategic points of the dynasty suddenly slacked.
The Wu tribe broke the past Agreement and charged into the dynasty.
Then, in order to survive, they scattered in all directions, fighting a guerrilla war against the dynasty.
At this moment, in a mountain outside Deston Prefecture, Venerable Elder Yuanliang and Bi Shihu, who had just been conversing, arrived before the mountain.
Sensing Venerable Elder Yuanliang's aura, the shadows of the trees across the entire mountain swayed, and a black vortex sucked the two of them into the mountain.
This mountain was actually hollow!
Fires burned within the mountain for illumination.
Inside the hollowed-out mountain, there were various buildings, and countless Wu tribesmen lived within, organizing their equipment.
"Tribesmen, our opportunity has arrived!"
Venerable Elder Yuanliang's face flushed red as he let out an angry shout. The entire mountain rejoiced.
They had waited here for decades just to completely conquer the lands of the human race and bring supreme glory back to their tribe and totems.
This was also their method for rapidly increasing their strength.
The voices of the Wu tribesmen were thunderous.
Bi Shihu looked at all of this in horror.
"This place is very close to Deston Prefecture. The Wu tribesmen possess swift physiques; they can rush to Highsun City in three to five days.
Five hundred thousand Wu tribesmen, each possessing different Wu Spiritual power.
Only by gathering here day after day for the past few decades could they amass such numbers."
"In other words, they have been waiting for this day for decades, intending to completely cut off the retreat of Ba Siyu and the cultivators of my human race."
Slightly sensing the Spiritual power around him.
Bi Shihu could already sense at least seven Venerable Elders here.
As for the "Rising Sun Sage Elder" that Venerable Elder Yuanliang had mentioned, he was nowhere to be seen.
However, a Sage Elder definitely couldn't enter the territory of the dynasty anyway.
With Body Integration realm cultivators contending against each other, how could they allow the Rising Sun Sage Elder to reach the rear?
But even so, Bi Shihu still trembled with fear.
"Since the Wu tribe sought out a desperate man like me, they must have also sought out Yun Hongcai!
Fortunately, I agreed; otherwise... the three Fellow Daoists Yun Hongcai invited over these years, making four Void Refinement experts leading a surprise attack, combined with these people, could equally take down Highsun City.
At that time, I would be the one to suffer."