The next day, as dawn broke, it scattered some of the thick miasma of Yunmeng Marsh, but could not dispel the suffocating tension hanging over Xianling Valley.
In the Hall of Concentrated Hearts, the lamps had burned through the night as everyone gathered once more.
Their faces were etched with fatigue and bloodshot eyes—obviously none had slept, all digesting the crushing pressure of the Holy Dynasty's army pressing toward their borders.
Yet, when Xiao Chen stepped into the hall, everyone immediately sensed something different about their senior disciple.
Yesterday, Xiao Chen's brow had been locked in an unbreakable frown, tinged with a sliver of near-despair helplessness.
Now, though his expression remained grave, his deep eyes burned with a nearly frenzied, decisive fire—and a calm that seemed to know a critical secret, like a gambler about to burn his bridges!
"Senior Brother?" Chen Xingcai was the first to notice the change, calling out softly.
Xiao Chen didn't respond immediately.
He walked to the massive map of Yunmeng Marsh, his gaze like torches as it swept over every fellow disciple present—Han Yu's icy demeanor, Chen Xingcai's worry, Lu Xiaoluo's resolve, Li Hanzhou's steadiness, Jiang Che's focus, Hong Longxiang's tension.
"Everyone," Xiao Chen began, his voice low yet carrying an undeniable authority that instantly silenced all noise in the hall.
"Yesterday's plans are all void."
"What?" Everyone was stunned.
Yesterday's strategy, though passive, had been their best hope for a prolonged defense using the terrain. Voided? How could they possibly respond?
Xiao Chen gave them no time to question.
He extended a finger, a point of condensed lightning gathering at the tip, and pressed heavily onto the map's location representing Xianling Valley's core.
Then, he drew out sharp, sweeping arcs—no longer defensive circles, but bizarre lines filled with aggression... and bait!
"The Holy Dynasty's southern campaign is led by Commander Ye Fan, accompanied by seven Holy Sons—Zhan Wuji, Jian Wuming, Zhu Qingcheng, Ling Guzi, Han Junru, Shi Potian, and Feng Wuhen!"
Xiao Chen spoke at lightning speed, each name a hammer blow to their hearts.
"Our goal is no longer delay, no longer mere survival!" Xiao Chen's gaze was as sharp as a blade, sweeping over their shocked faces.
"In this battle, we do not seek to repel the 300,000-strong army, we do not seek to preserve Xianling Valley's legacy, we do not even seek our own survival!"
He paused, letting this cruel declaration detonate in each person's mind, then enunciated each word with the force of a hammer blow:
"Our sole objective, the one we must accomplish at any cost, is—to permanently leave at least six of these seven invading Holy Sons in Yunmeng Marsh!"
"Make them pay the most devastating price for their aggression!"
"Hiss—"
A collective gasp filled the hall! Everyone was stunned by Xiao Chen's utterly insane, audacious strategic objective!
Assassinate six Holy Sons?!
Those were incarnations or envoys of Upper Realm Immortal Lords, each now possessing the terrifying strength of peak Long Life Realm, even touching the threshold of the Holy Realm!
And behind them stood 300,000 elite soldiers!
This was like throwing eggs against a stone, no—like trying to burn the heavens with the light of fireflies!
"Senior Brother! This... how is this possible?" Li Hanzhou couldn't help but exclaim.
"The price! What price must we pay?" Han Yu's icy voice cut through the air.
He cared not about feasibility, but the cost.
Xiao Chen met Han Yu's gaze, his eyes unflinching, burning with a strange calm.
"The price? Everything we have! Xianling Valley can become scorched earth, we can all perish in battle!"
"Use our blood, our lives, everything we've built here for decades as bait, as a trap, as the bargaining chips to drag them down with us!"
He pointed to the areas on the map he had marked—places of apparent certain death, even voluntarily abandoned territory.
"We will use every inch of Yunmeng Marsh, every miasma, every deadly terrain!"
"We must make them think victory is assured, make them arrogant and reckless, make them split up, and then... concentrate all our forces, trading life for life, picking them off one by one!"
"Even if it takes ten lives, a hundred lives to wound one of them, we will not hesitate!"
These words, soaked in blood and resolve, instantly transformed a defensive battle into a ferocious, deadly sniper war!
The hall fell utterly silent.
Everyone was shaken by Xiao Chen's completely revolutionary strategy and his resolve to perish together with the enemy.
This was no longer about survival, but about death!
Seeking the most glorious, enemy-devastating way to die!
Chen Xingcai looked at the unfamiliar madness in Xiao Chen's eyes, her heart aching, but she knew he would never act without reason.
He must have some reason—some secret that allows him to make such a crazy decision!
Han Yu broke the silence first, stepping forward.
A flame similar to Xiao Chen's flickered in his icy eyes.
"Fine! If we must die, then we'll drag some heavyweights down with us! I agree!"
Lu Xiaoluo and Li Hanzhou exchanged a look, seeing the same determination in each other's eyes as they nodded heavily.
"We follow Senior Brother to the bitter end!"
Jiang Che and Hong Longxiang didn't hesitate for a moment, speaking in unison: "We obey Senior Brother's command!"
Though filled with shock and confusion, the long-standing unconditional trust in Senior Brother Xiao Chen, and the ferocity sparked by being cornered, unified everyone's will in an instant.
Xiao Chen looked at these fellow disciples willing to follow him to death, a flicker of pain crossing his eyes before being swallowed by even deeper resolve.
He slammed a fist onto the map:
"Then let us... begin!"
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