Inside the temporary grand hall, Bai Letian and other leaders were present, except for Bai Zhantang, who did not come. Inside the hall, everyone's expressions were grave.
"Where is the Vice Hall Master?" Long Chen asked.
"He's injured and is recovering." Bai Shishi's mother said.
"Hurt?"
Long Chen was startled. Although he had always acted disdainful of Bai Zhantang, in reality, it was revenge against him—after all, he had always held prejudices against him.
But Long Chen still greatly admired Bai Zhantang's strength. Bai Zhantang kept a terrifying ghostly creature, somewhat similar to Bai Xiaole and the Purple-Eyed Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.
But the difference was that the strength of the Purple-Eyed Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was limited by Bai Xiaole's cultivation. So, if Bai Xiaole wasn't strong enough, he would indirectly weaken the Fox's power.
But Bai Zhantang was different. The ghostly creatures he raised were even stronger and more terrifying than he was. Once he truly erupted, his strength might not be weaker than that of a Heavenly Saint-level expert.
So, when Bai Letian sent him back to Ming Haotian to support Long Chen and the others, it was partly to give him a chance to repair his feelings as a child, and partly because with his strength, the Chaotic Star Sea simply couldn't do anything to him—he had enough power to protect everyone's safety.
Although Bai Zhantang had never truly exploded in front of Long Chen, his intuition was extremely sharp; he knew just how strong Bai Zhantang was.
When he said Bai Xiaole had a chance to defeat or even kill Bai Zhantang, in reality, that was when Bai Zhantang wasn't fighting desperately.
This time, Bai Zhantang was actually injured, which surprised Long Chen greatly. After questioning, Bai Xiaole's mother finally explained the whole story.
It turned out that Bai Xiaole's mother had found a very good place to stay. The so-called good place was because it was not far from the First Academy.
The First Academy is located at the confluence of three dragon veins, making it a rare feng shui treasure site. Despite millions of years of changes and even deliberate destruction, the dragon vein remains intact. The old site of the First Academy is blessed by the dragon vein, ensuring its fortune has not been interrupted.
Now, the core of the First Academy is occupied by a terrifying group of extraterrestrial demons. No one dares approach, and around it are thousands of powerful demon tribes occupying the area, almost completely covering the area covered by three dragon veins.
The place Bai Xiaole's mother was searching for was located at the end of a branch of a dragon vein. By establishing a base here, she could gradually connect with the First Academy's fortune through the dragon vein. Although it couldn't activate the Fortune Divine Pool, it could prevent the nearly dried fortune within the pool from further draining.
After countless searches and calculations, Bai Xiaole's mother decided this was the safest and easiest place to take down.
Originally, everyone planned to take the stronghold immediately after supporting Long Chen and the others, but instead, the Lingxiao Divine Sword was locked onto unexpectedly.
As a result, every move everyone made to attack the stronghold was under their watchful eye. To avoid drawing attention, Bai Zhantang and his two wives secretly went to the stronghold, planning to forcibly take over this place with the strength of the three of them.
They originally planned to take this place before the enemy could react, immediately establish a super teleportation array, and immediately transfer everyone here.
However, when the three rushed into the monster camp, they were shocked to discover that there was actually a Heavenly Dao barrier here, and their cultivation was instantly suppressed to the Divine Lord Realm.
The worst part was, when they arrived, they felt nothing, and only when they reached the core area did the Heavenly Dao barrier begin to affect them.
At that time, they had already ventured deep into the Covered Earth, surrounded by endless monsters. These monsters were all Saint-level beings, some as powerful as Earth Saints, and their Demon Lord was even at the Heavenly Saint level.
At that moment, they fell into a deadly trap, their realms suddenly weakened, unable to adapt, and were relentlessly attacked by monsters. Bai Shishi's mother's old injuries had not healed, and the situation became critical.
At the critical moment, Bai Zhantang summoned ghostly creatures to fight, barely leading the two out of the encirclement. However, Bai Zhantang was injured during the battle with the Demon Lord and was corroded by demonic energy, requiring some time to recover before recovering.
Most importantly, Bai Zhantang was a proud and ambitious person, and it seemed as if fate was deliberately against him. What was supposed to be a sure surprise attack ended in failure.
Not attending this council was one reason for getting injured, but more importantly, he couldn't save face, especially because he didn't want to see Long Chen.
"So, no matter where we choose to establish a base, as long as it's within the Dragon Vein range, we'll encounter situations like this, right?" After listening to the story, Long Chen pondered for a moment before speaking.
"It should be like this: our opponents are extremely ruthless, with flawless strategies and leaving no blind spots.
I don't know what tricks they did around the dragon vein to allow the power of the Heavenly Dao here to restrain our cultivation. Fortunately, we were only surveying back then and didn't launch a fierce attack, or the consequences would have been unimaginable. Bai Letian sighed.
Bai Letian thought about it and couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. Fortunately, he had always acted cautiously and never acted rashly; otherwise, at the most critical moment, if the Heavenly Dao seal was activated, they could have been wiped out.
"They can manipulate the Heavenly Dao?" Long Chen exclaimed in surprise.
Bai Letian shook his head and said, "It probably isn't them. Not to mention them, even if the Great Brahma Heaven himself arrived, they might not have the capability."
This must be the scar left by the Heavenly Dao from the chaos war, which caused this kind of Heavenly Dao restriction in this area.
However, when Zhan Tang and the others entered the core of the region, the sudden arrival of the Heavenly Dao seal felt rather strange. "
Is it possible that they don't have the ability to control the Heavenly Dao, yet they use the laws here to set traps specifically waiting for outsiders to trigger them?" Long Chen said.
"From the current situation, this is the only reasonable explanation." Bai Letian nodded, clearly sharing the same suspicion.
"This is a tricky situation. We must take a stronghold as quickly as possible. We're racing against them. If we don't take it quickly, our road ahead will only get tougher." Bai Shishi's mother said.
"Most importantly, our failure this time is very likely already known to the other side. Their surveillance of us will become even tighter, and our next move will be hard to keep from them." Bai Xiaole's mother said gravely.
This was a frustrating operation, because Bai Letian was being monitored. The four great elders of Heaven, Earth, Wind, and Thunder were all Heavenly Saint experts, and every move they made was closely watched.
Bai Zhantang and the other two were only at the strength of a Saint King, and Bai Shishi's mother had just suffered a serious injury, so few people paid attention to them.
So, their success rate was the highest, but they hadn't expected such an accident. Not only Bai Zhantang, even the two of them felt very upset. Such a good opportunity, missing it, things only got worse.
Bai Letian looked at Long Chen: "Dean Long Chen..."
Long Chen smiled slightly. Before Bai Letian could finish, he patted his chest and said,
"Rest assured, everyone, leave this matter to me."