[Your descendant Li Tianyi has won the appreciation of the Three Titans of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems and obtained a new identity: Disciple of Huangui.]
"???"
At this moment.
Li Wei emerged from the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems and appeared right beside Li Chang'an, his face filled with bewilderment.
Inside the Immortal Suppression Department.
Representatives from the four major factions were discussing the upcoming Great War with gloomy expressions.
In the center of the hall, an image of the mountain hung suspended in the air.
He Hao pointed at the colossal dragon coiling around the image, his gaze heavy.
"This Corpse Dragon is at the Integration Realm. Unless it is slain, we cannot enter the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems.
Our Integration Realm almighty experts must enter the battlefield first.
With the collision of such vast power, the ten thousand ancient temples on the mountain will inevitably be thrown into chaos."
"We will drive straight into their heart." Zhangsun Buhuo took a deep breath.
"My Zhangsun family will strike directly at the interior, while the rest of you attack from the left and right flanks."
"Hmph!" Heavenly Lord Ning'an let out a cold sneer.
"You've got some nerve, Zhangsun Buhuo.
If you penetrate deep inside, secure the Ling Tian Three Corpses, and then flee, leaving the rest of us trapped inside to be pincer-attacked by the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, what then?"
"You..." Zhangsun Buhuo narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Heavenly Lord Ning'an, do you truly view my Zhangsun clan as being so despicable?"
"It is hard to say in this world." Heavenly Lord Ning'an wore a playful expression.
"Who knows what you are actually planning? If your Zhangsun family runs off with the Three Corpses, the world is vast—who would ever be able to find you?"
"Enough, stop arguing." Fang Yunyu spoke helplessly.
"Strategies can be discussed; there is no need to lose your tempers."
As the discussion continued, arguments had already erupted within the Immortal Suppression Department before the great battle had even begun.
It all boiled down to the division of spoils, who would breach which part of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, and which family would have to bear the brunt of the casualties...
Hearing these bickering words, and then thinking back to the peaceful, fraternal scene atop the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, Li Wei could no longer distinguish who the true villains were and who were the ones "eating the Imperial grain."
...
"Zhenwu, Taotie, Huangui, Lingxu?"
On the grasslands, in a place where thunder still rumbled, the storm clouds overhead had yet to disperse.
Su Chen, clad in the Li Clan's Precious Armor, sat inside a pit where arcs of lightning still crackled across the ground.
He appeared incredibly weak.
A dark crow that had flown from afar was perched on the back of his hand.
Having received the intelligence transmitted by Li Xinnian, he gazed up at the thunderclouds in the sky and sighed deeply.
"Sixty thousand years... With all these years gone by, the ways of the world have changed.
Even the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, which I once fought against, has changed its face.
The new generation replaces the old; everyone is growing, yet here I am, still searching for the path ahead."
As for these four great titans of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, he had not heard of a single one of them.
"If what High Ancestor Tianyi says is true, and the four great titans of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems are truly kind and amiable people, then that actually aligns with the past.
When I intruded into the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems all those years ago, that headless man did not pursue me.
The Mountain Master, Daoqing Zhenren, although a cultivator of unorthodox paths, never committed any acts of utter madness. Otherwise, he would not have been allowed to survive back then."
Su Chen's brows furrowed even deeper.
"Could Daoqing Zhenren be the 'True God' at the Integration Realm within the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems?
But sixty thousand years have passed; how could the Mountain under his rule have started refining corpses using living humans?"
"On the other hand, the Grand Tower..."
Sixty thousand years was simply too long a time.
Su Chen dared not be certain whether the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems had forgotten its original intentions and become a faction devoid of conscience.
As for the Grand Tower, his investigations over these years revealed that their influence in the secular world was no different from that of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, yet their actual traces were incredibly difficult to find.
Upon thinking this through, Su Chen's brows knitted together even tighter.
"The Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems and the Grand Tower have always cooperated; back in the day, they even joined forces to deal with me.
Yet now, only the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems is visible, which appears abnormal.
Their conduct is also completely different from the past.
I fear there is something strange going on behind the scenes."
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Su Chen instantly vanished from where he stood.
Half a month later.
In Twinroads Prefecture, located in the Central Plains of the Imperial Dynasty, Su Chen stepped into a city.
Gazing at the bustling marketplace, his eyes were filled with nostalgia.
"Sixty thousand years ago, this place was a forest of sects.
The Grand Tower presided over this region, surrounded by wilderness and mountains on all sides. Truly, the seas have turned into mulberry fields."
His voice had hardly faded when a black-robed figure approached to report.
The Hall of Heavenly Principle had branches spread throughout every corner of the Imperial Dynasty, and this place was no exception.
The man said, "Reporting to My Lord. In accordance with your orders, we searched for the affiliated forces of the Grand Tower remaining from sixty thousand years ago.
There is one remnant of the Peakgaze Pavilion left, though that Peakgaze Pavilion has long since changed its name to the Broken Mountain Sect."
"The Broken Mountain Sect engages in the business of human trafficking. Every year, countless beggars, children, and cultivators in distress fall into their hands."
Hearing this, an inscrutable glint flashed through Su Chen's eyes.
"Human trafficking? Let's go, take me there!"
Following the assassin from the Hall of Heavenly Principle's Dark Division, Su Chen soon arrived at the Broken Mountain Sect and indeed discovered many people secretly imprisoned within.
"My Lord," the Hall of Heavenly Principle assassin said, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Should we dispatch personnel to wipe them out?"
"No. Do not alert the snake by beating the grass."
One year later.
Su Chen had traveled extensively, visiting the various locations of forces controlled by the Grand Tower.
At this moment, his expression was calm and rippleless.
He took out a Dark Crow and transmitted a message back to Azure Cloud Prefecture.
"I am now certain that the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems and the Grand Tower have divided their responsibilities.
The Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems focuses on researching the Art of Corpse Stitching, while the Grand Tower is responsible for capturing slaves, ordinary people, and cultivators.
They are secretly sheltering these major branches."
"The external forces we have found so far are likely just a smokescreen to deceive the public."
"I suspect that over these sixty thousand years, the people of the Grand Tower have already infiltrated the major sects.
This is a trick they are accustomed to using.
Only by doing so can they conceal themselves within other factions, remaining undetected to this day, while ensuring the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems receives a ceaseless supply of materials for corpse stitching!"
"The strength of the Grand Tower is identical to that of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems. Their people could be hiding within any faction!"
At this moment.
Su Chen stood outside one of the bases of the Heavenly Monarch Dao Sanctuary, gazing coldly at the cloudy sky, white mist swirling within his eyes.
He saw Heavenly Lord Ning'an, the representative of the Heavenly Monarch Dao Sanctuary within the Immortal Suppression Department, currently exchanging storage rings with several Nascent Soul stage cultivators.
Sensing the aura radiating from Heavenly Lord Ning'an, the corners of Su Chen's mouth curled up slightly.
"Sixty thousand years have passed, and I am the only one left who can still smell that stench of blood on you people."
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