Chapter 819: A Pack of Curs

After that, Niu Youdao gave Yan Li several more instructions, all involving Yan Baoru.

Everything that needed saying had been said. For Yan Li, carrying it out would be somewhat troublesome, but there was no real danger involved, so he agreed readily to all of it.

That was precisely why Niu Youdao dared rely on him. If you wanted someone to help you, you could not ask him to shoulder risks beyond the benefits he stood to gain. Especially in a place where life and death hung in the balance, no one could be counted on otherwise.

It was indeed unsuitable for Yan Li to remain away from his own group for too long. Prolonged absence might arouse suspicion. He soon departed at speed.

Now that they knew the plan and could see a path out, Fuhua and the others felt considerably more at ease. For the sake of escaping safely, all of them threw themselves wholeheartedly into coordinating with Niu Youdao's arrangements.

...

"Deliberately picking a fight? They want to make a move against us?"

Myriad Beasts Sect Elder Sun Changhao, Ling Sect Elder Mei Jiukai, and Tianxing Sect Elder Wang Tiandi were all somewhat surprised.

The Qiyun Sect disciple who had come to warn them nodded. "We're only offering a friendly warning. You'd all best prepare yourselves in case something unexpected happens." He cupped his hands as though he had said all he intended to say, then took his leave.

The members of the three sects exchanged looks.

Not long afterward, a Ling Sect disciple came to report. "Elder, a group from Han is gathering and heading this way."

The three sects were startled. Could Qiyun Sect's warning actually have been true? Were the people from Han really coming to make trouble for them?

True or false, they did not dare be careless. The three sects immediately gathered their people and prepared for any contingency.

The disciples guarding the outer perimeter had no way to stop the group from Han. Before long, the two sides were facing one another.

Ling Sect Elder Mei Jiukai asked heavily, "What are you trying to do?"

Baichuan Valley Elder Shi Ru of Han replied in an equally heavy voice, "Two disciples from our side have gone missing. Have any of you seen them?"

Myriad Beasts Sect Elder Sun Changhao's face tightened. "What do your missing disciples have to do with us?"

Shi Ru said, "Someone saw your people seize them! Gentlemen, we have no wish to become enemies with your three sects, but neither can we stand by while our people are harmed for no reason. Hand the men over, and we can treat this matter as though it never happened."

Tianxing Sect Elder Wang Tiandi snapped, "If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a charge! You're deliberately picking a fight and provoking us, aren't you?"

While the two sides confronted one another and argued, news of the abnormal situation reached the Song camp. Lingxiao Pavilion Elder Cheng Mantang and Heaven-Splitting Palace Elder Fu Juyan were both surprised.

"Come. Let's see what's going on." Cheng Mantang had barely spoken when someone approached from the other side.

It was Taishu Shanyue, accompanied by several men.

Their departure paused. Taishu Shanyue came over and asked in surprise, "I hear Han has come into conflict with the three neutral sects. What's going on?"

Cheng Mantang frowned suspiciously. "We're wondering the same thing."

"Come. Let's go take a look together." Taishu Shanyue gestured.

The three Elders immediately set off together.

They had not gone far when someone behind them suddenly shouted, "Elder, something's wrong!"

Cheng Mantang and Fu Juyan had only just turned their heads when the air exploded beside them.

Taishu Shanyue's face twisted with savagery. A fist wrapped in a crushing shadow of force suddenly thundered out.

Boom!

Fu Juyan reacted in an instant, but he was still one step too slow. Blood sprayed wildly from his mouth as the fist force blasted him away like a meteor.

Cheng Mantang swept a sleeve out to deflect the second punch and dodged rapidly aside. Landing on a branch, he shouted, "Taishu Shanyue, what are you doing?"

The disciples beside Taishu Shanyue had already charged forward to kill.

Heaven-Splitting Palace disciples fought while urgently rescuing the heavily wounded Fu Juyan from where he had crashed to the ground, dragging him away.

Behind them, Jin's cultivators surged out in full force and launched a comprehensive assault on Song's people.

Taishu Shanyue's white beard streamed in the still air. He pointed at Cheng Mantang on the branch and roared, "Jin holds more Spirit Seeds than you do, yet out of goodwill I agreed to split the reward equally with you. In return, you scheme behind my back to betray me and ruin my plans! A pack of treacherous, heartless curs, devoid of benevolence or righteousness—how could I leave you alive?"

With that, he shot forward and attacked Cheng Mantang directly.

Startled and enraged, Cheng Mantang immediately ordered Song's disciples to fight back.

The violent commotion from such a large battle quickly reached the area around the exit. Both sides in the standoff there were badly startled.

Jin and Song had started fighting?

What neither side realized was that their own confrontation had itself been engineered by Jin.

Taishu Shanyue was no fool. If Jin attacked Han and Song together, he feared the losses would be too great. So he secretly had two Han disciples killed and framed the three neutral sects for it. Once Han had been drawn away, Jin could strike Song swiftly and reduce Song's strength before Han realized what had happened.

The best possible outcome would be for Han and the three neutral sects to start fighting. Then Jin could calmly finish off Song first before returning to help the neutral sects deal with Han.

But the moment the battle erupted, both sides in the confrontation realized something was wrong.

The three neutral sects reacted quickly and immediately brought up how Jin had come to them earlier with its own complaint.

Shi Ru and Dao Wufeng were shocked and furious.

They had fallen for Jin's trick!

The two immediately led the Han forces that had come to demand an explanation and rushed back at full speed to help Song.

...

Jin's combat strength truly lived up to its reputation. The reason the other states feared it was no empty matter. Under Jin's fierce assault, Song's position rapidly became precarious.

Jin had preserved its strength relatively well to begin with, while Song's Blood God Hall had already been destroyed by Niu Youdao, leaving only two of its original three factions.

Jin held the advantage in both numbers and combat power. Before long, Song could do little more than defend desperately.

Fu Juyan had been heavily wounded in the surprise attack and could no longer fight. Not only that, his disciples had to devote manpower to protecting him.

In the midst of Cheng Mantang's bitter struggle, he saw Han's people return and immediately shouted, "Brother Shi! Brother Dao! Jin harbors a wolf's ambition. Once they destroy us, you'll be next! If you don't act now, what are you waiting for?"

"Attack!" Shi Ru swept an arm forward and led Baichuan Valley's disciples into the fight.

"Kill!" Dao Wufeng shouted as well, charging in with Wushang Palace's disciples.

Cheng Mantang, Shi Ru, and Dao Wufeng joined forces to besiege Taishu Shanyue.

Taishu Shanyue's heroic spirit soared to the heavens. Facing all three alone, he did not yield an inch. "Don't worry about me! I can hold them myself. Kill the enemy!"

The Qiyun Sect disciples who had been about to rush over and help immediately abandoned the thought, turning back instead to fight the cultivators of Han and Song.

Amid the earthshaking clash, the people of Myriad Beasts Sect, Ling Sect, and Tianxing Sect arrived to observe the situation.

Shi Ru, rising and falling through the air in fierce combat, shouted, "Brother Sun! Brother Mei! Brother Wang! Qiyun Sect harbors a wolf's ambition. Once this is over, they may not spare you either! I beg the three sects to lend us a hand and join us in destroying these villains!"

Taishu Shanyue roared back from midair, his voice rolling across the battlefield. "Those two thieves deceived me! I am taking revenge. This has nothing to do with you. Don't fall for their malicious trick!"

Sun Changhao, Mei Jiukai, and Wang Tiandi exchanged uncertain looks.

In the end, they still did not intervene. They maintained their usual position.

Neutral.

They would help neither side.

Among the crowd, Yan Baoru stood dumbfounded.

She had been counting on these people to deal with the three neutral sects and sever Niu Youdao's retreat. Instead, no one had touched the neutral sects at all, while Jin, Han, and Song had started killing one another first.

...

Outside the ancient forest, several figures emerged one after another.

They were Ji Yude and the others.

After meeting the Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion disciples sent to receive them, they quickly withdrew. Before leaving, however, a heap of signal fires was lit.

Elsewhere, a Zijin Cave disciple hurried to Yan Li's side and whispered, "Martial Uncle, the signal is here!"

"There's no time to lose. Move!" Yan Li waved his hand, gathered Zijin Cave's disciples, and left at speed.

The other people from Yan, Wei, and Qi immediately noticed and hurried after them.

Shouzheng Pavilion Elder Yao Xianding descended from above and called out, "Brother Yan, why are you sneaking away? What's the meaning of this?"

Yan Li did not slow down. "Something very good has happened. There wasn't time to notify you. Hurry back, gather your people, and follow us. If you're late, you'll miss it!"

Something very good? And they would miss it if they were late?

The group chasing after him exchanged speechless looks.

In the end, the hidden forces of Yan, Wei, and Qi came out in full strength and followed Zijin Cave.

They trusted that Zijin Cave would not act without cause. If Zijin Cave itself dared take the lead and expose itself, then it would also be the first to bear any risk. What was there for the others to fear?

Leading his people at speed, Yan Li glanced back from time to time.

When he saw that the forces of all three states really had followed him just like that, even he was somewhat speechless.

At first he had worried whether such a crude approach could really work. The facts proved that Niu Youdao's unreasonable, brutally simple method was astonishingly effective.

Once you acted, explanations were worth less than nothing.

The group rushed into the ancient forest. Only then did those who had known nothing discover that Jin was already fighting Han and Song.

The three states locked in battle were all startled.

This group had chosen neither an earlier nor a later moment to appear. Arriving now was practically fatal.

Taishu Shanyue was already considering whether he should simply stop fighting. Under the pressure of the situation, perhaps Han and Song might be willing to join hands with him again.

While the people of Yan, Wei, and Qi were still trying to understand what was happening, Yan Li had already shouted, "Han and Song, listen! Once Jin is destroyed, if you're willing to hand Jin's things over to us, we'll lend you a hand!"

Fu Juyan, protected amid a desperate fight by his disciples, lifted one hand in some kind of gesture. He was too badly injured to shout and no one could tell exactly what he meant.

"Good!" the furious Cheng Mantang was the first to agree loudly.

"Agreed!" Baichuan Valley Elder Shi Ru shouted as well.

"Zijin Cave disciples, hear my command! Kill!"

Without consulting the others from Yan, Wei, or Qi at all, Yan Li threw up an arm and charged forward with Zijin Cave's disciples.

On Yan's side, Xiaoyao Palace Elder Shan Hai and Lingjian Mountain Elder Chu Fengping were utterly speechless.

Only today had they truly come to know this decisive, hot-blooded Yan Li, a man who acted the instant the thought entered his head.

There was profit to be had, and five sides against one was overwhelmingly safe. It was the perfect chance to rob a burning house. What else was there to discuss?

Xiaoyao Palace and Lingjian Mountain, allied with Yan Li to begin with, had no choice but to follow his lead and charge.

After them, the forces of Qi and Wei joined the attack as well.

Even after the fighting had begun, the people of Yan, Wei, and Qi still found the whole thing strangely unreal.

For no apparent reason they had followed Zijin Cave here.

For no apparent reason they had started fighting as well.

It was almost as if they no longer had any control over themselves.

With those three states joining the battle, Han and Song, which had been suffering bitterly, finally breathed easier.

The tide reversed almost at once.

Jin was crushed under an overwhelming assault and rapidly became the side that could no longer bear the pressure.

"A pack of curs!" Taishu Shanyue roared in grief and fury amid the battle.

Before attacking Han and Song, he had already feared that the fighting might benefit Yan, Wei, and Qi. He had even planned to seize the goods here and flee immediately.

Instead, before he could seize anything at all, Yan, Wei, and Qi arrived and blocked him off, plunging Jin's disciples into a desperate situation in an instant.

Each Jin cultivator faced attacks from several opponents at once.

One after another, they began to fall.

[End of Chapter 819]