However.
The instant this thought crossed his mind.
A faint black glimmer suddenly drifted out from the spirit wards surrounding the stone Buddha statue. At a speed nearly imperceptible to the naked eye, it flashed before him.
At the same time, a rapid yet familiar aged voice came from within that black glimmer.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, since you are an Ancient Demon, why must you join forces with Heavenly Crane Ancestor? If this old man's guess is correct, Fellow Daoist Lin... should have been forced by Heavenly Crane Ancestor to enter this Sun-Treasure Divine Pagoda ahead of everyone else?"
As those words fell, Wei Tu, startled by this sudden development, promptly withdrew the magical powers he had prepared for battle. Narrowing his eyes, he looked toward the black glimmer, which appeared to be a soul fragment of the Flame Spirit King.
Cooperation? At the thought of it, delight surged through his heart.
A double agent could, within this alliance where no one trusted one another and all could turn hostile at any moment, gain a few more opportunities to play both sides and seize the initiative.
Moreover, the Flame Spirit King's ability to slip this soul fragment into the spirit wards of the Sun-Treasure Divine Pagoda meant that his understanding of this pagoda vastly exceeded Wei Tu's expectations... In terms of terrain advantage, he would likely prove even more troublesome than Wei Tu, Heavenly Crane Ancestor, and the others had anticipated.
"Fellow Daoist Flame, do you mean... that Lin should betray Fellow Daoist Heavenly Crane and defect to you?" Wei Tu asked probingly, his gaze flickering.
"Heh! Your Excellency is a Great Demon Venerable, a powerhouse of the same realm as this old man. In this matter, this old man would not dare speak of having you defect to me."