Hearing Heavenly King Zhi Yan's words, Qiu Tu did not answer immediately. Instead, he slowly sorted through his thoughts from this period.
After a while, one hand kneading the soft fullness in Heavenly King Zhi Yan's embrace, he said,
"My thoughts are actually similar to yours. But perhaps they are even bolder."
Feeling Qiu Tu's movements in her arms, Heavenly King Zhi Yan's breathing began to grow uneven.
However, she knew that what attracted this man before her was not merely her mature, seductive body, but also her mind and her years of experience dealing with humanity and the Evil Gods.
So, suppressing the ripples in her heart, she softly asked, "How are they bolder?"
Though Qiu Tu's hand did not stop moving, his expression became somewhat serious.
He said, "Actually, at first, I didn't notice anything strange about this matter."
"Because Ilena, Mo Li, and Lao Bai were all on my list of trusted people."
"Theoretically, I shouldn't have doubted their words at all."
Hearing Qiu Tu's words, Heavenly King Zhi Yan first froze, then could not help turning to glance at him. Her gaze seemed rather strange.
Though she did not say it aloud, Qiu Tu instantly understood what she meant.
Qiu Tu smiled and gave her a playful squeeze before saying, "Yes, although Mo Li and I have plenty of conflicts, and we've been especially at odds lately."
"Still, whenever something major happens, I trust her."
Qiu Tu paused, then explained even more clearly. "Mo Li may dislike me, want to see me suffer, want to torment me, or even want to torture me. But she definitely doesn't want anything to happen to me, and she definitely doesn't want me dead."
"Besides the fact that I am connected to her plan, the most important reasons are Zhao Ji and La Riluo."
This could be considered the greatest secret shared by the three of them. So after hesitating for a moment, Qiu Tu glanced once more at Heavenly King Zhi Yan's loyalty of over ninety before finally speaking.
"Although I still don't know what exactly she is plotting, judging by the hundreds of years she spent on Zhao Ji and La Riluo, those two must be extremely important to her. She cannot possibly fall out with Zhao Ji and La Riluo at the final stage of her plan."
"And I am now also very important to Zhao Ji and La Riluo."
"Under such circumstances, she might set me up, but she definitely would not set me up to die."
"Otherwise, the entire situation could easily spiral out of control."
"So when it comes to something this serious, I believe she definitely would not hide anything or play around."
After hearing Qiu Tu's explanation, Heavenly King Zhi Yan nodded thoughtfully.
As she had interacted with Qiu Tu more and more over this period, Heavenly King Zhi Yan had also noticed the complicated relationship between Qiu Tu and Zhao Ji and La Riluo.
Now that Qiu Tu said the two women also had some complicated relationship with Mo Li, she felt there was nothing wrong with his conclusion.
With that thought, Heavenly King Zhi Yan pressed her hand over Qiu Tu's wandering hand. Her eyes glistened as she continued the topic, asking,
"Then how did you discover that something was wrong later?"
As Qiu Tu moved Heavenly King Zhi Yan's hand away, he casually said, "About the same way you did."
"Actually, after I finished talking to White Robe, I already completely believed the whole thing."
"But after traveling for a day, I also spent a day organizing the intelligence."
"In the end, the more I thought about it, the more wrong it felt. And my point of entry was the same as yours—I felt this whole matter was simply too much of a coincidence."
Hearing Qiu Tu's words, Heavenly King Zhi Yan, leaning against his chest, nodded slightly.
She did not think that because she had figured it out in a few minutes while Qiu Tu had taken a day, that meant she was smarter than him.
On the contrary, it made even more sense that Qiu Tu needed longer to think.
After all, Qiu Tu had been forced to break through his own mental inertia and see through everything while already burdened by preconceived notions and cognitive bias.
Moreover, by Qiu Tu's own account, his thoughts were even bolder than hers. That meant that during this day, he had not merely spotted the problem—he had thought everything through.
That made Heavenly King Zhi Yan especially curious about what Qiu Tu had figured out.
So, she continued waiting for Qiu Tu's explanation.
At that moment, Qiu Tu held Heavenly King Zhi Yan in his arms, his gaze distant as he said, "When I realized the whole thing was far too coincidental, I was confused for several hours."
"Because I thought that unless the Ancient World had recently produced a powerful Supreme God King capable of suppressing the entire world, someone who had subdued every other God King and demanded that they all cooperate in putting on an act."
"Otherwise, these three people—with different identities, positions, personalities, and relationships to me—should not all be acting and lying to me at the same time. It made no sense."
"And then I remembered the most important thing Lao Bai had said when he met me: the Order Shrine had changed."
"At that instant, lightning flashed through my mind, and I felt as though I had just awakened from a dream."
"Right. This was the Order Shrine. The Order Shrine was where the strongest experts of the Order Path gathered, and it was full of masters of scheming."
"And wasn't the most brilliant form of planning simply following the current and guiding it?"
At this point, Heavenly King Zhi Yan's expression froze for an instant. Then, after two seconds, realization appeared in her eyes. She had almost guessed what Qiu Tu was about to say.
So, after choosing her words carefully, she said,
"So you mean... the current situation may have arisen after someone deliberately guided things through a game involving multiple sides?"
"And the one who calculated everyone may be a High-Level God King from the Order Shrine?"
"As for the method, it was also very clever. They followed the current and guided it, factoring in the interests and conflicts of the other major Paths, then pushing everything in a direction favorable to themselves."
"But because all of this was born from their behind-the-scenes manipulation, it left behind quite a few traces, allowing us to discover it?"
Hearing Heavenly King Zhi Yan voice his own speculation, Qiu Tu nodded slightly and said, "That's right."
"That is my bold idea."
He said, "If that's the case, then many things that initially made no sense can now be understood."
"For example, Ilena, Mo Li, and White Robe truly did not deceive me, nor did they intend to harm me."
"The reason they kept warning and hinting at things was ultimately because that was the information and those hints they had received."
"And the reason they specifically reminded me was because, in their hearts, they believed this matter was very important."
"Even..."
At this point, Qiu Tu paused again. "Of course, White Robe may be somewhat special."
"I think he may not necessarily be unaware that someone is stirring things up from behind the scenes."
"Otherwise, he would not have kept hinting that the Order Shrine had changed."
"At first, I thought similarly to you—that he might have been telling me I had been sold out by certain High-Level God Kings in the Order Shrine."
"But now that I think about it, perhaps he was guiding me in the right direction."
As Qiu Tu spoke, his hand never stopped moving.
This made Heavenly King Zhi Yan's body grow increasingly limp, and the air become increasingly humid.
And as the conversation reached its end, Qiu Tu directly continued the movement Heavenly King Zhi Yan had left unfinished earlier.
"Mm." Heavenly King Zhi Yan let out a soft moan. Then she turned back and gave Qiu Tu a seductive glance before gritting her teeth and asking, "But what exactly is that High-Level God King from the Order Shrine doing?"
"And how did he balance the interests of every side, making them all feel that they had a chance, ultimately causing them to work toward his goal?"
Hearing this, Qiu Tu supported Heavenly King Zhi Yan from behind as he said, "I don't know."
"I only have a guess."
"Perhaps the Order Shrine also believes that the Immortal Heavenly Tomb is a formidable enemy for the next era. That is why they fanned the flames and made the Immortal Heavenly Tomb take action."
"When a force contracts defensively, it is difficult to drain its strength."
"But once it begins expanding aggressively, it becomes easy for weaknesses to emerge."
"At such a time, all you need to do is create more obstacles for it, make its path toward its goal more tortuous, let it constantly see hope without ever allowing it to succeed. That can effectively wear down its strength."
"Huff... huff..." As he spoke, Qiu Tu gripped Heavenly King Zhi Yan's slender waist with both hands, and even his breathing began to grow uneven.
Only then did she say, "So... mm... you mean that after the Order Shrine obtained your intelligence, they actually had a chance to stop everything happening now."
"But after weighing the pros and cons, They ultimately chose to stand by and fan the flames."
"And in order to drain the Immortal Heavenly Tomb's strength, They shared the intelligence with the other Four Great Paths in advance."
"Then, through a series of complicated games, They ultimately created the current situation: more than a dozen High-Level God Kings had gathered in the western region of the Ancient Continent, yet the Immortal Heavenly Tomb's offensive was overwhelming, causing the situation across the entire west to deteriorate rapidly."
Qiu Tu gave a soft "Mm" and said, "More or less."
"That was why Ilena, Mo Li, and White Robe received the news so early, even having time to send me messages openly or covertly."
"To put it bluntly, that person from the Order Shrine was deliberately muddying the waters."
"And he really did it successfully. Every side was acting according to his script."
"Of course, what I'm saying is only the rough outline."
"For example, what the Chaos Faction wanted and how they were calculated into not sending reinforcements; or what the Mystery Path wanted and how They were drawn into the conflict—those all need to be analyzed one by one and then deduced."
"It isn't something we can figure out by casually making a few guesses."
By this point, a fine sheen of sweat had appeared on Heavenly King Zhi Yan's forehead.
As she continued enduring it, she asked, "But in this High-Level God King's plan, what role do we play? Why would he choose to sacrifice us proactively?"
"Are we sacrificial pawns?"
Hearing Heavenly King Zhi Yan's words, Qiu Tu's gaze darkened slightly.
As he continued pressing forward, he said, "It would be better if we were sacrificial pawns."
He said, "My guess is that we may be the reason the Temple enters the fray."
Hearing Qiu Tu's words, even as she was enjoying herself, Heavenly King Zhi Yan suddenly froze, surprise appearing on her face.
Qiu Tu held her hand, leaving her unable to turn around. So she tried her hardest to look back and said, "Then..."
Qiu Tu's gaze turned cold. "That's right. Our situation is extremely dangerous."
"That is also why I stopped before White Mist to regroup."
"We must find a way to change our position in this plan. Otherwise, even if we find the prisoners and complete the mission, we may still be the ones sacrificed."
At this point, Qiu Tu's expression became blank.
He said, "And to change this position, relying on ourselves alone is not enough."
"We also need help from the forces on every side."
"That is why I planned to enter White Mist early: before the entire team arrives outside the Wine God Kingdom, I must have everything prepared."
As he said this, Qiu Tu stood behind Heavenly King Zhi Yan, but his eyes looked toward the Wine God Kingdom.
At the same time, in the Wine God Kingdom, Wine God Hall.
Ilena was not dressed as she usually was, wearing a loose nightgown and reclining on a couch.
Today, she wore a simple, well-fitted long robe that concealed every curve of her body beneath the fabric.
And rather than lying on a couch, she stood within the great hall.
On either side of her stood the higher-ups of the Temple's West Branch, including God Kings such as Heavy Stone, Star Founder, and Hua Wanwan.
These God Kings, whose mere stomp could shake the western region of the Ancient Continent three times over, did not even dare breathe loudly. Their heads were lowered, and layers of cold sweat covered their foreheads.
Because three divine thrones stood properly arranged above the hall.
On the left sat the Ink God King, who had once met Qiu Tu. On the right sat a man with six snow-white wings growing from his back and a crown upon his head.
From the respectful looks in Heavy Stone God King's and Star Founder God King's eyes, it was not difficult to guess that he was their patron: Mitchell God King.
The arrival of two High-Level God Kings was already astonishing, proving the importance of the situation in the western region of the Ancient World.
But... a divine throne also stood at the very center of the hall. There was no one seated upon it, only a sphere of white light.
That sphere emitted a faint glow, carrying an air of holiness.
And from the fact that Its seat ranked above Ink God King and Mitchell God King, it was clear that It was also a High-Level God King.
The Order Shrine had only four High-Level God Kings in total, yet three had been dispatched this time. It could practically be called a full mobilization. This was enough to show how seriously They regarded this chaos in the west.
Perhaps Qiu Tu was right. Perhaps the Order Shrine truly was fishing in troubled waters this time, intending to scheme against the Five Great Paths—
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