"All right, we believe you. But please don't go too far, Taoist. If you push us too hard, we might bite back. Don't blame us brothers if we wreck your setup."
Zhao Qingming's tone softened at once.
But as their eyes met for an instant, his gaze flickered. He and Xiao Zhenye exchanged no words, yet seemed to understand one another perfectly.
"Rest assured, everyone. Please be patient. Once this sacrifice is complete, everything will go as you wish." Gu Xuan's voice gradually faded away.
For a moment, the group fell into an eerie silence.
Then Golden Toad Son suddenly took three talismans from his sleeve and slipped them into the hands of Wu Man, Xiao Zhenye, and Lu Cheng.
Wu Man recognized them. They were the Heart Connection Talismans Golden Toad Son had used on them before.
Holding one allowed them to communicate with one another through their thoughts.
"This Gu Xuan's been down here too long. He can't even keep his story straight," Wu Man said with a cold laugh.
No surprise. He's been an emperor in his own little kingdom for over a thousand years. His thinking's grown sluggish—he's utterly foolish, Xiao Zhenye cursed inwardly.
Except for Lu Cheng, the moment Gu Xuan started speaking, everyone in the group realized the old bastard probably had bad intentions.
That wasn't to say Gu Xuan was stupid. He simply hadn't spoken with normal people in far too long. Even if he'd been a once-in-a-generation genius a thousand years ago, his talent had only made him more gifted than ordinary people in cultivation.
After a thousand years trapped underground, Gu Xuan might still have been a peerless genius, but when it came to playing mind games, he was nowhere near as capable as Wu Man and the others—not to mention