Plan

"What plan?" Jiang Shishi asked curiously. With the rules so transparent, how could there be a plan?

And how long has it been since you last had this plan?

"It's quite simple. Just now, through our battle, we confirmed that the Demon Beast on the first level are ordinary Nascent Soul Realm, which is within the range of your Demon Race's prodigies."

"So if you want to pass the first level, as long as you honestly hunt Demon Beast, anyone can accumulate enough demon spirits."

"To acquire more spirit beasts and gain better recognition, we'll need to employ some extraordinary methods."

"Three people per group, to speed up the hunt?"

Meng Jingzhou shook his head, rejecting Jiang Shishi's method. "It's too inefficient. Besides, did you notice the map we showed at the beginning? The first level is ridiculously large. It would take a whole day to run from the entrance to the opposite corner of the Heavenly Ladder. Just the three of us hunting and finding Demon Beast would take several hours."

"What should we do then?" Jiang Shishi lacked experience and didn't have Meng Jingzhou's keen observation skills.

Meng Jingzhou didn't answer, but instead asked, "You already know the combat strength of my fellow disciple and me. How would you evaluate it?"

Jiang Shishi stared blankly at the two of them, then offered a fair assessment. "They're no less capable than me or Ao Yue."

Ao Yue is the pride of this generation of dragons.

Jiang Shishi and Ao Yue are known as the two greatest talents in the Demon Realm, possessing the potential to become immortals.

This is the highest praise in the Demon Realm; among the Demon Race who entered the Ancient Realm, only these two received this evaluation.

"That's it. With the three of us working together, the plan will be foolproof."

To ensure the plan would go perfectly, the three decided to spend eight days killing thirty Demon Beast to accumulate enough points to clear the level. This way, even if the plan failed, they would still be guaranteed to clear the level.

The fact that the three of them had time to work together while hunting Demon Beast increased their chances of success when carrying out their plan.

Eight days passed in the blink of an eye, and Lu Yang and his two companions became increasingly adept at slaying Demon Beast. Even Demon Beast at the Nascent Soul Late Stage could not last more than two rounds against them.

Lu Yang looked up at the hourglass.

"We've killed a few more, and we're a little late for the planned time, but it's not a big problem. Let's head to the Heavenly Ladder entrance first."

"Good."

Jiang Shishi was somewhat excited, having already prepared to implement her plan.

The three quickened their pace and rushed towards the entrance of the Heavenly Ladder.

But when they arrived at the entrance to the Heavenly Ladder, they involuntarily stopped in their tracks, staring in disbelief at the scene before them.

Lu Yang devised a plan to block the entrance; with the combined strength of the three of them, they would be able to prevent anyone from reaching the entrance to the Heavenly Ladder.

The prodigies arrived on the last day; all they needed to do was block the entrance the day before.

But now the entrance to the Heavenly Ladder is blocked by people.

They are the ones who should obediently hand over their essence!

"Haha, didn't expect that, did you? I overheard your plan all along!" Qin Feng, the young master of the Nine Infants Clan, laughed heartily upon seeing the three men's fascinating expressions.

"I overheard the entire process of your plan as soon as you entered the first floor to formulate it!"

Seeing Lu Yang's unpleasant expression, Qin Feng's face lit up with joy. "Although I don't know who you are, thank you for your plan."

"Blocking the gate? That's quite a good plan, but when it comes to power in the ancient realm, who can compare to our Demon Race alliance? Even the dragon and phoenix clans are inferior to us."

The Demon Race Alliance was a concept proposed by the High Antiquity Emperor Jiang. Before the establishment of the Demon Kingdom, the Demon Race under the command of the High Antiquity Emperor Jiang were collectively referred to as the Demon Race Alliance.

The prodigies of the Dijiang clan were personally nurtured by the High Antiquity Dijiang and did not enter the ancient realm.

The Demon Race Alliance is led by the Dijiang Clan. Without the Dijiang Clan, the remaining races all want to gain command of this ancient realm.

Qin Feng was just worried about how to get command, and this was a godsend.

If he were to propose the plan to block the gate, wouldn't he definitely gain command of the Demon Race alliance in this operation?

As he expected, while the geniuses of the Demon Race alliance were still debating whether to kill Demon Beast for their essence or obtain it from others, Qin Feng proposed his plan, which won everyone's approval, and they all praised Qin Feng's plan as excellent.

Qin Feng naturally became the commander of this operation.

Qin Feng was smug, with dozens of people standing behind him, including the White Tiger Clan's prodigies and the Taotie Clan's prodigies.

Even if Lu Yang and his two companions are incredibly skilled, they still can't defeat all the geniuses of the Demon Race Alliance!

Lu Yang's face was ashen as he frantically searched for a solution.

When the situation reached a stalemate, Jiang Shishi's followers rushed over, but they did not expect to be blocked at the door by the Demon Race alliance.

Immediately afterwards, Ao Yue and the Nine Heavenly Pride also arrived. Upon seeing this scene, they frowned and remained silent.

Following them were the Qiongqi Clan's prodigy and other prodigies who did not join forces.

The entrance to the Heavenly Ladder is so narrow, and it's blocked by the Demon Race Alliance; you can't get through just by having more people.

Ao Yue gritted his teeth. "How will you know it can't work if you don't try?"

Ao Yue was very influential among the prodigies. He transformed into a blue dragon flying in the air, and the nine sons of the Baxia clan revealed their true forms, wanting to fight alongside Ao Yue.

Upon seeing this, the other prodigies all transformed into their original forms: a jade rabbit with soft fur, a black celestial dog the size of a hill, and a Qiongqi with a tiger's body and wings...

"War!"

Ao Yue let out a dragon roar, the space trembled, the dragon Essence Blood burned, and his dragon claws, holding the dragon pearl, transformed into a streak of azure light, rushing towards the Demon Race alliance.

He alone is enough to fight Nascent Soul Late Stage Demon Beast!

"War!"

The prodigies unleashed unprecedented power, coalescing into a single force, determined to break through the blockade.

Unfortunately, the Demon Race alliance had anticipated this situation. Under Qin Feng's command, they advanced and retreated with great skill, making it impossible for Ao Yue and his group to break through with just enthusiasm.

The two sides fought for a full half day, but the Demon Race alliance remained like an iron wall, unable to break through.

In the end, Ao Yue's forces were exhausted and defeated.

Qin Feng walked triumphantly to Ao Yue: "Fellow Daoist Ao Yue, I don't want to make our relationship so strained. After the Demon Kingdom is established, we will exchange ideas and make progress together."

"How about this, you leave ten essences behind, and give me the rest, then I'll let you pass through here, okay?"

Ao Yue suddenly looked up, staring intently at Qin Feng, his dragon eyes bloodshot, which startled Qin Feng.

But he quickly realized what was the point of glaring at himself; it was just impotent rage.

After much internal struggle, Ao Yue, under pressure from the facts, surrendered his spirit.

There are a total of twenty.

"As expected of Fellow Daoist Ao Yue, you were able to kill so many Demon Beasts." Qin Feng chuckled as he accepted the essence.

Seeing Ao Yue submit, the other prodigies also handed over their essences, leaving only ten of their own.

If there were only ten, Qin Feng simply wouldn't let him pass.

Qin Feng grinned from ear to ear when he saw the mountain of spirit essence. He distributed it to all the geniuses of the Demon Race alliance according to the pre-planned proportions.

Qin Feng had the highest percentage, receiving fifty-three.

Behind the Demon Race Alliance was a huge box with the words "Essence" labeled on it.

Qin Feng poured all fifty-three essences into the box.

It was still that emotionless voice.

"Qin Feng, fifty-three spirit essences, please proceed to the second level."

Seeing that it was almost time, the geniuses of the Demon Race Clan Alliance handed over their essences to Gu Jing to gain the qualification to pass the level.

Next came Ao Yue and the others.

"Ao Yue, ten spirit essences, please proceed to the second level."

"Dong Shu, ten spirit essences, please proceed to the second level."

"..."

Seeing that there was still some time, Qin Feng slowly walked up to Lu Yang and the other two.

He completely ignored Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, having no intention of letting these two eyesores enter the second floor.

Qin Feng walked up to Jiang Shishi, who had her head down, and said with a smile, "Shishi, I told you long ago that these two lackeys you recruited are useless. Look, they can't even pass through the level now."

"If you agree to become my fiancée, I'll make the decision: you won't have to hand over your essence, and I'll let you pass the level. How about it?"

Jiang Shishi suddenly looked up and smiled, "Qin Feng, do you really think you have everything under control?"

"What do you mean!" Seeing Jiang Shishi's smile, Qin Feng suddenly panicked.

Lu Yang, standing to the side, chuckled lazily, "Fellow Daoist Qin Feng's eyesight is poor; he couldn't even spot my clone."

Meanwhile, Meng Jingzhou on the other side had transformed into Lu Yang's appearance.

Wooden clone!

Suddenly, a voice came from behind Qin Feng.

"Thank you very much, Fellow Daoist Qin Feng, for collecting so many essences for us."

Qin Feng turned around abruptly, his eyes wide with disbelief as he stared at the scene before him.

Meng Jingzhou actually crawled out of the box, carrying a large string of spirit essences in both hands!

"I knew you were listening in the middle of it. You didn't really think the three of us could block the exit, did you?"

"The door-blocking plan was just something I told you."

The rules do not specify how to hand in spirit essences, so anyone who sees a box labeled "spirit essences" at the entrance of the Heavenly Ladder will assume that this is where spirit essences are handed in.

Furthermore, with everyone's attention focused on the Demon Race Alliance, no one noticed anything unusual about the box.

Actually, this box was a temporary structure set up by Meng Jingzhou.