The Scheme

Willow Daoist...

Li Xuan heard the name and felt it sounded somewhat familiar.

His brows knitted slightly as he thought it over...

Then his body stiffened.

He looked at Willow Daoist and forced out a smile. "May I ask, old sir, are you the Great Immortal Willow famed throughout the world?"

Great Immortal Willow stroked his beard and smiled. "You little rascal, you actually know my name? How strange. I rarely show myself in the world, and there are only a dozen or so people who know my name."

"Uh, heh heh heh..."

Li Xuan licked his lips and gave a dry laugh.

You've got to be kidding. Who didn't know the name Great Immortal Willow?

It was said that even Hongjun had suffered at your hands.

Still, in the end, you weren't as crafty as Hongjun.

When the time came to fight Demon Ancestor Luohu, you became the main force and got used as a pawn.

You bore the brunt of the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation's power and suffered irreversible injuries.

That was why you fled into Chaos and disappeared from then on.

Becoming one of the fifty who escaped the cycle.

Li Xuan's face brimmed with reverence, and his gaze was sincere.

Looking at Great Immortal Willow, he sighed admiringly. "Great Immortal, you may not know this, but your reputation has long spread throughout the Primordial Wilderness. Who doesn't know your great name? To meet you, Great Immortal, is truly a blessing from three lifetimes! It's an honor I'll carry for the rest of my life."

"Hahaha! You little rascal, you certainly know your manners."

Willow was so pleased that his brows lifted into a smile, his white beard fluttering and his plump face alight with joy.

He immediately said, "In that case, follow me in a moment. I'll grant you a bit of fortune."

"Thank you, Great Immortal!"

Li Xuan was overjoyed. He hurriedly bowed deeply to Willow.

He'd missed the chance to cozy up to Hongjun back then.

He had to make sure to cling to Willow now.

Even if Great Immortal Willow didn't have the best fate in the future,

that didn't stop him from cozying up to him now.

"Little rascal, aren't you going to ask what fortune I'm giving you?"

Willow was even more pleased with Li Xuan's attitude, and cheerfully asked him.

"Whatever fortune Great Immortal grants me, it'll be an immense benefit to me. Naturally, I don't need to ask."

Li Xuan grinned and praised him as if it were obvious.

"Good lad."

Willow smiled, then said, "The fortune I'm offering lies within this battlefield. Whether you can obtain it depends on your own fate."

Li Xuan's eye twitched. He nearly cursed under his breath.

Within the battlefield? Were you giving me a chance, or sending me to my death?

Great Immortal Willow seemed to notice Li Xuan's awkwardness, but only smiled and said, "Little rascal, you came here just to watch the commotion. But do you know why this great calamity has come about?"

"Ancestor Dragon and Yuanfeng fighting over territory, I guess."

Li Xuan did know a little about the actual reason behind the calamity.

It was all part of Demon Ancestor Luohu's scheme.

He wanted to harness the slaughter and the power of blood and flesh generated by the calamity to stir up fate.

At the same time, he planned to break through the seal in Pangu's core and obtain the Four Swords of Zhu Xian.

But he couldn't say that in front of Willow. Otherwise, his life might be in danger.

And as for giving them a preview to shock them and make them admire him?

You've got to be kidding. Those big shots would probably search his soul right then and there!

Did he really think they were good people?

And what kind of cultivation did he think he had?

So he merely pursed his lips and muttered as if he didn't care.

"Hahahaha!"

Willow burst into laughter, then said, "You little rascal, you're rather innocent."

With that, Willow clasped his hands behind his back and looked toward the battlefield, saying calmly, "This great calamity is a scheme. You need not know what the scheme is. Just know that within a radius of ten million li around Phoenix Mountain, I, Willow, guard the east; fellow Daoist Hongjun guards the south; fellow Daoist Luohu guards the west; and fellow Daoists Qiankun and Yin Yang guard the north. Our purpose is to ensure that not a single living being escapes..."

Willow spoke calmly, his gaze just as composed.

Yet Li Xuan felt a chill deep in his bones!

A radius of ten million li?

There were over a hundred million living beings fighting within that area!

Did Ancestor Dragon and Yuanfeng know that five super-powerful beings had them surrounded?

Li Xuan swallowed and looked cautiously at Willow. "Then... then what about me...?"

"You? I watched you all the way here. After all, we're letting them in, but not out. At first, I thought you were just another ordinary creature coming here to die and add your flesh and blood to the sacrificial altar of this calamity. But I didn't expect you to keep your wits about you. Your temperament is rather admirable."

Willow looked at Li Xuan with approval in his eyes. "That's why I showed myself. I originally meant to persuade you to leave, but you're clever and quite to my liking. So it wouldn't hurt to grant you a little fortune."

Li Xuan felt another chill run through him...

Surrounded on all sides.

Allowed in, but not out...

A sacrificial altar of flesh and blood for the calamity...

What the hell were these people?

Every last one of them was a ruthless super-power!

Who said these people were easy to talk to, that you could fool them as if they were idiots!?

What a joke!

Hadn't each of them lived for hundreds of thousands, even millions of years!?

On this Primordial Wilderness, where you ate me and I ate you, and the strong preyed on the weak, how could there be any good people?

And even if there were, how long would they survive?

This was terrifying...

A bead of cold sweat appeared on Li Xuan's forehead.

Looking at the smiling, seemingly kindly Great Immortal Willow,

he couldn't help feeling that the man might swallow him whole at any moment!

"Great Immortal, what would you like me to do?"

Li Xuan swallowed and asked cautiously.

Willow smiled. "There's no need to worry. Just stay with me and watch. Once the calamity ends, the fortune will naturally fall into place. If you can obtain some of it, then that will be your great fortune."

What else could Li Xuan do?

He could only nod. "I'll do as you say, Great Immortal..."

Only then did Willow chuckle and turn his gaze back to the battlefield.

Li Xuan could only roll his eyes, think it over, and look toward the battlefield as well.

There was nothing he could do.

Beside a mighty being like Great Immortal Willow, he had no options at all. He could only wait.

Still, at least this was only an Incarnation Outside the Body.

Even if it died, it wouldn't matter.

After settling on that thought, Li Xuan watched the battlefield unfold in peace.

Beneath Ancestor Dragon's roar, the battlefield had already erupted. Countless low-level cultivators and creatures fought frantically.

Meanwhile, in the sky, all the creatures were at least Golden Immortals.

They, too, roared and slaughtered one another, as though a rain of flesh and blood had begun to fall.

But the most terrifying sight was the enormous shadow, a hundred thousand zhang tall.

It led more than a dozen other figures, each several thousand zhang tall, unleashing endless bolts of lightning that battered Phoenix Mountain.

On Phoenix Mountain, Yuanfeng let out a series of long cries.

Together with several handsome men and beautiful women of the Phoenix bloodline, she commanded the Mountain-Protecting Formation.

They slaughtered the countless beasts and Scale Armor Beings surging toward them like a tidal wave.

At the same time, they held back the seemingly endless lightning, like that of a heavenly tribulation.

The battle went on without pause!

They fought for more than a hundred years!

Until nearly ten million creatures had been killed, leaving only a few tens of thousands of elite Scale Armor Beings and beasts to surround Phoenix Mountain, which was tottering on the verge of collapse!

Within a radius of a million li, the land had almost turned into a sea of blood.

Ancestor Dragon had now appeared in person.

He wore azure armor and stood tall and powerfully built, his gaze cold.

Five people followed behind him, three men and two women. All were his direct descendants, members of the Second Generation Dragon Clan.

Every one of them was at the peak of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm.

As for the rest, they had all died in battle over the past hundred years.

But though his losses had been great,

Yuanfeng, leader of the flying beasts, had suffered even worse!

Hardly any living creatures remained on Phoenix Mountain!

Only Yuanfeng, Divine Phoenix, and a handful of other creatures were left.

Though their faces were pale, they all stared coldly at Ancestor Dragon, their eyes filled with defiant fighting spirit and not the slightest hint of surrender!