Bibi Dong fell silent after hearing this analysis.
She sat in her chair, her fingers gripping the scepter until her knuckles turned white, her expression shifting unpredictably.
"So..."
Bibi Dong took a deep breath, feeling as if her intelligence had been insulted. "You've been deceiving those elders from the very beginning? You even... deceived me?"
"Those confident plans you laid out at the elders' meeting were all fake?"
"What do you mean, deceiving you?"
Nan Feng looked utterly innocent. "I thought someone as wise as you would see through it. Who knew you'd actually believe Tang Xiao was just a hot-blooded brute with no brains?"
"Besides, all's fair in war."
"If I hadn't made you believe it too, how could you have acted so convincingly? How could you have passed on that confidence of 'I'll be right here waiting for you to come and die' to everyone?"
"Get lost!"
Bibi Dong cursed inwardly, feeling as if a mouthful of old blood were caught in her chest, impossible to spit out or swallow.
She'd finally seen through him.
Not even the punctuation in this Old Spider's words could be trusted!
There wasn't a single honest word out of this man's mouth! It was all a trap!
But as angry as she was, Bibi Dong had to admit that Nan Feng's chain of schemes had calculated the minds of both the Clear Sky Sect and the Elder Hall to perfection.
He deceived both sides, set both sides up, and in the end, came out ahead of everyone.
"Enough, enough. Stop dwelling on it."
Nan Feng urged her. "Let's get moving."
"The Strength Clan is the closest, and that old ape Tai Tan is the closest to Tang Hao. If I'm not mistaken, Tang Xiao's first stop will definitely be there!"
"If we get there too late, that shameless old Demon Bear will have fled with his men. Then the Clear Sky Sect and the Strength Clan could join forces, and our war will become much harder."
"By the way, bring all the Speed Clan captives, especially Bai He and the old, weak, women, and children. I have a use for them!"
Bibi Dong furrowed her brows. "A use? What use? Hostages?"
Nan Feng nodded. "More or less. If Tang Xiao shows up, we'll push Bai He and all those old, weak, women, and children to the front lines and make him surrender. If the Clear Sky Sect dares to move, we start killing."
"If Tang Xiao dares to act, we'll wipe out the Speed Clan!"
Bibi Dong furrowed her brows. "Won't that only strengthen the Clear Sky Sect's and the other three clans' desire to resist?"
"Besides, if old, weak, women, and children die in a war, no one cares. But if we use them this way on the battlefield, word will get out, and the whole world will laugh at us."
"Even war has its limits. If Spirit Hall uses this tactic, we'll truly become the enemy of the whole world. By then, even Spirit Hall's own Soul Masters may lose heart."
"This is a scheme that wounds the enemy by eight hundred, but costs us a thousand."
Nan Feng looked helpless. "Who said we were actually going to kill them? It's just to scare the other side."
"Scare them?" Bibi Dong looked exasperated. "You can use something like this to scare them? The moment we make such a display, we'll have earned a reputation for being vile and shameless! Whether we kill anyone or not, if the Clear Sky Sect spreads the story, Spirit Hall will lose all face!"
"Face?" Nan Feng looked baffled.
"Little Dongdong, why don't you listen to yourself? Hasn't Spirit Hall been shameless from start to finish in this war?"
"Spirit Hall picked the fight, and Qian Xunji led people to their doorstep, only to get killed instead. And after all that, Spirit Hall still has the nerve to seek revenge."
"Face? Has Spirit Hall ever cared about that?"
"And my plan isn't just about scaring Tang Xiao."
"Think about it. When Tang Xiao leads the Clear Sky Sect's elite to the Strength Clan, charging in with all the fury of a storm, ready to fight us to the death—"
"We shove old Bai He and all those sobbing old, weak, women, and children from the Speed Clan to the front lines."
"Then we tell Tang Xiao, 'Sect Master Tang, if you dare attack, I'll kill your maternal uncle first! Then your cousin's son! And finally, I'll butcher all these hundred-plus women and children!'"
"What do you think Tang Xiao will do?"
Bibi Dong frowned. "He'll fly into a rage and hate us even more."
"Exactly, he'll fly into a rage."
Nan Feng nodded. "But he'll also hesitate! That's his maternal uncle! His mother's own brother! His blood relative!"
"If he charges in without a second thought and Bai He and the others die, then he'll be the one who caused his own maternal uncle's death! He'll be a heartless beast!"
"With that damning label hanging over him, how will he command respect in the Clear Sky Sect? How will he face the Speed Clan survivors? How will he face the other affiliated clans?"
"So he won't dare act!"
"At least at first, this move will leave him stuck!"
"And as soon as he hesitates, what will the other three clans think?"
"Especially Tai Tan. He's closest to Tang Hao, but he's also the most loyal. When he sees the Speed Clan's misery, and sees Tang Xiao hamstrung by his concern for his relatives, how badly will their morale be shaken?"
"Better still... if Tang Xiao truly ignores everything, or gets pushed to the brink and orders an attack—"
"Then we can strike in the chaos. We'll take out the young, strong ones who can fight and think for themselves, then deliberately protect the old, weak, women, and children who pose little threat. After the battle, we'll let them go and tell them that Tang Hao brought this disaster upon them, and that Tang Xiao disregarded their lives."
"By then, without us lifting a finger, the surviving members of the Speed Clan will be filled with resentment toward the Clear Sky Sect."
"And the other three clans will feel the grief of the hare when the fox dies: the Speed Clan was abandoned today—will it be our turn tomorrow?"
"As long as we drive a wedge into the Clear Sky Sect and make its affiliated clans doubt it, we'll have already won half the war!"
Listening to Nan Feng's one vicious scheme after another made Bibi Dong's scalp prickle.
"Where did you learn to toy with people's hearts like this?"
"Do you really have to ask?" Nan Feng looked utterly exasperated.
"If you hadn't stubbornly refused to use Qian Renxue to take control of the Elder Hall, would this war have been such a hassle?"
"I only needed to fan the flames and get everyone to charge in and die as cannon fodder, while we stayed behind and took the spoils. But now we have to do everything ourselves."
"And you still call me sinister? You..."
"Stop, stop. You're not sinister. You're simply a master strategist who leaves nothing to chance, all right?" Bibi Dong hurriedly cut off the old spider's complaints.
Sometimes this man really sounded more like a shrew than she did!
The Strength Clan's stronghold.
The clang of hammering that once rang through the place had fallen silent, replaced by an oppressive stillness.
Demon Bear Douluo hovered in midair, a thousand Spirit Hall Soul Masters standing ready behind him.
He didn't rush to order an attack. Instead, he folded his arms and looked down at the family below, who were bracing for the worst, with a mocking grin.
As Second Worship had instructed, they would surround the place without attacking, wait for reinforcements, and conserve their strength.
That suited him just fine.
After all, the Strength Clan was full of brawlers, and the old ape Tai Tan's brute strength was no joke. If they were pushed into a fight to the death, Demon Bear Douluo feared his old bones might not hold up.
Still, even if he wasn't going to attack, there was no harm in making life miserable for the other side.
"People of the Strength Clan, listen up!"
Demon Bear Douluo's Soul Power surged, and his voice boomed like rolling thunder. "Tang Hao, that traitor to the Clear Sky Sect, murdered the Pope and is beyond forgiveness! You're lackeys of the Clear Sky Sect. If you want to live, seal your Soul Power at once and kneel to surrender! Otherwise—"
"Not a soul will be spared!"
"Impudent!"
A roar like a great bell rang out.
The Strength Clan's gates burst open, and a towering old man with a snow-white beard and hair strode out.
The ground trembled with every step he took. His terrifying aura stood firm against the might of a Titled Douluo.
It was none other than the head of the Strength Clan, the Soul Douluo at level eighty-six, God of Great Strength Tai Tan!
Tai Tan looked up, his huge, bell-like eyes fixed on Demon Bear Douluo in midair. He first paused in surprise, then wore an openly mocking grin.
"I wondered who it was. So it's the crippled dog from back then!"
"What, the leg my master broke with a single hammer has healed? Doesn't hurt anymore? Now you dare come out and yap again?"
His words sent a commotion through the crowd.
The mocking expression on Demon Bear Douluo's face froze. A moment later, it turned liver-red. The veins at his temples bulged, and killing intent boiled in his eyes!
That was the humiliation of his life! Tang Hao had smashed his leg in front of everyone!
"Old ape! You're asking for death!"
Demon Bear Douluo laughed in fury. Behind him, the enormous phantom of a blood-red demon bear appeared. Nine Soul Rings—two yellow, two purple, and five black—rose and fell around him, and his violent Soul Power twisted the very air.
"I was going to spare your lives. Since you're so eager to die, this old man will grant your wish!"
"All Soul Masters, heed my command!"
Demon Bear Douluo swept his hand through the air, murderous intent blazing. "Surround them! Don't let a single fly escape! Today, I'll bathe the Strength Clan in blood!"
Tai Tan's heart sank at the sight.
He had deliberately provoked Demon Bear to draw his fire and give his clan members a chance to break through.
But he hadn't expected that, for all his fury, the old bastard still hadn't forgotten to seal off every direction.
A thousand Soul Masters and a Titled Douluo...
For the Strength Clan, with only a little over two hundred members, it was a disaster that meant their total destruction!