Mortals' Schemes

"Extreme Yin and I will go ahead first; the rest of you will follow on your swords."

Zhu Yin Divine Sense to transmit a message to the six Foundation Establishment cultivators Blessed Fortune Palace.

Then, she spoke to Song Wen.

"Fellow Daoist, let's go, follow the Bloodthirsty Bees."

The two followed the swarm for about a hundred miles. The swarm was so numerous and made such a great commotion in flight that they weren't worried about losing track of them.

Six Foundation Establishment cultivators followed Song Wen and his companion at a distance.

After the group of cultivators left Back-Mountain Cauldron City, King Cui Zaishi changed his previous sorrowful expression and became indifferent.

He stepped into the inner palace.

Inside the palace, countless concubines and maids were already in chaos, clearly aware of the turmoil in the city.

Most of them were barely clothed, yet they didn't forget to gather various gold and silver jewelry, preparing for their escape.

Cui Zaishi walked past them, but they ignored him, as if they didn't recognize him as an emperor.

The harem no longer belonged to Cui Zaishi, but to Jing Kai and other cultivators.

Before the shepherd and the shepherd, Cui Zaishi was like a dog, wagging his tail and begging for mercy.

To curry favor with Jing Kai and his group, he not only offered up his wife and daughters, but also searched for beauties throughout the entire Cold Mountain Kingdom.

Looking at these beautiful but disheveled concubines and palace maids, Cui Zaishi's expression grew increasingly gloomy. He passed through the many palaces and arrived at a dilapidated house deep within the royal palace.

After confirming that no one was following him, he pushed open the door and entered.

Cui Zaishi walked to an abandoned well in the courtyard and jumped in.

He had no cultivation level, yet he had mastered considerable martial arts skills, and his movements were quite agile.

The well was about ten zhang deep, with only a shallow layer of water. Perhaps because it had been neglected for too long, the well water had a slightly foul odor.

Cui Zaishi used a rope to land steadily at the bottom of the well. After feeling around on the well wall for a while, he found a slight protrusion.

A gentle press.

Suddenly, the stone wall opened up, revealing a hole more than three feet high.

Cui Zaishi Jae-seok, hunched over, crawled into the cave entrance.

As soon as he entered, the opening behind him closed again.

After crawling for about a hundred feet in the cave, a vertical passage appeared in front of them.

Cui Zaishi climbed out of the passage and came into a house.

He was now in a location that was clearly outside the palace.

The room was a study, and he knocked on one of the walls.

Suddenly, a doorway appeared in the wall, Cui Zaishi Jae-seok stepped inside.

This was a small, secret room, about two zhang long and wide. Sitting cross-legged in the room was a middle-aged man in a gray robe. The man's appearance bore a resemblance to Cui Zaishi.

After closing the door to the secret room, Cui Zaishi knelt respectfully on the ground and addressed the man.

"Your son greets Your Majesty."

The middle-aged man said, "Get up. I am now a cultivator and do not concern myself with such worldly formalities. Have the shepherd and the shepherd boy already left?"

Cui Zaishi replied, "As soon as the smoke signals rose over the Capital Garrison City, signaling the imminent attack of the Bloodthirsty Bees, Yang Cha -Zhu Jiao used the <Starline Formation> within the palace to relay the message before fleeing in panic. Not long after, the six shepherds arrived at the palace together."

"However, they hid in the palace, not daring to step out. The so-called 'Immortal' were nothing but a bunch of cowards. After the Bloodthirsty Bees retreated, the six shepherds left the palace together, seemingly following the Bloodthirsty Bees."

The middle-aged man asked, "Where did Yang Cha Zhu Jiao go?"

Cui Zaishi said, "He went west, probably to the Azure Edge Mountain Palace, about 500 li to the west, where the defensive formations are even stronger. At that time, Jing Kai and the other six were not there; he was probably worried that the palace's formations wouldn't be able to withstand the Bloodthirsty Bees."

The Azure Edge Mountain Palace was built by successive shepherds and shepherds for their own enjoyment.

The middle-aged man asked, "How are those assassins I had you secretly train doing now?"

Cui Zaishi said, "Of the thousand assassins recruited, a hundred have reached the level of first-rate masters, and ten of them have even reached the level of innate martial artists."

"Where are the weapons?"

"Each person was equipped with a powerful crossbow, and all the arrows were coated with deadly poison."

Cui Zaishi's expression suddenly became somewhat agitated. "Father, are we going to make our move?"

The middle-aged man stood up, staring at the wall in front of him, seemingly lost in memories.

"Decades ago, your imperial grandfather accidentally discovered a cultivator's tomb. From the records inside, he learned that we, the people of Sheep Island, are all livestock raised by Limitless Island. Once our herd grows too large, we will all be slaughtered. However, cultivators are too powerful, and we mortals are simply no match for them. We mortals can only wait to be captured."

The middle-aged man clenched his fists tightly, his tone filled with resentment and anger.

"However, within the tomb, your imperial grandfather discovered a magical token. This token seemed to be able to sense the presence of Demon Beast. Relying on this token, your imperial grandfather discovered the Bloodthirsty Bees, a type of poisonous insect, in the mountains three thousand miles to the southeast."

"To delay the harvest, he ordered a large number of live people to be sent to feed the Bloodthirsty Bees. Heaven rewards the diligent; after decades of effort, the Bloodthirsty Bees finally grew strong enough to be a force even Limitless Island had to take seriously."

"However, even so, we don't have much time left and must act quickly. With favorable weather and bumper harvests every year, and the cultivators nipping wars, natural disasters, and man-made calamities in the bud, the population of the entire Cold Mountain Kingdom has surged. The day of harvest is probably not far off."

"My Cui Family the Great Cold Kingdom is the royal family of the Cold Mountain Kingdom. We must not allow all our clansmen to become like ordinary mortals, reduced to two-legged sheep to be slaughtered. Some of our clansmen must escape from Sheep Island to continue the bloodline of my Cui Family. At the same time, we must remember the sins that Limitless Island committed against our Cui Family, against the Cold Mountain Kingdom, and against the entire Sheep Island Human Race. One day, they will surely pay the price."

"I am the only one in the Cui Family with Spirit Root, and the responsibility of continuing the bloodline can only fall on my shoulders. The entire Sheep Island is shrouded in a maze, and to get out of the maze, one must obtain a pass token. And only sheep officers and sheep herders possess pass tokens."

"I am now at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, and with a thousand martial arts warriors as my backup, I am confident that I can deal with Zhu Jiao, who is at the eighth level of Qi Refinement, if I am prepared to catch him off guard."

Cui Zaishi clenched his fists, his eyes flashing with murderous intent. "I've been waiting for this day for a long time. I've wanted to tear Zhu Jiao to pieces for ages. It's a pity I can't kill Jing Kai."

The middle-aged man said, "Don't act impulsively. Those who achieve great things cannot be bound by personal feelings. Jing Kai only insulted your wife and daughters; it's nothing serious. He is Foundation Establishment expert, not someone we can afford to offend. Your henchmen are nothing but chickens and dogs in front of him."

"It's because of the existence of Foundation Establishment cultivators like Jing Kai that my son and I have been so cautious all these years. Fortunately, we obtained a few grains of Stellar Golden Sand in the tomb, which I carry with me to shield myself from cultivators' Divine Sense. Otherwise, as a cultivator infiltrating the royal city, I would have been exposed long ago."

Cui Zaishi said, "Father, rest assured, I will not act on emotion. When will we carry out the assassination of Zhu Jiao?"

The middle-aged man said, "The powerful figures on Limitless Island are busy dealing with the Bloodthirsty Bees; now is the best time to make a move."

Cui Zaishi stood up, his face resolute. "Okay! I'll go make the preparations right away."