Battle Challenge Arrives, Dark Clouds Crush the City

The lights in the council hall burned until the latter half of the night before finally going out. When Li Yuanhui, Li Yunming, and the others emerged, dragging exhausted yet sleepless bodies behind them, the eastern sky had already begun to pale. The decision had been made; no more words were needed. The entire Li Family began operating efficiently like a war machine wound tight.

"Li Kui!" Li Yuanhui called in a low voice.

A sharp-featured middle-aged Soul Master clad in light armor immediately emerged from the shadows and dropped to one knee. "Patriarch!" He was the head of intelligence and reconnaissance under the Li Family's Steward Hall, an Soul Douluo who excelled most at concealment and tracking.

"Deploy three additional Night Owl teams. Have one keep the Qiu Family under constant watch. I want to know every movement within their grounds. Even if there are a few more trails of cooking smoke, report it! The other two teams are to infiltrate the outskirts of Five Poisons Valley's territory. Do not go deep; merely monitor any large-scale movements of their personnel, especially the movements of high-level Soul Masters. Remember, safety comes first. If you sense the aura of a Titled Douluo, retreat immediately. Do not engage, and do not expose yourselves!" Li Yuanhui spoke rapidly, his orders crisp and clear.

"Understood!" Li Kui clasped his fists and accepted the order. With a flicker of his body, he vanished like a wisp of smoke into the darkness before dawn.

Li Yunming stood with his hands behind his back, watching the direction in which Li Kui had disappeared. "The Patriarch's arrangements are most prudent. Five Poisons Valley is sinister and unpredictable. Their poison arts are impossible to guard against. If scouts rashly venture too deep, they may never return. Monitoring the outskirts may not yield core intelligence, but large-scale troop movements will always leave traces."

Dongyue Qing nodded from the side. "Elder Li is right. The enemy is hidden while we are exposed, so caution must come first. My Dongyue Family will also intensify our investigations in the direction of Heavenly Heart City. If anything happens, we will share information."

Over the next two days, Heavenly Phoenix City appeared to have returned to its usual order on the surface, but an invisible tension spread through every corner like a steadily rising tide. The city's defenses were visibly reinforced, the number of patrols doubled, and the defensive Soul Tools atop the walls flickered constantly with faint light. Though the city's residents had not been explicitly told the details, the earth-shaking battle that night and the air of an approaching storm were enough to fill them with dread. The markets remained open, but there was less bustle and more haste.

Li Xuansheng did not remain idle either. Using the system's reconnaissance abilities, he helped screen for possible enemy informants within the city and uncovered several low-level Soul Masters who had been bribed by the Qiu Family to pass along information. It made him realize even more deeply that this war had long since begun in silence.

On the evening of the second day, the sunset was blood-red, staining the clouds at the horizon with bleak and beautiful color.

The first Night Owl scout team dispatched toward Five Poisons Valley returned, covered in dust and shaken with fear. The squad captain did not even have time to change out of his night clothes, torn by thorns, before rushing straight to the council hall to make his report.

"Reporting to the Patriarch and Great Elder! We were ordered to monitor the outskirts of Five Poisons Valley. At Fallen Soul Ravine, roughly three hundred li southeast of their territory, we discovered an energy disturbance." The squad captain's voice still carried a trace of panting. "We did not dare approach and only observed from ten li away. We vaguely saw... saw several streaks of light gathering. Their auras were all extremely powerful, at least at the Soul Douluo level. Among them... there seemed to be the pressure of Titled Douluos, and more than one! Their auras were cold and bizarre, carrying the characteristics of deadly poison. This subordinate concludes that they were people from Five Poisons Valley. They briefly made contact with another group whose auras were equally powerful but entirely different in nature. The latter... were suspected to use the Qiu Family's cultivation arts."

He paused, lingering fear still on his face. "Just as we locked onto their approximate location, one of the Titled Douluo auras seemed to notice us and swept its spiritual sense toward us. It was icy to the bone and carried corrosive intent. I immediately ordered everyone to use secret arts and scatter in retreat. We did not dare linger for even a moment."

Everyone in the hall darkened at the news. Though the scouts had failed to learn the details of the conversation, the secret meeting between Five Poisons Valley and the Qiu Family's high-level forces already explained everything.

"You have worked hard. Go and rest properly. Record this as a major merit." Li Yuanhui waved his hand, dismissing the scouts.

He looked toward Li Yunming and Dongyue Qing, revealing a bitter smile. "It seems the worst-case scenario is coming to pass."

Dongyue Qing stroked his beard and let out a long sigh. "Fallen Soul Ravine... the terrain there is treacherous, and Soul Power is chaotic. It truly is an ideal place for a secret meeting. They are acting so urgently. It seems they are ready to show their hand."

Sure enough, what was destined to come could not be avoided.

On the third day, just after noon.

The sun blazed overhead, yet an invisible gloom seemed to gather above Heavenly Phoenix City.

"Woooo—woooo—woooo—"

Three heavy, drawn-out horn blasts suddenly sounded from outside the city, shattering the afternoon silence. These horns did not belong to the Li Family. The sound contained Soul Power, carrying provocation and killing intent as it rang clearly throughout all of Heavenly Phoenix City!

"Enemy attack?!" The captain in charge of the watch atop the walls jolted and shouted sharply, "Everyone, take your positions! Charge the Soul Tools!"

In an instant, figures moved across the city walls as every defensive force entered maximum combat readiness.

Li Yuanhui, Li Yunming, Dongyue Qing, and the other higher-ups appeared atop the tallest watchtower almost the instant the horns sounded. Gazing into the distance, they saw clouds of dust billowing from the horizons to the east and west of Heavenly Phoenix City!

To the east, a dense mass of figures slowly approached, led by Qiu Wanhe, the Qiu Family Patriarch. Their banners fluttered in the wind, embroidered with the savage character for "Qiu." The powerful auras within their ranks were displayed without concealment. Though they had suffered devastating losses in the previous battle, the force gathered now was still terrifying. At Qiu Wanhe's side stood Qiu Qianchi, pale-faced and missing an arm, the empty stump plainly visible. His gaze toward Heavenly Phoenix City was filled with venomous resentment and madness.

To the west came another group. Their attire varied, but their colors were mostly dark, dominated by deep green, dark purple, and black. A faint mist lingered around them, and wherever they passed, the grass and trees on the ground withered and blackened at a visible rate. At their head stood two old men clad in broad cloaks, their faces obscured. Their bodies were hunched, yet they radiated a cold, sinister aura even more chilling than Qiu Qianchi at his peak—Five Poisons Valley's two Level 99 Limit Douluos, famed for their poison arts! Behind them followed dozens of fierce Soul Masters, with the shadows of poisonous creature Martial Souls faintly visible around them, hissing endlessly and sending chills down the spine.

The two forces stopped roughly five li from Heavenly Phoenix City, forming a pincer formation that vaguely encircled the city.

At that moment, Qiu Wancheng, the Qiu Family's Second Elder and a Level 98 Super Douluo, stepped forward. Channeling Soul Power, his voice rolled across the land like thunder:

"Li Yuanhui! Li Yunming! Listen well! Your Li Family has repeatedly opposed my Qiu Family, and the night before last, you used despicable methods to slaughter several of our elders. This hatred cannot exist beneath the same sky! Today, my Qiu Family has joined forces with the fellow Daoists of Five Poisons Valley to collect this blood debt! Five Poisons Valley and my Qiu Family stand united in spirit. They have answered our invitation to lend aid and uphold justice! If you know what is good for you, open the gates at once and bind yourselves to await punishment. Perhaps we may leave your entire clan an intact corpse! Otherwise, when the city falls, not even chickens and dogs will be spared!"

This battle challenge, twisting black into white and distorting every fact, struck the ears of every Li Family member atop the walls with frigid killing intent.

The city walls fell deathly silent. Only heavy breathing and the hum of Soul Tool energy gathering could be heard.

Li Yuanhui's face turned livid. He stepped forward, and with Soul Power reinforcing it, his voice struck back with equal force:

"Qiu Wancheng! Stop barking here! Your Qiu Family has coveted my Li Family's foundation for a long time. The night before last, you even launched a shameless sneak attack. If my clan had not fought with our lives on the line, we would have already fallen to your vicious schemes! Now that you are inferior in skill, you twist the facts and collude with wicked outsiders. You truly have no shame! People of Five Poisons Valley, do you truly intend to wade into these muddy waters and fight my Li Family and the Dongyue Family to the death?"

His words made clear the Dongyue Family's presence, serving as an invisible deterrent.

From Five Poisons Valley's side, one of the cloaked old men let out a hoarse laugh like a night owl. "Heh heh heh... the Li Family Patriarch certainly has a grand tone. Why should Five Poisons Valley explain our actions to you? Since our Qiu Family friends invited us sincerely, our valley will naturally offer our full support. As for the Dongyue Family... heh, they can barely protect themselves."

As his words fell, the atmosphere instantly plunged to freezing point.

The battle challenge had been issued. There was no room left for reconciliation.

Atop the watchtower, Li Yunming swept his gaze over the dense enemy army outside the city. His eyes remained calm and still, with only cold killing intent gathering within them. He slowly spoke, his voice not loud, yet clear in the ears of every elder behind him:

"Prepare for battle."