After the Female Prophet's alliance operation failed, the owners of the Fortunate Destiny Dao Mansions on the various peaks were no longer particularly interested in joining forces with others to crack the case.
For one thing, they felt the price paid for the second attack on Medicine Peak had been far too steep. Twenty-seven people had joined the alliance, but only five had escaped in the end. Nor had they obtained a single useful clue throughout the operation. All they had gained was "boundless darkness" and despair.
For another, at this stage, most of them had few resurrections left and truly did not dare take any more reckless risks.
As a result, when the mountain masters received Little Bad King's invitation to an alliance, their instinct was to refuse. But after personally reading the contents of the letter, they all changed their minds.
Ren Daniú had clearly stated in his letter that he needed no help from anyone. He would infiltrate Medicine Peak alone and confront that "boundless darkness" himself, while the participants in the alliance only needed to wait at a designated location for the outcome. If Little Bad King died along the way, nobody needed to rescue him, much less burn paper offerings for him. They just needed to flee as fast as possible. If Little Bad King succeeded, everyone could coast to victory and collect the rewards for solving the case.
For everyone, an alliance with requirements like these posed extremely little risk and practically no potential losses. After careful consideration, the mountain masters all felt they had absolutely no reason to refuse. They were also curious about just how Ren Daniú of Yaoguang Peak intended to crack the case, so they all readily agreed to join the alliance.
A full month after the second attack