North Wind Town, inside the East City Gate.
Niu Dali stood in the void beneath the pitch-black night sky, his sharp gaze fixed on Ren Ye, the Little Marquis, Wang Tudou, and Daoist Chu. He was somewhat shocked. He had never expected that, aside from the Little Marquis, there would be another Fifth-Grade Realm expert carrying a supreme treasure among these Divine Court spies.
Damn, this really is a little tricky-but only a little...
After the Little Marquis left the Warrior Monk Prefecture, Niu Dali had immediately assembled three hundred personal troops, secretly approached the East City Gate, and met up with its defending general, Chen Zhiyou. Afterward, the Little Marquis had revealed his true intentions and, once he obtained Jiu Zhi, had cleanly killed all thirty personal guards.
Before those personal guards left, Niu Dali had required each of them to refine a soul tablet from a strand of their own true soul. The two were linked: when the person died, the tablet would be destroyed. Thus, when Niu Dali saw the soul tablets shatter together within an extremely short time, he knew his dear sworn brother had "switched sides" and was going to stab him hard in the back.
Niu Dali had then sent out scouts, intending to quietly surround the vacant courtyard. Once the Nether Road Iron Cavalry entered the town, he would personally lead his troops in a final attack to wipe out these Divine Court operatives. What he had not expected was that, just as those soldiers set out, they would run straight into his returning "dear brother" and the other three on the main street.
Although there had been a few changes, everything had continued developing in his favor. Floating high in the sky now, Niu Dali felt an exhilarating sense of finally venting