At the foot of the mountain, chaos suddenly erupted in the Great Jin garrison's Talisman-Clad Army camp, which had mobilized at the first hint of trouble!
A band of Martial Warriors with black cloth wrapped around their heads and faces suddenly charged in, brandishing weapons that flashed with red Gang Qi...
"Kill the Liu Immortal Sect's running dogs! Avenge the people of the six Southern Borderlands commanderies who died!"
Blades flashed without pause as black-clad figures hurled themselves ferociously into the Great Jin Talisman-Clad Army... Caught off guard, the soldiers suffered devastating casualties!
Prince Sima Xiu, who had been sleeping in late inside the Talisman-Clad Army camp, scrambled up with a lazy donkey's roll, turned, and fled toward the rear...
A guard rushed in and grabbed Sima Xiu... "Your Highness! Disaster! Rebels have broken into the camp!"
Sima Xiu tore himself free, cursing, "You're the fucking rebel, aren't you? Let go! I'm running for my life!"
The guard shouted, "There are rebels at the rear too! Your Highness, please stay calm and command the Talisman-Clad Army against them! We're so close to the Capital City-the court's armies and Attendant cultivators will definitely come to reinforce us!"
Sima Xiu poked his head out of the command tent and swiftly surveyed the camp's chaos... Then he shouted, "They're here to kill those Liu bastards! Hurry and clear a path... Just let them through!"
The Talisman-Clad Army's officers and soldiers froze... The court had stationed them on Mount Yuekong to protect the Immortals Stele and monitor the Liu cultivators of the Immortal Armor Soldiers. Why was this prince, who seemed sick in the head, ordering them to let the rebels up the mountain?
The black-clad attackers froze too, then shouted and leaped into the air, cutting through the stunned Great Jin Talisman-Clad Army soldiers and charging up the mountain...
Relieved, Prince Sima Xiu wiped the sweat from his forehead, coughed, and told his dumbstruck subordinates, "Well... this is merely my strategy! They came at us with such ferocity-how could I bear to let our brothers throw their lives away for the Liu Clan of Mount Zhlin? We'll let them in, then hold the foot of the mountain... Once our reinforcements arrive, we'll wrap those rebels up like dumplings and catch them all in one net! Yes... that's exactly it..."
A subordinate dripping with sweat immediately chimed in cautiously, "Your Highness is wise indeed! Avoiding their strength to strike their weakness, planning before acting..."
Sima Xiu was just about to praise this considerate subordinate for his timely support when a thunderous boom rang out! Another disturbance came from north of the Capital City, even greater than when Wei Wuchen had challenged an immortal with his sword and destroyed Jinhu Immortal Abode a few days earlier...
Sima Xiu stared, dumbstruck, and murmured, "Fuck... We're screwed. Jinhu Immortal Abode's been smashed again! I bet all the reinforcements have gone over there to catch whoever did it..."
The Talisman-Clad Army captain beside him asked cautiously, "Then, Your Highness... should we still go up the mountain to support the Liu cultivators and Immortal Armor Soldiers?"
Sima Xiu thought it over. "Send up thirty men who are quick on their feet. They can wave flags and cheer our Liu comrades on from a distance... Tell them to keep their wits about them and run straight back if things turn ugly!"
"Uh... understood!"
At the entrance to the village on Two-World Mountain.
A man in white clasped his hands and bowed deeply to Old Skeleton, who sat cross-legged before the Land God Temple... "Bai Ye pays his respects, Ancestor!"
Old Skeleton chuckled. "What a rare guest! Hahaha... Have you grown tired of living and come back to meet your death?"
The man named Bai Ye raised his head, a faint smile appearing on his lean, rugged face. "You jest, Ancestor! I've come to discuss something with Big Black... taking the life of the immortal at Jinhu Immortal Abode to avenge Master Dustless!"
Old Skeleton laughed. "Fuck your mother! Have you fucking lost your mind? Come, come, I'll send you on your way right now..."
Old Skeleton had only just risen when the winds and clouds of this world suddenly changed! An enormous black shadow appeared between heaven and earth. After a low, utterly chilling roar, Big Black revealed his true-body manifestation and stomped the middle-aged man named Bai Ye into the earth at the village entrance!
Bai Ye struggled to hold on and shouted with all his strength, "Lord Mo Shou! Will you really stand by and watch the old blind man, Han Wu, and Huang Jiu die, their cultivation extinguished?"
A savage gleam shone in Big Black's manifestation's eyes, and icy white mist coiled around his fangs... At those words, he lifted his paw, then lightly stamped the ground.
Broken stones shot through the air, and the middle-aged man buried in the ground was flung out in a wretched state, his clothes torn and blood streaming from all seven orifices!
Bai Ye caught his breath, climbed to his feet, and bowed. "Lord Mo Shou! There's an opportunity now for you to strike! First, you can kill that Upper Realm True Immortal who plagues the mortal world... Second, you can rescue Master Ming and the others. Third, you can intimidate the Great Jin Dynasty court into no longer squeezing the people of the Southern Borderlands dry! Why not?"
Big Black cast a disdainful glance at the lord of Eleventh Guardian City, who had betrayed Two Realms Village, and said nothing.
Old Skeleton tilted his head at Bai Ye and laughed. "Have Big Black kill that immortal? Where did you dream up that idea? Three dynasties, Three True Immortal Killing Arrays... Can you break those arrays? If not for those three arrays, Master Black would have slaughtered every last one of you bastards along with those three fucking immortals long ago!"
Battered and bedraggled, Bai Ye clasped his hands and smiled. "Immortal Sects, mountain sects, Martial Warriors, dynasties... Two-World Mountain, Wild Spirit Land! Life and death, the endless bustle... How high-spirited Two Realms Village was back then! And now? The Village Head is dead, and the remaining masters are crippled... Ancestor, was Two Realms Village's crushing defeat back then really only because I, its eldest disciple, switched sides in battle?"
Old Skeleton said impassively, "Go on..."
Bai Ye wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and continued, "Ancestor... Unless the people of Two Realms Village enter Wild Spirit Land, they can never truly draw on the power within it. Back then, Two Realms Village seemed to have a great many masters of the mortal world, but honestly, could we really have seized Great Jin's realm and stood on equal footing with the Upper Realm immortals?"
Old Skeleton answered, "If we don't stake everything on a fight for the mortal world, should we imitate those fellows in Wild Spirit Land and do nothing but huddle in our cage? Are you actually justifying betraying your masters and ancestors?"
Bai Ye shook his head. "Each matter must be judged in its own time. Master Mingxin and Master Dustless understood my intentions..."
"They understood all right-they understood how wrong they were about you! They never imagined that you, Two Realms Village's founding eldest disciple, would raise a butcher's blade against your fellow disciples and sell out every one of your masters... in exchange for a splendid, prosperous future with the Immortal Sects!"
Bai Ye gave a bitter smile. "Ancestor, these mortal schemes and disputes... truly aren't suited to someone of your venerable years. The mortal world, the mortal world... the world between mortals! Matters of life and death are the mortal world; serving Qin at dawn and Chu at dusk is also the mortal world! Following the tide is the mortal world; cunning and calculation are also the mortal world! The peaceful realm you envision, with spring breezes sweeping a thousand miles-how is that not also the cherished dream of mortal dynasties?"
Old Skeleton paused. "How did you get in? What about those lackeys from the Taihua Sect and the Twelve Guardian Cities? Why did they turn a blind eye to you?"
Bai Ye smiled faintly. "Once they're dead, they can't see..."
"Are you planning a rebellion? You want to wipe out Great Jin's Sima Clan... and seize the Great Jin Dynasty? You dare rebel with just your Eleventh Guardian City? Even if you can drag the people of Two Realms Village into it, do you think you can succeed?"
Bai Ye smiled. "I don't want to rebel, just as I never wanted to betray Two Realms Village back then... I merely follow the tide and do what most needs doing at the moment!"
"Following the tide, indeed! You make it sound so upright and grand, so breezily unconcerned..."
The cripple Du Yuan arrived at the village entrance riding on a young man's back...
Lü Bufan carefully studied his eldest senior brother, the chief culprit who had switched sides at the most critical moment back when Two Realms Village led mountain sects that could no longer endure oppression into battle against Great Jin's Four Great Immortal Sects!
The current lord of Eleventh Guardian City... Bai Ye.
Bai Ye bowed respectfully. "Bai Ye pays his respects to Master Du Yuan!"
Du Yuan chuckled. "I wouldn't dare accept that! Back then, I fought with everything I had, only to have both legs severed by that fucking immortal's sword, and still failed to save a single disciple... I'm unworthy of the word 'master'!"
Bai Ye smiled. "They saw it. They knew what their masters felt... They could close their eyes in peace even in death."
Du Yuan sneered. "You cur! You won't get a chance to scheme today. We'll kill you... then go to the Capital City to help the old blind man and the other two. If we're too late, we'll destroy your Eleventh Guardian City! And the Taihua Sect..."
"If you do that, Lord Mo Shou will suffer grievous injuries... Huang Jiu, Master Ming, and their companion will die, their cultivation extinguished, and Two Realms Village will cease to exist! Wild Spirit Land will completely lose its last bridge to the outside world! Master Du Yuan... why must you cling to the past? I've come in good faith to make a deal..."
Du Yuan soared into the air, the Gang Qi of a half-step Ninth Realm Martial Warrior pouring from him like golden light! He roared, "You master-betraying, ancestor-defiling bastard! What exactly are you trying to say?"
Bai Ye looked up into Du Yuan's eyes. "Join forces to destroy the armies of the Taihua Sect and Twelfth Guardian City! Kill Great Jin's guardian immortal!"
Du Yuan's face darkened, and he asked through gritted teeth, "What's the price? What do you stand to gain?"
Bai Ye answered clearly, "First, killing the Upper Realm True Immortal will fulfill the masters' long-cherished wish! Second, it will give all of Great Jin's oppressed cultivators, mountain sects, and Martial Warriors an opportunity and a pretext to resist being squeezed dry! Third, it can give the people inside Wild Spirit Land a chance to reach out..."
"And you? What is it you want?"
Bai Ye answered with a smile, "The rivalry between Eleventh and Twelfth Guardian Cities goes back a long way. Once the twelfth city lord dies, my eleventh city, Haoyang City, will dominate southern Great Jin! The Taihua Sect, which can hold me in check, will also suffer a crippling blow..."
"From then on, you alone will effectively carve out Great Jin's Southern Borderlands as your own domain, with no one to rival you? Why kill the immortal? That's the mighty patron you cling to for your meteoric rise... Do you enjoy betraying your masters and ancestors and becoming a traitor that much?"
Bai Ye answered with a smile, "Ever since I refused to join Mount Zhilin and chose to become this city lord for the Sima Clan, I've already displeased the Upper Realm immortal... What's so good about an Immortal Sect? How could it compare to a court that holds the mortal earth and all its living beings in its grasp!"
Du Yuan clicked his tongue in wonder... "Impressive! Truly impressive... Borrowing our hands to eliminate the immortal who despises you, suppressing the powers of southern Great Jin, and helping you carve out a piece of Great Jin's territory to become an emperor on the mountain... Tell me, how are you so clever? How do you make people want to hack you to death so badly?"
Bai Ye bowed and answered, "Thank you for the praise, Master Du Yuan. The mortal world is so lovely... one only wants to hold it in one's arms and cherish it alone!"
"Heh! Well said. Your Eleventh Guardian City alone can't break the Three-Origin Immortal-Severing Array! Don't tell me you've planted spies in Twelfth Guardian City too?"
"Unworthy though I am, I planted a hidden agent in the city lord's residence ten years ago! At this humble disciple's command, the Restraining Formation can suppress it for the time it takes three sticks of incense to burn... Then Lord Mo Shou can strike with his full strength anywhere in Great Jin, without worrying about the consequences!"
"Three sticks of incense! That's a little short..."
Bai Ye smiled. "It isn't short. Any longer... and I fear Lord Mo Shou would casually wipe out this humble disciple and his eleventh city as well..."
"Hmm, at least you have some self-awareness... And afterward? Leaving aside the guardian immortals of Western Liang and Northern Qi, the moment that fucking immortal Yunxia dies... another immortal will descend immediately. Then our Two Realms Village will face endless attacks and harassment!"