Pei Ye stared blankly at the tiger head before him. It held the flower in its mouth and watched him without moving.
Pei Ye suddenly realized-it was waiting.
It was waiting for him to give it a direction.
One flower for one deployment?
Yet Pei Ye also distinctly felt that this thread of connection could not support any "command" from him. It was like an understanding, rather than a contract.
The tiger's eyes regarded him without much emotion. In a very short time, Pei Ye decided what he would do. He pointed behind him, and the tiger head tilted back slightly and swallowed the flower. Then, like a vast, silent wind, it swept past his side, and Bronze City and the mountain wall vanished from view.
But that faint thread of connection remained within his perception.
Pei Ye was not impatient for immediate gains. He treasured this opportunity to communicate, so his instruction had been simple: "Don't go any farther. Leave this place."
That was enough, because Pei Ye now understood with utter clarity that Mirage City's so-called "feast" for the Water Master, scattering the scent of demon spirits' flesh and blood in all directions, was actually intended to locate them and draw them near the great ship.
For what purpose?
Pei Ye did not know, nor did he believe a handful of river magnates could contend with creatures like these. But Mirage City certainly had its own purpose.
Then all he needed to do was ruin it.
And from there, an opportunity to meet that Floodwaters Envoy could arise-of course, he ought to have kept himself hidden, and doing this inevitably carried risks. But as the saying went, a general in the field need not obey every military order. Having spotted an opportunity to drive straight into the heart