Four of the eight dukes in the capital have already submitted to the Ghost Temple.
" The Yuchi Household and Hong Household refuse to worship at the Ghost Temple, the lineage of the Duke of Wei is far from the capital, the lineage of the Duke of Qin is almost extinct, and the remaining four dukes have become the most powerful people in the capital. Who do you think could be our inside man?"
Having already been bestowed with Martial Soul Wei Gongxing had not even had time to familiarize himself with his body before he began to face this deadly test.
Having boarded two pirate ships in one day, Wei Gongxing could only marvel at his good luck today. Especially when he went out, his fourth cousin, Wei Gongyu, the Wei Household's designated next head of the family, looked at him as if he wanted to devour him alive.
"The four dukes now each have different responsibilities. Duke of Zhao is the commander of the Martial Soul Army, and he is currently leading His Majesty's 300,000 strongest generals to conquer the north. He could not possibly be one of your spies. If he were, perhaps you wouldn't be in such a hurry to appear. The day after His Majesty left, things here had already changed."
"Among the remaining dukes, the Duke of Yue Shen Mao, is the newly appointed Ministry of War, responsible for logistics and supply. Although he wields considerable power, he has little influence on the situation in the capital. The only two who do have influence are the Duke of Ying, who controls the Imperial Guard, and the Duke of Yan, who controls the military equipment of the temples."
"Okay, continue," the other party said, sounding satisfied.
"If I'm not mistaken, your inside man is the Duke of Yan!"
"Why do you say that?" the other person asked with interest.
" The Imperial Guard have too much initiative. If the Duke of Ying is your inside man, you should have made arrangements as early as possible, allowing a little-known but powerful evil spirit to quietly infest the Imperial Guard, and then seize the opportunity, preferably before the next opening of the Ghost Temple, to launch a sudden attack and take over the capital with lightning speed, instead of openly attracting attention by bringing in such a powerful figure as yourself, thus alerting the enemy."
"That's interesting. If we follow your logic, then the Duke of Yan is our inside man. What's the point of my high-profile arrival?"
"Distract them!"
"Oh?"
--
"Distract?"
On the other side, Yuchi Peng was secretly observing the situation outside the capital with Liu Yu, the Duke of Song, was slightly taken aback. "What do you mean?"
He used to dislike using his brain. It wasn't that he was stupid, but rather that his talent was so great that he could get things done simply by throwing himself into action. However, after spending more time with Wang Ye, Chen Qing, and others, he began to change and started to use his brain. He realized that the world was vast, and there were always people more capable than him. Relying too much on brute force was not always a good thing.
"That's too high-profile," Liu Yu laughed. "Their approach is one of cunning and scheming. They first lure away the most prestigious King Xiang and the Emperor, then divert the main army, intending to strike at the heart of the problem. Such a scheme should be kept secret as much as possible, aiming for a decisive blow. This high-profile appearance can only mean one thing."
"What?"
"That means even if the 300,000 Ghost Army are transferred away from the capital, those guys can still take the capital head-on, even if there are only 10,000 Imperial Guard left in the capital!"
"I see." Yuchi Peng suddenly understood and quickly bowed, saying, "I've learned a lot."
"Your Excellency, there's no need for modesty," Liu Yu said with a smile. "You're only temporarily behind due to the current situation. With your talent, your future is limitless."
"Hey, in this day and age, my past talent was nothing to brag about. If I don't work hard to catch up, I'm afraid any junior will look down on me in the future, hahaha."
Liu Yu glanced at the other party and nodded slightly. This once arrogant Yuchi Peng had matured quite a bit after the defeat in Jiangnan. People really need to experience some setbacks to grow.
"If I'm not mistaken, because we were cautious enough before, the forces behind the scenes would never have dared to send a large number of their own people into the mortal realm under King Xiang's nose. That's why the emperor sent out all his elite troops without any suspicion, and even accepted an invitation to go to Cloud Capital at this critical juncture."
"They've been discreet enough, but the downside is that they're limited when they need real strength. This opening of the Ghost Temple should be their last chance to unleash a large number of key forces. With the White Bone King making a high-profile appearance and attracting everyone's attention, those who participate later won't stand out. As long as they're not too famous ghosts, as long as they're one of their people, they can take this opportunity to possess the mortal realm in large numbers, waiting for their chance."
"A newly descended evil spirit?" Yuchi Peng asked with some doubt. "As far as I know, those so-called Martial Soul need at least six months of adjustment after descending into a human body before they can unleash their Transcendent power. Will a newly descended one be of any use?"
Although he did not accept that so-called martial Martial Soul, he knew that when those evil spirits first descended, they needed a certain amount of time to adjust before he could use powerful spiritual energy to stimulate their blood and qi, and then strengthen their internal organs, thus reaching the level of Transcendent.
If they used Transcendent power right from the start, those scions of noble families wouldn't be able to withstand it at all.
"So that's the key," Liu Yu said, squinting. "Both the emperor and King Xiang should know this, which is why they thought there wouldn't be any internal problems. Because for those evil spirits on the Yin-Yang Road to rebel, they need ample time and preparation. Without a sufficient physical body, even the most powerful Yin spirit is useless. Therefore, the other side must have some method to solve this problem. For example, what can make a mortal become Transcendent within a few hours?"
"How could such a thing exist?" Yuchi Peng was stunned.
Although he had witnessed countless miracles since the dawn of time, this was still a bit too exaggerated, wasn't it?
"Nothing is impossible. This world is far bigger than you imagine!" Liu Yu sneered. "However, such things are probably few and far between, and there should be many limitations. Otherwise, if we could create Transcendent beings at any time, why would we need to go through all this trouble? We would have unified the world long ago!"
"So, senior means to track them?"
"Tonight is crucial!" Liu Yu whispered. "Find those who have been turned by the evil spirits, track them down, find the source of their power—that's the key to stopping them!"
--
"Are you really not going to inform the Duke of Ying?" Mu Hongqing looked at the old patriarch Yuchi: "According to your speculation, the Duke of Ying is most likely not an enemy. In the current situation, the Duke of Ying, who has the greatest military power, is the most likely to change the situation, right?"
"First of all, it's only a high probability, not a certainty. The Duke of Ying's suspicion cannot be completely ruled out. Before the situation becomes clear, we cannot easily expose ourselves. You must know that in the eyes of those Transcendent beings, we are as fragile as ants. Without concrete intelligence, we must not act rashly."
"Waiting for intelligence? Being so passive? What if there's no intelligence?" Mu Hongqing looked at the composed Duke Yuchi and asked with amusement.
"Without intelligence, of course we ran away. Were we supposed to stay and wait to die?" The old patriarch of the Yuchi family rolled his eyes at the other party. "Your Jiangnan has not provided any support. Our Yuchi Residence is not what it used to be. We can only rely on external forces to resolve the crisis. Under these circumstances, we are naturally walking on thin ice. If we are not careful, we will all be finished."
"You think you can get any information with your men? That Wei Household kid you have your eye on has been noticed by a big shot. What if the rest of the kids can't get any information out of them?"
" Wei Gongxing will bring over the crucial intelligence."
"Are you sure?" Mu Hongqing was taken aback. He hadn't expected the other party to think so highly of Wei Gongxing. He asked doubtfully, "It's already impressive that he can protect himself and not expose us. How can he transmit intelligence? With that Martial Soul on his body, what would he dare to do?"
"We were prepared for this beforehand," the head of the Yuchi Household said in a low voice. "Mr. Mu Xian, please rest assured, you won't have to wait long."