Book 6, Chapter 44: Individual Thoughts
On the Thousandfold Cliff.
This geographical feature was located on the western side of Long Sang. It was remote and relatively barren, so not many people ever passed by this area.
Apart from the few humans that lived here were the Moonkin.
The Moonkin and the Stoneskins were two of the major races subservient to humans. The Stoneskins had no place of residence to call their own until Iron Cliff had established one at the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, but the Moonkin were much luckier. They had their own territory and were nocturnal creatures that preferred living in heavily forested areas, making them the perfect assassins.
However, the Moonkin, who operated in the shadows, had suddenly come out into the open today.
These Moonkin were dressed in plain green robes, causing them to blend in almost perfectly with the foliage behind them.
Only the middle-aged Moonkin standing in the middle was dressed in a red robe. A crown of flowers was placed on her head, giving her an incredibly beautiful appearance.
This was the empress of the Moonkin, Night Elegance.
As the Moonkin Empress gazed at the group of visitors heading in their direction, a warm smile appeared on her face.
“Mother!”
Night Demon leapt forward into Night Elegance’s arms.
In Moonkin society, females were exalted, so that made Night Demon the Moonkin’s princess.
This perhaps served to explain why her status amongst the Immortal Temple was relatively uncommon. Since both the Immortal Temple and the Moonkin preferred to live in the shadows, it was only natural that the Moonkin and the Immortal Temple interacted with each other quite often.
Night Elegance rubbed her daughter’s head. “You little girl, you were gone for so long. Only now do you even think of coming back?”
“Hmph, if it weren’t for that old man, I wouldn’t have wanted to come back at all,” Night Demon tilted her head away, spurning her mother’s affections.
As she spoke, the old man walked over.
Lin Zuiliu chuckled, “Little Night woman, so this girl was indeed your daughter. I thought she looked like you the first time I saw her.”
Night Demon asked with curiosity, “So you do recognize my mother?”
Night Elegance harrumphed. “I wish that he didn’t.”
When Ye Fenghan and Chang He heard this, they glanced at each other and silently wondered if there was some kind of melodramatic tale behind all of this. Perhaps Night Demon was Lin Zuiliu’s daughter? But given that Lin Zuiliu treated Night Elegance just like he treated Night Demon, that was probably not the case.
Indeed, Lin Zuiliu said, “Little Night Woman, don’t say it like that. Your father and mother once traveled the world with me......”
Night Elegance said, “It wasn’t just my father and mother! The entire Moonkin Race was stirring up trouble with you, but in the end you just couldn’t resist performing your bloodline mixture research, inviting calamity on yourself from the Seven Kingdoms! In the end, you were defeated, and you put us Moonkin in a terrible spot as well. We have been hiding here in the Thousandfold Cliff ever since. How do you still have the nerve to come and see us even now?”
When everyone heard this, they were stunned.
So the Moonkin had followed Lin Zuiliu in his rebellion, but it was obvious that Lin Zuiliu had misused their trust.
Lin Zuiliu laughed loudly and said, “I knew that you would take exception to me. But I am not here to listen to you complain to me again. Once again, I will need your support in ascending to the throne. As long as I am able to do so, I will remember your support and contributions, and the Moonkin will be allowed to take and govern this entire western region of Long Sang on their own.”
“Hmph!” Night Elegance said disdainfully. “Don’t try and entice me with these kinds of benefits.”
“Mm?” Lin Zuiliu said with some dissatisfaction.
Following this grunt of discontent, Lin Zuiliu’s aura suddenly transformed.
Earlier, he had looked like nothing more than an old man, but in an instant his figure appeared to tower, causing everyone present to instinctively look up to him.
This was not due to any pressure he was exuding. Instead, it was an expression of his true self. The prestige and might of the King of Chaos appeared in that moment, spreading boundlessly in all directions.
When faced with the true prestige of a king, the Moonkin simultaneously felt their hearts tremble.
This was the innate respect that the weak had for the powerful - a kind of natural subservience installed in their biology.
Only Night Elegance continued to resist as she cradled her daughter and glared at Lin Zuiliu. “King of Chaos, no matter how you try and threaten or entice us this time, we will not help you.”
“Then what if the Immortal Temple and the Boundless Sect are also involved?” Lin Zuiliu asked straightforwardly.
“The Boundless Sect?” Night Elegance was stunned.
The Immortal Temple’s participation was not strange. After all, they had always been in the business of overthrowing regimes, but because of their old habits, they were never willing to openly appear on the surface.
But what about the Boundless Sect?
Why did the Boundless Sect want to overthrow Lin Mengze?
Because the Moonkin were so remote, news reached them very slowly. They had no idea what had taken place a month prior.
Only after Shi Mingfeng stepped forward and explained the situation did Night Elegance understand that the Boundless Sect had also been wrapped up in this conflict against the Lin Clan.
Night Elegance thought for a moment, then nodded and said, “I have heard of the Worldly Sage’s reputation, and of the Boundless Sect’s strength as well. But I think we are still a ways away from being strong enough to take on the entire country of Long Sang.”
“Then I’m afraid that you haven’t quite heard enough,” Lin Zuiliu chuckled as he explained the Boundless Sect’s strength in full detail.
When Night Elegance heard that the Boundless Sect had no fewer than 15,000 Light Shaking Realm cultivators, she was stunned.
“That’s not possible!” she cried out.
Lin Zuiliu didn’t waste his time speaking. Instead, he pulled out a recording disk and tossed it to her.
The recording disk began to shine, revealing the battle that had taken place between the fleet and the Sea Beasts of the Abyss.
The battle itself was not particularly interesting or out of the ordinary, but what was worth noting were the ten or so thousand cultivators floating in the air.
When Night Elegance saw this, she was dumbfounded.
This was the most convincing evidence.
“Now we can find a place to discuss this matter, right?” Lin Zuiliu asked with self-confidence.
That night, the Moonkin officially joined Lin Zuiliu’s ranks.
A month later.
Atop the Graceful Light Peak.
A man stood, swinging his sword.
It was Ye Fenghan.
Even though the sun was out and burning brightly, cold Qi was constantly emanating out from Ye Fenghan as he swung his sword in a thirty-foot radius.
Because of the clash between hot and cold, white clouds of steam billowed everywhere. Ye Fenghan stood in the midst of these clouds, giving him quite a mysteriously poetic appearance.
Chang He descended from the sky, clapping his hands. “Your mastery of the Frost Aspect has improved yet again in only a few days.”
Ye Fenghan didn’t say anything. Instead, he slashed his sword directly at Chang He.
Chang He’s figure flickered as he attempted to dodge, but Ye Fenghan’s sword had seemed to lock onto him and pursued him relentlessly.
Chang He repeatedly attempted to escape, but his speed was being negatively affected by the Frost Aspect. He found that he was unable to escape, even after ten attempts, so he eventually stopped. “You win, I can’t escape.”
The sword stopped at the top of his nose. A piece of ice sprouted from his nose and began to spread, covering his entire face and then his head in ice.
Thankfully, Ye Fenghan was controlling his power, and had only sealed Chang He’s head.
Chang He revolved his Origin Energy, almost instantly shattering the ice encasing his head.
“Hey, that’s too much. Last time you only froze my nose, but this time you froze my entire head. Are you not worried that you’re going to turn me into an idiot?”
Ye Fenghan coldly replied, “That’s fine by me! Then you and that silly girl Night Demon would make a perfect pair.”
“Hey, is there something wrong?” Chang He glanced at Ye Fenghan quizzically.
Ye Fenghan’s expression sank. “We’ve been here for a month already, but Lin Zuiliu hasn’t made any moves at all. Long Sang has almost completely gathered the troops that they are planning on using to attack the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.”
Chang He wasn’t surprised by this. “Lin Zuiliu has been gone from Long Sang for too long. He needs time to convince those who aren’t quite willing to support him.”
“No!” Ye Fenghan shook his head. “I thought about it already. He doesn’t need more time to convince them; he wants to wait until Long Sang has attacked the Boundless Sect to make his move.”
“What?” Chang He was stunned. “That can’t be possible, right? Sect Master sent him here to attract the attention of Long Sang so that they won’t be able to send their full forces against us.”
“But he is not a disciple of the Boundless Sect. Does he need to obey the Sect Master’s instructions? Don’t forget, he is an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. In terms of cultivation base, he is even stronger than Sect Master! Do you really think that he will obey every single request that Sect Master makes of him?”
Chang He was rendered speechless by Ye Fenghan’s words.
After a moment’s thought, he asked, “Do you mean to say……”
“Different ambitions is all,” Ye Fenghan said. “Sect Master wants to use Lin Zuiliu to control Long Sang. This is, in theory, a good move. However, when a pawn has its own desires and ambitions, it will be much harder to control. It seems that Lin Zuiliu would rather have the Boundless Sect deal with Long Sang so that he can take advantage of the opportunity to benefit.”
Even though they were both doing the same thing, the consequences of these different plans were vastly different from each other.
Just as Ye Fenghan had said, no one was willing to be used as a pawn, let alone a powerful individual like Lin Zuiliu.
Theoretically, using Lin Zuiliu to restrict Long Sang was a good idea, but if Lin Zuiliu lacked the impetus to follow through on his end of the agreement, Su Chen might end up being used by the pawn instead. Lin Zuiliu might look like a crazed man, but he was no fool.
He was very clear about the big picture.
As such, he had no intention of helping Ten Thousand Swords Mountain restrict Long Sang. Instead, he was going to use the Boundless Sect to improve his own odds. Of course, he would never admit this aloud, so he instead claimed that his preparations were not yet complete. The moment that Long Sang invaded the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, he would attack - no sooner, and no later.
It would be even better if he did this when the Boundless Sect was in a moment of crisis. This way, all the benefits would be his, and Su Chen might even owe him a favor.
But the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain would definitely suffer heavy casualties.
When he heard Ye Fenghan’s words, Chang He also understood what was happening, and his expression shifted. “So aren’t we in trouble then? If Lin Zuiliu won’t control Long Sang, then the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain is in great danger!”
Ye Fenghan said meaningfully, “That’s exactly why Sect Master sent us here!”
Chang He was taken aback. “So Sect Master was prepared for this a long time ago. What should we do?”
“If he won’t make a move, we’ll make a move for him.”
“You mean……”
“We’re going to attack Flat Order City.”
Chang He frowned. “I don’t think the two of us will be enough.”
Ye Fenghan immediately replied, “Of course. We must utilize the troops that Lin Zuiliu has gathered, including the Moonkin warriors.”
“How will we do that?”
“We’re going to rope in some of his helpers, then create a diversion,” Ye Fenghan said as he pulled out a red vial of medicine.
When Chang He saw this vial of medicine, his eyes lit up.