Chapter 3048

"Lanyue Pavilion, ah." Xue Laoda didn't stop his steps, flashing past him like a wisp of smoke, "Battle reports, battle reports from everywhere! These past two days have kept me swamped." Dongmu Heng pursed his lips toward his back, giving Wei Jia a glance. The latter immediately flicked his finger, shooting a pebble smaller than a mung bean to stick to the edge of his boot.

Running through this palace, grass leaves, mud sand, insect eggs sticking to one's boots are all perfectly normal—no one would give it a second glance.

The two guards were merely accompanying Pan Xincheng along the way for a short stretch; after turning ahead, they went to report to Du Shan.

Only after they had gone far did Dongmu Heng ask: "Why not use flying messages?"

"Message transmission within the palace is divided into several levels; reports below level two are not allowed to use flying messages. One, they don't reach urgent situations; two, such work must leave a trace for later investigation." Pan Xincheng continued, "These past few days, the message couriers have been worked to death. It's said that around Cangyan, the demon descent points have been discovered one after another!"

Dongmu Heng just laughed: "When the false is made true, the true becomes false as well—let's investigate slowly."

Pan Xincheng glanced at him: "You mean?"

Dongmu Heng didn't answer directly, merely uttering an "en."

Naturally, it was the Holy Sovereign's strategy, though Dongmu Heng also had a say in it.

Pan Xincheng then pointed ahead to the fork in the road, speaking meaningfully:

"Go straight down that path, and you'll reach Lanyue Pavilion. Don't be fooled by its elegant name—it's actually one of the ministers' offices. Today just happens to be Minister Du's turn on duty."

Dongmu Heng stroked his chin: "In Lingxu City, this Minister Du is also renowned far and wide. I've heard he often comes up with extraordinary schemes, having studied abroad in Bekka for many years, yet remained unfulfilled and depressed."

One who could catch the eye of the Nine Abysses Great Emperor and be appointed minister must be stunningly talented. Dongmu Heng had a sentence left unspoken: if one day he could compete with Du Shan on the same stage, that would be nice.

Unfortunately, if tonight succeeds, Du Shan will no longer have this opportunity.

Ji Chengnan Liaohua Street, Wu Ji Sugar Cake Shop.

A customer was selecting sugar cake pastries, the shopkeeper introducing: "Want to try this year's new egg-flower pastry? It's made with tribute sugar bought from the Yangshan Islands—very authentic. But once sold out today, it's gone; we won't make more."

"Then I'll take a box." The customer pointed to the steaming basket nearby and asked, "What is that?"

"Oh, that's steaming bowl cake." The shopkeeper busied himself packing, not looking up, "Aren't the demons about to descend? Neighbors will come to my shop to buy bowl cake, take it home to offer to the reincarnated Dragon God, praying the Sovereign can crush them on the battlefield into flowers and flowing water."

Bowl cake is an offering to deities and ancestors; in the past, it only sold well during festivals.

The shopkeeper again asked the customer: "Want a portion? My shop closes tonight; tomorrow it won't open."

"Why?"

"Look—now the whole city is frantically grabbing rice, flour, oil, and meat; shopkeepers have no mind for proper business. After tonight, my family will also have to rush to buy supplies." Demon descent—who dares say they aren't afraid?

The customer was about to speak when his brows suddenly furrowed.

At this moment, Dongmu Heng and company happened to pass through the side gate of the Chixiao Golden Hall's palace city.

The shopkeeper just happened to ask: "Want this box of snow-flake cake?"

"Yes." The customer glanced back, returned to normal, took out money to pay, picked up the pastries, and walked out.

The shopkeeper put away the money, and only upon turning back did he discover: "Oh no, the customer left the entire box of snow-flake cake behind!"

He grabbed the box and chased out, only to stand at the shop door left and right, seeing no trace of that customer. How strange—just two or three breaths, and the person vanished?

Meanwhile, the two guards hurriedly arrived at Lanyue Pavilion, presenting the latest battle report to Du Shan.

While Du Shan reviewed the battle report, Xue Ping took out a bundle from his storage ring and walked to a corner inside the room. The suite in Lanyue Pavilion is quite simple: the outer room has tables, chairs, couch, and bookshelves—for work; the inner room has a bed, soft chair, and many daily necessities—for the duty minister to rest overnight. Xue Ping walked to the corner of the inner room. On the floor here sat a beautiful enamelled porcelain basin, brought by Du Shan himself, finely crafted with gorgeous patterns—if taken to Jicheng's market to sell, it wouldn't fetch less than two hundred taels of silver. But Xue Ping opened the bundle and dumped everything straight into the basin.

All were raw bone-meat—fresh cattle and sheep bones with meat still on them.

Then, he placed a large bowl of clear water beside the enamelled basin.

Just as Xue Ping finished these two things, Du Shan also finished reviewing the battle report, tossed the slip aside, and pressed his temples.

Again like this!

"You may go down."

This was said to Xue Ping, who replied "Yes" and hurriedly retreated.

No one noticed the tiny pebble stuck to his boot edge—now it had been rubbed onto the threshold.

Du Shan hesitated a moment, then activated long-range divine power to contact the Nine Abysses Great Emperor. He knew the Sovereign had been busy these two days fighting, flying into action, but important work still needed reporting.

The Sovereign didn't connect immediately. After a quarter hour, He Lingchuan initiated reverse contact, opening with: "What's the matter?"

In the mirror, the Nine Abysses Great Emperor wore full-body armor, his gaze deep and cold with killing intent—clearly just descended from the battlefield. Du Shan couldn't see what was behind him, for heavenly fire smoked the skies and gunpowder haze spread, visibility very low.

"Sovereign, today I received another six battle reports. Among them, Baiwei, Yingyan, Qianfeng Islands, and Dulong Ridge—either no heavenly palace troops are stationed, or only thirty or forty, not forming a force. Only Taoxian of Wei State and our southern Panxin Cliff have garrisons of eight thousand and nine thousand respectively." He Lingchuan spoke rapidly: "In these past six days, how many reports about demon descent have you received?"

"Including this morning's, a total of sixty-seven." Du Shan's expression was gloomy: "The demons intend to confuse our senses, yet we cannot neglect sending people to investigate each report location."

If it were all false information, that would be fine—but the problem is, among these reports there are indeed genuine ones, with heavenly palace elite troops truly stationed. They're all around Cangyan, and Cangyan cannot possibly ignore them.

Tomorrow night is the day of divine descent; the Lingxu Holy Sovereign will surely make a major move. Du Shan also felt anxious: "The Lingxu Holy Sovereign must be plotting against Cangyan—I just don't know where he'll strike from."

No one knows what arrangements the Lingxu Holy Sovereign will make on the day of divine descent, or where he plans to attack first.

This is the demons' greatest advantage, and also what the Battle Alliance worries most about.

Not knowing where they'll attack from, how can the Battle Alliance know where to defend?

He Lingchuan then asked: "So far, how many troops has Cangyan dispatched to the surrounding areas?"

These numbers, Du Shan had memorized like the back of his hand: "1.2 million troops are stationed overseas, assigned to the thirteen known heavenly palace garrison points; the dispatched generals number thirty-two, and mid-level officers one hundred sixty-seven."