Chapter 182: The Time Has Come (Please Subscribe)

"No need to continue guarding; it is time to assemble and carry out the final step."

"By the way, where is Li Jian? Where has he run off to?!"

In front of a dim underground palace, within the tunnel leading to the surface, a person walked out and stood in the darkness; their figure looked like viscous, foaming, putrid mud as they spat out these two sentences.

Responding to the voice, from near the entrance of the tunnel, a person moved like a chameleon, their body shifting colors, revealing a slight clue.

"I don't know, he left quite a while ago; perhaps he went to participate in the fighting over there?"

They answered in a hoarse voice, simultaneously tilting their head to listen; in a place not too far away, there were currently bursts of intense fighting, with faint movements constantly drifting over.

"What kind of conspiracy are these evil cultivators gathering to plot? It's not just the evil spirits of resentment that have come over here; even the evil entities that usually wander everywhere are nowhere to be seen. They have likely all gathered here together..."

However, the unusual actions of the evil cultivators were the first to attract the attention of the High Envoy.

That chameleon-like sentry, upon hearing this, also became agitated, their voice cracking as they shouted.

"It had to be you! Well done! Those who dare to be disrespectful, die!"

Based on his concern regarding this side, he dispatched a squad of one hundred men, attempting to secretly bypass Meng Changqing's line of sight to investigate the situation clearly; if these rats in the gutter still remained oblivious, then they would be annihilated on the spot, completely sweeping away their nest of filth.

"How could there not be? In all these years, have you not noticed that he always forgets to use honorifics?"

"Hmph! That guy has no Great Sovereign in his eyes; this time he appears passive in his response, and now he has even left his post without authorization—he must be harboring malicious intent!"

First, eliminate the obstacles to exploring the ruins and hidden secrets, then proceed with the exploration and excavation in an orderly manner.

Du En, currently hiding outside the tunnel while restraining his breath, listened to these words and could not help but be lost in thought.

Meng Changqing currently still had four hundred subordinates available, while the High Envoy's side had more people, with nearly five hundred armored soldiers at his disposal.

"Hahaha, that evil cultivator has had unusual movements; it must be that Du En is taking action over there. Added to the strange movements of the evil cultivators and evil entities right now, if I am not mistaken, this is the best opportunity to catch him!"

"The great sacrificial rite is nearing completion; when the time comes, those who have defiled it will understand the miserable end that awaits those who anger the Great Sovereign!"

Therefore, as that first old corpse of Li Jian was crushed by Du En, Meng Changqing's side realized that the opportunity seemed to have arrived!

"Disrespectful to the Great Sovereign, is there any?"

"Fu Yong, gather the troops, prepare to strike!"

"Yes..."

His purpose here was very clear.

Within the Nancang Ruins.

The two sides were actually fighting more and more, because although they hindered each other to the point of having no time to send messages or call for reinforcements, both sides had follow-up forces arriving in batches according to their pre-set strategies.

Both sides kept adding fuel to the fire, constantly consuming each other, dragging things out, and remaining in a stalemate for two years.

"I see what's going on. Since his goal is to possess me, then the targeting when I first entered the ruins seemed wrong. Even if it could be explained as wanting to test my background, he didn't have a corpse to sneak over there at the time; otherwise, he wouldn't have had to play hide-and-seek with me later. It turns out there were other evil cultivators dragging their feet."

"Eh! You say it like that, it seems correct; we always need to correct him... truly damnable! To blaspheme the Great Sovereign like this, we must skin him and break his bones, and sacrifice his soul to atone for his sins!"

Only by pinpointing the location of the mastermind, confirming the other party's identity, and then formulating various targeted measures can this struggle be ended!

For this reason, he had previously focused on guerrilla tactics, leading people to wander around for two years, never engaging in direct, intense combat, at most wiping out some small squads.

He had indeed successfully deceived Meng Changqing's gaze.

The other evil cultivator also nodded in agreement, then recalled the other party's initial topic: "By the way, why are you so concerned about Li Jian? Do you not need to wait for him or call him back?"

Although Du En had played the disappearing act and his whereabouts, life, or death were currently unknown, Meng Changqing's side had no leisure time to stop and lament his fate.

With this doubt answered, Du En thought about other matters.

"Hmph! No matter what sordid thoughts he has, under the gaze of the Great Sovereign, they will eventually end in failure. Moreover, don't think I didn't notice his little tricks; I secretly tripped him up before, and now he is likely already aware that something is wrong and is feeling regretful!"

And the death-sworn armored soldiers on the High Envoy's side were like products from an assembly line; at a glance, one couldn't even tell who was who, making it impossible to glimpse the High Envoy's true strength.

After ranting and raving like this on the spot, they finally calmed down.

And to accomplish the first point, engaging in a pointless war of attrition with the other party was not feasible.

Thinking about the current situation, he raised his eyes to look at the magnificent scene of spell-casting in the distance ahead.

The dilapidated buildings of the ruins could not stop the scene of the High Envoy's and Meng Changqing's forces fighting each other fiercely.

The evil cultivator who had just questioned him now spoke with a vicious tone, wishing he could kill the other's entire family: "To dare to defile even the last piece of pure land the Great Sovereign has bestowed upon us, it is truly unforgivable!"

"Death is too good for them! Death is too good for them!"

The two sides should have continued to entangle each other.

The two evil cultivators talked wantonly, getting more and more excited as they walked deeper into the darkness of the underground palace.

It quickly triggered a resonance; if Li Jian were here, he could certainly have smoothed things over, but unfortunately, he was not here now and had already died in his own separate operation.

The evil cultivator said this with immense confidence, and all at once, even the pent-up frustration and anger accumulated over the past two years—having been constantly affected and struck, unable to become a major influencing factor, and forced to passively shrink back and harass like a cockroach—seemed to be released and relieved.

"Damn those people from the Immortal Sect!"

Take Meng Changqing's side, for example: every six months, one hundred people would arrive, all at the Foundation Establishment perfection stage, which could be called first-class elites, as if they were mass-produced.

An opportunity born from Li Jian's side!

He was very far from the battlefield where Du En was and did not discover the movements there, but previously, when Meng Changqing attempted to cooperate with Du En to either kill or expel Li Jian, although the attempt failed because Du En did not cooperate, he had still secretly left a contingency on Li Jian.

However, Meng Changqing had also captured an opportunity because of this.

Listening to Meng Changqing's words, Fu Yong's voice, which was originally going to respond in agreement, could not help but drag on a bit.

The nearby initial guards were even more surprised, because many of them felt that Du En was either dead or a spy.

But now it seemed that neither was the case; it looked more like he was completing Meng Changqing's additional instructions, which was why he was wandering outside, lurking for an opportunity!

(End of chapter)