Chapter 180

The False Sun on the dome gradually dimmed.

Around the stone pillars and stalagmites, luminescent plants gradually lit up.

Old Dao Feng had people raise countless fireflies in the stone‑pillar forest of his stronghold; when the False Sun dimmed, they burst from the thick luminescent plants, filling the sky with tiny flowing lights.

Wu Tie lifted his head and stared blankly at the fluttering fireflies.

Who would have thought that Old Dao Feng, an old villain with that appearance, would also have such refined leisure?

Not having changed the stronghold, it was still the collapsed Shibao just now, the ground littered with uncleared rubble; the leaders of Blood Saber sat on large metal‑cast chairs, faces grim, watching Daliya approach slowly.

A dozen or so werewolf warriors in armor surrounded Daliya, each deliberately opening their mouths to reveal scarlet tongues and yellowed fangs, posing as if they could tear Daliya apart at any moment.

Daliya smiled calmly, holding the great beast‑skin book with a gold cover, stepping forward as if strolling through a forest, completely relaxed as he entered the area of the original Shibao hall.

Wu Tie sat beside Tang Seven, squinting at Daliya.

On each of his left and right hands, three gold coins nimbly jumped, flashing brilliant golden light.

He had already prepared to strike down Daliya on the spot… Think about it: if he could kill Daliya here, would Blood Saber and the Gold Wraiths immediately go to war?

Probably.

He was also curious: what exactly is Daliya's so‑called prophetic art? Can he truly foresee everything? Know everything?

Impossible… such an ability is too heaven‑defying.

Daliya entered the hall, his tranquil, water‑like gaze sweeping over the Blood Saber leaders seated in the great chairs; his glance also passed over Wu Tie's face, remaining calm and unchanged.

Wu Tie's heart eased, yet he felt a bit disappointed. It seemed this guy's prophetic art wasn't as formidable as Wu Tie had imagined.

A few days ago, when this fellow first appeared, he pointed at Lu Yan's three men and declared Wu Tie the chief target of the retaliation, ordering them to hunt down Wu Tie, and even prophesied that if the three joined forces they would not fail.

"Well, that prophecy was actually wrong… those three weren't they killed by us?" Wu Tie muttered to himself.

When Daliya saw him again, he did not 'prophesy' that Wu Tie was the half‑blood ox‑man of that day, showing either that Daliya's linguistic art is not as powerful as Wu Tie imagined, or that he simply isn't invoking his prophetic art now.

The speed of the gold coins spinning rapidly between his fingers increased a bit.

Wu Tie watched Daliya happily, wondering if this guy would give him a prophecy this time when he came to the Blood Saber stronghold.

"Honorable Chief, I am Daliya." Daliya gave a faint smile, walked to a point four or five meters before Old Dao Feng seated in the center, and made a graceful bow.

"I don't like pretty‑boy white faces," Old Dao Feng said with a smirk that didn't reach his eyes: "Long ago I had a foolish daughter who was impregnated by a white‑face, brought shame upon me, and I personally chopped her to death."

Daliya laughed: "I've heard of your decisive, ruthless style."

Old Dao Feng calmly replied: "A white face is bad enough, but you're also a smooth‑talking white face… I see you look just like the white face who got my daughter pregnant back then."

Old Dao Feng's great saber atop his head slowly rose, its blade pointing at Daliya.

Daliya's smile grew brighter: "Being eloquent and persuasive is a basic skill for all disciples of our sect…"

Old Dao Feng raised his brows, his triangular eyes widening: "A sect? So you have others behind you?"

He rubbed his chin with his right hand, Old Dao Feng growled low: "The Black Serpent Realm belongs to us; we don't welcome outside forces—any outside force will be ganged up on… The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Ghosts—have their brains gone bad?"

Old Dao Feng said coldly: "They shut themselves in coffins year‑round; truly their brains are addled, colluding with you outsiders?"

Daliya laughed loudly: "No, the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Ghost leaders are the rare wise elders I've met. They understand I can bring them greater benefits."

Old Dao Feng narrowed his eyes; the upright saber began to spin slowly, a suffocating sharp qi continually spewing from its blade.

The whole hall was filled with a chilling, bone‑piercing sharp qi; a thread‑fine red light sprayed from the blade, landing exactly on Daliya's midline—clearly, as soon as Old Dao Feng activates the saber, a lethal strike will fall.

"Benefits?" Old Dao Feng said calmly: "You claim you can give them greater benefits? Just you?"

"I can help them dominate the entire Black Serpent Realm." Daliya said gently: "That is the benefit I promised them… the whole Black Serpent Realm, or rather just one‑tenth of the area of the great serpent caves belonging to it… How big do you think the difference is?"

The Black Serpent Realm occupies a vast area; the Great Serpent Cave is merely its largest cavern.

In the Black Serpent Realm, besides the Great Serpent Cave there are about a dozen caverns slightly smaller, and countless medium and small caverns number in the hundreds.

Both Blood Saber and the Gold Wraiths merely occupy part of the land in the Great Serpent Cave; altogether, the forces big and small within that cave total twenty or thirty.

Even without speaking of dominating the Black Serpent Realm, simply monopolizing the Great Serpent Cave would boost the strength of forces like Blood Saber and the Gold Wraiths by tens of times. Yet one can imagine the difficulty: there are still several powers within the cave stronger than them.

"I don't believe you can do it." Old Dao Feng gave a sinister "heh‑heh" laugh: "I… don't believe this white‑face can pull it off."

Daliya smiled gently, his water‑like eyes fixed on Old Dao Feng, and said softly: "If it were only the Gold Wraiths, it would naturally be difficult… but what if Blood Saber and the Gold Wraiths joined forces?"

Old Dao Feng's eyes widened.

The Blood Saber leaders in the hall widened their eyes.

Wu Tie also widened his eyes, staring in astonishment at Daliya: "How is his heart shaped? How can it have so many twists and turns?"

Daliya said with a faint smile: "I've been waiting a long time with the Gold Wraiths, awaiting an opportunity, awaiting the most suitable partner… as I expected, the most suitable partner has indeed appeared."

Daliya's smile faded; he looked solemnly at Wu Tie and said: "Now everyone is waiting for an all‑out war between your two factions… everyone believes you will surely go to total war."

Daliya's tone grew stern: "Everyone expects you both to lose everything, to suffer heavy losses then divide your territories. I have studied the history of the Great Serpent Cave; for many years, many of your factions have perished exactly this way."

"But if your strength suffers no real loss and instead you join forces to resist… just imagine how great a surprise that would be." A thin layer of white light shimmered over Daliya's skin as he said solemnly: "This is an excellent opportunity…"

Old Dao Feng furrowed his brows: "Joining forces with the Gold Wraiths? Never mind that… do you think our two factions combined could withstand the siege of so many powers?"

Daliya's smile widened: "But they could never truly ally; they cannot trust any partner, they are full of mutual suspicion… indeed, to seize more of what originally belongs to you, they might even provoke conflicts ahead of time."

Daliya said confidently: "What I excel at is provoking their mistrust beforehand, stirring up their conflicts beforehand, causing them to lose troops and descend into chaos."

"Then, when they are in utter chaos… we strike suddenly." Daliya clenched his fist and shouted: "With the force of thunder that leaves no time to cover one's ears, we will successively breach the headquarters of several major powers, allowing Blood Saber and the Gold Wraiths to rapidly grow, even to unify the Great Serpent Cave outright."

Old Dao Feng remained silent.

The speed of the saber atop his head spun faster and faster.

But the faster the saber spun, the smaller the whooshing sound became; the faint 'hiss‑hiss' faded away entirely.

Old Dao Feng said nothing; seated to his left was the Blood Saber's second chief, his sworn brother of many years, Gaunt‑featured but with a faint green aura beneath his skin—the hermit He Weng gave a soft, three‑fold laugh.

"Daliya, right? Well, I am He Weng."

He rose, took a step toward Daliya, leisurely shook the wide sleeves of his robe that nearly touched the ground, then placed his hands before his abdomen and asked with a smile: "May I ask, when Blood Saber and the Gold Wraiths join forces and truly swallow the Great Serpent Cave and even the Black Serpent Realm… what comes next… could you enlighten us?"

Daliya laughed.

He glanced at Old Dao Feng, then at He Weng, then at the group of Blood Saber leaders in the hall who were blowing their noses and glaring, and nodded slowly: "I had thought Blood Saber were just a bunch of brutes who only know how to fight… but indeed, if they only knew how to fight, such a force wouldn't survive a century in the Great Serpent Cave before being wiped out—yet Blood Saber has endured for hundreds of years."

"As it turns out, there are wise old Daoists like He Weng." Duo Li Ya exclaimed in admiration.

"I'm not wise, nor am I an old Daoist; I've just lived a long time. To live long without dying is to be a thief… and thieves are always sly and crafty." He Weng laughed brightly, his pair of eyes glowing with green light, showing none of the ethereal grace of a white crane, but rather the urgency and greed of a hungry wolf lunging for food.

"Tell me, after we achieve our great success, who will decide the fate of the Great Snake Cave and the Black Snake Realm?" He Weng looked at Duo Li Ya with a smile: "Don't say you'll help us kill the Gold Dead Spirit… and don't tell us you're just using our Blood Curved Blade as a spear… any answer you give will get you killed here."

Lao Dao Feng burst into laughter.

He laughed smugly.

The high-ranking members of the Blood Curved Blade in the hall also laughed, each laughing ferociously like wolves.

The dozen or so werewolves surrounding Duo Li Ya stepped closer, baring their teeth and grinning at him, their eyes roaming over his fleshy, meaty parts.

Niu Man sprang up with a "whoosh," his right hand flipping over to reveal a hammer as large as a water tub, its surface covered with three-inch-long conical spikes, appearing out of nowhere in his hand. He gripped the long handle with both hands, turned his palms, and the hammer began to spin rapidly.

"Whoosh, buzz, boom~!"

As the hammer spun, wind, fire, and lightning flickered unpredictably on its head, and a powerful pressure continually radiated outward.

Wu Tie's pupils contracted; Niu Man's hammer was no simple thing—it actually condensed wind, fire, lightning, and thunder power. According to the Grand Elder of the Lu family in the Cangyan Realm, namely their family's most superb master craftsman, they can now only forge single-attribute elemental weapons.

For an elemental weapon with two attributes, trying to imbue both powers into a single weapon is beyond contemporary craftsmanship.

This is the unified conclusion reached after the Lu family's artisans exchanged views with those of the Changsheng Sect and the Six Dao Palaces across several major realms.

Niu Man's hammer simultaneously possesses wind, fire, lightning, and thunder power; it is undoubtedly an ancient treasure.

Wu Tie also rose, pulling the White Tiger Rend from beside him; with a shake of his palm, the White Tiger Rend, now weighing seventy-two million jin, shattered the air, emitting a terrifying explosive roar.

Carrying the White Tiger Rend, which is over four meters long, Wu Tie walked to stand beside Niu Man, glaring fixedly at Duo Li Ya with wide eyes.

"This brat, with just one strike, I could flatten him over ten mu of land." Wu Tie muttered in a deep, resonant voice, his words full of terrible, ferocious malice.

To beat a person until he is spread out over an area of ten mu…

That scene would certainly be blood spraying in all directions, flesh and blood flying everywhere.

Seeing Niu Man and Wu Tie act this way, the dozen or so high-ranking members of the Blood Curved Blade in the hall rose to their feet and simultaneously surrounded Duo Li Ya.

"I've heard that the Gold Dead Spirit has been making many small moves lately, all connected to you." Lao Dao Feng said calmly: "It's clear the Three Ghosts of Gold, Silver, and Copper value you highly, and you do have some skill."

"If you can't answer Old Two's question, then you might as well die here." Lao Dao Feng narrowed his eyes and smiled: "I've also heard of your prophetic art, which can pull cultivators back from self-detonation and even help a minor figure at the Chonglou Realm break through to the Life Pool Realm… someone like you deserves to die."

Talent is precious.

But someone else's talent? It deserves to die.

Lao Dao Feng is quite clear on this point.

Duo Li Ya laughed calmly, lowered his voice, and said solemnly: "I certainly won't be foolish enough to say I'll ultimately help you defeat the Gold Dead Spirit… nor will I say I'll let the Blood Curved Blade take the lead."

"Fair and just… I will assist your two houses in unifying the Black Snake Realm, and once I have gained sufficient benefits, I will leave. As for who will ultimately rule the Black Snake Realm… you decide that yourselves." Duo Li Ya laughed especially brightly: "To put it precisely, I only handle setting the fire; how big the fire grows and how many people it kills are none of my concern."

"Is that candid enough? Is that straightforward enough? Can it earn your trust?" Duo Li Ya glanced at Lao Dao Feng with a squinting, smiling look.