Chapter 633: Joining

In the blink of an eye, the gold, silver, and black colors were all divided.

Everyone had roughly divided into camps, whether they were willing or not, when suddenly a spatial shift occurred, and everyone's position changed.

People of the same camp were moved to the same place, each standing at the intersection of a "spider web," just like pieces on the grid of a chessboard. A halo of light hovered over everyone's head, divided into gold, silver, and black, naturally representing the three camps.

With such clear-cut barriers, anyone with a mind to could see the situation on the field at a glance.

First, everyone knew that black represented Wangliang. Therefore, the black light spots were the first to be snatched up, and those who snatched them were basically pure black—that is, people from the Wangliang Mountain camp.

They were basically manor owners who believed in their hearts that Wangliang was their master, so they naturally followed Wangliang without hesitation. Whether they were from Yunzhou or were Turtle Bandits, those who had their hearts set elsewhere were not without the desire to sneak into the black camp to test the wind, but since such people had a barrier in their hearts, they inevitably had to weigh the pros and cons for a moment, and thus they were inevitably a step behind, unable to be as decisive as those who were single-mindedly devoted to black.

Of course, it was not as if there were no such decisive undercover agents; for instance, the Jing'an Division had people who had undergone special training, for whom choosing to go undercover was an instinct, so they naturally snatched the black spots at the first opportunity. There were also such people among the Turtle Bandits, and in greater numbers; after all, the Turtle Bandits had long been in opposition to the Imperial Court and had quite a sense for undercover work.

It was said to be first come, first served, and everyone naturally assumed that the black, silver, and gold colors would each take up one-third, and whoever took one-third would naturally be full. Who would have thought that with a glance, the black camp actually had far more people than the other two, accounting for about half of the total.

What was going on?

Didn't this make it an unfair game?

No matter what game of chess one plays, the more pieces, the better, right?

Although Wangliang Mountain was Wangliang's home turf and it was expected to have some home-field advantage, playing dirty so blatantly—what was the point of playing? Could it be that its opponents were just there to accompany it?

Above the Shadow, the masked Wangliang laughed and said, "You two, these chess pieces look down on you so much, that's not very good. If I ask you to go together, it will look like I look down on you two. How about this: you find some people yourselves. Make up the numbers. Otherwise, it won't be interesting if the game is a clean sweep later. You must know this is our duel."

The Mask quietly grinned.

However, there was a slight silence in the place above that could not be looked at, and those silver threads trembled slightly, as if they were about to extend into the Void.

Then, a spatial distortion occurred below, and a few people appeared out of thin air in the silver camp of the chessboard.

Although there were only three, the people in the other camps let out a gasp.

Sword Heroes! They were actually three Sword Heroes!

The silver camp didn't know where they had dragged three Sword Heroes from to join; wasn't this cheating?

With these three great experts joining, the silver camp was vaguely the leader of the several camps. The traditional manor owners of the black camp began their traditional bullying of the weak.

Wei Se's gaze narrowed, and he discovered that he recognized all three of them; they all came from Baiyujing and were the three Sword Heroes who had helped maintain order in the Sunrise Camp. Lu Swordsman, Tan Jianxia, and Ou Swordsman, and there was another Sword Hero, Feng Jianxia, who was in charge of the overall situation. Shouldn't these four Sword Heroes have been waiting for orders at the foot of the mountain with the White-haired Swordsman's team?

Could it be that Ruyi Sword had summoned them?

Did Ruyi Sword also value this cruel game?

"Hehe, since you are summoning your own people, why not summon everyone? There are so many people below; besides your old subordinates, don't those white-haired traitors also listen to you? How could they refuse if you called them? Even if their strength is insufficient, their numbers are still okay. Selecting the best from the good, you could always pick out good ones and be full in an instant, with strength even exceeding my subordinates. Could it be that your old habit has flared up again? You clearly want them all to come, yet you pretend to ask for their intentions, and you can't bring yourself to force them if they refuse? This is truly hypocritical to the bone."

At this moment, the Mask suddenly said, "At a crucial moment of life and death, you can still care for others and stick to your principles—what right do you have to call others hypocritical? Haha, only your evil-doing is real, and others having a bottom line is hypocrisy. Wangliang, calling you 'dog eyes looking down on people' is not wronging you, right?"

Wangliang's hand pressed against the Mask, as if to rip it off, and then he let out an ambiguous laugh and said, "Destruction, you have more and more to say. Ruyi Sword can at least recruit people; what about your men?"

Destruction said lazily, "I have no men. No one has traveled thousands of miles to save me, I have no old subordinates, and not even a lackey. Where would I find people? Are you really going to play chess with me, or are you just looking for a card partner? I'll just watch you two decide the winner."

Its state of mind was not perfect, and some things might truly be able to break its defenses, but it did not take such things to heart.

Wangliang said, "That woman went to find her maternal family for reinforcements; why didn't you? Didn't your true body come? Didn't it come to save you?"

Destruction laughed and said, "Are you trying to mock me? You were just mocking me for needing my true body to absorb, and now you are mocking me because my true body won't answer my summons? Mock away; if my true body summons me, I will go."

Wangliang paused slightly and said, "Oh? Then are you going to admit defeat? We have signed a Rules Contract; if you lose, you lose everything to us."

Destruction said, "What else do I have? If Ruyi Sword wants to take it, let her take it all."

Wangliang paused again; clearly, Destruction was telling him: "Even if I lose, I lose to Ruyi Sword, not to Wangliang."

Wangliang said, "Hua Yaozhi isn't taking those traitors below; why don't you take them? They can at least make up the numbers, so you don't lose face by being a tag-along."

Destruction said, "No need. Those are people protected by Hua Yaozhi; if I go to forcibly recruit them, how can I join forces with her? How can I deal with you together? Wangliang, your schemes are too shallow."

Seeing that it was impervious to reason, Wangliang suddenly laughed and said, "You look down on the people at the foot of the mountain—that's right, they aren't proper Sword Heroes, so what use are they? I'll point you to a good place. Pale Moon Manor... that is where Gui Rong came from, and now it is already a ruin. Since you took in Gui Rong later, you naturally know that place like the back of your hand. There are still some people left there now, and there are many usable chess pieces. Why don't you take them and use them?"

These words piqued Destruction's interest, and it said, "Oh, there is such a force? What do they do? Why didn't they come today? Your Wangliang Mountain is truly full of hidden talents."

Wangliang said, "They came; they are down below, though some are hiding. In short, they are people who have designs on me. I am too lazy to distinguish what they are here for; in any case, they are all people who can be killed. I will just remind you of one thing: there is a tricky character among them whom even I am not willing to provoke easily. If you go to touch their people, you had better be a little careful."

At the foot of the mountain, three Sword Hero-level experts suddenly left the team, and everyone was very surprised. Fortunately, the Feng Jianxia who had been responsible for leading the team was still there, so everyone still had a backbone and had not yet fallen into chaos.

Feng Jianxia immediately reassured them, "Everyone, don't panic. It is our camp's leader who has summoned us to go over and assist in the battle. Look—"

He pointed, and they saw that the shadow that had previously covered the sky had dissipated a lot, and they could even faintly see a glimmer of silver light. He continued, "Wangliang's momentum has already retreated; this is because our Highness is contending with it. Our Highness's strength is not inferior to Wangliang's, and her strength is gradually growing. Now the two sides are evenly matched; we are just waiting for them to consume a bit more, and the opportunity for battle will arrive. As long as we charge into the battlefield, we will surely be the piece that decides the outcome."

Everyone suddenly understood and felt doubly encouraged: their side actually had a powerhouse capable of contending with Wangliang; this was truly great news.

Feng Jianxia told them to continue to lie low where they were, while Jiang Shenyi, who had followed the team up the mountain, walked over quietly and asked, "You just mentioned a Highness?"

Feng Jianxia nodded and transmitted his voice to him, "Our Highness has returned! She just asked us what the situation was and if we were willing to go over and help her. How could we not be willing? But after reporting the situation here to her, she decided to only summon the three of us, letting the main force lie low and wait for her orders. When the time comes, there will be an opportunity to pursue the victory." After explaining the situation, he couldn't help but add, "After many years, she is still as gentle and magnanimous as she was back then, considerate of others. Moreover, hearing her voice, it is no different from back then and is not weak; it seems her body has also recovered. Seeing that we can be reunited after the victory, it really makes one full of hope."

Jiang Shenyi breathed a sigh of relief; he had thought Feng Jianxia was just casually comforting them and reporting only the good news, but now it seemed the situation was indeed improving, and even Her Highness Ruyi Sword had appeared.

Then... what about the other Highness?

He sighed and said, "Your Highness is safe and sound, but I wonder how our Highness is doing?"

The Highness he spoke of referred ostensibly to Jinwu, but in reality, it also referred to Tang Zhao, who was with Jinwu and whose whereabouts were still unknown.

Feng Jianxia was at the foot of the mountain and did not know about Tang Zhao, but seeing his worried look, he was just about to open his mouth to comfort him when Jiang Shenyi suddenly said, "Does your Highness still need help? I can go. And everyone who came from Yunzhou can go. Don't look at me like this; my strength is not inferior to a Sword Guest."

Feng Jianxia shook his head and said, "Although I don't know what the situation is like over there, since Her Highness made the decision to let me stay, it is clear that it is not yet that critical and there is no need to exhaust every ounce of strength, so naturally, there is no need for you." Of course, he couldn't help but think in his heart that Jiang Shenyi wasn't even a Sword Guest, and going up the mountain to join the team was already barely enough; how could he possibly join in a duel between Sword Immortals?

Jiang Shenyi was just about to speak again when he suddenly heard a 'Boom', as if a muffled thunder had sounded at the edge of the sky! Everyone felt as if the ground they were stepping on was about to collapse.

Had the Sword Immortals started fighting?

Several people looked over together, wanting to see what the never-before-seen battle of Sword Immortals looked like, yet everyone was surprised to find that the place where the loud noise came from was not the direction of the altar, but in a far-off, different direction.

"Who is that over there?" Jiang Shenyi had just thought this when he saw a golden light shoot into the sky, as if it wanted to break through the haze that had shrouded Wangliang Mountain for many years in one fell swoop.

"Junior Brother?" Jiang Shenyi cried out involuntarily. But then he shook his head.

Feng Jianxia asked in confusion, "Is that light Tang Xiansheng?"

Jiang Shenyi shook his head and said, "That is very pure Sunlight; I thought it was Junior Brother... but it shouldn't be. That kind of Sunlight is different from Junior Brother's, more fierce, and its power is stronger."

Feng Jianxia nodded and said, "I don't think so either. The power just now was similar to a Sword Immortal; even if Tang Xiansheng's cultivation has grown, he cannot reach that level. Could it be Jinwu Dianxia?"

Jiang Shenyi muttered, "Or perhaps..."

Destruction?

Just as the two were speculating, they saw a phantom image faintly rising beneath the golden light, clearly someone was currently contending with that Shadow that resembled a Sword Immortal—who could this be?

At the same time, Manying, who had remained behind at the Turtle Bandit base, received another kind of unexpected shock.