Where the Eastern Xuan Region met the Northern Xuan Region, there was a desolate mountain. This place had once housed a giant spirit crystal mine.
Countless forces had fought over this area before. It was unknown just how many experts’ lives had ended here.
Later, all the spirit crystals had been excavated, and the place was abandoned. Due to the battles that had been fought here, the terrain was badly damaged. Without any spirit crystals present, the spiritual qi here grew sparse.
There wasn’t enough energy for trees to grow here. Only a few wild weeds and nameless thistles managed to survive on the thin air, expressing their own unyielding nature to the world.
Seeing this desolate scene, Guo Ran couldn’t help suspiciously asking, “Xia Chen, are you sure this place is the entrance to the Mechanism Sect?”
Long Chen had brought the Dragonblood Legion here. When they saw the deserted location, they all felt some doubts about whether or not Xia Chen had taken them to the right place.
Anywhere experts frequently went to would normally be flourishing with life. The spiritual qi that experts possessed would naturally nourish the land.
“I can’t say whether or not it’s the entrance, but Zhao Wuji’s signal vanished here. I can still sense the spiritual mark that boss left on him,” said Xia Chen confidently.
“It’s very normal. The Mechanism Sect’s armor seals in their life aura and spiritual yuan. This kind of barren land won’t draw anyone’s attention, so it’s a good place for them to hide. Don’t worry Xia Chen, once you find the general location, we can start searching for the entrance. Put down a concealing formation to hide everyone. In any case, we have more time than them,” said Long Chen.
Zhao Wuji would definitely need to have a discussion with the higher-ups to tell them about their losses. They would need to come up with a plan of counterattack and perhaps even communicate with the Stone race. That would all take time.
Xia Chen nodded and hid the Dragonblood warriors. As for the others, they sat and meditated, keeping themselves in top condition for battle.
“Boss, why didn’t you let the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrows join us? Their attack power is amazing,” said Guo Ran.
Que Yuzhu had wanted to bring her experts with them, but Long Chen had declined, telling them to guard their territory.
“Can you think before talking? Do you think we’re the only ones capable of scheming against others? Are you sure that every one of our actions has been kept secret? What if someone noticed some things and figured out our next moves? If we attacked the Mechanism Sect only to return to a destroyed Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race, what would we do?” demanded Long Chen irritably.
“There’s no way we have traitors amongst us!” said Guo Ran.
“Even without traitors, are you sure no one was watching the battle? Are you sure there’s no one in this world better at formations than Xia Chen? Are you sure that no one can determine our target based on a few clues? Don’t think that just because we’re stronger, we can be careless. One wrong step and we can still lose. You didn’t go to the gathering, so you don’t know just how strong those people are. Ignoring all those other geniuses, if I wasn’t present, how would you handle Shi Lingfeng and Zhao Wuji? What if someone like Shi Lingfeng goes to destroy the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race while we're all gone? We might not even know who did it. Just because Xia Chen has many backups in place, it doesn’t mean that we can be stupid. I don’t want to implicate others, understand? The Dragonblood Legion is unafraid of death, but dragging others down because of our carelessness is worse than killing us, so learn how to be prudent,” said Long Chen.
“Ah, I understand boss. I wasn’t too thorough in my thinking.” Guo Ran nodded.
“No one can be entirely thorough because we are people, not gods. People will always have some flaws. When it comes to me, I can act logically right now because I’m calm, but if I was angry, I would have just attacked regardless of anything else. My brothers are all united. We live together, and we die together. Worst case, twenty years later, we’ll reincarnate and be good men again.” Long Chen patted Guo Ran on the shoulder with a smile.
“Hehe, we like this domineering character of yours. We cultivate to be able to live and act freely. To be able to follow boss, our lives weren’t wasted,” said Guo Ran.
“Not bad, your sucking-up ability has grown. It’s not as stiff as before,” laughed Long Chen.
“Boss, we only brought a thousand people. To attack a sect from the ancient era with just our numbers… isn’t it a bit too arrogant?” asked Guo Ran. At first, Guo Ran had been excited, but now that Long Chen had told him to think things through, he was starting to grow uneasy.
The Mechanism Sect had raised many experts. They had summoned three thousand Netherpassage experts just to attack the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow race. Just what kind of terrifying foundation was that?
Furthermore, for a sect to be able to raise a genius like Zhao Wuji meant that they had to have many terrifying trump cards.
The reason the Dragonblood warriors were able to crush the ones that had come to them was because they had fallen into a trap. If it was a direct clash, even if the Dragonblood Legion could win, it would have come with a great price.
Having switched from defense to offense, their advantage had vanished. Guo Ran’s confidence was starting to flag. Most importantly, he didn’t have his new armor, and he only had a few of his armor-piercing arrows.
“Arrogant? We have to be arrogant. Otherwise, we won’t be able to shock certain people, and they’ll only continue to bring us endless trouble. We have to be arrogant and domineering. Don’t think that you can wait until your armor is complete and your realm has increased. Other people will also be improving at the same time, and we have so many enemies that we’ll be constantly disturbed and delayed. That’s why we need to take risks while others don’t. Big guts, big risks, they bring big riches too,” said Long Chen.
“Alright, that’s too deep for me. All I need to know is that as long as I follow boss, life will definitely be fun and spicy,” said Guo Ran.
“I’ve found it!” Xia Chen suddenly interrupted them. A mark had appeared on his formation disc. This mark was an image of a gate.
Long Chen smiled. Xia Chen was much more dependable than Guo Ran. He had found it so quickly.
Xia Chen went over to a space between two mountains, but it was still barren without any fluctuations. There were no clues.
“The gate lies here. On the other side of the gate is the Mechanism Sect’s minor world. Boss, if you give me a few more hours, I can dismantle the gate. Protect me while I establish a formation to hide us as I do this…” Xia Chen immediately got to work.
“There’s no need to go to so much trouble.” Long Chen shook his head. He took out Evilmoon. “Split the Heavens 7!”
A crack appeared in the void. On the other side of that crack wasn’t endless darkness, but another world. That meant that Xia Chen had truly found the right spatial node.
Split the Heavens naturally possessed the power to cut the world apart. It was specialized in breaking barriers, including spatial walls.
“Who’s there?!” The people on the other side were immediately startled, and dozens of armored experts came flying over.
“The people who will destroy your Mechanism Sect.”
Long Chen snorted and slashed Evilmoon out again, drawing a giant X in the void.
The surrounding space shattered, and a powerful explosion blew back the surrounding sand and stone.
As for the Mechanism Sect’s experts that had been flying over, they were blown back. A giant gate revealed itself in the air.
Long Chen had destroyed the defenses of the minor world, fully revealing the gate. The gate shook intensely, and an alarm rang out on the other side. It was possible to see a huge castle inside filled with tall buildings.
Long Chen jumped inside. His vision of the minor world grew clearer. He was surrounded by skyscrapers. At the center of the minor world was a giant tower. It was the largest building in this world, and it was surrounded by runes. The walls were see-through, and they could see giant gears slowly spinning inside. Those gears controlled a strange rhythm of the entire minor world.
Long Chen’s focus was immediately attracted to the tower. A giant saber-image tore into the sky, shattering the laws of this world.
“Split the Heavens 8!”
Long Chen’s roar was like the roar of a god. It rumbled throughout the sky, and Evilmoon’s saber-image crashed into that giant tower.
It was like divine fury. The entire world was split in two, and the giant tower exploded. With the destruction of the tower, the rest of the buildings instantly dimmed.
“Zhao Wuji, didn’t you tell me to wait? I’m rather impatient, so I personally came to find you! People of the Mechanism Sect, listen well! If you don’t want to die, then hurry up and run, or don’t blame my butcher’s knife for being merciless!”
Long Chen’s shout resounded throughout the minor world.
One terrifying aura after another began to rise within the Mechanism Sect. Countless figures flew out of the giant buildings, charging at Long Chen.
