...
In a corner of the northwest of the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land.
The sun was setting, painting the sky with brilliant hues of twilight. Xu Mu and his two companions followed Xu Jingchu, learning a great deal about the area as they walked.
"Although the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land is vast, there are only three core regions with the most opportunities and the fastest points accumulation."
"The first is Sky Dome Peak, the tallest mountain in the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land. It is divided into upper, middle, and lower sections. The opportunities and the speed of automatic point increase differ in each section. The higher you go, the more points you get, but even the lowest section of Sky Dome Peak is better than many other places."
Xu Jingchu led the way, clearing obstacles with her thin sword, her hair disheveled, her face calm as she spoke.
"The second core region is called Summit Mountain. This mountain is not tall but covers an extremely wide area. It is also divided into outer, middle, and inner parts. The further in you go, the faster points grow, and the more opportunities there are."
"The third region is called Earth Flow Spring, which is divided into the spring eye, the upper reaches, and the lower reaches. The closer you are to the spring eye, the faster points increase, and the better the opportunities."
As Xu Jingchu spoke, Xu Mu and his companions simultaneously looked down at the trickling stream at their feet.
"This is a tributary of the Earth Flow Spring. It has already flowed out of the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land, so it's just ordinary spring water," Xu Jingchu explained.
"Then where is your team's territory? Is it the spring eye of the Earth Flow Spring?" Jiang Sheng asked curiously.
"Brother Jiang, don't you think that if they could occupy the spring eye, they wouldn't have been chased to the cliff's edge by those thirty people?" Qi Lan patted Jiang Sheng's shoulder and said with a casual smile.
Unintentionally spoken, but the words were taken to heart by several of the ability users in Xu Jingchu's team. Their faces immediately flushed, and they couldn't help but retort:
"That's not true. In fact, our strength is not much weaker than Wen Boye's side, only slightly inferior at most," Bai Lan pouted, then looked at Qi Lan and explained, "If it were a normal battle, we wouldn't have been pushed to that point. That was all an accident!"
"Yes, we still have more than a dozen brothers left to defend the outpost, and we were ambushed by Wen Boye," a man next to Bai Lan nodded in agreement.
"Losing is losing, there are always so many excuses." Xu Mu and his two companions remained expressionless, but Xu Jingchu couldn't help but scold them.
In this confrontation, they had indeed lost miserably. Whether it was a frontal defeat or an ambush, the fact remained that they had lost.
"The law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. There is no fairness here, and being ambushed only means you were not skilled enough," Xu Jingchu said, looking back, her clear eyes narrowed, speaking with considerable authority.
Thus, the people behind them fell silent.
"So, Miss Jingchu, where exactly is your outpost, and how much further do we have to go?" Xu Mu asked at this point.
"It's in the lower reaches of the Earth Flow Spring, we'll be there soon," Xu Jingchu replied calmly, her expression unchanged, but she felt inexplicably ashamed.
"See, I was right," Qi Lan patted Jiang Sheng at this moment and said with a smile. He had long anticipated this outcome. From his observation, only a few members of Xu Jingchu's group were somewhat competent, but none were a match for him.
"It's already very good, really," Xu Jingchu suddenly turned to look at Qi Lan and said earnestly, "Although it's in the lower reaches of the Earth Flow Spring, it's at least considered to be within one of the three major regions of the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land."
"Outside these regions, there are countless unknown places where points accumulate countless times slower, with few opportunities, and even dangers."
"Moreover, as you've seen, our team's overall strength is not strong. To have carved out a niche among so many powerful alliances, I am already quite satisfied, even if this place doesn't sound ideal," Xu Jingchu said seriously.
"It's indeed not easy. With three hundred and twenty thousand candidates, after so many days, they must have already formed alliances. And the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land is the absolute core area of this Azure Mountain, so there must be many people coming here to compete," Xu Mu said, looking at Xu Jingchu, before Qi Lan could speak.
"I'm just curious, which forces occupy the most core and best areas of the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land?"
Suddenly, Xu Mu narrowed his eyes and asked calmly, his voice even. Jiang Sheng was bewildered, not understanding the deeper meaning, but Qi Lan instantly grasped it.
Because this question might directly help them locate Ye Gong!
"Of course, I know. My information is very well-informed, or I wouldn't have survived here for so long," Xu Jingchu nodded and then said, "As I mentioned earlier, the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land is divided into three major regions."
"And if I were to divide the opportunities in these three places—that is, Sky Dome Peak, the second place Summit Mountain, and Earth Flow Spring, all of which have the most opportunities and the fastest point growth—into ten portions, the Ye family's influence occupies three of them, and they are the top three!"
"The Ye family." Upon hearing this, a hint of a smile appeared on Xu Mu's face. Finally, there was news of the Ye family.
"Yes, the Ye family," Xu Jingchu paused, then continued, "The very summit of Sky Dome Peak is occupied by Ye Gong of the Ye family. His alliance has over a hundred people, all of them top-tier ability users in this assessment, and their strength is immense."
"The middle and lower sections are also occupied by his allies and other alliances. There are many of them, and they are also powerful, but they cannot compare to Ye Gong."
As Xu Jingchu spoke, a solemn and puzzled expression slowly spread across Xu Mu and the others' faces.
They hadn't expected Ye Gong to be able to gather such a large faction and occupy the summit of Sky Dome Peak, with over a hundred talented ability users under his command.
"Those over a hundred people are likely all at my level at the very least," Jiang Sheng said gruffly, frowning at Xu Mu. There were a total of three hundred and twenty thousand contestants, and those chosen by Ye Gong to occupy the summit must be the cream of the crop.
"I'm curious about one thing," Xu Mu said calmly, then looked at Xu Jingchu and asked, "Excluding those unregistered monstrous rogue cultivators, aren't the four great families participating in this round of competition? And it seems like the Jiang and Qi families also have geniuses on Ye Gong's level arriving. Why didn't they compete with Ye Gong for Sky Dome Peak?"
"I've only heard some rumors about this, but they might not be true," Xu Jingchu hesitated and then said, "Jiang Taixu, you should know him. It is said that he voluntarily gave up his qualification for the Myriad Races Assembly to participate in this competition. He is a monstrous talent on the same level as Ye Gong, and he should have been competing."
"But for some reason, I've been hearing lately that Jiang Taixu seems to have been assassinated by someone and suffered severe injuries. Although his strength is still formidable, he certainly can no longer contend with Ye Gong's forces."
"It is said that Jiang Taixu's subordinates are now searching for the assassin day and night, but no one knows who the assassin is. I certainly don't know either," Xu Jingchu said earnestly to Xu Mu.
"We know," Qi Lan and Xu Mu exchanged glances and then muttered inwardly.
"It seems Qi Ye made the move. I didn't expect him to be so fast," Qi Lan transmitted to Xu Mu, his voice solemn.
"He wasn't eliminated and is still alive, so it can't be considered a success," Xu Mu transmitted, then pondered for a moment and asked, "What about the other areas? Which forces occupy them?"
"Besides Sky Dome Peak, the second core region of the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land is Summit Mountain. The resources in its innermost part are also occupied by Ye Gong's subordinates, the Three Ghost Kings."
"The Three Ghost Kings?" Qi Lan started, then seemed to recall something and asked urgently, "Are they the three outsiders of the Ye family, those ability users who always wear gray robes?"
"They are," Xu Jingchu nodded.
"What, are they very strong?" Xu Mu asked Qi Lan with some surprise. He hadn't expected Ye Gong to be competing alone.
"Strong, very strong. All three of them have the strength to directly qualify for the Myriad Races Assembly," Qi Lan said with a solemn expression, explaining, "The Three Ghost Kings are triplets who were adopted by the Ye family. They have very high talent and practice ghost techniques."
"Each of these three brothers, when taken individually, can rival Ye Que, or even surpass him. And when they are together, their bloodline and techniques complement each other, increasing their combat power several times over. They have defeated many geniuses and are very famous among the major families."
"Yes, what you said is completely accurate," Xu Jingchu glanced at Qi Lan and continued, "When the Three Ghost Kings are together, they can be called a 'mini Ye Gong.' Even among the other three hundred and twenty thousand participants, it would be difficult to find an opponent. Therefore, they only used two of them to occupy the core area of Summit Mountain."
"The third Ghost King, leading a team alone, occupied the third core area of the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land, Earth Flow Spring, and his position is at the spring eye of Earth Flow Spring."
"Thus, all three major opportunity zones of the Spiritual Gathering Sacred Land are occupied by the Ye clan, leaving them in a position of absolute dominance."
Xu Jingchu said this with a calm expression, but everyone who heard it couldn't help but feel a growing sense of gravity in their hearts.
In this preliminary round of the Myriad Races Assembly, the Ye family was clearly the frontrunner, dominating the scene. They had occupied the three best opportunity zones, all of them core areas, and no one could shake their dominant position.
"Actually, the third Ghost King guarding the Earth Flow Spring cannot completely suppress the ideas of others. If the teams in the upper reaches were to unite and resist, they would have a good chance of winning, but no one dares to do it," Bai Lan said, following behind.
"Is it out of fear of the Ye family's retaliation? After all, their forces can be mobilized at will. The control of Earth Flow Spring is unstable, while the other two areas are extremely stable because the geniuses of the other three great families have not come out to resist," Qi Lan clicked his tongue and said.
"Yes, that's what we fear. Sometimes it's not that we can't win, but that we can't fight. Because even if we win, the territory might not ultimately be ours, and it's highly likely to be taken back."
"The man you drove away today is named Wen Boye. His forces are in the middle reaches of Earth Flow Spring. When we first formed our team, he tried to join us several times, but I refused every time because his intentions were impure," Xu Jingchu said to Xu Mu with a solemn expression.
"But I didn't expect that because of this, he would constantly make things difficult for us afterwards, repeatedly seeking opportunities to seize them. Our team endured it all, to the point where we were eventually framed and forced into a desperate situation," she continued.
"Didn't you say their team was similar to yours? How were you bullied to this extent? Is there some hidden reason for this?" Xu Mu asked curiously.
"Of course there is. This Wen Boye seems to have some connection with Wei Daoxuan, one of the Three Ghost Kings under Ye Gong. And coincidentally, Wei Daoxuan's younger brother, Wei Daolin, is stationed at the spring eye of Earth Flow Spring. So Wen Boye often acts arrogantly, bullying teams like ours that have no backing, and no one can do anything about him," Xu Jingchu sighed, a hint of weariness slowly appearing on her beautiful face.
She didn't have such grand ambitions; she just wanted to accumulate as many points as possible to alleviate some of the pressure for the next round. She never expected to be entangled by such a scoundrel.
"And now, you've driven away Wen Boye for me. He will definitely try to persuade Wei Daolin to seek revenge on you. We need to quickly devise a strategy to deal with this," Xu Jingchu said to Xu Mu again, her eyes firm, her tone steady, as if her words were undeniable. They should do this.
But in reality, she had no confidence when she said these words.
Because she was afraid that Xu Mu and the others would just leave. With their team's strength, they would certainly not be able to deal with Wei Daolin.
"Are you kidding? Why should we fight Wei Daolin? No one here knows us three. We can just leave!" Qi Lan scoffed casually, and instantly, Xu Jingchu and the over twenty ability users' hearts tightened.
The most feared thing had happened.
However, this was also normal. After all, they were just strangers who met by chance; there was no deep connection. Moreover, this was a competition, and no one would help a stranger without a price.
"This matter can still be discussed," Xu Mu said after a moment of silence.
Upon hearing this, Xu Jingchu and the others looked at him with surprise. Even Jiang Sheng and Qi Lan were stunned.
"Little Brother Xu, you don't have a crush on her, do you? Don't forget our goal is Ye Gong!" Qi Lan transmitted, speaking very anxiously.
He was truly worried that Xu Mu would do something foolish and suddenly lose interest in killing Ye Gong. Then how would Jiang Taixu alone contend against the two great geniuses, Qi Ye and Ye Gong? And how could he deal with Qi Ye?
"Of course, we have to kill Ye Gong. But his influence is too great now. No matter how strong we three are, can we go in blindly and fight against a hundred people?" Xu Mu shook his head and then explained, "What we need to do now is gather a force that can confront the Ye clan's influence in the shortest possible time, and then lead this force to confront Ye Gong."
"But we came too late, everyone has already formed alliances, there's no time!" Qi Lan said, stunned.
"Yes, that's why I plan to start with this Wei Daolin," Xu Mu said, a chill creeping into his calm expression. "We will start from Earth Flow Spring, join Xu Jingchu's team first, help her deal with Wen Boye and Wei Daolin, and then consolidate the forces in this region."
"After Wei Daolin is eliminated, the other two Ghost Kings from Summit Mountain will definitely come here for revenge. At that time, we will use the consolidated forces here to annex the forces from Summit Mountain."
As Xu Mu spoke, his eyes flashed with brilliance:
"Finally, we will head straight for Sky Dome Peak!"