Chapter 383 – Ten-Thousand-Year Arrangement

“This… is this really something a Dao Academy student can accomplish?”

At the edge of the spectator stands, a man dressed in a Great Wilderness Pagoda staff uniform watched Lu Chen in the arena with a complicated expression.

His true identity was that of an informant planted within the Great Wilderness Pagoda by the Great Thousand Mountains.

There were many such ‘sleeper agents’ like him within the Great Wilderness Pagoda.

Some had even risen to high positions.

But to ensure their secrecy and safety, they didn’t know each other.

He had only detected through some hidden clues that he wasn’t the only informant from their School within the Great Wilderness Pagoda.

While he appeared to be watching the competition, he was actually observing the Great Wilderness Pagoda’s reactions.

Just as the Immortal Alliance could detect someone trying to cause trouble in the Great Wilderness Pagoda through changes in the Underground Prison,

the Great Thousand Mountains also knew that their previous move must have drawn the Immortal Alliance’s attention.

They just weren’t sure how far the Immortal Alliance’s current response would go,

or whether they had been investigated.

Although their current operation had reached a point where they had to proceed, even knowing the Immortal Alliance was prepared,

forcing their way through didn’t mean seeking death.

To ensure the plan’s success, the Great Thousand Mountains still intended to first gauge the Immortal Alliance’s response.

And the Immortal Alliance’s current reaction gave the Great Thousand Mountains a sense of relief amidst misfortune.

The unfortunate part was that the Immortal Alliance seemed to have indeed taken countermeasures.

Recently, the number of high-level Cultivators within the Great Wilderness Pagoda had noticeably increased.

Admittedly, some of these high-level Cultivators had come to watch their children or relatives compete,

thus attending the current Dao Academy tournament venue.

But equally, these people could also be using this as an excuse to quietly enter the Great Wilderness Pagoda without arousing suspicion.

Actually, neither scenario mattered to the Great Thousand Mountains.

Because regardless of the situation, it didn’t change the fact that there were more high-level Cultivators in the Great Wilderness Pagoda.

But the fortunate part was that the Immortal Alliance seemed uncertain about who exactly wanted to cause trouble in the Great Wilderness Pagoda,

and couldn’t determine how they planned to do it.

Otherwise, the Immortal Alliance could simply completely seal off the Great Wilderness Pagoda

to thoroughly thwart their plans,

rather than continuing to hold the Dao Academy tournament within the Great Wilderness Pagoda as they were now.

On this point, after gathering intelligence from many informants,

the Great Thousand Mountains reached a relatively reliable conclusion:

that the Great Wilderness Pagoda authorities, despite knowing the pagoda might be attacked,

still arrogantly believed they could control everything within their grasp.

And they probably didn’t consider the current situation particularly dangerous.

The fact that the Dao Academy tournament was proceeding as scheduled was the best proof of this conclusion.

For the Great Thousand Mountains, this was undoubtedly very good news.

And the Great Thousand Mountains informant in the spectator stands once again confirmed this viewpoint.

Thinking this, the informant’s eyes appeared calm, but deep within his pupils flashed an excited red light.

The red light vanished as quickly as it appeared, unnoticed by those around him.

After confirming the plan remained under control, the Great Thousand Mountains informant turned and walked out of the arena.He needed to relay the results of this investigation back to the Great Thousand Mountains.

To inform the higher-ups of the Great Thousand Mountains that the plan… could proceed exactly as scheduled.

Similar situations were occurring in other areas of the spectator stands as well.

Although these Great Thousand Mountains infiltrators didn’t know each other, they had all reached essentially the same conclusion.

More often than not, people are easily deceived by their own subjectivity.

In truth, even before they entered the Dao Academy competition grounds this time, they already had an answer in their hearts.

What they were doing wasn’t essentially about seeking the truth.

Rather, they needed a result that matched the answer they already held in their hearts.

If during this process they discovered clues that contradicted their expected outcome,

To convince themselves, they would find various excuses to make those clues fit their preconceptions.

Self-deception could be nothing else.

Because upon careful consideration, one would notice something peculiar about the Immortal Alliance’s reaction this time.

After all, beyond the White Tiger Great Wall now stood a million-strong demon army.

A demon army of this scale already posed a significant threat to Great Wilderness City where the Great Wilderness Pagoda stood.

Normally, during such times, to protect Great Wilderness City and ensure the White Tiger Great Wall wouldn’t be breached by the demon army,

The Immortal Alliance’s best response would undoubtedly be to deploy more high-level Cultivators to the White Tiger Great Wall.

Yet currently, the Immortal Alliance wasn’t doing this.

This either meant the million-strong demon army wasn’t taken seriously by the Immortal Alliance at all,

Or that the Immortal Alliance had some other scheme in mind.

Therefore, with just a little thought, it became clear that the Great Wilderness Pagoda this time was undoubtedly a dragon’s den and tiger’s lair.

Nine out of ten people who came would likely remain here forever.

But whether it was these Great Thousand Mountains infiltrators hidden within the Great Wilderness Pagoda,

Or the Great Thousand Mountains higher-ups currently outside the White Tiger Great Wall,

They all subconsciously overlooked this point.

Was it because the infiltrators in the Great Wilderness Pagoda and the Great Thousand Mountains higher-ups couldn’t see this strangeness?

Of course not.

It was because they were like arrows fitted to the bowstring – they had to be released.

They… could no longer turn back.

Even though they clearly knew it might be a trap, they had to brace themselves and proceed.

After all, if they missed this opportunity, they didn’t know if they would ever get another chance this good.

If they didn’t retrieve the Great Thousand Mountains Sect Leader,

Then in the coming great era, their Great Thousand Mountains would always lag one step behind others.

For the future of the Great Thousand Mountains, as long as they could rescue their Sect Leader, the Thousand-Year Elder,

Even if it cost the lives of more than half the Great Thousand Mountains Cultivators this time,

The result would still be worthwhile for them.

Success or failure hinged on this single move…

As these Great Thousand Mountains infiltrators left the Dao Academy competition spectator stands, they failed to notice faint, almost imperceptible flower petals silently attaching themselves to their backs.

Meanwhile, Lu Chen, who had returned to the rest area, closed his eyes to rest.

But when he opened them again, a strange smile appeared on his face.

“The snakes we lured out… are finally emerging from their holes.”

As he spoke, an ancient-looking small bell suddenly appeared in Lu Chen’s hand.

The style of this small bell was identical to the Celestial Artifact·Gathering Immortal Bell that had recently stirred many Cultivators in the Immortal Alliance, who had exhausted all means trying to obtain it.The only difference was that the small bell’s color and material slightly differed from the Gathering Immortal Bell manifested by the Black Lotus Matriarch back at the Qingzhou college entrance examination venue.

The Gathering Immortal Bell summoned by the Black Lotus Matriarch was entirely golden and extravagantly designed.

But the small bell in Lu Chen’s hand was made of black gold and appeared far more plain and unadorned.

This small bell was none other than the “pseudo-celestial artifact” Lu Chen had crafted using Xuanjia Dao Academy’s specialty, the Xuan Iron Stone, during his exchange competition with fellow students at Xuanjia Dao Academy—the Soul-Suppressing Bell.

Calling it a pseudo-celestial artifact wasn’t due to any lack of quality in the Soul-Suppressing Bell.

Rather, it lacked the most crucial step to become a true celestial artifact:

The nurturing of a legendary celestial spirit.

A celestial artifact without a celestial spirit remained merely “mundane.”

It couldn’t be considered a true celestial artifact.

Even so, the Soul-Suppressing Bell had been immensely helpful to Lu Chen.

One of its functions was that, when activated, Lu Chen could probe others’ Divine Souls through “Divine Soul resonance” without anyone noticing.

To be fair, these Great Thousand Mountains disciples were quite skilled at concealing their true nature.

As advocates of “flesh and blood Ascension,” their method of hiding often involved directly altering themselves at the flesh and blood level.

Thus, unless one directly inspected their Souls or used other means, their disguises were virtually undetectable.

In simple terms, while others might disguise themselves with makeup, masks, spells, or Divine Abilities, the cultivators of Great Thousand Mountains did none of these.

Their disguise wasn’t about cosmetics, masks, or mystical techniques.

Instead, they directly transformed their flesh and blood, making themselves biologically indistinguishable from the individuals they replaced.

Coupled with secret techniques that allowed them to mimic the original’s aura and methods, only those intimately familiar with the original person could spot any flaws—outsiders would notice nothing amiss.

This had been Lu Chen’s experience earlier.

He had previously tried to identify the Great Thousand Mountains disciples hiding within the Great Wilderness Pagoda but was surprised to find very few suspicious individuals.

This led him to shift his approach: while one’s appearance could change, the Soul could not.

Since he couldn’t detect flaws in the Great Thousand Mountains disciples through appearance or aura, he turned to their Divine Souls.

The results were remarkably effective.

Lu Chen directly identified all the Great Thousand Mountains agents hidden around the Dao Academy competition.

No matter how well these people concealed themselves, the twisted, rotten scent deep within their Souls was instantly detected by Lu Chen.

Moreover, Lu Chen marked them with the “Azure Lotus Mark.”

He didn’t need to do anything else—he simply had to observe where the Azure Lotus Marks converged most frequently in Great Wilderness City over the coming days.

That would reveal the location of the Great Thousand Mountains’ stronghold within the city.

Even if these agents were cautious and didn’t know each other, there had to be someone above them collecting the information and relaying it to the Great Thousand Mountains.

The place with the highest convergence of Azure Lotus Marks would be this information hub.

With this setup, Lu Chen now effectively possessed a Heavenly Eye.Every move of the Great Thousand Mountains was within his plan.

An invisible net had been woven, waiting for these ‘prey’ from the Great Thousand Mountains to fall right into the trap.

Meanwhile, at Biyou Mountain in the Forbidden Land: Ten Thousand Mountains.

“Fairy, this is the message we were asked to deliver. What do you think?”

Gou Fen and Ying Yuan watched Biyou Fairy cautiously, appearing quite humble.

What made them particularly uneasy was Biyou Fairy’s reaction when she heard Lu Chen’s request—delivered through the two demons—to visit Biyou Mountain.

The usually aloof Biyou Fairy unexpectedly showed traces of nervousness this time.

Though she concealed it well, the two demons noticed everything.

This undoubtedly deepened their fear of Lu Chen to some extent.

One must not forget that Lu Chen’s Sword Intent still remained between their eyebrows.

It could be said their lives hung entirely on Lu Chen’s whim.

If Biyou Fairy rejected this proposal,

they weren’t sure whether Lu Chen, upon hearing the news, might vent his displeasure by taking their lives.

Fortunately, after a moment of contemplation, Biyou Fairy gave her reply.

“Do as Shif… do as he says.”

Upon hearing this, the two demons could hardly contain their excitement.

They had survived! They finally survived!

With the weight lifted from their hearts, the two demons couldn’t help but weep with joy.

After their moment of relief, they seemed to remember something and said seriously, “Fairy, besides delivering that message, we encountered something unexpected on our way here.”

Before they could finish, Biyou Fairy interjected, “It’s Crane Feather Mountain, isn’t it?”

The two demons nodded and described what they had witnessed during their journey.

Originally, as Mountain Lords of the Ten Thousand Mountains,

their strength, while not top-tier in the region,

was still respectable.

Coupled with the Ten Thousand Mountains’ environment being suitable for demon cultivation,

their arrival at Biyou Mountain shouldn’t have been so delayed.

Yet they had been considerably delayed.

The reason was their need to circumvent the million-strong demon army.

Strangely enough, when they first glimpsed the demon army from afar,

they were indeed affected.

This influence came from the bizarre giant eyeball hovering above the demon army.

Though the two demons had intended to avoid it,

the eyeball still noticed them and cast a glance their way.

That single glance immediately dulled their thoughts, filling their minds with chaotic ideas.

The sensation was deeply unpleasant—

as if something was influencing their consciousness, forcing them to submit to some entity.

Fortunately, the stinging pain between their eyebrows quickly brought them back to awareness,

and they fled without looking back.

Otherwise, they would have already been assimilated into the million-strong demon army.

Biyou Fairy didn’t seem surprised by this account.

She looked at the two demons, then gazed beyond the cave as if observing something in the distance.

After a moment, she spoke softly.

“This matter has nothing to do with you. Don’t dwell on it. Just wait here patiently.”

With that, Biyou Fairy closed her eyes and fell silent, clearly indicating the audience was over.

The two demons exchanged glances and tactfully withdrew.

After they had departed, Biyou Fairy opened her eyes once more.She gazed in the direction of Great Wilderness City and whispered, “Master, is this time a trace you left behind, or have you truly descended into this world?”

“You always said to remain calm in the face of matters and plan before acting.”

“But this scheme of yours spanning ten thousand years—isn’t it a bit too prolonged?”

“Still, since you would do this, there must be profound meaning behind it.”

“Perhaps even the awakened Gu Xian is within your calculations, merely a pawn on this chessboard.”

“This disciple… awaits your favorable news.”

(End of Chapter)