Chapter 286: Arrangement

The Lu Mountain God was overjoyed to hear this, and quickly said, "Thank you, Demon Lord."

The Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord then slowly spoke in the group, "No need for formalities. We are working together, so we should help each other. It's just that I have some free time."

Then, the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord asked again, "I heard that you have a son whom you arranged to be in there. Now...?"

The Lu Mountain God dared not be negligent and immediately said, "That's correct. He should have fallen into enemy hands by now, but the other party didn't kill him, probably wanting me to rescue him personally."

The Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord's voice in the group was slightly puzzled, "You just said it was an unknown Fifth Rank. Do you have any clues? Which enemy did you offend at some point?"

"I have some idea. My son sent a message saying it's a young man named Li Qi. We had a conflict before, and there's a Fifth Rank behind him, but I've never met them. It's just... I exchanged a blow with them from a distance before, and their methods were very powerful," the Lu Mountain God deliberated over his words.

His thoughts went back a few years.

That was when his youngest son lost his Physical Body; it was done by that person named Li Qi.

That time, his youngest son's true spirit still had a chance for Reincarnation, and he hurriedly sent him to Reincarnation, but halfway through, a mysterious person interfered, causing the Reincarnation to fail. As a result, the true spirit was marked with the imprint of Reincarnation and could not be Reincarnated again.

Helpless, he could only use the method of sculpting a golden body to reshape his youngest son's body.

He lived, but his Dao path was also cut off.

He was still preparing to slowly seek revenge later, but the other party, who knows where they got the news, suddenly appeared again, and this time they struck first.

Clearly, the other party succeeded.

At this moment, he heard the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord say, "Your son has a way to transmit messages? Do you know anything else?"

"He only sent one message, and then it was cut off. He must have been discovered," the Lu Mountain God said calmly.

To be honest, when the communication channel was cut off, he already considered his son dead.

Does it hurt?

Of course, it hurts.

That's why he needs to be calmer.

He cannot be impulsive. A tiger does not get angry; it only suppresses its heartbeat, quietly approaches its prey, and then delivers a fatal blow.

"Hmm... Then how did the other party Breakthrough? We jointly performed a divination beforehand, and no one should have been able to Breakthrough," the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord continued to ask.

Strictly speaking, the Baiyue Kingdom Lords are all Shaman, so it was natural to perform divination before such a major event.

However, the divination had no effect, and someone still managed to infiltrate, which explains a lot.

"I don't know. I am not a Shaman, but there was indeed no sensing beforehand." Regarding this question, the Lu Mountain God frankly stated that he completely did not understand this matter.

The Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord was silent for a while, then replied, "Unclear... That's fine. Those are all the questions. You should seal off your Star Domain and preferably not let anyone in or out. As for that Fifth Rank... try to delay them for a bit. It will take a year and a half for me to get from here to your side. During this year and a half, you can only rely on yourself."

"A year and a half, I can still hold on. I hope the Demon Lord will come as soon as possible," the Lu Mountain God replied.

"I have already departed. In another quarter of an hour, I will be unable to contact you. During the journey, I will be disconnected from the The Axis of All Realms base stations. You won't be able to reach me for this year and a half. If you have anything else, tell me now. I hope this kind of thing doesn't happen again," the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord finally said.

The Axis of All Realms has a well-known characteristic: although it is convenient in many ways, it cannot establish itself in Outer Void; it must be rooted within a World.

Therefore, when traveling across Worlds, the The Axis of All Realms terminal cannot be used, and contact is naturally cut off.

The other Country Lords, of course, would not say they had anything to discuss, so besides exchanging pleasantries and goodbyes, there was nothing else to say.

A year and a half was not long for the Country Lords.

The Lu Mountain God thanked him again, then closed his terminal.

Then, he looked up.

At this moment, he was in a Seventh Rank World within this World cluster, not far from the Holy Flame World. At his speed, it would take a little over two days to reach it.

This World had already been completely conquered. All that remained was to leave a few people to slowly pry open the Heavenly Dao and then spend a few hundred years refining it.

However, all of that had to be temporarily put aside now.

That unknown Fifth Rank should be Li Qi's backer. Based on the initial probing, they should be similar to the Baiyue Kingdom Lord, perhaps slightly stronger than himself.

He hadn't come to find him yet, probably because he couldn't figure out his true strength. After all, this entire World cluster was under the shroud of a great formation, and he didn't dare to act rashly.

He truly wondered where the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord obtained such a formation diagram; it was truly terrifying.

If it could be used more than once, the Lu Mountain God wouldn't dare to imagine how much wealth could be plundered with this thing.

However, since this unknown Fifth Rank was also indecisive, he had to take this opportunity to engage him in a long-distance battle.

It was very normal for conflicts between Fifth Rank individuals to last for several years.

This was because the two sides were not engaged in close combat but rather in long-distance magical duels. Such conflicts were not intense, and it took a long time to know the outcome, so they were very time-consuming.

However, in close combat, victory or defeat could usually be decided in a few minutes.

This was like two fully armed, well-supplied archers in a deep jungle facing each other. Both sides probed, adjusted their positions and spells to counter each other, laid ambushes, expanded their advantages, and anticipated the other's moves.

It was a battle of both wits and courage.

Between archers, such a standoff could last for several days before a winner was decided.

But if these two archers were brought together to fight face-to-face in an arena, the outcome would be decided in a single move.

The principle was the same: if the battlefield was the endless Void Realm Beyond, separated by many Worlds, then fighting here was like a decisive battle in a jungle, which could be prolonged for a very long time.

For this reason, the Lu Mountain God had to expand the battlefield to this Void Realm so that he could buy enough time.

He already had a plan in mind.

Then, he stood up.

The servants around him quickly rose, wanting to tidy their master's clothes.

But the Lu Mountain God waved his hand, dismissing them, "I will be leaving for a while. You all continue to refine this place. This World has no civilization, only wild beasts, so it shouldn't be too difficult. I won't participate."

With that, he offered no further explanation and immediately leaped into the Void Realm.

It was time to try fighting a Fifth Rank.

— — — — — — — — — —

Meanwhile, on the other side.

It was the eighth day, and Li Qi had to leave, otherwise he would be late for the entrance exam.

If he were a special enrollee, he wouldn't care about being late or not. He wouldn't even have to go, as he would have already been successfully admitted. A demerit wouldn't matter, and he could just stay here to offer advice.

Unfortunately, he couldn't. Whether by coincidence or something else, his status as a special enrollee was revoked by the Great Shaman before his departure, and he had to go to school to take the entrance exam himself.

He could be late, but he couldn't not go to school, otherwise he would miss many, many opportunities.

Of course, the exam was not difficult for him, but it had to be taken in the world, so he had to go back.

Walking through the Void Realm, Li Qi continuously gave instructions to Shen Shuibi.

"Yu'er, the Lu Mountain God only knows of our existence now, but not our true strength. So, the next period will be a peaceful time. At least for a year, you won't have a direct conflict," Li Qi said.

Shen Shuibi didn't speak. She listened to Li Qi's instructions while guiding him through the Void Realm.

She wasn't good at these things, so she had to listen and learn more.

"But he will definitely find helpers. I've heard of the Baiyue Kingdom Lords. Those who ended up in that place and could only advance through unorthodox human Dao methods are mostly short-sighted scoundrels."

Yes, in Li Qi's view, relying on unorthodox human Dao methods for advancement was tantamount to self-degradation.

What are unorthodox human Dao methods? They involve taking the power of all people for oneself, but without any reciprocation, taking whatever one desires, exploiting to the extreme, and using commercial and legal regulations to make the power of a country serve oneself to achieve the Fifth Rank.

The orthodox human Dao methods would not engage in such exploitation. On the contrary, they pursue 'everyone doing their best,' rather than everyone serving a single Human Emperor.

For Li Qi, unless there was absolutely no other way, he would never be willing to become a Baiyue Kingdom Lord.

Of course, for many Sixth Rank individuals, the opportunity to advance to the Fifth Rank is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and they would break their heads to get it.

This is probably the difference between a Phoenix and an owl.

Thinking about this, Li Qi continued, "These scoundrels cannot abandon their existing interests to help the Lu Mountain God. So, I guess the Baiyue Kingdom Lords will all remain inactive, and even if they provide help, it will be limited. Therefore, preparations for dealing with the Country Lords should be made, but not too much effort should be spent."

"The one to truly pay attention to is the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord. He has grand ambitions. Although I don't know exactly what he wants to do, we've observed the stars these past few days and can see that this entire World cluster is gradually tearing apart. This must be the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord's doing. Everyone else is just assisting; no one else is qualified to lead."

"Since he is assisting, as the leader of this temporary interest group, he cannot sit by and watch. Otherwise, he won't be able to establish authority, and the other Baiyue Kingdom Lords will become even more disloyal, turning an already fragile Alliance into a complete mutual exploitation. If that really happens, it's very likely to ruin his plans."

"Therefore, he is very likely to rush over. It could be as short as one year or as long as ten years. This is what you need to focus your efforts on dealing with."

Listening to Li Qi's words, Shen Shuibi nodded, silently committing them to memory.

"Then there's the Lu Mountain God. He certainly won't act rashly at this moment. You mentioned before that at your level, you can fight across the Star Domain, but it often requires several months of observation to make a move, and fighting for a year or two is more than enough. I think the Lu Mountain God probably thinks the same way."

"He will definitely want to use this method to tie you down and prevent you from leaving. Moreover, you don't have a Grand Diviner to obscure the heavenly secrets, so if I leave your side, you will be exposed to their view and become much more dangerous."

Hearing Li Qi say this, Shen Shuibi replied, "I will disrupt my Karma. As for anything else... the Lu Mountain God is only a Sixth Rank, so he doesn't pose much of a threat to me."

"Yes, but those aren't important. Even if the Lu Mountain God is weaker than you, he can still contend with you using this Void Realm. So, you don't need to rush; just slowly set up your arrangements. He won't dare to approach rashly," Li Qi said.

But he didn't finish, continuing with his own speculation: "Then, regarding Jin Buhuan..."

"Use him to threaten the Lu Mountain God?" Shen Shuibi guessed.

Li Qi shook his head, "It's useless. Threats have little effect and won't achieve much."

Shen Shuibi's face flushed upon hearing this.

Clearly, using important hostages to threaten was very effective on her.

However, it probably wouldn't have much effect on Li Qi and the others.

The reason is simple: to ensure a hostage's safety, one must not care about the hostage's safety.

The less you care, the safer the hostage. It's best to consider the hostage dead directly, letting the other party know that it's completely futile, then the hostage is truly safe.

But Shen Shuibi couldn't do that. When her cultivation method was completely scattered, facing two Sixth Rank demons who were holding Yang Ning and Empress Luofu captive, she was thinking of rushing forward, but Li Qi held her back.

After all, people are different. A rabbit cannot be ruthless; she is like that, and it seems she can't change.

"The Lu Mountain God must have already considered Jin Buhuan dead, so threats are useless. Just leave him be and make sure he doesn't contact the outside world. Don't kill him; something bad will happen," Li Qi emphasized.

The Lu Mountain God wouldn't be swayed by a hostage in his decisions, but if Jin Buhuan were truly killed, he would definitely go mad and pay a huge price to make Shen Shuibi suffer. That's unnecessary.

"But Jin Buhuan can be used to transmit messages. If you feel ready, or if a strong enemy arrives before I return, then release Jin Buhuan. He can help you deter the Baiyue Kingdom Lords, allowing you to face only the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord and the Lu Mountain God as your enemies simultaneously," Li Qi said.

Jin Buhuan knew about the Grand Invoker token, and it could still play a small role at a critical moment.

"Understood," Shen Shuibi nodded, indicating that she understood.

Li Qi continued to explain, "That's all for matters outside the domain. Most of them are based on military confrontation. Without the possibility of being besieged, the threat to you is not great. The remaining matters are mainly focused within the Holy Flame World, as our ultimate goal is still to make money."

"The civil war has already started, but it's still a struggle among many warlords. This situation leads to too much internal consumption and not much profit. So, take some time to help the Child of Destiny unify the World."

"Only a stable, lasting, and operational World can generate wealth. In times of war and chaos, there will be nothing, so stability must be restored as quickly as possible."

"After stability, it's about finding things for them to do. The The Axis of All Realms are still there. The Lu Mountain God can use them to issue orders to those hidden 'Immortals.' This will form a stable great Empire and a confrontation between the hidden Immortal forces below. In this situation, asking for money will be much easier, allowing us to squeeze them dry."

"For specific implementation, once I reach Chang'an, I'll contact you via the terminal. We'll see the specific situation then and know what to do. Prioritize selling Cultivation Techniques; I'll help you arrange the supply in Chang'an. This way, in at most five years, all the Sacred Flame reserves of the Holy Flame World will be drained."

Li Qi rambled on, arranging many things.

And at the same time, the two were also about to return to Dou Su Six.

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