“Who goes there?”
Inside the grand canyon, a disciple of Kunling Mountain who had voluntarily taken on the duty of guarding suddenly shouted. This alerted several others to appear together, blocking the path of an intruding figure.
The newcomer was none other than Xiang Zhen. He knew the general location where Yu Qing and the others were hiding but did not know the exact spot. Upon arriving in this area, he inevitably had to conduct a search.
The crowd from the Great Enterprise Division hiding in a recessed area beneath the cliff wall also poked their heads out upon hearing the noise. They took a look and, seeing that it was Xiang Zhen returning, paid it no mind. Those who needed to walk back did so, those who needed to sit sat down, and those who needed to rest continued to rest.
The Kunling Mountain disciples, seeing it was Xiang Zhen, likewise paid it no mind. Someone even came over to ask him, “Has the exit really been sealed?”
Xiang Zhen nodded without saying much. He brushed past them and headed straight for the location of Yu Qing. Seeing Yu Qing sitting with his legs crossed, he sat down nearby.
Nan Zhu was talkative and could not help but cheerfully say, “Brother Xiang, you see? I did not lie to you, did I? The exit is sealed, right?”
He actually harboured some hope when saying this, wishing the other party would give a negative answer.
But Xiang Zhen nodded, disappointing him. Yu Qing also asked, “Could you not open it either?”
He knew that the power of the attack from the sky by the other party was immense.
Xiang Zhen shook his head. “I cannot open it, and neither can anyone else. I do not know if Grand Envoy Xiang has the strength to open it.”
“No one else could open it either?” Yu Qing asked doubtfully. “After you went over there, did you see anyone else trying to break the seal?”
Xiang Zhen seemed quite willing to answer his questions. “Three disciples from Kunling Mountain. The one leading them is Qin Fujun, the same person who has been taking us sightseeing recently.” Yu Qing looked suspicious. “Breaking the seal? Just the three of them?”
He felt something was abnormal. The exit was sealed, yet big shots like Xiang Lanxuan were not in a hurry. What was the meaning of sending just these three people to open it?
Xiang Zhen replied, “They were sent by Grand Envoy Xiang to the outside world to summon personnel from the Great Enterprise Division. They were merely temporarily blocked by the sealed exit. They were not specifically sent to break the seal, and they have already returned to report.”
“I see.” Yu Qing nodded and did not think much of it.
Sitting not far away, Le Shu tilted his head to listen to their discussion and muttered, “What does it mean that the Grand Envoy did not notify us and instead went outside to summon personnel?”
Gan Li, sitting beside him, suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm. He then abruptly stood up and walked over to Xiang Zhen, saying in a deep voice, “How do you know they were sent by the Grand Envoy to summon personnel from the Great Enterprise Division outside?”
Xiang Zhen looked slightly taken aback. He looked up at her and said, “Naturally, they said it themselves.”
Gan Li pressed further, “Are you sure you did not mishear them?”
Xiang Zhen frowned slightly and replied in a clear tone, “Qin Fujun said that Grand Envoy Xiang sent them to find personnel from the Great Enterprise Division. Where do you think the possibility of me mishearing lies?”
Gan Li clenched her fists and suddenly tightened her lips. Le Shu had already walked over to the side and asked, “What is wrong?”
Gan Li turned her head to stare at him. “The Grand Envoy has already met with the people from Kunling Mountain. The people from Kunling Mountain know we have entered. They also know that all the personnel of the Great Enterprise Division stationed at Kunling Mountain have entered this place. Why would the Grand Envoy still send people from Kunling Mountain to summon personnel from the Great Enterprise Division?”
Le Shu hesitated and said, “Regarding the news of our entry, do you suspect the people from Kunling Mountain hid it from the Grand Envoy?”
Gan Li asked, “Is there any other reason?”
Le Shu suggested, “Could it be to let Kunling Mountain notify the Great Division over there?”
Yu Qing suddenly stood up and interrupted. “To contact the Great Enterprise Division, should it not be you who goes to notify them? What is the meaning of leaving you unused and letting outsiders make contact on your behalf?” Speaking of this, he also became a bit nervous and asked suspiciously, “Could it be that Grand Envoy Xiang does not know you have entered?”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone turned their heads to look at the Kunling Mountain disciples assisting with the guard outside. They remembered when they were about to meet Xiang Lanxuan earlier, Yan Yao had stopped them, saying that Grand Envoy Xiang wanted them to hide here and await orders.
Some things had only caused slight confusion before, and they had purely been following orders. Thinking about it now, they were all shocked and uncertain.
Nan Zhu, Mu Aotie, Baili Xin, Xiang Zhen, and the others who were sitting all stood up one after another. The personnel of the Great Enterprise Division hiding here also stood up in succession, although many had not heard the conversation and did not know what was happening.
Le Shu and Gan Li exchanged a glance and immediately walked away, calling over a few personnel from the Great Enterprise Division to hide to one side and discuss the matter.
Afterwards, they each called some more people to go outside.
Not long after, the sounds of fighting came from outside. Soon, the eleven Kunling Mountain disciples who had been ambushed were all dragged in like dead dogs.
Yu Qing and the others exchanged glances, realising that this bunch from the Great Enterprise Division had not even figured out the situation or asked a single question before directly attacking the Kunling Mountain disciples.
The Great Enterprise Division sent some more people outside to stand guard, and then separated the eleven Kunling Mountain disciples for interrogation. The leading Kunling Mountain disciple was severely tortured and interrogated right before the eyes of Yu Qing and the others.
However, no matter how they tortured him, the man insisted that he was only following orders to escort and obey the dispatch of the Great Enterprise Division, refusing to loosen his tongue even in death.
As for the other Kunling Mountain disciples, they gave the same story. There was nothing to be done, as they simply did not know the inside story.
After failing to get results for a long time, Gan Li became somewhat anxious and said to Le Shu, “We cannot delay any longer. The Grand Envoy might be in danger.”
Le Shu said in a deep voice, “With just them, what could they possibly do to the Grand Envoy?”
Gan Li said deeply, “It is easy to dodge an open spear, but hard to guard against a hidden arrow.”
The corners of the mouth of Le Shu tightened. He resolutely turned around and called his subordinates over to give them instructions.
Consequently, the leading Kunling Mountain disciple had his mouth covered and his throat slit on the spot, falling into a pool of blood and twitching.
Soon, a series of miserable screams sounded from outside again. One could tell what was happening outside just by listening to the commotion. Yu Qing and the others looked at each other once more, clearly seeing how little the Great Enterprise Division regarded Kunling Mountain.
The group could no longer stay put. After dealing with the guarding Kunling Mountain disciples, they were about to set off. Unexpectedly, the personnel responsible for guarding outside flashed over and urgently reported, “Two Envoys, there are about dozens of people approaching from outside. They should be from Kunling Mountain.”
Le Shu and Gan Li immediately flew up to the canyon to observe.
A moment later, more than a dozen personnel from the Great Enterprise Division came down and directly called out to Yu Qing and the others, “Come with us.”
Nan Zhu asked in surprise, “Where to?”
“Just walk. Where is all this nonsense coming from?” the leader reprimanded.
Although Yu Qing and the others could not make heads or tails of it, it was not good to resist, so they could only follow them. However, they noticed something unusual. They found that these people quickly took away the corpses of those killed earlier together.
There was movement behind them. Looking back, they vaguely saw Gan Li leading a group of people towards the other end of the canyon.
Yu Qing and the others were confused, unable to understand what these people were playing at.
“Who goes there?” Above the canyon, Le Shu appeared with five people after a shout, blocking a group of people.
Under the moonlight, the leading visitor was none other than Yan Yao, with more than sixty people behind him.
This was not even all his manpower. The people who had withdrawn earlier had not all assembled. Only a dozen or so had returned, and two people were left on White Stone Mountain waiting for the other returning personnel to gather.
Worried that something might happen here due to the small number of people, he had brought a group of men to rush over.
Seeing clearly who it was, Le Shu said in a deep voice, “It is you?” Seeing him personally leading people to guard here, Yan Yao felt quite surprised. “Why is the Envoy personally guarding here?”
Le Shu said, “I have no time to guard here. Did you see anyone passing by on your way here?”
Yan Yao was taken aback. “No? Who is the Envoy looking for?” Hearing the negative answer, Le Shu immediately turned around and waved to his subordinates, “Let us go.” The five accompanying people followed him and jumped into the canyon, heading in the direction where Gan Li and the others had disappeared.
Yan Yao frowned and also led his people to jump down. As soon as he landed, he smelled a scent of blood. Someone took out a lighting device to illuminate the area, and they saw a pool of blood on the ground.
Yan Yao had his people quickly inspect the scene first. Finding only bloodstains and no figures, he immediately called his men to chase after the direction of Le Shu, even though they still did not know exactly what was going on.
The group did not chase for too long before they found Le Shu and the others again. They saw them surrounding and questioning an injured member of the Great Enterprise Division who was sitting against the rock wall.
As soon as Yan Yao and the others arrived, Le Shu immediately turned his head and said, “Brother Yan, I do not have enough manpower here. Please trouble yourself to leave two people to help me look after him.”
Having finished speaking, without caring whether Yan Yao agreed or not, he led his men and ran off first.
Yan Yao had no choice but to casually assign two men to stay behind, and he chased after them with the rest. After catching up with Le Shu, Yan Yao immediately asked, “Envoy, has something happened?”
Le Shu replied, “That Zhang Zhichen is too cunning. We fell for his trick and let him slip away with his people.”
Yan Yao was shocked and doubtful. “With so many people watching, how could he slip away?”
“You can question him slowly once we catch him.” “Where are my people from Kunling Mountain?”
“Naturally, they went along to chase after them.”
While this group of people was chasing, at the place where the injured person was being cared for earlier, several members of the Great Enterprise Division jumped down from the canyon. They surrounded the injured person sitting on the ground with concern and asked, “How are your injuries?”
The injured person shook his head. “I am afraid I will not recover anytime soon.”
“Let us find a suitable place to treat your injuries.” The person who spoke earlier sighed, and then directly pointed at two Kunling Mountain disciples, ordering them around. “You two, help support him.” The two Kunling Mountain disciples were dissatisfied inwardly, but did not dare to resist on the surface. They could only comply, each pulling one of the arms of the injured person over their own shoulders.
Just as the two men propped the injured person up, the two hands of the injured person suddenly grabbed their throats taking advantage of the momentum. Before the two men could react, he twisted their necks with a snap.
The two panicked Kunling Mountain disciples still wanted to struggle, but they were already seized and pinned down by the people on their left and right. Following that, the people who stepped forward hacked at them wildly with their swords to finish them off.
After confirming the two men were dead, several members of the Great Enterprise Division including the injured person quickly stared at the rock wall and soared straight up. They jumped onto the cliff and then jointly chased after the direction of Le Shu.
Their tacit cooperation from beginning to end suggested that it seemed this was not the first time they had done something similar.
Yu Qing and the others had long since jumped out of the canyon and were galloping across the vast wilderness. The corpses of those Kunling Mountain disciples had already been disposed of.
After rushing for a while, Yu Qing asked, “Where are we going?” The leading member of the Great Enterprise Division replied, “To see the Grand Envoy.”
Nan Zhu asked curiously, “Are we not waiting for those two Envoys?”
The leader said, “They will naturally come once those with ulterior motives are completely dealt with.”
Nan Zhu said, “Can they be completely dealt with? It will be troublesome if even one escapes.”
The leader glared at him and ignored him.
Nan Zhu did not mind and changed the subject to another question. “We do not know the exact location of Grand Envoy Xiang at all. If we keep searching like this, when will we ever find him?”
The few of them could actually estimate the general location of the Divine Tree, but it was not good to speak of it. Speaking of it would show that they had some understanding of the interior of the Immortal Mansion.
As soon as the words fell, a mountain peak appeared ahead. It looked somewhat familiar. Upon closer inspection, it was exactly the White Stone Mountain they had left earlier.
The leader led them around to one side of White Stone Mountain. After lying in ambush, he suddenly grabbed the arm of Xiang Zhen and asked, “Which direction did the Grand Envoy go?”
Xiang Zhen did not know whether he should speak and looked back at Yu Qing.
Yu Qing nodded slightly. “I am afraid Kunling Mountain has developed treacherous intentions. If we fall into their hands, we will have absolutely no way out.”
This was not empty talk. It was unlike falling into the hands of those three major forces in the Small Cloud Realm, where they were still granted a way out. Falling into the hands of Kunling Mountain meant absolutely no chance of survival.
Only then did Xiang Zhen raise his hand and point out the previous direction Xiang Lanxuan had taken.