Chapter 132: Pull The Firewood From Under The Pot
What Jiang Ce said, the others had also thought of.
To put it bluntly, it was actually just a choice of risk. If they changed the plan and launched a full assault tonight, there would be costs, but the risks would be very small. If they followed the original plan, it would be no different from gambling.
Either a great victory at extremely low cost, or total defeat.
If it were a lone individual, they would probably gamble. Everyone has the gambler’s mentality, especially those who have nothing to lose, all wanting to gamble for a better outcome.
However, the Gatekeeper has a large family and great enterprise, where life and death concerns many people. With Jiang Ce’s detailed re-analysis, those who originally only had fragmented information in their minds suddenly found their thoughts clear.
In the end, under Wei Lao’s final decision, they adopted a compromise method.
That was to send out almost all of Xiao Lin’s mid-level forces to probe. If there was a problem, withdraw; if they did not encounter too much obstruction, launch a full assault.
Jiang Ce nodded inwardly.
According to his speculation, Bai Qing could judge the reality precisely because of his tip-off, responding methodically to delay time while preparing a counterattack.
At this point, half the night had passed since the first feint attack. Bai Qing must have reported it by now. By this calculation, the Gluttonous Ghost reinforcements would likely slacken because of this, and they definitely had not arrived yet.
It could be said that now was the best opportunity to eliminate Bai Qing.
If they missed tonight and the overall situation was not yet decided, Luocheng would surely become the center of the vortex and completely descend into chaos.
Thinking of this, Jiang Ce immediately volunteered: “The leader of the first group is Martial Uncle Xuan Qing, so let me go probe with him. Wei Lao, you and Xiao Zhi Men observe from the shadows. If I successfully lure out Bai Qing, all previous worries can be disregarded.
If there is indeed an ambush, I also have the confidence to retreat. As for if Bai Qing holes up just resisting to delay time, there’s even less to say. Eliminating the Luocheng Gluttonous Ghosts will happen today!”
“Good.” Wei Lao approved.
With the policy decided, everyone perked up and rose together to prepare for action.
They had already divided into teams in advance, but the feint attack was highly difficult and dangerous, so those outside now were basically the elites among elites. The people in the conference room were not inadequate, but more or less seemed inferior by comparison.
It was just as Jiang Ce stepped out of the barrier set by Xiao Lin that Song Yuntian, far away thousands of miles distant, suddenly sensed that the connection between the jade pendants had finally returned to normal.
He hurriedly called to Yan Yi, who was speeding through the air ahead.
“Jiang Ce’s signal has appeared.”
Yan Yi turned back, lips pursed, expression deep in thought.
“As expected. I said the Gatekeeper suddenly shielding the outside must mean something happened. It seems the Gatekeeper has changed the plan again.”
A few hours earlier, after reporting to the Protector, Song Yuntian tried to contact Jiang Ce but found the connection severed. Yan Yi realized the situation might be more complex than imagined, so he called Song Yuntian and hurriedly rushed back, while contacting other available Holy Envoys to reinforce Luocheng.
Now that Jiang Ce’s signal had appeared, he felt not the slightest relaxation, but instead grew even more cautious and tense.
Since the Gatekeeper had shielded the inside for protection, there was no reason to lift it. This could only mean Jiang Ce had come out of the barrier.
“Changing back and forth like this, when exactly are they going to act? So dawdling.” Song Yuntian couldn’t help complaining.
“The battle situation changes in an instant. Not sure if Bai Qing did something unnecessary.”
Yan Yi sighed.
Song Yuntian set off again: “What a hassle. This Bai Qing isn’t anything good either. So many things have arisen because of him. Just let him die.”
The two continued flying toward Luocheng when suddenly Song Yuntian asked:
“Boss, I’m starting to doubt again now. Do you think Jiang Ce is deceiving us after all?”
“Who knows?” Yan Yi looked straight ahead: “Maybe he’s telling the truth, but the commander this time temporarily changed the plan. Or maybe this was their original plan, and Jiang Ce lied to us to delay our time. All possible.
But it doesn’t matter what we think. It’s irrelevant. What’s important is what the Protector thinks, what the Cult Leader thinks.”
Song Yuntian fell deep into thought.
Seeing this, Yan Yi said meaningfully yet casually: “A little over a month ago, Bai Qing’s disciple died in Luocheng. Less than half a month later, Jiang Ce appeared at the Celestial Master’s Mansion. Another half month later, he appeared at Lu Mountain, then the Lu Shan Sect Sect Leader was taken away by people from the Celestial Master’s Mansion. The next day, he met Helmsman Yuan Xin in Min City.”
Song Yuntian looked at Yan Yi with a puzzled face. He knew these things, but didn’t know why Yan Yi brought them up.
The latter offered no explanation and continued: “That same night, Bai Qing’s shadow suddenly vanished, then the Gatekeeper somehow got the news and began deploying against Bai Qing.”
Song Yuntian pondered briefly, then his eyes widened: “You mean”
Yan Yi waved his hand: “Speak less, ask less, do more, watch more.”
Song Yuntian nodded, suppressing his shock and suspicion, then suddenly remembered something: “Boss, when you reported to the Protector earlier, what instructions did he give you that made you hesitate so long?”
Yan Yi remained silent, and Song Yuntian tactfully asked no more.
After a long while, Song Yuntian suddenly heard Yan Yi say: “Luocheng cannot be lost. Bai Qing can die.”
Jiang Ce huddled in a corner, seizing a passing Gluttonous Ghost amid the chaos. With a cover of the purple Great Cauldron, it melted without even ash remaining.
He had already melted several Fifth and Sixth Rank ones like this, but not in direct confrontation—almost all were successful sneak attacks.
He deeply understood the principle that a tall tree attracts the wind. On the battlefield, standing out too much would immediately draw targeting. To survive, he dared not use any fancy sorcery. Almost always, he would slam with mental energy, stun the opponent, grab them, and throw them into the Great Cauldron for on-the-spot incineration.
It was his old profession, and he handled such matters with exceptional ease.
As the team gradually advanced, Jiang Ce gradually noticed something wrong.
Xuan Qing appeared beside Jiang Ce at some point, casually blocking a sneak attack from the shadows for him, then countering to slay the attacker.
“It’s always like this. Once within fifty meters of their stronghold, their resistance intensifies. At first I thought it was a coincidental last gasp, but later I realized it wasn’t. Everyone of them is like this. I suspect their peripheral resistance is deliberately feigned weakness.”
Jiang Ce nodded upon hearing this, then asked: “Have we broken in?”
“Without instructions from Wei Lao, I dared not act rashly.”
“What about Master Ku Zhen?” Jiang Ce asked again.
“On the other side, but he can’t break in either. There aren’t many on his side, but almost all who appear are Unity of Heaven and Man experts. They don’t engage Master Ku Zhen in prolonged battle, almost always using sneak attacks—striking once, then immediately fleeing regardless of success, very tricky.”
“What about the results? Weren’t we said to have taken out quite a few Gluttonous Ghosts? But along my path, I’ve seen almost no corpses.”
“We definitely can’t casually bring Gluttonous Ghost corpses back—who knows if there are traps—but when we return to attempt another assault, the corpses are gone.”
“So they might not be truly dead?”
“Mm, I also reported them as suspected deaths.”
“But the report back was confirmed deaths.”
The two then fell into brief silence.
“These damn sycophantic villains.” Xuan Qing said viciously.
Jiang Ce smiled: “Merit can only filter out great villains and evils, not these small-time villains.”
Xuan Qing made no response.
He raised his hand, stopping the Gatekeepers behind him from advancing further.
“Any further, and Unity of Heaven and Man Gluttonous Ghosts will appear. I’m afraid I won’t be able to protect you in time. Let’s stop here for now. We’ve already taken out quite a few of them this time.”
But Jiang Ce shook his head: “Keep going forward. Don’t worry about me. I won’t have any issues.”
Seeing Jiang Ce so confident, Xuan Qing guessed perhaps Xiao Lin or even Wei Lao were watching from the shadows, but he was still somewhat worried. After all, the Gatekeeper had experts hidden in the dark, and the Gluttonous Ghosts naturally would not be an exception.
“If Bai Qing detects the Death Curse on you, Wei Lao will have to guard against higher-rank enemies. Xiao Zhi Men alone might not be able to stop it in time.”
He reminded softly.
But Jiang Ce still dismissed it: “No problem. Listen to me.”
Xiao Lin wasn’t enough— wasn’t there still Zhang Ze Xing?
As soon as he left the branch, Jiang Ce received one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The good news was that Zhang Ze Xing was in position. Earlier, while Jiang Ce was in the barrier, Zhang Ze Xing avoided detection by not contacting him proactively. Once Jiang Ce emerged, he immediately sent a voice transmission to inform him.
As for the bad news, his jade pendant had reacted.
This was a detail Jiang Ce had overlooked. When he remembered the jade pendant, he inwardly cursed—Song Yuntian, unable to contact him, would definitely rush here immediately. He had little time left.
So Jiang Ce was now racing against the clock, knowing it was a risk but having no choice but to try.
Waiting to advance bit by bit might lead to changes due to delay. If he could lure out Bai Qing, it would undoubtedly be the best outcome.
Seeing Jiang Ce insist, Xuan Qing said no more.
Although Jiang Ce was still a Jianghu sorcerer, Xuan Qing now treated him as an equal. This was what Jiang Ce had earned with his actions over the past month plus.
In Xuan Qing’s view, Jiang Ce was no longer the loose-tongued street rat from his initial impression.
The team of over ten continued advancing. Sure enough, as Xuan Qing predicted, after entering the danger zone, the Gluttonous Ghosts struck more ruthlessly, and the Gatekeeper group’s pressure surged.
Jiang Ce’s pressure also suddenly increased.
Because the Great Cauldron was only so big; it couldn’t melt several people at once.
Seizing the chance, Jiang Ce stunned two more, then slipped quietly toward the underground parking lot amid the distraction of his companions drawing fire. By the time Xuan Qing reacted, Jiang Ce was gone.
In the underground parking lot, a poker-faced white-robed Daoist priest was already waiting in the corner. Beside him were a dozen charred Gluttonous Ghost corpses, as if just struck by lightning.
Jiang Ce looked up and scanned around. The surveillance cameras in the parking lot were all destroyed. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Their cultivators’ battles were almost imperceptible to ordinary people. The only things that might capture their figures were these cameras.
Seeing this, he praised: “Celestial Master Zhang is very practiced.”
Zhang Ze Xing had long noticed the damaged surveillance cameras along Jiang Ce’s gaze and naturally knew what he meant.
But he had no time to joke with Jiang Ce— they weren’t that familiar anyway. He was here purely because the Old Celestial Master had arranged it.
Though the contemporary Celestial Master, the one truly controlling the overall situation was still the Old Celestial Master. As the Old Celestial Master’s eldest son, he had always firmly supported him. Whatever the Old Celestial Master asked him to do, he never questioned the reason, never doubted, and never objected.
The Old Celestial Master told him to come, so he came.
“My father sent me to protect you, yet you treat me as a thug.” Zhang Ze Xing rarely showed dissatisfaction.
“Since you’re willing to be a thug, your father must have said everything has to listen to me, right?”
Zhang Ze Xing frowned, hesitated to speak, but finally asked: “What do you want to do this time?”
“Blow up the underground parking lot for me. Don’t you know Lightning Magic? Blast it all to collapse!”
Jiang Ce said boldly.
Zhang Ze Xing was stunned and subconsciously asked: “Have you gone mad? This isn’t the downtown area, but blowing up a building—the consequences aren’t as simple as you demolishing a house at the Celestial Master’s Mansion.”
“Then it depends on Celestial Master Zhang’s capability.”
Jiang Ce shrugged: “Just see how you can make it look like a natural disaster.”
“Why does it have to be me?”
Jiang Ce rolled his eyes: “Nonsense, do you even understand what catching them off guard means? And besides you, who else can I call?”
Zhang Ze Xing took a deep breath.
“Then you go out first. I won’t be responsible if you’re hurt.”
“Ojbk!” After instructing, Jiang Ce scampered out happily.
Seeing Jiang Ce run far, Zhang Ze Xing sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began operating the Celestial Master’s Mansion’s supreme secret art—the Nine Heavens Thunder Seal.
Jiang Ce had just run back to Xuan Qing’s battlefield when he heard a thunderclap from the sky. Though mentally prepared, the massive sound still startled him.
And in the stalemated battlefield, both sides tacitly stepped back two paces, then instinctively looked up.
The originally half-hidden moon in the clouds was now completely blocked, the world plunged into dimness.
Black clouds nearly thick enough to press on everyone’s heads blotted out the sky.
Black clouds pressing the city as if to destroy it—nothing more apt.
The next moment, lightning filled the sky, plummeting from the ten-thousand-zhang heights. Dense purple flashes wove into layer upon layer of a heavenly net, enveloping the Gluttonous Ghost branch location.
No one could retreat or hide; under such heavenly punishment, hiding anywhere was futile.
Everyone felt deep fear from death, but to all’s surprise, these falling thunderbolts targeted no one. Almost reaching the ground, they twisted together like rope, converging into a purple dragon that plunged headfirst into the underground parking lot entrance.
In an instant, the entrance was shattered.
The next moment, the black clouds over everyone’s hearts vanished, like a brief illusion, but no one dared relax their vigilance in the slightest.
Because from the base of the adjacent building came increasingly loud cracking and bursting sounds.
