Chapter 626 432: Mirage Dragon

In a Quiet Chamber atop the peak of the Qingyuan Sect, Cui Dongcheng sat in deep meditation. He looked otherworldly and composed, projecting an aura of immense tranquility.

But just a wall away, hidden from view, Fang Qingyuan observed Cui Dongcheng's appearance and immediately deduced, 'This "Phantom City Divine Sword" must be burning with anxiety on the inside.'

Fang Qingyuan had ordered an Array Master to meticulously construct this secret room. It had a mechanism in the back that allowed one to observe the person inside from a hidden chamber without being detected.

It was from here that Fang Qingyuan slowly scrutinized Cui Dongcheng, pondering the purpose of his visit.

Beside Fang Qingyuan, Xiong Feng patted his shoulder and said:

"The Illusion Sword Alliance is in the southwestern part of White Mountain. The White Mountain Sword Sect and the Hehuan Sect are between you, and he even had to cross some of the Li Huo Alliance's territory. Why would the number three figure of the Illusion Sword Alliance take such a great risk to come find you here?"

Xiong Feng's body was currently shrunk to about the same size as Fang Qingyuan; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to fit inside this cramped, hidden chamber.

Originally, Nascent Soul Ancient Beasts had no need for robes. They were born free, their fur was heaven's greatest gift, so why bother with such unnecessary things?

But after long contact with humans, a sense of modesty had developed, and so Xiong Feng had also donned a magic robe to cover himself.

Unfortunately, the effect of this magic robe on Xiong Feng gave him the air of a triad boss lording it over a bathhouse. This was especially true given Xiong Feng's ferocious aura, his black fur, and his burly, powerful frame that couldn't be hidden even when shrunk. The whole getup made Fang Qingyuan want to laugh even more.

The longer he spent around humans, the more human-like Xiong Feng's mannerisms became. He now wore a magic robe and chose to walk upright. Fang Qingyuan even noticed that his originally ursine features were starting to take on human contours.

Fang Qingyuan didn't know if this was because Xiong Feng was proactively adapting to the Celestial Essence Array, or if it was the array's subtle, transformative influence on Ancient Beasts of the Wilderness like him.

But regardless, this was a good thing, both for Fang Qingyuan and for the Qingyuan Sect.

Moreover, the fact that Xiong Feng was now taking the initiative to analyze Cui Dongcheng's motives meant he already considered himself a part of the Qingyuan Sect.

"Cui Dongcheng's true cultivation is not low—he's a late-stage Golden Core. As a Sword Cultivator, his combat power is also strong. I've only recently reached the Golden Core realm and have no convincing battle records to my name. Why else would he come to me, if not for you? Surely he isn't interested in the pittance we have here?"

Fang Qingyuan let out a soft laugh in the hidden chamber. Thanks to the array's power, unless Cui Dongcheng were to sweep the array with his full Divine Sense, he had no hope of hearing the conversation between Fang Qingyuan and Xiong Feng just one wall away.

It was commonly acknowledged that Fang Qingyuan had no impressive battle record, but that was only because the Golden Core Cultivators who had truly witnessed his methods in combat were either dead or too terrified to speak.

"Perhaps the Illusion Sword Alliance has suffered a major setback. Otherwise, Cui Dongcheng wouldn't be so desperate as to try anything, even coming all the way here to find me. Brother Xiong, wait here for a moment. I'll go meet with him."

...

The sound of light footsteps roused Cui Dongcheng from his meditative state. He looked up to see a young man in fine, brocaded robes pushing the door open and entering.

"An honored guest graces my door, and I have failed to give you a proper welcome. I was caught up in some mundane affairs, so I hope Cui Shenjian will not take offense."

Fang Qingyuan spoke with enthusiasm. By now, Cui Dongcheng had already risen from his seat. Given Fang Qingyuan's current status, even though Cui Dongcheng was the next Sect Leader of the Illusion Sword Alliance, as long as he had not yet ascended to the position of Alliance Leader, he had to first show proper courtesy to Fang Qingyuan.

What's more, he had come to ask for a favor. And so, upon meeting Fang Qingyuan—a Golden Core Cultivator younger than him and of a lower realm—Cui Dongcheng consciously lowered his head.

"Sect Leader Fang, you are too kind. And please, don't call me 'Shenjian.' That is just a baseless rumor spread by outsiders. If you don't mind, Sect Leader Fang, you can just call me Dongcheng."

As someone considered the next Crown Prince, Cui Dongcheng was naturally not lacking in tact. He quickly set his own status straight and began to flatter Fang Qingyuan.

"Heh, alright then. Have a seat, Dongcheng."

Fang Qingyuan turned and sat in the host's seat. This attitude he was showing toward Cui Dongcheng was something he could not have afforded to display just a few months ago.

"I know it wasn't easy for you to come here, and your time is precious, so let's get straight to the point. Why are you here? What kind of support does the Illusion Sword Alliance want from me?"

Fang Qingyuan sipped his tea and posed the question bluntly. He had no extra time to beat around the bush with Cui Dongcheng; any time saved he needed for his pre-battle preparations against Chunyu Hua.

Hearing Fang Qingyuan's words, Cui Dongcheng, whose rear had only just made contact with the chair, stood back up.

"I would like to ask Sect Leader Fang to support us with reinforcements to help us stabilize our position. In return, you may name any condition you wish, Sect Leader Fang."

Fang Qingyuan's tea-drinking motion paused. He then set down his cup and said with a serious expression:

"I am a Sealed Sect Leader of the Great Zhou; I cannot participate in the wars between your various factions. Dongcheng, by asking this, aren't you deliberately trying to drag me into this mess?"

Faced with Fang Qingyuan's seemingly feigned anger, Cui Dongcheng replied helplessly:

"I have no other choice. The situation is critical. My Illusion Sword Alliance has already lost three of its seven Golden Cores, and our old Alliance Leader is gravely injured. The front lines against the Thick Earth Alliance have devoured wave after wave of our Cultivators' lives. The Illusion Sword Alliance truly can't hold on any longer."

A look of shock appeared on Fang Qingyuan's face. He knew the fighting over there was brutal, but he hadn't imagined it had reached this point.

But there was one thing he couldn't figure out. What kind of deep-seated hatred could compel them to sacrifice nearly half of their power and still not be finished?

"You've already fought to this extent, and you still want to continue? In my opinion, it would be better for everyone to sit down and talk, to give this war a dignified end."

Fang Qingyuan ventured the suggestion, but it was flatly rejected by Cui Dongcheng. "The war has reached a point where it can't be stopped just because someone says so. One of our factions must fall. Otherwise, without being nourished by the corpse and flesh of the defeated, how could anyone be willing to let this go?"

As Cui Dongcheng spoke, his expression turned somewhat savage. It seemed the long years of war had filled his heart with a desire for slaughter, leaving him with none of the transcendent aura befitting a Cultivator.

'Still, Cui Dongcheng has a point,' Fang Qingyuan mused. 'With this massive free-for-all having gone on for so long, if everyone just stopped fighting and started negotiating as I suggested, who would be willing to accept that?'

'It would be better to strike while the enemy is down, finish them off in one fell swoop, and then devour their bones to nourish oneself and make up for the years of losses.'

'However, in the last two thousand years, not a single Nascent Soul Power on the scale of the Pill Alliance or the Illusion Sword Alliance has fallen in White Mountain. So why is Cui Dongcheng so certain they can devour their enemy's bones?'

In response to Fang Qingyuan's follow-up question, Cui Dongcheng hesitated for a few breaths before finally revealing his source.

"The White Mountain People all believe this war started between the Sharp Gold Alliance and the White Mountain Sword Sect, a result of old grievances between two Sharp Metal-aligned powers. But that's not the truth. The war actually began on White Mountain itself. The ancestors of the various factions made the first move, and only after receiving their signal did we take sides and follow."

"The current stalemate, the order not to cease fighting—that also came as a verbal command from the ancestors above. We all serve our ancestors, and faced with such a command, we can only obey."

'So that's how it is,' Fang Qingyuan thought. 'No wonder the Illusion Sword Alliance keeps fighting even after losing three Golden Cores. Based on their losses, the other factions must have lost quite a few people as well. In just the last few years, no fewer than ten Golden Core Cultivators must have died in the southwestern part of White Mountain alone.'

'But what puzzles me even more is this: if the Nascent Soul Cultivators on White Mountain are at war, why can't they just determine a winner among themselves? Why must they have their own factions down below the mountain fight as well?'

'Could it be that after a Nascent Soul Cultivator from the mountain wins and descends, they think these Golden Core Cultivators would dare to defy a Nascent Soul?'

'It's strange. Every single person who becomes a Nascent Soul Cultivator has a thousand years of experience; they are the shrewdest of the shrewd. They wouldn't have all issued such a command for no reason. There must be something hidden behind this, and it must be extremely important.'

'For ten Nascent Soul Cultivators to have this kind of tacit understanding, there must be some kind of system of rules operating on White Mountain since the Master of White Mountain fell. And it's precisely because of these rules that the White Mountain Territory is now engulfed in the flames of war.'

The key to everything lay in what happened after the Master of White Mountain fell. This was the missing piece in the puzzle of Fang Qingyuan's thoughts. Without this crucial information, he couldn't deduce any further.

"Let's not discuss the affairs on the mountain anymore, Dongcheng. It's as I just said: I cannot provide you with Golden Core Cultivators. You know how recently the Qingyuan Alliance was established. We are not qualified to participate in this war."

Seeing Cui Dongcheng open his mouth to speak, Fang Qingyuan waved his hand dismissively and said:

"I know you're eyeing those Golden Core Bear Beasts, and perhaps even thinking about the Nascent Soul Battle Power in my alliance. But unfortunately, their identities are sensitive, and they are living right under the nose of the Beast Taming Sect. If you're willing to offend the Beast Taming Sect, then I could certainly consider it."

Cui Dongcheng didn't know the entanglement between Xiong Feng and the Beast Taming Sect, but it was clearly a quagmire. Fang Qingyuan's mysterious words were likely a subtle way of leveraging the Beast Taming Sect's fearsome reputation.

"Alternatively, you could learn from the Pill Alliance. When they saw they were outmatched, they recruited a few ruthless characters from the Outer Sea to fight and die for them, and that immediately stabilized their position. While your Illusion Sword Alliance may not be as wealthy as the Pill Alliance, your foundations are not insignificant. If you were to offer the first few layers of your Mirage Dragon Illusion Sword True Scripture as a reward, how could you fail to attract Outer Sea Loose Cultivators willing to die for you?"

Fang Qingyuan was trying to strategize for Cui Dongcheng. The Illusion Sword Alliance's Mirage Dragon Illusion Sword True Scripture was a real treasure; among all the Sword Dao Techniques in White Mountain, this Sword Scripture was ranked number one.

Both the Sharp Gold Alliance's Tempering Sword with Molten Gold True Explanation, which used molten gold to temper both the sword and the mind, and the White Mountain Sword Sect's Nine Heavens Golden Rainbow Sword Technique, which drew upon the heights of the nine heavens to summon a golden rainbow that pierced the sun, with Sword Intent stretching endlessly toward the firmament, were a cut below it.

"It is easier to invite a god than to send one away. From what I know, those four Golden Cores from the Outer Sea that the Pill Alliance hired now have immense prestige within the alliance. The younger generation of Cultivators greatly admires their decisive and vengeful Outer Sea style. If this continues, I fear they will grow too powerful to control."

"Besides, our Illusion Sword Alliance isn't like the Pill Alliance, which is formed by several Golden Core Clans with different surnames. Our main family name is Cui. We aren't very accepting of outsiders, let alone Outer Sea People."

'So that's it,' Fang Qingyuan thought with a hint of sarcasm. 'Even if it means their own clan gets wiped out, they must preserve the purity of their heritage. Now that's what you call having principles.'

Having reached this point in the conversation, Fang Qingyuan instantly lost any desire to chat with Cui Dongcheng any longer. He was absolutely unwilling to let Qiqi and the other Golden Core Bear Beasts be used as cannon fodder to plug the gaps in the Illusion Sword Alliance's battle lines.

Sensing that Fang Qingyuan was about to show him the door, Cui Dongcheng grew anxious. Fang Qingyuan hadn't even heard the price he was willing to pay yet.

"Naturally, the Mirage Dragon Illusion Sword True Scripture cannot be given to outsiders. But Sect Leader Fang is one of our own White Mountain People, and you are a man of integrity. I trust that even if the Mirage Dragon Illusion Sword True Scripture were in your hands, you would not use it for evil. Therefore, as long as you nod your head, Sect Leader Fang, my Cui Family is willing to transcribe a copy of this true scripture for you. What do you think of my proposal?"

Faced with the grand promise Cui Dongcheng had laid out, Fang Qingyuan's gaze sharpened, and he asked directly:

"How many layers?"