Chapter 902: Second Strategy, Make an East-Sound and West-Strike Maneuver

“How far along are we?”

Inside the small wooden hut of the Xu Gang's camp, Mu Xiaogong, Xu Xiaoshou's transformed self, was 'sleeping soundly' in bed. Of course, he wasn't really sleeping. Xu Xiaoshou's mind was perfectly clear.

He guessed that after collecting all the information, Rao Yaoyao and her team were likely investigating who the real killer of the anomaly was. Rao Yaoyao was not short of people; she undoubtedly had plenty of elites at her disposal, but he wondered how far they could deduce from the various clues.

But clearly, as long as the enforcers of Yunlun Mountain Range didn't immediately come knocking, it meant the anomaly's death wasn't seamless, and Rao Yaoyao and her team hadn't reached a definitive conclusion in a short time. Otherwise, they would have already shown up at his door!

“What is Lei Shuangxing doing now?” Xu Xiaoshou thought of the blind man. The 'Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao' strategy had been presented, but he didn't know how long it would take Lei Shuangxing to summon Bazun An and the others. Because Bazun An and the Storyteller were currently still on Void Island.

Time waited for no one... Xu Xiaoshou hadn't placed all his hopes on others. Rather, ever since he entered the Yunlun Mountain Range, he knew that his journey wouldn't be like that of normal Spirit Cultivators, safely completing the entire trial. With the Holy Slaves around, trouble could arise at any moment...

The anomaly's night attack came suddenly. Perhaps this wasn't the Holy Slaves' doing. However, Xu Xiaoshou's own preparations had begun the moment he entered the Yunlun Mountain Range. Moreover, he had anticipated that his preparations would be sufficient to handle 'all' unforeseen circumstances!

“It's time to activate you all…” Xu Xiaoshou's spiritual sense reached into his Yuanfu world. Inside, various figures were wandering, cultivating, and practicing sword moves. There were figures in white and red, Holy Slaves, ghost beasts, random passersby he'd met on the street, and even renowned young talents from across the land... Everyone he had seen, he had drawn out!

The Yuanfu world was bustling with figures, a lively sight, but no matter their appearance, Xu Xiaoshou was, in fact, controlling every single one of them. The 'Textile Mastery' skill brought about a method of split-mind manipulation, giving Xu Xiaoshou the foundation for multitasking. Coupled with extensive practice and experimentation after acquiring 'Painting Mastery,' Xu Xiaoshou could now command multiple portrait clones to perform various actions without interfering with his main body's speech or movements.

As time passed and Xu Xiaoshou's experience grew, the number of portrait clones in his Yuanfu world drastically increased during this period. However, if someone familiar, like Xu Xiaoji, were present, they would notice that while the number of these portrait figures had increased, some important individuals had vanished. For instance, Bazun An, the Storyteller, Cen Qiaofu, and others...

These were individuals so crucial that merely showing their faces would make anyone from the Holy Divine Palace highly vigilant, prompting them to raise their guard without verification and even request combat assistance from headquarters. Without exception, all of them had been sent out after Xu Xiaoshou entered the Yunlun Mountain Range.

How were they sent? Naturally, they were sent in a way that was both overt and drew no suspicion! As a latent Spirit Array Grandmaster, and also holding the identity of a Heaven's Mystery Sorcerer, Young Master Xu would spend a lot of time setting up arrays before every battle. These actions appeared perfectly normal to the members of the Xu Gang and within Rao Yaoyao's spiritual mirror imagery. After all, the grand arrays Young Master Xu set up could block all Spirit Cultivators' retreat paths. But for Xu Xiaoshou, this was far from normal.

With his Grandmaster-level 'Textile Mastery,' his understanding of the Spirit Array path was profound; why would he need so much time to set up arrays? He could almost do it effortlessly. Yet, he still wasted a lot of time, which was, in fact, entirely used to hide the portrait clones. These people were simply too important! Hiding them right under Rao Yaoyao's nose, and doing so without arousing suspicion, required a significant amount of time for preparation. Finally, by the time these portrait clones moved, Young Master Xu himself had already moved far away from the location, establishing a perfect alibi.

The image clones didn't even need to take action; they just had to 'accidentally' encounter an enforcer and then 'pop' out of existence on the spot.

“How did they disappear?” “Why are they here?” “Why do these Holy Slave members look so weak?” Xu Xiaoshou didn't need to consider the answers to these and similar questions, because they were all for Rao Yaoyao to worry about.

Xu Xiaoshou had experienced this firsthand long ago. The Holy Divine Palace was exceptionally efficient. If they harbored suspicion, it wouldn't be long before Grandmasters and Dao Slayers would directly confront you. High efficiency was a good thing. But in the eyes of a clever person, not just weaknesses, but even strengths could be exploited.

Covert schemes could never compare to overt ones. Especially overt schemes where 'I point, and you must strike; if you don't, even you won't be content'!

Inside the Yuanfu world, Xu Xiaoshou summoned over a dozen spirit array commands used to conceal his portrait clones. The spirit arrays he had set up earlier had already been discarded less than half a day after various battles concluded. However, the unique Heaven's Mystery arrays, hidden beneath the spirit arrays and cloaked by 'Textile Art,' would revert to normal and lose all traces once activated, remaining undetectable to anyone. After all, 'Textile Art' encompassed paths like spirit arrays and Heaven's Mystery. But Heaven's Mystery Art couldn't detect 'Textile' traces beyond Heaven's Mystery traces.

Xu Xiaoshou pondered Lei Shuangxing's backup plan and what Rao Yaoyao and her team would likely deduce at this moment. He felt that merely having Lei Shuangxing 'Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao' wasn't enough; he needed to add fuel to the fire – by feinting to the east and attacking to the west!

He gripped the array command that concealed the Storyteller's portrait. This time, Xu Xiaoshou only intended to release the Storyteller, because at the final moment of the anomaly's death, Lei Shuangxing had appeared holding the ancient book world. So this wave of 'dirty water' – even if the Storyteller was unaware – Xu Xiaoshou had no choice but to 'splash' onto him. If Lei Shuangxing dared to openly use the ancient book world to deceive people, the Storyteller must have already decided to clean up his mess. In that case... let's both get what we need!

After a brief pause, the array command was crushed. At the same time, deep beneath a certain location in the Yunlun Mountain Range, amidst numerous Daoist patterns, the shriveled figure of a man in a red dress appeared.

As soon as this figure emerged, the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth slowly flowed into it, without disturbing anything else. Soon, his form filled out, transforming into a seductive and handsome physical being.

“Brother!” “Brother.” “Brother.” He subtly adjusted his voice. Once it perfectly matched, the 'Storyteller' gave a slight shake of his hand, and an ancient book appeared. He tried turning the pages, using his finger as a brush to write the character 'black' on it. With a shout of '敕,' the surrounding world indeed turned black.

“Good, the ability to deceive is still there…” Far away in another place, Xu Xiaoshou nodded in satisfaction from within his bed. This Storyteller had been hidden by him days ago. His current appearance was spatially and temporally inconsistent, completely unrelated to Young Master Xu.

Even if the 'Storyteller' encountered an enforcer, he merely needed to 'die' on the spot. The enforcer wouldn't know why the Storyteller 'died'; they would only assume he escaped using unknown means. Then they would notify Rao Yaoyao. Rao Yaoyao, greatly alarmed, would send people to seal off the surrounding area and search extensively.

One day passed... Two days passed... No results. Just as they were about to give up, another figure, Cen Qiaofu, would appear in a different location... Again, a lot of time would be spent. No results. Then, in yet another place, a major figure, Bazun An, would appear!

“Hehehe…” Hidden in his bed, Xu Xiaoshou could barely suppress his snickers. He really wanted to see the marvelous expression on Rao Yaoyao's face when these people, who shouldn't possibly be in the Yunlun Mountain Range, actually appeared.

Ignore it? Absolutely impossible! Given the Holy Divine Palace's typical way of doing things, if such a lead emerged, they would have to find some clues even if it killed them; otherwise, they couldn't report back. But precisely because of this…

“No solution!” Xu Xiaoshou trembled in his bed. With this overt scheme, Rao Yaoyao might never find the answer, even until her death. Even if she found the Storyteller and others to confront them, no one could give her an answer. Because even the Storyteller himself didn't know he had a long-lost 'outer body clone' that hadn't been acknowledged.

“Let the games begin!” “Since the waters are already so murky, the bigger and more outrageous the commotion, the more spectacular everyone's performance will be!”

Xu Xiaoshou curled up in his bed, beginning to anticipate the enforcers' movements tomorrow. The Storyteller was clearly on Void Island, yet he appeared in the Yunlun Mountain Range; he clearly didn't kill the anomaly, yet he became the main culprit; that thing was clearly not an outer body clone, yet no one dared to believe it wasn't...

“Hehehe…” Xu Xiaoshou snickered aloud again. Soon, he was startled by his own eerie laughter. While picking at the dead skin on his feet under the covers, he began to ponder seriously.

“Am I... being a little too devious?” “Hmm, probably not; I'm just being forced into it.” “Besides, I'm just an innocent little guy in my bed. What's happening outside doesn't concern me, does it?”

A night passed in an instant. Dawn broke.

The Royal City trial proceeded as usual. Everything that happened last night had no effect whatsoever on the Spirit Cultivators, who were only at the Xiantian and Zongshi realms. The Nine Dragon Veins competition had already begun. During the night, almost half of the Spirit Cultivators had rushed to the mountains where they intended to compete for the title of 'Dragon Lord'.

As long as one occupied a dragon vein, the Dragon Lord would gain a million points daily. Their eight Dragon Guards would each gain one hundred thousand points daily.

In contrast, hunting a Cloud Beast only yielded ten thousand points, and a single Cloud Pearl was merely one hundred points. —A pitiful amount!

Nine times nine is eighty-one. Anyone could figure it out with their toes. If nothing unexpected happened, the top thirty-six Spirit Cultivators on the final leaderboard, who would qualify for the Holy Palace trial, would undoubtedly emerge from among these nine Dragon Lords and seventy-two Dragon Guards!

At the Xu Gang's encampment, the campfires had extinguished. The mountain was littered with leftover food and drink from last night's revelry. But the feasting didn't dampen the Xu Gang members' ambitious spirit.

As dawn faintly broke, the Xu Gang members, under the leadership of their respective squad leaders, were already lined up in orderly ranks, solely to respectfully welcome Young Master Xu, Xu Deyu, the one who had granted them a night off, from inside the Xu Gang leader's tent!

“Swish.” Under the gaze of all, Young Master Xu, in the form of Xu Xiaoji, gently pushed aside the tent flap.

“Young Master Xu is mighty!” “Xu Gang Leader, may your reign last for eternity, unifying the martial world!” “When Xu Gang marches, not a blade of grass remains… Kill, kill, kill!” The deafening shouts, amidst the explosive 'gong and drum' sounds triggered by various spiritual energies, struck Xu Xiaoji like a heavy hammer.

His legs turned to jelly. Then he steadied himself. He tried what Master Shou had told him: extending a hand forward, then pressing it down…

“Whoosh.” Indeed, the clamor from everywhere instantly vanished!

“This?” Xu Xiaoji's eyes went wide. After a night of confinement, even though he had slept, he was still somewhat listless. Because he disliked being unfree. But seeing that his mere small hand gesture truly commanded the power to silence the vast crowd before him, Xu Xiaoji's eyes suddenly lit up at that moment.

“What is this feeling?” “Why is my heart racing, and my blood… burning?” Xu Xiaoji's blood was boiling.

Facing the early morning mountain breeze, he surveyed the capable subordinates around him, recalling all the information he had received last night regarding Young Master Xu's impending actions. Suddenly, he felt a surge of motivation. This was true life! This was the free world I had always longed for!

What was a Yuanfu? What was that fat cat? Even if there was abundant life spiritual energy to absorb daily and plenty of pills to sniff, who would care if they lost their freedom? Who would care to be kept like livestock? Who would willingly be bound?

A true man should act on his impulses and dominate all corners. Now, wasn't this the perfect stage for Xu Xiaoji to display his talents? I will prove to Master Shou that keeping me in the Yuanfu was a waste of talent!

“I…” Xu Xiaoji started to say something softly, then suddenly took a deep breath, cutting off his words before they could fully escape, and fell silent.

No one guessed his intention. The Xu Gang members in front were not anxious; they simply waited with eager anticipation. Every pair of eyes was burning with zeal, waiting for the Yunlun Mountain Range overlord before them to lead them in conquering all directions, to seize the title of 'Nine Dragon Lord,' which was beyond everyone's reach.

Xu Xiaoji was infected by these burning gazes. He gazed straight ahead, his eyes sweeping over everyone in front of him, identifying each small squad leader. Xin Gugu, Liu Changqing… The former Xu Gang leader, now vice-leader, Mu Xiaogong, and Master Shou himself… Those subordinates previously swayed by Master Shou: the Five Tiger Generals—Tai Xing, Mo Beibei, Xi Guanghan, Zhu Dong, Zhao Xiu… And the newcomers, Rong Dahao, Xiao Jing… All of them! All were looking at him!

Xu Xiaoji's heart surged with excitement. Even Master Shou stood before him, needing to be subservient. What did he have to fear now? With that thought, his state of mind elevated completely, and a disdainful glint immediately filled Xu Xiaoji's eyes.

He raised his hand and, on Master Shou's behalf, emphatically declared the words he had previously not dared to utter: “This Young Master announces, the Xu Gang marches to war!”