Fu Lianyun said quickly, “Brother Chen, that is not what I meant. I am very confident in this battle. However, even though it was agreed that this Zhuang Zhenghe would deal with the Azure Dragon King Xiao Chen, we still have not seen him. This is rather strange.”

Chen Ming patted Fu Lianyun’s shoulder and smiled. “Don’t worry. We are now on the same boat as Zhuang Zhenghe. Our benefits align with his. No matter what he does, he will not dare to play tricks. That would not benefit him at all.”

Hearing Chen Ming’s explanation, the rest relaxed slightly.

“In that case, we overthought this. Indeed, we should not have such nonsensical thoughts before a big battle.”

“Sect Master Chen, please do not take it to heart.”

Chen Ming smiled faintly and chatted casually with the group. However, he was smiling coldly in his heart.

At this moment, after they gathered and set off, the islands of the other factions did not have many cultivators defending them.

Zhuang Zhenghe led the Buddhist disciples of Black Flame Island to the island the Lianyun Gang held. Then, he instructed indifferently, “Collect all the resources of the island first. After that, gather all the people on the island at the temple and hold a ceremony. Purify them forcefully.”

Although temples had been built on the various satellite islands, one month was too short. Furthermore, the people of these islands had things to do. So the various Buddhist statues had not collected much power of faith.

The power of faith collected was far from sufficient for letting the Amitabha Buddha Dharmic Body leave Black Flame Island.

Hence, Zhuang Zhenghe had no choice but to scheme with Chen Ming to lure the people of the seven other factions away before holding a Buddhist ceremony and forcibly purifying the masses.

This kind of ceremony was extremely inhuman. After it was over, all the ordinary people who were purified would die immediately.

If not for the time constraints, Zhuang Zhenghe would not do this. By killing millions of ordinary people in large batches, he would be able to collect a large amount of power of faith in a short time. However, the consequences of this brief moment of delight would be immense.

Subsequently, even if he managed to conquer Heavenly Star Island, nurturing new believers would become much harder.

However, now that things had come to this, he did not have any other choice. He had to conquer Heavenly Star Island. There were things there that he needed to obtain. After this, it would be much harder to get the other factions to cooperate with him obediently, so he had no time to lose.

---

Back on Heavenly Star Island, after hearing what Xiao Chen said, Lan Shaobai immediately sent out scouts to spy on the actions of the various factions.

Shortly after the eight factions gathered their troops and departed, Lan Shaobai received a detailed report in the City Lord’s Residence.

After Lan Shaobai read the detailed report, his face immediately sank. “Pa!” He slammed the report on the study table before him.

“They really think that our Heavenly Star Island is easy to bully!”

Lan Shaobai waved his hand and called the guards standing outside over. “Invite all the outer sect elders of the City Lord’s Residence over. Tell them to meet me within one minute. Also, send people to the inner sect elders and get them to come and meet me as soon as they can.”

Over the past two years, Lan Shaobai had used the money earned from Jin Dabao’s merchant association to invite many experts from the Black Sea to be their outer sect elders.

As for the inner sect elders, they were Yue Chenxi, Jin Lin, Xiao Yu, Liu Ke, and the others, people whom Heavenly Star Island could trust absolutely.

This was a complete set of hierarchy. After Mo Chen came, she had organized things thoroughly, drawing up all sorts of detailed arrangements and assigning everyone their duties.

The Dragon’s Gate was not officially established yet, but the basic hierarchy of the island needed to be there. Otherwise, if everyone just did what they wanted, it would forever be a chaotic mess.

By laying a proper foundation in advance, when the Dragon’s Gate officially made its debut, everything would naturally fall into place and proceed smoothly.

When it came to establishing a sect, Mo Chen’s thoughts on this were far ahead of those of the rest, including Xiao Chen’s.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Strong winds blew in the hall. The first to arrive was not the outer sect elders but the inner elders, who were cultivating in the mountains far away—Yue Chenxi and the others.

Firstly, it was because these people were stronger. Hence, they moved much faster. Secondly, they had received advance notice from Lan Shaobai that something major would happen soon. So they were much more easily mobilized, as they were ready.

Lan Shaobai looked at the five in the hall and sized them up. He smiled and said, “You all made significant improvements over the past one month; all of you are great grandmaster-level Martial Sages already.”

Xiao Yu smiled and said, “Hehe, Big Brother Xiao Chen not only gave me a Holy Spirit Vein, but he also imparted a Profound Martial Technique as well as a detailed explanation. I immediately understood it after he explained it. If I still don’t improve, I would really be very stupid.”

This revelation somewhat surprised Lan Shaobai. Unexpectedly, Xiao Chen had a Profound Martial Technique as well. Many quasi-Emperors could not even obtain one in their entire life.

“Right now, Elder Brother Shaobai might not even be a match for me.”

Lan Shaobai smiled and did not say anything to contest that.

Ten days ago, he successfully broke through to quasi-Emperor from just being a step away from advancing. Of the nine Holy Spirit Veins, he already refined three of them, and his cultivation stabilized at Small Perfection quasi-Emperor.

Before breaking through to quasi-Emperor, Lan Shaobai already had a thirty to forty percent chance of victory against a regular Small Perfection quasi-Emperor. Now that he reached quasi-Emperor, he was fully confident of defeating a regular Small Perfection quasi-Emperor.

However, there was no need to expose his strength now. He turned to Yue Chenxi and waited for her to speak.

Of the five, Lan Shaobai held Yue Chenxi, the girl who came to the Kunlun Realm from the Sky Dome Realm together with Xiao Chen, in the highest esteem.

Her pretty face appeared rather calm. She said, “I did not accept the Profound Martial Technique that Xiao Chen offered. I only asked him some questions, which allowed me to transform my own Morning Sun Fist. After one month of comprehending, my Morning Sun Fist is now as mighty as a Profound Martial Technique and perhaps even stronger.”

Hearing this stunned Lan Shaobai. He did not doubt Yue Chenxi’s final words of “perhaps even stronger.” If one boosted a Martial Technique that one was familiar with to the level of a Profound Martial Technique, it would be even more powerful than a regular Profound Martial Technique.

The things that belonged to one would always be the easiest to use—and the most compatible with oneself.

The others all spoke in turn about what they gained in their past month of cultivation, displaying an eagerness to fight on their faces, seemingly filled with anticipation of the imminent onslaught.

“Eight of the major factions occupying the satellite islands of Heavenly Star Islands allied together. If I’m not wrong, they will arrive at the seventh defensive island in half a day.”

Lan Shaobai spoke honestly of the impending situation.

After he finished, everyone withdrew their smiles and now showed serious expressions.

They had not expected that the situation would be so dire. They just experienced an improvement in their strengths, and they already had to face quasi-Emperors.

“Elder Brother Shaobai, is this true?” Xiao Yu asked while blinking.

Lan Shaobai silently nodded, confirming it once again. The atmosphere in the hall turned somewhat dour.

However, dour did not represent weakness, cowardice, or fear. Instead, it was an eagerness to fight.

Although this feeling brewed in silence, it did not die off in silence.

“Big Brother Shaobai, you did not call us here to get us to escape, right?!”

Jin Lin, who carried a large saber on his back, had an expression of determination on his tough-looking face. He faced Lan Shaobai straight on, displaying his resolution.

Lan Shaobai smiled and said, “Escape? How can that be? It is just a group of geezers who lost their sharpness. To think they consider us juniors to be people they can easily bully! I, Lan Shaobai, have long since had enough already. I will only ask one question: who is willing to come to the front lines with me?”

Even Liu Ke, who did not like speaking much, said with a brilliant gleam in his eyes, “Quasi-Emperors do not scare me,” while grasping his sword tightly.

The pretty and gentle-looking Xiao Xian said, “Xiao Xian does not scare that easily, either.”

From the very start, Yue Chenxi showed calm in her eyes. She stated her decision with an even tone: “Since the moment I stepped onto Heavenly Star Island, I never thought of giving up this island to others.”

Lan Shaobai was very pleased with their replies. He said, “Everyone says that there is an insurmountable gap between great grandmaster-level Martial Sages and quasi-Emperors. Actually, that is not true. In combat, cultivation, Martial Techniques, Cultivation Techniques, mental states, aura, Secret Treasures, and many other things can influence the battle; there are simply too many factors.

“I have fought many quasi-Emperors in the past one year or so. I now deeply understand that this is just a mindset that took root in everyone’s hearts. It is possible for great grandmasters-level Martial Sages to defeat quasi-Emperors.

“With your current condition, I can confidently say that you all are much stronger than I was half a year ago. At that time, I did not have any Holy Spirit Veins to cultivate with or pointers from experts like Xiao Chen. So, we cannot fear battle, absolutely not. If we fear death, then we will really die.”

For the past year or so, the Seven Distinguished Dragon Marquises kept sending people to cause trouble. Lan Shaobai had always worked together with Elder Qin to deal with them, so he had a lot of experience in fighting quasi-Emperors.

Nobody doubted what Lan Shaobai said; they had all seen it for themselves, etched it deep in their memories.

“Ta! Ta! Ta!”

Footsteps resounded. The outer sect elders brought in to Heavenly Star Island were slightly slower but were all still on time. Everyone came; no one was missing.

The outer sect elders were all grandmaster-level Martial Sages hired with money. For them to have such efficiency was passable.

Lan Shaobai did not bother speaking any nonsense. He promptly described the situation of Heavenly Star Island before giving out instructions. “There is no need for any of you to fight with the quasi-Emperors. Your main task is to use the King Grade warships to fight the other side’s subordinates. Don’t allow them to harass us.”

These outer sect elders could not compare to Yue Chenxi and others in loyalty. Thus, Lan Shaobai had his own ideas on how to allocate the duties.

“City Lord, rest assured. Just leave those miscellaneous soldiers to us,” the outer sect elders all replied in an orderly fashion when they heard that.

Lan Shaobai added, “For every warship destroyed, I will give a reward of one hundred thousand Black Astral Coins. If you do not want Black Astral Coins, you can ask for Secret Treasures, Medicinal Pills, or Cultivation Techniques of equivalent value. The first to destroy one hundred Sage Grade warships will receive a reward of a Profound Martial Technique, but there is only one.”

Such a generous reward instantly lit a gleam of excitement in these outer sect elders’ eyes.

A Profound Martial Technique—that was something that even an Immortal Holy Land would find difficult to take out casually. They would only reward such things to the most excellent true inheritor. In auctions, situations where one could not buy one despite having sufficient money were frequent occurrences.

This reward was extremely tempting; few would not feel excited. Furthermore, Lan Shaobai was very tactful with his words; there was only one Profound Martial Technique to give out. Such stimulation roused all these outer sect elders’ fighting spirits.

Why would Lan Shaobai give out such a big reward? Naturally, he had his own plans. Aside from the main fighting force, one should never underestimate the second string on the battlefield.

For example, in a fight between two equal quasi-Emperors, a great grandmaster-level Martial Sage’s appearance at a critical juncture of the battle would immediately tilt the battle in favor of one side. Naturally, which side would get favored went without saying.

Such situations held true on a real battlefield as well. Sometimes, the crucial factor that could decide the battle might be an insignificant cultivator. This was all possible in theory.

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