"Lord Qi, two Elders of the Eternal Immortal Sect have lost their lives, and the whereabouts of Sect Master He Hao are unknown.
A traitor has emerged from the Heavenly Monarch Dao Sanctuary—Heavenly Lord Ning An was a member of the Grand Tower, and his identity was exposed by Li Yaozu.
Aside from Heavenly Lord Jiang, every member of the Heavenly Monarch Dao Sanctuary has fallen!"
"Changsun Buhuo of the Changsun Clan is injured.
Of the Void Refinement cultivators she brought along, only one remains, and only about ten other cultivators have survived.
Changsun Buhuo has come to report that she can no longer hold back Huan Gui!"
"From the Sword Pavilion, Elder Jian Zuo (Left Sword) is dead, and Jian You (Right Sword) has suffered damage to his Dao Heart."
"The Sword Venerable and the Corpse Ancestor of the Li Family are missing; the zombies and ghosts they brought with them have all perished!"
In the skies above the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, a Divinity Transformation stage cultivator from the Department of Immortal Suppression, covered in wounds, was reporting to Qi Wunian.
The man who had dared to single-handedly battle Huan Gui—and his eight bodies combined into one—was now pale-faced, with less than one-tenth of his Spiritual power remaining.
As he surveyed the entire Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, battles raged everywhere.
Chaotic Spiritual power wreaked havoc, making it impossible to sense the exact locations of his allies.
Qi Wunian looked utterly bereft, his expression one of deep devastation.
"And what of my Department of Immortal Suppression?"
"Including Your Honor, there were five Void Refinement cultivators. Two Lords are still entangled with White Robe Taotie. The other two... they..."
We have lost.
Qi Wunian's expression was one of sorrow and unwilling resignation.
They had fought for days, yet they had severely underestimated the strength of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems.
Holy Monk Yidian had been too impatient to engage the True God of the Mountain and the Corpse Dragon, and in doing so, he had completely thrown the battle into chaos.
The Department of Immortal Suppression and the five great factions under its command had all been brimming with confidence.
Yet, when they actually arrived at the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, the strength concealed by the Four Great White Robes far exceeded their expectations.
The personal power of the Four Great White Robes alone was sufficient for each to hold their own against multiple opponents.
Qi Wunian had personally battled Huan Gui and had truly experienced just how monstrous he was; his eight clones represented the Spiritual laws of the Five Elements, as well as Ice, Wind, and Thunder.
Furthermore, regarding the Purple Robes and Black Robes within the Mountain...
Their sixty thousand years of accumulated foundation lay entirely in their stitched corpse-men and corpse-beasts.
Some of the Purple Robes even possessed the power of the Void Refinement Realm.
"Lord Qi, if the Imperial Capital doesn't send reinforcements soon, we truly cannot hold on any longer!"
Hearing his subordinate's anxious urging, Qi Wunian's expression turned grim.
He had sent messages requesting aid more than once.
Every response told them to hold on just a little longer, claiming that reinforcements would arrive immediately.
They had said "immediately" eight times already!
"Wu Neng... do you really intend for us all to lose our lives here..."
Qi Wunian let out a low growl.
His face suddenly turned pale as he surveyed his surroundings.
In the sky, Holy Monk Yidian was still locked in battle.
As one of the Four Great Commanders, Yidian never heeded orders.
To Wu Neng, the four external factions of the Department of Immortal Suppression, as well as the newly arrived Eternal Immortal Sect, were all expendable sacrifices—pawns whose existence mattered little.
"Wu Neng... damn you, Wu Neng!!!"
Blue veins bulged on Qi Wunian's forehead.
"Go! Pass the order: We are withdrawing!"
"My Lord..." The subordinate's expression changed drastically.
"The Commander stated that we cannot let a single devil from the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems escape. His reinforcements will be here any moment."
"I said go! If the higher-ups hand down punishment, I will bear the full responsibility!
At worst, I'll flee to the ends of the earth alone as a fugitive!"
Qi Wunian was burning with rage. With a single kick, he sent his subordinate flying.
Gazing at the Secret Realm of the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems as it collapsed bit by bit, and at the chaotic currents of Spiritual power, Qi Wunian's eyes went blank.
"The Grand Tower... besides the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, there is the Grand Tower!
The sandpiper and the clam fight, and the fisherman benefits—Wu Neng knew about the conflict between the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems and the Grand Tower all along."
"In Wu Neng's plan, the Grand Tower inevitably wants the Mountain destroyed.
The Grand Tower was waiting for an opportunity—an opportunity when the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems was at its weakest."
"We engaged the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems in battle, causing them inevitable casualties. That was the moment the Grand Tower would reveal itself."
"Wu Neng could then use this opportunity to catch both the Grand Tower and the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems in one fell swoop, obtaining two sets of the Three Corpses."
"And as for us..."
Qi Wunian seemed to see him there in the great hall of the Department of Immortal Suppression—that Commander who appeared so utterly ordinary.
That man presented whatever face suited him best, hiding a rotten core beneath them all.
Only Heaven knew just how filthy the heart of this imperial hound truly was.