“Yan Su’er was hiding her strength!” Shang Bo roared after his attack connected.
“Oh?” Ji Wenlong frowned. “Don’t tell me she reached the fourth layer…”
Shang Bo thought about it for a second before shaking his head. “Not yet. She should be like me. She condensed her fourth extermination origin, but she hasn’t refined it completely.”
Ji Wenlong snorted in contempt, “That old fox… if not for the fact that we worked together, we might be the ones suffering from her plot! Who would have thought that she hid her true strength previously?”?He thought for a moment before continuing, “So… Her injuries aren't as heavy as it seems, right?”
Shang Bo thought about it again and explained, “We were only planning to scare them so that they won’t leave the mountain for some time. We can delay their response to the beast tide. We managed to accomplish our goal either way. It doesn't matter if her injuries are serious or not.”
Ji Wenlong nodded slowly. However, he sighed regretfully the next moment, “Too bad the one to come out was her. If it was anyone else, we would have been able to deal them a heavy blow! Even Lang Xiaoyun wouldn’t be able to avoid being seriously injured! With the arrival of the beast tide, their defenses might be torn right open! What a pity!”
Another sigh left his lips.
Shang Bo chuckled in response, “The effects of the beast tide won’t be too excessive. After all, we’ll be affected by it too. Don’t forget, Old Liu is stuck at the Coral Forest thanks to the Rose Party. Unless we choose not to do anything about it, the Four Spiritual Peak would be able to catch their breath.”
Ji Wenlong snorted angrily, “He’s only capable of messing things up for us!”
Shang Bo naturally wouldn’t take his words seriously. Ji Wenlong and Liu Jitang could be said to be true brothers in arms. Their friendship was real. Otherwise, he wouldn’t rush over to the Tongyou Peak the moment Liu Jitang went missing.
“However…” Shang Bo hesitated slightly.
Clearing his throat, Shang Bo continued, “Chief Ji,?have you thought that Yan Su’er’s reaction was too exaggerated? She revealed her strength to us the moment my attack connected. I definitely know how strong she is. There was no need for her to act like?her injury was so serious…”
A light flashed in Ji Wenlong’s eyes. “Do you mean… She was putting on a show for Lang Xiaoyun and the rest?”
“Haha, if I’m not wrong, the conflict in the Four Spiritual Peak is much more serious than we thought. Yan Su’er can’t fool us now. Instead, she used us to put on a show for the other members of the Four Spiritual Peak. We can sit back and watch the show unfold!” Shang Bo grinned.
Ji Wenlong muttered softly, “Now that we know her true strength and the other Martial Extermination Realm cultivator of her race is dead, she should have consolidated all her power. I’m afraid only the three other races will be able to…”
Ji Wenlong sighed once again and he turned to Shang Bo. He turned serious all of a sudden, “Little Shang, Oh, I’ll call you fourth brother from now on. Our four clans will finally be united from now on.”
Shang Bo chuckled softly and remained silent. He could guess what Ji Wenlong wanted to say, and it wasn’t the first time he had heard it.
He was slightly taken aback when he heard the words that came out of Ji Wenlong’s mouth next. “Shang Bing is actually Shang Lubing of the triple frost of our You Continent. What do you think of that?”
Shang Bo laughed casually. “Isn’t it great that we managed to get another Martial Extermination Realm cultivator?”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about!” Ji Wenlong interrupted him rudely. “As that guy’s sworn brother, he definitely has some motive for hiding in the institution! Why would he arrange for his sworn brother to hide in the institution for twenty years?! What is he planning to do?! Who is he plotting against?! Don’t tell me you can’t see his plot!”
Shang Bo pressed his lips together and increased his speed as he returned to the Tongyou Peak.
“At the end of the day, he doesn’t trust us at all! When he gathered the power of the clans in the continent to create the institution, his grand scheme started! He plans to use this chance to weaken all our clans! In the past twenty years, other than our so-called ‘great clans’, there are not many great families left! Those bloodline cultivators in our You Continent are barely surviving, and the inheritances of the other smaller families have all been integrated into the Scripture Depository!”
Ji Wenlong wasn’t done. “Speaking of the Scripture Depository, there’s Dong Qianzui too! Who would have thought that the undying monster had a way of forcefully increasing his strength to the fourth order at the very last moment?! He probably held on all the way till this day!”
Hearing everything, Shang Bo knew that he couldn’t remain silent anymore.
Coughing slightly, he started, “Chief Ji, since that’s the case, why did you agree to help him create the institution?”
“In the past, we were weak. We had to create the institution.” Ji Wenlong grunted.
“All of it was because of the threat the Azure Spiritual World posed. Those of us who survived had to huddle together to survive.” Shang Bo continued.
Ji Wenlong glowered silently.
“Today, we might have managed to force them back after revealing all our cards, but the threat of the Azure Spiritual World remains. If our four great clans start to tear the institution apart, won’t we be doing the same thing as the Four Spiritual Peak?” Shang Bo explained.
Ji Wenlong sighed, “I’m afraid that in a few years, our four great clans would be wiped out from the Tongyou City. The only power that would be left would be the Tongyou Institution!”
“That might not be the case. Our clans have been growing stronger with the institution in the past 20 years…” Shang Bo muttered.
“Look at the other clans! How many of them are left? Look at the number of broken inheritances! Look at the number of powers that have disappeared forever! The only reason our four great clans remain is because the institution requires us to prop them up! What if one day, the institution grows so strong that it no longer requires us? When the day comes for us old men to leave the world, our clans will no longer have a say in the institution…” Ji Wenlong frowned.
His arguments silenced Shang Bo.
After a short moment of contemplation, Ji Wenlong changed his tone. “I understand the importance the Tongyou Institution has on the city and our You Continent! We don’t have to fight among ourselves and pit the four clans against Kou Chongxue. As long as my Ji Family receives what we deserve for our contribution all these years, it’s not impossible for us to live on as an equal existence with the institution.”
Shang Bo stared at Ji Wenlong in shock. Ever since the Tongyou Institution established its foundations in the battlefield between the two worlds, it was the first time he heard Ji Wenlong changing his tone. Even though it was only a slight change, it was a good start!
However, Shang Bo shook his head eventually. “Chief Ji, now is not the time…”
A cold snort interrupted him. “I know that you’re thankful for Kou Chongxue’s favor for promoting you that year. However, this old man needs to remind you that you’re part of the four great clans! Even though your Shang Clan wasn’t part of the five great families of the past, you guys were close. Don’t you want to rebuild the glory of your Shang Clan? Are you unwilling to grow even stronger?!”
Ji Wenlong sighed and no longer spoke on their way back to the institution.
Shang Bo looked at Ji Wenlong’s figure who flew slightly faster than him and fell deep into his thoughts. However, he snapped back to reality soon enough and he chuckled in amusement before increasing his speed even more.
When Ji Wenlong and Shang Bo were discussing the matters of the great clans, Shang Xia and the rest arrived in the ten mile radius around the Tongyou Peak. They could see the dense smoke that filled the skies from the beacon lit on the Tongyou Peak.
Their squad had increased to a small army of 50, much larger than their original gang!
The signs of the beast tide were growing ever more obvious, and they ran into countless attacks on their way back.
Luckily for them, they didn’t run into huge packs of beasts! The group was more than capable of taking on the enemies.
Even so, there were still several unfortunate cultivators who lost their lives during the battles that took place.
When they were close to ten miles away from the Tongyou Peak, they ran into another attack! This time was different from the rest! The ones who ran into trouble weren’t the disciples of the Tongyou Peak! Instead, it was the flock of Mutated Rain Swallows that had been protecting them all this while!
A group of Wolf Eagles appeared from nowhere and started to massacre the Rain Swallows!