The sky above Dragon City was completely silent.
Practically everyone from the outer Immortal Region watched in cold silence as this played out. You could almost feel their contempt.
All of them had received an education in blood. They’d witnessed the cruelty of war with their own eyes. If they wanted to retreat, they would never have come here in the first place.
They felt nothing but disdain for those Beast Region clansmen who were scared out of their wits before the battle even started.
Ye Zichen tossed the agitator’s body to the ground. Ii landed right amongst the terrestrial beast clan soldiers.
The corpse fell to the ground with a thud. The onlookers froze and gulped nervously. When they looked at Ye Zichen, their eyes were filled with newfound, wordless awe.
As for the soldiers of various flying beast clans, after watching Ye Zichen strike like lightning, cutting down one of their own, striking like lightning, they dared not say a word.
They buried their thoughts of escape deep within their hearts.
They wanted to flee in order to protect their lives. However, if they ran, they’d die at Ye Zichen’s hands before the demons even reached them.
“It seems no one wants to try their luck?”
His icy gaze scanned the crowd. Everyone who’d considered deserted lowered their heads as if to hide their guilty consciences. They dared not meet his eyes.
“If that’s how it is, buck up and brace yourselves. If anyone else dares desert, don’t blame me for being heartless. Of course, you’re welcome to try deserting in the middle of battle….”
He pointed at his eyes, then at the various beast clans.
“I’ll be watching you.”
He’d intimidated the lot of them. With one last cold snort snort, Ye Zichen returned to the four Sacred Beast clan heads’ side and bowed to Zhuge Hong. The vermillion birds could be considered the leaders of all the flying races. The instigator he’d killed just now was from an aerial clan, so he needed to apologize to Zhuge Hong.
“Please forgive me, Clan Head Zhuge.”
As he cupped his fists in apology, they could see the blood on his hands.
Zhuge Hong shook her head. “No harm done,” she said. “If you hadn’t intervened, I would have done so myself.”
Lei Hu let out a hearty laugh. “What do you have to apologize for? Our Beast Region has no need for cowards! Emperor Ye, you did the right thing. If you hadn’t, the soldiers’ morale would have crumbled. That said, I never would have guessed there really were such cowards among us.”
As he spoke, he looked directly at the terrestrial beast clan troops, his gaze extremely oppressive.
“I’m glad you don’t blame me,” said Ye Zichen. He smiled at them, then glowered darkly at Gu Li.
“You’re quite capable,” he said. “You’ve extended your reach awfully far.”
“Brother Ye, surely you’re mistaken? You’re the one who’s truly capable. In but an instant you ruthlessly suppressed that uprising. I’m impressed.”
Gu Li wasn’t particularly surprised by Ye Zichen’s actions. Even if he hadn’t intervened, Gu Li knew one of the other clan heads would have stepped in and done the same thing.
Even without thinking, he knew they couldn’t possibly have allowed that bunch of cowards to flee.
Doing so would devastate the troops’ morale.
Although the uprising was snuffed out before it really started, it still had the desired effect. That said, if Ye Zichen had moved just a little slower, the results might have been more interesting.
What a pity.
Black Dragon subconsciously glanced at Gu Li. This guy truly had an endless stream of tricks up his sleeve. Just now, that rabble-rouser was definitely a spy he’d placed in the Beast Region.
When he considered Gu Li’s behavior, Black Dragon worried…..
Had he planted agents in the demons’ ranks as well?
On their way here, Gu Li truly had explained a lot to him. Even so, who would dare trust someone like him completely?
For now, Black Dragon could only truly believe about half of it. As for the rest? He could only gamble.
“Hmph.” Ye Zichen snorted softly then paid him no further heed. He’d fought with Gu Li countless times already. This sort of thing was a common occurrence; he was used to it.
Ye Zichen simply looked behind the demons, inwardly estimating the time.
‘They should get here soon.”
He’d contacted the troops from the Immortal Region, Underworld, and Heavenly Court hours ago. Then, back in the canyon, he’d bought them quite a bit of time with his ambush.
Taking the time into account, they should arrive right about now.
Not far in the distance, Gu Li noticed his searching expression and laughed, “Emperor Ye, are you looking for something?”
“Hm?” grunted Ye Zichen.
“Ha, Emperor Ye, you actually could have staged this fight near the entrance to the Beast Region, yet you chose not to do that. Rather, you led us straight to your inner sanctum. You even turned the space just outside of Dragon City into our battlefield. If you’re defeated here, you’ll truly have no chance whatsoever. You’re by no means muddle-headed; there’s no way you haven’t thought of that. Ye you chose to come here anyway. There’s surely a deeper meaning behind all this?” said Gu Li. He smiled, the light in his eyes suggested he’d long since seen through them.
Ye Zichen seemed utterly unperturbed by Gu Li’s questions.
“There is, naturally, a deeper meaning,” said Ye Zichen calmly. “You incited the Flying Serpent Clan to betray us and flee the Beast Region, breaking our grand formation. We’d have to be truly foolish to stage our main battle on the outskirts of the Beast Region. As for why we led you to our inner sanctum…. Why should I tell you?”
Gu Li lifted his brows, then turned around.
Behind him, he saw countless demons, stretching as far as the eye could see. Below, he saw the groaning blood zombie horde. He cocked his head to the side, then turned to face Ye Zichen.
“Let me guess,” he laughed, “Emperor Ye, you’ve arranged for someone to surround us from behind.”
“As for who it is… It should be the Underworld, Immortal Region, and Heavenly Court, right?”
Gu Li stretched his neck. When he saw Ye Zichen’s expression, he said, “it seems I got it right.”
“What is there to even guess? Anyone could have figured that out.”
Gu Li had seen right through him. Even so, Ye Zichen wasn’t worried. Anyone could have deduced something as simple as that. Their biggest concern was that the enemy wouldn’t come.
This was, after all, far too easy to see through. They feared Gu Li and the others would be too cautious to fall for it.
“You came despite knowing there was an ambush? It seems you’re rather confident? Do you want to challenge the entire Three Realms?”
“No, no, no!” Gu Li waved frantically, “Emperor Ye, you must be joking. No matter how arrogant we were, we wouldn’t dare provoke all three realms simultaneously, don’t you think?”
“Yet you dared come anyway? Ha…..” Ye Zicheen sneered, but before he could finish his sentence, he realized that Gu Li was smiling. That, combined with what he’d said earlier….
He already knew all that. Why had he chosen to come anyway?
Since he’d chosen to come here, he’d surely prepared thoroughly for it.
“You ought to understand me by now. I’m extremely cowardly. I came despite knowing about the ambush. Given your understanding of me, tell me..…. Why, exactly, would I do that?”
Instantly, Ye Zichen’s heart sank. His eyes narrowed into slits as he said gravely, “you did something to them?”
Gu Li smiled back at him, then said leisurely, “they ought to be in dire straits right about now.”