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I wasn’t expecting the first-hand news to actually come from the expected enemy...

As Chen Qing listened to Wang Shiyu’s patient narration, he felt a bit strange in his heart, but he gradually came to understand the situation.

Just a month ago, the local situation was still a standoff of mutual chess playing.

With the advantage of acting first and with strategy, the Shenwu Guild’s Wang Shiyu allowed the Mingyue Sect to spread among the common people and infiltrated a third of the families within the Imperial Court, even penetrating the Imperial Palace, boasting a tremendous momentum.

The Tianhua Guild was the number one guild with profound heritage, possessing the top cultivation techniques for each stage.

By linking the repeatedly improved Solaris Technique with the Tianhua Guild’s largest share of influence at the Celestial Serpent Palace, they easily wielded influence over the mortal realm, previously having effortlessly taken down three key strategic cities in the Northern Wasteland.

Even though they arrived at Northern Wolf City last, relying on previous prestige and the advantages of their cultivation techniques, they quickly gained a group of supporters within just over a dozen days, reportedly including veteran families like Murong and Bei Yu.

As for Wanxu, in this cycle they had invested heavily in bloodline families.

Starting to layout their plans ever since the first guild members were resurrected thousands of years ago, and with their unique flesh-compression method, their followers were effectively starting to take commands not only within the Northern Wasteland but also among many bloodline families in the Central Plains.

However, their offerings were somewhat limited, focusing mainly on the cultivation techniques of the military families, which meant that despite being the earliest arrivals, they still couldn’t entirely control the situation.

The game of chess between these three forces, plus the later mess caused by Zi Yue, made the situation incredibly complicated.

But no major conflicts erupted because everyone knew that overuse of extraordinary power would attract a terrifying monster. They had experienced this in two cycles before, so they all exercised restraint.

That is, until the fourth force entered the fray...

"Is that snake outside from the Fourth Guild?" Chen Qing asked curiously.

"Yes..." Wang Shiyu nodded. "All the major guilds have infiltrated the Celestial Serpent Palace and can command Mother Earth, as well as some Celestial Serpents to do their bidding.

However, the players that can disguise are mostly juniors, with a limited number of high-level demons they actually control.

Mother Poison is extremely rare and highly ostracized; when it approached, we all thought it was a bloodline demon recruited by the Celestial Serpent Palace itself. "

Chen Qing nodded slightly. The members of the Celestial Serpent Palace had always been chaotic.

The organization wasn’t systematized like the Dragon Palace but rather a coalition temporarily organized by a group of ascended giant serpents, which meant its composition was disordered, encompassing various factions.

With every cycle, the Celestial Serpent Palace does its best to summon powerful Celestial Serpents to participate in the worldly struggle.

Those who respond become members, and the allocation is simple: the stronger the strength, the higher the position and the more resources distributed.

It’s a brutal and straightforward power structure.

Such an organization was naturally easy for players to infiltrate.

But the growth of Celestial Serpents is limited, and high-level players generally wouldn’t choose this path.

Most are external guild members or some lower-ranking internal members.

To open up the situation in the north, they had no choice but to take this route.

Core members like those of the Fourth Guild, like the Black Empress, who directly reincarnated as Celestial Serpents, were extremely rare.

Mother Poison was even less likely, as its growth is slow and its movements are restricted by its venom.

It’s nearly always excluded by all players.

Thus, when it appeared on the outskirts of Northern Wolf City, no one guessed it was a player from any guild, assuming it was a lone action by a demon NPC.

So after a distance warning to stay away, no one was particularly alerted.

"I see..." Chen Qing said, having roughly guessed the situation.

The Mother Poison outside must have been won over by someone. They rarely collaborate with players, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. Clearly, those veteran players relied too heavily on past experiences, thus getting blindsided.

"The exterior is blockaded by Mother Poison, which you didn’t anticipate—but what about the interior?" Chen Qing wondered.

The presence of the Mother Poison outside hadn’t raised alarm, but how did the inside fall into the trap?

In theory, within Northern Wolf City, nearly all the extraordinary power was in the hands of the three major guilds.

Everyone knew excessive collisions of transcendence would attract something else, so they were very restrained.

Small-scale conflicts had no effect, so what brought that monster here?

Chen Qing was clear in his mind that something must trigger the appearance of the Spirit Ghost—an excessive amount of extraordinary power within an area, and moreover, an excess of powers not matching the version’s humans attacking each other.

Demons won’t do, it must be a human or player.

This is also why many players initially didn’t dare to use their power too much.

"Inside, it all depends on your subordinate." Said the woman from Wanxu Guild, looking coldly at Chen Qing.

"My subordinate..." Chen Qing frowned.

He actually had thought of this, that only one person could make everyone lose their reason, causing large-scale attacks on each other without any symptoms, but... why though? Zi Yue was also one of the designers, she should know what this would lead to.

"Your subordinate reached an agreement with the Black Empress of the Fourth Guild.

" Wang Shiyu said indifferently, "She used that Transcendent Thousand-Faced Fox to alter the memories of most family heads. That day, very suddenly, Mother Poison surrounded the city from the outside, while fierce clashes erupted inside. We hadn’t even had time to react before the Spirit Ghosts appeared! "

"If that’s the case, why come to cooperate with me?" Chen Qing smiled and asked, "Aren’t you afraid that I might also be one of the Fourth Guild’s people?"

"Based on my feeling of you, you shouldn’t be.

" Wang Shiyu shook his head, "The Fourth Guild is most skilled in human matters and has dominated the Great Jin Dynasty. If they also had your Divine Path System, wouldn’t they already be invincible?

Why would they bother creating an independent Jiangnan? "

Chen Qing didn’t retort. An emperor possessing the Divine Path before the arrival of the second version would indeed be unbeatable.

"We believe you are cooperating, and it’s a temporary alliance, I must say it’s quite a bold move.

.." Wang Shiyu spoke gravely, "The human realm’s fate completely in their hands, the north becomes almost the only chance for the remaining guilds, so the competition is bound to be fierce. I was always wary of what the Black Empress would do, given she also has a foundation in the Celestial Serpent Palace; how could she possibly let go of the resources in the north? But I never expected she’d pull such a move! "

Upon hearing this, Chen Qing’s face twitched.

It was indeed ruthless - that woman was planning to kill two birds with one stone, using this opportunity in Northern Wolf City to eliminate the heads of most guilds in this version.

Cutting off the leadership would nearly guarantee their victory in this cycle!

He had been right to be wary of that woman... she was fierce indeed.

But even such a ruthless person had fallen.

"What about the part where you saw her being killed? How did that happen?" Chen Qing asked his final question.

"We owe that to Zi Yue." Wang Shiyu shook his head and bitterly smiled, "They must have signed a technique that forbade them from harming each other, so their cooperation was quite bold. Zi Yue somehow took control of the Imperial Family, plus all the family heads and leaders, as well as the princes and ministers. Then at an imperial court meeting, they suddenly announced Northern Yan’s allegiance to Jiangnan, and we had no time to react before the Path of Yin and Yang here turned into an underworld. "

"And then something even more outrageous happened - your Divine Path’s underworld drove out the Path of Yin and Yang, but an object was forcibly expelled into the mortal realm!"

"I see..." Chen Qing now understood. King Xiang Palace had materialized in the mortal realm; so that was what happened.

Zi Yue was indeed a genius. She wanted to lock King Xiang Palace in the mortal realm - after all, the palace’s resources were no less than those of Dragon Palace. If she could seize it, with both major powers’ strategic resources in hand for the second version, the victory would be nearly secured!

Chen Qing felt he was starting to understand the situation.

"Of course, we cannot allow such a thing to happen. I covered King Xiang Palace with a black lantern and called all the believers inside. One reason was to avoid the arbitrary poisoning by Mother Poison outside; the second... was to prevent you both from dividing the wealth of King Xiang Palace."

"But what we never expected was that the Black Empress, always known for her cunning calculations, would actually fall at the hands of an NPC!"

"The one from the Siao Family..." Chen Qing touched his chin, puzzled, "Does she have the ability to kill her? Unless... King Xiang?"

"You’re right..." Wang Shiyu said somberly, "He turned King Xiang against her!"