Stepping out of the City of Merit, Zhao Guang and the others wore grim expressions.
"This is the Azure Cloud Li Clan?" Zhao Guang sensed everything within the City of Merit.
The entire city was lush and verdant, brimming with vitality.
Having cooperated with the Li Clan many times in the past, he knew that as his lifespan neared its end, the Li Clan had consistently relied on their merchant branch's immense wealth to supply him with life-extending pills.
The Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, the Grand Tower, battling the Nirvana Sage Elder in the Western Frontier...
He had cooperated with the Li Clan on all these occasions, and even then, he knew the Li Clan possessed tremendous potential.
But only now, having arrived in the Southern Frontier, did he truly grasp the Li Clan's profound foundation.
These verdant vines and the vibrant vitality permeating the Li Clan formed a natural array imbued with the power of an immortal.
The Li Clan's territory housed the actual presence of an immortal, not merely half-immortals created through the bestowed gifts of immortals!
And... perhaps more than just one.
As for Body Integration realm cultivators, he could sense three of them who hadn't even bothered to conceal their auras!
Aside from that.
Passing by the Li Clan's Myriad Dao Pagoda, even at the Body Integration realm, Zhao Guang could feel a pair of eyes staring at him from the void.
Some sinister, evil entity undoubtedly lurked within that divine tower, making him feel a pervasive, inescapable threat.
"Just how many secrets... is the Li Clan hiding?" Zhao Guang murmured softly.
Beside him, Wenren Jiuyue wore a solemn expression. "Commander Zhao, Li Chang'an agreed to our conditions. Do you think..."
"He was coaxing us."
Zhao Guang replied without hesitation.
"If the Li Clan wanted to leave, they could have taken the majority of their foundation and departed via the South Sea at any time.
With the Li Clan's current strength, they could easily settle and thrive anywhere in this vast world.
Yet they haven't done so, which proved long ago that the Li Clan is absolutely determined to guard Azure Cloud Prefecture and fight the immortals beneath the Blood Moon to the bitter end."
"These people are truly insane." Wenren Jiuyue's face turned dark.
"I heard the Li Clan's Old Ancestor even took a trip into the Blood Moon. The Li Clan must know exactly how terrifying the things inside the Blood Moon are; they are simply courting death!"
"And then there's our Imperial Dynasty. The Imperial Dynasty completely ignores the Blood Moon and has repeatedly sent messages urging the Li Clan to leave Azure Cloud Prefecture.
They should be perfectly aware that Her Majesty the Empress supports the Blood Moon's intentions. Why must they be so stubbornly inflexible?"
Seeing the two mighty figures conversing, Gongyang Ju didn't dare to interrupt.
Inwardly, he was cursing endlessly.
This is their home, not the home of the people from the Imperial Capital. Even Gongyang Ju knew quite a bit about the affairs of the Imperial Capital.
With the Empress—that old demoness—in charge, the entire Imperial Dynasty appeared prosperous on the surface, but in reality, nothing she did was humane.
The cultivators in the Western Frontier were originally fighting the Wu Tribe.
But Min Tiange, that dog-like bastard, took advantage of the Grand Tutor's departure to the Northern Frontier to hook up with the Empress.
Suddenly, the entire Western Frontier became Min Tiange's breeding ground for Dao Seeds.
Inside these Dao Seeds were immortals, and the immortals ruled the Blood Moon, swallowing both the Western Frontier and three totems of the Wu Tribe.
The old demoness colluded with the immortals.
The immortals within the Blood Moon were reviving, and numerous immortal artifacts were being sent to the Imperial Dynasty—this was part of their transaction.
Relying on these immortal artifacts, people like Zhao Guang consequently became half-immortals.
Such things were happening all over the Imperial Dynasty, silently altering the entire realm's landscape.
"Motherfucker, what a bitch," Gongyang Ju cursed under his breath, his face expressionless.
Legend had it that the Human Race had painstakingly suppressed the immortals, yet now the Empress was secretly supporting them.
The Imperial Dynasty's strength was currently increasing, and in cooperation with the immortals, it wouldn't be long before the entire Imperial Dynasty and the Human Race, bolstered by these benefits, would rule the entire world.
When he arrived safely in the Southern Frontier from the Western Frontier, his mind had been completely blown.
But what was the cost of all this? Wasn't it bought with the blood of the soldiers in the Western Frontier and the entire Southern Frontier?
"My Lords, having said all that, why must the Empress insist on persuading the Li Clan to leave? And the other factions..."
Gongyang Ju simply couldn't suppress the doubts in his heart, nor that sliver of human anger.
The two lords turned to look at him simultaneously, and Gongyang Ju didn't fear his own meager strength.
After a long silence in the City of Merit, Wenren Jiuyue finally said, "Ancestor Lan."
"Ancestor Lan?" Gongyang Ju was startled.
"Ancestor Lan is the legendary successor of the Dao Ancestor," Wenren Jiuyue said, surveying the entire City of Merit, his mind restless.
"The emergence of immortals in the Western Frontier is a lethal trap Her Majesty laid for Ancestor Lan.
Now, numerous factions in the Imperial Capital have begun accumulating their foundations, ordering the cultivators within their ranks to be ready at any moment to break through and claim the Daos currently occupied by Ancestor Lan."
"What if Ancestor Lan escapes?" Gongyang Ju was shocked, yet also somewhat confused.
"This is a high-stakes gamble. Her Majesty the Empress harbors grand ambitions, no less than any successive monarch of our Human Race."
Wenren Jiuyue's face bore a trace of pride as a cultivator of the Wenren family.
"Her Majesty tested the waters for many years, and she is certain that with the immortals emerging, Ancestor Lan will have no choice but to reveal himself and return his Daos to the world.
However, if she wants Ancestor Lan dead, only the immortals possess such ability."
"In truth, Her Majesty the Empress knows that immortals will never truly disappear.
They are hidden in every aspect of the world, and after so many years, they have long been plotting in secret. So why not use the hands of the immortals to take Ancestor Lan's life?"
"With this, our Imperial Dynasty can seize control of the entire world, making everything worthwhile.
Sitting atop the world, with the Imperial Dynasty commanding numerous Body Integration cultivators and half-immortals, the Imperial Dynasty will become the true master of the mortal realm.
Even immortals will have to submit. This is a monumental feat unprecedented since ancient times."