Jian Long knew, as a former subordinate of a righteous path clan, just how ruthless the righteous path could be. However, he had always believed that such cruelty was reserved only for mortals, while Gu Masters still upheld some degree of morality in their dealings with one another.
It seemed reality was completely different from what he had imagined.
He shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside before returning to the matter at hand.
"In truth, it's not as complicated as it seems."
He paused for a moment before continuing calmly.
"The Bai clan is currently in its weakest state. As far as I know, they lost their clan leader—their only Rank Four Gu Master—as well as a large number of their elders and Gu Masters during the beast tide."
"And that's not all. They were forced to abandon their original mountain and relocate to a new one, where they established a newly built village that still lacks the defensive fortifications and surveillance methods possessed by established clans."
He continued in a confident tone.
"Moreover, moving to a new environment has created an even greater problem for them."
"You know that every clan builds its combat system around the Gu worms it can raise, and that depends entirely on the food and resources provided by its environment."
"Once they abandoned their former mountain, they lost the food sources for most of the Gu worms they relied on. That means they will gradually be forced to discard many of their old Gu worms and replace them with new ones suited to the new environment."
"When I left the mountain, autumn had just begun. Winter came shortly afterward, and both seasons are unsuitable for merchant caravans."
"So, most likely, they either haven't sent a caravan to purchase Gu worms and Gu recipes yet, or they only sent one recently and it hasn't returned."
"That means that, even now, they are mainly relying on the wild Gu worms they managed to find on the new mountain. Most of those Gu worms are either weak or incompatible with their fighting styles, along with whatever old Gu worms they still have."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"In short... they are at their weakest,as for us, we possess another advantage—the element of surprise."
"If we can gather several Rank Three Gu Masters and launch a surprise assault directly against the Bai clan's elders, there's a good chance we can eliminate most, if not all, of their Rank Three Gu Masters before they have time to organize their defenses."
"Once we've achieved that, we'll withdraw immediately."
"They'll be forced into a defensive position, while we'll have complete freedom to choose when and where to fight,If they send a force into the wilderness to hunt us down, we'll eliminate them there, where the advantage lies with us,and if they remain inside their village, we'll continue wearing them down, eliminating the survivors group by group until the Bai clan collapses completely."
Zhou Quan listened quietly until Jian Long had finished speaking. He then adjusted his posture and placed his teacup on the table.
"What you've said does change a great deal..."
He paused for a moment before looking Jian Long straight in the eyes.
"But there's one thing you've overlooked."
Jian Long's curiosity was immediately piqued. Leaning slightly forward, he asked,
"And what is that?"
"The Heavenly Army."
Jian Long froze for a moment.
"The Heavenly Army? Who are they?"
A faint smile appeared on Zhou Quan's face as he shook his head.
"It's only natural that you don't know about them. This is something known only to Gu Masters."
He interlocked his fingers and continued,
"To understand who they are, let me ask you a question."
After a brief pause, he went on.
"Throughout the Southern Border, there are dozens—no, hundreds—of small and medium-sized clans that don't have a single Rank Five Gu Master to protect them."
"So why don't Rank Five demonic Gu Masters simply wipe out those clans and seize all of their wealth?"
He leaned forward slightly.
"You know very well that the gap between Rank Four and Rank Five is enormous. In most cases, a Rank Five Gu Master can kill a Rank Four Gu Master with ease,Wouldn't those clans be little more than treasures waiting to be taken?"
Jian Long frowned slightly.
"You're right... I never thought about that."
Zhou Quan nodded.
"The reason they don't do it is because of a force jointly established by the super clans of the Southern Border—the Heavenly Army. Its sole purpose is to prevent exactly this kind of thing from happening."
Jian Long raised an eyebrow.
"But why would the super clans go through so much trouble just to protect small clans?"
"I'm not entirely sure."
Zhou Quan shrugged.
"The official explanation is that, as the representatives of the righteous path, it is their duty to maintain order and protect the weak ,others, however, believe the real reason is to prevent demonic Gu Masters from growing stronger too easily. If they were allowed to freely plunder clan after clan, their strength and wealth would increase at an alarming rate."
In truth, the real reason lay far above the mortal world.
It was the will of the Gu Immortals.
The righteous path Gu Immortals wished to control the number of people who could ascend to immortality. Since they controlled the super clans, they could decide which of their descendants would receive the resources and opportunities necessary to become Immortals.
Ordinary clans, on the other hand, rarely possessed enough resources to support the birth of a Gu Immortal, making them little cause for concern.
The real problem was the demonic Gu Masters.
They existed outside the established system, owing allegiance to no one. They could not be controlled—only suppressed.
If demonic Gu Masters were allowed to massacre villages and plunder vast amounts of resources without restraint, their path to immortality would become far easier. And every new demonic Gu Immortal would eventually become another threat to the righteous path.
Thus, the righteous path Gu Immortals chose to eliminate the problem before it could ever grow.