Lu Xiaofeng had indeed mentioned another very crucial matter: he had already seen the Fist Tao God inside the God-searching Palace.

Although the Fist Tao God’s mind was controlled by the Beast Pill, according to what Lu Xiaofeng said, when the Fist Tao God saw him, a faint ripple flashed through his eyes. This proved that the Fist Tao God had not completely lost his reason, and that was an inspiring piece of news.

But this news could not yet be said to necessarily play any decisive role.

For although the Fist Tao God was immensely powerful, and the power he could erupt with after taking the Beast Pill was comparable to a Three Flowers–condensing powerhouse, inside the God-searching Palace guarded by the Eternal Life God, it would still be hard for him to stir up any waves, and would instead throw him into danger.

What’s more, under the control of the Beast Pill, the Fist Tao God might not help Lu Xiaofeng at all.

Thus, although the intelligence Lu Xiaofeng provided was indeed important, for the time being it was hard to say how any plan could be formed around it.

Jiang Dali had long since known the news that the Fist Tao God had escaped from Divine Iron City.

Now that the Fist Tao God had returned to the God-searching Palace, he was not surprised, but this only deepened his determination to annihilate the God-searching Palace.

"These days, more than half of our Mountain Village’s sub branches have already fallen into the hands of the God-searching Palace, and those World Association branch halls that were not incorporated in the beginning have all changed hands in succession, carved up jointly by many forces in the Martial World. If not for the fact that the God-searching Palace has not fielded too many people for now, perhaps even more sub branches would already have been taken."

On the Demon Dragon’s spine, Murong Qingqing’s elegant brows knitted slightly as she described the current situation of the Mountain Village to Jiang Dali.

Wang Yuyan added, "Village chief, this time the courts of Ming Country, Song Country, and Tang Country have all shown true feelings in our hour of tribulation and extended a helping hand. The Song Dynasty Court sent senior Huang Shang to assist; Ming Country had the experts of the Divine Constable Mansion join forces with the experts under Ming Country’s richest merchant Shen Wansan, and together they helped us hold two sub branches. As for Tang Country, many experts under Prince Li came together to aid us, and even the Song Gate’s senior Song Dao and Kou Zhong have come."

Murong Qingqing smiled. "Don’t forget, there’s also the village chief’s disciple Zhang Wuji, who went down the mountain after studying at Wudang. That little Zhang, after coming down the mountain, also performed brilliantly and helped hold West Snake Mountain Village."

"When one side is in trouble, many sides come to its aid!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Jiang Dali inclined his head slightly, drew a light breath, and said with a grave expression, "The fall of half the sub branches is not much to speak of. I just don’t know how the casualties of the many brothers in the Mountain Village are... In any case, this time the Eternal Life God and I will surely have a life-and-death reckoning."

Wan Wan giggled, actually circling around Wang Yuyan in midair and flashing to Jiang Dali’s side. She coquettishly wrapped her arm around Jiang Dali’s wrist and said in a playful drawl, "If anyone dies it’ll be that old ghost the Eternal Life God. This humble slave can’t bear for our village chief to suffer even the slightest mishap."

"Relax! This village chief’s life is tough—heaven itself can’t take it!"

Jiang Dali smiled faintly, brushed aside the ticklish strands of hair whipping against his face, and looked at Wan Wan, only to see that in the howling wind the thin gauze clung tightly to her body, revealing every graceful curve.

Jiang Dali had originally been straightforwardly appreciating the view, but under Wan Wan’s deliberately mischievous, teasingly smoldering gaze, he snorted coldly, withdrew his eyes, and continued to look down at the undulating mountains below, covered by a sea of clouds.

Suddenly, a ticklish sensation came from his waist at this moment—it turned out Wang Yuyan was secretly writing characters on his back with her finger. He slightly shifted his attention, and couldn’t help but give a knowing, light smile; the stern majesty in his sharp tiger-like eyes also eased a little at this time.

...

The mountains receded with the plains, and the river flowed into the vast wilderness.

The scenery flew by.

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

Shu.

In a large, densely populated city near Moxi Town, inside a bustling restaurant with people constantly coming and going, a man of about forty sat in a corner on the first floor, listening to the most intense Black Wind Village war news in the Martial World of these past few days.

He seemed to be drinking with great relish, but in fact his ears were trembling lightly in a rhythmic pattern. Using this profound method of "using the ears in place of the eyes" to observe the situation on the street outside, even the every move and all conversations of the various kinds of people inside the restaurant could not escape his senses.

After he had heard the information he wanted, and also finished his last cup of wine and last bite of Wind Meat, he rose leisurely and strolled to the restaurant counter. With a technique so fast that ordinary people could not possibly detect it, he filched the money pouch of a burly man who had just been bragging loudly, casually fished out a silver ingot from the pouch, tossed it onto the counter with a word to settle the bill, and then slipped out of the restaurant through the back door.

At the instant he slipped out of the restaurant, a tall, burly man with a wooden expression immediately leaped down from a second-floor window.

By now he had already turned into a side alley, at once unfolding his movement technique and darting through the narrow lane as swiftly as a Ghost. As he ran, his expression serious, he changed into a different set of clothes; with a casual rub of his face, he actually became another person entirely. In the next moment he slipped out of the alley, merged into the lively marketplace, and vanished into the crowd.

Half a day later, in the mountains near the dense forest south of Moxi Town, the man’s figure, faster than a storm wind, wove through the woods. Suddenly his steps halted; he reached out and pounced, and in the blink of an eye had caught a gray-and-black mottled wild rabbit in the forest. He chuckled, then soared up like a great bird taking flight, drawing in his qi as he flipped forward. His feet tapped rapidly on thick branches and with a "swish," skimming past several tree trunks, he Ghost-like sped back to the hidden rendezvous point where the others were gathered.