Free Web NovelChapter 442: Chapter 300: Second Disintegration: Renewed Fierce Battle for the Spiritual Talisman (Part 2)
"The struggle for the Spiritual Talisman will most likely be won by the Illuminati, Secret Technique Heaven, or the Abyss Court. Among the Seven Great Secret Organizations, the Illuminati ranks near the top and has deep foundations. The individual strength of Secret Technique Heaven and the Abyss Court cannot compare to the Illuminati."
"If those two factions joined forces, they could suppress the Illuminati. But from the looks of the current intelligence, they each have their own ulterior motives and can’t cooperate. The Illuminati has already sowed discord between them. I’m afraid the Illuminati will be the ones having the last laugh."
The hunched old man with his head wrapped in gauze sneered.
"I think so as well. As expected, they’re just a disorganized rabble, each fighting for their own side. If they truly teamed up, the Illuminati would surely be unable to stop them. A pity they’re all busy scheming against one another,"
the gorgeous woman lamented.
Once they received the intel that the Illuminati had successfully sown division and that members of Secret Technique Heaven had charged into the city alone, they had already guessed how the situation would play out.
Experts who have condensed a Soul are the key to this battle. Barring some special, fortuitous circumstances, the other factions have almost no chance of obtaining the Spiritual Talisman.
The personnel they sent to Jun City were meant to stir up chaos and, at a critical moment, cause trouble for the three organizations and inflict more casualties on them. They held no actual hope that their people would return with the Spiritual Talisman.
The other powers-that-be felt the same way.
It didn’t matter if they couldn’t get the Spiritual Talisman; making their rivals suffer more casualties would benefit them in future conflicts.
It now seemed the Illuminati had the upper hand.
"I’m afraid things aren’t that simple. The Donghua Martial Artists have also gone to Jun City and should arrive in time to join the fight. Judging from his past performance, that man named Yi Beidou is likely no weaker than those who have condensed a Soul."
"Furthermore, the Illuminati is likely unaware of their true strength and has surely made no corresponding preparations. They are the most powerful spoilers in this game,"
the young man from Asia said.
"That is true. The people from Donghua are a variable,"
the gorgeous woman said, nodding.
"However, the probability of them ultimately obtaining the Spiritual Talisman is very low. For one, there is only that one man, Yi Beidou. While the other Donghua Martial Artists are strong, they can hardly play a significant role."
"And that Yi Beidou is, at best, on par with an Immortal Soul Master. The three organizations have four such experts. It would be one thing if he stayed out of it, but with his arrogant personality, the moment he gets involved, he’ll likely become a public enemy. If he gets surrounded, he might very well be killed, his body and soul obliterated."
"A newborn calf doesn’t fear the tiger, but that’s hardly a good quality. If a calf truly dares to provoke a tiger, not even its bones will remain,"
the old man with the gauze-wrapped head said with a chuckle.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!
He had barely finished speaking when a knock at the conference room door drew the attention of the five leaders.
The door to the conference room opened, and Celestial General Qin Yuan walked inside, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"Sirs, we have news from Jun City. The Donghua Martial Artists have disrupted the situation. Yi Beidou single-handedly fought the Immortal Soul Masters from the three organizations and nearly forced the Illuminati’s Duke of Destruction to the brink of Soul Burning. More than ten members from the three organizations combined forces to restrain him, but they have now scattered. The struggle within the city has become unclear. Here are the detailed reports."
Qin Yuan spoke in a rapid-fire cadence, simultaneously delivering a report to each of the five leaders.
For a moment, an eerie silence descended upon the conference room.
The gazes of the other four leaders subtly drifted toward the old man with the gauze-wrapped head.
The old man, too, fell silent for a moment. If not for the gauze obscuring his face, they would have surely seen his expression twitching violently.
"Is this intelligence confirmed? He suppressed three Immortal Soul Masters by himself? And more than a dozen Ancient Ones?"
the gauze-wrapped old man asked in a heavy tone, picking up the report before him.
The others harbored the same doubt.
Even they couldn’t accomplish such a feat without playing some of their trump cards.
But after reading the detailed report, they were even more astonished.
The Duke of Destruction, protected by a Spirit Treasure, was suppressed by Yi Beidou while in his Full Immortal Soul Understanding state.
The Golden Pharaoh and Destruction Heaven teamed up against him, only to have Yi Beidou seize the Spirit Treasure and use it to suppress them in turn.
The report was simply inconceivable!
Could this Yi Beidou’s strength have already reached the level of the Sleepers?
"You all must have noticed something is amiss in the report,"
the gauze-wrapped old man said suddenly.
"The three factions actually joined forces against Yi Beidou? That’s unreasonable. Logically speaking, both Secret Technique Heaven and the Abyss Court should have been delighted to see the Duke of Destruction and Yi Beidou fight to the death."
"The Eye of the Sun must have made some kind of private deal with the other two parties, maybe even sealing it with an Oath, to get them to help the Illuminati. The price was most likely the Spiritual Talisman."
"The other two factions were also likely worried that the Duke of Destruction would resort to Soul Burning, entering a life-or-death state from which no one would benefit."
"In other words, they had no intention of fighting Yi Beidou to the death, which is what led to this outcome."
"This Yi Beidou’s strength has indeed repeatedly surpassed our expectations, but he shouldn’t have reached the level of the Sleepers yet. At most, he can suppress one person in their Full Immortal Soul Understanding state. In the end, if he hadn’t been lucky—if the Spirit Treasure carried by the Duke of Destruction hadn’t been so compatible with his own abilities that he could seize it—the combined assault of three Immortal Soul experts would have likely been enough to kill him. It seems he truly has fate on his side."
The gauze-wrapped old man quickly analyzed many details from the fragments of information in the report, displaying his incredibly sharp and experienced eye for such matters.
"Indeed. The report is shocking, but a closer analysis reveals a significant element of luck,"
the others agreed, nodding slightly.
The Spirit Treasure was the key to the entire battle.
The Duke of Destruction brought the Spirit Treasure to suppress Destruction Heaven, but Yi Beidou happened to resonate with its properties. Not only did this strip the Duke of his advantage, but it also allowed Yi Beidou to seize the Spirit Treasure for his own use.
Without that, Yi Beidou could never have achieved such a feat.
"The first round of fighting is over; the second round is what’s critical. The Spiritual Talisman is about to appear, and the other two factions will certainly not hold back any longer."
"According to the report, Yi Beidou, Secret Technique Heaven, and the Abyss Court are all headed in the same direction within the city. This was likely orchestrated by the Illuminati. That is where the truly vicious slaughter will begin."
"For Yi Beidou to accomplish this with a mortal body, he must have used some Secret Technique that comes at a great cost. I wonder if he can still dominate the battlefield in this second round of the conflict?"
the gentlemanly old man mused in a heavy voice.
The gauze-wrapped old man chuckled. Before the Spiritual Talisman appeared, none of the factions were willing to exert their full strength, and propelled by luck, Yi Beidou managed to steal the show. But once the Spiritual Talisman appears, none of them will hold back. Yi Beidou has already exhausted his strength and is losing steam. If he blindly throws himself back into the fray now, he truly risks annihilation.
He was about to offer his opinion but suddenly recalled how he had just been proven wrong in record time. He swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
’Forget it,’ he thought. ’Even though the sun can’t rise in the west, I can’t rule out the possibility that it might. I’d better just keep my mouth shut.’
Perhaps, no matter how stubborn the gauze-wrapped old man tried to be, Yi Beidou’s repeated feats of breaking all limits had already begun to subconsciously change his perception.
「In Jun City」
A torrent of Blood Fire blazed across the sky, moving rapidly toward a location up ahead. The experts from every faction could sense it clearly—in fact, the aura felt as if it were being amplified. They all followed closely behind.
They knew the battle was far from over.
If they wanted to muck things up, they had to stick close to Yi Beidou.
All except for two factions, whose senses were being deceived by the Eye of Omniscience in the Sky.
Namely, the people from the Abyss Court and Secret Technique Heaven.
This was, of course, the handiwork of the Eye of the Sun.
He wanted to muddy the waters completely, to incite another bloody, head-bashing brawl among the city’s factions.
And the bait was the Spiritual Talisman held by the Illuminati.
Unfortunately, as everyone gradually neared the Eye of the Sun’s hiding place, Yi Beidou’s terrifying Qi could no longer be completely shielded. The members of the Abyss Court and Secret Technique Heaven finally sensed it.
"Eye of the Sun!! What is the meaning of this?! Did you lure that madman here on purpose?! Are you violating our Oath?!"
Destruction Heaven roared through their Oath connection.
"When did I violate the Oath? Our Oath contains no such provision,"
the Eye of the Sun replied nonchalantly.
