Having consecutively taken out Hungry Ghost and Big-Eared Bat — two mid-level pieces — Yue Yang felt that he was being watched by someone.
Perhaps at the very beginning, no one had paid him any attention.
But since taking down Hungry Ghost, the situation had immediately shifted. Whether from Flying Corpse’s report, or because behind Hungry Ghost’s group there had always been hidden threads connecting to the wider game — threads that, once cut, would draw notice and pursuit… And after he’d captured Big-Eared Bat, Yue Yang could sense with fair clarity that “someone” was watching him from the shadows, someone whose strength was unfathomable.
He pretended to be unaware. First he sent Mao Podi away, testing the reaction of the enemy hidden in the shadows.
Mao Podi departed on the shuttle without incident.
It seemed that in this enemy’s eyes, Mao Podi was no more than an ant — the other side simply didn’t care. The same applied to Raven and Pelican’s departure. The enemy hiding in the shadows had eyes only for Yue Yang. For reasons yet unknown, he had not yet moved on Yue Yang.
Was the timing not yet ripe?
Or did the watcher belong to some other faction, sitting on the mountain to watch tigers fight?
Yue Yang couldn’t quite read the concealed one’s intentions. After all, he had only recently arrived, and knew far too little about “Mountain Beyond the Mountain.”
Thinking as he went, he hurried toward the meteor-belt battlefield.
Guhai was displaying his full divine might.
Beating Griffin Marshal and Golden Eagle General back step by step.
At Yue Yang’s arrival, all three showed startled and puzzled expressions. None of them knew who this young man was… Griffin Marshal and Golden Eagle General exchanged a glance, and Guhai halted his attack, his face contemplative.
Yue Yang, for his part, waved his hand hurriedly: “You all keep going, don’t mind me — I’m just passing through for the show!”
“You don’t quite look like the Southeast Divine Sovereign ‘Chiqiu”s man. You look a little more like the Eastern Divine Sovereign ‘God-Slayer”s people. Young man, you carry a very distinctive aura — that is the mark of your clan!” Guhai reacted with startling speed. One look at Griffin’s and Golden Eagle’s expressions was enough for him to realize Yue Yang was neither their friend nor their ally — he was closer to a descendant of the race of the Eastern Divine Sovereign, God-Slayer. He made a special point of stating this, of naming Yue Yang’s identity aloud, precisely to keep Yue Yang out of the fight.
The Western Divine Nation’s strength was formidable. Bullying a Southeast Divine Nation was more than they could handle.
Whether by Divine Sovereign, combined national power, or war potential, the Western Divine Nation was far and away in the lead — three Southeast Divine Nations combined couldn’t match it.
But in Mountain Beyond the Mountain, the Western Divine Nation was absolutely not the strongest of all. At the very least, in front of the Eastern Divine Nation, ruled by the Eastern Divine Sovereign “God-Slayer,” the Western Divine Nation could never claim first in anything.
However arrogant or brash the strong of the Western Divine Nation might be, they could only think of their nation as equal-footed with the Eastern Divine Nation.
No one dared say I am the mightiest under heaven.
Not even the Western Divine Sovereign “Hei Zhou” had ever said such a thing…
Guhai’s naming was intended to shut Griffin Marshal and Golden Eagle General up. Of course, Guhai also had the intent of probing Yue Yang’s true identity. At this delicate juncture, he did not want to provoke this young man. As the Western Divine Nation’s Left Marshal, he was not one of those eyeless fools like his subordinate Hungry Ghost of the Five Great Villains or Big-Eared Bat of the Five Sense Generals — one glance and he could see that this young man was extraordinary and unfathomable.
“Your clan?” Yue Yang’s brow twitched. “Whatever kind of man I am, I have no interest in your battle. If you don’t provoke me, I don’t mind continuing to watch.”
“So long as you don’t lift a hand, the whole Tange can be given to you!” Guhai wanted exactly this line.
“Hmph, I’m not dead yet — the Tange doesn’t truly belong to your Western Divine Nation!” Griffin Marshal heard this and immediately laughed coldly. “What’s the point of giving away someone else’s property? Why don’t you present this young brother with your Western Divine Nation’s largest and mightiest hovering mothership, the ‘Dragon Eagle’? For a young brother as outstanding, as exceptional as this one, gifting a Tange is nothing short of an insult. Guhai, do you have the face to offer it?”
“Dragon Eagle is even bigger than the Tange? I like it!” Yue Yang, for his part, clapped his hands and laughed. “Of course, receiving the Tange isn’t bad either. When it comes to gifts, I’ve never refused one!”
“If the young brother requires it, we will capture the Dragon Eagle and present it to you as a first-meeting gift.” Golden Eagle General of course understood what Griffin Marshal meant. Griffin Marshal was using this to signal the young man about the war between the factions — right now the Western Divine Nation intended to annex the Southeast Divine Nation.
If this young man was of the clan or lineage of God-Slayer of the Eastern Divine Nation, he could not stand by and do nothing.
Of the Eight Great Divine Nations, the Eastern and Western Divine Nations stood at the head.
Whichever grew dominant would upset the balance between them.
The Eastern Divine Nation was the one least able to tolerate the Western Divine Nation’s growth — and even less able to tolerate the Western Divine Nation’s annexation of the Southeast Divine Nation, which the Western would then use as a bridgehead to press and threaten the Eastern Divine Nation further.
Yue Yang looked over the somewhat disheveled Griffin and Golden Eagle and smiled faintly: “The Dragon Eagle sounds fine, but I fear it won’t be easy to bring down, will it?”
Griffin Marshal answered, “The difficulty of bringing it down is the same as the difficulty of bringing down this Tange.”
Guhai laughed heartily: “I, this Marshal, only know one fact — the Tange is right here in front of us, while the Dragon Eagle is thousands upon thousands of li away! If this young brother can be a little patient, I guarantee that in less than three hours I will present the entire Tange to him. Griffin Marshal is someone I have always respected, but no matter how, as a senior you cannot casually lie, can you? That would be too disappointing!”
He was actively drawing Yue Yang onto his own side, pulling with all his strength.
So long as Yue Yang would not intervene.
Guhai was even willing to offer up an entire mothership.
Golden Eagle General immediately countered sarcastically: “I fear it won’t take three hours — the moment Wan’e arrives, he’ll strike a fatal blow at this young brother! Compared with Marshal Guhai’s habit of flipping his hand and turning his face, I personally think Griffin Marshal’s word is far more trustworthy!”
For a moment.
Both sides went at each other in a barrage of words — verbal spears and tongue-swords, sharp and pointed.
Though not as direct as coming to blows, in wits and cunning this was in fact the higher exchange.
Neither side could get a read on Yue Yang’s true faction or attitude, and neither wanted this young man siding with the enemy and becoming the variable that decided the game.
Whether Guhai, Griffin Marshal, or Golden Eagle Great General — none of them wanted to fight further. They temporarily halted and waited for their own reinforcements… They could see that whichever side this unfathomable young man joined, the advantage of the whole situation would tilt to that side. So even if they couldn’t win his support, they were unwilling to create bad blood with him.
Was Yue Yang a member of the Eastern Divine Nation God-Slayer’s clan?
This point was crucial.
But it was absolutely not the main reason for the pause in fighting. Because no matter which side this young man belonged to, the power behind him was clearly not to be trifled with. Without a great faction and deep bloodline, it was impossible to cultivate a young man like this!
The battle situation, all at once, ground into stalemate.
Everyone was waiting.
Including Yue Yang, who was also quietly awaiting the reaction of the “someone” spying from the darkness.
Back on the hovering mothership at this moment, the rock-paper-scissors match had produced a winner: little sister Death Reaper Mantis, Weilai! Through Beast Valley’s Rebirth Gate, Sacred ascension, super-Sacred ascension, plus divine-light bathing, the double illumination of the Ancient Gods’ Radiance and the Sacred Wisdom Fruit, and ascending together with her master after the defeat of the Solar King… the Weilai of today was no longer the mother’s premature-birth of years past, the frost-bitten little pitiful thing that could barely be hatched… Today’s Weilai was, among Yue Yang’s forces, after Hong and A-Man, the life-guardian war beast whose form and progress had transformed the most!
She, whose strength had originally been beneath Chaos Phantom’s, had long since far surpassed her companion, and had grown into a superpowered force capable of standing on her own.
Perhaps the current her still could not catch up with Xiao Wenli, Duoduo, and Chi-Dragon Woman Jiangying — those three.
But in combat power.
She could already stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the battle-hardened Hong, A-Man, and Yika.
“You all step back. No one is allowed to steal the kill — let me fight first. None of you can go back on your word, or else I’m telling Master!” Little sister Death Reaper Mantis’s move was something she’d learned from Gray Wolf. Fortunately Gray Wolf hadn’t come along on this trial, otherwise this little Weilai would have learned Gray Wolf’s shameless say-one-thing-do-another tactics too.
“Hurry up. I’m getting a little impatient.” Hong looked at her own hand in confusion, as though she couldn’t understand how she had lost.
A-Man was honest and easy to talk to.
Yika’s relationship with Weilai was usually good, so she stepped aside too.
Only Chaos Phantom was a little reluctant. She hovered back with difficulty — not because Evil-Eye Monkey had a taunting face, but because she had a bias for divine stones and had used many divine stones to make jewelry that she wore all over her body, glittering brightly, so that she looked like a giant firefly. Though Chaos Phantom had evolved countless times, her intelligence still couldn’t match Hong and A-Man’s, and toward gem crystals that contained enormous energy she had an innate fragility of will… Because Yue Yang had scolded her about it so many times, now even when she saw gemstones her first thought was no longer to swallow them; she’d developed some control, and could reluctantly make a choice.
Though Evil-Eye Monkey, Long-Tongue Lizard, and Slug were arrogant in attitude, they weren’t fools either.
Toward these seemingly weak women in front of them.
They knew this wouldn’t be easy.
“The one leading and the one with the horns might be a bit stronger. The two who haven’t grown up yet don’t count — but the fire one is worth watching out for.” Evil-Eye Monkey and his companions made their assessment. What made everyone’s jaws drop was that all three of them thought Chaos Phantom was the strongest, then Hong and A-Man, while as for Yika and Weilai, they didn’t consider them opponents at all.
“The one with the horns — I like her. Face has that heroic edge, a wild touch, body super-explosive, waist thin, legs long. Playing with her must be fantastic!” Long-Tongue Lizard whispered to his companions, calling dibs on A-Man — who had been reshaped by countless remoldings into a super beauty.
“She’s not bad, but I prefer the leader — the arrogant one, like a queen. If she picks up a whip… no, just thinking about it makes my nose bleed!” Slug clearly leaned toward Hong, of the Bloody Queen lineage. His view got Evil-Eye Monkey’s endorsement. Looking at Hong, Evil-Eye Monkey swallowed hard, his enormous eyeball lighting up: “The rest are yours. This girl I’m taking!”
“On whose authority?” Slug snorted coldly.
“I go first. She’s mine! Once I’ve had my fill, I’ll pass her to you!” Evil-Eye Monkey declared his willingness to fight first.
“Get lost — I don’t need you to fight. Both of the small ones are yours. This one’s mine. Don’t argue. I’ll make it up to you — a hundred more beauties, plus that fox-clan virgin you wanted last time. Whatever you want, I’ll give you — but this woman must be mine!” Slug laid down his terms, sparing no cost.
The two argued back and forth, deadlocked.
Neither would yield.
They very nearly came to blows. After Long-Tongue Lizard’s mediation, the two decided to shelve the dispute — capture first, negotiate later.
And while they were in the midst of their wishful thinking, little sister Death Reaper Mantis Weilai had, as Yue Yang always instructed, completed her warm-up and set everything the situation called for, waiting eagerly for battle to begin…
Wham!
The moment Evil-Eye Monkey leapt out — before he could even finish introducing himself — he ate a fist from Death Reaper Mantis right in the eye socket, so hard that stars burst in his vision!
(End of Chapter 1153)