Chapter 96 - A Brilliant and Ingenious Plan
Chapter 96: A Brilliant and Ingenious Plan
The fiend army’s stationing on Prodigious Fruit Mountain went without a hassle. Since this was Yan Mountain, if any wanted to cause havoc, then he must have had a death wish. Fiends were a frank and straightforward race. Since they entered Yan Mountain as its soldiers, then they were fully aware of their responsibilities.
Yan Mountain’s disciples weren’t biased towards their own race since there were many fiends among them who couldn’t assume human form. On Yan Mountain men and fiends were equals.
This was quite an unusual behavior for the human and fiend races nearby Myriad Mountains. Not many fights broke between them, and many humans were even taking shelter among the fiends.
An ancient immortal sect, like Astral Immortal Sect, wouldn’t just sit and let this happen. They kept watch of the center of this land, and for them, killing fiends and banishing demons was the norm of the day. But this didn’t seem to have taken any hold in a small and fringe area like Myriad Mountains.
There was no secret Yan Mountain’s fiend army was coming over, not even the fact that they were changing their cultivation method.
Yan Mountain’s disciples who carried out tasks, or wondered around its lands, were guarded by the fiend army. They were able to refine and cultivate in safety all because these Great Fiends shed their blood and lives to protect them.
After the Great Fiends arrived on Prodigious Fruit Mountain, the disciples didn’t scheme or anything. Since you did good by me, I shall do good by you. They decided that once their refining quota was achieved, they would make an extra batch and give them to the Great Fiends.
Looking at the pills in their hands, the Great Fiends were moved by their kindness. Yan Mountain disciples were young after all, and even a few of the fiends among them were their cousins.
Chen Ming, on the other hand, was now refining recovery pills along with Chen Lingyu. He even carefully wrote the details regarding the commonly used Dao Initiation realm Mending Pill for his disciples to use.
On this day, Black Python rushed to see Chen Ming, “Mountain Lord, Moon King Hall sent its envoy, and asks for an audience!”
Chen Ming frowned, “Moon King Hall? Who is that?”
“Moon King Hall is the largest power in our vicinity. The leader is even a Grand Archfiend, known as Moon Fiend. And Our Yan Mountain is in Moon King Hall’s surroundings. Usually, such power like ours wouldn’t raise Moon King Hall’s attention. Perhaps it’s because we annihilated Prodigious Fruit Mountain too swiftly.”
“Then let us go an see this Moon King Hall’s envoy.”
Yan Mountain’s headquarters was by no means exposed. Its official palace was placed outside of it.
At the external palace, Chen Ming caught sight of an old man dressed in Daoist robes, with a crescent moon painted on his back.
Despite having noticed Chen Ming, the old man ignored him, as he kept wandering around the palace. Only to finally, with great fanfare, sit in the Mountain Lord’s seat. The old man showed disdain as he gazed upon Chen Ming, “Are you Yan Mountain’s Lord, Chen Ming?”
Chen Ming had some dissatisfaction with this hight and mighty old man, “This humble person is indeed the lord.”
The old man glowered at Chen Ming, barking, “What? You still aren’t kneeling at the presence of Moon King Hall’s envoy? Are you disrespectful towards Moon King Hall’s decree?”
Chen Ming shook his head. “Forgive me, my legs are stiff and can’t kneel.”
The old man smiled, “The young are dauntless indeed. But are you aware of how fortunate you will soon be?”
Chen Ming shook his head, “I’m not keen on knowing.”
The old man laughed hard, “A wicked place breeds wicked people, not even hearing of Lord Moon Fiend’s might! Engrave this in your mind, Lord Moon Fiend has a marvelous reputation even among the Myriad Mountains. While you are just an ant! This is a rare chance Lord Moon Fiend is giving you. Take the Bones of the Taotie along with all your Archfiends towards Moon King Hall, and you will have the honor of kneeling before Lord Moon Fiend!”
Chen Ming sensed something was off. The other party even knew of Bones of the Taotie and came prepared, “In other words, what you’re trying to say is, groveling before you is all for the chance to kneel later?”
The old man nodded, “Correct, you seem to still have a good head on your shoulders.”
“Then what will happen to Yan Mountain when all the Archfiends are leaving for Moon King Hall?”
“It will be handled by one from Moon King Hall of course.”
Chen Ming now had a clear picture. What going to Moon King Hall? Prison was more like it. Then all of Yan Mountain would belong to Moon King Hall.
To be frank, Chen Ming had no intention of fighting, not to mention a Grand Archfiend at that. But he didn’t give Chen Ming anyway out, wanting to swallow him whole, destroy everything he had, and still become Moon King Hall’s lap dog.
Chen Ming said, “What you mean is, if I don’t agree, I’m not even qualified to live in Myriad Mountains?”
The old man smiled in disdain, “Not only Myriad Mountains, but you won’t be able to stand no matter what place you end up in!”
Chen Ming waved his hand, “In that case, we’ll just have to fight for our right.”
The old man was stunned, his face shifting between blue and white. Even among the Moon King Hall’s subordinates, this was the first he ever came head to head with such a stubborn Archfiend! “Humph, since you seek death then let me oblige!”
He waved his sleeve and left enraged.
Chen Ming looked towards Black Tiger and Black Python beside him, “What do you think?”
Black Tiger replied, “Actually, I wanted to smash this old geezer to a pulp, but that will turn the entire Moon King Hall on us. If Moon King Hall would use all its assets to fight us, we will lose, so I let this geezer go!”
Black Python gave a faint smile, “If Moon King Hall sends a Divine Palace Archfiend, we might be able to survive!”
Chen Ming was thrilled, they didn’t feel any fear from the path he chose to thread, “Good, take eight hundred thousand spirit stones from Yan Mountain for the fiend army to hasten their change to the new cultivation method. Just a mere Grand Archfiend. It won’t be long before even Myriad Mountains’ Grand Archfiend will fall at my feet!”
The envoy returned to Moon King Hall and relayed the news to Moon Fiend. He appeared to be a young man of only twenty-four years, with a crescent moon on his forehead and moonlight flickering all over his Daoist robe. The Moon Fiend looked upon his commander, Archfiend Stag, and asked, “Great Venerable, what do you make of this?”
This Great Venerable the Moon Fiend was speaking of was precisely Fiend General Stag who fled from before. After meeting Stag, Moon Fiend came to know the extensive knowledge he had regarding war strategies and felt like he looked at himself. Stag has sworn his allegiance to Moon Fiend, who made him a Great Venerable and helped him become an Archfiend. Stag took a moment to ruminate, “Yan Mountain is just a hard bone to crack. They only took three days to win against Prodigious Fruit Mountain. They have a favorable location, and also knowledge of its lands. If we attack, even with throwing everything Moon King Hall has, it will incur substantial losses.”
Moon Fiend contemplated, “Then what is there to be done? Great Venerable, what is our plan?”
Stag stroked his beard and smiled, “Yan Mountain isn’t the only one with a Divine Palace Archfiend among the lands Moon King Hall controls. Lord Moon Fiend only needs to send a kill order, and the Divine Palace Archfiend to pulverize Yan Mountain is allowed entry in the Moon King Hall. They will surely fight to the bitter end for this opportunity. When Yan Mountain is on the brink of collapse, Lord Moon Fiend would swoop in and crush them, taking all the credit and boasting an incredible feat. As for that Divine Palace Archfiend, he is only trash, unworthy of your favor!
Moon Fiend laughed, “What a brilliant and ingenious plan! With Great Venerable at my side, our power knows no equal!”