The entire situation at the Earth Spirit Spring changed drastically overnight.
All the major forces at the upstream and the spring eye were annihilated overnight. Their rulers either died or fled, leaving only the alliance of Xu Mu and Wanyan Zhenyao to dominate.
Consequently, many forces in the middle and lower reaches of the Earth Spirit Spring also submitted applications to join the alliance.
However, having too many people is not always a good thing. Alliances need time to integrate. Managing a team of a thousand people was already difficult, so after much deliberation between Xu Mu, Wanyan Zhenyao, and a large number of strong cultivators within the alliance, they decided not to accept any new members and to focus solely on the integration and training of the current cultivators.
This integration process took a full two days.
During these two days, Wanyan Zhenyao, using his innate understanding of military strategy, implemented a four-stage selection and assessment process. This eliminated many opportunistic individuals with potential threats of rebellion and also those who were heavily injured or weak.
Ultimately, the alliance settled at twelve hundred and thirty members.
Under Wanyan Zhenyao's leadership, these twelve hundred and thirty individuals progressed rapidly. The battle formation training was highly effective, and they began to resemble a small army.
Thus, two mornings later, Xu Mu led the newly integrated twelve hundred and thirty people, following a pre-planned route, and quietly advanced towards Shou Ding Mountain.
...
Another day passed.
The Gathering Spirit Sacred Land, Shou Ding Mountain.
It was a scene of devastation, with ruins and rubble everywhere. Trees and stones lay shattered by the ruthless force of abilities, and countless traces of blood and corpses littered the ground.
The outer perimeter, the central area, and the core – all were in the same state. Nearly every named force in Shou Ding Mountain had been plundered.
The plunderers were the two ghost kings who ruled this place: the elder, Wei Daoxuan, and the third, Wei Daoyue.
Two days prior, Ling Shu had used a spatial teleportation array to deliver the news of Wei Daolin's death. Upon confirmation, the two ghost kings immediately decided to seek revenge on Xu Mu.
However, due to the long distance, the journey back and forth would take too much time, potentially jeopardizing the point-scoring mission assigned to them by Ye Palace. Therefore, Wei Daoxuan and Wei Daoyue decided to first raze Shou Ding Mountain before heading to the Earth Spirit Spring to exact their revenge on Xu Mu.
Their alliance, an incredibly powerful thousand-strong team, launched a surprise attack under the cover of night. They defeated and plundered nearly every force they encountered along the way, sweeping through the entirety of Shou Ding Mountain, eliminating countless participating contestants, and wreaking havoc.
After all this, they were severely weakened and planned to recuperate for a day before seeking revenge on Xu Mu.
Wei Daoxuan and Wei Daoyue saw no issue with this and were not worried about Xu Mu launching a surprise attack while they were weakened. According to Ling Shu's account, the Earth Spirit Spring had also experienced a major battle, and the opposing alliance consisted of only three hundred people, all of whom were heavily injured.
Even if they absorbed members from other factions, they would merely be a rabble of uncoordinated soldiers, incapable of posing a significant threat.
However, they had not anticipated that Wanyan Zhenyao possessed a talent for leadership that surpassed everyone's expectations. He had managed the newly formed alliance with remarkable order. Moreover, they had set out a day prior to attack Shou Ding Mountain.
Based on the timeline, if everything went as planned, they should arrive around noon today.
And at this very moment, both Wei Daoxuan and Wei Daoyue were in a state of exhaustion.
They were unaware that danger was silently approaching.
...
...
They were not the only ones in danger; Xu Mu was too.
Or rather, Xu Mu was the most dangerous one, as all his actions had been witnessed by those outside the Pure Void Secret Realm.
Countless sects and forces gathered within the twenty great domains ruled by the four great families of Wang, Qi, Jiang, and Ye, watched the projected image screen in the sky almost non-stop, afraid of missing even a moment of the spectacle.
Thus, they all learned that Feng Xiu, the son of the Domain Lord Feng Tian, had died. He had escaped the secret realm via teleportation, but ultimately, only a corpse had emerged.
The killer was Xu Mu, or rather, Mu Xu of the Jiang family.
Upon learning of this, the Domain Lord Feng Tian was reportedly rushing back from the Far North, vowing to make the Jiang family pay, and refused to listen to any explanations from the Jiang family's higher-ups.
The Jiang family's leadership was in a difficult position. They had not expected an inconspicuous outsider from their own family to cause them such immense trouble.
While the Domain Lord Feng Tian's strength was not enough to annihilate the Jiang family, being entangled with such a top-tier rogue cultivator domain lord would likely cost them dearly this time.
However, they thought this would be the end of it. No one expected this Mu Xu to then appear at the Gathering Spirit Sacred Land and kill Wei Daolin, who ruled the Earth Spirit Spring.
The fleeting ink-black shadow seen on the water screen in the darkness startled everyone. They tried to discern what kind of ability it was, but due to the suddenness of the event, no one clearly saw that it was actually a blade.
And then, they witnessed the carnage at Shou Ding Mountain, and saw Xu Mu leading a thousand-person team on a long march towards Shou Ding Mountain.
Even the Jiang family members themselves were surprised that after killing Wei Daolin, Xu Mu did not flee or defend himself, but chose to take the initiative.
The Ye family and the Qi family, upon witnessing this, immediately concluded that this "Mu Xu" must be a formidable individual dispatched by the Jiang family to intercept Ye Palace, otherwise, his target would not have been so clearly aimed at the three ghost kings.
Once this theory was proposed, everyone believed it without question. Even the Jiang family's high command was largely convinced. They questioned Jiang Liyun, asking if Mu Xu was their hidden trump card, and how they should deal with the trouble caused by this trump card who had offended the Domain Lord Feng Tian.
In reality, Jiang Liyun also did not know what to do, as he himself had no idea who Xu Mu was.
However, for the sake of his reputation and to cover for Jiang Zheye, Jiang Liyun had no choice but to bear this burden and admit to the outside world that Xu Mu was indeed someone he had placed within.
In response, Jiang Li could only awkwardly scratch his head.
Gongsun Jingming of the Medicine King Valley also inwardly cursed Jiang Liyun for his shamelessness.
But regardless, Xu Mu had now truly been exposed to the major forces. Although he had disguised himself and was not wielding his blade or his cat, his situation remained extremely perilous.
Because even if he was not "Xu Mu," but merely "Mu Xu," there were still many who wished to kill him.
At this moment, Xu Mu within the Pure Void Secret Realm was steadily approaching Shou Ding Mountain. In the subsequent battles, if he were to accidentally reveal his identity, then after this round of competition concluded, he would face an incredibly terrifying encirclement and killing.
And even if his identity was not exposed, it would still be extremely dangerous, because he had killed Feng Xiu, and because the dwarf Degar had already seen through his identity.
They would not easily let Xu Mu go.
But of these matters, Xu Mu, deep within the Pure Void Secret Realm, was completely unaware.
All he knew was that the sun today was exceptionally hot and blinding, the passing streams were somewhat murky, and the mountain forest, far from having fresh air, carried a hint of blood.
Thus, without even looking at a map, he knew that he was very, very close to Shou Ding Mountain!
...