The Soul Evoking Bell could be considered as Feng Yunsheng’s spoil of war.

This wasn’t Yan Zhaoge’s favoritism acting up, but the factual truth.

Feng Yunsheng didn’t think it wise to reject it. After thinking for a while, she smiled and said, “Alright.”

As the two chatted, they continued venturing back to the Awakened Sky Cosmos, returning to the Sky beyond Skies.

Xu Fei, Gao Qingxuan, and the others had already returned much earlier. Currently, Xu Fei, Yan Zhaoge’s North Ocean Clone, and Pan-Pan were conditioning themselves in seclusion.

Gao Qingxuan visited the Broad Creed Mountain and remained in wait for Yan Zhaoge and Feng Yunsheng’s return.

After the two sides met up, Yan Zhaoge merely talked about the problems concerning the Immortal Ending Sword. He left out the topic related to Yang Jian entirely.

Of course, it wasn’t that he distrusted Gao Qingxuan, Xue Chuqing, and the others. Instead, with how the current situation fared, it would be beneficial if fewer people knew of this matter.

The more people made aware of this, the more traces and clues it would leave behind, giving their foes a much easier time to calculate everything through divination.

Gao Qingxuan and the others were well aware of this.

Just listening to the matters of the Immortal Ending Sword alone had already left a weighty feeling in their hearts.

“We can’t be too sure if any changes will happen in this plan. Only time will tell.” Yan Zhaoge said, “Let’s pretend to remain ignorant and hope for a chance of counterplan.”

Xue Chuqing, Gao Qingxuan, and others all nodded slowly.

“Then, let us put up an act span forty-nine years.” Gao Qingxuan stood up, “If your words hold true, then the few Dao Ancestors should’ve already made out the precise timing in between the two times you conducted the ritual.”

Yan Zhaoge nodded, “Right. Since the ritual can be conducted in another forty-nine years at minimum, if the heretics plan on luring us, that would be the ideal time to lay down the bait. It’s also when the bait is thrown out that we’ll finally have an opportunity to grab it. Otherwise, if they focused solely on hiding the Immortal Ending Sword, chances would become nigh none for us.”

“Nevertheless, we still have to react according to the situation.” Xue Chuqing said, “In the next following years, we have to pay close attention to the skirmishes between the two heretic factions.”

After telling the complications regarding the Immortal Ending Sword, Xue Chuqing told the two about the most recent battle outcome happening between the heretics.

As Yan Zhaoge’s group searched for the Immortal Extermination Sword, the battle between the Immortal Court and the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus continued as intensely as ever.

Due to the Humanly Essence Stone fragment of the Taiyi Nirvana Heavenly Lord fifty years ago, the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord and the Future Buddha had been busy contending against each other.

After the Future Buddha obtained the Humanly Essence Stone fragment, the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord was reluctant to give up just like that, thus the battle against the Future Buddha lasted until now.

The Immortal Court, the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus, and even the Western Pure Lands and the Demon Race had been fighting against each other non-stop, experiencing countless victories and defeats in the process.

While others couldn’t affect the conclusion of the battle between the two fellow Dao Ancestors, the fight for faith power between the two heretic factions became even more zealous.

If one side’s losses exceeded what they could afford to, their faction’s Dao Ancestor could even provide aid personally.

With this, the fight happening between the two Dao Ancestors would be affected.

The Immortal Court and the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus had been in a large-scale war that pressed on for close to fifty years.

Among the history of recorded battles between the two sides, some wars did last up to a hundred years or more, but they were of an extreme minority.

Fifty years of continuous war was already considered rare.

After all, to keep the faith power in check, other than the war of faithful devotion, rest was also crucial. So knowing when to press further and retreat was the norm for them.

However, since it was related to the Humanly Essence Stone, the two factions decided to go all-out in the waged war.

The appearance of the Immortal Extermination Sword was but a mere insignificant incident.

“The Demon Race and the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus deployed more experts to snatch for the Immortal Extermination Sword, hence resulting in a weaker stance during this warfare,” said Xue Chuqing.

Yin Jiao represented the Immortal Court, while the Sword Master of the Six Paths – Qu Su represented the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus.

Although Yin Jiao had already made his name known during the Ancient era, he was still weaker than Qu Su, despite both of them being heretic Heavenly Immortals.

With the two of them absent, it would undoubtedly deal a massive blow against the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus.

The Blessed Lands of the White Lotus held the advantage of numbers when comparing the number of Grand Heavenly Realms and Grand Virtual Realms.

While the absence of Qu Su was of notable influence, it would at most nullify their advantageous position, returning them to equal grounds with the Immortal Court. Ultimately, the results were still acceptable.

The side which could influence the entire battle was the Demon Race.

The Yellow Wind Demon, the Spiritual Tusk Immortal, and the Drake-Headed Immortal left together to snatch the Immortal Extermination Sword.

Meanwhile, only the Red Inferno Dhvaja Potante Buddha was deployed from the Western Pure Lands.

Hence, the Demon Race was forced to use other methods to fill in for them.

The Western Pure Lands used this opportunity to their advantage.

This had affected the battle between the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord and the Future Buddha directly, forcing the Future Buddha to spend more of his attention on the conquered lands in the Immortal Court.

Facing the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord’s pressing pressure, the Future Buddha had no time to refine the Humanly Essence Stone.

Worse still, a total of four Grand Heavenly Realm experts were dispatched from the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus and the Demon Race, yet not only were they unable to bring back the Immortal Extermination Sword, but even the Spiritual Tusk Immortal’s life was also lost in the process.

While the Red Inferno Dhvaja Potentate Buddha suffered from grave injuries and was forced to stay out of the battlefield for a while, the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus and the Demon Race were in a far disadvantageous position.

“Previously, I thought that the heretics and orthodox Buddhists merely prioritized the Humanly Essence Stone fragment even more and were merely trying their luck with the Immortal Extermination Sword.” Xue Chuqing said, “From the looks of it now, that wasn’t the case and was instead the plan they had all along.”

“Correct. They didn’t prioritize the Humanly Essence Stone fragment even more, but was instead the other way around.” Yan Zhaoge pondered for a moment and said, “I’m guessing that the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord might continue fighting against the Future Buddha like this until forty-nine years later after we are able to search for the Immortal Ending Sword.”

Feng Yunsheng, Xue Chuqing, and Gao Qingxuan’s gazes became stern as they understood what Yan Zhaoge had just stated, “When that time comes, he will give up on the Humanly Essence Stone, and suddenly turn around to deal with us.”

If things ran smoothly, the Immortal Court could obtain the Immortal Extermination Four Swords, as well as the complete Immortal Extermination Formation.

Its value far surpassed that of a mere Humanly Essence Stone fragment.

“As the two heretic factions continue fighting against each other, our orthodox Daoism will have much more freedom, just like how we searched for the Immortal Extermination Sword.” Yan Zhaoge’s mouth curled into a smile, “When searching for the Immortal Ending Sword if by chance their war has yet to end, our peers will become more daring with our actions.”

A luring bait in disguise.

“Our enemies should be thinking nothing of our recent commotions, as they would just deal with everything forty-nine years later?” Yan Zhaoge laughed in self-mockery as this thought crossed his mind.

He shook his head and said, “Let us pay close attention to the battle between the heretic factions.”

…

Within the Western Pure Lands, within a Land of Buddhism, the Dipankara Archaic Buddha was sitting atop a green lotus, deeply dwelling in his thoughts as his eyes remained shut.

After a long while, he widened his eyes and muttered, “… Isn’t it too early?”

The Budha stood up from the green lotus and left his Land of Buddhism, heading toward the core location of the Western Pure Lands.

“Namo Amitabha, I implore the venerated Buddha to bestow me with directions to the Tushita Palace.”