Chapter 113 - 112: You Besiege a Point, I Strike the Reinforcements

Chapter 113: Chapter 112: You Besiege a Point, I Strike the Reinforcements

No one thought the Sword Sect Leader would fall, and certainly no one thought he would betray his own Sect.

And so, members of the Wenda Alliance used the Sword Sect Leader’s token to easily lure out the Peak Masters of the various peaks. After a sound beating, they were roped into joining the group.

The Peak Masters held high positions with deeply entrenched beliefs. After defeating them, it wasn’t easy to convince them just by saying that Star Shifting would increase their Skill Level.

After all, the method sounded too much like a joke, too unorthodox.

But the tricked Peak Masters were eventually persuaded. The Nascent Souls of the Upper Three Sects’ Leaders played a decisive role in this.

The Sect Leaders’ Nascent Souls were hanging from a tree. If you dared to resist, they’d skin you, debone you, and hang your Nascent Soul up there too...

Li Ye then arranged for a few moles to secretly egg them on, suggesting they feign surrender for now and find a chance to escape and report later.

This gave them an honorable way out, and the Peak Masters who didn’t want to die easily joined the Wenda Alliance.

...

A flexible Alliance Leader makes for flexible members.

The Alliance Leader built his enterprise on trickery and deceit, and his members were not to be outdone.

After following Li Ye for some time, the many members of the Wenda Alliance were left with a single principle: as long as the outcome was good, the process didn’t matter.

Useless morality would only hinder the progress of civilization.

Once the Elders of the Sword Sect experienced the pleasure of having their Skill Level increase from a sword in the kidney, they all changed their tune and couldn’t be driven away.

And so, the Sect Leader tricked the Peak Masters, the Peak Masters tricked the Elders, and the Elders tricked other Elders...

It formed a smooth assembly line.

For any Sect, the hardest thing to attack is its Mountain Defense Array.

But the Sword Sect was breached from within. From beginning to end, the Mountain Defense Array never played any role.

The Sword Sect, which just a few days ago had been conducting a massive search for Wenda Alliance spies and viewed the Alliance as a great menace, became a Wenda Alliance base in less than three days.

Even the sigil on the Mountain Gate was changed.

It was replaced with two swords flanking a giant watch face.

From top to bottom, everyone in the Sword Sect wore a watch, willingly becoming the Wenda Alliance’s minions.

...

The Sword Sect had thousands of disciples, with nearly eight hundred in the Divinity Transformation Realm. The number of Elders at the Void Refinement Realm and Harmonization Realm, accumulated over several thousand years, was over two hundred.

They were truly worthy of their title as one of the Upper Three Sects.

The Void Refinement and Harmonization Realm Elders in seclusion were dragged out by Li Ye and stabbed in the kidney. He helped them increase their Skill Level, solving their problem of stagnating cultivation and impending death.

Now, they had become Li Ye’s loyal minions, even more devoted than the original members of the Wenda Alliance.

By training with the thousands of Sword Sect disciples, Li Ye’s cultivation successfully broke through to the mid-stage of the Harmonization Realm.

Even without using his Derived Skills, he was now considered a top-tier expert in this world.

With the Sword Sect, one of the Upper Three Sects of the cultivation world, converted into a Wenda Alliance branch, the Demon Qi of the watch grew even stronger. The time it could control was now approaching twenty minutes.

The cooldown for Li Ye’s unique abilities—fast-forwarding, rewinding, and pausing time—had been reduced to three seconds, making them perfectly viable as primary skills.

...

The Sword Sect had disciples traveling all over the world.

Just as Qu Hao had discovered traces of the Wenda Alliance in its early days, the traveling disciples of the Upper Three Sects were responsible for gathering and relaying intelligence.

By taking over the Sword Sect, Li Ye’s external information channels were instantly established.

...

"The Wenda Alliance has swept through numerous Sects, taking their Divinity Transformation Realm Elders and leaving behind only disciples below the Nascent Soul realm."

"When campaigning against Sects, the Wenda Alliance uses deception to lure Elders out from their Sects..."

"The Wenda Alliance has captured the Fourth Elder of the Demon Sect. The Alliance Leader’s Skill Level is suspected to have broken through to the Harmonization Realm."

"The Wenda Alliance Leader used our Sect’s own Ten Thousand Swords Spell..."

"The Wenda Alliance is building branches everywhere, selling their watch tokens to the masses, and launching various initiatives. It seems they’re planning a major move."

"The Three Evil Sects mobilized their full force seven days ago and are heading straight for the Daoist Sect..."

...

The traveling Sword Sect disciples sent back a flood of intelligence, and nine out of every ten reports were about the Wenda Alliance.

Unfortunately, they were always one step behind Li Ye.

By the time this news arrived, the Sword Sect had already become a branch of the Wenda Alliance.

Reporting news about the Wenda Alliance to their masters, who had themselves joined the Wenda Alliance, was rather awkward for them, leaving them at a loss...

...

Of all the intelligence, the most useful was the piece about the Three Evil Sects, which was about what he had predicted.

After learning of his growth rate, the Ninth Elder had indeed gotten restless and was coming out to fight him to the death.

’As expected, it’s a conflict between higher-level Demon Qi.’

The conflict between the righteous Upper Three Sects and the Three Evil Sects had ultimately devolved into a head-on confrontation between two streams of Demon Qi...

The Ninth Elder’s Demon Qi had only been in this world for four years, while he himself had been here for just over four months, yet the two of them had already thrown the world into utter chaos.

Li Ye couldn’t help but wonder: just how powerful were the worlds where the natives had managed to deal with Demon Qi on their own?

...

"...Alliance Leader, the Three Evil Sects set out seven days ago. By my calculations, they should have reached the Daoist Sect by now. I implore you, Alliance Leader, to aid the Daoist Sect," the Daoist Sect Leader’s Nascent Soul pleaded anxiously.

He had been in charge of the Daoist Sect for over a thousand years; he couldn’t bear to watch it fall.

Besides, the Wenda Alliance was full of Sword Sect members now.

In the future, when the Alliance Leader underwent Ascension, if the Daoist Sect had fallen, he would have no one to rely on.

Even for building temples to gather faith, having disciples from his own Sect would make things much more convenient!

"It’s too late," Li Ye said, glancing at the Daoist Sect Leader. "It would take us at least three days to get to the Daoist Sect. By the time we arrive, the Ninth Elder will have already taken it.

"Rather than rush to the Daoist Sect for a head-on clash with the Three Evil Sects, we’d be better off going to the Buddhist Sect first to preserve more of the Upper Three Sects’ strength."

"A wise decision," the Buddhist Sect Leader said.

"Alliance Leader, the Daoist Sect has its Mountain Defense Array! If the Three Evil Sects launch a direct assault, it can hold out for at least ten days," the Daoist Sect Leader said urgently. "If we leave now, we can absolutely make it in time.

The Upper Three Sects are as one. With the Three Evil Sects attacking our mountain, the Buddhist Sect will surely come to the Daoist Sect’s aid once they get the news. If we go to the Daoist Sect, we can rendezvous with the Buddhist Sect’s forces.

"With your abilities, Alliance Leader, it wouldn’t be difficult to gather the strength of all three Sects to repel, and even defeat, the Three Evil Sects."

"You’re saying the Buddhist Sect will go to reinforce the Daoist Sect?" Li Ye’s eyes lit up. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"Yes," the Daoist Sect Leader affirmed.

"Perfect. Then we don’t even need to go to the Buddhist Sect. We just need to ambush them on their way to reinforce the Daoist Sect, and we can take them all down in one go," Li Ye said.

The Daoist Sect Leader was speechless.

The Buddhist Sect Leader was speechless.

"Don’t look at me like that. If they don’t join the Wenda Alliance, I can’t use Star Shifting to help them increase their Skill Level. To defeat the Ninth Elder, all three Sects must join the Wenda Alliance," Li Ye said. "After we intercept the Buddhist Sect, we’ll change course and strike the Three Evil Sects’ stronghold, catching them completely by surprise."

"Attack the Three Evil Sects’ stronghold?" The Daoist Sect Leader was stunned. "What about the Daoist Sect?"

"Old Zhu, this *is* helping the Daoist Sect!" Li Ye laughed. "The Ninth Elder has led all the experts of the Three Evil Sects out. If we clash with him head-on, the Wenda Alliance will inevitably suffer heavy casualties. But their stronghold is now undefended. If we attack it, they’ll panic and rush back to defend their home base. The Daoist Sect’s crisis will resolve itself."

"But if we leave, won’t the Sword Sect and Buddhist Sect be just as undefended?" said the Sword Sect Leader.

"Yes, Alliance Leader! The Sword Sect is our legacy of ten thousand years! It can’t be destroyed on our watch!" the Peak Masters and Elders of the Sword Sect all chimed in.

"Everyone, given the Wenda Alliance’s current method of cultivation, what’s the point of holding onto a Sect?" Li Ye asked, looking at the crowd strangely. "As long as we keep fighting, everyone’s Skill Level will continuously increase.

"We fuel our growth with battle. A few days of fighting outside is equivalent to a hundred years of bitter cultivation in your Sect. Why are you still so attached to this mountain?"

At these words, everyone was stunned.

That’s right!

A single battle could increase everyone’s Skill Level by twenty percent. It was simple, fast, and had no negative side effects. Why would they still covet a Sect?

"In the future, when your Skill Level reaches Great Success, you can turn your efforts to the Mortal World to cultivate Wish Power and pursue Ascension. You’ll need a Sect even less then," Li Ye said. "The Wenda Alliance’s philosophy is to engage with the world. Some outdated ideas just need to be thrown away."

"The Alliance Leader’s teachings are wise," everyone hurriedly agreed.

"Alliance Leader, what about the Daoist Sect? What if the Three Evil Sects don’t return to defend their base?" The Daoist Sect Leader was still the most anxious. "There are still thousands of disciples in the Daoist Sect. If we don’t go to their aid, I’m afraid they will all be killed by the Three Evil Sects."

"They will," Li Ye said, shaking his head with a calm expression. "If we turn around to attack the Three Evil Sects, the Ninth Elder will definitely chase us."

"Why?" The Daoist Sect Leader had completely lost the ability to think clearly. "All his top fighters are with him. He could easily conquer the Upper Three Sects first and then go back to save the Three Evil Sects. By then, the Upper Three Sects would be down one member, and they would still have the advantage..."

"Because the Ninth Elder knows I have the Star Shifting Divine Ability," Li ye interrupted the Daoist Sect Leader. "The only reason he’s attacking the Daoist Sect is to force me into a decisive battle with him.

The more we fight, the stronger we get. The longer this drags on, the more it benefits us.

Even if he uses his Puppet Silk to control all the masters of the Daoist Sect, their strength will remain fixed.

As they stagnate and we grow, he won’t dare give us time to develop. He will definitely chase after us, forcing a final confrontation in the shortest time possible."

"But the Daoist Sect..."

The Daoist Sect Leader tried to speak again but was ruthlessly cut off by Li Ye. "Old Zhu, those who aim for great things can’t get bogged down in trivialities. You know my own strength isn’t that great. What if I fall while trying to rescue the Daoist Sect?

What will happen to everyone in the Wenda Alliance? Can you help them increase their Skill Level? I have to consider the greater good."

Li Ye played the "greater good" card, and the Daoist Sect Leader was left with no room to argue.

"Fellow Daoist Zhu, the Alliance Leader is right. Once we’ve all raised our Skill Level and cultivation realms, we might even be able to exterminate the Three Evil Sects directly," the Buddhist Sect Leader said consolingly after a moment of silence.

"Old Zhu, with the Alliance Leader here, helping you rebuild the Daoist Sect will be as easy as flipping a hand," the Sword Sect Leader added, trying to persuade him.

Between the lines, it was clear: the Daoist Sect had already been sacrificed.

"I... SIGH!" The Daoist Sect Leader let out a long sigh. "Very well. I will follow the Alliance Leader’s arrangements."

"Good. It’s settled then." Li Ye stood up. "Peak Masters, quickly gather all disciples at the Divinity Transformation Realm and above. We will go intercept the Buddhist Sect’s reinforcements on their way to the Daoist Sect. Speed is of the essence. After we take down the Buddhist Sect, we will make for the Three Evil Sects’ base.

All disciples below the Nascent Soul realm are to go to the Mortal World and help Qu Hao and the others promote the Wenda Alliance.

Pack all of the Sword Sect’s portable resources into Storage Pouches and take them with you. We’re scorching the earth, leaving nothing behind for the Three Evil Sects."

"Yes, sir," the Peak Masters replied, taking their leave.

Li Ye looked in the direction of the Daoist Sect and shook his head. ’Ninth Elder, you want a decisive battle? Why should I fight one just because you want to?’

’A Time Traveler never fights a battle they aren’t certain of winning...’