227: Chapter 221 Internal Strife Between the Two Ancient Clans

When Hun Tiandi arrived, before he could ask, Ling Yuan stepped forward and took the initiative to explain the reason for the retreat.

"Clan Chief Hun, the situation just now was truly too dangerous. The combat power of the Ancient Emperor's remnant soul far exceeded our expectations, and under the reinforcement of the Gu, Yan, and Lei Clans' grand formation, the suppression was terrifying. My father-in-law withstood several rounds of attacks and nearly died, falling into a perilous situation. We were truly unable to fight head-on, so we had no choice but to retreat decisively."

Hun Tiandi and Void Swallowing Flame looked at Zhu Kun, thinking: "Nearly died, my foot." With Zhu Kun's Physical Body defense, that attack just now was at best like scraping skin; it didn't even break the surface. It was pure, open-eyed lying.

Although Hun Tiandi was unhappy about being sold out, he showed no anger on his face. Instead, he smiled and said, "Nephew Ling Yuan, no need to say more. I can understand this. The hidden trump cards of the Gu Clan indeed exceeded all of our expectations. I was just worrying that Brother Zhu might be injured in a reckless fight, affecting the overall situation. Your timely retreat actually aligns with my wishes."

Ling Yuan looked at his smiling, unflappable appearance and secretly muttered to himself: "What a smiling tiger..."

Next, Ling Yuan took the opportunity to state his subsequent battle plan.

"To be safe, let's continue with our clever tactics. Two hours later, we will attack again. If they summon the remnant soul, we will immediately retreat and not engage in a drawn-out fight. Like this, as long as we spend some time, we will definitely be able to wear the Gu Clan to death!"

Hun Tiandi first nodded in agreement with Ling Yuan's tactics, then offered his opinion: "My nephew's method is indeed steady and flawless. However, consuming them slowly like this takes too long and has too many variables."

"In my opinion, why don't you and I send messages to our respective clans and summon all our Seven-Star Dou Sheng experts to gather here? With our full force pressing down, we can flatten the Ancient World in one go. This would not only end the war quickly but also completely seal off Gu Yuan's retreat, preventing any accidents."

This was the second time Hun Tiandi had proposed gathering all forces for battle.

Ling Yuan was clear-headed and would absolutely not fall for it.

He was a Transmigration user and knew the Hun Clan's strength was very high.

If he brought experts over, once the Gu Clan was destroyed, they would very likely be ambushed by Hun Tiandi.

Right now, there were only him and Zhu Kun; if anything went wrong, they could just run.

But if experts from the Ling Clan and the Taixu Ancient Dragon Clan all came, dragging their families along, it would be very troublesome and dangerous.

Ling Yuan lied through his teeth: "It's not that I don't want to, but it's really unfortunate. Recently, the Seven-Star Dou Sheng experts of the Ling Clan and the Taixu Ancient Dragon Clan are all stuck at the bottleneck of a Breakthrough, in seclusion to reach a higher Realm. They simply cannot free themselves and cannot come to support. Why doesn't Clan Chief Hun mobilize the Hun Clan experts to come?"

Both of them were cunning individuals and knew what the other was trying to do.

What the excuse for refusal was didn't actually matter; anything would do.

Hun Tiandi: "Hehe, isn't that a coincidence? Hun Tu and Hun Yan are also attempting a Breakthrough to Eight Star Dou Sheng and cannot free themselves either."

Ling Yuan didn't want to exert effort, and Hun Tiandi didn't want to let his subordinates take risks in vain.

"Hehe."

"Hehe."

After these two laughs, they both understood each other and stopped mentioning gathering clan experts.

"Since that's the case, if Clan Chief Hun has no other plans, let's do it my way."

"Good!"

Ling Yuan didn't want to let the Gu Clan go, and Hun Tiandi couldn't just give up the opportunity to destroy the Gu Clan.

In this aspect, the two rarely reached a consensus.

Ling Yuan's tactics would exhaust the Gu Clan's Dou Di Bloodline in at most a few months.

Hun Tiandi had waited for over a thousand years; a few months was a trivial matter.

Thus, the plan was settled, and they would proceed as Ling Yuan suggested.

They would grind slowly; there was no rush anyway.

Subsequently, the four withdrew from the Ancient World battlefield to rest and recover temporarily.

The experts of the Gu, Yan, and Lei Clans breathed a sigh of relief but also felt aggrieved in their hearts.

From the beginning of the war until now, they had been passively taking hits the whole time, completely led by the nose by their opponents.

The enemy came and fought whenever they wanted; once the battle situation was unfavorable, they could turn and retreat calmly, and they had no way to stop them at all.

Wasn't that aggrieved?

The enemy retreated, and Gu Yuan and Lei Ying bowed respectfully to the two remaining phantom images in the Void Realm.

"Thank you, Old Ancestor, for your help today. Farewell, Old Ancestor!"

As the words fell, the phantom images of the Ancient Emperor and Emperor Lei gradually faded until they disappeared.

In this battle, all three clans suffered losses, but the heaviest loss was definitely the Lei Clan.

The Grand Elder of the Lei Clan had died, and Lei Ying was extremely furious.

Rather than finding reasons within himself, he chose to blame others.

"Gu Yuan, why didn't you summon the Ancient Emperor earlier!"

"If you had acted to suppress them earlier, how could our clan's Grand Elder have fallen? We would not have suffered such a huge loss at all!"

Gu Yuan: "Brother Lei, I thought Brother Yan could summon the Flame Emperor, and I didn't expect that Ling Yuan's strength would be so great. This matter cannot be blamed entirely on me..."

An Alliance is ultimately just an Alliance and cannot be of one heart.

The bond of life and death is just a combination of interests forced together by the pressure of external enemies.

With external enemies present, they are forced to unite against them; but once huge losses and casualties occur, internal conflicts and suspicion will explode instantly.

Just like Ling Yuan and Hun Tiandi guarding against each other and harboring their own ulterior motives, the seed of estrangement was completely sown between the Gu Clan and the Lei Clan because of the strategic errors and heavy losses in this battle.

Five hours later, the Gu Clan and the Lei Clan were still arguing.

Ling Yuan, Hun Tiandi, and the other two had already recovered their Qi and returned to the Ancient World.

Gu Yuan immediately sensed four terrifying auras approaching rapidly, his expression changed drastically, and he instantly stopped the argument.

"Not good! They are back!"

The experts of the Lei Clan and Yan Clan nearby heard this, their expressions all tightening.

"What? Didn't they just leave?"

With the powerful enemy pressing down again, the internal arguments had to be temporarily shelved.

The Gu, Yan, and Lei Clans were forced to put aside their conflicts, reconsolidate their defensive lines, and unite against the outside.

Gu Yuan: "Ling Yuan, Hun Tiandi, is the lesson of being chased by us and fleeing in panic not enough? You actually dare to come again!"

Ling Yuan heard this, spread his hands, and with a faint smile on his face, said: "You lost several Dou Sheng, including a Seven-Star Dou Sheng, while we lost nothing. Gu Yuan, why would you think we are the ones at a disadvantage?"

This sentence instantly hit a sore spot.

Lei Ying looked at Gu Yuan, his eyes filled with dissatisfaction again.

Gu Yuan noticed his gaze, his heart tightened, and he quickly spoke to stabilize the situation.

"Brother Lei, with a powerful enemy currently present, we must avoid infighting! Do not let the other party's words disturb our minds or sow discord. We must work together to repel the external enemy first!"

Gu Yuan was right; the current situation did not allow for infighting.

Lei Ying could only forcibly suppress the resentment and dissatisfaction in his heart, transferring all his hatred to Ling Yuan and Zhu Kun.

All of the Lei Clan's losses today and the tragic death of the Grand Elder would be settled and avenged by finding these two!

Without any hesitation, Lei Ying immediately ordered sternly.

"All Lei Clan members, summon Emperor Lei together."

Gu Yuan also immediately issued the order synchronously.

"Gu Clan members, listen to the order, summon the Ancient Emperor!"

Last time, it was because the Old Ancestor's remnant soul was summoned too late that they were ambushed by Ling Yuan and Zhu Kun, vainly sacrificing many Dou Sheng.

Having suffered a great loss once, the two clans had completely learned their lesson.

Now, before the battle started, they would summon the Old Ancestor first.

However, they were completely unaware that their actions were exactly what Ling Yuan wanted.

Whether they summoned them or not, they were the ones at a disadvantage.

If they summoned the Old Ancestor's remnant soul, they would have to overdraft the clan's Dou Di Bloodline on a massive scale, continuously consuming the clan's foundation, losing more the longer they fought.

If they didn't summon them, they couldn't win at all, and Ling Yuan and Zhu Kun could kill a few more Dou Sheng.

No matter how they chose, the initiative was firmly in Ling Yuan's hands, and the three clans had fallen into a dead end from the very beginning.