323: Chapter 323 Plotting an Attack, the Conspiracy Begins to Emerge

When Blood Butcher walked out of the secret passage, the wind was blowing from the wasteland on the northern slope, carrying the scent of dry mud and rotting bones. He didn't stop, his boots making muffled thuds on the gravel. The cave entrance ahead was wrapped in a layer of gray mist, looking like an overturned iron pot.

There were already people in the cave.

Six figures sat around a sunken rock platform. The fire was dead, its greenish light licking the stone walls, failing to reveal faces but reflecting several pairs of eyes staring unblinkingly at the entrance from the darkness.

"You're here." A tall, thin man spoke, his voice as raspy as sandpaper on iron. "We've been waiting for an hour."

Blood Butcher didn't reply, walking straight to the center of the rock platform and standing still. The bone token in his hand was still burning hot. He raised his hand and slapped it onto the ground—

Crack!

With a crisp sound, the bone token split open, and a blackish-red liquid seeped out, quickly spreading along the lines on the ground to outline a topographical map: three Psionic Towers, a Medicinal Field, and an Artifact Refining Workshop, all glowing faintly at their positions on the Qiming Plain.

"This is the Chen Family's new nest," Blood Butcher said in a low voice, pointing his finger at the base of a tower. "Three days ago, they just erected the first tower pillar. Now all five are powered up. You can see that blue-white light from far away."

"I know," the tall, thin man sneered. "Passing by East Ridge last night, I looked up and saw that ghost-fire-like glow. I heard they used iron boxes to record the Elf Race's magic and stuffed it into sword hilts. Even an ordinary person can split Mystic Iron Rock with a couple of swings."

Someone nearby chimed in: "This isn't technology; it's desecration. How can the Laws of Heaven and Earth be mass-produced?"

"That's why it must be destroyed," Blood Butcher interrupted him, his tone as cold as ice shards. "What do they rely on? Not cultivation, not Bloodline, but those towers, those machines, those assembly lines. As long as we cut off the spirit energy supply, burn the Medicinal Field, and blow up the Artifact Refining Workshop—their mechas will be scrap metal, their Chips will be garbage, and they'll have to rely on their two legs just to walk."

The area around the rock platform fell silent for a few breaths.

Then someone coughed: "But... they have the Co-Alliance backing them now. Although large Sects like the Chuunyun Sect and Leiyin Pavilion don't say it openly, they've already started negotiating cooperation in secret. If we take action, it's equivalent to offending the entire Northern Line of the Eastern Wasteland."

"Scared?" Blood Butcher squinted at him.

The man shrunk his neck and remained silent.

"I'm telling you," Blood Butcher took a step forward, his shadow pressing down on the map. "The Chen Family seems prosperous now, but in reality, their Foundation is unstable. The new land has just been occupied, the defense line is empty, and the clansmen are scattered working in various places. Their combat power relies entirely on a few mechas. They themselves think they're safe, so their vigilance will only get looser."

He paused and scanned the group: "Moreover, I didn't come alone."

"What do you mean?"

Blood Butcher sneered, pulled a bone tube from his bosom, pulled out the stopper, and shook out a piece of dark-glowing talisman paper. There was writing on the talisman, the bloodstains not yet dry.

"This is for Black Ridge; I've already delivered it."

He took out a second one: "The one from Broken River Stronghold has also been signed."

Third, fourth... one by one he threw them onto the rock platform. Each one was tanned from human skin, with blood vessels at the edges, twitching slightly as if still alive.

"Seven Blood Talismans, seven groups of people, all here. You six are the vanguards I've selected. Others will respond at the critical moment, but I only need you to do three things—"

His finger traced across the map in order:

"First, destroy the towers. In groups of three, sneak in at night and use Spirit-Eroding Powder to paralyze the core arrays. Don't let them restart."

"Second, cut off the spirit energy. Send experts to lie in ambush at the intersections of the Spiritual Vein branches. When the signal goes off, detonate the pre-planted Earth-Rending Mines, causing the Spiritual Vein to backflow and remain blocked for three days."

"Third, burn the Medicinal Field. I don't need you to kill many people, but you must burn that seedling area to scorched earth. Without those mutated spiritual plants, they won't even be able to refine Medicinal Pills."

After speaking, he looked up at everyone: "As long as these three steps are completed, the Chen Family's technological system will collapse on the spot. At that time, their proud production lines will stall, their mechas will become iron lumps, and the Alliance will see the tide turning and immediately withdraw their capital and personnel. Without backing, they're just a group of farmers holding iron sticks."

The tall, thin man frowned: "But what if they're prepared? I heard that Chen Wuwang fellow is not someone to be trifled with; he does things flawlessly."

"That's exactly why he's dangerous." Blood Butcher's mouth curled into a grin. "Precisely because he's too smart, he'll be superstitious about his own arrangements. He thinks that because he's built towers, connected power, and signed Alliances, everything is foolproof? Wrong. The more confident one is, the greater the flaw."

He slowly sat down, picked up a piece of broken bone, and slowly sharpened his blade under the firelight. "We won't fight head-on; we won't force a confrontation. We'll just wait for the moment they let their guard down, then strike suddenly with a series of explosions, making it impossible for them to handle everything at once. By the time they react, it'll be too late."

Silence fell in the cave again.

The firelight flickered, casting shifting shadows on their faces.

Finally, a burly man dressed in animal skins on the left spoke: "When do you want us to act?"

"Three days from now at dawn," Blood Butcher said. "When the moon hides behind the clouds."

"What about the reward?"

"The Spirit Stones in the Chen Family's warehouse will be divided according to your contributions. The blueprints and techniques from the Artifact Refining Workshop will go to the three leading groups. As for those mechas..." He smiled. "Strip them and sell the parts; it'll be enough for you to rebuild ten mountain strongholds."

Someone laughed softly.

Then a second person.

A third.

The laughter gradually increased, mixing with the sound of charcoal cracking in the fire, echoing through the cave.

"Also." Blood Butcher suddenly raised his hand, stopping the laughter. "I will personally take action to assassinate Chen Wuwang. As long as he is dead, the remaining ants won't be able to make any waves."

"Then how do you plan to get close to him? He always has guards around him, and mechas are on standby at all times."

Blood Butcher didn't speak, but pulled a thin chain from behind his neck. At the end of the chain hung a black bead the size of a fingernail.

"This is the 'Shadow Molt,' formed from the heart's blood of a Shadow Cultivator Elder I killed ten years ago. I can hide inside it and approach the target within thirty paces silently. As long as he shows his face, I'll give him a blade."

He put away the chain and stood up. "The secret mission orders are now being issued. Each person will have a Blood Talisman as a token. No one is to leave the area or leak a single word within three days. Those who fail the mission need not return."

He reached into his bosom, pulled out six small bone tablets carved with evil runes, and tossed them out one by one.

The six people caught them and looked down to inspect them.

"Remember," Blood Butcher said finally, "this battle is not for revenge, nor is it to grab territory. It is to stop something—the kind of thing that can turn the Heavenly Dao into a commodity. If we don't care, the entire Cultivation World will become their factory in the future."

He looked out of the cave.

In the distance, at the edge of the sky, that blue-white glow still hung there, like an inextinguishable lamp.

"They are creating a god," he said. "And what we must do is smash it with our own hands."

The six people stood up one after another, put away their bone tablets, and left in different directions without a word. The sound of footsteps faded away, disappearing into the wind and sand.

Blood Butcher stood in place, unmoving.

He still held the last unused Blood Talisman in his hand.

He looked down at it, his fingertips lightly stroking the writing on the talisman.

"Soon," he murmured.

The wind outside grew stronger, swirling sand grains that clattered against the stone walls.

He turned, facing the direction of the Qiming Plain, his eyes as red as fire.