After much discussion, they decided to attack the Ghostly Fire Palace first. After all, half of the Ghostly-Fire Twelve Lords had already been defeated, and the interface passage was also located there.
As for how to fight, they had a clear division of tasks. The general plan was that the elite would do the raiding, and the main forces would contain the enemies.
The puppet troop of the Wanxiang Sect would be responsible for containing the Sun-Moon Palace. The battle plan in the Ghostly Fire Palace would mainly be executed by Zhu Yu and Lyu Liang, accompanied by the forces of the Wufang Territory, led by Xu Mubai. The sloppy man and Bi Huo, who had just arrived, also offered to help Lyu Liang.
After they had confirmed their tasks, they set the timing for the action to start at night.
At about midnight, Lyu Liang's group began executing the plan. According to Yang Ying, there was only one Formation Key of the Great Defense Formation, in this location, which was precisely the tower Black had identified, during Lyu Liang's first lurking. This was where the palace lord of the Ghostly Fire Palace stayed. It would not be easy to destroy it.
Therefore, the sloppy man and Bi Huo would use two puppets to launch the main attack, and Xu Mubai would lead the other forces to assist them. While they pretended to attack the Great Defense Formation, using all the forces, and attracted the attention of people inside, Lyu Liang and Zhu Yu would take advantage of the chaos and sneak in, to focus on dealing with the tower.
At the same time, at the top of the tower in the Ghostly Fire Palace, a tall, strong masked man, stood there, with his hands clenched tightly. Behind him were five, black-robed people who knelt respectfully. It was as if the constant noises outside had nothing to do with them.
"The Ghostly-Fire Twelve Lords, used to be the glory of the Nether Big World, but now only five of you have survived. To build the interface passage, we lost Si Wu. And now to find the Tai-Ah Sword, we lost the squad of five. For this endless war, the price we paid was too high!" The masked man sighed, with utter desolation in his tone.
"Palace Lord, even so, there's still hope for us to fight against them! Regardless of the chaos outside, the Formation Key will remain, and the Formation won't disappear! We only need to prevent the raid of the elite! So long as you and the five of us are still here, we don't need to be afraid of Lyu Liang!" A red-browed old man, who wore a robe with a character "You," said sonorously and firmly.
The palace lord gave a wry and helpless laugh. He shook his head and said, "If there's only Lyu Liang, we still have hope. But if Zhu Yu is among them, we have no chance of winning the battle at all."
The five people were all confused. "Zhu Yu? The guy whom you imposed a ban on fighting? Even you can't defeat him?" one of them asked.
"You don't know much at your levels. I am suppressed by the Power of Law here, and my aura can only reach the Early-stage Tao Master at most. While Zhu Yu, under the same constraints, can exert his strength of Heavenly Master. Do you think we can win the battle?" The palace lord said quietly, while the five became so restless that they couldn't stay kneeling any longer.
"Palace Lord! We still have a giant ancient beast, don't we? Will we still lose even if we let it out?" One of them rose and asked incredulously.
"Once we let the giant ancient beast out, it will attract the powerful figures of the Space of Goddess Nyu Wa here. Besides, the Heavenly Alliance may also cause trouble." "Moreover, Zhu Yu has too many secrets, that I'm not sure whether he can subdue the giant beast. Now, on my command, you five take all the forces of the Ghostly Fire Palace to the interface passage, and retreat from here! No disobedience is allowed!" the palace lord turned around, with a sudden surge of sternness and coldness.
The five were stunned at first, and then somewhat unwillingly, they still cupped their hands respectfully and left.
When there was only the palace lord left in the room, he took off his mask and looked up at the stars. Then he pulled a pendant that hung around his neck and opened it—there was a picture of a family of three in it.
In the picture, a youth was holding a pretty woman, and a baby was sleeping soundly in their arms. The palace lord looked at it longingly before putting it away, a while later. He murmured, "Ying'er, my daughter, I'm so useless. I chose to yield to the Dark Empire in this life. But your choice should be able to change everything."
…………………………
"Have you noticed that it's way too quiet? Did they anticipate that we would be coming and made their escape already?" Instead of secretly transmitting his voice. Zhu Yu talked to Lyu Liang directly, who also harbored the same suspicions, beside him.
The two had sneaked in secretly, but as they went into the inner spaces, they didn't see any black-robed people. The buildings and cave residences they passed, were all empty, and the only light came from the tower, their target.
It was a massive tower of ten floors, and according to Black, both the interface passage and the Formation Key were at its top. Therefore, the two flew to the tenth floor directly. However, in front of them, were only two black round swirls but no other figures.
"Are these the interface passage and Formation Key? Is it a trap or is it really that defenseless?" Lyu Liang couldn't believe what he saw. He had been expecting to use his new puppet, but now there seemed to no enemies around at all.
Zhu Yu didn't care and started bombing the two swirls at once. He smiled and said, "How do you know if you don't try? Maybe they felt that the situation was hopeless and escaped in order to save their strength."
As Lyu Liang joined the bombing, it took them less than half an hour to wreck both the Formation Key and the interface passage.
At this moment, Li Wuyi messaged that there was also no reinforcement coming to the site of the Sun-Moon Palace. Even as they threatened them with the puppet troop, no one else appeared.
When Lyu Liang rushed to the Sun-Moon Palace and went through the Great Defense Formation, he couldn't see anyone in the buildings there, the same as in the Ghostly Fire Palace.
After five days, news came from the main battlefield at the border of the Canglan Territory and the Jibo Territory, saying that the main forces of the Ghostly Fire Palace and the Sun-Moon Palace had appeared in the enemy's camp. At that point, the situation of the three invading powers in the Wufang Territory had been explicit—the Wangui Sect was destroyed, and both the Ghostly Fire and the Sun-Moon Palace withdrew.
For the people of the Wufang Territory, this was indeed a joyous occasion—the days in the torment of war had finally ended! All of this occurred so suddenly. All of them agreed that Lyu Liang was the greatest hero to bring about such a success!
It was Lyu Liang who played the primary role in destroying the Wangui Sect and caused the other two powers to retreat. Therefore, in the next few days, all the powers within the Wufang Territory came to the Blood Divine Sect to greet Lyu Liang, one after another, hoping to have a look at him.
Lyu Liang's smile had become stiff, for there were too many people visiting him daily, and out of courtesy, he couldn't turn them away, but had to put up with them. Among the visitors, the most troublesome were those who came to propose marriage and usually caused him to feel bothered and wanting to escape.
Such visits did not cease for a dozen days. Lyu Liang had become the most popular figure in the Wufang Territory. Reputedly, he was renowned throughout the entire Chaotic World.
After half a month later, Xu Mubai solemnly handed a letter with a seal of the Immortal Allies, to Lyu Liang. It contained the messages from the seniors of the Immortal Allies, including the founding father of Sword Character and Xuan Nyu Fairy. The main subject of the messages was that they hoped Lyu Yang could help to defend them, against the invaders on the main battlefield, after he finished dealing with the situation in the Wufang Territory.
Lyu Liang had planned to do so even if the Immortal Allies hadn't made that request, so now he just accepted the request. And the puppet troop of the Wanxiang sect was also asked to help. After all, the battle in the Wufang Territory had ended, and it would be a waste to keep such a trump card here.
A day before Lyu Liang and other people set off to the battlefield, a belated celebration party was held in the Blood Divine Sect. Apart from Lyu Liang, the leading role, Zhu Yu and the sloppy man's side, also joined in the party. And with such a fun maker as Li Wuyi there, the party was extraordinarily lively. During the party, people even hooted to held a small wedding ceremony for Bi Huo and Xu Xiaotao.
The party was still on at night, but Lyu Liang had already left. At the peak of a hill in the Blood Divine Sect, he was sitting on the ground with Zhu Yu, who was holding a gourd filled with wine, drinking, talking, and laughing.
"Brother Zhu, although you're powerful and brave, there are numerous traps inside the relic of Immortal Devil. Please be careful once you are there, by yourself. Your contributions have been the key to bringing peace to the Wufang Territory at this time. I'm here to thank you!"
"Haha, don't worry. I don't want to spend too much time in that strange place. It's you who need to be more careful. On the real battlefield, fighting alone will not solve any problems. You've never experienced the cruelty and tribulations of war, where individual heroism can be neglectable. Only when you become a commander and have a mighty troop, can you impose your influence on the war."
"Thanks for your warning!"
"Oh yes, please keep this Soul Fixation Pearl for me. There's a soul in it. Although I'm confident in this exploration, I will be able to exert my strength more freely, if the pearl is entrusted to you."
"Well... No problem! I won't fail you! By the way, could you tell me what on earth happened when the Calamity Troop invaded?"
When Lyu Liang took the pearl from Zhu Yu and put it away, he couldn't help but ask the question, which had been buried in his heart for a long time. And he added, "It will be okay if you're not free to tell me. Anyhow, I trust you! If I can go to the Heaven Realm someday, I will certainly help you find the truth!"
At the moment, a pretty girl appeared beside them. It was Immortal General Zheng Xuan, who had taken off her armor, and was wearing a shimmery blue dress. She showed no previous aggression before them, but sat down beside Zhu Yu, and pouted, "You also owe me a second half of the story! Even if this guy hadn't asked, I must ask you to tell me alone!"
Zhu Yu lowered his head. After a while, he raised his head and gulped all the wine in his gourd, crying out, "Cool!" Then he looked at the two beside him, and said softly, "On the battlefield, the ones who hurt you the most, are always those hiding behind you. I'm sure that the branch of the Heavenly Alliance of the Pangu Origin world had a hand in the devastation of my squad! I even suspect that the powerful figure of God Ancestor Night Dragon was the instigator behind the large Calamity Troop!"