Chapter 1811: Preparing to Dispatch Troops
Zhao Hai was lucky, the wine called Seductress had just been created by the Hundred Flowers Valley. The valley had some finished cauldrons to perform experiments with. But the valley has yet to find people to use it on. In the conference, Li Xunhua was looking for people to give the wine to, and then he met Zhao Hai. Therefore, he gave Zhao Hai two bottles of the wine. Zhao Hai was the first target of the seductress wine.
Zhao Hai took all four bottles of wine because he was afraid that Zhang Feng would get too excited and drink it. But in Li Xunhua’s eyes, Zhao Hai’s actions meant that he had been deeply poisoned and couldn’t live without the wine.
After Zhao Hai took the bottles away, the group sat down once more. Li Xunhua looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Junior Brother, I heard that the conference could no longer continue after we left. Now, the nine super sects looked for small sects close to them and formed their own alliances. Naturally, the alliance of the super sects are stronger than our own alliances. However, I think the nine super sects still felt suffocated. Because of you, they were unable to unify the Great World of Cultivation.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “I dislike the arrogance of the nine super sects. Isn’t it better now that we have our own alliances? Right, Senior Brother, how is your side doing? Are you finished establis.h.i.+ng your alliance? Also, what does the Hundred Flowers Valley want from our Black Tiger Gang?”
Hearing Zhao Hai, Li Xunhua laughed and said, “I must say, I like Junior Brother’s character. It’s refres.h.i.+ng that you don’t waste time. Good. The Hundred Flowers Valley wants a defensive partners.h.i.+p with the Black Tiger Gang. Naturally, that also involves the alliances we have formed. What do you think?”
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “This isn’t my decision to make. I don’t handle matters of the gang. You should discuss it with First Senior Brother.” After he said that, he turned towards Zhang Feng.
Zhang Feng smiled faintly and said, “Since Mister Xunhua wanted to form a partners.h.i.+p, naturally I welcome it. However, this defensive partners.h.i.+p needs specific terms. I ask Mister to lay them out for me.”
Li Xunhua replied, “The Heavenly Demons have entered the Great Realm of Cultivation and both of our sects don’t want to be controlled by the nine super sects. Because of this, we formed our own alliances. But to be honest, each of our alliances aren’t very strong. We’re still too weak compared to the alliances formed by the nine super sects.”
“At this time, we have two enemies. One is the Heavenly Demon Army. The Heavenly Demon Army doesn’t care about our relations.h.i.+p with the nine super sects. The enmity we have with the nine super sects have nothing to do with the invading Heavenly Demons. In their eyes, we are enemies to be purged. They wouldn’t show us any mercy.”
“Our second enemy is the nine super sects. We have ruined their plans. They certainly wouldn’t let this go. They will definitely retaliate. We have to be guarded against them all the time.”
When Li Xunhua stopped, he looked at Zhao Hai and Zhang Feng. The two gave him a nod. Seeing them agree, Li Xunhua continued, “Our strength, compared to our two enemies, is still too little. Therefore, being partners, when one is having a difficult time, the other should offer support. Only then can we deal with the Heavenly Demons and the nine super sects. What do you think?”
Zhang Feng nodded. Li Xunhua wasn’t wrong. Just like Li Xunhua said, they were now faced with two enemies, the Heavenly Demons and the nine super sects. If they formed a partners.h.i.+p with the Hundred Flowers Valley, the burdens they would bear would become lighter.
Before Zhang Feng could say anything, Zhao Hai opened his mouth and said, “First Senior Brother, I think we should ask Uncle Hu’s opinion on this. Uncle Hu knows more than the both of us. If we cannot have his approval, things will be more troublesome in the future.”
Hearing what Zhao Hai said, Zhang Feng’s complexion couldn’t help but change. He knew Zhao Hai. His words were basically telling Zhang Feng that they shouldn’t agree immediately. Hu Liangchen was just an excuse. Hu Liangchen was now very concerned about the Black Tiger Gang’s matters. If Zhang Feng made a decision, Hu Liangchen wouldn’t oppose it. Using Hu Liangchen made Zhao Hai’s message very obvious. The reason Zhang Feng’s complexion changed was because of Zhao Hai’s att.i.tude. First, he took away the wine Li Xunhua gave, and now he was blocking the partners.h.i.+p. It seems like Zhao Hai knew something that he didn’t. It was clear that Zhao Hai was wary towards the Hundred Flowers Valley.
When he heard Zhao Hai, a thought pa.s.sed through Li Xunhua’s mind. It was hard for people in the Northern Divergent Province to be unaware of the Black Tiger Gang’s internal struggles. He also heard about Hu Liangchen’s name before. Hu Liangchen was in the same generation as Li Xunhua. Moreover, at that time, the reputation of the two were roughly equal.
Later on, as Hu Liangchen took care of the matters of his clan, his reputation began to disappear. But Li Xunhua didn’t forget about him. He would never underestimate Hu Liangchen.
In the eyes of Li Xunhua, Zhang Feng’s change in complexion was a sense of dread towards Hu Liangchen. This caused him to think about a few things. In his mind, it seems like the internal strife of the Black Tiger Gang hasn’t been completely solved. Conversely, it seems like the powers of the Black Tiger Gang were having problems.
Li Xunhua, who managed to find something out, couldn’t help but be secretly delighted. At the same time, he was observing Zhang Feng’s change in expression.
After some time, Zhang Feng let out a long breath and said, “Mister Xunhua, please forgive me, but this isn’t a small matter. We would need the input of the sect elders before I could give you a confirmation.”
Lin Xunhua gave a nod of understanding and said, “This is a major matter. It should be discussed well.”
Zhang Feng cupped his fist towards Li Xunhua and siad, “Mister, please stay in the sect first. Once a decision is made, I will immediately inform you.”
Li Xunhua also cupped his fist and said, “I’ll wait for Gang Leader’s message.”
Zhao Hai also cupped his fist towards Li Xunhua before saying, “Senior Brother, please take a rest first. Once I’m free, I’ll accompany you to drink a few cups.”
Li Xunhua laughed and said, “Alright, I’ll be waiting.” After that, he followed a Black Tiger Gang disciple back to his room.
When Li Xunhua left, Zhang Feng quickly turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, what’s all this about? Why do I think that you’re very vigilant towards the Hundred Flowers Valley?”
Zhao Hai coldly snorted and said, “These fellows are up to no good. Let’s wait for Uncle Hu to arrive, I’ll tell you at the same time.” Zhao Hai sat down and Zhang Feng as well. Before long, Hu Liangchen arrived.
After asking Hu Liangchen to take a seat, Zhao Hai reported, “On the first day of the conference, I proposed the Elder’s congress causing the day’s meeting to end. At that time, Li Xunhao approached me saying that he supported my proposal. Then we talked about cooperation. Just as I was about to leave, he gave me two bottles of hundred flowers wine. Since I was busy, I wasn’t able to touch those two bottles. When I heard that he came over, I remembered the wine. I took one bottle out and studied it. As you know, my ability allows me to remake materials. I want to see what the wine was made of. But after remaking the wine, I found that it had a hidden poison. Once you drink this wine, you will always look for it. When that happens, you would be under the control of the Hundred Flowers Valley. Therefore, I took the four bottles and threw them away. Although there seems to be no problem with cooperating with the Hundred Flowers Valley, I’m still a bit worried.”
When he heard Zhao Hai, Zhang Feng couldn’t help but slam the table, “Good, Hundred Flowers Valley. They actually tried to scheme against us. They’re dreaming if they want to partner with us.”
Hu Liangchen hesitated, then he looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, does Li Xunhua know that you discovered the poison in their wine?”
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “He doesn’t. It’s even possible that he suspects me of being addicted to their wine.”
Hu Liangchen nodded, “That’s good. This partners.h.i.+p, I think we can agree to it. As long as they don’t suspect Little Hai, they wouldn’t suspect us. Wouldn’t that be better? Just like what Li Xunhua said, an enemy of an enemy is a friend.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “I also agree to the partners.h.i.+p. Although the Hundred Flowers Valley plotted against me, I wasn’t affected. We can take advantage of this. And the Hundred Flowers Valley aren’t doing much better than us. It’s true that they want to form a partners.h.i.+p with us.”
Zhang Feng has already calmed down. He let out a long breath and said, “We’ll form the partners.h.i.+p, but we must be on guard against the Hundred Flowers Valley. Those fellows aren’t good.”
Zhao Hai sneered and said, “Those fellows aren’t going to cause us trouble. As long as we fight together, everything will be easy. The opponents of the Black Tiger Gang are the Heavenly Demons and the nine super sects. The Hundred Flowers Valley aren’t qualified to be our enemies.”
Upon hearing Zhao Hai, Zhang Feng and Hu Liangchen couldn’t help but stare. Then they felt a heroic feeling in their heart. Correct, the Black Tiger Gang’s enemies were the nine super sects and the Heavenly Demon Realm. The Hundred Flowers Valley isn’t qualified to be the Black Tiger Gang’s enemy.
Hu Liangchen stood up and said, “I won’t be seeing that person. I’ll leave this matter to the both of you. Agree to the partners.h.i.+p. The Heavenly Demons are coming, we don’t have time to offend the Hundred Flowers Valley. Maintaining a good relations.h.i.+p with them would save us a lot of trouble.”
Zhang Feng and Zhao Hai nodded. When Hu Liangchen left, Zhao Hai looked at Zhang Feng and said, “First Senior Brother, I don’t want to see him as well. I’ll have to leave this matter to the Gang Leader.” After he said that, Zhao Hai quickly vanished from sight.
Zhang Feng smiled bitterly. Then he sent someone to get Li Xunhua and then discussed with him the matter of the partners.h.i.+p. The partners.h.i.+p was the same as the alliance of two countries. There’s no alliance leader and both sides are equal. If one side gets in a difficult situation, the other would send their support. It was a simple alliance.
Li Xunhua naturally didn’t suspect anything. He also asked about Zhao Hai, but Zhang Feng told him that Zhao Hai was still busy. Li Xunhua didn’t think much of it. After all, Zhang Feng already mentioned that the Black Tiger Gang was preparing to attack the Heavenly Demons. There must be a lot of things that need to be prepared. Zhao Hai was a powerhouse of the Black Tiger Gang, it was normal for him to be busy.
Nevertheless, Li Xunhua thought that Zhao Hai had already been poisoned by the wine. The poison was silent and even the poisoned person wouldn’t feel it. The effects of the poison was hidden by the benefits that it gave its drinker. Slowly, the cultivator would be used to the benefits and would even crave it. Li Xunhao never expected Zhao Hai to discover the secret of the wine. Therefore, he didn’t have any doubts.
The Hundred Flowers Valley also had a lot of things to prepare for. Therefore, Li Xunhua didn’t say. After establis.h.i.+ng the partners.h.i.+p with the Black Tiger Gang, he immediately left. The Black Tiger Gang also entered the state of war.
The sects that allied with the Black Tiger Gang were located not far from the sect. Those who were close to the Myriad Demons Sect didn’t dare form an alliance with the Myriad Demons Sect’s enemies. Since the alliance involved people close to each other, the Iron Blade Sect, Heavy Sand Sect, and the Great Strength Sect were also part of the Black Tiger Gang’s alliance. As for the Withered Vine Sect, since they were on good terms with the Myriad Demons Sect, they immediately became a branch sect of the Myriad Demons Sect when the Heavenly Demons arrived. But because of this, the Withered Vine Sect’s domain has been deeply invaded by the surrounding sets. The Black Tiger Gang also obtained a piece of the Withered Vine Sect’s territory.
After this, the Black Tiger Gang arranged the army that would face the Heavenly Demons. The small sects didn’t object. Since the Heavenly Demon Army that they were going to attack was close to the Black Tiger Gang, it was also close to their sect. If they managed to deal with this army, then their sects would be in a relatively good state.
The Black Tiger Gang treated this matter with great importance. This was the alliance’s first move since its establishment. The only acceptable outcome of this action was victory. Defeat wasn’t an option. Winning this battle would increase the unity and morale of the alliance. The Black Tiger’s Voice in the alliance would also be louder. If they lost, the sects would have less confidence in the alliance. When the time comes, the alliance would be dissolved. Therefore, the Black Tiger Gang needed to win the battle. Not only was Zhao Hai in charge of the army, the Black Turtle Ancestor was also taking part.
It has already been some time since the Black Turtle Ancestor joined the Black Tiger Gang. He already gained some understanding about the sect. He also heard that Hu Shan wasn’t unable to make a move for some time. When he thought about Hu Shan’s age, the Black Turtle Ancestor knew that Hu Shan was nearing the end of his life. He shouldn’t be able to go out as much as he wants. When he thought about this, the Black Turtle Ancestor was convinced that he was currently the strongest expert in the Black Tiger Gang. His cultivation level was enough for him to rule the sect.
But before the Black Turtle Ancestor could make a move, five powerful spiritual forces locked onto him. The five spiritual forces clearly belonged to immortal experts. The Black Turtle Ancestor couldn’t help but shake. He underestimated the Black Tiger Gang. From then on, the Black Turtle Ancestor behaved. They no longer had any illegal thoughts.