Like Jiang Chen said, as long as news hadn’t travelled out of the Radiance Sacred Land, neither Lightford or his people in the other sacred lands would know what had happened. They could use the same trick when visiting neighboring Sunrise Sacred Land.
Divine Kasyapa smirked. “What bad luck Lightford has suffered. If not for you being the unexpected wildcard you are, he might have a chance to conquer Myriad Abyss. As things are, his ambition is bound to fail.”
Jiang Chen cackled. Kasyapa’s words were a compliment to him, no matter what the original intent was.
He convened every member of the Radiance Sacred Land. “We’ve won this battle, everyone, but Lightford is regrouping and may arrive here at anytime. If news about his two divine cultivators gets out, Lightford will slaughter every last one of you in a fit of fury. My advice is to pack up everything that’s valuable in the sacred land and get out of here. It’s best if you can rejoin the alliance’s main force.”
Radiance’s members were no fools. They knew Jiang Chen was telling the truth.
“Young lord Jiang Chen, where will we find the alliance?”
Jiang Chen thought for a moment. “We speculate that they’re in either Abyssal or Nirvana. You should pack light. As long as you don’t encounter Lightford, you’ll be fine. You can interrogate the captives to find out where Lightford and his main force are. The captives have been in contact with the other sacred lands through a transmitting formation. They should know where Lightford is.”
“Thank you for the advice, young lord. You’re the savior of the Radiance Sacred Land. When we meet up with our elites, we’ll tell our forefather how you’ve saved us and your kindness.”
“Haha, there’s no need for that. Radiance’s forefather helped me back in Sandplain, and I know Holy Girl Yaoguang. We’re friends of a sort.” Jiang Chen didn’t take the credit. Once things were settled, he decided to leave immediately for the Sunrise Sacred Land.
It was on the way and wasn’t far. The two sacred lands had always been close allies. They could rush to Sunrise and reclaim it with the same trick.
The victory imbued everyone with confidence. Even Ziju Min was uncharacteristically eager. He declared with a laugh, “At this rate, young lord Chen, we’ll be able to quickly reach our goal and reclaim three sacred lands!”
Jiang Chen didn’t let the success get to his head. “We’ll see how things go with Sunrise.”
“Why don’t we disguise ourselves as the two divine cultivators at Radiance when we hit Sunrise? We can make use of the transmitting formation and put on a good show! What do you think?” Ziju Min boldly proposed his idea.
Divine Kasyapa’s eyes lit up. “That’ll work! The same trick might come off as insincere if we use it again. It’ll be good to change things around. Disguising ourselves as Yuxian and Panyuan will win us their trust more easily. The transmitting formation will help...”
Jiang Chen agreed vocally. “Good. We’ll tell them that Radiance is under attack, which forced us to flee. We’ll ask them to meet us outside Sunrise.”
“That’s a plan!”
They came up with a detailed strategy in no time.
a.s.suming Panyuan’s and Yuxian’s ident.i.ties would be much less challenging as the two were their captives. Jiang Chen had easy access to real life references.
Things went as smoothly as they’d predicted.
Outside Sunrise, two divine cultivators awaited their arrival with a group of subordinates, ready to receive Yuxian and Panyuan.
They were quickly surrounded by Jiang Chen and the others in short order. Like Yuxian and Panyuan, they became Jiang Chen and Kasyapa’s captives.
Sunrise was easily reclaimed as well.
Jiang Chen and the others had taken back two sacred lands in less than two days.
They convened in Sunrise, discussing their next move. By their calculations, they were running out of time. Lightford should’ve finished gathering his people.
They wondered if they should go for another sacred land.
“Why don’t we take the initiative to contact Lightford and get information from him?” Jiang Chen proposed a radical idea.
As soon as he said so, Divine Kasyapa slapped his thigh in agreement. “Wonderful idea! That’s decided then. Lightford is going to have a heart attack induced by sheer fury when he realizes we’ve tricked him twice! Hahaha!”
Kasyapa would never pa.s.s up an opportunity to p.i.s.s Lightford off.
Jiang Chen and the others immediately tried to contact old man. They didn’t know where he was now, but eventually, they got a hold of him on their fourth try.
Lightford told them that he’d gathered the cultivators at four sacred lands and formed an army. The four unlucky ones were Martial, Flora, Polylore, and Immortal. His next target was the Sunrise Sacred Land. He would arrive tomorrow.
Jiang Chen decided to test the waters. He relayed that Radiance seemed to have been attacked and asked if the group at Sunrise should aid them.
Lightford shot the idea down and ordered the group to stay put, defending the sacred land they were at and conserving their strength.
It was obvious that he was still reeling from his last failure at Jiang Chen’s hands. He didn’t want to sacrifice any more divine cultivators. They were his most valuable a.s.sets and he wouldn’t allow anything to go wrong again.
Once he cut the connection, Jiang Chen grinned. “Lightford and his army will arrive at Sunrise tomorrow. However, after I’ve told him that Radiance has been attacked, he’s likely to make his way to Radiance first, which leaves Abyssal, Nirvana, and Void.”
Martial, Flora, Polylore, and Immortal had been fully conquered by Lightford.
Jiang Chen had reclaimed Radiance and Sunrise before the enemy could strike. Abyssal and Nirvana were where he speculated the alliance should be. Leaving Eternal out, in the end the Void Sacred Land was the only sacred land no one had been to.