Chapter 1516: Retreat

"Ye-zi!" Leading his swarm of monkeys, the Great Sage whipped his head around and roared.

A diviner expert had just creeped up behind him, weapon raised and readied. The assassin had already reached him.

The Great Sage swung his staff, then landed beside Ye Zichen. "Don't get distracted!" He shouted, jolting Ye Zichen back to his senses. Only then did he notice the would-be assassin now sprawled out on the ground.

Ye Zichen nodded and smiled. Then, the Great Sage knit his brows. "Has Yang Jian responded yet?"

"I'm contacting him now." With that, Ye Zichen went straight to his private chat with Yang Jian. For now, he ignored all the new friend requests.

He then typed out a simple message: "Location?"

The message was simple and to the point, but he trusted Yang Jian would understand what he was asking. As expected, before long, Yang Jian responded without any extraneous information at all, sending nothing but a map.

The red dot on the map pinpointed a location, Yang Jian's current coordinates.

There was a green dot on the map too: it marked Ye Zichen's location. He calculated the distance, and found they weren't far at all.

Yang Jian was nearby.

Before Ye Zichen could announce what he'd learned, there was a massive blast near the outer sect gate.

Yang Jian, his third eye wide open, and Bai Haoyu, silver rapier in hand, slaughtered their way out of the inner sect. They were walking side by side.

"Monkey! Hurry up and help; I can't hold on much longer." The instant he saw the Great Sage, Yang Jian gnashed his teeth and cried out.

He'd already lost track of how many ruler and diviner-level experts he'd slaughtered just to get here. He'd been so busy fighting at peak intensity that he'd had no time to recover his spent divine power at all.

His face was pallid, and his third eye showed signs of fading back into his forehead.

"I, Ol' Sun, am here!" The Great Sage landed beside Yang Jian in an instant. He tossed the Ruyi Jingu Bang into the air, and it transformed into countless illusory staves, which intercrossed, forming a towering wall.

The troops rushing over from the inner sect couldn't break through the wall of staves so easily. Furthermore, there were other staff shadows filling the skies and flying about; there was no easy way through, not even if they flew.

"Medicine!" Ye Zichen arrived at Yang Jian's side and immediately placed a pill into his hand. When Ye Zichen glanced at Bai Haoyu, he hesitated, only to see Yang Jian nod. Only then did he share some pills with him too.

"Many thanks." Without wasting any words, Bai Haoyu tossed the pills into his mouth, sat down cross-legged, and began recovering his divine power.

He'd expended no less energy than Yang Jian, nor had either of them held back in the slightest. If ever of them had kept any power in reserve, both of them might very well have perished in the inner sect.

Xiao Yumei led the Upheaval Alliance rulers over to protect them, while the Great Sage took up a position right at the gates, single-handedly stopping the warriors of the inner courtyard at the doorway.

"Ye-zi, you're here right in the nick of time. I almost died in there." After recovering a portion of his divine power, Yang Jian took a few deep breaths. His pallid face had regained some of its usual color.

"This is..." Ye Zichen glanced at Bai Haoyu, who was right next to Yang Jian.

"Bai Haoyu." Without waiting for Yang Jian to explain, Bai Haoyu introduced himself. "You might not have seen me then, but I'm the one who injured your eye and severed your arm."

"It was you!" The silk ribbon in Xiao Yumei's hands hurtled towards him, but Bao Haoyu casually lifted his sword and sliced it to pieces.

Yang Jian then stretched out his hand, knit his brows, and said, "Don't. We're all on the same side."

Now, even the Great Sage froze in shock. In the face of everyone's stunned, confused gazes, Yang Jian shot Bai Haoyu a meaningful look. Bai Haoyu, meanwhile, was nothing but smiles.

"Well, at least I think he is," said Yang Jian. "Let's get out of here, then figure out the details."

"Alright." Ye Zichen was keenly aware that this was no place for a chat. The Xiao clansmen outside were eyeing them hungrily, ready to strike any moment. The Great Sage couldn't protect the door forever.

Yang Jian said they could trust Bai Haoyu, and Ye Zichen trusted Yang Jian.

"Retreat!" Ye Zichen let out a low shout, and the Upheaval Alliance's experts charged in an attempt to break through their encirclement.

The Great Sage remained in the very back, gnashing his teeth. He clenched his Ruyi Jingu Bang, then pushed behind him with all his might. The golden illusory staves filling the sky instantly slammed into the gathered experts of the Xiao Family's inner sect.

Breaking out would be easier than breaking in, as they just had to make it through the outer sect. Most of those present were diviners or lower; there were only a few rulers here, so few that their hopes of stopping the Upheaval Alliance's party were slim to none.

"What exactly is Zhou Wu thinking? We've already fought this long, but he's yet to show up and seize control over the situation."

"Are you really hoping Zhou Wu will settle this? This is exactly what he wants to see, don't you think?" Contrary to expectations, Ye Zichen grinned. "The Lightning Emperor's Estate and heritage have a far longer history than the God Emperor's Estate. In Zhou Wu's eyes, they're nothing but an eyesore. For us to fight them is perfectly in line with his desires. I'm sure that, if we had his way, both sides would leave this fight crippled and broken. That would be just perfect for him."

"Is he insane?" Yang Jian frowned. "Even if the Upheaval Alliance is at odds with him, we're all fellow members of the God Race. If the demons and yao invade, the Upheaval Alliance represents a sizable fighting force."

"He...." Ye Zichen recalled the times he'd met Zhou Wu. Although he couldn't say he understood him completely, he had a rough sense of what he was like.

The God Emperor's fervor for transcendence exceeded every other concern!

Everything he did was for the sake of taking that final step. In his eyes, his throne as God Emperor was perhaps nothing but a stepping stone on the path to transcendence.

Of course, he had a strong desire for power, too.

If yao and demons invaded, they invaded.

Even if the God Realm's other eight Divine Mountains fell to the invaders, he would still be the God Emperor of the god race.

"We can't count on him." Afterward, Ye Zichen said no more on the subject of Zhou Wu. Instead, he snorted, then turned to Yang Jian and frowned. "What was it that you wanted to say in the group chat earlier?"

"In my time undercover here, I've reached the conclusion that the Xiao Family is indeed consorting with other races, and that they're working extremely closely with them. Of late, they've been preparing to invade the God Realm. The demons are led by the Demon Emperor, the Nine Li, and the Beihan family. Hostile yao of the Southern Kingdom will also participate in the invasion," said Yang Jian."

"So sudden!"

Xue Yang, Chao Feng, Bi'an, and the Fox Empress Su Qingyan had been keeping a close eye on the Demon and Yao Realms' movements, but they'd yet to discover any signs of anything of immediate concern, much less anything on such a large scale.

"But you just said they were preparing to invade. That means we still have time to prepare too."

In battle, nothing was more terrifying than being caught completely off guard, but if they could alert their allies and deploy their forces in time, they'd still have a chance to fight back. That was true even if the demons and yao joined forces against them.

"That aside, I have other news as well." Yang Jian glanced at Bai Haoyu. He wanted to share the shocking information Bai Haoyu had told him back in the great hall.

But before he could even open his mouth to speak, black storm clouds blotted out the skies. Suddenly, everything went dark; no trace of light could penetrate the dense cloud cover.

A fierce wind howled, and when they looked into the skies above the Xiao Family Estate, they saw Xiao Ting, his body flashing with lightning. "Since when was my Xiao Family Estate a place where you could come and go as you pleased?"