= The Promised Day, 5 AM =
Yuan Shaoqing and his men returned to the east field in front of Siren City, bringing their strongest representatives there.
As a month had passed, many people heard about the event. Not only did Yuan Shaoqing's men came here to witness the decisive duels, merchants, commoners, and outsiders who had nothing to do with the war also showed up to spectate the upcoming fight.
100,000 people gathered here. They were eager to see some action and the top fighters from both sides.
Yuan Shaoqing's entourage was in a merry mood as their representatives were all top nascent soul realm cultivators and veterans from the previous demon-human war. Even Yuan Shaoqing himself was one of the participants.
Among them, the top fighter of the Great Zhang Clan's Aves Continent Branch, Zhang Liao, was one of the participants.
Neutral organizations also appeared.
Liu Xuande and his men came here for fun. The elusive Zhu Clan sent their agents to observe and record the promised battle.
But the most eye-catching group was the weird golems and an Asian young man in a modern black suit, who had been sitting on the luxurious palanquin that the golems had been carrying. By his side, an African-American man in a hood stood tall, gazing at his old lord.
Behind the dungeon master's throne, a busty female android robot and a sexy blond-haired woman in a lab gown lazed around, looking at the people in boredom.
Yuan Shaoqing and several men who had fought against similar golems glared at the Dungeon Master's group in resentment. But as soon as they discovered the cultivation base of the black-haired young man, none of them dared to provoke them.
While everyone was waiting for Siren City's representatives and Fang Yunxu to arrive, Yuan Shaoqing mustered his courage and approached the suspicious group of golems and the strange young man. He led Wen Chou and Yan Liang to see the new cultivator, whom they hadn't met before.
Yuan Shaoqing politely bowed to the young man, who emitted the presence of someone with a soul physique and Soul Qi.
"Greetings, fellow Daoist. My name is Yuan Shaoqing, the patriarch of the Yuan Clan. Our men ran into your soldiers and caused a misunderstanding. I'm here to express my apology."
The dungeon master nodded at Yuan Shaoqing. He introduced himself for the first time.
"I'm Brocell, the Demon Lord of Labyrinth. Lord Yuan Shao, since you are polite, I shall overlook the past incidents. After all, my sole purpose on this continent is to start a business, not make wars."
Yuan Shaoqing didn't bother correcting his name as he thought that Brocell had the qualification to be arrogant. He swallowed his frustration, "… Thank you for your consideration."
"I shall give you the catalog of my products. Visit me again if you're interested to buy something from me," Brocell brightly smiled and tossed a thick picture book to Yuan Shaoqing.
Wen Chou caught it and examined it first. In the picture book, it showed the photos of various modern weapons and their price tags.
The general was shocked when he saw the price of the rifle that Miaomiao's people used.
"100,000 essence cores for this thing!? Isn't this too expensive!?"
Brocell laughed, "Didn't the people of Siren City use it to kill your men? With proper ammunition, they can even kill you!"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"W-What!?"
Yuan Shaoqing's face changed. He gazed at Brocell in solemn as he took the catalog from Wen Chou.
After flipping through the pages, Yuan Shaoqing noticed the similarity between the cannons in Siren City and the cannon in the catalog. He understood everything.
"Sir, are you an arms dealer?"
"Correct! I desire nothing but to sell my wares to everybody in the world. To be honest, I don't care who lives or dies, just buy my items!"
"Ha… Haha… Hahaha! You're something else, Lord Brocell. Very well, I shall study this catalog first, and I will give you my answer at a later date."
"Cool. Farewell, Lord Yuan Shao. I hope you can defeat Cao Cao in this timeline even though the historical events and people are all messed up."
"…"
Yuan Shaoqing turned around and gestured his bodyguards to come with him. After he turned his back on Brocell, his face grimaced while he sent a telepathic message to his two trusted men.
'After today, I want both of you to contact everyone, and I mean everyone! Wei Huang, Liu Xuande, Zhu Huifang, the Holy Land's people, Ling Cao, or the other lords from other continents, tell them that a dangerous individual has emerged, and we need reinforcement to subdue this Demon Lord ASAP!'
Wen Chou and Yan Liang nodded. As Brocell promoted chaos, it wouldn't bond well if they left him alone for too long. They needed to restrict Brocell's business before his weaponry could be exported to Yuan Shaoqing's rivals and allies.
These weapons could change the ways cultivators fought, and Yuan Shaoqing didn't want anyone to monopolize them. Only he, the brother of Yuan Hua, should be the only one who had the deadly weapons that could kill 8th-stage cultivators!
…
The activity of Yuan Shaoqing and Brocell didn't escape the eyes of spectators. The snake, Liu Xuande, sneered at the group as he knew the motive of both forces.
"Funny," Liu Xuande snickered. "A demon lord that wants to do business by selling super weapons without discrimination. That asshole will betray the demon soon."
"Are you sure Yuan Shaoqing will betray that demon lord?"
The abbot, who was supposed to help Siren City, Zhang Jue, stood behind Liu Xuande. Currently, he worked at Chicken Ann City as an ambassador to maintain the peace treaty between Siren City and Liu Xuande's forces.
Zhang Jue was still a member of the Great Zhang Clan, which was different from his other counterpart in Miaomiao's world. Thus, he was forced to remain neutral until the feud between Zhang Ren and Siren City was resolved.
Liu Xuande shook his head, "I'm not certain, but Yuan Shaoqing is prone to making illogical decisions when he is at disadvantage. If he's smart, he will maintain the status quo until he conquers the Aves Continent. But if he's dumb, he will backstab Brocell prematurely, and his clan will be attacked by all sides. Anyway, I always make my moves based on the worst-case scenarios..."
He turned to his sworn brothers, "Zhang Yide, send messages to the Great Zhang Clan back home. Tell them not to get involved in Yuan Shaoqing's military movements. Guan Yunchang, you do the same. I'll tell my clan lord and that FAT ORC not to do anything stupid. We don't want Yuan Shaoqing to monopolize the weaponry of that demon lord. Let that guy spread the technology to every continent, so we can adapt to the new battle tactic and trends."
The abbot held his hands in prayer and closed his eyes, "Amitabha. I hope the chaos you're seeking is beneficial to humans and the greater good."
Liu Xuande cackled. But when he turned away from Zhang Jue, like Yuan Shaoqing, his face turned solemn.
"GREATER GOOD is just an excuse. What really matters is the capable ruler, laws that frightens the citizens and keep them stupid, tamed public order, and disciplinary of the military soldiers. Once all factors combine, peace will follow and the GREATER GOOD can be achieved later on. And I shall make it happen… as the savior of Aves Continent."
"… Amitabha."
Zhang Jue sighed and gazed at Siren City with sad eyes. He prayed that Miaomiao and others could survive today's ordeal.
As he was disappointed in Liu Xuande. He flew toward Siren City, hoping to help them even if he might be punished by the Great Zhang Clan later on.
…
When Zhang Jue returned to Siren City, Ju Shoufen had already finished the preparation. In front of her, all selected representatives stood in line, waiting for Ju Shoufen to confirm their lineup.
The chosen combatants for Fang Yanxu's game was as the followings;
Ma Moxi
Fogan
Mao Xueyan
Mao Dandan
Wei Yuan
Kang Yan
Jiang Lan
Liu Guang
Zhao Yun
Including Ju Shoufen and Miaomiao, Siren City had all eleven representatives.
Ma Xingjuan, Ju Chen, Sun Yun, Tang Ting, and others were disappointed that they were not selected. Yet, they agreed with Ju Shoufen's decision as all chosen ones were their current top fighters.
All members had been selected through the internal sparring matches, which Ju Shoufen had held during the past month.
The dark horse of the gang was Zhao Yun, who suddenly went through a rapid growth period after the mating season.
Without anyone noticing, the Divine Vermillion Bird's pill nurtured her physique. Even now, Zhao Yun's constitution was still under development.
However, no one could deny her current abnormal cultivation base. A nascent soul realm rabbit girl might not be able to use her domain power or summon her nascent soul to assist her in combat at the moment, but her monstrous offensive power and speed were second to none among the members!
Even Mao Xueyan lost to Zhao Yun a few times during their sparring match!
Everyone glanced at Zhao Yun, who looked to be a teenage maiden. Still, her real age was still that of a child.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThey wondered what Miaomiao would do if he were to discover Zhao Yun's current state. Some of them even made a bet that Miaomiao might violate this under-aged girl.
"It's time. Are we ready?" Ju Shoufen asked them to double-check their weapons, talismans, pills, and healing water in their spatial rings.
Everybody nodded, except Zhao Yun.
The rabbit girl raised her hand, "D-Do I have to kill someone I don't know?"
Ju Shoufen bitterly smiled and patted the rabbit girl's head, "Just cripple your opponent and wait for the referee to end the match. You don't have to kill anyone, but don't let your opponent harm you."
"O-Okay."
WHOOSH
As everyone was about to head out, Zhang Jue landed behind Ju Shoufen. The abbot stopped them.
"May this monk take one of the available representative spots? I wish to help Siren City in this ordeal."
Ma Moxi and others looked at Ju Shoufen, waiting for her decision. Even Jia Wenhe waited for his mother-in-law to speak.
Strangely, Ju Shoufen became their leader after Lu Fengxian had been captured. Everyone accepted her due to her experience, leadership, and seniority.
Ju Shoufen shook her head, "I'm sorry, Venerable Zhang. You weren't here when we compared our strength to pick our best fighters. Please let us handle this ourselves."
The gang didn't trust the abbot. Furthermore, the girls, except Zhao Yun and Mao Xueyan, were confident in their current lineup as they had a lot of experience fighting in life-and-death battles with stronger clones in Miaomiao's ITS.
And most importantly, everyone had more than one heaven-grade artifact in their hands, which Miaomiao had obtained from Liu Clan's Vault. He had transferred everything to Wei Yuan, and the latter distributed them to all combatants.
After declining Zhang Jue's offer, the chosen fighters and their friends flew out to meet Yuan Shaoqing's group at the eastern field.
The abbot gazed at them with a bitter smile. He heaved a sigh of regret for not being able to sacrifice himself for the younger generations.
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have hesitated. I should have stayed with them when they needed me the most... Haiz."
…
= 6 AM =
People from the Siren City landed in front of their rebuilt eastern wall, facing Yuan Shaoqing and his men.
As soon as Ju Shoufen and the girls appeared, the spectators drooled and ogled them. Some of them had never seen the women before, and they stared at them in astonishment and admiration.
Before the lecherous men could jeer or comment about their beauty, the sky turned dark as the massive tribulation cloud appeared once more.
Fang Yanxu had arrived!
"I see that you have arrived on time," Fang Yanxu sneered at the people of Siren City. Then, he looked around.
"Where is Mao Miaomiao?"