In fact, by this point, it seems possible to directly rise up and try to completely resolve this world, even to find all the personnel or other contingencies that Force One might have left behind.

However, the Association naturally has its own rules.

That is to be steady.

Regardless of the time, always try to be as stable as possible.

So, the Association decided to use the Gray Mist for final verification.

At this point, preliminary verification is actually very simple.

It only requires asking a question through the Gray Mist.

—Will this operation achieve the planned result?

It only needs a yes or no answer.

This kind of straightforward answer minimizes the consumption of Gray Mist to the lowest degree.

But the effect is optimal.

If the answer is positive, then there's no question, just proceed with confidence.

But if the answer is negative, then it only requires considering other possibilities.

At that time, whether to search on your own or continue using the Gray Mist to gather more intelligence, both are options.

In the past, reaching this stage was basically just the final verification.

Rarely would a negative be received.

There are even some voices in the Association that consider this step of verification to be purely a waste of Gray Mist.

It was Shen Yu who always insisted.

The answer at this moment warranted the persistence that Shen Yu had held onto all along.

Because the answer was "no."

When this answer appeared, a stifling silence pervaded the council room.

After a moment, Shen Yu exhaled a long breath.

"We should be happy," he said with a smile, looking at the other Shen Yus, "At least, with this one, the Gray Mist we consumed verifying answers in the past has directly paid off, much less costly than acting rashly and ultimately failing."

"Indeed," interstellar world Shen Yu followed up on Shen Yu's words and said, "We really should feel fortunate, at least this time, we found the problem before acting."

The other Shen Yus also began to engage actively.

"It seems the All Heavens Forces are indeed different from all the past forces and all enemies."

"Indeed, no one can truly see through the cards that an All Heavens Force holds."

"This is indeed a bit frightening. Even finding such an unsolvable backup, it's still impossible to win. Could Force One have left some other powerful contingency?"

"Actually, it might not just be Force One, right? Don't forget, Force One is clearly compromised."

The last Shen Yu's words reminded everyone else.

After all, the question asked using the Gray Mist earlier was merely about whether the outcome would be successful.

A negative answer, but it might not necessarily be because of Force One.

Realizing this possibility, even Main Body Shen Yu couldn't help frowning.

If this matter involves a second All Heavens Force, or even the All Heavens Force that destroyed Force One initially, that would directly complicate and dangerously intensify the situation.

Shen Yu exchanged glances with interstellar world Shen Yu, Wizard Shen Yu, and others, all understanding each other's thoughts.

Shen Yu directly said, "Given the special circumstances and risks, I suggest we shouldn't be too frugal with the Gray Mist; this matter must be handled cautiously."

The meaning of this is not to conduct the investigation personally, but to directly use the Gray Mist to obtain answers, at least narrowing the scope.

After a brief mutual discussion, most of the Shen Yus agreed with Main Body Shen Yu's view.

This matter indeed already posed considerable risk.

Thus, Shen Yu used the Gray Mist again, directly posing a second question: "Is the factor leading to our failure coming from Force One?"

This question is also a true-or-false type.

This method allows obtaining the most precise and effective intelligence at the lowest cost.

And if the answer this time is still negative, that would signify that, likely, a third All Heavens Force, other than themselves, is involved in this matter.

Then Shen Yu must carefully consider whether to abandon their previous investment and temporarily withdraw from this world.

This is also inevitable.

In the All Heavens, the Association's current power cannot be said to be all that strong.

And at this moment, the Gray Mist provided an answer.

"Yes!"

This answer allowed all Shen Yus to breathe a sigh of relief.

So far, the Association had already gained some understanding of Force One.

The power of this force, though much stronger than the Association, and substantially so, did not amount to a crushing, insurmountable superiority.

There wasn't a tier-level difference.

Under such circumstances, as long as the factors preventing success originated from Force One, the situation hadn't deteriorated to a point where giving up on this world was necessary.

After all, quite a few resources had indeed been invested already.

"Then, should we use the Gray Mist to gather more intelligence?" Shen Yu looked at the others again, "Or spend a bit more time to investigate ourselves first?"

The answer was obvious, and most of the Shen Yus unanimously agreed to investigate on their own first.

Since the problem was still with Force One, they had sufficient patience and time to explore.

Thus, the meeting concluded, and all the Shen Yus explored the situation of this world with their respective plans.