“I’ve sensed it too. Lately, someone has been taking the initiative to provoke the Dragon-Men.”

“Actually, the brothers have a point. If you’re worried about the Dragon-Man tribe brewing some scheme, why not attack early and throw off their rhythm?”

“But I have a feeling the Dragon-Men are waiting for us to make the first move. If we really strike, we’ll fall right into their trap.”

The Sword Lord looked at you, smiled, and said, “Alright, then I’ll have to go back, play the bad cop, and keep things under wraps for now.”

“I appreciate the hard work. At the latest, by the end of this year, regardless of whether my investigation yields results, we’ll have to join forces with the power of the Starry Domains to end this war!”

Not long after, you finally got a chance to figure out what the Dragon-Men were up to.

Black Wind’s suicidal strike from before had been just too devastating.

If Black Wind’s cultivation level had been any higher, the Frigid Heaven Venerable wouldn’t have survived even ten deaths.

Even so, several years had passed, and the Frigid Heaven Venerable was still as frail as a sick patient, unable to use much of his combat power at all.

To help him fully recover, the Sixth Expeditionary Army had applied to the mother realm for a heavenly treasure capable of healing him—the other side of the gap beneath the sea wasn’t necessarily the Dragon-Man tribe’s mother realm; it could also be a conquered world like the Three-Headed Realm.

The Dragon-Men’s administrative efficiency clearly wasn’t high either.

It had been delayed until now for approval and the completion of the teleportation.

To assist the Frigid Heaven Venerable’s recovery, the Na Heaven Venerable and the Cunning Heaven Venerable both had to go help him.

So, these three Heaven Venerables needed to enter a brief seclusion.

With the three of them absent, the eight Earth Venerables were back to squabbling over who was the boss.

The Earth Venerables spent all their time forming factions, building authority, and canvassing for votes, delegating all their proper duties to the generals below.

For example, your ever-reliable benefactor, General Zuo Zuo Lu.

“General, where are we going?”

Now, as you gradually raised your outward aura to pretend you were at the Sixth Stage, you could already serve as a Deputy General.

Whose deputy general were you?

Did you even need to guess? Of course, Zuo Zuo Lu’s.

Zuo Zuo Lu had important business today, so she brought you along.

She only brought you.

“Don’t ask too many questions. You’ll know when we get there.”

From a tunnel beneath the Command Camp, you went straight down and arrived at an underground passage.

You followed this tunnel for about several dozen kilometers, and along the way, you saw many wall lamps shaped like skulls.

These lamps not only provided light but also had another function—blocking Divine Sense probes, and even fabricating the results of such probes.

After passing through the tunnel, you arrived at a spacious underground cavern.

Hanging upside down inside the cave were many glowing stalactites, providing illumination.

As soon as you entered, you caught a strong smell of blood and a foul stench you had never encountered before.

“Glug glug glug…”

Ahead, something was making bubbling sounds.

You focused your eyes. It was a strange creature that looked like jelly—a translucent body slowly wriggling inside the cave, over a hundred meters long.

“General, what is this?”

You put on an act of someone who had never seen the world.

Zuo Zuo Lu smiled faintly, lifting her chin.

“This is a secret weapon prepared by the Heaven Venerables to conquer the human world!

Ha, originally, it wasn’t meant to be used because this thing is dangerous. But who would have thought the human world could make our demon artifact rebel? For the sake of victory, we had to take a risky move.”

The Dragon-Man tribe called Spirit Artifacts “demon artifacts,” still worshiping the concept of “demon.”

Zuo Zuo Lu opened her Storage Ring and tossed the bodies of animals, Demon Tribe members, and humans inside.

The blob of jelly slowly crawled over, covered the flesh and blood underneath, and then digested them instantly!

It seemed to have grown a little bigger.

You adopted a joking tone.

“General, can a lump of stuff like this really beat the human world? Anyone from our Dragon-Man tribe could take it down easily, right?”

Zuo Zuo Lu flashed a playful smile.

“Go punch it, but don’t hit too hard.”

“Punch it?”

“Don’t worry. Even though the Heaven Venerables said we shouldn’t mess with it, today, I’ll let you broaden your horizons.”

So you did as told, walked over, and gave the thing a punch.

“Boom!!”

Suddenly, a very solid fist shot out from the jelly, slamming into your face. It sent you flying, crashing with a loud bang into the cave wall, leaving a human-shaped crater.

As a Martial King, you could have dodged, and even if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have ended up this battered.

But now you were playing the role of Ai Bobo at the Sixth Stage, so you had to see the act through.

Zuo Zuo Lu doubled over laughing.

“I told you not to hit too hard! See what happened!”

Truth was, you hadn’t used much force, but your fist wasn’t ordinary.

[Serious Punch] was still equipped!

You seemed to understand something.

“It mimics the attacker’s attack and returns it with even greater force?”

Zuo Zuo Lu nodded.

“Smart! It’s called ‘Formless’! Across the entire Void Realm, there’s only one of its kind!”

Formless, my ass—this is obviously Ye Fu!

Your heart instantly jumped into your throat.

Ye Fu wasn’t just a little dangerous.

This thing evolves infinitely, never dies, and any attack only makes it stronger, eventually destroying everything!

By the power levels of the mystical world, one human world wasn’t enough for it to mess with.

This was Pandora’s box. Once opened, it could devour the entire Void Realm!

No wonder when the Command Camp had been in session earlier, the Heaven Venerables had mentioned they needed to apply to the mother realm and couldn’t use this thing recklessly.

Right now, you could only hope that this Formless shared the same properties as the Ye Fu you knew.

If so, you had a small trick to subdue it.

“General, if I attack it, it strikes back. So if I sing to it, would it sing back too?”

Zuo Zuo Lu’s interest was piqued.

“Oh? I’ve never tried that. Go ahead, sing one?”

You cleared your throat on the spot.

“Hey! Prowling the mountain at night, whose hand is draped over the shoulder…”

You tried to recreate the iconic scene of Ye Fu turning into a musical instrument and putting down its blade.

But the jelly retaliated with a sound wave attack.

Formless wasn’t Ye Fu. No matter what stimulation it received, it only fought back!

“General, it’s a good thing humans haven’t discovered we’re raising this thing. If they found out early and nipped it in the bud, that would be bad.”

“You’re overthinking it. We’re not raising it; we’re making it recognize its master.

Even when it was only the size of a palm, there was no way to destroy it. It’s immortal!

The more you attack it, the more power it learns, the stronger it gets, and then it’ll destroy the human world itself!”

You felt relieved.

Attacking earlier wouldn’t have worked, and besides, you hadn’t known there was a way to bind this thing to a master.

Just then, Zuo Zuo Lu frowned slightly, receiving a telepathic message.

“General, what’s wrong?”

“The human world allied forces have attacked!”