Three people stepped off the ship. One of them was a peak-grade Spiritual Sea Gu cultivator, while the other two werete-stage Spiritual Sea Gu cultivators.


    The leader, Bai Haoran, who emitted the aura of a peak-grade Spiritual Sea cultivator, nced in the direction of the mine and said, "With me here, breaking through any formation won''t be a problem. The only difficulty is the risk of alerting the Long n''s Gu cultivators."


    "If the Long n hears anymotion and discovers the hidden cave mansion, things will getplicated."


    Bai Yu, standing to the side, snorted coldly. "It’s just the Long n''s good luck. During thend division, they happened to draw the mine where the ancient cultivator''s hidden cave mansion is located. Otherwise, we wouldn''t need to go through all this trouble, being so cautious."


    "Exactly. Those treacherous dogs from the Long n tricked us and took most of the mines. Naturally, they had a higher chance of getting the area with the hidden cave mansion."


    Bai Hua, who appeared older, sighed from the other side. "That ancient cultivator''s cave mansion is extremely important. Even if the mines were divided evenly at the time, the n couldn''t guarantee we would get the area with the hidden cave mansion."


    "So, to y it safe, the n had no choice but to try to monopolize all the mines. The n head proposed dividing the mines through a genius tournament, sacrificing one generation of geniuses to win all the mines."


    "But who would''ve thought the Long n would y dirty, bringing in outside help? As a result, our n only got a small portion of the mines, and we lost an entire generation of geniuses for nothing. It was a total loss."


    "Now, we didn’t even get the mine with the hidden cave mansion. This time, we really suffered a huge loss.""Let’s hope nothing goes wrong this time. As long as we get the items from the ancient cultivator''s cave mansion, we can recover our losses."


    "Heh heh! There''s no way anything will go wrong this time," Bai Ye said, squinting his eyes toward the mine, a sharp killing intent shing through the slits.


    "How could anything go wrong now? We have six Spiritual Sea Gu cultivators, and after Long Qian left, the Long n only has three."


    "Six against three, it''s a sure win. Since you''re already here, why not take the opportunity to profit even more?"


    "Besides, I just saw that the Long n''s strongest geniuses are all here mining."


    "If we take them out, it would be a huge blow to the Long n."


    "Hmph, since our Bai n''s geniuses were wiped out, how can I not let the Long n taste the same pain?"


    Bai Ye let out a twisted grin, then turned to the others and said, "Don''t worry. You don’t need to be concerned about the consequences of doing this."


    "The City Lord has repeatedly emphasized that if any conflicts arise between the ns, it''s definitely a scheme orchestrated by the Great Yin Dynasty. All such matters will be handled by him."


    "We won’t even need to cover up the battlefield. The City Lord willbel it as a plot by the Great Yin Dynasty to sow discord."


    "If the Long n tries to make a big deal out of it, none of the other ns in the city will agree. The City Lord will personally step in to mediate, and the Long n will have no choice but to swallow their anger in silence. They''ll be so furious they''ll want to curse, haha."


    Bai Ye let out a sinister, viciousugh.


    Hearing this, the other three were stunned by his words. They exchanged nces, each seeing the shock and temptation in the other''s eyes.


    This n was too ruthless, but it seemedpletely feasible. They could rest assured and act without worrying about any consequences.


    "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! You''re one devious bastard,ing up with such a sinister n!" Bai Yu suddenly pped his palm excitedly.


    "Hahaha… Genius! Absolutely genius! Such meticulous nning! Let’s do it!" Bai Hua''s eyes lit up, his face showing excitement.


    "You’re a real piece of work. With this vicious scheme, the Long n will be enraged to death. You’re truly devious," Bai Haoran looked at him with surprise, a glint of interest in his eyes.


    Just moments ago, he was still considering how to break the formation of the cave mansion without alerting the Long n, taking all the treasures silently.


    But now, it seemed his worries were unnecessary. Why not just kill all the Long n members? Why be cautious at all?


    With six Spiritual Sea Gu cultivators on their side and only three on the Long n''s side, victory was assured.


    Bai Haoran''s eyes gleamed brighter, and he praised, "This n is definitely feasible. What’s certain is that after we kill all their geniuses, the Long n won''t dare to dere war on us."


    "You’re right. The City Lord will definitely step in to stop them, and the other ns won’t allow a war to break out between us."


    "There have already been several skirmishes between the ns, with even some geniuses killed, but the City Lord suppressed all of them,beling the events as conflicts instigated by the Great Yin Dynasty."


    "All the ns believe it because there’s been an unusual increase in conflicts recently, which isn’t normal."


    "It’s exactly as the City Lord predicted. The Great Yin Dynasty does intend to stir up n conflicts before the war. The City Lord’s foresight was spot on."


    Bai Haoran squinted and continued, "The City Lord estimates that the Great Yin Dynasty''s invasion of the Western Lands is now a certainty."


    "Not only because of the two princes they lost at our hands, but also because of the Shi Haojun incident, which caused massive losses to all major forces in the Western Lands. Countless Gu Kings have fallen."


    "Shi Haojun refined forbidden Gu, ughtering countless cities and killing too many people. It’s no exaggeration to say that at least 30% of the poption and 30% of the strongest Gu cultivators in the Western Lands have vanished into thin air."


    "The Great Yin Dynasty has long coveted thend of the Western Territories. Now, with the major forces of the Western Territories severely weakened, how could they not take this opportunity to expand their borders?"


    "Thus, regardless of whether those two princes live or die, the Great Yin Dynasty will invade the Western Territories. The death of those two princes simply gives them a legitimate excuse to start a war."


    "Since the possibility of the Great Yin Dynasty mobilizing troops is now 100%, the various ns in the city will certainly prevent the Long n fromunching a war against our n. We can proceed with your proposal boldly, without any concerns."


    Bai Haoran revealed a sinister smile and continued, "But this must wait until after we''ve cracked the ancient cultivator’s cave mansion."


    "If we first ughter the three Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators of the Long n and all their geniuses, it will undoubtedly rm the Long n. They would dispatch arge number of powerful cultivators to investigate, and perhaps even more Spiritual Sea Realm Gu cultivators would be stationed here. By then, it would be much harder for us to crack open that cave mansion."


    The other three Spiritual Sea Realm Gu cultivators nodded in agreement. Bai Ye’s eyes turned cold and malicious as he said, "Fine, let them live a little longer."


    The group let out eerie, chillingughter and then stealthily made their way toward the mines.


    Little did they know, far off in the distance, Fire clone, hidden in a tree, had recorded the entire scene using a Image-Recording Gu.


    Staring at the footage captured by the Image-Recording Gu, Fire clone was in a daze, feeling a chill run down his spine.


    The main body really is wise beyond measure. With just a nce, he suspected that this person harbored ill intentions toward him, and sent me to monitor him.


    It turns out this person truly had treacherous ns. If we hadn''t noticed something was wrong and sent me here in advance, this group of people would have caused us a lot of trouble.


    Bai Ye is truly ruthless. Too bad, no matter how clever his scheme is, he picked the wrong opponent. His plot is destined to fail, and he might even lose his life because of it.


    Fire clone sneered, carrying the Image-Recording Gu as he swiftly ran toward the mines.


    …


    Some timeter, Long Xuan held an identical Image-Recording Gu in his hand. He projected the footage it had captured onto a stone wall and began watching it carefully.


    Although the footage had been recorded from a great distance, there was no need for him to read lips. This particr Image-Recording Gu had been evolved using his unique method.


    It not only had "thousand-mile vision," but also "wind-listening ears." It could directly hear the conversations of those men and their eerieughter.


    As Long Xuan listened, goosebumps rose all over his body, and he couldn’t help but shiver. Cold sweat broke out on his back as he thought to himself how close he hade. Fortunately, he had noticed something wrong in that person’s gaze and made a cautious move. It turns out that person really was up to something.


    What he didn’t expect was that they weren’t targeting him, but were nning to ughter all the Long n’s geniuses and overseers here, then frame the Great Yin Dynasty. How vicious!


    At this point, Long Xuan finally understood why that secret tunnel had been dug.


    It turns out there was an ancient cultivator’s cave mansion hidden within the mines controlled by the Long n, containing unimaginable treasures.


    Given this, the cave mansion must be located somewhere near this mining area. If I search carefully, I should be able to find it.


    A sharp light shed in Long Xuan''s eyes. Where there are miners, there can’t possibly be an ancient cultivator’s cave mansion.


    And where miners do not frequent, the only ces left are the ones marked with X on the map.


    The ces marked with X on the map are all extremely dangerous and off-limits to miners.


    A ce hiding an ancient cultivator’s cave mansion would be filled with formation arrays and perilous traps. Of course, it would be dangerous!


    Given this, the location of the ancient cultivator’s cave mansion shouldn’t be hard to find. All I need to do is explore those marked tunnels.


    Using the Origin Realm to scout the path, this method is second nature to me. There won’t be any danger.


    At this moment, Fire clone spoke up, "I didn’t expect the Bai n would dare to y such a card. If we hadn’t been vignt, they might have seeded. Should I hand this Image-Recording Gu to those Long n overseers outside right now?"


    Long Xuan shook his head, his gaze flickering. After a moment of calm reflection, he said, "No rush. From what they said, they n to loot the cave mansion first and then kill all the Long n Gu cultivators here. They won’t make any moves for now."


    "Since that’s the case, why not see what’s inside that cave mansion first?"


    "What kind of treasure could be inside that would make the Bai n willing to cut off an entire generation of geniuses just to get it? I’m very curious."


    "Once I’ve quietly broken through the protective formations and taken the treasure inside, then I’ll hand over the Image-Recording Gu to the Long n of the Western Lands. By then, those people will be in for a rough time. I’ll let themugh all they want now. We’ll see if they’re stillughingter."


    Long Xuan’s lips curled into a sinister smile, one that mirrored the wicked expressions of those Bai n Gu cultivators projected on the stone wall.