Published: March 8, 2025
“Diwu Qingrou, does this carving look like you?”
These few words, a question, evoked a strange feeling among the crowd.
Although it was a question, there was an undeniable certainty that seemed to come from it. It was as if the renowned master strategist, known as "God's Plan and Ghostly Calculation," stood before them, smiling confidently at everyone, saying: This is Diwu Qingrou!
Diwu Qingrou looked at the words and gently shook her head, a slight smile forming on her lips.
“Does it look like me... Mo Tianji, are you issuing a challenge to me?” Diwu Qingrou’s gaze was profound as she murmured, “But do you know that this sentence reveals your weakness?”
She then casually instructed: “Count the casualties and make proper arrangements; advance the entire army, moving the original camp one thousand miles forward, to before this mountain!”
Having been schemed against and suffering a great loss, Diwu Qingrou surprisingly chose not to retreat but to advance instead.
Diwu Qingrou watched the crowd bustling with activity, but in her heart, she had her own thoughts: “What you mean is merely a warning, to let me know the limits when competing with you? But if I really mind my manners with you everywhere, then once you have grown strong, I would only be a commander; the Fifth Family would never take shape; what use would that be?”
“Moreover, if I worry about how to maneuver within limits, wouldn’t the peak battle of wisdom I dream of be utterly impossible? So I know your intentions, but I must defeat you!”
“Commander, the casualty statistics have been compiled.” Ye Xiaoyao's voice was somewhat heavy.
“How is it?”
“The losses are significant, with the death toll reaching two hundred. There are fifteen severely injured and eighty-four lightly injured, effectively leaving the coalition of the three families crippled.”
“Fortunately, the high-level supreme experts suffered no losses. But the lower-tier forces have almost been wiped out.”
The lower-tier forces Ye Xiaoyao spoke of were merely the saint level experts beneath the supreme level. Now, those once revered saint level experts had already become part of the lower tier.
This was undeniably ironic.
“How about the enemy's casualties?” Diwu Qingrou asked calmly.
“I'm afraid... it won't exceed fifty.” Ye Xiaoyao sighed deeply, “It was too sudden. The Chen Family and Ling Family were basically caught completely off guard and lost half of their forces. Sigh...”
Diwu Qingrou remained silent. “This was my mistake; the enemy guessed all of my reactions correctly, leading to this defeat. I fully deserve it.”
Xiao Zhengyan said, “How can you blame the commander? The main issue is that kid on the opposite side is too cunning.”
Diwu Qingrou said sternly, “An incompetent general can exhaust a thousand troops. As the one in charge, I must bear the responsibility alone. If I shirk and evade, then I, Diwu Qingrou, am unworthy to command the army.”
...
The Li family members fled with all their might, not knowing how far they had run, but following Mo Tianji's earlier instructions, they continuously changed formations. They split into smaller units and then reassembled; after three such transformations, they finally saw Mo Tianji standing with a smile amidst the wind and snow.
Now, the way everyone looked at Mo Tianji was as if they were gazing upon an immortal.
“How is it?”
“Very exhilarating.”
Everyone laughed together.
“Alright, next I’ll talk about what we should do next... huh?” Mo Tianji laughed heartily, about to give instructions, when suddenly his expression turned cold as ice. He shouted, “Where is Li Xiong Tu?”
Everyone's faces changed. Li Wubo glanced around and seemed to realize Li Xiong Tu was missing, causing him to panic, turning pale, and he shouted, “Where is Xiong Tu? Who saw him? Speak up!”
Li Jue, pale and on the verge of collapse, shakily stood up, his eyes red: “Xiong Tu... he was in my group, but later I was injured and was about to be cut to pieces when Xiong Tu saved me... my dear brother, Xiong Tu... he fell behind to save me...”