Like a Ray in My Night (Part 4)

666 Getting Ready to Fight

Xi Ju Hai soon finished noting down everything she knew. She read over the information one more time, nodded to herself, and out down the brush before handing the paper scroll to Elder Xing. "This is all that I remember about the technique. I have never tried it myself so I can't vouch for any of it but according to the research I did at the time, it seemed to add up."

Elder Xing nodded. "Thank you. I know this must not be easy for you."

Xi Ju Hai could only give an ugly smile in response. No, certainly, none of this was easy. But then, nothing had been in the past five years. In a sense, those years had been harder than the ones before when she was aimlessly researching this matter.

During her research, she had at least had some hope, something to look forward to at the end of all this strange work. But when she found out about Feng Bai Xiao's betrayal, half that hope was dashed, and another piece of it crumbled as they received reports about some of his other disciples defecting as well. In the end, nothing of it was left.

Xi Ju Hai couldn't help but think of Mu Qing. She had just seen him a few hours ago. Now that they were once again separated by miles, it seemed unreal. She hadn't completely forgiven what had happened before but she understood. He had always been a sentimental person and much of his heart had been hung on his Master. In his eyes, he owed Feng Bai Xiao his life and thus, he couldn't disobey him. Even if he knew that his Master was doing wrong, he could only try to advise him, urging him to turn back to the right path. It was a pity ... Feng Bai Xiao had never been the upright person he thought him to be and the truth of that year couldn't be determined any longer.

Xi Ju Hai suppressed a sigh. None of this was important now. If she managed to survive the upcoming battle and if Mu Qing did the same, then they could slowly talk all of it through in detail and make up their minds about how the future should go. Of course, this wouldn't only be up to them. She didn't believe for a moment that the four great righteous sects would allow Mu Qing to walk away from any responsibility he had in this.

To be honest, he shouldn't be allowed to either. Even if she loved him, even if she knew his reasons, she had to admit that he had chosen wrong and had done many things that were inexcusable throughout this time. Naturally, he should be tried and receive punishment, no matter how that finally looked.

She didn't dare to think in this direction further and instead looked at the two Elders. "Deploying this array still depends on skill so I would suggest looking for a person well-versed in formations to take charge of this. We will also have to find a good spot to create this. I'm afraid one array won't be enough for the number of people the other side has so ... we might have to split them into groups."

Baili Chao furrowed his brows. "That will naturally cause a delay. If we are unlucky, some might wake up earlier which would make the whole plan collapse."

Da Hei raised a brow. "Then kill them all. At that point, you can't continue to be careful. This ... is the perfect idea which can be executed under perfect conditions but as soon as something goes wrong, you won't have a choice but to act a bit cruder."

Elder Baili looked at him with some doubt. "Then what about alerting the demonic faction ahead of time?"

"Well ..." Da Hei shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn't care any less. "Then you'd better be ready for the fight of your life. Anyway, you will have one sooner or later. Taking the initiative and getting rid of some of their people first is still a good thing. The fight after that ..." He shook his head. "As things stand, it doesn't look like you have much of a chance anyway."

Elder Baili could only sigh. Mei Chao Bing had really taken in a spirit beast with a poisonous tongue. Unfortunately, even though the words weren't good to hear, they were nonetheless true: They indeed didn't stand much of a chance. As soon as the fight started, their numbers wouldn't be enough to stand up to the demonic faction. Right now, they could only hope for reinforcements from the other sects' camps. Whether those would arrive or when ... it was tough to say.

Elder Xing reached over and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. Even if our chances don't look good, at least we are somewhat prepared. It could be much worse."

Baili Chao smiled wryly in response. 'Prepared' wasn't necessarily the word he would have used for their current state. 'Informed' might have been a better one in that they knew what was going to happen but had hardly anything to counter it. It wasn't a good feeling to be in this situation. But, well, it couldn't be changed. "Let's have the disciples get ready. As soon as Disciple Mu and Disciple Tan come back and have used up the ingredients they found, we will set off for the underground palace. I don't think there is any benefit in waiting longer than that."

Elder Xing nodded, agreeing that they shouldn't waste more time. The earlier they started their own attack, the better. Maybe they could indeed catch the demonic faction off-guard. Even if it wouldn't help much, each bit of advantage was a boon to them. Other than this little bit of planning, the only thing they could do was to pray to the Heavens and hope that they would somehow take pity on them. And that ... really wasn't much of a plan at all.