Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1249 - 1242: Civil-Military Conflict

Chapter 1249: Chapter 1242: Civil-Military Conflict

"How can I believe your assurance?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"You are outsiders, aren’t you? You don’t belong to West Outer Heaven?" Xuan didn’t immediately answer his question, but continued on.

Cheng Ziang stared at him, without opening his mouth.

"There’s no need to be cautious. We don’t care where you come from, or even if you will help the Demon Clan. In fact, it might be beneficial to our plan if you do help them," Xuan said lightly.

"Take this," Xuan said, pulling a pendant out of his bosom and tossing it to Cheng Ziang. He then told him, "It’s just my personal pendant, made up of three parts, representing that we can meet three times. Each time we meet, you will return a part of the pendant to me. But don’t worry, after using it three times, we can renew the agreement based on our cooperation. In short, as long as you have the pendant, you can use it to denounce me at any time. This is the greatest sincerity I can show. You should be satisfied, right?"

"How do I know whether this thing can actually denounce you?" Cheng Ziang asked, his expression unreadable.

"Hehe," hearing his question, Xuan smiled faintly, then said, "Many times, we must take certain risks, just as I hand over the pendant to you and yet you do not believe. Anyway, I have expressed my utmost sincerity. Next, I look forward to seeing your sincerity."

"How am I supposed to find you?" Cheng Ziang mused for a moment, then asked.

"I will arrange a trusted person to wait here. As soon as you come, he will go fetch me to meet you. Or, if you trust me, you can let that girl come in to find me," Xuan said.

"It seems that we have reached a preliminary intention to cooperate," Cheng Ziang said.

"I hope you won’t disappoint me, foreigner," saying this, Xuan turned and walked away. As he passed by Feng, he extended his hand and said, "Please return my dagger, Your Highness the Princess."

"You call her ’Your Highness the Princess’?" Hearing this, Cheng Ziang immediately became alert and turned to look at him as he asked.

"I heard from the General that she is a traitor of the Bailong Clan, which is a part of our nation’s Royal Family. Calling her a princess should not be too much," Xuan said indifferently.

"You should know why we want to kill that general," Cheng Ziang asked coldly.

"Of course," pausing, Xuan said calmly, "But you don’t have to worry. I don’t care who she really is, because pursuing the Bailong Clan traitor isn’t my responsibility. My non-reporting already shows the utmost sincerity I can offer. I also hope to see your sincerity. If, I say if, you are unwilling to trust me, then I will have to resort to some minor methods to handle this matter. Compared to conquering West Outer Heaven, those generals seem more interested in pursuing the Bailong Clan traitor."

"Are you threatening us?" Cheng Ziang said, his heart already harboring intent to kill.

"Not at all, I am merely expressing my stance. Both of us need to do something, or refrain from doing something, to solidify our trust. Don’t you think this is a good opportunity?" Xuan asked unruffled.

"What should we do?" Feng, seemingly clueless about the adult political strife, stared blankly at Cheng Ziang and asked.

"Return the sword to him, let him go," Cheng Ziang lowered his head in silence for a moment, then waved his hand to indicate.

Seeing his gesture, Feng did not hesitate; she tossed the blood-stained dagger to Xuan. Xuan caught the dagger and nodded politely, then carried the sword away from the jungle.

Before long, a commotion came from the bushes, followed by Baiyue coming out carrying two sniper rifles, and approached them. Facing Xuan disappearing from view, she looked at Cheng Ziang worriedly and asked, "Not kill him?"

"It’s a major issue; we must be cautious and discuss with Luo’er before taking any action," Cheng Ziang responded calmly.

After a while, the camp of the Dongsheng Empire’s soldiers and generals became bustling, like disturbed ants, they picked up torches and began to patrol the surrounding jungle mountains, searching for the attacker who had killed the general. Before this, Cheng Ziang and his group had already left the area and returned to the city.

It seemed that because Xuan had no combat ability, although the fatal wound on the general’s body came from his own weapon, almost no one in the entire camp believed that Xuan had killed the general.

This was mainly because there was an enormous gulf between cultivators and ordinary people, let alone a general, who was among the elite of cultivators; it was impossible for him to be killed so easily by an ordinary person.

Actually, for an ordinary person to kill a cultivator is not difficult but also not easy; it requires a lot of luck.

In terms of method, one only needs to stealthily attack the cultivator’s abdomen, destroy his Dantian and meridians, and thereby stop him from using his magical power. At this point, the cultivator will be no different from an ordinary person, except slightly stronger and also severely injured.

However, all this is predicated on luck because not everyone has the chance to directly attack a cultivator’s Dantian. As the life vein of a cultivator, they are naturally aware of their vulnerability and would be on guard.

Feng was able to successfully ambush that general largely due to luck. Of course, her own rapid attack was also a factor in her success.

Once the general was attacked in his Dantian, it was like breaking through his defenses, as Feng saw; even Xuan, the Civil Captain, could easily bring him to his death.

After returning to the city, Cheng Ziang and his group did not immediately find Luo’er but rested for a night first. The next morning, they reported their findings to him.

Luo’er expressed significant dissatisfaction with Cheng Ziang’s actions. He felt that new intelligence should be reported immediately, regardless of timing. After criticizing Cheng Ziang for a few sentences, he finally listened to him explain the situation.

"So, attacking West Outer Heaven was not their goal; their real purpose is to exhaust these generals as much as possible to achieve their unspeakable conspiracy," Luo’er mused after hearing the report from Cheng Ziang and Feng.

"If that’s the case, then the best way to resolve the conflict in West Outer Heaven would be to start with these more than a thousand generals," Zhuyan Yu nodded and said.

"Previously, Zisu told me that the Dongsheng Empire values military prowess but is governed by civil officials. That Civil Captain targeting the generals like this is not coincidental but likely a result of internal conflicts between the civil and military officials in the Empire," Luo’er analyzed.

"What should we do?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"Let’s ensure this lead doesn’t dry up. We don’t necessarily have to cooperate with that Xuan, but maintaining this lead ultimately poses no significant issue. Now that we still have the air fleet to rely on, we can rely on our superior aerial firepower to deal with the invading Dongsheng Empire army in West Outer Heaven, without specifically targeting their generals," Luo’er mused.

"But, that Xuan knows Feng’s identity," Cheng Ziang said worriedly.

"Hmm, that is indeed troublesome," Luo’er nodded and then thought for a moment and said, "Since he spoke thus, it means he should be able to keep our secret. In that case, we might as well use this standard as a weather vane for cooperation."

"If we find out that the Dongsheng Empire’s army is aware of Feng’s identity, it would mean they have broken the agreement, and we need not cooperate but should take corresponding measures. If he keeps silent, not revealing Feng’s identity, then we will assume that we are still in a cooperative relationship."

"Right now, we still have many cards to play; there’s no need to focus too much on this matter," Zhuyan Yu also said, "In any case, whether we intervene in this invasion by the Dongsheng Empire, in what form we intervene, and how deeply we intervene all remains to be seen. So, don’t jump to conclusions; instead, we should observe more and act cautiously. We’re on an expedition in East Continent, where we are strangers; if something goes wrong, we might not be able to return."

"So, are you saying we should observe the situation for some time before making a decision?" Cheng Ziang asked.

"Yes, that’s all we can do for now," Luo’er nodded. "No matter what, we still have options available, no need to commit ourselves fully. Even if they reveal Feng’s identity, we can leave Lingyuan City, return to the airboat, and fly back to the Western Continent, without over-focusing on affairs in West Outer Heaven."

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