Chapter 588: The Plan

“What kind of plan?” Jiang Shishi asked curiously. With the rules being so transparent, how could there even be a plan to speak of?

And how long had it actually been since they started? They had already thought of a plan?

“It is simple enough, really. Through our earlier combat, the two of us determined that the demon beasts on this first floor are merely at the ordinary Nascent Soul stage, well within the capabilities of you demon race geniuses.”

“Therefore, if one merely wishes to pass the first trial, anyone can amass the required number of demon souls simply by hunting them honestly.”

“But if one wishes to obtain more demon souls and secure a better evaluation, extraordinary measures must be employed.”

“A group of three, to accelerate the pace of the hunt?”

Meng Jingzhou shook his head, rejecting Jiang Shishi’s suggestion. “The efficiency is too low. Furthermore, did you not notice the map displayed at the very beginning? This first floor is absurdly vast. Running from the entrance to the opposite stairway takes a whole day. Relying solely on the three of us to hunt, just searching for the demon beasts would waste several hours.”

“Then what should be done?” Lacking experience, Jiang Shishi had not observed as meticulously as Meng Jingzhou.

Instead of answering, Meng Jingzhou countered with a question: “You already know the combat prowess of us two fellow disciples. How would you evaluate it?”

Jiang Shishi stared blankly at the two of us before offering a fair assessment: “Not inferior to myself or Ao Yue.”

Ao Yue was the genius of this generation's Dragon Clan.

Jiang Shishi and Ao Yue were collectively known as the two great geniuses of the Demon Domain, possessing the potential of immortals.

This was the highest evaluation in the Demon Domain; among the demon race members who had entered the ancient realm, only the two of them had received it.

“Then that is it. With the three of us joining forces, the plan is foolproof.”

To ensure the plan was absolutely foolproof, the three decided to first spend eight days slaying thirty demon beasts to hoard enough souls to pass the trial. This way, even if the plan failed, their passage would still be guaranteed.

Conveniently, while hunting the demon beasts, the three of us could build rapport, increasing the success rate when implementing the plan.

Eight days flashed by, and the process of Lu Yang and the other two slaying demon beasts became increasingly effortless. Even against demon beasts at the late Nascent Soul stage, the creatures could not last more than two exchanges in their hands.

Lu Yang looked up at the hourglass.

“We killed a few extra, running slightly past the planned time, but it is no big deal. Let us head to the stairway entrance first.”

“Alright.”

Jiang Shishi felt a wave of excitement, having long been prepared to execute the plan.

The three quickened their pace, rushing swiftly toward the stairway entrance.

Yet, when they arrived at the stairway entrance, they instinctively froze in their tracks, staring at the scene before them in sheer disbelief.

The plan Lu Yang had formulated was to blockade the gate. Given the combat prowess of the three of us, it should have been enough to prevent anyone from reaching the stairway entrance.

The geniuses would arrive on the final day, so they only needed to block the gate one day in advance.

But now, the stairway entrance was already blocked by someone else.

They were the ones who would have to obediently hand over their essences!

“Haha, unexpected, isn't it? I overheard your plan long ago!” Qin Feng, the young master of the Nine-Headed Bird Clan, laughed uproariously upon seeing the splendid expressions on the faces of the three.

“Back when you had just entered the first floor and were formulating it, I was right beside you, overhearing the entire process of your plan!”

Seeing Lu Yang’s grim expression, Qin Feng was overcome with joy. “Though I know not who you are, I must thank you for devising this plan.”

“Blockading the gate? It truly is an excellent plan. However, when it comes to power within the ancient realm, who can compare to our Demon Alliance? Even the Dragon and Phoenix Clans are inferior to us.”

The Demon Alliance was a concept proposed by the ancient Di Jiang. Prior to the establishment of the demon kingdom, the demon tribes commanded by the ancient Di Jiang were collectively referred to as the Demon Alliance.

The geniuses of the Di Jiang Clan were personally nurtured by the ancient Di Jiang and had not entered the ancient realm.

The Demon Alliance was headed by the Di Jiang Clan. In the absence of the Di Jiang Clan, the remaining tribes all desired to obtain the command rights for this ancient realm expedition.

Qin Feng had been fretting over how to secure the command rights, and this was a pillow delivered right to a sleeping man.

If he were the one to propose the blockade plan, then the command rights for the Demon Alliance in this operation would surely fall to him.

The reality unfolded exactly as he had anticipated. While the geniuses of the Demon Alliance were still pondering whether to slay demon beasts for essences or snatch them from others, Qin Feng proposed his plan, winning everyone’s approval as they praised it one after another.

Naturally, Qin Feng became the commander of this operation.

Qin Feng was filled with smug satisfaction. Standing behind him were the geniuses of the White Tiger Clan, the Taowu Clan, and so forth—amounting to dozens of individuals.

Even if Lu Yang and his companions were formidable fighters, they could not possibly defeat all the geniuses of the Demon Alliance!

Lu Yang’s face turned ashen as he rapidly contemplated a solution.

As the situation descended into a stalemate, Jiang Shishi’s followers rushed over one after another, entirely caught off guard by the Demon Alliance's blockade.

Closely following them, Ao Yue and the geniuses of the Nine Sons also arrived. Witnessing this scene, they frowned in silence.

Afterward came the geniuses of the Qiongqi Clan and several other unallied geniuses.

The stairway entrance was so narrow; blocked by the forces of the Demon Alliance, it was not something that could be breached merely through superior numbers.

Ao Yue gritted his teeth. “How do we know it will not work unless we try?”

Ao Yue possessed great rallying power among the geniuses. He transformed into a azure dragon soaring through the air, while the Baxia Clan and the rest of the Nine Sons revealed their true forms, prepared to fight alongside him.

Seeing this, the other geniuses revealed their true forms one after another: a smooth-furred Jade Rabbit, a black Heavenly Dog the size of a hill, a winged Qiongqi with the body of a tiger...

“Battle!”

With a dragon roar from Ao Yue, the surrounding space trembled. Burning his dragon clan essence blood and clutching a dragon pearl in his claws, he turned into a streak of azure light, charging toward the Demon Alliance.

By his strength alone, he was capable of slaying a late Nascent Soul stage demon beast!

“Battle!”

The geniuses erupted with unprecedented power, uniting as one, determined to break through the blockade.

Regrettably, the Demon Alliance had long anticipated this scenario. Under Qin Feng’s command, they advanced and retreated with order, making it impossible for Ao Yue and his companions to break through purely on hot blood.

The two sides clashed fiercely for half a day, yet the Demon Alliance stood like an iron wall, remaining entirely impenetrable.

Ultimately, Ao Yue’s faction exhausted their strength and fell into defeat.

Qin Feng walked smugly before Ao Yue. “Fellow Daoist Ao Yue, I have no desire to strain our relationship to such an extent. When the demon kingdom is established in the future, we shall still exchange insights and progress together.”

“How about this? Leave behind ten essences, give the remainder to me, and I shall allow you to pass through here. What say you?”

Ao Yue snapped his head up, glaring intently at Qin Feng, his dragon eyes bloodshot, giving Qin Feng quite a fright.

But he quickly recovered. What use was glaring? It was nothing more than incompetent fury.

After agonizing over it repeatedly, forced by the pressure of reality, Ao Yue surrendered his essences.

There were a total of twenty.

“As expected of Fellow Daoist Ao Yue, to be able to slay so many demon beasts.” Qin Feng accepted the essences with a beaming smile.

Seeing Ao Yue capitulate, the other geniuses followed suit and handed over their essences, retaining only their own ten.

If someone possessed only ten, Qin Feng simply refused to let them pass.

Beholding the mountain of essences, Qin Feng smiled so widely his mouth could barely close. According to the pre-arranged proportions, he distributed them to all the geniuses of the Demon Alliance.

Qin Feng held the highest share, obtaining fifty-three.

Behind the Demon Alliance stood a colossal chest, bearing the characters for “Essence.”

Qin Feng poured all fifty-three essences into the chest.

Once again, that emotionless voice rang out.

"Qin Feng, fifty-three essence souls. Proceed to the second floor."

Seeing that time was running short, the prodigies of the Demon Alliance also surrendered their essence souls to the ancient realm, securing their qualification to pass.

Next up were Ao Yue and his companions.

"Ao Yue, ten essence souls. Proceed to the second floor."

"Dong Shu, ten essence souls. Proceed to the second floor."

Noticing there was still some time left, Qin Feng strolled leisurely over to Lu Yang and the other two.

He completely ignored Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, having no intention whatsoever of allowing these two eyesores to advance to the second floor.

Walking up to Jiang Shishi, who stood with her head bowed, Qin Feng smiled and said, "Shishi, I told you long ago that these two lackeys you recruited are useless. Look at them now, they can't even manage to pass the trial."

"As long as you agree to become my fiancée, I will give the word. You won't have to hand over any essence souls, and I'll let you pass. What do you say?"

Jiang Shishi suddenly lifted her head, a smile gracing her lips. "Qin Feng, do you truly believe you have everything under your absolute control?"

"What do you mean by that!" Catching sight of her smile, an inexplicable wave of panic washed over Qin Feng.

To the side, Lu Yang let out a lazy chuckle. "Fellow Daoist Qin Feng, your eyesight leaves much to be desired. You couldn't even tell this was my clone."

Meanwhile, the Meng Jingzhou standing on the other side morphed into the exact likeness of Lu Yang.

A wood clone!

Suddenly, a voice echoed from right behind Qin Feng.

"Many thanks to Fellow Daoist Qin Feng for gathering so many essence souls on our behalf."

Qin Feng whipped around violently, his eyes nearly splitting with rage as he stared at the scene in utter disbelief.

Meng Jingzhou had actually crawled out from inside the chest, holding a massive string of essence souls in both hands!

"We knew all along you were eavesdropping nearby. Did you honestly believe the three of us could block the exit all on our own?"

"The plan to block the gate was spoken entirely for your benefit."

The rules had never specified the method for surrendering the essence souls. Preconceived notions dictated that anyone seeing a chest labeled "Essence Souls" at the foot of the heavenly stairway would naturally assume it was the collection point.

Coupled with the fact that everyone's attention was fully focused on the Demon Alliance, no one had bothered to notice anything amiss with the chest.

In truth, this chest was merely a makeshift construction put together by Meng Jingzhou.

(End of Chapter)