"No way. If he is the real Meng Tian, then won't we be destroying humankind's own future by not allowing him to enter the Ling Xiao Mountain?"

Debates were unavoidable in any alliances. These type of debates were more vigorous when facing the unknown.

The alliance of the humankind was exactly like so.

Meng Tian's appearance had sparked hope but also suspicion and disbelief.

This was somewhat ironic but it was human nature.

"I have a suggestion." A voice that was extremely loud and clear broke the commotion.

"Let us all keep quiet and listen to the suggestion by Deputy Mashal Yan." Dao Hun signaled everyone to keep quiet after looking at the source of the voice.

Meanwhile, I figure stood up from the chair and took two steps to the center of the Hall. He was none other than Yan Qianli, Western Liang Prince Yan.

"It's simple. Since Meng Tian has already appeared in the Southern Region, we should no longer keep guessing over here. Why not we send some people down to the foot of the mountain to look for him, it will be the best if we can find him and clarify his ident.i.ty right away, if not, we can set up a welcome spot at the foot of the mountain to welcome Meng Tian and clarify his ident.i.ty afterwards," said Yan Qianli.

"Hmm, Old Man Yan's suggestion is good." The Heavenly Oasis Saint who was standing amongst the crowd approved Yan Qianli's idea.

Mu Qingfeng and Mo Shans.h.i.+ exchanged glances and also nodded their heads in approval of Yan Qianli's idea.

After all, by welcoming Sagely Battle G.o.d Meng Tian at the foot of the mountain, it also signified their respect to him. Not only was it respectful to do so, but they could also make preparations for the unknown.

"Hmm, I agree too." Dao Xin nodded her head after giving it a thought.

"I have a feeling that Meng Tian will not directly come to the Ling Xiao Mountain, instead…" Just when everyone expressed their approval, a voice was heard.

A figure who was wearing traditional Chinese clothing stood out with a cold expression. His expression was not like the calmness of the lake, instead, it was as forbidding as a single mountain peak.

It was none other than Yan Xiu.

Yan Xiu had become the Vice Hallmaster of the Yin Yang Hall and was also the Second Deputy Mashal. Although his status was not the highest amongst the Alliance of Humankind, it was not too low.

"Xiu, what do you think?" Dao Xin was evidently shocked when she heard Yan Xiu as Yan Xiu rarely expressed his opinions.

However, this time, Yan Xiu had expressed his opinion voluntarily, offering another opinion when everyone approved Yan Qianli's suggestion.

"Xiu'er, you have a different opinion?" Yan Qianli was also a little surprised.

"I think that this is a signal sent by Meng Tian." Yan Xiu took a look at Yan Qianli and bowed to him before continuing.

"Signal?"

"What signal?"

The surrounding people blinked their eyes in confusion.

"I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that Meng Tian is trying to send us a message." Yan Xiu said as he shook his head gently.

"This…" The surrounding people fell silent again.

Meanwhile, Dao Xin frowned as she reached for the teacup on the table and took a sip from it.

"Xiu, you mean Meng Tian is trying to signal to us that he wants us to work together with him by intentionally appearing at three separate locations?" After a while, Dao Xin's eyes lit up.

"Yes." Yan Xiu nodded.

"I agree with you. If I am not wrong, the reason why Meng Tian intentionally appeared in the Heaven Dao Pavilion, Fu Xi Valley and the Nine Pinnacles Mountain was to prompt us to attack these three locations!" After a moment of silence, Dao Xin nodded her head and agreed.

"Attack?"

"However, we have yet to confirm Meng Tian's ident.i.ty, how can we follow his orders?"

"Precisely. Furthermore, this is only a guess. If we take action rashly, who will pay for the loss if anything goes wrong?"

The surrounding people also sounded their doubts regarding this issue.

"You guys are right, if we collaborated with Meng Tian, we would definitely be able to regain our rule in these three locations. However, Meng Tian's ident.i.ty has yet to be confirmed. We should be extra careful even though Meng Tian had given us the signal!" said Dao Xin.

"That's right, we should be extra careful!" The surrounding people quickly agreed with Dao Xin.

Dao Xin smiled as she saw the faces of approval and stopped talking.

That was because she had achieved her motive.

Although the alliance of humankind could gather the powers of every individual, it could easily create friction due to differing opinions.

Dao Xin's task was simple. She needed to gather the opinions, build the reputation of the alliance and eventually make all the sects of the alliance obey the orders willingly.

"Old man Mu, why do I feel like I am being led by the nose?" Mo Shans.h.i.+ looked around and narrowed his eyes.

"Hmm, Dao Xin is indeed good at getting the trust of others. If nothing goes wrong, very soon, the sects in the alliance would trust her more than the two of us. However… as it is a critical time now, we should not start any conflicts with Dao Xin and we should endure instead."

"Endure?"

"Unless you have a better idea?"

"Rubbis.h.!.+" Mo Shans.h.i.+ snorted and stopped talking. He sat in his chair and listened to the commotion.

…

Five days later in the Great Swamp of the Holy Region…

"Young Empress, we found Meng Tian's traces near the Seven-Colored Mountain in the Holy Region!"

"Young Lord, urgent report, we found Meng Tian's traces in the Broken Scar Valley in the West of the Holy Region. Please advice, Young Lord!"

"…"

The various urgent reports from all regions kept flooding into the Great Swamp, all directed to Yun Qingwu.

"What on earth is Meng Tian doing? There are already more than ten Meng Tians discovered in the Holy Region!" Lin Yu mumbled angrily as the soldier who made the report left.

"If I am not wrong, the number is more than what we have now," said Yun Qingwu as she frowned.

"Hmm, me too. So can we start taking action? We can't possibly let these 'fake Meng Tians' act arbitrarily in the Holy Region?"

"We have insufficient manpower." Yun Qingwu shook her head.

"Insufficient?"

"Yes, relative to humankind, both the Monster Race and Demon Race are at a disadvantage in terms of manpower," explained Yun Qingwu.

"You mean?"

"Meng Tian wants us to take action. Once we do, everything would become a mess. I had once used this plan on 'Fang Zhengzhi'," said Yun Qingwu.

"Oh I see, so… are we not taking any action?" Lin Yu understood Yun Qingwu but was certainly unwilling to not do anything.

"I think we should go with the flow!" After giving it a deep thought, Yun Qingwu took a sip of water from the teacup on the table, rinsed her mouth before she spat the water out.

"Young Lord, are you planning to use the scheme of sowing dissension?" Lin Yu's eyes lit up as he gave a cunning smile.

"Since Meng Tian did not head directly to the Ling Xiao Mountain to meet the three sects, we can therefore use Meng Tian's name to do that for him."

"Understood, I will make the necessary arrangements now!"

"Hmm." Yun Qingwu nodded her head lightly. She gradually stood up from her chair and walked towards the windows after Lin Yu left the room.

The sky outside the window was still shrouded by haze. Even though it was in the day, the sun could not s.h.i.+ne through the haze.

…

At the Northern Mountain Village in the Great Xia Dynasty, the sunlight shone on the small village and covered it like a layer of golden clothing, radiating vibrancy throughout the village.

In the courtyard of the Fang family, Fang Zhengzhi, who was wearing a blue robe, opened his eyes slowly and stretched comfortably on the deck chair.

"Sleeping is the most comfortable." Fang Zhengzhi smacked his lips and reached out for the fruits in front of him, threw one piece into his mouth and began munching on the delicious fruit.

"You are awake?" A voice was heard from the courtyard. Then, Wu Yuer who was wearing a black dress walked out from the room.

"Hmm, has Shan Yu woken up?" asked Fang Zhengzhi.

"Not yet, but the poison in her body are more or less gone. I think she will wake up in a few days' time." Wu Yuer stretched her head towards Fang Zhengzhi and asked, "I heard from the Settlement Chiefs that you took a bath with Shan Yu?"

"Goodness me, do you think I will take advantage of others in such situations?" Fang Zhengzhi slapped his chest and said without hesitation.

"Well, even if you had, I will not mind." Wu Yuer blinked and exuded an extremely alluring aura.

"Haha." Fang Zhengzhi laughed lightly and stood up from his chair, went around Wu Yuer before entering his room.

He was not a fool, how would he believe Wu Yuer's words?

Never believe a woman who says that she does not mind. If anyone actually believed such words, that person was doomed to live a hard life.

Nevertheless…

Fang Zhengzhi would definitely not admit it.

Furthermore, he was forced to do it. He had no other choices and had to take a bath with her.

"Zheng'er, are you hungry?" Qin Xuelian stepped out of the kitchen with a warm bowl of steamed egg in her hands,

"Wow, smells amazing, I am really hungry now!"

"If you are hungry, eat it while it's warm. I will take another bowl for Yuer." Qin Xuelian smiled and took another bowl of steamed egg from the kitchen. "Yuer, are you hungry? Want to have some of my steamed egg?"

"Sure, Mother!" Wu Yuer hopped into the kitchen and blinked at Fang Zhengzhi again.

Fang Zhengzhi was rather speechless.

He told Qin Xuelian repeatedly to not allow Wu Yuer to address her as "Mother". However, Qin Xuelian clearly did not listen.

Wu Yuer was also outrageous!

She addressed Qin Xuelian as "Mother" so naturally that it made her look extremely shameless.

Fang Zhengzhi could not possibly remind Qin Xuelian every single time Wu Yuer called her "Mother" as after all, Qin Xuelian would not listen.

That forced him to leave it as such.

"Mother, I think I need to leave for a while…" said Fang Zhengzhi softly to Qin Xuelian who was busy in the kitchen after he had finished the steamed egg.

Clang! The sound of pots and pans dropping was heard, followed by the sounds of clearing up.

Wu Yuer rolled her eyes at Fang Zhengzhi and hurried into the kitchen to help. A moment later, she accompanied Qin Xuelian out.

"Zheng'er, I know that you have things to do, but… but I am really reluctant to leave you…" Qin Xuelian sobbed.

"Xuelian, don't cry. It's not as if Zheng'er will never come back. Look, he came back after he left us the last time!" A sigh was heard from the room upstairs as Fang Houde walked down. He took a glance at Fang Zhengzhi before looking back at Wu Yuer. "How long will you be gone for?"

"Probably…"

"Dad, we will be back really soon, rest a.s.sured!" Wu Yuer broke off Fang Zhengzhi's sentence and smiled brightly.

"Alright, then go. A man has aspirations, your mother and I will not be a burden. You can rest a.s.sured as we have Qing Yi with us!" Fang Houde nodded.

Fang Zhengzhi did not say anything else.

He did not want to leave the Northern Mountain Village. If he could, he wanted to accompany Qin Xuelian and Fang Houde until they pa.s.sed away.

However, he could not.

Although he had already tried his best to spend as much time as possible in the Northern Mountain Village, he still had things to do.

"When shall we leave?" Wu Yuer walked towards Fang Zhengzhi and asked softly.

"Today," replied Fang Zhengzhi.

"Understood, I will go and prepare now."

"Alright." Fang Zhengzhi nodded and walked slowly into a room.

On the bed in the room lied a woman with an extremely alluring aura and beautiful face. Even when she asleep, one could feel the arrogance that was emitted from her.