Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 475 Planning
"The Ninth Prince's expression wasn't good. I glanced at him and guessed that the Fourth Prince was about to arrive."

Qin Hai lowered his voice: "With the arrival of the Fourth Young Master, the Ninth Young Master will inevitably lose control and may even be forced to go home. How can he be willing to accept that? Regardless of whether he believes in you or not, you must take action to prove the Ninth Young Master's abilities."

"Isn't it enough to severely damage the Evil Dog Demon Hunter Team and the Crimson Flame Demon Hunter Team in succession?"

Qiao Shun's voice carried a hint of resentment, his fingernails almost digging into his palm.

"That sounds enough, but it's nothing to the Li family."

Qin Hai's face darkened slightly: "You failed to dismantle the Demon Hunting Guild; you failed to prevent the merger of the Golden Light Demon Hunting Group and the Spirit Eye Demon Hunting Group; you failed to hinder the establishment of the Demon Suppression Camp; you orchestrated the annihilation of the Evil Dog Demon Hunting Group, yet they escaped; you guided the demon beasts to attack Monkey Valley, with negligible results; although you vehemently opposed the attack on the Crimson Flame Demon Hunting Group, you submitted all the action plans, and it also failed."

"Over the past four years, almost every action you have taken has ended in failure or utter defeat. You haven't even managed to kill a single member of the Li family. You have brought shame upon Ninth Prince!"

Upon hearing this, a flash of anger immediately crossed Qiao Shun's eyes.

Indeed, most of the actions he planned failed.

But can we blame him alone?
The Ninth Prince, though thousands of miles away, was giving orders and making excuses when he applied for spirit stones and manpower.

How can anything be accomplished without his full support?

Now that the Fourth Young Master is coming, the Ninth Young Master is getting anxious. He's being asked to take action for this and that. Why didn't he do this earlier?

Of course, Qiao Shun dared not say these words aloud; he could only keep them to himself.

Faced with Qin Hai's questioning, he blushed and wanted to defend himself, but found himself speechless.

In any case, he is destined to bear the blame for dereliction of duty.

Thinking of this, Qiao Shun felt as if all his strength had been drained away. He slumped into his chair and said dejectedly, "I've done my best. Intelligence work can't be done with just enthusiasm. Li Xiangming is the most popular person in Monkey Valley. Anyone could become his informant. It's already extremely difficult for me to have infiltrated until now and cover your infiltration into the Demon Suppression Camp. But Ninth Prince isn't satisfied and wants me to overthrow the Demon Suppression Camp. Isn't that just wishful thinking?"

“He has no idea that Li Xiangming acts unconventionally and has wildly imaginative ideas, causing many of our operations to fail before they even begin. Take the current situation, for example. He suddenly reformed the Demon Suppression Camp, rendering all of you spies who managed to infiltrate the camp useless. It's not that I don't want to take action, it's just that I'm not confident in my abilities.”

"The beast tide is our opportunity!"

Qin Hai's voice suddenly became more forceful: "Li Xiangming scattered all the cultivators of the Demon Suppression Camp and reorganized them into the five departments of Mingqiao, Jiangyun, Panque, Yanji, and Xieyun, simply to unify command and facilitate the fight against the beast tide."

"There are two waves of beast tides threatening Monkey Valley, attacking from both the north and south. If Li Xiangming attacks the northern beast tide, we will lure the southern beast tide to join us; if Li Xiangming attacks the southern beast tide, we will lure the northern beast tide to attack. If Li Xiangming remains inactive, we will lure the beast tides from both the north and south to surround Monkey Valley. In this way, Li Xiangming's Demon Suppression Camp will inevitably suffer heavy losses."

"That's easy for you to say."

Qiao Shun shook his head: "The beast tide is completely uncontrollable! Li Xiangming made many preparations to defend against the beast tide, but what was the result? The beast tide split in two on its own, and the Golden Scale Slope battlefield became a mere decoration. You want to control the beast tide to attack Monkey Valley, which is a good idea, but if you can't do it, it's just wishful thinking."

Qin Hai's face immediately turned cold: "After saying all this, you just don't want to take action, do you? If we can't win back some face for the Ninth Young Master in front of the Fourth Young Master, our lives will be in danger, and our families will be reduced to lowly servants, never to rise again."

Qiao Shun's body trembled slightly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

After only a few breaths, he opened his eyes again, his tone becoming low: "Where do you think Li Xiangming will go if he mobilizes the Demon Suppression Camp?"

After thinking for a moment, Qin Hai analyzed, "The beast tide has already crossed Monkey Valley, but it is stuck in the northwest and southwest directions, and it may launch a counterattack at any time. If I were Li Xiangming, I would take advantage of the beast tide's split and concentrate my forces to break through one side first. If we succeed, the remaining side of the beast tide will be no problem."

Qiao Shun pondered for a moment, nodded, and continued to ask, "Then which side do you think Li Xiangming is most likely to break?"

Qin Hai fell into deep thought again. The fact that the Demon Suppression Camp had been secretly mobilized meant that Li Xiangming must be carrying out a clandestine operation.

Only by deducing Li Xiangming's action plan can the two effectively formulate a strategy to save face for the Ninth Prince.

After a long silence, Qin Hai finally answered slowly, "Jinlin Slope has been under construction for over half a month, with many fortifications. If Li Xiangming can trigger the beast tide, he will most likely attack the northern beast tide. My two teammates share this idea." "Since you all think this way, then Li Xiangming will probably attack the southern monsters!"

Qiao Shun sighed, and Qin Hai's gaze instantly froze: "Why?"

Qiao Shun carefully considered his words before explaining, "I've stayed in Monkey Valley for many years and know Li Xiangming quite well. His way of thinking is different from ordinary people, and he's especially good at winning people's hearts. The northern monsters are quiet, while the southern monsters are rampant. I think he will first thwart the southern monster tide, and even rescue the besieged Dingfeng Village, thereby uniting the southern cultivation forces and continuously strengthening his Demon Suppression Camp."

Rescue Dingfeng Village?
To strengthen the Demon-Suppressing Camp?
Qin Hai's brows furrowed instantly.

It would have been better if Qiao Shun hadn't brought this up, because the moment he did, he immediately remembered the Qing Shuang Demon Hunting Group joining the Demon Suppression Camp.

Not only the Qing Shuang Demon Hunting Team, but also the demon hunting cultivators who remained in Monkey Valley almost all had a certain degree of confidence that the Li family could defend Monkey Valley, and they became the key targets for the Demon Suppression Camp to win over.

Within a single day of Li Xiangming's return to Monkey Valley, the Demon Suppression Camp had recruited dozens of new members.

It should be noted that before the beast tide arrived, the Demon Suppression Camp might not have been able to recruit this many people even in ten days.

"As long as Li Xiangming is there, we can't deal with the Demon Suppression Camp."

Qiao Shun confessed: "It's not just because we don't have enough bargaining chips, but more importantly, the casualties we caused by attacking the Demon Suppression Camp can be easily made up by the enemy."

"In addition to what you said, the Demon Suppression Camp has been reorganized and formed a cohesive group. It is no longer appropriate for us to target a specific demon-hunting group as we used to."

"Then what do you think?"

Qin Hai quickly asked.

The Ninth Prince not only forced Qiao Shun to take action, but also put immense pressure on him.

If it weren't for the rules, which prevented him from contacting the other eyes, he would have wanted to bypass the consistently conservative Qiao Shun and act alone.

"You said you wanted to incite a beast tide to attack Monkey Valley, but I'm not confident in that."

Qiao Shun said in a low voice, "Moreover, even if we can achieve this, there's a possibility that the beast tide from the north will breach Monkey Valley, while Li Xiangming's Demon-Suppressing Camp is still searching for an opportunity to attack in the south. When the news reaches Li Xiangming's ears, he will inevitably abandon the now worthless Monkey Valley and lead the Demon-Suppressing Camp back to Danggui Mountain. Can we possibly stop him?"

“The best outcome that Ninth Prince would like to see is the annihilation of the Demon Suppression Camp, but the possibility of that is extremely slim.”

Qiao Shun paused here, his tone tinged with excitement: "Since we can't deal with the Demon Suppression Camp anyway, why don't we change our strategy and abandon the beast tide as an ally? As long as Li Xiangming leads the Demon Suppression Camp away, we can take action against Monkey Valley ourselves?"

"Make a move against Monkey Valley?"

Qin Hai was stunned for a moment, not quite reacting.

Qiao Shun's lips curled up slightly: "Why do you think Li Xiangming insists on confronting the beast tide head-on? Isn't it to protect Monkey Valley? Monkey Valley has developed to the point where it has dozens of industries, and thousands of demon-hunting cultivators are potential customers. The profits generated every year are countless."

“In the past, we didn’t care about Monkey Valley. On the one hand, the valley was always guarded by patrol teams and the demon-hunting group under the Li family, so the cost of causing trouble was too high. On the other hand, it was because causing some minor damage would not help the overall situation.”

"But things are different now. The threat of the beast tide is imminent. Li Xiangming can't just stand by and watch the two beast tides converge on us. He will definitely take the initiative to attack. Once he makes his move, how many people will be left to guard Monkey Valley?"

"As long as Ninth Prince is determined to integrate our forces in Puyin Mountain, with me acting as an inside agent, breaking through Monkey Valley will not be a problem."

"Rather than let Monkey Valley be destroyed under the iron hooves of the beast horde, why don't we plunder all the wealth in the valley?"

"At that time, Li Xiangming will be devastated by his failure to defend Monkey Valley. And since the Ninth Prince has received such a huge benefit, he will probably have no reason to attack us."

(End of this chapter)