Why did you provoke me?

Although Xiang Mingde was scared, now that the murderer knew who it was, their suspicions were cleared, so did that mean they wouldn't have to die?

The young man sighed inwardly, knowing that if someone moved the body shortly after their death, the scene would continue.

But now it is clear that no one has entered this room for a long time.

He caught a glimpse of Xiang Mingde out of the corner of his eye and made up his mind.

"Xiang Mingde, the person was killed here, so your Guihong Pavilion can't escape responsibility."

Xiang Mingde's heart pounded. Was this a case of someone trying to find a scapegoat?

"My lord, the young master has already broken the thief's arms and legs. We will definitely find this person and uproot the forces behind him."

"Okay, let's get on with it then?"

"Yes, sir." Xiang Mingde knew that the immediate crisis was over, and as long as there was still a use for him, he could live.

In just one day, the fake alien mother crystal core that Yu Meng had forged was delivered to the young man by Wu Qing and Wen Hong.

"Senior Brother, it's all here." Watching the young man fiddling with the fragments, Wu Qing couldn't help but ask, "Senior Brother, is it really the Alien Mother Crystal Core?"

"No. But it carries the aura of a real alien mother crystal core."

"Ah, so this small world really did cultivate the alien mother crystal core? How is that possible? Back then, our four major sects joined forces and planted seeds in thousands of small worlds, with a pitifully low success rate. Is there something special about this place?"

"Go and investigate. If the young master received this message, other forces might have received it as well. Check who has been sent down recently."

Wen Hong accepted the order and left.

"Senior Brother, this information must not be leaked, otherwise our chances of obtaining it are slim," Wu Qing warned.

"I know, but it might be beyond my control now." The young man was well aware of the implications. If even the young master knew, the news was hardly a secret.

"Should we still investigate the young master's affairs?"

"What are you investigating? Wasn't he assassinated while trying to bring back the alien mother crystal core? He wasn't even left with a body. As for not reporting it in time, that was just Xiang Mingde's selfish motives."

With just a few words, the nature of the young master's matter was determined.

"Wu Qing, do you know how great a feat it would be if we brought back the alien mother crystal core?" the young man asked excitedly.

Wu Qing knew all this, but he didn't think things would be that simple.

"Senior Brother, what's our next step?" That's what he thought, but this time, the younger generation was in charge; he and Wen Hong were just supporting actors. To put it bluntly, when there was credit, they got nothing. When there was trouble, they were the ones who took the blame. But there was nothing they could do; their backer wasn't as strong as their senior brother's—the Grand Elder's own grandson.

"Find the person who owns this thing. Then use torture to extract a confession from him, making him reveal the location of the real alien mother crystal core."

Wu Qing nodded, indicating that he understood, but he said something else entirely: "We've interrogated so many people, and not a single one of them has any recollection of this. They all seem to have no idea how it happened."

"Where is Xiang Mingde? You asked about him too."

Wu Qing nodded, "I asked, and I even used the enhanced version, so there's absolutely no way he would lie."

"Not even a single clue?" The young man frowned.

Wu Qing lowered his head. "No. We'll see if Wen Hong has any leads."

"Could it be that other forces have also descended, and made arrangements well in advance?"

Neither of them spoke after they arrived.

No amount of speculation will change anything; we need concrete evidence to prove it.

Wen Hong returned in the evening. The news she brought made both of them frown.

"There were four groups of people coming down with us that night. It's estimated that the passage will reopen in fifteen days. It's hard to say how many more people will come down then."

The young man sighed, "This news can probably not be kept secret any longer. Let's report it to the sect and ask them to send more people here."

"Yes, Senior Brother, I'll take care of it right away," Wen Hong replied and went out.

"This world has limited capacity. I never imagined we'd be fighting for treasure and proving ourselves superior here. Wu Qing, you work with Xiang Mingde to send everyone from Guihong Pavilion out to find people and gather information."

The first battlefield.

When Jing San sent Yu Meng the pictures of the reconnaissance communication bells again, Yu Meng could basically confirm from the different outfits that four forces had arrived here.

At this moment, she suddenly stopped lying. She was determined to fight one faction to the bitter end. Four? That was really hard to say.

Yu Meng sent a message to the hall masters who were fighting for mountain peaks in the Jingjia Mountain Range: "Stop external expansion and conduct internal drills between the various halls."

To put it bluntly, it's just infighting among family members.

The twelve hall masters gathered for a meeting. "What exactly does the Hall Master mean? Does he want us to fight amongst ourselves?"

"They're probably just using us for training," some speculated.

"So, are we really fighting or just faking it?"

"Of course it's a real fight; what's the point of a fake one?"

"Should we double-check?"

"Then ask away? I don't want to embarrass myself by not even understanding the Palace Master's meaning."

It was noisy and chaotic.

In fact, Yu Meng also meant to make things chaotic, but as the temple master, she couldn't say that.

"Alright," finally, a somewhat gloomy-looking middle-aged man slammed his hand on the table, "Each branch will mark out a free area, and the other branches can go and grab it. Our main purpose is to train our troops, so we need to control the number of deaths."

"Those on the outskirts, are they really not going to rob us?"

"If the fighting goes on and the territory expands, there's nothing you can do about it." The gloomy man smiled quite casually.

But everyone lowered their heads. "We will all listen to Seventh Brother." He was the most learned person in the Twelve Halls. He never hit, scolded, or lectured others.

But if you offend him, then sorry, he'll make you fall into a trap, and sometimes you'll even have to thank him.

Because everyone has suffered at his hands, whether openly or secretly, subconsciously no one objects to what he says.

When the cripple found out, he was very puzzled as to why they didn't take advantage of this opportunity to seize the entire Jingjia Mountain Range for themselves.

At this point, they weren't expanding outwards, and their own people were fighting amongst themselves. He didn't understand Yu Meng's plan, but he chose to respect it.

Anyway, now that all of this has been given to Yu Meng, if she manages to squander it all, then that's just his fate.

The cripple is feeling very frustrated. He spends his days hiding in the alien battlefield. Although it's a very open place and he can do whatever he wants, he just feels that something is wrong.

Normal people shouldn't live in a world of aliens. They should live among people.