Chapter 1372 - Next Step, Yun Tianque
Even if Tianming sent a million Yin Chens out and kept a million in his lifebound space, its combat prowess would still have grown. Though, consuming all those divine ores would require quite a bit of time. Countless silver bugs munched on all the metallic material within the mines, splitting into two, then four, then eight, growing at an exponential rate. The bugs consumed everything from greensteel rock to rainbow goldlotus, basically anything that had divine patterns. The new bodies took the form of metallic locusts that eventually formed swarms. Some of them flew back to the Azuresoul Sword Mountain while others spread out to the far reaches of the continent before turning into ten cockroaches each, hiding and surveilling everything in their range.
Quite a number of them made their way up to the clouds and spotted the Supracloud Sanctuary. As their defensive formation was seldom deactivated, Yin Chen had to spend energy to infiltrate it. Now there were about thirty thousand locusts within, which turned into three hundred thousand invisible cockroaches. However, they were only able to surveil a small area of the sect and hadn't been able to infiltrate the core of the sect yet. However, Tianming estimated that the number of cockroaches within would reach two million in another half a month, which meant there would be two hundred thousand silver eggs' worth of Yin Chen bodies there. Only then would he be able to get a good enough grasp on news and reports there. Eventually, Li Wushuang, the Tumulus Pill God, Lan Sha, and Yun Tianque wouldn't be able to keep any secrets from him.
"These little bugs are really crazy," Xian Xian said within the lifebound space. For a single lifebound beast to be able to report everything that was happening on the continent was akin to Tianming's eyes and ears tracking every single person on the continent. While it wasn't a combat ability, it made Tianming about as omniscient as an actual god.
"It's still not enough. Only after its number grows to two million can I have detailed reports from all over the continent." It would be hard for anyone to imagine that a young constellier had spread his tendrils all across the continent with only a single lifebound beast. These days, Tianming had had a lot of talks with Gujian Qingshuang. He believed that he had managed to convince him, but he couldn't find out what he really thought deep down. That was beyond the bonegnaw ants' capabilities, but he seemed convinced enough on the surface, at the very least.
"At least I’ll be able to deal with Yun Tianque with this next step. Do you have any thoughts about that?" Tianming asked.
"No. However, I’d like to remind you that the Supracloud Sanctuary is split into two races, namely the skyclouds and the voidstags. Among them are seven people who are equivalent to grade-five swordpupils. In other words, Swordbearers. If you want to make them submit to you, taking Yun Tianque alone might be a little risky. You’ll have to get those seven to submit as well," Gujian Qingshuang said.
"Yes, I'm aware. I already have the relationships and interactions of those seven there mapped out. Chief Instructor, I need you to give me more detailed reports about them, every known detail about the lives they've led." One had to learn everything about one's enemy to gain every advantage.
"I’ll collect it for you in the next two days. I'd like to see how you handle this situation." He sounded agreeable enough, and healthily skeptical too. But as long as he was cooperative, Tianming didn't really mind.
Long Wanying, Yang Ce, and the rest were also there during the conversation. Long Wanying asked, "Tianming, did you learn anything new so far?" By now, there were already quite a few of Yin Chen’s bodies at the Supracloud Sanctuary, even though they weren't as populous as they were at the Azuresoul Palace.
"Li Haochen and the rest are still there. As for the helpers Li Wushuang summoned, they aren’t there yet," Tianming said.
"Do we have to act against Li Haochen? Maybe get him under our control as well?" Yan Nuxia asked.
"No. He’s the son of the sun emperor. If our little machinations here get his family involved, we’ll have something even worse to deal with."
"You have a point." Even though Long Wanying desperately wanted to doom Li Wushuang, she knew that she was only messing around here. Everything that happened on the Azurecloud Continent was merely a small matter in the grand scheme of things. But if they escalated it, it would be over for all of them.
"I have another discovery," Tianming said.
"What is it?" they all asked.
"Chief Instructor, the second strongest member of the Supracloud Sanctuary is Lu Yuanji. She's the leader of the voidstags and Yun Tianque's sole wife, right? I heard that their loving relationship is famous across the continent."
"That's right. And Lu Yuanji is rather capable herself," Gujian Qingshuang said. He had to admit that Yin Chen's espionage capabilities were far too terrifying. It was only after he had fallen under Tianming's control that he was made aware that these bugs were all over the entire Azuresoul Sword Mountain, many of which didn't even bother to hide themselves out of sight. Many disciples thought they were cute little things and took them back home for their children to play with, completely unaware that they were actually Tianming's eyes and ears.
The same thing happened at the Supracloud Sanctuary. The moment the metallic bugs infested them, people found their little round eyes rather cute and didn't find them disgusting at all. They played around with them, not suspecting them to be part of the brood of a broodmother-type beast at all. In fact, they weren't even part of a brood; each unit was an equal part of the whole lifeform. Primordial Chaos Beasts really didn't adhere to what was normally held as common sense.
"Tianming, is there something noteworthy about Lu Yuanji?" Long Wanying asked.
"Umm... well, Yin Chen told me something...." Tianming didn't reveal it out of awkwardness.
"Just say it!" The pause had only piqued their curiosity.
"It said that she’s been doing the deed with a few young men... and after that, she had them all killed and got rid of their corpses. Yin Chen mentioned that it wasn't the first time she had done so. Any time Yun Tianque isn't around, she’d prey on handsome young boys."
The others here were all considered middle aged, and Lu Yuanji was roughly their age as well. Needless to say, they saw through Tianming's euphemisms and understood full well what it meant.
"She's cheating? And killing them at that? Her orgasms better be worth multiple human lives!" Yan Nuxia said, her mouth agape with shock.
"She’ll stoop to any lengths for her own pleasure." Long Wanying was almost speechless.
Wiping out anyone she slept with was Lu Yuanji's ruthless way of not leaving any loose ends. Given her status and abilities, people wouldn't even notice a few young missing disciples, but even that didn't escape Yin Chen.
"Oh... looks like Yun Tianque's been wearing a green hat the whole time," Gujian Qingshuang joked. Ever since he had accepted his place among them, this was the first time he’d felt truly comfortable. He stood up and walked out, then couldn't help bursting out in laughter. "Li Tianming, without your lifebound beast, I doubt Yun Tianque would ever find out that he's probably the most cuckolded person alive."
"I'm glad you're relishing the notion, Chief Instructor," Tianming said.
Yun Tianque was Gujian Qingshuang's sworn enemy, and worse, one who had defeated him, which still made him feel a lot of pressure to this day. The humiliation he received had left a powerful imprint that Gujian Qingshuang struggled to shake off.