“Shu Mountain is now divided into three, with Silver Sword Peak in decline. In my opinion, we should form an alliance with Jiang and resist Xu, slowly plotting our strategy. Once we are fully prepared and the timing is right, we can launch a swift attack, and then our dominance can be established.”

On the small hill of Silver Sword Peak, the Mountain God Sacrifice team gathered again, with Follower A leading the discussion with his feather fan and silk scarf, speaking eloquently.

“That makes sense.” Chu Liang nodded slightly, “As long as we unite and work together, we can definitely achieve good results.”

“We will spare no effort and will not stop until we die.” Follower A bowed deeply.

“Enough with the fancy words.” Lin Bei pulled him down to sit, saying, “In my opinion, both Sister Jiang and Brother Xu are good, there’s no need to offend either side. We should just walk the line between the two and benefit from both. Build high walls, accumulate grain, and delay declaring ourselves king.”

Being from Jade Sword Peak, he naturally didn’t want to be hostile to Xu Ziyang.

“That also makes sense.” Chu Liang nodded again.

“It’s not easy to have the best of both worlds, my lord, don’t listen to his slander!” Follower A said anxiously.

“Who are you calling a slanderer?” Lin Bei glared at him.

“Of course I’m talking about you!” Follower A retorted.

“You’re talking nonsense!”

“Deflection!”

“…”

“Alright, alright.” Chu Liang smiled helplessly, stopping the two of them, “I’ll make my own decision on what to do, we’ll just adapt to the situation when the time comes.”

“They’re here!” Shang Ziliang pointed to the distant sky.

Several sword lights arrived in a flash, the teams from Jade Sword Peak and Bi Luo Peak came from two directions and landed at the same time.

Today was the day agreed upon for the three parties to meet, and the location was set at Silver Sword Peak. Because at other peaks, there would inevitably be too many eyes.

At Silver Sword Peak, there was no such worry.

“Sister Jiang, you’re here!” Chu Liang greeted her, then turned to nod slightly, “Brother Xu.”

“Bring out the items.” Xu Ziyang didn’t bother with pleasantries and spoke directly.

“Alright.” Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai took out their respective drawings.

Chu Liang had two drawings in his hand, which he had carefully studied before. Although they depicted mountains and forests, like a map, the ink was layered so heavily that it was impossible to see clearly, and he couldn’t figure out anything.

Under the witness of everyone, the three of them put the four drawings in their hands together. The drawings, also in golden ink, depicted a forest, but the specific scene was unclear.

“We still can’t tell where it is.” Xu Ziyang said.

Before long, someone in each team had completed the tracing. For cultivators, it was not difficult to completely replicate the ink of the entire painting from memory, let alone copying it.

But even after tracing it, it didn’t make much sense.

Because they couldn’t understand the content on it.

They had thought that after the second stage clues were pieced together, they would get a map, but who knew that this painting seemed to be another puzzle.

Looking at the painting, Chu Liang said thoughtfully, “Then let’s each go back and think about it. The transaction is complete, whoever can find the answer afterwards, it’s up to their own abilities.”

Jiang Yuebai also agreed.

Everyone came in a hurry and left in a hurry, all going back to study the painting.

Before Jiang Yuebai left, Chu Liang secretly held her back and told her about the Taiyin Sect’s pursuit of the Whale Immortal.

She was extremely calm, nodding lightly, seemingly not too worried.

…

After the people from Bi Luo Peak and Jade Sword Peak left, Chu Liang immediately gathered his own team.

“Come here, I have something to tell you.” Chu Liang called out.

“Big brother! Do you have any important discoveries?” Shang Ziliang asked excitedly.

“Yes.” Chu Liang nodded, “I have discovered… a business opportunity.”

“Huh?” The others were taken aback.

“There are more than a hundred teams participating in the Mountain God Sacrifice on Shu Mountain, but only our three teams have obtained the second stage clues. If it were in previous years, the other teams would have been eliminated in the first stage.” Chu Liang said.

“That’s right.” Shang Ziliang agreed.

He couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional. If it weren’t for Chu Liang, they would have been eliminated in this stage as well.

“If someone told them now that they could buy a complete second clue for fifty sword coins, do you think they would buy it?” Chu Liang asked.

“Huh?” Lin Bei said, “Of course they would buy it. It’s like each member of the team paying ten sword coins to rejoin the game. But… which team that has already obtained the clues would be foolish enough to sell them at such a low price? Wait a minute…”

He looked at Chu Liang’s smile, seeming to understand his idea.

“Big brother, you’re not planning to sell this painting, are you?” Follower A was also a bit surprised, “Isn’t that just inviting more people to compete with us…”

“Can you decipher the secrets of this painting?” Chu Liang asked back.

“I… can’t.” Follower A answered quietly.

“If you, with your wisdom, can’t decipher its secrets, how could those who lost to us in the first stage surpass you?” Chu Liang looked at him with bright eyes.The eyes of the follower first flashed with surprise, then as if ignited by Chu Liang, he bowed deeply and said, “Indeed!”

“But…” Shang Ziliang still seemed to feel something was amiss.

“Don’t hesitate, just listen to me.” Chu Liang patted his shoulder and comforted, “You guys set off immediately, go separately to negotiate secretly with the leaders of each team. Say… say it’s a secret you stole from within without my knowledge. Don’t let it leak out, sell it for fifty sword coins each. I believe not many teams will refuse. With this deal, we can at least earn a few thousand sword coins.”

This was not a small sum.

And it hardly cost anything.

“But what if other teams also sell it?” Lin Bei asked.

Chu Liang replied, “That’s why you need to act quickly and keep it a secret. Complete the transaction before the news spreads. As for others, they probably won’t sell it either. Who would want to increase their competition for such a small amount of money?”

After he finished speaking, the four of them all looked at him with strange eyes.

“…” Chu Liang laughed awkwardly, “This is not a small amount of money for me, it’s a fortune!”

Shang Ziliang had experienced Chu Liang’s love for money. His father still deducted more than half of his monthly expenses until he saved up five thousand sword coins. He was indeed a pitiful person.

Actually, Chu Liang was not short of money now, but how could he let go of a business opportunity? No one would think they have too many sword coins. Especially after arriving at the Earth Pass, the fourth, fifth, sixth realms… all required resources. It was always right to save more.

Under Chu Liang’s urging, they all started to act quickly.

…

However, Chu Liang himself did not take action, but returned to his own cabin. It was not that he was lazy, but he had other things to do.

Back in his room, he set up the large scroll he had just sketched, arranging them according to the directions of southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest. The flags on Sword Box Peak had directions, which could not be messed up.

After arranging the four scrolls, Chu Liang placed a candle in the middle, like a lantern. Then he covered all the light coming through the door and windows, and gently lit the candle.

Whoosh.

The flame shone through the paper onto the wall, the complex and chaotic patterns on the four scrolls became three-dimensional and clear once projected. The patterns extended, as if a real jungle was projected.

The jungle was dense, with strange rocks standing in great numbers, like a dense valley surrounded by green mountains.

There was such a mystery hidden in it.

How could he sell it if he hadn’t solved this second clue?

In fact, when Chu Liang saw that the four scrolls were still chaotic when put together, he realized that this was definitely not an ordinary map, and he had to think about it. He had once seen a three-dimensional movie, and now he suddenly thought of it.

The sketched picture was still not quite the same as the original, if it was the picture on the four flags, the complete projection should give people a magical feeling of being there.

It was really a tricky design.

Chu Liang looked left and right, although it was a bit blurry, he could still roughly identify the location of this valley and jungle.

He had been to this place!

(End of the chapter)