Chapter 996: Mutual Benefit

Indeed!

The Heavenly Dao hasn’t truly taken action yet.

It seems like Han Yu has been at the forefront all along, although Han Yu is also a creation of the Heavenly Dao.

But just one hidden strategy of Han Yu’s has already brought us here; Heaven knows if the Heavenly Dao has other hidden strategies.

Or other arrangements.

“As long as the Heavenly Dao hasn’t taken action, no one can ascertain its strength or weakness.”

Wuxian spoke like this, even their mentor has never descended, likely also fearing that the Heavenly Dao has hidden strategies.

Shadow Being pondered; if we put it like that, isn’t the same true for the Yama Hall?

Their master has always been firmly seated in the small world, seemingly relaxed in his maneuvers, but has never dared to venture lightly into the Central Continent.

This implies that the Heavenly Dao is also deeply feared by it.

“Doesn’t that mean the Heavenly Dao also has a fair chance of winning?”

In the past, this would certainly be bad news for them.

But now, they are eager for the Heavenly Dao to be evenly matched with both sides.

The best scenario would be a stalemate.

Giving them ample time to grow.

But this is clearly unrealistic; how long could a stalemate last, a thousand years? Impossible!

Even decades seem unlikely, the time is too long; none of the three sides can wait that long, any party would now want to eliminate the other two.

If the time is too short, it’s useless for them.

“We need to find an opportunity to contact that kid.”

Wuxian frowned as he spoke. Since Han Yu is linked to the Heavenly Dao, he can naturally connect with it too.

If they can negotiate terms with Han Yu, aligning with the Central Continent isn’t out of the question.

As for how to negotiate, it’ll depend on the Central Continent’s strength by then.

They don’t want the Central Continent to be too weak, as it would be hard to contend with the Heavenly Beings on both sides.

But they also don’t want the Central Continent to be too strong, as it would render them valueless.

So timing is crucial.

Shadow Being thought the same and couldn’t help but speak, “Prepare the chips first; only when they are sufficient can we negotiate.”

As for these so-called chips, they are naturally the existing force of cultivators.

Don’t underestimate this force, once all the cultivators lean towards the Central Continent, there will definitely be a significant shift in the balance of rules.

Although the ultimate use of the rules for the two Heavenly Beings is unknown, it’s understood they are of unprecedented importance.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have kept two hidden teams until now.

By then, they won’t fear the Central Continent refusing.

“In that case, let’s collaborate! If you want to survive, collaboration is the path to life.”

Wuxian skipped the formalities, since they were going to negotiate, they might as well join forces, increasing their chips.

Or they could bring Shadow Being along during negotiations, to add weight.

Collaboration means mutual benefit, as long as both sides aren’t foolish, there won’t be any tricks.

“Are you going back?”

Shadow Being nodded before reluctantly asking.

If they don’t return directly, the Heavenly Beings might notice.

But if they do go back, once exposed, the danger is immense; they might die even faster.

Moreover, some of these phase monsters have already fought against them, and no one knows if these ghastly beings know how to report back.

The risk is indeed significant.

Wuxian was silent for a moment; their situation wasn’t much different, having faced phase monsters as well.

They were similarly worried.

In a way, the phase monsters are indiscriminate; they intervened to prevent their cultivators from getting injured, which is justifiable.

If they wanted to forcibly explain, it wouldn’t be difficult.

The hard part is whether the other party will accept it.

“It’s not a big problem for me not to return for now; after all, the purpose of this trip was to kill Han Yu, as decreed by him.”

Shadow Being spoke thus.

Since there’s a mission at hand, delaying for some time is still feasible.

This gave Wuxian an idea; they could just find an excuse to delay as well.

“Remember what you said, collaboration means mutual benefit.”

Shadow Being was ready to leave with Jiu You, Wujiu, and the rescued cultivators, not forgetting to speak again before leaving.

“I’m not stupid enough to play tricks at this juncture.”

Wuxian spoke in a deep voice, only then did the other party leave satisfied.

Watching them leave, he sighed gloomily only afterward.

This world changes too fast; not long ago, two factions were fighting to the death, but now they must hug each other, how ironic.

“Are we really going to collaborate?”

Jiang Xinyuan couldn’t help but ask, as he found it hard to change his stance so quickly.

“If you want to live, collaboration is best.”

Wuxian took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, as if to dispel the gloom in his heart.

…

Han Yu equally felt a sense of gloom; without reason, the number of phase monsters or faceless ones he encountered was dwindling.

Each time, it was just two or three of them, it couldn’t be because he had killed too many.

So it can only mean the two sides are scattering even more.

In such cases, the opponent’s speed in collecting rules won’t be slower than his.

Just like now, one of the three faceless ones in front of him carried the aura of rules, meaning it had already succeeded.

Han Yu instantly transformed into an aurora to flank them, while the three faceless ones quickly scattered in different directions.

It’s an old trick; three directions but closely connected, once you pursue one, it will use the Five Ghost Transport technique to quickly move to another location, thereby escaping.

But tackling it isn’t difficult; either Han Yu strikes first, trapping them.

Or he quickly annihilates the opponent within a certain range.

As long as the opponent can’t escape beyond ten miles in an instant, Han Yu can catch up in a blink.

Of course, there’s another way.

Han Yu directly pulled an Artifact Spirit from his Sea of Consciousness and threw it at one of them.

With the Dharma Aspect of the all-encompassing domain activated, he vanished and first pursued another, as expected, the opponent immediately hid.

The Artifact Spirit, wielding a knife, also caught up to the other, using the same old trick.

Once the three were forced to gather, Han Yu and the Artifact Spirit had already surrounded them.

What was left was simple, annihilation.

The faceless ones of the Yama Hall were adept in escape and concealment, with abundant vitality, sometimes using consuming ability, which was indeed vexing.

But for Han Yu at this moment, although their escape methods were somewhat clever, exterminating them wasn’t difficult.

A West River Slash followed, gold rain poured down, a light emerged from within the cage, the next moment, the Artifact Spirit advanced with a jade bowl to collect it.

Returning to the Sea of Consciousness, it stared unblinkingly as the seed fell into the Five Elements world, and for a moment, the Artifact Spirit was somewhat astonished, then somewhat dumbfounded.

It sensed the presence of Spiritual Qi inside, very faint, yet undeniably there.

And what amazed it the most was that this faintest of spiritual Qi was emanating from all corners of the Five Elements world.

Trees, seawater, mountains, soil…

It felt like this world suddenly came alive for a moment.

Now it truly believed, perhaps the Wise Fool wasn’t bragging, that with rules as the cornerstone, creating a world is indeed possible.

“What do you think would happen if the Five Elements world actually gathered three thousand rules?”

The Artifact Spirit suddenly jumped for joy.

Not waiting for Han Yu to respond, it blurted out.

“Would we become the Heavenly Dao of the Five Elements world?”

“Definitely will!”

“Then why bother opposing the Heavenly Dao? Once we take out the Celestial Beings, just give the Central Continent these meager things; we’ll have our own.”

Han Yu had a peculiar expression; what the Artifact Spirit said wasn’t wrong, but the problem was, they still had to defeat the Celestial Beings first.