What the hell?

Wang Wu was taken aback, finally realizing he couldn't underestimate the opponent, and immediately cupped his fists again, "You have a keen eye, I am indeed Wang Wu. Could it be that you are also from the Hidden Origin Association? Wait, you are—"

At this moment, Wang Wu finally realized. Although the other party was a middle-aged man, that gray robe was so darn familiar.

Elder Hui!

His former master!

Ah, what a narrow road for enemies to meet!

"Senior—how did senior fall to such a state?"

Wang Wu forced a smile, already preparing to make a run for it.

"Am I so despicable that you won't even call me master again?"

Opposite him, Elder Hui spoke faintly, with no expression on his face, and certainly no regret.

Wang Wu forced another smile, "Since senior is here, I'll leave this city to you. Until we meet again!"

"Don't you want to know where the Frost Monarch is now?" Elder Hui suddenly said, this sentence instantly made Wang Wu stop in his tracks. He could ignore other matters, but anything concerning the Frost Monarch he had to listen to.

"Please, enlighten me, senior."

"Humph! I knew it, there's something between you two! How laughable, I interfered back then thinking I was clever, and yet you didn't become master and disciple but became Dao companions instead! The world is ever-changing, truly unpredictable."

Elder Hui sneered, "The Frost Monarch should be imprisoned in the Jia Er Sin Prison now. A thousand years ago, the Nine Heavens Passage managed by the Frost Domain was destroyed, and the Frost Monarch took the blame, sentenced to three thousand years in prison, thus avoiding disaster, because soon after, the Hidden Origin Association came under heavy attack, and the Hidden Origin Divine Monarch began purging internally. Otherwise, how do you think someone like Song Guangming got qualified to take such an important branch altar here?"

"Even I suffered back then, but being all alone, as soon as I saw things going bad, I immediately fled, evading several assassination attempts from the Dark Domain, only surviving till now. Now, the Twelve Great Luo have closed the Nine Heavens Passage, establishing the Twelve Celestial Immortal Realms, hahaha, completely severing that old undying Hidden Origin Divine Monarch's path to Daluo, serves him right!"

"However, I didn't expect your strength to progress so rapidly. I still remember when I first saw you, you were just a Tier Four or Five Earth Immortal, and in less than three thousand years, you've reached Taiyi Sixth Tier. Such speed is rarely seen in the world!"

"So, if you have any plan, just tell me. We were once master and disciple, why would I harm you?"

There's no chance I'd believe you.

However, you're at least a bit more trustworthy than other Taiyis, and most importantly, Elder Hui is also at Taiyi Eighth Tier, so it's better than declaring under Lu Wuchang's name.

At the moment, Wang Wu contemplated, "Great Wilderness City won't let us in. Though I don't know why, I think the Spirit-Catching Ship may not spare them, so forming a passive pincer formation is very necessary. Borrow their power, even if unwilling, and set up a deployment here. Even if we can attract dozens of Taiyi, we can form our own force."

"However, it's a bit difficult right now, can senior guide me?"

"Your idea is unique, you must have a plan, just unwilling to share it. Very well, I do have three strategies!"

"The upper strategy is to break into Great Wilderness City, forcibly enter. The current Chief of Great Wilderness City is the Branch Clan Leader of Mang Mountain Ancient Bear Race, Xiong Wanglu, a foolish and mediocre person, relying on ancestral bloodline for his current power, but completely an old fool! While you, Wang Wu, are the direct descendant of Xiong Wangjie, you can replace him!"

"I will contact many Taiyi for you. As long as you reveal your true identity, they will rally in response, attacking Great Wilderness City, and the situation can be reversed overnight."

"What's the middle strategy?" Wang Wu had to admit Elder Hui's method was good, but then the advantage of creating a mutual pincer with Great Wilderness City would be lost.

"The middle strategy is still to reveal your identity as the direct descendant of Xiong Wangjie, declare outside Great Wilderness City that you are the rightful City Lord, and hope to gain the assistance of many Taiyi. Their desire to enter Great Wilderness City will make them publicly support you, and you can use this opportunity to form a new Immortal Alliance. There's no need to attack the city, just linger outside Great Wilderness City. Once that Spirit-Catching Ship arrives, under pressure, it's hard to believe Xiong Wanglu won't capitulate. Once we enter the city, countering the Spirit-Catching Ship would be easy, even dealing with a Half-step Daluo would not be difficult."

"I understand now, so my plan of deploying here is actually the lower strategy, right."

"Indeed, that is the lower strategy. You are a royal descendant of the Mang Mountain Ancient Bear Race but don't know to utilize it, what a grave mistake!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Wu pondered for a while, then cupped his fists and said, "I am willing to proclaim under the name of Xiong Wangjie that I am the rightful Lord of Great Wilderness City, but I will not attack the city nor use the middle strategy, instead, I want to deploy and station here, can senior lend me a hand?"

Elder Hui stared coldly at Wang Wu for a while, thinking about who knows what, and after a long time, finally said, "It seems you either don't understand the current situation at all, or you really have some reliance. Well, I underestimated you back then, leading to a mess, out of control. Now I'll stake my life, and trust you once more."

"I will help you contact those Wandering Taiyi and Earth Immortals, gather as many people as possible. As for defending the city, it's actually simple, just deploy the Hundred Birds Phoenix Immortal Array. This Immortal Array can accommodate up to three hundred Taiyi within, ensuring that the attack pressure each Taiyi endures is consistent, no favoritism. Know that the biggest worry for everyone now is to become a dowry for others."

"With this Immortal Array, such worries are gone."

"Moreover, the greatest feature of the Hundred Birds Phoenix Immortal Array is that the control is not in the hands of one person. Whoever occupies a node of the Immortal Array is the controller of that node, free to come and go, without being controlled by others. This also resolves the biggest trust issue."

"However, as the core Immortal Array of the Phoenix Race, ordinary people have no chance to master it, and deploying it consumes a great deal of resources. Although I have the deployment method and some materials, much is still lacking, are you confident?"

"I can give it a try! As long as everything senior said is true."

Wang Wu remains somewhat confident.

Elder Hui gave a cold snort, "I know you have a Hidden Dragon Sinew on your body, so you possess the Cyan Dragon Race's Microscopic Perception talent, so theoretically there's no problem. As for doubting my words, humph, you think you're the only one with a background and secrets?"

Fool, I was once a Demon Immortal of the Divine Wood Immortal Alliance, only I was transformed from a Gray Sparrow, cultivated for two hundred thousand years to attain this level of Dao. The hardships, there's no need to speak of them."

"And you, in just five thousand years of cultivation, actually rival the ten thousand years of my bitter cultivation, it's really hard to reason with."

"Forget it, this Hundred Birds Phoenix Immortal Array is here, and the necessary materials are here as well, let's see your speed, because that Spirit-Catching Ship could appear at any time."

After Elder Hui finished speaking, he threw down a Jade Scroll and a Qiankun Bag, then turned and left.

This time he was truly generous.

Wang Wu quickly checked the Jade Scroll, and indeed, it was an Immortal Array. The deployment was extremely difficult, requiring vast amounts of materials, and crucially, it consumed Spiritual Qi, needing at least five trillion points of Spiritual Qi.

In this context of Spiritual Qi scarcity, no wonder this cunning old fox Elder Hui was willing to take a gamble.

However, it's worth a try.

Because Wang Wu genuinely needed to unite all the Taiyi to help him resist the Half-step Daluo.

Because when the news of the Spirit-Catching Ship being destroyed spreads, there is a real chance that the Half-step Daluo can deduce that it was his doing.

So what is five trillion points of Spiritual Qi? Even if he spends ten trillion, he would still profit enormously.

Just that array of three thousand Three Calamities Long Sails is an unimaginable wealth.

This deal is so worth it!

Can't catch a wolf without sacrificing the child.

Wang Wu, without hesitation, directly activated the Level 24 Spirit Essence Perception to conduct a comprehensive analysis and understanding of this Hundred Birds Phoenix Immortal Array. This is his advantage, and also an inherent advantage of the Cyan Dragon Race.

In just a short moment, the deployment of the Immortal Array was already clear in his mind.

Then, he immediately took the Hidden Origin Bell as the center, as the core formation eye, and began to quickly deploy. The materials were readily available, who knows how many years Elder Hui had accumulated them, and no one knows how he left the Divine Wood Immortal Alliance back then, probably dreaming his whole life to return to the Divine Wood Immortal Alliance.

Haha, this old sparrow!

For a whole day and night, Wang Wu successfully deployed a truncated version of the Hundred Birds Phoenix Immortal Array. It wasn't that his ability was lacking, but the materials were insufficient, so it could actually only accommodate 180 Taiyi.

Even so, he still spent seven trillion points of Spiritual Qi.

Fortunately, it was already operational.

"Marvelous! I've long heard of Xiong Wangwu's name, and seeing him today, it truly lives up to its reputation!"

With a long laugh, a True Immortal of Taiyi Seventh Tier appeared out of nowhere without a word and occupied a node within the Hundred Birds Phoenix Immortal Array.

Then, without pausing, he took out what seemed to be a semi-finished product of an Eternal Firm Immortal Artifact and clang, clang, clang, deployed it himself.

It was taken for granted.

However, this is normal, because the Hundred Birds Phoenix Immortal Array is so magical, it's like an operating system, an Immortal Array platform that allows many Taiyi to exist simultaneously, sharing the pressure and risk, but ensuring autonomous operation.

It's like hundreds of apps on a smartphone, not interfering with one another.

So, these are smart people.

Almost simultaneously, several more figures whizzed in, not greeting Wang Wu, each choosing an Immortal Array node and began deploying.

These are all Taiyi Seventh Tier, those old sixes of Taiyi Sixth Tier, who never act without seeing a rabbit.

But as long as there's a real opportunity, they absolutely won't hesitate.

In fact, following that, more than a hundred Taiyi rushed in from all directions, as if they had been waiting in the distance for Wang Wu to successfully deploy.

Startling Wang Wu into hastily guarding the central position of the Hidden Origin Bell.

In just a moment, all 180 nodes of the Immortal Array were occupied, but Taiyi continued to come in droves.

Yet there were no more slots.

At this moment, Elder Hui finally appeared, laughing heartily as he brought out various materials to help with the deployment, but the Spiritual Qi would have to be provided by themselves, yet somehow, another fifty Taiyi were accommodated.

But that was as far as it went.

The remaining Taiyi and even more Earth Immortals continued to stream in; they could settle in the small city, but only their status would likely be a notch lower.