246: I'm definitely going to the Feast at Hongmen.

Inside the dungeon, the pungent smell of blood grew increasingly thick.

Blissful Fairy looked at the headless corpse, her face so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water. She walked quickly to Han Qing and knelt down of her own accord, her full chest pressed close to the ground, her tone carrying a trace of regret and self-reproach.

“Master, it was your servant's negligence. I failed to detect the Restriction in his Divine Soul beforehand, causing the lead to be cut off. Please punish your servant.”

In her view, this was her poor performance, a major dereliction of duty as the 'Shadow Division Leader'.

However, Han Qing merely waved his hand casually, signaling for her to rise. Instead of any anger, a look of interest appeared on his face.

“No matter,” he said indifferently.

“This is not your fault. It seems this so-called ‘Hundred Families Alliance’ is a cut above what I imagined.”

He picked up his teacup, gently blew on the floating tea leaves, and continued unhurriedly, “I originally thought they were just a motley crew, a heap of loose sand temporarily huddled together for profit. I didn't expect their methods of controlling subordinates to be so sophisticated and ruthless.”

To be able to plant such a hidden and domineering Restriction in the Divine Soul, which even Blissful Fairy, an expert in such matters, failed to notice immediately—the methods of the person behind this were certainly not simple.

This only served to deepen Han Qing's interest in the “Hundred Families Alliance”.

Blissful Fairy stood up, still somewhat worried. “Master, although we captured Qin Zhao, the lead is broken, and I'm afraid we've already alerted the enemy. They will surely act more cautiously from now on, making it even harder for us to find their tracks.”

“Hard?” Han Qing couldn't help but laugh, his laughter carrying a hint of dismissiveness.

He set down his teacup, stood up, and paced to the dungeon entrance. Looking at the sunlight streaming in from outside, he said leisurely, “You're overthinking things.”

“Since this Hundred Families Alliance dares to use the banner of competing with our Four Seas Immortal Alliance and is preparing to establish a merchant guild, they aren't a group of rats that can only hide in the gutters. Sooner or later, they will have to step onto the stage.”

“They want to dodge? They want to hide?” A playful light flashed in Han Qing's eyes. “Then I'll force them out.”

...Half an hour later, in the Discussion Hall of the Four Seas Immortal Alliance.

Han Qing sat high on the main seat. Standing below were the two core giants of the Immortal Alliance—Blissful Fairy, who was responsible for external conquests and handling dark affairs, and the manager Ying Rushi, who was responsible for internal coordination and managing all industries and livelihoods.

“That's how it is.” Han Qing briefly recounted the interrogation of Qin Zhao.

After listening, a light of contemplation flashed in Ying Rushi's charming phoenix eyes. She bowed and said, “Master's meaning is to take the initiative and conduct a comprehensive suppression of this ‘Hundred Families Alliance’ through public opinion?”

“Correct.” Han Qing nodded approvingly. “Rushi, you are best at reading people's hearts and you know best how to guide the wind. I'll leave this matter to you.”

“I want you to use every channel our Four Seas Immortal Alliance can mobilize—storytellers, information brokers, brothels, gambling dens, taverns... I want the name ‘Hundred Families Alliance’ to spread throughout the eight great domains in the shortest time possible!”

A cold and cunning light flickered in Han Qing's eyes.

“However, it won't be for a good reputation.”

“I want you to spread rumors about them, to throw dirty water on them! Say they are a bunch of gutter rats who can't see the light, specializing in petty theft and highway robbery! Say their members are all remnants of the Demonic Path and scum of evil Cultivators, and that the purpose of their Alliance is to subvert the order of the Human Race and bring calamity to all living beings!”

“In short, make it as dirty as possible, as malicious as you can invent! I want the reputation of the ‘Hundred Families Alliance’ in the eight great domains to be completely ruined and rotten first!”

Listening to Han Qing's unabashedly sinister plan, Blissful Fairy couldn't help but click her tongue. She considered herself an expert in playing with conspiracies, but compared to her Master's blatant overt scheme, she was still more than one level behind.

Ying Rushi, however, gave a sweet smile, one that was confident and calm, as if everything was under her control.

“Master is wise.” She bowed again, her voice soft and charming yet carrying an unquestionable power of execution. “Rushi will surely handle this matter properly and will not disappoint Master.”

After saying that, she took her orders and withdrew.

A public opinion storm led by the Four Seas Immortal Alliance, targeting the “Hundred Families Alliance”, thus began.

Ying Rushi's methods were indeed terrifying.

She didn't start with an overwhelming smear campaign right away; that would have been too obvious and likely to cause resentment.

Her first step was “pre-heating”.

In the Tianxuan Domain and Zhilan Domain, territories under the absolute control of the Four Seas Immortal Alliance, “inside information” began to quietly circulate in the most bustling restaurants of the major immortal cities.

“Hey, have you heard? There's an organization called the ‘Hundred Families Alliance’ recently that seems quite mysterious.”

“Oh? In what way is it mysterious?”

“Supposedly, their members are all shady characters who specialize in doing big business in the dark. The profits are terrifyingly high!”

These messages were ambiguous, half-true and half-false, successfully hooking the curiosity of the Cultivators and causing the name “Hundred Families Alliance” to spread within a small circle first.

The second step was “leaking”.

When curiosity was piqued to its highest point, some highly credible intelligence organizations secretly controlled by the Four Seas Immortal Alliance began to “accidentally” leak some “explosive news”.

For instance, a certain audio-visual stone recorded several men in black secretly trading prohibited Medicinal Pills, and their cuffs were all embroidered with an inconspicuous “Hundred” character emblem.

Another example: after a notorious Tribulation Cultivator gang was wiped out, a secret letter related to the “Hundred Families Alliance” was found in their leader's Storage Ring.

After these “evidences” were carefully packaged, they quickly spread throughout the major immortal cities, beginning to label the “Hundred Families Alliance” as “evil,” “mysterious,” and “dangerous.”

The third step was the real “detonation”.

Ying Rushi mobilized the most massive propaganda machine of the Four Seas Immortal Alliance—the network of storytellers spread across the eight great domains.

In an instant, from the bustling central immortal city to the remote small-town markets, almost all storytellers began to tell the same story.

The name of the story was “The Centipede in the Gutter”.

The content of the story was adapted to be full of ups and downs, captivating and engaging. The storytellers added color and detail, depicting the “Hundred Families Alliance” as an evil organization composed of Demonic Path giants, thousand-year-old evil Cultivators, and shameless traitors. They burned, killed, and looted, committing all kinds of evil, and even colluded with the Yao Race to sell their fellow humans, attempting to subvert the Holy Lands and plunge the entire cultivation world into darkness.

In the story, Qin Zhao was portrayed as a coerced, pitiable wretch who found his conscience and prepared to reveal the truth, only to be silenced by the Alliance using a vicious Restriction. The Four Seas Immortal Alliance, meanwhile, became the embodiment of justice, fighting tirelessly against this evil organization to protect the peace of the Human Race.

The effect of this combination of blows was immediate.

Within just a few days, a wave of condemnation against the “Hundred Families Alliance” swept across the entire eight great domains.

“What? The Hundred Families Alliance? Isn't that the evil organization that traffics people and colludes with the Yao Race? Everyone should kill them!”

“The neighbor of my third uncle's second grand-uncle is a storyteller. He described it so vividly; this matter is definitely true!”

“Too terrifying! I didn't expect such a tumor to be hidden among us! Fortunately, the Four Seas Immortal Alliance is here, otherwise, we wouldn't even know how we died!”

“Support the Four Seas Immortal Alliance! Wipe out the Hundred Families Alliance!”

In an instant, the “Hundred Families Alliance” became completely famous—but it was the kind of fame that would stink for ten thousand years.

Before they had even officially stepped onto the stage of history, they had been firmly nailed to the pillar of shame, becoming a synonym for evil and filth.

One could imagine how wonderful the expressions of the high-level members of the “Hundred Families Alliance” would be when this news reached their ears.

Han Qing sat in the hall, listening to his subordinates report the reactions from various places, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

He knew that the fish he wanted was about to take the bait.

Pushed to this point, if the “Hundred Families Alliance” could still swallow their pride and hide in the shadows, then they wouldn't be ambitious heroes, just a group of true rats.

Either they would vanish from now on, completely giving up the idea of competing for supremacy with the Four Seas Immortal Alliance.

Or, they would have to stand up and respond to all this openly to clear the stigma from their names.

And this was exactly what Han Qing wanted to see.

As expected.

Just as the public opinion reached its boiling point.

A Flying Ship made entirely of purple gold, luxurious to the extreme, sliced through the sky and came straight to the airspace above the Four Seas Immortal Alliance headquarters.

From the Flying Ship, no hostility was emitted.

A middle-aged Cultivator dressed in ornate robes with a steady aura held a beautifully crafted gold-stamped invitation and said loudly:

“The Li Family of the Zixiao Domain, by order of the Alliance Leader of the Hundred Families Alliance, specially comes to invite the Leader of the Four Seas Immortal Alliance, Celestial Venerable Han, to go to ‘Star City’ in the Zixiao Domain seven days from now to participate in the founding ceremony of our ‘Hundred Families Alliance’!”

The voice, amplified by magical power, spread grandly throughout the entire Four Seas Immortal Alliance headquarters.

It's here!

Inside the hall, the corners of Han Qing's mouth slowly curled up into a cold arc.

With a casual wave of his hand, that gold-stamped invitation passed through layers of Restrictions and landed steadily in his hand.

Opening the invitation, a line of large characters was written on it in a bold, flowing style.

“To clear the clouds and see the sun, to set the record straight. We respectfully invite the heavenly desolation sword devil to come for a talk.”

The signature consisted of the four vigorous characters “Hundred Families Alliance” and a bright red Alliance Leader's seal.

Han Qing toyed with the invitation in his hand and chuckled.

Very good, his goal had been achieved.

This Hongmen Banquet, he was definitely going.