561: Chapter 561 What to Eat?

Inside the Truth Cult base, the pure white conference room was in an uproar. Everyone was accusing and cursing at each other, creating quite a chaotic scene.

"Creak." The sound of the door being gently pushed open caused the shouting match to pause for a moment, and everyone turned to look at the entrance.

"I really didn't expect that we would be the last ones to return?"

Winter and Su Yao walked into the conference room, looking somewhat surprised at the almost fully occupied seats.

Winter took his seat, opened the meal tray that had been prepared in advance, and rubbed his hands together, ready to enjoy the delicacies provided by Lord Canglan.

After Winter returned, the table erupted into arguments again.

"You greenhorn, if it weren't for you, how could I have been forced to withdraw so quickly!" Aleph was the first to attack, accusing Jiang Liu.

They had encountered Zhou Su, who had rushed over, and an ancient Yao Race expert who was willing to protect those Mortals.

Seeing the upright and unyielding nature of that Yao Race expert, Jiang Liu felt a sense of compassion. Therefore, he rejected Aleph's idea of launching a sneak attack or using trickery to kill him, choosing instead to engage in a direct confrontation.

Because Jiang Liu had exposed them, Aleph was forced to act prematurely, intending to take on both and eliminate the trouble, but he was intercepted by Zhou Su, who had just arrived.

In the end, that Yao Race expert, who had fought until the very end against a Dharma Form by merely manifesting his true form, burned out and died, taking Aleph with him before he departed.

Zhou Su also harvested Jiang Liu, who was unwilling to fight any longer, making them the second and third to withdraw after Florian.

Next were Kong Xuan and Xieli, the reason being they had encountered a surprise attack from the Butian Pavilion Saint, along with assistance from some unruly Truth Cult followers.

The two also had a heated argument over this, with one side claiming that if it weren't for the assistance of her people, this wouldn't have happened.

But Kong Xuan also stated that if it weren't for Florian exposing them early, and the barrier rising too quickly—making it easy to summon gods but hard to send them away—they wouldn't have faced this situation.

She also accused Xieli of being too weak to confront Bai Ling, forcing her to protect her during the battle, which dragged down the tempo.

To this, Cen Xiu kept trying to smooth things over.

Unlike their two battlefields, Cen Xiu and the other two were incredibly smooth. That place was already chaotic, and most of the ancient Cultivators who ran there were of the irritable and bloodthirsty type.

They barely had to guide anyone; they just dealt with a few of the overly bloodthirsty guys and completed the mission.

They were the rare few who hadn't failed and withdrawn, but had returned voluntarily. Therefore, to celebrate their victory, Lord Canglan took the initiative to bring out food to feast everyone.

And considering that Winter and the others might return at any time, he had also specially prepared their portions.

Li Heng watched everyone arguing, shaking his head while holding his forehead, though a hint of secret joy flashed in his eyes. After hiding his emotions, he looked at Winter again.

"What about your side?"

Winter didn't answer; instead, the usually reticent Su Yao spoke up.

"We encountered people from the Lianxing Pavilion and a strange Cultivator."

"We couldn't gauge that Cultivator's strength, but we could feel that it far exceeded ours."

"If it weren't for a special ancient Cultivator who seemed to influence him and lure him away, we probably would have returned long ago."

"However, we subsequently encountered people from the Lianxing Pavilion. That guy's strength was not weak, and he brought many subordinates."

"They said they were hired to kill us."

When Su Yao said this, Winter swallowed the food in his mouth, wiped his mouth, and added a few words.

"You should know about the Lianxing Pavilion; they are guys who prioritize money over their lives, and once a fight starts, it's endless."

"They were already furious that disaster had befallen them, but now that they heard they could get paid for saving their lives, they were all like beasts, incredibly strong."

"We couldn't take them down, and it wasn't easy to escape. If that Cultivator with unknown cultivation level returned, we would likely die."

"So, to preserve our strength, after dragging it out to the last moment, we chose to return ourselves."

"As for the situation over there, I'm afraid it failed."

Winter didn't seem to care about success or failure; after all, regardless, he had done his best.

Hearing this news, Li Heng continued to show a bitter smile, as if he were truly troubled by the plan.

"Slap." Kong Xuan suddenly slammed her hands on the table and stood up.

"Xieli, don't push your luck."

"Not only were you uncooperative throughout, but now you want to push all the responsibility onto me."

"Everyone, if you can still allow this person to spout nonsense here, then please forgive me, Kong Xuan, for retiring and returning home!"

Kong Xuan appeared incredibly angry and waved her sleeve as if to leave, but Cen Xiu was quick-witted and quickly grabbed her.

"Sister Xuan'er, please calm down."

"Ms. Xieli didn't mean that. Everyone encountered different troubles this time. After all, the plan was too rushed; being able to complete a quarter of it is already quite smooth."

"Besides, if you leave, what are we going to eat?"

Yun Mingtian seized the opportunity and chimed in.

"Yeah, if you leave, what are we going to eat?"

Winter also put down his fork and added with a smile.

"Yeah, what are we going to eat?"

For a moment, everyone was actually chatting and laughing.

Seeing that most people were asking her to stay, and since Xieli just turned her face away without saying much, she sat back down with a cold snort.

After this turn of events, the atmosphere of the entire meeting actually improved quite a bit, and the gunpowder-like tension from the beginning was gone.

Because no matter how they chatted, it was just venting their dissatisfaction. The dominance of this meeting had long been firmly held by Li Heng, and they didn't dare to leave voluntarily as they had before.

And now that Kong Xuan, as someone ostensibly on Li Heng's side, had already used leaving as a threat, if they argued further, it would likely escalate to them actually leaving the table, and they didn't dare to do that.

Seeing that everyone had chatted enough, Li Heng stood up.

"Everyone, regardless of how it went, you all tried your best. This time, it really is my fault. After all, encountering such a crisis, I had to start the plan early, which led to everyone's strength not being fully utilized."

"I will punish myself with a drink first." After speaking, Li Heng drained his cup.

Seeing this, even if they were unwilling, everyone offered a few hypocritical words of comfort and pleasantries.

"Alright, although the plan wasn't as perfect as imagined, I also want to tell everyone some good news."

"Because of the developments in each war zone and the decisive victory in the northern war zone, Sui is already prepared."

"Now we just need to wait two days to lower the small floating island, connect the stairs, and select the final Prime Body. Our battle will then be a complete victory, and at that time, everyone present will be a hero."

As soon as Li Heng finished speaking, everyone raised their glasses, acting as harmoniously as if the shouting match hadn't just happened.

But just as everyone raised their glasses to declare victory in advance, a ground-shaking tremor occurred, causing quite a bit of wine to spill on the table.

"How is this possible? This is a specially made room; how can there be tremors even here?"

Isaac was the first to stand up. He had supervised the construction of this place himself and knew it best. For a vibration of this level to occur, it must at least be the aftermath of an attack at the Body Integration level or above.

Li Heng's previously fake-smiling face froze, because he knew what had caused this.

"Damn it, Ma Hao!"

Li Heng's expression changed from stiff to furious. This was already the second time Ma Hao hadn't followed the plan and forcibly changed it.

But before he could contact Ma Hao, another tremor came. This time the tremor was lighter; it didn't seem to be coming from the cross above, but rather from the further outside.

Li Heng quickly received information from the outside, saying that an unknown entity had taken action to destroy the barrier, and now people in various areas were already running outside the barrier.

Li Heng's expression was incredibly ugly. He didn't have time to pretend to be brotherly anymore; he slammed his hands directly on the table and issued orders to everyone.

"Everyone, now, immediately, right away! Get moving!"

"Directly initiate the final step, lower the floating island ahead of schedule, and open the stairs leading to the top of the base."

"Cen Xiu, Yun Mingtian, go to the locations I sent you and hold them. Do not let a single person out!"

"Everyone else, follow me!"

Li Heng's words were extremely brief, but the fewer the words, the bigger the matter.

Everyone just glanced at each other and then followed.

But it looked different in Lord Canglan's eyes. He had just deeply felt that the way everyone looked at the corresponding people was wrong; it seemed everyone had something on their minds.

However, that was even better.

Lord Canglan quickly synchronized the information, preparing to implement it according to Zhou Yan's original plan.

But when the information was synchronized back, he received a different result.

"Wait for my signal. You must mobilize all personnel and kill the 'Li Heng' who is leading you at the very last moment."

"And before that, find an opportunity to contact Florian. Be quick."