26th February, Outskirts of Nanyu City
A disciple came inside and transmitted a message to Chen Wang.
Li Gang looked at the disciple who had just left after conveying the message and smiled. "What did he say?"
Chen Wang looked at him and didn't speak. His expression said everything. "Do you think I would tell you?"
Li Gang had noticed that the message was brief, and he said slowly, "Did he tell you someone appeared there?"
Chen Wang's pupils constricted. He glanced at Li Gang deeply as he scrutinized him.
Li Gang smiled. "We really should join hands!"
However, once again, Chen Wang refused to cooperate. Li Gang knew that, right now, the other party had the initiative, and he was still cautious enough to not give Li Gang any chance at all.
However, what was Li Gang's meaning just now?
Let's go back to the beginning and re-examine the situation.
Back then, Li Gang considered that his Spatial Order had some means left on it that could be tracked. As a result, he discarded it.
Later on, Li Gang realized that it was all a trick to manipulate him into discarding it. Since, with the Spatial Order, Li Gang would have had a lot of room for maneuvering, and things could have gone out of control.
At that time, he thought Huang couldn't have simply thrown away the Spatial Order, since he was unaware if Li Gang had formed some kind of connection with it. That connection could be used to trace it back, and it goes both ways!
However, after he appeared here and realized that Huang was inside him and not Lei, he understood the deeper meaning behind all the actions.
Why did Huang go through all that trouble to let Li Gang willingly discard the Spatial Order? It was because there really was some means on the Spatial Order. What made Li Gang so sure about it?
Remember back then? The direction from which Chen Wang came to take Li Gang was the same as the cabin where Li Gang had previously resided. According to Li Gang's calculations, they shouldn't have gone there. Huang was aware that Li Gang would leave decisively after he tampered with the Spatial Order, and his best chance was going to Dongning City. So, he should have prepared an ambush there beforehand while he was conscious inside Li Gang's body. But he didn't do anything like that!
Instead, he sent those Warriors to Jin Huang's cabin first. Why?
It was to search for the Spatial Order, while at the same time keeping a Warrior near that place in hiding as an informant. This Warrior would send a message in case someone appeared, while at the same time, this Warrior would have no knowledge about where Huang's hiding place was.
Li Gang believed they failed to get the Spatial Order, since he had thrown it into the lake. It was extremely vast, and searching within it for a Rank 5 Warrior was like searching for a needle in a haystack. If a Rank 7 Warrior were present, he could have easily pinpointed it.
Now, what was the meaning of all this? It's connected with Lei.
Lei had left some means on the Spatial Order from the beginning. He could track it down. However, he would have taken a lot more time to mobilize his forces.
The entire scheme stretched back long before the battle between the Wei Dynasty and Shu Dynasty took place. Back then, Huang and Lei had an agreement regarding cooperation. Lei never prepared any arrangement to track down Li Gang right after he left with his own forces.
He did leave a means to track Li Gang's location through his Spatial Order, but he didn't prepare any long-distance flying Spiritual Beasts for his people or inform them to track Li Gang. Because if he did, Huang would have refused the cooperation and might have interfered against Lei instead.
But couldn't Lei's personal Warriors buy their own flying Spiritual Beasts secretly? No, they couldn't. Because this was a deal made with the help of Guo Chen and Lao Zhang.
Huang would help Lei on the condition that Guo Chen and Lao Zhang kept track of all Flying Spiritual Beast markets and didn't allow a single one of them to be sold for the next year.
Lei couldn't convince Guo Chen and Lao Zhang regarding this matter unless he wished to explain his plans to them.
This entire arrangement was made after Jin Huang left the Northern Continent in order to ensure that, right after Huang took over Li Gang's body, Lei couldn't send his Warriors before Huang did.
Huang was greedy for the treasure Li Gang possessed, and hence, he chose Li Gang's body. Meanwhile, Lei wanted revenge, and so, he chose Shi Tian's body. It should be noted that Lei and Huang were unaware whether such a worst-case situation would appear. In fact, Lei was even lucky that Shi Tian appeared at the right moment. Lei had always thought of choosing Lao Zhang's body, since he wasn't aware of Jin Huang's plan of letting the Golden Crow surrender. But after Shi Tian's appearance, he allowed Lao Zhang to be killed and changed his target to Shi Tian instead.
Lei and Huang had both left some means on the Spatial Order. The moment Li Gang left the battlefield, his location was revealed to Huang's Warriors, and at the same time to Lei. They realized he wasn't in the same place, and as per instructions, they instantly left to track down the place he had teleported to.
Meanwhile, Lei took some time before he could arrange someone to track down Li Gang under Jin Long's nose. Li Gang underestimated Lei's ability. He thought Lei should have tracked him within six to seven days, considering he would prioritize his revenge and should have been capable enough to do it as a former Rank 8 Warrior. However, Lei delayed it. He prioritized his arrangements for House Yin instead.
Li Gang also understood the reason for it. Lei should have realized that, by the time he sent the Warriors, Huang and Li Gang would have escaped. But Huang would never allow Li Gang to be fully healed, and as a result, they couldn't go too far away.
When you hide, it's best not to move in order to avoid revealing your location, especially when there is an unexpected factor like Li Gang for Huang. Both Huang and Lei understood this concept. The more Huang tried to change locations, the more clues he would leave behind, and the easier it would be for Lei to track him down. It was best to cut off all connections and wait for Huang to take over Li Gang's body before starting any escape plans.
Li Gang's entire calculation was based on the fact that Huang or Lei would be sending Warriors from the main royal palace according to their arrangements. However, Huang was somewhat lucky in this aspect, since the location where he had made arrangements was near the border of the Golden Crow, Shu, and Wei Dynasties, within the Wu Dynasty itself. As a result, he reached the location much earlier than Li Gang had calculated. He was closer than Li Gang had considered.
In this world, the conclusions you come to aren't important. What's important is whether the conclusions you arrive at in a certain situation are helpful to you or not!
It doesn't matter if Li Gang's calculations were off by some factors. He knew that it wouldn't matter. Why?
Because this was a test by the Elemental Emperor to force him to reveal his true capabilities. As a result, Li Gang must have had a small room for maneuvering. Plus, the Immortals wouldn't allow him to die. So, Huang's arrangements would never be too close to him. Li Gang never needed to assume that Huang and Lei had already made some arrangements beforehand.
Li Gang's hint to Chen Wang was that he was aware of Lei's scheme and of Chen Wang placing a Warrior in hiding near Jin Huang's cabin. Both Huang and Lei were unaware that the cabin belonged to Jin Huang and that she had connections with Li Gang.
Lei's Warriors had arrived at that cabin and would pick up the Spatial Order. At the same time, they would start searching for traces of Huang. This was the reason Huang needed Li Gang to willingly give up on Spatial Order, since he would cut off any connections with it. If Lei got his hands on Spatial Order, while Li Gang didn't cut off connections, he could use that "connection" to reverse track their positions!
Lei knew they wouldn't go too far and would be somewhere within a few tens of miles of that place. With the Spatial Order in his hands, his search speed would become even faster.
At the same time, Li Gang believed Lei would come here personally. He would use this opportunity to visit Prince Jin Bo.
Li Gang was already aware during his battle with the two Monarchs that Jin Long was an extremely decisive person, or else he wouldn't have decided to give up his kingdom just because of Jin Huang's advice. With his decisiveness, he would surely target the Shu Kingdom, and the best way was through the waterways.
This whole thing needed to be taken care of secretly by someone he trusted the most. The fact that he took Shi Tian with him to observe Li Gang's ability during the battle between the Wei and Shu Dynasties proved that, in Jin Long's heart, Shi Tian was the most trustworthy person.
He would secretly send House Yin Warriors under Shi Tian, and in order to do that, he must create a fake persona for Shi Tian and help him disappear silently. He knew that there would definitely be spies, so he had to act very meticulously.
Unfortunately, Lei wouldn't use this opportunity to lead House Yin, but instead hide himself and come over to lead the rebellion after all the House Yin Warriors were moved away.
His position was secret, and he could freely come to Prince Jin Bo with some disguise without alerting Jin Long. It was precisely for this reason that Li Gang sent Chu You to Jin Bo before Jin Long could appear!