"Reinforcements? What reinforcements?" Jun Moxie let out a cold laugh: "Who exactly is reinforcing whom? Mo Wudao, Great Sect Master Mo, has your brain flooded? Before you speak, you had better think things through clearly. Don't let others think that the leaders of the Three Great Sacred Lands only know how to spout nonsense instead of speaking human words!"

Although Mo Wudao himself was not a top-tier expert, due to his esteemed status, even the Saint Venerable-level seniors of the Three Great Sacred Lands treated him with considerable courtesy. Never had he been so directly and viciously berated. Stunned, his face flushed, blood rushing to his head. Just as he was about to say more, Gu Han stopped him, and Gu Han was the first to sit down.

Gu Han knew that Jun Moxie was not the sort of person to act rashly out of arrogance!

If he was acting this way now, there must be another reason!

Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to have fought side-by-side against the enemy just yesterday and generously gifted an unparalleled divine medicine, only to be as cold as ice today.

"Palace Master Jun, if it concerns the Heavenly Saint Palace or if we have caused any offense, please speak frankly. With a great enemy at the door, if we cannot resolve our differences, cooperation will surely be difficult," Gu Han sat down calmly and said with a slight smile.

"Good, Senior Gu speaks plainly! Since that is the case, I will not mince words and will speak openly and frankly," Jun Moxie showed a chilling, faint smile, and directly asked: "May I ask how many people were left behind at the former site of the Heaven Seizing War?"

Gu Han's eyes contracted inexplicably: Trouble had indeed arisen! He just didn't know what those people had done? To make this arrogant and untamable Monarch of Evil angry to this extent? But now was the critical moment for both sides to unite against the alien invasion; strife was truly inappropriate, especially since the other party was the absolute main force for this decisive battle!

"There were quite a number of people left guarding the encampment at the Heaven Seizing Battlefield," Gu Han thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth: "After all, the alien races might not keep their promises, and they might come to harass our borders at any time."

Jun Moxie snorted coldly and said: "In Senior Gu's opinion, will the unexpected collapse of Mount Tianzhu at their location, and the subsequent volcanic eruption... cause heavy casualties among them?"

"That is absolutely impossible!" Gu Han laughed: "Those people are all elites handpicked by the Three Great Sacred Lands! The weakest among them has already reached the Saint level! Although the unexpected collapse of Mount Tianzhu this time was sudden, it shouldn't be enough to bury so many experts; I can guarantee that much."

"Oh? Is that so?! May I know the total number of personnel stationed there? And what is the specific deployment of experts at each level!" Jun Moxie tilted his head slightly.

Knowing that Jun Moxie asked this must imply a deeper meaning, Gu Han didn't waste time and explained in detail: "The number of guardians stationed at the Heaven Seizing Battlefield has never been less than three hundred since ancient times! And this number has been increasing! This includes two Saint Monarchs, eighteen Saint Venerables, one hundred Saint Emperors of various ranks, and two hundred Saints of various ranks! The Saints rotate every hundred years. All Saints who have been stationed at the Heaven Seizing Battlefield will return to the Heavenly Saint Palace to prepare for breaking through the bottleneck to Saint Emperor. After breaking through, there is another rotation, and when they return, they can advance further."

Gu Han smiled and continued: "This kind of rotation is precisely using the alien races to train troops—cultivating war with war! To improve the quality of our experts. This is how we can ensure a constant stream of experts throughout the ages! In fact... with the recent accident, the Heavenly Saint Palace and the Three Great Sacred Lands have suffered many losses in strength. This contingent at the Heaven Seizing camp is already the most elite fighting force we can muster..."

"A fine 'cultivating war with war,' the Heavenly Saint Palace certainly has profound strength. The most elite fighting force, hehe..." Jun Moxie gave a mocking smile: "Since the Three Great Sacred Lands still possess such formidable strength... you presumably don't take the mere alien races to heart! Then, where is this most elite fighting force of yours... right now?"

"Naturally, they are guarding the Heaven Seizing Battlefield—that is their sacred duty. Without a monumental change, how could they possibly move lightly... Ah?" Gu Han suddenly froze just as he spoke.

"The Heaven Seizing Battlefield? Mount Tianzhu has already collapsed, where is there any Heaven Seizing Battlefield left? A monumental change? Isn't this considered a monumental change right now?" Jun Moxie said coldly: "I truly cannot comprehend what Senior Gu just said. Are you perhaps joking with me?!"

"I misspoke just now. Palace Master Jun means... Hmm, could it be that they did not participate in the recent great battle?" Gu Han's face instantly turned extremely grim! As soon as they arrived here, they could tell that this land had just experienced an extremely brutal war!

The brutality of this war was unprecedented in their lives! Judging from the tiny clues, at least more than twenty Saint Venerable-level experts had participated in this battle, and the majority of them had perished, otherwise the spiritual energy of heaven and earth here would not be so unbalanced!

Thus, Gu Han had naturally assumed that those people stationed at Mount Tianzhu must have participated in this battle.

Who knew that Jun Moxie suddenly asked such a string of questions, the implication quite clear: These peak experts shockingly did not participate in this battle!

At this point, if Gu Han still didn't understand where the problem lay, then his three thousand-plus years of existence had been lived in vain!

The faces of the experts of the Heavenly Saint Palace and Mo Wudao and the others also all changed "whoosh"!

In many people's eyes, flames of anger were practically spitting out!

Given the experience and insight of those present, they didn't need to exert themselves to deduce what kind of losses such a battle would cause. Since those people did not participate... then the losses they had previously calculated must all be blamed on the Heaven Punishment Forest!

This was almost unbearable for anyone! Even Mo Wudao's eyes showed intense fury! Now they understood Jun Moxie; if they were in such a situation... their reaction would likely be far more intense than his current one!

This was sheer opportunism! And it was directed at their own comrades in arms!

The success or failure of this battle directly concerned the lives of all beings under heaven! The entire continent! Such behavior was utterly despicable!

No one had expected these people to be crushed to death by Mount Tianzhu because that was impossible. Now, no other place had experienced war, only this one...

There was only one conclusion: They did not want to intervene! So they did not intervene!

"In yesterday's battle, the alien forces deployed numbered close to two hundred thousand! Among them were not a few experts, including several thousand Nether Ghost Ninjas and over four hundred Mad Blade Earth Ninjas; there were thirteen Supreme Heaven Ninjas! The army rushed thousands of miles to provide support with my Heaven Punishment brothers, fighting fiercely for a full three hours! Until this battle ended—the Heaven Punishment Allied Forces saw no reinforcements whatsoever!"

Jun Moxie suddenly stood up, stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes like two sharp swords, sweeping over the faces of the people from the Three Great Sacred Lands one by one. Under his gaze, everyone fell silent, lowering their heads, utterly ashamed.

They had indeed tried every trick in the book, reasoning with righteousness and appealing to sentiment; finally, after nearly a hundred pleas, the Heaven Punishment Forest and the Evil Monarch's Mansion set aside past grudges and fought with all their might, rushing thousands of miles day and night to participate in the battle at Mount Tianzhu. Yet, while reinforcements were traveling long distances and fighting bloody battles, their own people were within easy reach, yet they all played the coward and stood by watching!

On everyone's face, it felt as if they had been slapped hard across the face!

"Do the high-ranking experts here know the details of this battle?" Jun Moxie's face showed unconcealable sorrow mixed with immense pride. The people of Heaven Punishment around him all wore expressions of grief and pride, but they held their chests high!

This was the pride belonging only to Heaven Punishment! Earned with the lives of their brothers!

At this moment, everyone in Heaven Punishment felt both proud and indignant!

Gu Han could already imagine the circumstances, his face red as blood, veins throbbing on his forehead from anger. He gritted his teeth and said hoarsely: "We are eager to hear the details!" His anger was naturally not because of Jun Moxie's impoliteness and aggression! But because of the inaction of the Heaven Seizing defenders!

At this moment, Gu Han only wished a fissure would suddenly appear on the ground—he would definitely crawl into it immediately! Anything was better than this torment of shame.

This disgrace was brought upon them by their own people!

He could not evade it, had no way to escape—he could only listen obediently and then bear the consequences...

"In this battle! The first wave of my Heaven Punishment army set out from the Heaven Punishment Forest and arrived here after a long journey, with the entire force participating!" Jun Moxie's voice suddenly grew louder, as if shouting, carrying a trace of tremor: "The Eagle King led three thousand Eagle Clan warriors, the Bear King led three thousand Bear Clan elites! Along with eight Saint Venerables including the Deer Saint Venerable from the Heaven Punishment Forest, they engaged in a bloody massacre against the alien army of over two hundred thousand!"

"Before coming, the strength of these brothers was secretly enhanced through a secret technique. The lowest cultivation level among them had already reached the fourth level of the Venerable stage! Just one step away from entering the Saint stage!" Jun Moxie's voice resonated heavily in everyone's eardrums.

Having said this, Jun Moxie stopped. He looked up to the sky, took a deep breath, and said coldly: "You benevolent scholars from the Sacred Lands, who talk about the safety of the continent and the lives of all beings with every opening of your mouths—do you know the final result of this battle?"

Gu Han felt his face burning, yet he had to speak, hesitantly asking: "You won?"

"Won! Of course, we won! If we hadn't won, do you think this place would still be so peaceful? Not only did we win this battle, but it was a great victory!" Jun Moxie stressed: "The alien army of nearly two hundred thousand was completely routed, with less than ten thousand barely managing to escape! Most of the several thousand Nether Ghost Ninjas were buried here! As for those over four hundred Mad Blade Earth Ninjas, they all turned to ash, and the thirteen Supreme Heaven Ninjas, who were the strongest, all perished, without exception!"

With a "boom," an uproar of excitement and disbelief swept through the tent!

Given the strength of the alien races, it was believed that even if the Three Great Sacred Lands in their prime had mobilized completely, winning would have required an unimaginably huge price! But now, at this moment, the Heaven Punishment Forest had achieved such a brilliant result—how could this be possible!

"How is this possible?" Mo Wudao exclaimed in shock and joy.

"Senior Gu, I only spoke of the outcome of this battle and the enemy's losses just now. But do you know what price my Heaven Punishment Forest paid for this battle?"

Jun Moxie ignored Mo Wudao, staring only at Gu Han, and said gravely: "Our eight revered Saint Venerables of Heaven Punishment, the King of the Eagle Clan, and three thousand Eagle Clan warriors, over two thousand Bear Clan warriors... all became legends in this battle!"

Gu Han suddenly looked up! His face turned snow-white!

"Do you want to know how they died like dogs?" Jun Moxie felt a surge of indignant sorrow he couldn't suppress, rushing up, and he hissed: "None of our fallen brothers in this battle left their bodies on that battlefield! Except for the Eagle King who died protecting his comrades, every single one of the others—every one—died by self-detonation! And it was the ultimate self-detonation, releasing their physical body, soul, and Xuan power completely! Only this way did we achieve the glorious result that Sect Master Mo thought impossible!"

Everyone's bodies shook violently, and all were struck dumb!

Everyone had previously assumed that this battle must have been extremely fierce, but they never imagined that it could be so tragic!

A full eight Saint Venerables and six thousand warriors above the Saint level needed to resort to the most extreme method of self-detonation just to stop the enemy invasion!

"Right now, I just want to ask one thing: While our warriors were fighting bloody battles, where were your people? The Eagle Clan and Bear Clan coalition rushed here day and night over long distances! Where were those elite experts from the Heaven Seizing encampment, who were so close by?!"

Jun Moxie's gaze fell upon Gu Han and the others like cold arrows: "Even if they didn't expect the alien races to invade so quickly, even if they didn't notice the battle starting, when our warriors were resisting the enemy one by one through self-detonation, those elite experts you had stationed at the Heaven Seizing Battlefield were less than half an hour's travel time away, even at the pace of a first-rank Saint Emperor. Where were they?! Are these high-level experts deaf? Are they blind?"

Jun Moxie gave a faint smile, the chilling killing intent in his eyes flashing like lightning from the Nine Heavens in an instant: "Gu Han! Those who perished were all my brothers! My brothers, Jun Moxie's brothers!"

All along, he had addressed Gu Han as "Senior Gu," but now, the appellation suddenly changed to his given name! His voice, though still indifferent, was filled with a tense, sword-drawn immediacy!

The senior management of the Three Great Sacred Lands, forty to fifty people in total, under Jun Moxie's piercing gaze, all felt utterly ashamed!

Disgrace!

This was absolutely the greatest humiliation!

Watching their comrades fall in battle one after another, while their own people didn't even step forward to help!

Facing the cold gazes of Jun Moxie and Mei Xueyan, Gu Han suddenly felt speechless.

And it wasn't just Gu Han; everyone from the Three Great Sacred Lands found it hard to utter a word. Even the usually smooth-talking Mo Wudao was at a loss for words now!

This was an unforgivable offense!

Jun Moxie gritted his teeth and suddenly roared: "Gu Han, my brothers cannot have died in vain! I demand an explanation from you for this matter! You Three Great Sacred Lands must give me an account!" He slowly ground out: "I cannot let my brothers rest in peace! For this, I, Jun Moxie, will spare no cost!" (To be continued)