Of two evils, choose the greater one

【The pillar of fire vanished.】

【You stepped out of a massive crater.】

【This crater hadn’t been created by the attack from the people of the Featherflight Sect just now. You had stomped it into existence with your heel to counterbalance the recoil of the Divine Mirror.】

【You looked up at Kuer Dong and revealed a playful smile.】

【“Sect Master Kuer, the strength of our two sects is balanced now, wouldn’t you say?”】

【The Profound Flame Divine Mirror could not launch attacks on its own.】

【That pillar of fire reaching into the heavens had come from the combined attack of the Featherflight Sect’s forces.】

【The Profound Flame Divine Mirror could absorb energy and then amplify it dozens or even hundreds of times, depending on the user’s cultivation, before releasing it in the form of flames.】

【In other words, the stronger the enemy, the more powerful the mirror’s counterattack would be.】

【Of course, it had its drawbacks as well.】

【These relics were not creations of the Immortal Dao, so they could not give birth to an artifact spirit.】

【As a result, they were not very intelligent. Whether they could display their full power depended entirely on how the user wielded them.】

【If the attack you had absorbed just now hadn’t been powerful enough, the retaliation wouldn’t have been so devastating either.】

【Even so, an item capable of killing hundreds of high-level cultivators with a single move certainly deserved to be called a supreme treasure.】

【Thinking about it carefully, this thing had merely been used by the Female Heavenly Emperor as an ordinary mirror. It was not even her true weapon.】

【Yet simply because it had spent so much time in contact with the Heavenly Emperor and had absorbed a trace of her power, it possessed such might.】

【Just how terrifying, then, had the Heavenly Emperor truly been?】

【“Si Duo Duo! Do you really think you’re invincible just because you have a broken mirror? Take a look at this divine art of mine!”】

【The eight wings behind Kuer Dong spread open at the same time, unleashing eight violent storms that swept across the heavens and earth with overwhelming momentum.】

【You stood firm, unmoving, and raised the Profound Flame Divine Mirror. You were prepared to receive his attack and then fire back an amplified pillar of flame, making him taste his own medicine.】

【Unexpectedly, although the commotion on the other side was immense, it gradually died down—and Kuer Dong was nowhere to be seen.】

【The Great Elder of the Heavenly Fiend Sect kindly reminded you:】

【“Sect Master, they’ve run away.”】

【You calmly put away the Profound Flame Divine Mirror.】

【“I know.”】

【In truth, you were anything but calm inside.】

【For heaven’s sake! How did I fall for the same trick again?!】

【The dragonfolk expeditionary forces in your previous simulations had been especially good at running away.】

【“The monk may run away, but the temple remains.”】

【“Sect Master, are you planning to attack the Featherflight Sect?”】

【“Of course! They killed our ski team…”】

【“The Bloodflower Regiment.”】

【“The Bloodflower Regiment! They cost us so many elite soldiers and powerful experts. How could we let this go?”】

【“That’s true. If we don’t get justice for the brothers of the Bloodflower Regiment, there will surely be dissent within the sect. But both sides suffered heavy losses this time. If we start a war now, the Qingqiu Sect may profit from our conflict…”】

【The Heavenly Fiend Sect, the Featherflight Sect, and the Qingqiu Sect controlled the largest territories and resources on Firelight Star. They were the planet’s three greatest sects.】

【Their relationship was much like that of the three kingdoms of old: each kept the others in check.】

【Now that the Heavenly Fiend Sect and the Featherflight Sect had fought until both sides were battered and bloodied, while the Qingqiu Sect had kept a low profile and conserved its strength, it indeed seemed unwise for the two weakened sects to continue fighting.】

【But the problem was that your existence could never be measured by the strength shown on paper.】

【Besides, you never played by the rules.】

【“The Great Elder is right. If we attack the Featherflight Sect now, the Qingqiu Sect will inevitably profit from it. Once we fight until both sides are crippled, we’ll just be making wedding clothes for the Qingqiu Sect!”】

【“The Sect Master is wise!”】

【“We’ll attack the Qingqiu Sect directly!”】

【The Great Elder staggered and nearly fell over.】

【“But Sect Master, we’re already struggling to deal with the Featherflight Sect. If we attack the completely unscathed Qingqiu Sect, wouldn’t that be certain defeat?”】

【“Old bastard… Great Elder! You need to have faith in our Heavenly Fiend Sect! Our dragonfolk are incredibly powerful in the Void Realm. We’re ranked first on the realm-war battle record list—even the Sacred Dragon Clan has to kneel down and sing our praises!”】

【“Sect Master, where did you hear that? Besides, information from the Void Realm can’t be taken seriously. It’s all just legend…”】

【“I still have some personal matters to take care of. Return to the sect immediately, consolidate our resources, gather our forces, and prepare for war!”】

【“Sect Master, please reconsider!”】

【“I’ve already considered it! Not only will I seize the Qingqiu Sect and the Featherflight Sect, I’ll swallow up the entire Firelight Star! We’ll unify the whole planet!”】

【With that, black clouds churned beneath your feet, lifting you into the sky. In the blink of an eye, you vanished from sight.】

【The ten elders of the Heavenly Fiend Sect remained where they were, staring at one another.】

【“Has the Sect Master gone mad?”】

【“That mirror might be some kind of evil object. Perhaps it has affected the Sect Master’s mind?”】

【“Sigh. Since the Sect Master has given an order, how could we disobey? Let’s make preparations according to his instructions for now.”】

【Year twenty-five. Fifty-one years old.】

【Over the past year, you had done only one thing.】

【Follow Shen Yifeng, founder of the Firewood Sect.】

【You should all still remember the Firewood Sect.】

【There were human sects on Firelight Star, but their overall strength was barely better than that of roadside weeds.】

【The Firewood Sect, with only two Core Formation cultivators, was already considered one of the foremost human sects on the entire planet.】

【From the previous simulation, you knew that Shen Yifeng, founder of the Firewood Sect, and its sect master, Ma Bang, were both members of the Torch Society.】

【If you wanted to turn Firelight Star into human territory, you couldn’t rely solely on usurping the Heavenly Fiend Sect and using it as your weapon.】

【You also needed the strength of the Torch Society.】

【Your ultimate goal was to make the Heavenly Fiend Sect the puppet ruler on the surface, while the Torch Society became the power behind the throne—and you became the one truly steering the ship.】

【So for now, you first had to locate the Torch Society and establish contact with this mysterious underground organization. Only then could you mobilize all the human forces on Firelight Star.】

【After a year of surveillance, you realized that you had underestimated humanity’s patience—and its true strength.】

【The Firewood Sect maintained contact with quite a few hidden human factions.】

【These human forces, which appeared ordinary on the surface, actually included quite a number of Core Formation cultivators and even cultivators of the Forbidden Land realm.】

【Yet they had concealed themselves exceptionally well. Even when oppressed by the nonhuman races, they refused to reveal their true strength.】

【On this day, by following Shen Yifeng, you finally met his superior, Mr. Xun.】

【In the previous simulation, Mr. Xun had died heroically while protecting three-year-old A-Dou.】

【At the time, nearly every member of the Torch Society on Firelight Star had sacrificed themselves to send A-Dou away from the planet.】

【This time, you would not allow such a tragedy to happen again.】

【Mr. Xun’s public identity was that of a teacher at a rural school. That was why everyone called him “Mister.”】

【The school accepted only human students, not members of the nonhuman races.】

【The nonhuman races had no interest in this shabby schoolhouse, which was so drafty and dilapidated that it looked ready to collapse at any moment.】

【It had become the perfect place for Mr. Xun to conceal his identity, as well as a secret meeting place where he could contact both his superiors and his subordinates.】

【The moment Shen Yifeng stepped into the schoolhouse, Mr. Xun warily closed the old book in his hands and fixed his gaze on the outside of the school.】

【“Brother Shen, you’re being followed.”】