Babylon showed no goodwill to his subordinates’ advice, instead reprimanding them directly.
This was to establish dominance; he wanted everyone to fear him.
However, before he could finish speaking, a ringing sound interrupted him. Everyone felt a sense of relief, as the phone call came at a most opportune moment.
On the other side, Babylon took out his phone. Glancing at the number, he saw it was Anqiluo. He quickly composed himself and answered the call.
“Lord Anqiluo, what are your instructions?”
Babylon had to maintain a degree of humility towards Anqiluo.
Anqiluo’s status was no simple matter; he was ranked third among the venerated elders of the Bright Inner Hall.
The Bright Inner Hall housed many outstanding young talents, all of whom Anqiluo had personally trained, giving him immense prestige.
As a newly appointed venerated elder, Babylon had to show respect to him to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Anqiluo, on the other end of the line, was quite satisfied with Babylon’s demeanor.
He then spoke calmly, “This seat has discussed with Xu Weiwei of the Dragon Group. We will give them another two days. If they still cannot provide a satisfactory response, then…”
Listening to Anqiluo’s words, Babylon nodded repeatedly. “My lord, rest assured. I have made all preparations. As soon as you give the order, we can bloodbath the entrance to the ruins…”
“Very good. Hold on for two more days. After two days, perhaps it will be your time to shine!”
Anqiluo nodded with a smile and continued, “Oh, and I must remind you, Ye Cangtian of the Huaxia forces has likely returned. You must be extremely cautious!”
Anqiluo was not foolish. During his conversation with Xu Weiwei, she indicated that members of the Bright Hall had returned.
This meant that there were indeed survivors from the Huaxia forces within the treasure hunting team, and they had also returned to the Inner Hall.
Otherwise, Xu Weiwei would not have received the news first.
In his estimation, Ye Cangtian was the most likely to have returned from the hidden group of the treasure hunting team.
Although Dracula had also participated in the treasure hunting team and was determined to kill Ye Cangtian, Ye Cangtian was no pushover either!
From Ye Cangtian’s ability to sever the Pope’s arm, it was clear that his combat power was already infinitely close to that of a Heavenly-rank expert.
Therefore, in Anqiluo’s opinion, even if Dracula wanted to kill Ye Cangtian, it would be an extremely difficult task.
For this reason, for the sake of their common mission, he had to remind Babylon.
“My lord, do not worry! I actually wish for Ye Cangtian to return!”
“That way, I can end his legend with my own hands!”
Babylon’s eyes glinted, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he spoke of Ye Cangtian.
His grand formation was already prepared. Even a Heavenly-rank expert would have an extremely low chance of survival.
And since Ye Cangtian had not yet reached the Heavenly rank, he would surely meet his end within this formation!
He was very confident about this.
Once he eliminated Ye Cangtian, he would become a great contributor to the Bright Inner Hall, and his fame and status would surely rise by several notches.
It could be said that he would reach the pinnacle of his life in one step.
“Good, as long as you know what you’re doing. I’m hanging up now.”
Hearing Babylon’s words, a hint of disdain flashed across Anqiluo’s face.
Although Babylon’s mastery of formations was that of a grandmaster, he still didn’t believe that he could kill Ye Cangtian.
This was because Ye Cangtian had broken through the Bright Hall’s death traps too many times, yet he was still alive. The difficulty of killing him was thus imaginable.
However, he didn’t say anything more.
He had given the necessary reminder; the rest was up to Babylon.
Besides, this was not necessarily a bad thing for him.
If he spoke too much, and Babylon became timid upon encountering Ye Cangtian, that would not be good.
On the other side, hearing the dial tone from the phone, Babylon hung up and looked at the people in front of him.
He was silent for a moment, then spoke, “The great battle will be delayed by two days. Order the personnel to activate the grand formation…”
Babylon was about to recall all those who were perfecting the grand formation when a report came in.
In an instant, a guard ran in, panting.
“My lord, something bad has happened! All the altars we built have been destroyed, not even a single scrap of material remains…”
“What!”
Upon hearing this news, everyone’s eyes widened. Babylon, in particular, stood up abruptly.
He flickered and appeared before the guard, grabbing his collar and shouting, “What are you talking about! The locations of those altars were extremely well-hidden. How could they all be destroyed in one day!”
Babylon found this news truly unbelievable.
Although he hadn’t dispatched guards to watch over the altars, he sent people to inspect them daily as a precaution.
In addition, he had set up many hidden informants in the mountains and forests to prevent the Huaxia forces from discovering the altars.
Yet, none of these informants had sent back any news, and instead, news of the altars’ destruction had arrived. How was this possible!
Moreover, two of the altars were built behind the Bright faction’s main forces.
Firstly, the enemy could not have bypassed the Bright faction’s forces without a sound.
Secondly, there was no reason for them to head directly for the rear of the military camp.
After all, the enemy’s attention should have been focused on the Bright faction, and there was no reason for them to bypass the military camp and go to its rear!
Unless the enemy already knew of the altars’ existence.
But the locations of the altars had been carefully chosen by him.
Furthermore, the personnel in this operation were elites of the Bright Inner Hall, loyal to the Bright Hall.
Therefore, it was impossible for anyone to have betrayed them.
“My lord, now that the altars are destroyed, should we report it, or rebuild the altars?”
At this moment, a Cardinal inquired.
The destruction of the altars and the inability to complete the grand formation was a major issue, and there were only these two possible courses of action.
“Report it, my foot!”
Babylon glared fiercely at him. This was a significant dereliction of duty, and if he reported it, he would never be able to clear his name from such a stain.
But the problem was that the materials he had were running low, making it impossible to build six more altars.
One must know that those wooden materials were Dragon Bloodwood soaked in dragon’s blood! Not much could be found in the entire Bright ruins!
If it weren’t for the desire to earn merit, he wouldn’t have taken out this batch of lumber!
“Report!”
Just then, another guard rushed in and quickly said, “My lord, something bad has happened! All the sentries around the camp have gone missing!”
“What!”
Babylon and many Cardinals felt a heavy blow to their hearts upon hearing this news!
This indicated that the Huaxia forces had already launched their operation.
“My lord, please make a decision!”
All the Cardinals were starting to panic, their eyes fixed on Babylon, awaiting his decision.
After all, the grand formation was their killer weapon against the entrance guards. Now that the killer weapon was destroyed, their spiritual pillar had been shattered.
Moreover, the fact that Huaxia had taken the initiative to attack meant that they would not be easily resisted.
“What are you panicking for!”
“Retreat…”
Sensing the panicked looks from everyone, Babylon was truly angered. He let out a scolding sound and gritted his teeth, preparing to retreat.
Now that the grand formation was destroyed, and he had no extra materials, even if he did, the Huaxia forces would not give him the time to build the altars.
And as everyone thought, without the grand formation, he had no confidence in resisting the Huaxia forces’ attack, so retreating was the only option.
However, before the word ‘retreat’ could even leave his lips, the camp outside erupted in commotion.
“Everyone, heed my command! Follow me out and act according to the situation!”
Babylon’s reaction was swift. He made his decision immediately, leading the many Cardinals out to confront the situation.
…