Just as Feng Yuan was hesitating, Agunas’s gaze suddenly sharpened as it turned to the shadow beneath a roadside tree. In the darkness, a human figure abruptly appeared there.
"Why are you holding back? They’re clearly not opponents that are hard for you to deal with."
"Because it’s troublesome. If I make a move now, War will break out, and the Alliance might not be ready yet."
Feng Yuan hadn’t clearly seen who it was, but he already recognized the voice. Old Wei stepped out of the shadows, looked at Feng Yuan and said calmly,
"Just because of that, you’re going to tolerate their repeated provocations?"
"Or what? Let Eclipse and Xilnais charge into The Imperial Timeline and raise hell, and then wait for War to suddenly explode? Don’t forget, War means people die. That probably doesn’t match what you’re after, does it?"
Looking at Old Wei, Feng Yuan didn’t really care about his words. What Old Wei sought was probably at odds with War.
"That’s only the world I’m pursuing. They don’t agree with it, but whatever. As long as it’s willing to walk with me, that’s enough. Besides, counting on the Alliance? Hah, too many opinions just end up tying them down."
With a cold laugh, Old Wei looked at Feng Yuan and said,
"I’m just here to invite you to go to the invaders’ world and give them a little surprise. Whether you agree or not doesn’t affect me."
"A harassment raid, huh? Sigh, fine. Are you heading out overnight?"
Feng Yuan sighed, lifted his head to glance at the night sky. Old Wei didn’t answer, he simply turned and stepped back into the shadows. He had already understood what Feng Yuan meant.
Watching Old Wei disappear into the darkness, Agunas flicked its tail and said,
"He’s not planning to trigger War ahead of time, is he?"
"Wouldn’t that fit your wishes perfectly? If War breaks out early, neither side gets extra prep time, isn’t that better? Although... whether the Alliance actually has a solid plan..."
Feng Yuan shot Agunas a sideways glance and said irritably as he tilted his head back to look at the sky. Agunas fell silent for a moment, then said with a headachey look,
"Same as he said, they haven’t reached any consensus."
"Too many people, too much chaos."
With a cold laugh, Feng Yuan already understood. He turned to Gladys and said,
"Interested in taking a trip to The Imperial Timeline? Of course, we leave tomorrow. On the enemy’s turf, we might not get a chance to rest properly."
Old Wei’s words had finally pushed Feng Yuan to make up his mind to head for The Imperial Timeline. Of course, he wasn’t planning on any large-scale destruction; small-scale harassment would do. With Old Wei taking point, even if something went wrong, the blame wouldn’t land on him.
"I’m definitely interested. But that Old Wei guy is... odd."
Gladys looked at Feng Yuan without rejecting him the way Feng Yuan had turned Old Wei down. Mainly, on her own she had no way to force her way into The Imperial Timeline. Don’t be fooled by how casually the other side came to the Main World—that was entirely because their human side was stronger than the humans of the Main World.
No helping it. Without Divine Beasts, the humans and Beast Tamers from The Imperial Timeline and the War Timeline were generally stronger than those of the Main World. The overall strength of a time tributary could be weaker than the Main World, but not by too wide a margin. The portion left vacant by the absence of Divine Beasts was naturally filled by humans and Beast Tamers.
If not for that, humans in the Main World wouldn’t be so passive. Putting Divine Beasts aside, their overall strength was lower than the other side’s. Once fighting broke out, the casualties would definitely not be small, forcing them to consider their own nations.
And that kind of consideration made it so the Alliance never managed to reach a decision. Even if Feng Yuan and the others bought the Alliance more time, it would probably just be wasted on internal squabbling.
In Gladys’s eyes, Old Wei was extremely dangerous, but there was one thing he said that she agreed with: too many people means chaos. If the Alliance couldn’t act, she didn’t have that many scruples.
At the end of the day, she was just an ordinary member of the Mordan Clan, unlike Lanadi who bore the burden of leading the Mordan Clan into the future. Even if she stirred up trouble, it wouldn’t implicate the Mordan Clan.
After agreeing on a time, Feng Yuan returned to his dorm. Before going to sleep, he told Qi Chen and the others about it so they wouldn’t go looking for him and find him gone.
As for why he wasn’t taking Qi Chen and the others to The Imperial Timeline? That was purely a matter of strength. Feng Yuan could protect their safety, but what would be the point of that?
It wasn’t some sightseeing trip. A harassment operation wasn’t just about setting fires at weak spots. Feng Yuan didn’t think Qi Chen and the others needed to be exposed to that kind of thing yet. Besides, if they went, they wouldn’t be able to do anything. Being dead weight was not a fun experience.
"If you can’t do it, don’t force yourself. None of the others are doing this. It’s fine if you don’t go."
Seeing Najia suddenly change its mind, Yang Hongzhi hurriedly tried to dissuade it. It wasn’t that he was afraid barging into The Imperial Timeline would be dangerous. To put it bluntly, even if he weren’t a Beastmaster, with Najia by his side, the chance of running into danger in The Imperial Timeline wasn’t high.
It was just that Yang Hongzhi knew very well how much Najia rejected War before, let alone that forcing their way into The Imperial Timeline was not a vacation. When the time came, maybe...
"No, I want to try. Since War isn’t going to end quickly, then I need to adapt to this War too."
Najia shook its head, its gaze firm. It didn’t want to see War unfold right before its eyes, but unless it abandoned Yang Hongzhi, there was no way it could avoid this War.
"Um, you don’t have to be that aggressive. If we just stay here and guard Maomu City, that should be fine, right?"
Yang Hongzhi scratched his head, sounding a little guilty. Najia glanced at him, then shook its head and said,
"Not necessarily. Old Wei and Feng Yuan have already decided to break into The Imperial Timeline. Even if he can hold off Gladys from The Imperial Timeline, they’ll definitely shift their attention to Maomu City."
It had learned of Feng Yuan’s previous encounter through the Divine Beasts’ intelligence network via Agunas. It was precisely because of that that it decided to take a trip into The Imperial Timeline.
"Feng Yuan is going to break into The Imperial Timeline as well? In that case, won’t Maomu City..."
Thinking of a certain possibility, Yang Hongzhi’s expression changed. As for Old Wei, that mysterious guy, he didn’t care about him at all. In his view, it was hard to say whether that man was friend or foe.
He didn’t want to admit it, but Feng Yuan being in Maomu City was the real reason he felt so reassured. If Feng Yuan left, and Najia also left Maomu City, then wouldn’t that mean...
"They should leave some means of protection behind. After all, Qi Chen and the others are still here. Plus, there’s him..."
Najia looked out the window. It couldn’t see him, but it could feel the White Wolf Deity’s arrival.
On the outskirts of Maomu City, the White Wolf Deity’s sudden appearance caused no commotion. The power swirling around it perfectly concealed its figure. Finding a flat patch of wasteland, the White Wolf Deity simply flopped down and fell into sleep. It looked sound asleep, but its attention remained on its surroundings—any stir of wind or grass would jolt it awake.
Liao Yu was a bit skeptical when he got Feng Yuan’s text, but only when he saw the White Wolf Deity lying on the wasteland resting did he barely accept that Feng Yuan had actually gotten the White Wolf Deity to come protect Maomu City.
The reason Feng Yuan texted Liao Yu was simple: the White Wolf Deity couldn’t constantly monitor all of Maomu City. If some accident happened that Maomu City couldn’t handle and the White Wolf Deity didn’t notice, Liao Yu and the others would need to help notify it.
When she woke up and saw Qi Chen still in the backyard doing some simple training with Ah Mu, Qi Xiaoshuang asked in confusion,
"Bro, weren’t you going on patrol?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah what, it’s not early anymore. Shouldn’t you be heading to the academy?"
"Feng Yuan decided last night to force his way into The Imperial Timeline and stir up some chaos."
Qi Chen didn’t even look back. He continued his simple training as he spoke calmly. He hadn’t minded that Feng Yuan hadn’t called him along. Qi Chen knew exactly where his own strength stood.
But precisely because of that, he understood that even though he seemed to be among the top tier of his peers in terms of strength, when facing major events of this level, he was no different from the weakest of the bunch.
"Feng Yuan... is forcing his way into The Imperial Timeline?"
"That’s really not good news."
"Who?!"
Hearing that voice—familiar yet strange—Qi Xiaoshuang immediately had the White Shadow Wolf enter combat readiness. The Magic Mechanized Soldiers instantly moved to shield her, ready to protect her at any moment.
"You... who are you?!"
Looking at that face—familiar yet a little unfamiliar—Qi Xiaoshuang was stunned.

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