Hope. Be it ethereal or genuine, hope always makes one look at the situation in a different light. Thus, making one act differently as well.

Kongbai Meili wasn't different from the rest. A Warrior Emperor, probably the strongest one of the surrounding lands, and suppressing it or not, the Palace Head yearned for something.

Her hope wasn't even for something that would allow her to preserve both the [Void Palace] and its members. In truth, it was to save at least one of them.

And as if the heavens were in a good mood and decided to grant her the most concealed, practically impossible, hope of saving both. A mere Warrior Lord, someone she would not even notice, had arrived. Arrived bearing the news that he called for reinforcements.

And while even he, himself, did not know if they would arrive, it was enough for Kongbai Meili to decide they would. After all, they had to!

Bai Qi explained the plan change revealed to him by Gu Guanyu in such a manner. Not that he considered it a bad one, as the initial one of rushing out at midnight and fighting while suppressed was far worse.

Bai Qi did acknowledge that even a suppressed last stand was something he would do in such a case, but the new plan was more to his liking and by far.

Indeed, the new plan was sound and something that Bai Qi approved. The elders of a few towers would rush out of their safe rooms. And with their disciples work to kill everyone inside. Then, they would proceed to weak havoc outside for a few breaths before returning. The uproar would cause the attackers to get closer to the safe [Void Palace] members and allow other towers to act. Acting like that for over a day, they would cull the attackers' numbers and morale.

It was dangerous and crazy enough for it to be unexpected, but it would be a way to inflict losses while risking far less than going out in search of a formation Grandmaster. And even more, if the reinforcements did not arrive in time, it would still lead to a more-or-less desirable outcome. Indeed, even if the lowlifes gathered around the towers were from weak powers, their respective bosses and leaders had some deal with the [Seven Souls Sect]. Thus, either they would clamor for the restriction be lifted and their contractor, sovereign, or whatever the sect was to them, take the field or leave. And while they were the weaker party, they did amount for two-thirds of the cultivators in place.

Maybe Ba Qi's thoughts were far from ones he should have in such a setting. But well, hasn't he decided to be greedy and ambitious? So why not investigate, and grab, if possible, something intriguing?

But while the plan was something he approved, Bai Qi did not plan to follow it. At least not in the manner envisioned by Gu Guanyu.

Not because he felt it would not work, as he considered it should work. And neither because he thought of himself as something special. No, the actual reason was different, far more stupid even in his opinion. After all, since when did Bai Qi want to fight and defeat a considerable amount of opponents? But while that was hard to answer, he did feel he wanted to.

Bai Qi's thoughts about the [Void Palace] being an open, welcoming, and friendly place weren't wrong, but they weren't right either.

Gu Guanyu's conduct was indeed one that the leadership of the Palace welcomed and nurtured. But there were enough elders that considered their disciples on a level not higher than servants.

Some worked solely for their gain as well. With the Palace being just a means to acquire whatever they sought after. Not that the Head or the Vice-head who usually treated with elders considered it wrong either. After all, since the start, the Palace had been a power for individual cultivators.

Still, Bai Qi had not been wrong about Chun Hua's situation. Granted, He Delan wasn't the best example to follow after. Neither was she the best teacher. But she never hid anything from her disciples and enforced a policy of welcoming others. After all, as He Delan liked to say, "If one comes with evil intentions, we can always kill them. But for ones that do come in good, we should never allow ourselves to miss them."

Thus, He Delan revealed to Chun Hua and Mao Lei the changes to the plan and everything else right as it happened.

Probably the only thing that Chun Hua found that her Master hid from Mao Lei, as the others weren't present, was when she asked via transmission to confirm that the new arrival was her friend. And even that was only temporal.

"Bai Qi!" Chun Hua exclaimed as soon as she saw the blurred image her Master passed to her. And like that, she had confirmed his identity.

"Hoh? So you do show emotions sometimes! The setting isn't the best one, but maybe, you want to talk with him?" Seeing that her disciple cared nothing of Mao Lei's presence, He Delan quickly brought the latter into the know.

"Chun Hua has friends?!" And Mao Lei almost fell on the ground in shock. It would not be the first time this day, as he did literally fall when he heard that Chun Hua had either contained, ran off, killed, or wounded at least 15 cultivators while he had struggled with a pair.

"You!" He Delan almost wanted to smack her disciple but acted differently, preferring words to physical action, "It turns that she does, and well, what I can say, the guy isn't bad looking at all. Demons, I need to say that he is actually a good party!"

"Master!" Both Chun Hua and Mao Lei exclaimed in unison but with differing emotions. For Chun Hua, she felt that He Delan was considering her surprise too closely, especially as Chun Hua was aware of her lack of emotions. As for Mao Lei, he resented such a blatant claim that he wasn't so good-looking.

"What? Can't your Master give an objective assessment? This new guy, Bai Qi? He may be younger, but he's good-looking, intelligent, and a 3rd level Warrior Lord. Not to mention that he braved inside the Palace grounds, even being aware of the assault. Not bad!" He Delan exclaimed while grinning.

He Delan may be a cruel Master when teaching, but she did care about her disciples. And Chun Hua's lack of emotions troubled her from the start. But now that she knew that it wasn't so for everyone, He Delan felt more assured of her genius-level disciple. As for Mao Lei, He Delan saw how the guy treated Chun Hua, so maybe a rival would serve him for something?

"..."

"..."

Neither of her two disciples, the only people inside her tower's control room, could say anything to such words, so He Delan's grin grew even more pronounced.

But He Delan quickly returned to her usual self, as the words she said next merited it, "The plan will include us as well, even when we are probably one of the weakest towers right now. Thus, better spend the time keeping your qi and aura stable, as the fighting will start before you can even replenish."

Both Mao Lei and Chun Hua nodded to these words and proceeded to sit down while slowing their inner circulation. The control room seeped the qi at an alarming rate, and while it did not restrict their cultivation, what use there was for a couple of 6th level Sages in that?

"We will rush out shortly. Any questions about what we will do?" Gu Guanyu straightened and asked while taking out his weapon. An austere, but with the airs of an Earth-tier weapon, four feet long single-edged sword.

While his disciples had none, Bai Qi seeming had, as he lightly bowed, asking for permission to speak. Noticing it, Gu Guanyu nodded to him.

"If it's not something I should not know, how much time will pass until the next, close to us, tower acts?" Bai Qi's plan wasn't to return to this tower but to continue fighting while moving around. If he wanted to fight more people, he had to stay out longer. After all, Gu Guanyu did not look like someone who would be weak even when restricted.

"Don't tell me that you intend to..?" The 5th level female Warrior Lord, Dong Xia, asked with a gasp.

"It seems that he does. But it's his own decision to take. You all will return with me, or you can directly forget about me being your Master." Gu Guanyu wasn't as surprised as his disciples, as he felt that Bai Qi's goals were not only to participate. It was clear he was here to make a name for himself.

While Gu Guanyu's thoughts were of cold acceptance, he did try to change Bai Qi's mind. But as it did not work, he passed him the timings and locations of the three sets of towers to act after theirs.

***

"There are 32 presences in the tower and close to a hundred nearby. If something goes wrong, retreat here immediately." Gu Guanyu gave the last instructions as he retrieved his hand from the green crystal, Interdiction Corundrum, door of the room.

And as he did, the formation that both held the door closed and allowed him to sense the entire tower deactivated, allowing the door to swing open.

*Swoosh*

Gu Guanyu and his eight disciples, along with Bai Qi, immediately launched forwards, with the elder and two of the strongest gritting their teeth as they felt the restriction.

Bai Qi noted as he allowed the disciples to go ahead.

The tower's control room occupied half of the floor, with the other half being an open space used as the hub of the now deactivated void corridors and a simple set of stairs in the middle. Thus, the actual space for the fight was lesser than half the tower's floor. Making it truly hard to use anything but close quarters and carefully aimed attacks. Not that they could do anything else, as both [Void Stone] and [Interdiction Corundrum] interfered with any skill or technique used by cultivators below the Warrior King realm.

But on the 7th floor, Bai Qi got no chance to fight at all. Gu Guanyu did not fight either, allowing his eight disciples to spread out and select their respective opponents, and then, motioning to Bai Qi, walking towards the stairs leading down.

"Shouldn't we?" Bai Qi understood that the elder decided to use this as a test, having confirmed that the opponents weren't anything truly dangerous. Still, he felt the need to ask.

"No. They should fight and then take action by themselves. As for us, we got a warm welcome waiting for us." Gu Guanyu shrugged, and the two of them walked downstairs to the 6th floor.

The 6th floor of the tower consisted of a single room, one that was used and built like a fighting stage. It was the only room of the tower where one could use techniques and skills, with several formations working to diminish the effect of the materials. This latter deactivated, so while the upcoming fight would be in the tower's arena, it would be a physical clash as all the ones inside.

Both Bai Qi and Gu Guanyu thought the same thing as they confirmed the strength of the cultivators on the floor and divided them into two sets of three. Then each launched forwards to meet their opponents.

For Bai Qi, his three enemies consisted of a single 3rd level Warrior Lord dressed in the same brown robes as the demon sons he had battled before and two cloaked, 2nd level of the realm cultivators from a group he could not help but recognize right away. Indeed, the sand-colored cloaks aside and the [Sha Zhu] engravement on their belts would be hard to miss.

Bai Qi waved his arm, and the short, blue-steel sword appeared in his right hand. And as he prepared to meet his three opponents, a sudden thought crossed his mind,