Inside the grand underground palace, the Holy Master seemed to have been sitting in silent meditation for a century.

Beneath the throne, Zhang Linchuan and Lu Yan stood on opposite sides, the atmosphere…tense.

At least, the person wearing the rabbit-bone mask behind Zhang Linchuan looked terrified, barely daring to breathe.

A person wearing a dragon-bone mask stood in the lower position, but in the center, neither leaning toward Zhang Linchuan nor Lu Yan, only facing the Holy Master on the throne.

Standing with him was a person wearing a monkey-bone mask.

Lu Yan, with his eyes showing only the whites, said in a sinister tone, “The plague incubates, grows, and explodes in ordinary people, directly touching the extraordinary, achieving a perfect cycle! This was planned long ago, but now it’s far from that. Zhang Linchuan, you wanted command, but what have you done? Even the Rat Mask’s magic artifact was used, and is this all you’ve achieved?”

“The Holy Master triggered the Plague Bell early. Are you…blaming the Holy Master?”

Facing Elder Lu Yan’s accusation, Zhang Linchuan showed no fear. It was clear that his position within the White Bone Dao had greatly increased since the Maple Forest City battle.

“What does this have to do with the Holy Master? It’s your poor management. You actually gave the Plague Bell to Snake Mask, such an important item? Back in Maple Forest City, she acted with Rat Mask and Dog Mask, but the stronger Rat Mask and Dog Mask died, while she survived. How could you be foolish enough to trust her like that?”

“Doesn’t that just prove she has strong survival skills?” Zhang Linchuan responded nonchalantly, “That’s what I considered.”

“Stop trying to argue with me!” Lu Yan raged, “Don’t think I wouldn’t dare kill you!”

“Of course, you dare! Kill me in front of the Holy Master!” Zhang Linchuan also seemed genuinely enraged, no longer maintaining a facade of peace, “Anyway, thanks to your ‘wise’ plan, the White Bone Dao has already suffered a crushing defeat in Maple Forest City. High-ranking members have either died in battle or are being hunted, a shadow of its former self. It wouldn’t matter if one more mere envoy died!”

“You!” Lu Yan was speechless with anger.

“What about me? Yes, guiding the development of the plague, such an important task shouldn’t be entrusted to the weak. But who else could move? Your plan elevated Zhuang Chengqian and allowed Du Ruhui to escape restraint. With Du Ruhui, who possesses the ‘Near Yet Far’ ability, could you move, or could I move?”

Lu Yan gnashed his teeth for a long time, then turned sharply, looking at the Dragon-Bone Mask wearer, “Dragon Mask, what do you say?”

Among the White Bone Dao’s Twelve Bone Masks, Rat Mask was the leader, but in terms of pure combat strength, Dragon Mask was the strongest.

Of the twelve, only he had opened the Inner Palace.

Regardless of strength, in terms of realm, he was comparable to Zhang Linchuan.

Therefore, his position was slightly more transcendent than the other Bone Masks. However, he had been in seclusion for a long time, rarely acting externally, so he wasn’t as notoriously fierce as the others.

Lu Yan’s question seemed to be asking Dragon Mask to take sides, but it also implied a complaint that he was often in seclusion, leaving the sect with no one available.

While Zhang Linchuan was poking at Lu Yan’s sore spot, the battle of Maple Forest City was already over, and even if the Holy Master was out of touch with the world, he wouldn’t rehash old grievances now. So, the sore spot was just a superficial irritation.

There were many hidden meanings, and the Monkey-Bone Mask wearer standing beside Dragon Mask’s eyes flickered but remained silent.

“Second Elder,” Dragon Mask’s voice was full of energy, “Why don’t we just kill Du Ruhui? It would save you from being so cautious, afraid to even leave the underground palace.”

Lu Yan: …

Du Ruhui was a Third-Rank Divine Illumination Realm expert. Looking at the White Bone Dao’s current strongest force, only Lu Yan had reached the Fourth-Rank Outer Building Realm. The White Bone Envoy, the Holy Maiden, and Dragon Mask were all in the Inner Palace Realm.

As for the Holy Master’s strength…

The White Bone Deity “awakened” in the body of the White Bone Dao Child, and could wield far greater combat power than when he could only act remotely through imprints.

However, exactly how much he could wield remained a mystery.

What was even more obvious was that the Holy Master himself would never easily reveal the “mystery.”

That meant that if they wanted to set a trap to kill Du Ruhui, they had to rely on themselves.

How could they kill him?

He was Du Ruhui, who possessed the “Near Yet Far” divine power! Two or three ordinary Divine Illumination Realm experts might not be able to stop him.

However, looking at Dragon Mask’s spirited, fighting eyes, Lu Yan knew he wasn’t joking or trying to satirize anyone. This was his honest thought.

A brute…

Thinking this, Lu Yan even forgave him for calling him “Second Elder.”

Who didn’t know that the White Bone Dao only had one elder now? Emphasizing the “second” ranking was most likely sarcasm. As for the remaining one or two, it was probably someone like Dragon Mask, or Pig Mask…

“Cough.” Seeing Lu Yan speechless, Zhang Linchuan coughed lightly and said, “Let’s put the Du Ruhui matter aside for now. The most pressing matter is the Holy Master’s grand plan. The Holy Master wants to refine the plague ravaging a country into a plague incarnation to achieve the White Bone Sacred Body. Now that it’s been triggered early, it’s not perfect. What can we do?”

Lu Yan coldly snorted, “Isn’t that because of the location you chose and the people you sent?”

“See,” Zhang Linchuan spread his hands, “We’re back to the question of why I have no one to use.”

The two high-ranking figures were pushing and shoving each other, like two street thugs, saying “Come at me.” They seemed fierce, but were just bickering pointlessly.

The Holy Maiden wasn’t even in the underground palace, busy with something elsewhere. Since Maple Forest City, these people seemed even more distant.

Dragon Mask looked up. The Holy Master was still sitting, expressionless, without a word. No one knew if He was listening.

Without the Holy Master’s attitude, he wouldn’t have one either.

“Monkey Mask, Rabbit Mask,” the Dragon-Bone Mask wearer said, “Come closer.”

Monkey Mask was already standing beside him, so his words were mainly directed at Rabbit Mask.

Rabbit Mask looked at Zhang Linchuan with some fear.

Zhang Linchuan nodded slightly, and she cautiously moved a few steps closer to the Dragon-Bone Mask wearer.

“I ask you. Pig Mask is dead.”

The Dragon-Bone Mask wearer paused, then continued, “Of the twelve of us, he was the craziest and the silliest. But he was the only one who truly treated you as brothers and sisters. Are you…not sad for him at all?”

Rabbit Mask shrunk her neck and didn’t dare say anything.

The more she acted like this, the more it angered Dragon Mask, but he knew that this woman was part of Zhang Linchuan’s faction. The Holy Master still needed to rely on these people, and if he didn’t want to ruin the Holy Master’s grand plan, he had to endure for now.

Monkey Mask remained silent for a while, then spoke, “Only the three of us are left of the twelve.”

He looked at the Dragon-Bone Mask wearer, “Brother Dragon, if I grieve for each one individually, will I even have time to stop grieving?”

The Dragon-Bone Mask wearer was momentarily speechless!

Lu Yan had his eyes closed, his face gloomy, unreadable.

Zhang Linchuan hid all his emotions behind his mask, leaving only a pair of eyes with unclear emotions.

Everyone in this underground palace had a face, and had a mood.

No one knew what anyone was truly thinking.

Even for someone as great as the Holy Master, who dared say they truly understood His will?

Just then.

The seated Holy Master spoke indifferently.

“The time has come,” He said.