In Aldarian's eyes, a hundred Demonic Dragon Tyrants were not as terrifying as the Lord of Storms. What made this deity truly frightening was not merely his power, but his completely deranged state of mind.
If the deity took a sudden whim, he would genuinely dare to release the heroic spirits from his divine realm and force everyone to play a deserted-island battle royale with him.
Yet Anbaixiu put on an utterly innocent face and protested, "What does that have to do with me? You know as well as I do that he's the Lord of Storms, a high and mighty deity. Is he someone I could control? What do you mean by saying I dragged him into this? The Lord of Storms wanted to play it this way himself—what was I supposed to do?"
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"
Had anyone else said it, Aldarian might have believed them. After all, deities were aloft and beyond mortal control. But Anbaixiu was different.
Aldarian would swear that this was definitely a scheme the lich had concocted, and the Lord of Storms was merely a piece in his game.
"If you don't believe me, take this."
Anbaixiu handed a ring to Aldarian. It seemed to pulse with immense magical power.
Perplexed, Aldarian released his grip on Anbaixiu. Taking the ring, he examined it closely before asking in confusion, "Is this... a truth-detection spell?"
Anbaixiu nodded. "Indeed. A permanent Detect Lie effect. If someone lies to you, the ring glows red; otherwise, it won't react."
Aldarian gave him a suspicious look. "You're a divination wizard. Why are you giving me this?"
After all, wasn't Detect Lie the very kind of spell divination wizards were most adept at?
"Rest assured, this ring is no simple trinket. It was crafted by the God of Alchemy and possesses the highest tier of lie-detection magic. Forget a mortal like me—not even a deity could deceive this ring. Oh, except for those who hold a deception portfolio, of course."
With great enthusiasm, Anbaixiu slipped the ring onto Aldarian's finger and urged, "Go on, try asking me a question."
Half-doubting, Aldarian asked, "In the drow shipping route business, how much money that rightfully belonged to the elves did you pocket for yourself?"
"What are you talking about? Am I that kind of person? In all my dealings, I have always—"
Before Anbaixiu could finish, the ring on Aldarian's hand flared with a vivid red glow.
Aldarian narrowed his eyes at Anbaixiu, a cold sneer involuntarily curling on his lips.
Anbaixiu said helplessly, "Alright, fine. The drow elves' food and health-check expenses were inflated, but that was to appease them. We couldn't very well make them work for nothing, so that money served as pocket change for the drow."
The red glow on the ring remained bright.
Anbaixiu: "..."
"Alright, by standard business practice, a small fraction of that grey income was taken as my kickback."
The red light on the ring still showed no sign of fading.
Aldarian sneered. "A small fraction? What percentage did you take?"
"I took seventy percent, but the remaining thirty percent really did go to subsidizing the drow."
Only then did the red light on the ring slowly fade away.
Anbaixiu let out a sigh. "Why did you have to ask such a tricky question? You might as well have asked if I took advantage of Catherine."
Aldarian replied calmly, "You lack the capacity."
A pile of bones whose gender in life was not even known—how foolish would someone have to be to worry about that? Besides, if the lich dared to say it so openly, there was even less reason to suspect him.
Aldarian hadn't come to joke around with Anbaixiu, so he pressed on, "So the Lord of Storms truly wasn't brought in by you?"
Anbaixiu chuckled. "Now you're certain this thing is genuine, aren't you?... Very well, I admit, I did nudge the Lord of Storms' thinking a tiny bit. I merely boasted to him about how crucial this peace conference would be and how it would be recorded in the annals of history. Hearing that, the Lord of Storms naturally decided to attend. He couldn't wait for us mortal dignitaries to bear witness to his greatness."
Aldarian pursued the matter further. "And what on earth was the point of luring the Lord of Storms here?"
"For safety, my friend—to provide a safety net for a conference where every faction harbors hidden motives. Not only did I get the Lord of Storms to hold his wedding at the venue, but I will also invite every deity I know to attend as guests. Even if they only come as avatars, having these gods present will shift the conference's center stage to someone else."
"To someone else?"
Aldarian frowned in thought for a moment before tensely asking Anbaixiu, "Master Ultraman, your soul can reach into the future. Tell me—did you foresee a future where our plan fails?"
The original plan had been to expose the Demonic Dragon's identity at the conference, turning Ryan against that emperor as well, and then unite the strength of all races to slay the revived Demonic Dragon.
The plan sounded broad and many aspects would have to be adjusted according to circumstances at the time, but as long as they could unmask the Demonic Dragon, the rest would not be an issue.
Yet no matter how it was adjusted, deities should never have been dragged into it—unless the plan had changed.
This time, Anbaixiu played no word games, admitting candidly, "I did indeed foresee an unfavorable future, and this happens to be the solution I've prepared."
"Don't you divination wizards say the future cannot be altered? If the worst outcome has already appeared, how will bringing deities into this be of any use?"
"A future that has been seen cannot be changed, but one can still minimize the losses as much as possible." Anbaixiu patted Aldarian on the shoulder. "Some are destined to die, while others may survive. That is the safety net I have prepared for you all. I also anticipated long ago that you would come looking for me. Therefore, I want you to relay my words to the Elven Gods, so that they too will dispatch a deity to attend this conference."
Aldarian finally understood the gravity of the situation, but the young Elven King still struggled to believe it.
"Where on earth did things go wrong?"
Anbaixiu shook his head. "Now is not the time to dwell on that. Go back and prepare yourselves. In two months, you will know. By the way, I will need the support of the elves soon."
"What kind of support?" Aldarian asked in confusion.
"Some magical materials. I hope you can gather them as quickly as possible."
Anbaixiu handed over a list detailing a vast array of magical materials. The quantity of each item was small, but many were exceedingly rare, enough that Aldarian would have to check the elves' treasuries.
Reading through the materials on the list, Aldarian furrowed his brow.
He felt as though he had seen these materials somewhere before. Several of the magical fruits were exceedingly peculiar, looking as if they had been cultivated specifically for some ancient magic right from the very beginning.
Yet try as he might, he couldn't recall which spell it was.
"What are you collecting these for?" Aldarian asked curiously.
Anbaixiu replied as if it were obvious, "To deal with the Demonic Dragon, of course. Did you really need to ask?"
Seeing that the lie-detecting ring showed no reaction, Aldarian didn't bother pressing for details.
The elves and the lich were now allies in the same boat; since he was unwilling to elaborate, Aldarian wouldn't pry.
"I will do my best to gather them," Aldarian said. "However, I'm afraid I cannot convince the Elven Gods to attend Talos's wedding. You'd best find another way."
Anbaixiu nodded. "Then let us do everything we can and leave the rest to fate."
Chapter 502